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I’m past the halfway mark now and looking more pregnant every day. The profuse farting is back and I’m definitely having a hormone surge lately but I feel pretty good otherwise. I had cravings for legumes last week so we had lots of lentils, chickpeas, and cannelini beans. Tonight we’re having bowls of beans and rice. No, the farting isn’t because of the beans. It was actually worse when I didn’t have beans. Pizza was a major culprit. Whoa, look out if I’ve had pizza. I’m sorry Tom. Intense intestinal gas and small B&B rooms don’t mix. I can’t get enough fresh fruits and vegetables. This weekend we ate out a lot and it felt really good to be home, eating the fresh stuff. I had radishes, grapefruit, a banana, and blueberries for breakfast yesterday. Salads are big in our house right now.
I tend to have a little more energy lately. In fact I’m having trouble sleeping every other night. I do a lot of tossing and turning. Six o’clock seems to be my body’s latest favorite wake-up time. Now that a majority of the unpacking is done, I don’t feel quite so stressed. I’ve been painting the baby room and mulching the garden.
Baby is kicking me like crazy. I can feel a few different “techniques.” Sometimes I can feel her pushing out like she’s stretching. Sometimes I feel what must be her doing angel wings in my belly. The kicks are sometimes strong enough to be a little uncomfortable. I know that’s only going to get worse.
We’re loving the new house. I can’t wait til the baby room is painted and we can set up the crib. We need to find a dresser sometime soon. So far baby has a crib and a rug from Ikea, high chair from Marc, a bassinet, bathtub, and an assortment of clothes from Monique. I’ve been dreaming about BOB strollers.
We snuck away from the boxes for the weekend and headed up to the Hood River area of Oregon. We stayed at the Mt Hood Hamlet B&B in Parkdale. It was a lovely, friendly place and since it’s off season, we practically had the place to ourselves. In the mornings I would bring my books to the little sitting room upstairs and watch the quails eat their breakfast with a great view of Mt Hood in the background. Our goal was to do as little as possible and catch up on some sleep but we ended up going out on a few easy excursions anyway. Friday night we ate at Celilo in downtown Hood River. Saturday we went on a little walk at Catherine Creek, then a joyride out to Trout Lake and back. We had some world class pizza at Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River, then a nap, then wine tasting (for Tom, I did a lot of wine sniffing). I had an absolutely insane huckleberry shake at Apple Valley Fruits. We went back to Double Mountain for sandwiches, beer, and music. The music wasn’t up our alley but it was fun to hang out at the bar and just be out in the world.
We put Mississippi in boarding all weekend, thinking we’d actually get some decent sleep for a change, but we ended up missing her all weekend and I couldn’t sleep anyway. We saw a “doggy camp” just up the road from where we were staying so maybe next time we’ll bring her and then we can have hikes together during the day without stressing over her barking all night at a dog friendly hotel. Judging from how difficult it was for her to settle into our new house, I don’t think she’s going to do well sleeping in strange places. She always wants to go ‘home’ to her couch.
When we picked Mississippi up from boarding, she was so happy to see us, she sat in my lap a good part of the way home. She’s never done that, the front passenger seat was a little crowded but I hugged and squeezed her. I know she had a great time at boarding, but we missed each other. It’s getting harder and harder to stand leaving her behind. I wish she was easier to travel with. She’s still so rambunctious and barky. We want to try camping with her, but we know that first night is going to be horrible. She likes to sleep with us but she gets so squirmy, she can’t settle in. She’s so spoiled.
The days of ‘just the two of us’ are long gone. We feel a void when she’s gone so it makes it harder to have fun. Believe me, we still manage to have a good time, but we want her with us. Soon there will be four.
