Learning with literature

I seem to recall an article in the newspaper awhile back by Todd Babiak which he told of his desire to hide under a desk and weep everytime he hears an educated well employed person state that they do not watch the news, nor read a local newspaper. People just don't read enough these days I suppose. If you can read, you should!

Last night I picked up and read some of a book that I picked up at the library entitled, It's Your Pregnancy Too! I found a lot of the typical things that we've heard about morning sickness, and there was some mention about the medication that is available. When we went to our prenatal visit today with Dr. Litchfield, we discussed the meds, and he wrote a perscription for Caitlin. The meds, of which the name I'll write when we pick some up, are really good for alieviating nausea, but they do come at a price. Each pill costs about $1.50 and she would have to take three a day, maybe two. Woof.

I also picked up a copy of the Spring 2006 Today's Parent: Pregnancy and Birth magazine from Dr. Litchfield's office. They get dozens of them when they publish every quarter, so he was more than happy to let me take it home.

Determining the sex of the baby is an interesting process. I asked Dr. Litchfield before we left if there was any truth to the story that if you avoid tomatoes you'll have a boy. His response was that there was a study done in Montreal where they determined that if a mother has a high intake of potassium before conceiving, then she'll have a boy. If she bones up on dairy, she has a girl. The outcomes were 87% accurate, so you get a better result than flipping a coin!

Bungie-licious

We have never imbibed in alcohol, nor do we ever plan to, and even if we had previously, I do not think watching someone puke would make morning sickness any less uneasy. I almost feel helpless to see my wife on her knees giving sacrifice to the porcelain diety, even if she eats something simple like soda crackers. Caitlin and I are still trying to figure out what she can eat or drink and keep down.
One way we have found to get around the pregnancy axiom "What goes down, must come up" is taking in small quantities of food at frequent intervals. Go figure, that sounds a lot like what nutritionists recommend. We are also considering stocking up on ginger ale. My sister told me that ginger is good for settling the stomach, and she also speaks from experience. Peppermint is a good stomach pacifier too, but Caitlin never had much of a taste for peppermint before, and still holds to that distaste. This is still early and her tastes could change.

The good news is the heat wave is over, so we don't have to worry about that for the moment. We can be very grateful that she's not carrying full term right now! We can also be grateful that the air conditioning works at her job. Seems anywhere is cooler than at our apartment right now. She hopes that she will still be able to perform at her job for a few months more, but if things continue the way they are, that may come to a screeching halt, and I might be forced to do a bit more paid work that I anticipated I would be doing over the Fall 2006 semester.

Worry alert level has dropped, a bit

Here we have the first offical picture of baby! Taken on Friday, July 21, 2006. It says that on the picture as well, but it's tough to read. Just like it's hard to see baby (it's on the lower left side). Baby is only a centimeter or so (1/2") long right now, but the heart rate was at 146 bpm. I wasn't there, but I've been told that you could actually see the heart flutter too! Optimal range, according to the nurse who looked after Caitlin, is between 140 and 150 bpm. The funny thing is, one of my co-workers said that it's probably going to be a boy because of the strong heart rate, and Brenda said it was going to be a girl because of the strong heart rate. All I know is that baby is not stuck in one of the tubes, but in the uterus where it can grow to term. Hence I'm not worried about that anymore!

I'm also very grateful that Brenda took Caitlin to the appointment. Not only because I had to work, but also because Brenda knew where the place was and had a car to take Caitlin there! I knew the address, and we could have taken the bus, but this worked better I think. I'm also glad that Caitlin didn't have to go there alone. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the next ultrasound test. I don't know when that will be, but since it's not an ectopic, I'm guessing that it will be in a couple of months.

Caitlin has lost a good chunk of weight since the doctor's appointment, and that may be in part to the fact that pregnancy is in full gear, and that it's been so hot! When she stepped on Brenda's scales on Friday, she weighed around 170 lbs. That's 20 lbs. lighter than she was at the doctor's! She might also be losing weight with the morning sickness that's been plagueing her too. This morning when we were coming back from Beaumont, I was very glad that we brought a bucket with us. It was put to use around 10 am, right when we got to downtown. Although she had dry heaves all the way from Millwoods, I thought she might be able to make it home. I was wrong.

I also didn't expect her to puke on the bus yesterday when we went down to Millwoods. Then again, I didn't expect it to be 35C (about 93F) outside, and even warmer inside the bus! The buses have heat, oh yes, because eight months of the year you need it. No A/C though, and Caitlin has had heat exhaustion before, which makes her all the more succeptable to it again. We also didn't have the empty ice cream bucket with us, so she used a Rubbermaid bottle. Good thing that only cost us a couple bucks. I'm beginning to sense that I shouldn't worry about lost expenses like that. If we need to spend so much money now, it's only going to be more once baby arrives!

