Merry Crafty Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I wanted to share some pictures of our minimal holiday decorations, including our concolor fir that we love! We chopped one down last year, and they last forever! They have a more unique look than other Christmas tree types, but you have to be careful as they are not the best with heavy ornaments. This was the first year I put out any of my Dept. 56 houses my mom and others gave me growing up. I put a few under our tree and some in other places in our living room. 

I mentioned it is a crafty Christmas in my title, and over the next few days my plan (the best laid plans...) is to post on the different homemade gifts I made for people this year. I'll link to the tutorials I followed for most and offer any tips or ways to avoid disaster that I found. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! On to the pictures...

Twas four days before Christmas, when under the tree

All these presents had vanished, packed up to leave

The stockings were hung under the TV with care

Precisely perched, the remote sensor not to ensnare 

Alright, I'm done with the poem thing. It's far too long to continue :)

And because I already gifted this item and have no plans to tell you step-by-step how to create your own, a picture of one of my gifts.

This is the largest rag quilt I've made--11 rows of 8 squares--and I won't make one this large for awhile! I actually started it for my friend Sarah for Christmas 2010, then her birthday 2011...finished for Christmas 2011! I've made about five or six of these before, but I always made them for babies or toddlers. Sarah really wanted one her size (she's a grown-up) yet still made of "little kid fabrics." I'm happy I was able to deliver this year. And don't worry, I also gave her a second present to make up for the lack of gift last year--it will be included in a later post.

I'll leave you with the tutorial my friend Jana found when making some of these for her daughter. There are several out there, and instead of using batting for the middle layer, we both used more flannel. Enjoy!

Congratulations! It's a...

baby! We're now 99 percent sure we are indeed having a human child. I say 99 because ultrasound babies do look like aliens. Cute aliens, yet aliens nonetheless.

Monday afternoon we had our first ultrasound at my 20-week mark, and not only did we get to see our baby, we were also able to rule out any placenta issues from my fun trip to the hospital the night before. Speaking of that, there was one thing I failed to mention that occurred during our trip. Nothing major, I just like to be detailed, and I left something out.

When they were checking me for various whatevers and listening to the baby's heartbeat, I was also given this strapped contraption to wear around my stomach to determine if I was having any contractions. After an hour of that I guess they figured out I wasn't having any and took it off. I kept trying to figure out how it would alert them, thinking maybe an alarm would go off or something fun and scary like that. Andrew told me last night there was actually a print-out, sort of like a heart monitor shows. He likes to bring me back to reality and ruin my fun :)

So now we can get to the part most of you probably care about--the ultrasound pictures! The tech gave us three to take home with us--two are actually 4D pics, which we honestly find somewhat creepy and weren't expecting, yet we love them anyway!

Profile pic--head is on the right side, belly on the left with legs over head and a hand over the head

Partial face pic on the left

Better face picture

And those are our first baby pictures! We had a moment where I think the tech thought my husband was slightly nuts. He began by asking questions about what she was doing--he was more interested than I expected. When we finally got past the measuring of the uterus and stuff like that (and I got to go to the bathroom--they make you have a full bladder for the first part...and generally run late...great combination!) we saw our first picture of the baby. Andrew said, "So, our baby is half head?"

Great question. The tech looked at him blankly and replied, "I'm not sure what you're asking?" So I then had to translate that my husband did not think our child would always have a large head disproportionate to its body, but that at this stage, babies have larger heads that make up about half of their size. I'm glad he talks...he just has a less serious view of the pregnancy right now that doesn't come across with the pros sometimes :)

We also learned that Baby Floyd is slightly uncooperative as it never moved into a great position for the tech to get what she needed on the brain. She also wanted more on the fingers and some of the heart. At this point, we don't know if our child has fingers, but I sure hope so! I'll have another one in a month to see if we can find those things. 