One Year Ago Today
I feel like a bad parent. Mississippi was whining to go outside last night. I got dressed, went downstairs and let her out. She had to go. She came back in and I cuddled with her on the couch for a minute. It took me forever to go back to bed. She woke me up again with more whining at the door. I didn’t want to get up. I made Tom do it. He let her out and I guess she was just sniffing around the backyard, she didn’t appear to have to go to the bathroom. Very frustrating. He brought her back in and came back upstairs. She continued to whine. We turned on the air filter that we use for white noise for her so she doesn’t bark in the middle of the night. We closed our bedroom door. She whined for a while and it finally stopped. I felt like I should have gone down there and spent time with her. But I didn’t. I stayed in bed. This morning I found an accident in the basement. She was really sick to her stomach and clearly in great discomfort. We just ignored her. I feel so terrible today.
She hasn’t been sleeping well in the new house and because of that, we haven’t been sleeping well either. We are cranky and tired. But she’s just a little creature and she’s our responsibility. I feel like I got a big fat “F’ last night. I’m so sorry sweety. I’m still learning.
I think she was so sweet to go have her accident in the basement. She really didn’t want to go in the house. Sometimes I feel like I don’t love her enough. She can be frustrating but she’s also amazing. Gonna go hug her right now.
If I can’t take care of my dog, how am I going to take care of a human baby?
Turns out baby must be reading my blog posts because she kicked the bageezus out of me last night. Big strong kicks, just below the belly button. It was downright freaky. She’s got some legs on her already. Maybe it’s the lentils we had for dinner.
I’ve been feeling really grateful to have a working kitchen back. Having freshly cooked meals using lots of veggies and fruits makes me feel so much better. I just feel like crap when I eat out all the time. I don’t like it. Well, I do like to eat out, I like it a lot, I just don’t like to make a habit of it. I never make good choices, frankly because they aren’t as easy to find as they are in my own kitchen. Plus I’m a sucker for buffalo wings and things like that. At our house, we try to eat both yummy and healthy food. We had lentils and chard last night. The night before that we had caramelized onion quiche and salad. Yum yum. For a few days there I was just eating canned soup for lunch and I missed my fresh produce. I can’t wait for my CSA shares to start up because I’m spending a bundle right now at New Seasons. I try to buy produce on sale but I always seem to spend too much. I can’t resist, I’m like a kid in a candy store. Easter radishes? Sure! Cara Cara Oranges? Fill me up. Oro Blanco grapefruit? You’ve got my number. There is just too much beauty in all that fresh produce. I must have it all, it must be mine.
That said, we’re off to Ikea to enjoy a meatball dinner, then we’re off to the baby department to find us a crib.
Today marks week 20 of my pregnancy with our little Juniper berry. Wow! Halfway! The consensus is that I really look pregnant now. I definitely feel pregnant. I get a few good kicks every day and lots of flutters. I wish there were more, they are so reassuring, but I bet I’ll be sorry I said that. Getting kicked from the inside for several months probably has it’s downsides as well. I had my first embarrassing sneeze-pee. Luckily I was home when it happened. It was a powerful sneeze. I didn’t even have a full bladder. I was completely mortified. My hunger is normal, and now that I’m eating real food, not eating out every night, I’m pooping like a champ. My lower back gets sore if I stand too long and my body gets achy as the day progresses. I definitely don’t feel like doing any jumping jacks or going on a run. But I feel pretty happy. I feel normal too, generally speaking, aside from a big bump in my belly.
We are moved in and about halfway unpacked. Moving was hard. Packing in a 1 story house over several weeks was much easier than unpacking in a 2 story house. And I want to be done, so I’ve been pushing myself too hard. I’m so exhausted and sore but I keep going anyway. We made major progress on the kitchen and my office is starting to take shape. Books are getting unpacked and the tv is set up downstairs in the basement. Someone from Freecycle came and took a boatload of boxes away, that felt so good. We went to the Storables store and got some baskets and nice boxes to help organize our gigantic linen closet. I got myself a very lovely shoe rack and Tom got these great decorative boxes that I’m quite jealous of and I might have to go back and get myself one or two.