Caitlin is trying things to keep her stomach settled. She eats soda crackers, since they stay down, and she drinks a goodly amount of water. We were told by someone on the bus yesterday, after the puking episode, that moderately cool water with a few pinches of salt would keep Caitlin well hydrated. It's one thing to have water, but if your system doesn't absorb it, where does it go? Back up the way it came? Down the drain? Both?

March 6, 2007 suddenly seems a long ways away.

One of these days . . .

I have been aching from my shoulders down all day today. I was late for work because I was ill this morning, but luckily I was able to call in and let them know so I wouldn't get in trouble.

Yeah. My body really does NOT like milk right now. Or spicy stuff. Or food, for that matter. Soup is still fine, and chicken will actually stay down, as will fruit juices and water, but anything else right now, FORGET IT.

Although ice cream is really nice on occasion...

Meh. I'm going to go lie down and read for the rest of the evening.

What exactly constitutes a good title?

My belly is really sore this morning. I've been getting stretch pains for the last couple of days, but they're nowhere near as bad as I figure they'll be when I actually start to show a bump. That'll be a whole new set of interesting sensations.

Now if only I could get my stomach to lighten up. Ever see "Little Shop Of Horrors"? My stomach is kinda like Audrey Two, the plant, saying "Feed me!" And then right on the tail of that comment, it pipes up with "But don't you dare give me food!" Yeah. I'm in the semi-nauseated state right now. Fun fun.

I've been getting a lot of advice about how to counteract nausea, but to tell you the truth, I'd really rather not have anything to do with food until lunchtime. By then, my stomach's complaints are so mild as to be nonexistant. Until I actually feed it. Then it's like: WOAH! Hold up! What's all this nourishment doing here?

And I cannot stress how MUCH I want to eat well and ensure my baby gets all the nutrients it needs.

I'm curious now

Why is it that pregnancy is both highly desired and yet extremely scary at one and the same time? Change?

Anyone know another word for exhausted?

Because I am, and I can't think of anything else to describe sheer tiredness.

And I'm not even through the first trimester yet!

It seems like everyone and their dog is all of a sudden a wellspring of advice about pregnancy. Some I can tell is good, well-meant advice, but the rest of the time, I'm kinda like "Oooooo-kay, sure, whatever" in my head while smiling and nodding on the outside. One thing I've learned about advice is that if you stop listening, they just try harder and get more annoying, but if you listen and tell the person "Oh really?" or "Huh, I didn't know that," they tend to smile and stop talking sooner. Bonus.

Work is going to be interesting as this pregnancy progresses. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a replacement for my job BEFORE I go on maternity leave. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone who wants to work retail, doesn't want to sell too much, likes to work with the stock, handle special orders and shipments, and basically know EVERYTHING about the store, except for the management parts. Right?

I need food. I'm gonna go have some lunch. Later.

I cherish these days, for they are too few

In spite of possible circumstances, I'm actually feeling quite well. I'm as queasy as Steven is about the possibility of another ectopic pregnancy, but not entirely nervous. I will be VERY upset if it is another ectopic, because I was hoping we could start our family by now. Steven will be done his degree before I'm slated to go into labour, so I have no worries about that.

What I AM nervous about is making sure I get a balanced diet, all the things baby needs to grow up into a beautiful son or daughter of God. Well, baby will always be a beautiful son or daughter of God, but proper eating right now will ensure that baby will grow up properly.

Every now and again I get these stretch pains in my belly, and occasionally they're rather painful, but nothing that's really alarmed me, seeing as we'll be getting details next Friday.

Here's hoping.

Now it's my turn

My blood pressure was not taken, I was not weighed, and I was not asked to undress, but I still had a bit of an adventure with my doctor's appointment today. First I was fasting going into the blood lab today. I was not happy! Right after the blood samples were taken I ate the food I brought with me. Leftover Pizza Hut Chicken Deluxe never tasted so good. I did not much care that it was cold or a bit greasy. It was food and I needed it like a pregnant woman needs to pee after an ultrasound. If someone would have been offended by that as I was eating, I would have ignored their grievances until I was finished satisfying my need for metabolic energy.

Briefly about the ultrasound, we have an appointment scheduled for next Friday, out in Sherwood Park, in the middle of the day. A day I am working. The appointment is also at the exact same time that I'm supposed to start my shift. There is an imaging lab at the Hys Center, really close to where we live, but that appointment was the earliest one that was available in the Capital Health area. Time is of the essence, since we are not sure whether baby is secure in the uterus or not. I would hope yes, but we need to be sure. The last thing we want is for history to repeat itself. My manager is really understanding of my circumstance, and might let me have a shorter shift so I can get to the appointment. I would ask if it was at the Hys Center not Sherwood Park. I am not as familiar with Sherwood Park as I am with Edmonton, and we would have to take our bicycles out there so we could get to the clinic. If only we had a car. Maybe I could rent one for the day, or the weekend since the appointment is on a Friday. What am I saying? We need to save money! But we need to get there. Maybe I should return the scooter to get a little extra cash.