Unfortunately for me, as she was trying desperately to get our baby to move into a better position, she kept pushing on my right side--where I had those pains Sunday night. The head was right there. My side is still a little tender, but my midwife provided a comforting explanation in our appointment that followed. She really felt I was having a ligament spasm, and those areas would be tender for a few days just like any muscle that spasms or cramps. She also dropped to the floor and gave us an interesting demo for ways to stretch out those areas. Andrew thought she was passing out--turns out she could be my favorite midwife yet! Very dedicated--I'm pretty sure you'd rarely see a doc do something like that :) She was also wearing a really interesting outfit that involved a longer black skirt and colorful striped knee socks...reminiscent of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz...that made this demo even funnier.

For those of you not in New England, try and remember this is New England. Some things tend to be a little hippier (which I love!) and may seem off-the-wall to Southern ways. Soon I'll update you all on some of my birth choices--we finally found our doula!

It's kind of a funny story...not

*Note: If you've never seen the movie It's Kind of a Funny Story, you should. It's great. While it has its comedic moments, it is not a comedy. Neither is this story, though I will do my best to add some humor. 


*Second note: While I don't feel this post will fall under the TMI category, you might. Read it anyway, for educational purposes! I'll be sure to use clinical/medical terminology. And if you're a man, married or not, put on your big boy pants because this might have/could happen to you one day...


So my next post was originally going to be house related. We've cleaned out our garage and mudroom, built a compost box and decorated for Christmas. However, the events of last night/early this morning take precedence. You see, I had my first "I'm pregnant for the first time and something weird is happening need to go to the hospital" experience.

Sunday was a pretty chill day for me. We had church Sunday morning (no strenuous set up/take down for the band as we are meeting in a house right now), ate lunch, did some laundry, took a nap, cooked dinner and then set out to watch the Patriots/deliver Christmas gifts to friends. Andrew and I are leaving for Alabama Wednesday night so I started prepping for our trip over the weekend.

We got back from our final "Merry Christmas and goodbye!" just before 10, and I got ready for bed. We were both pretty tired from our day of doing very little so we got in bed just before 10:15. As soon as I got situated I started having sharp pains in my lower right abdomen while simultaneously having throbbing pain in my right thigh.

I've had the normal aches and pains that come with muscles/organs growing and stretching, but this was different. I also know that round ligament pains will become a little more frequent from this point forward. This still felt different as it continued to pulse rhythmically in both places. I was also cold because it's down in the teens here now, so I was shivering from cold and a little fear.

I immediately made Andrew call Christie and Ryan--our good friends and Ryan's our pastor--who are in Oklahoma right now for Christmas. They have three kids, so I always run my weird pains by her first. Christie had never experienced my pains before, but asked if I had a fever or diarrhea as one of her kids and another kid we know had those symptoms with right side pain just a few days prior. And I had been in one of the kid's presence while she was sick. I didn't have those other symptoms, so Christie told me to go ahead and call my midwives' after hours number.

I will say here that because I was having pain but no bleeding I did not really panic. You might be shocked to hear that, but I really figured that something else was wrong, and since I didn't have bleeding, I hadn't miscarried.

I called the number and after leaving a message I received a call pretty quickly. I talked with the midwife on call for a bit, and she felt like it could be one of four things: ligament pains, problem with the placenta, intestinal problem or something else that I have since forgotten. (I only slept four hours last night.)

I was told to lie down (already doing that), drink a glass of water and call back in half an hour. I did that, but still had consistent pain in both areas. At 11:15 or so I spoke with the midwife again and she really didn't have any suggestions as the pain had now been constant for an hour. So in to the Wesson building (the women's building at the hospital) we went. We arrived shortly before midnight, registered and received a labor exam room.

Proof of registration

So remember--I'm in some pain. Walking/standing is less fun than lying down. I'm in my flannel pj pants and an Alabama sweatshirt (with appropriate down jacket, gloves and hat on as well since it's about 18 degrees outside). I'm also in glasses because who feels like putting in contacts at midnight? Let's just say I looked bee-yoo-ti-ful. Then they tell me I have to go do a clean catch urine sample. If you're a woman, you've probably done some of these in your lifetime. I won't go into detail if you don't know what it is, but it's a little more involved than simply peeing in a cup. It's a pain when you feel well, and it was a real pain as I was in pain while doing it.