Tom has been great with getting us settled in our new house. I’m so ridiculously exhausted right now, it’s not even funny. He’s been lugging boxes up and down stairs, and helping me move my furniture around so I can find the right spot for things. He rearranged the disaster area in the basement where all my painting boxes are stacked up. He’s been really understanding of my lack of energy. Last night I wanted to show him something but it meant going downstairs. When I got down there, I heard him descend to the basement and the idea of following him down there made me want to cry. I just waited for him to come back up. I hate looking around seeing all these boxes. I want so badly to get it all done, when we moved last year, we had everything unpacked and in it’s place in just two weeks. There’s no way that’s going to happen this time. I had really bad back pain last night and my abdominal muscles are exhausted too. Tom says I have to take it easy today. I still want to sneak off to the paint store for the kid’s room.
To all those ladies who are moving while pregnant. I know, it’s the popular thing to do, buying a house or moving to a bigger one while you’re pregnant. Just make sure your partner knows they really need to help with packing and unpacking, and that hiring a mover is essential. Make sure you clearly label your boxes and furniture so you don’t end up with a house full of boxes you can’t move around by yourself. I’m telling you now, you’re going to need at least one nap a day. And you need to drink way more water than you think is necessary. Be ready to be in bed by 9 and take at least one day off from work. More if you can.
We have this great clawfoot bathtub that I was all psyched about. The first bath I took, I realized our water heater, from 1985, barely puts out enough hot water for a bath. I also found out that the overflow drain doesn’t have a tight seal so you can only fill the tub 1/3 full. Yesterday I went to a hardware store and got a rubber ring to seal off the whole drain. It’s dangerous but I love it. I’ll just make sure I never leave the bath running while unattended. How long do you think it’ll take me to have a bathroom flood? Especially once our little Juniper is a toddler and makes me chase her around while trying to run a bath for her? But danger is my middle name and I won’t settle for a wimpy bath.
We got heat last Friday, just before the weather turned wonderful, but I was still so thankful to take the chill of the house. I think we’re going to love our new furnace. I’ll have to write up a nice little review for GreenTech Heating and Cooling when I get a chance. They rocked.
I’ve been getting more and more into books and things about the sad state of maternity care in the United States. I’m reading the book Pushed, which has a similar theme to that of Ricki Lake’s movie The Business of Being Born. Basically c-section rates are sky high and American mothers aren’t having the kinds of births they and their babies deserve. I feel more and more convinced that my choice is the right choice for me and I feel so grateful to the people that started me on this path. I hope that someday women can have births free from unnecessary interventions in hospitals in America, like they get to in so many other countries. But for me, I am so excited about the idea of birthing my child in our home. We are less than 5 minutes from a great hospital and my midwives live very close. I feel like I’m in the best hands possible.
I used to be afraid of labor. I used to believe that episiotomies were necessary. I used to think humans weren’t built to give birth without medical intervention. Now I know labor can take a while and that’s ok, no one has to cut me, I may even be able to avoid tearing altogether, I can hold my baby right after birth, I won’t be under the gun to give birth before they think intervention is necessary. I won’t have to give birth on my back, strapped to a table. Not only am I not afraid, I am excited. I know it’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I welcome the pain and the challenge. Sorry, stepping off my soap box.
Tom is back on his baby reading. He’s reading the Birth Partner cover to cover. I can’t recommend this book enough, whether you are going the midwife or hospital route. You will feel very prepared, more than any class could ever teach you.
Thank you Tom, for being so amazing. I love you.
So guess what? It’s (probably) a girl! We had our big midway ultrasound yesterday and though the ultrasound tech said he always tells people to avoid decorating their baby rooms in all pink, he checked a million times from all kids of angles and it appears we have a cute little girl in my belly. From the ultrasound she kinda looks like the misfits logo. I got some not so great ultrasound photos but my scanner is not working right now. Everything about our little heirloom tomato is measuring perfectly average, so looks like we have a healthy, happy baby. She sure wiggles a lot. There were two other trainees in the room with us so Tom kinda got a bum deal. He could see, but it was crowded.