Questions answered with uncertainty

First pre-natal appointment went as well as could be, given our circumstances. My greatest worry has resurfaced, the fact that we might have complications, namely the fetus might not have attached to the uterus. We are in the process of getting an appointment for an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic, but I'm still on edge.

Also, we got another surprise. According to the doctor, Caitlin is about seven weeks pregnant. If that's true, then the original estimate of a early March deliver is inaccurate by about a month, and we can expect baby at the end of January! Oh boy (or girl)! That won't be confirmed until we get the ultrasound, which could be a couple weeks from now. However, since we will have "Clear for ectopic" on our request, we might get bumped in line.

Apart from all that, the appointment went fine!

Starting the preparations

I bought a book today, which I thought would be appropriate for our situation. It's called The Baby Book, and it was highly recommended from a former co-worker. Foolish me didn't realize that the book deals with baby life from birth to 2 years.

Our due date, according to my crude calculations, is March 7, 2007. I could have put off buying the book until next year and I think I would have been fine. Heck, I could have saved some money and put the book on my Christmas wish list. But then I would have to take the Wii off to make room. Hmmm... Meh. I have it now, and at the rate I read books, I should be through it come February.

Caitlin also bought a book, and of course her choice was more directed towards pregnancy. I also saw another book that I thought was hilarious, but puts parenting into guy-speak including 3-month, 6-month, 9-month, and 12-month checklists. Heck, YES.

Cailtin and I are off to sleep now to recover from our aqua-aerobics class. Felt good to swim around! And we got a drop-in 10 pack, so we can go again in the near future. Caitlin loves to swim, and we need a good exercise that will keep her healthy throughout the pregnancy too.

We have a doctor's appointment scheduled tomorrow, so we'll get a lot more info and have a better idea of what to do, what percautions to take and the like.

It's confirmed

I originally wanted to call this blog "Oh sh**, you're pregnant" but that was bound to offend people, namely myself, my own family, and especially those who consider "fetch", "flip", and "oh my heck" to be offensive language. Even though that initial title was pretty much the first thing that came to my mind when I was greeted by my wife with the news of her blood test results. As of today she is two weeks late on her period, has been feeling sick to her stomach for the past three days, and has been feeling tender around her mid-section for awhile too.

Although I was half right when I thought that she was experiencing some pain that was not associated with pregnancy. That's a bit of a moot point now, since she has finished her prescription for her bladder infection, and she's also feeling much better in that department. But for some odd reason, I was still holding onto the idea that she had stomach flu, and she was experiencing some rare case of amenorrhea that wasn't associated with pregnancy.

Turns out I was living in denial. The blood test confirms that my dear wife of nearly three years is pregnant for the second time. Hopefully this will fair much better than the previous time, and since we found out the results of the pregnancy test at home rather than an ER, things are looking quite good.

Nothing is showing right now, and that's probably a good thing! I've heard most women don't start to show until the 2nd trimester, sometimes the 3rd. Seeing that Caitlin is 5'10", I'm also supposing that she'll carry baby quite well. I could be talking out of my ear on that one. We'll have to talk to my mother-in-law about getting some maternity clothing, like a swimsuit. We plan to get involved in some aqua aerobic classes at Grant MacEwan College, and right now she's okay for swimwear, but by January... Maybe not. The reason I mention my mother-in-law and not a maternity store, is because commercially available maternity swimwear is terrible, according to my wife. Works out better for us because it'll be cheaper for us, and if my wife prefers something homemade over store bought, all the better.

Now it's just a matter of letting the masses know. Hence this blog. I don't know how many of our friends and family are going to want to know how we're doing every hour of every day, but this should make things easier. I will be talking to my parents and siblings on a fairly consistent basis (maybe semi-monthly instead of bi-monthly), but pictures are a little harder to show over the phone. Unless your have ADSL, which works over a phone line, but that's beside the point.

The next nine, possibly eight, months are going to be interesting. I will be done my Electrical Engineering degree by December, so I could be in the workforce as early as January. I'll have to take time off when baby comes in February/March, but that's normal. I suppose working retail has some kind of benifit of preparing me for what's coming. Hmmm... yeah. Like how countless hours of drill would have helped the front line soldiers at the beaches of Normandy.

Perhaps our family motto is thing to reflect on right now. After all it's what helped pull us through a car accident, the miscarriage, and May 16.
"We're going to be okay."