Over the course of the next three hours the following things happened: my urine was checked for a urinary tract infection. The nurse checked for the baby's heartbeat--first with something that generally doesn't pick up anything until 28 weeks (I'm 20)--but I didn't panic when nothing came through. Really, I promise. Me, not panicking. She found it with another device later, which was a great sign. I answered a bajillion questions about what I'd eaten, done, etc etc for the nurse and later the midwife on call. At 1:15 a.m. or so, the midwife has exhausted her possibilities and wants to do a "less invasive vaginal exam." Don't worry, I won't share details.

She took a sample for some test, but then basically lifted and prodded muscles, tissues and other inside parts for a bit. Crazily enough I felt no pain from the inside--which was great because that meant it might be intestinal rather than baby-related--but when she finished, the pain was gone! No more throbbing. Unfortunately, no going home yet either.

We speculated that it could have been a ligament spasm, and her basically massaging my insides made it let up. Regardless, I had throbbing sharp-ish pains for about three hours. Then they wanted to do a blood test to rule out appendix, gallbladder and other things I'm sure.

I would like to say here that I have fabulous veins. Nurses tell me that all the time. I've never had trouble having blood drawn, and I've given a few times voluntarily. It doesn't hurt me so much, and since I never look, I always do great.

Enter experienced nurse. Enter extremely tight tourniquet. Prick. Comments from nurse about how my veins are doing something weird or something. [If you're a nurse, please please please keep these comments to yourself. No one needs to hear them until after you've removed the needle. Then tell me you missed or you messed up or my vein even disappeared! Don't say it while it's happening!] I calmly continued to lie still and watch Andrew. She had to give up and move on.

Her next try was on my wrist. I've never had surgery or an IV so this was new for me. Apparently (due to her continued comments) this one started flowing but then stopped. Two tries, two fails and she was out. Nurse number two entered about half an hour later. She felt my veins were probably too good for a tourniquet, tried further up my forearm (again, very new for me) and had success. Here's a visual record of this annoying, somewhat painful anecdote:

After this we waited forever for the results, but during that time I learned my urine sample was fine. Just before 3 a.m. the nurse and midwife came back. All of my tests were "beautiful" and since the pain was gone (aside from some slight side twinges that seemed like previous pregnancy pains) I was free to go.

My first ultrasound is this afternoon, so they will be looking to make sure the placenta is still intact and normal. Other than that, I'm supposed to take it easy and call back if this happens again.

So we survived my first "freak-out" of the pregnancy. It came much earlier than expected (according to Andrew's expectations that we discussed this morning), but it's over. I slept for four hours and got up to continue my Christmas trip prep while he called out and slept in. I will be taking a nap pretty soon :)

Hopefully I can share something from the ultrasound in the next day or so. In sum, I hope your Sunday evening/early Monday morning was much less eventful than mine!!

Things I never knew about pregnancy, part deux

If you didn't get a chance to read my first post on things I never knew about pregnancy, click here. If you did, I hope you were entertained! Without further ado, on to more things I've been learning...

Odd way of measurement

You may have noticed a few sarcastic Facebook status updates about the size of my baby or heard me talk about it. Lots of baby sites (babycenter.com, thebump.com, etc.) send you email updates each week telling you helpful and unhelpful information alike about where you are in your pregnancy. They generally start with telling you how much your baby weighs or how long it is, and they do so by giving you a fruit or vegetable to compare it to. For example, I'm 18 weeks, and my baby is as long as a bell pepper. Because that's informative. Ever think of having a whole bell pepper in your stomach? Me neither.

One day I posted something on Facebook about how I was a lime a week or two before but had moved on to a lemon and how that just seemed odd. Aren't those fruits really really similar? My friend Josh commented saying how funny it would be if we measured all things like that. Like going into the hardware store and asking for a shelf that is 10 apples long by 4 oranges wide or something.

While I realize the point is to help you connect with this thing growing inside of you, I can't help but laugh at the various emails. One week it was an apple--weight-wise at 2.5 ounces. Andrew was like, hmm...that must be a pretty small apple. That's no Granny Smith or anything. In the beginning I had a kumquat...never actually seen one of these in person so that was entertaining.