We moved last weekend and I was beyond exhausted. I got to crying stage of exhaustion and even hit a throwing stage yesterday. Though I refrained from throwing because it wouldn’t have made anything better. Do not underestimate just how effing tired you get when you are pregnant. It’s not a sleepy tired, it’s more like a “I walked 50 miles in the desert with no shoes and without any water” kind of tired. My hips felt stretched out, my back ached, my legs ached, shoulders, head, pinky finger, everything ached. So although I had been doing great on my daily yoga, I had to take a couple days off. And I was all excited about our clawfoot bathtub but I discovered that the overflow drain thing was installed upside down, so you can only fill the tub about a third full. I fixed it and will continue to modify the tub until I can get the water level dangerously all the way to the top. Danger is my middle name you know.
We still have no heat. It’s been warmer this week, but it’s still cold enough that I haven’t wanted to wash my hair or even change my clothes. We are getting closer however and I’m hoping we have heat by Friday afternoon, please oh please oh please. Being pregnant and cold is a bad combination. It downright sucks ass. big, wide, donkey ass.
I’m definitely pregnant now. I can see my profile in the medicine cabinet when I shower and it’s getting kinda shocking. I had to take my rings off, they were getting too tight. My hair is so thick it never dries, hence the shower avoidance. My nails are still thin as ever. Well… maybe they are a little thicker. I have trouble staying up past 10, sometimes 9. My maternity jeans are starting to not fall down as easily. Unfortunately I’ve developed a sweet tooth that I can’t seem to shake. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we haven’t been cooking much this week so my diet has gone downhill. I made a stew yesterday, but cooking in a cold, disorganized kitchen sucks. Plus I had to eat all the muffins and donuts we had leftover from the move. Then the previous owners of our house came by with rice crispy chocolate treats (how nice is that?). There’s just too much sugar around me right now. I need to go back to the grapefruits.
From here on out, I want just a few things to get our lives back in order. I want to get our old house totally cleaned up and the keys picked up. I want heat, so badly! so badly! I want some stuff from the hardware store so I can get my office set up the way I want it. And I want most of the boxes out of our lives. There are lots of other things I want, but if we could just start there, I’d be a happy girl. I also want a crib really really bad. Not for me, for the baby, silly!
OK, trying to hang in there. Trying really hard. Tonight Tom has a show at the Someday Lounge with Summer Ono. Tomorrow we have a vet appointment so that we can take Mississippi to get evaluated at a doggy daycare place nearby on Friday. Saturday is clean up day. Sunday we have visitors, and hopefully we can give the old keys back. It all feels never-ending and exhausting right now.
We’ve lived in Portland Oregon for one whole year now. In that time we’ve gotten a dog, got pregnant and bought a house. We’ve been busy. Do we like Portland? We love it! This move was a really good idea for us. We haven’t looked back. Strangely I don’t miss San Francisco. I still love it and I think it’s a great town, but I don’t miss it. I thought I would. I thought I’d feel homesick, I don’t at all. I just wish that I’d had more time this year to really explore Portland. There is so much more to see, so many more trails to hike, restaurants to try (thought we’ve tried a very large percentage of them), and museums to explore. Looks like pretty soon I’ll be doing a lot of that with a papoose strapped to me.
We move into our new house tomorrow! My shoulder is sore and I’m tired. I’m glad the moving is almost done. i can’t believe how much crap we have. I’m excited about our new neighborhood and our new, old, glorious house. What a find, I really can’t believe it. I got a lot of things on my hose dream list like a porch (two in fact) and a claw foot bathtub. I even have a tool wall where I’ll get to outline my tools. I’ve always wanted to do that.
Thank you Portland, for being so incredibly welcoming over the past year. We love our new town to pieces. And it’s obviously being very good to us.
Now that we’re leaving our old neighborhood near Sellwood, I’m thinking about all the placeing and things I’d wished I’d done more of.
Wish I’d…
- Gone to Mocha Momma’s more often
- went down to the river more often
- Had breakfast at the weird gingerbread looking place on Milwaukie
- Gone to Oak Park
- Had more pizza’s and music at the Muddy Rudder
- Done more karaoke at the Woods
- Gone to the driving range more often
- Gone on a long bike ride down the springwater trail
I’ll miss our neighborhood, I love it in Sellwood, we got really lucky finding our rental house last year when I didn’t know my way around town. But I’m getting more and more enthused about our new neighborhood. North Portland seems to far away, feels like we’re moving to a new town, and that’s an exciting feeling. It’s also exciting that this is going to be our last move for years and years and years.