You also have to read what the comparison is for--either length or weight. Just because the baby is as long as a head of kale, doesn't mean it's as wide. Or if it weighs as much as a cantaloupe, that doesn't mean the baby is melon-shaped. I'm sure you're smart enough to know that, but when they send you a picture of a hot pepper, it's hard not to get fixated on that image. 

Hunger pains

I knew abut the nausea going into pregnancy, even that "morning sickness" is a misnomer, but I never knew about the excessive hunger. During my first trimester I was nauseated all day and also starving--at the exact same time! Eating was such a joy then!

Since about week 14 or 15 I've been feeling much better and no longer loathe all but five or so foods. But I still get really really hungry. Wicked hungry if you're from New England. It's sort of hard to satisfy that hunger because I run out of things to eat! I only want so many apples or bowls of cereal in a day, and eating extra helpings at dinner doesn't mean I won't be starving an hour later. I was hoping to learn this would get better, but in my week 18 email there was a note about how right now my appetite should be increasing...maybe they just didn't know how much it increased from the get go?? Doubtful.

Here today, gone tomorrow

Finally, I'll share with you the case of the disappearing baby bump. I alluded to it in my first post on things I've learned, but I said way too much about other things before I got to it. Like I said before, I'm not really showing yet. It's weird. I wake up in the morning, and there's not much to see. I go to bed at night, and wow, there's a baby in there! Wake up the next morning, and it's gone again. Andrew and I laugh about it, but I'm now at the point where I'd like a little consistency!

Some days I need to wear my bella band thing that allows me to wear my own jeans unbuttoned. Some days I don't. Or there are times when I don't need it in the morning, but you better you believe I need it at night. I'm really thankful I haven't had to buy maternity clothes yet (the list of must-haves to survive pregnancy on babycenter.com included several outfits that cost $300 and up...because I plan to buy my maternity clothes at Nordstrom), but since I keep expanding and...un-expanding...what happens if I wake up tomorrow and find the only clothes that will fit are my flannel pajama pants? Now that's gonna be a fun trip to Target. 

Things I never knew about pregnancy

There are quite a few things I never knew about being pregnant, and rightly so, as I've never been pregnant, nor walked through a pregnancy with a close friend or family member. I did know a lot though--but most of what I've researched in the last couple of years has been related to actual labor and delivery, so nothing that would be of much help in the majority of the pregnancy. And I recently found out I know way more than my husband. Again, rightly so, but I was somewhat shocked to learn that my husband had no idea what a C-section was and that he has never, ever changed a diaper. Never! I mean I can see that when I think about it, but I've changed hundreds of diapers in my life, so I was still shocked. I've tried to get him to change one since learning that, but he maintains he'll figure it out when our baby gets here. We'll so how well that works!

Because a lot of my friends who read this have never been pregnant, I figured a post of some of the things I have learned in the last few months would be helpful. Or at least humorous. So here we go:


Not quite the gestation period of an elephant
I'm betting if you ask most people how long a woman is pregnant, they will say nine months. (Maybe not most men, but I feel this is a fact many women have filed away in the inner recesses of their brains.) So nine months is how long you carry a baby for, right? Wrong.

For a lot of women it can actually be ten months. This is partly due to the math doctors and midwives use when confirming your pregnancy. I went to the doctor's office on Sept. 13. They asked me when the first day of my last period was, and I said Aug. 1 or 2. The nurse grabbed a little wheel, spun some things around and determined I was six weeks pregnant. If you know anything about a monthly cycle, you don't ovulate until somewhere between 10-18 days in. So there are roughly two weeks added to your gestation period when no baby was ever present! Now I realize this doesn't prolong any pregnancy symptoms since you hadn't conceived in that period, but still! It can really throw you off if you never knew that!

Then you have the pros tell you that the average woman delivers between 38 and 40 weeks. The World Health Organization says 37-42 weeks. What does that mean? It means if you deliver at 38 weeks, congratulations, you carried a baby for exactly nine months! (Remember, subtract roughly two weeks for that pre-conception period.) But if you go over 38 weeks, you go over nine months! Make it to 42 weeks (which rarely happens in our country, by the way) and you've carried a kid for ten months! Nowhere near the gestation period of an elephant--22 months--but still! It's not like there's anything we can do about it; I just feel like the general population should be re-educated to know that a typical pregnancy lasts longer than nine months, that's all.