If you’re in Portland Oregon and you’re looking for a great realtor, I’d like to suggest ours. Benjamin was great throughout our entire house hunting and buying process. He made sure we got pre-approved in the very beginning of our search so that if we found the house of our dreams, we’d be ready to act. He gave us great recommendations for mortgage brokers and home inspectors. One day, while my husband and I were driving around, we came across the house of our dreams, having an open house just three days on the market. We called him that Sunday afternoon to tell him we had found a great house we were interested in. He met us within a hour and a half and went through the house with us. He then called the seller to let her know we were interested and we wrote up a offer that night. He had us write a personal letter to the owners to help increase our chances and I think it really helped. The sellers accepted our offer the next day. I think we were able to get this house because he acted so quickly and was so easy to work with. He was great during negotiations, helped make sure we didn’t wind up with a bunch of repair costs. At closing he brought us flowers that matched the house! And a couple days after we got the keys, he contacted us to make sure everything was going ok.
Besides being a great realtor, he’s also a great guy. We enjoyed spending time with him and totally trusted him. During the process, he made sure we were always kept up to date with the lenders and sellers. Since this was our first house, he gave us tons of information along the way so we understood what was going on. He was great at pointing out potential repairs/improvements and estimated costs for them so that we’d have a rough idea of what we were looking at for time and money.
We were referred to him by friends who gave him a glowing review. I’d like to pass on more glowing recommendations for him.
Thanks Benj!
Benjamin Rice, Broker
GRI, ABR, Earth Advantage Accredited
Windermere Real Estate
Portland Heights Branch
contact info
Lordy, is it 17 weeks already? I’ve been trying to take photos of myself but I keep getting freaked out at the site of my full body. Tom took this pic of just my belly and I think I can handle it.
I feel really big. Actually more accurately, I feel like I look really big. When I look in the mirror I’m kind of shocked at how big my belly is getting. When I’m sans mirror I actually feel pretty normal; I feel a big belly but I doesn’t feel as big as it looks. Sometimes it just feels like I ate a double bacon cheeseburger but then I see my profile and wow! So I had to look on google for more images of ladies at 17 weeks. I discovered that 17 weeks can really differ from person to person but I found plenty of peeps with bellies the size of mine. So I feel better now.
I’m feeling pretty great, there are aches and pains and my body is totally worn out by about 8 o’clock every day, but I’m doing great. I’m learning that being pregnant is all about feeling different sensations, most of them involving some degree of mild to moderate pain and discomfort, but so far the pain isn’t bad, it’s just part of the ride. I feel very accepting of my pain and I’m keeping my body moving so that I can keep it in check… hopefully. Yesterday I had to take a gravity break, so I lied down on the bed for about 20 minutes and after that I felt right as rain… more or less. At one point I made the terrible mistake of leaping out of bed from lying on my back and the pain I felt in my abdomen was similar to a charlie horse except there was no way to “walk it off”. So painful. I won’t do that again. From here on out, it’s all about rolling onto my side to get up. Those abdominal muscles aren’t going to get any major activity other than passive exercise. You won’t be seeing me on any of those abdominizers at the gym. No sirree.
My appetite seems to have leveled out. I’m not starving and I don’t have aversions to food. I feel about the same as I did before I was pregnant, appetite-wise, maybe a little hungrier. I just feel more full after a meal now. I’ve been good about keeping snacks with me. There’s nothing that sucks worse than having a major crash when you’re out in the world with no decent snack options. I turn into a raving lunatic. Not pretty.
Next week we see the midwives and make our ultrasound appointment! I’m so excited. I’ve felt the baby move a few times and at other times I wonder if I’m feeling him/her or if it’s just gas. Can’t wait for more sensations.
I found this great pregnant calendar on alpha mom that describes each week of pregnancy
I’ve decided to join Alison and Meg for a Yoga 90 challenge; in my case 90 days of prenatal yoga. You can follow my progress on yoga90.com
Happy yoga-ing!
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