Unsolicited information
So I'm not really showing yet. I'm supposedly 18 weeks today, and I seem to have a case of a disappearing baby bump (see more on that below). I know from friends with children that once it is readily apparent I'm pregnant, I will get more advice than I ever wanted to hear. And mainly horror stories at that. However, I do have one story I can share that I find pretty funny.

Before we told anyone we were expecting, I had to visit the podiatrist. Note: it's always a good idea to tell your doctors of any kind that you're pregnant. I told my dental hygienist, not thinking dentist appointments affect anything, but they do. You shouldn't have dental x-rays when you're pregnant. Good to know. Anyway, back to the podiatrist. I shared with her I was a few weeks pregnant, so I could no longer take the prescription I had been on for plantar warts. She then congratulates me and asks how I've been feeling. Typical reactions, especially when you're in your first trimester. But it gets better.

I tell her I've been horribly nauseated--24/7. Very little vomiting, but major nausea that never ends. Not bad enough to land me in the hospital because I wasn't dehydrated or unable to keep food down, but just bad enough to keep from doing anything productive. Stop for a moment and think how you would react. I expect many of you would say, "Oh gosh, that's terrible! I'm so sorry!" or something like that. Here's what I got: she proceeds to tell me that she loved being pregnant and felt great with all four of her kids. Really?! She then says, "And I gained about 66 pounds with each baby. It was great! I ate everything!"

I'll let that sink in. Sixty-six pounds?! Not only should you not gain that much weight, but why on earth would you share that story with me after I just told you I've been unable to eat much of anything!

Wait...what can I eat?
Speaking of eating, I went to lunch with my friend Sarah a few weeks ago. During that time I was telling her about the foods I'm not supposed to eat. Things like deli meat, fish with high mercury contents, crab meat, sushi, soft cheeses. Before being pregnant I pretty much knew not to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or do drugs. No brainers. But I had no idea the extent of things I can't eat or should rarely eat, as well as other things to stay away from. Deli meat is a huge thing--I've had nurses tell me none at all, but one of my midwives said, go ahead if it's been thoroughly cooked first and you trust the butcher. Subway? Nope. Local grocery store? After a few months, I'm giving that one a shot. I never thought I would actually want to eat ham sandwiches as much as I do.

Along with deli meats, no hot dogs. No undercooked meat. Man, do I want to eat a hot dog right now! It's not just because of the risk of listeria crossing the placenta, but it's also the nitrates or nitrites or whatever that are in hot dogs and other meats. And I like to eat steak cooked medium. That has to go out the window. I need to become a "well" sort of person now. Boo.

It gets even more complicated. While you have to limit caffeine (not really a problem for me, but I do drink Coke when I feel nauseated. You gotta do what works!) you also have to limit herbal teas or nix them completely. There are some that induce contractions, some that do other weird things. How the heck am I supposed to know? My midwive said, just call us and ask. Yep, I'll be sure to put you on speed dial so each time I enter a coffee shop I'll know what's okay or not. Think I'll be sticking to my hot chocolate, black tea and cider.

Speaking of cider--you can't have unpasteurized things. I had a sip of unpasteurized cider the day before I found this out. And for those of you who know Andrew and I drink raw milk from a farm, I have cut that out, though I really believe in this farm and feel I wouldn't have any problems if I continued.

Other than that, you can't sit in hot tubs, ride bikes, ski, stand on ladders, paint things, on and on and on. And many doctors will say no baths. My midwive just told me I'm fine to do that if I can stick my elbow in the water for 15 seconds. That means the temp is below 100 degrees and fine for bathing. But what if my elbow is just way tougher than yours??

Being pregnant can be complicated.

Because this post is getting long, I'm going to break it into two parts. Check back for the second installment including fun stories of measuring shelves with fruit (what?!) and the case of the disappearing baby bump that I promised.