unashamed unabashed outflowing of observations

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I love parties!
I had a fabulous time at my baby shower on Saturday; the best part was seeing and spending time with so many friends and family. Lori, Jenna and Chrissy were fabulous hostesses and I couldn't have imagined a more lovely day. I hear the boys had fun with their video gaming, go carting and laser tagging, too. ;) Getting together with folks at Chrissy and Toby's afterwards made me really homesick for more of that. I love playing games! We never did crack out the karaoke, though, (stupid Guitar Hero!) so maybe next time.

I've been enjoying having lunches with folks and visiting my favorite Austin haunts: Trudy's, Pappadeux's, Austin Diner, Taco Shack, although I will have to start eating something other than queso pretty soon. I only wish Mark had as much leeway and free time as well, but alas, this isn't technically vacation for him, he has to go in to work every day, poor guy. But at least he gets to hang out with friends in the evenings.

It was nice to go to church on Sunday. Davidson unfortunately wasn't preaching, it would've been nice to see him, but the woman who did the service did a nice job and I enjoyed her sermon. My favorite part was the hymns, I knew and belted out all three.

I have been tired a lot of the time while I've been here. It could be all the visiting and activity or the Austin heat. Or, it could just be normal pregnancy stuff. Pregnancy brain has been setting in significantly, too. I got in the wrong car to go home on Saturday night, but to my credit, C and T's minivan looks a lot like our rental car, especially in the dark! But, then I misremembered the time Mickey and I were going to meet for lunch, apparently after having had an extensive conversation about it. Ah well, I can only hope it's temporary...

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: the air conditioner

It's been 3 weeks since I posted, high time to check in.

I am on my dinner break from work right now; they were short today, so I came in at 2:45 instead of 6:00. It worked out well, actually, since it helps me make up some time that I'll lose in Texas--less vacation time I have to take.

I arrive in Austin on Friday 27, and then we return on Friday, July 4th. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family and to celebrating and my baby shower! I'm a lucky ducky.

So, Austin-friends, I would love to make plans to do stuff that Monday-Thursday if you are available. I am free during the day or evening (except for Thursday evening, so far). Drop me an email or call if you want to set up visiting time.

Mark and my anniversary was yesterday and we had a nice evening. Neither of us were organized enough to do the card thing, but we enjoyed each other's company. We went to a steak place called Vaqueros, then saw The Happening, which was just so-so, unfortunately. I'd give it a 3 out of 5. Then we went to the grocery store-- yes, we are an old married couple already, and came home for a couple Friends episodes and Ben and Jerry's chasers. I lovely evening all around.

Well, my break is up, so that's all for now. I'll see a lot of you very soon!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: the clunk of books being checked in

baby love

Tummy time for Olivia.JPG
Originally uploaded by freemanwilliams

I was emailing my sister-in-law Beryl, and I thought it was a good time to check in here on LiveJournal, too.

Mark and I are both home safe and sound after our trip to Florida for the baby shower. Mark did not have good travel karma this time, though. We actually were on different flights there and back because he was coming from Texas after he and Lori had worked on the triplex in Wimberley, and I was coming from California. Then, on the way home, we would save 150.00 if he took a later flight than me, so we decided to do that. But, poor guy, he had delayed flights on both ends, about four hours' worth each time. The important thing is that we both arrived safely.

The baby shower was so fun! Mark's mom, dad, stepmom, and sister came over too, so they got to meet the 20 members of my family that were there. We got sweet gifts, and useful gift cards, and my sister literally gave me a small suitcase full of 0-3 month baby clothes! Excellent!

The pregnancy is going great. Speaking of which, on the flight home, I think I even felt some movement! I am 20 weeks so it'd be about the right time. I didn't consciously notice it the first couple times because it was very subtle, but then once I paid attention to it, it did feel like kicking-- fun!! It's interesting that it really didn't feel like "bubbles" or "fluttering" like people have described to me, but rather like a kick or poke-- except that it didn't hurt at all. Maybe our little one was trying to get my attention. Probably trying to tell me, "We've been sitting on this plane too long, mom, get up and move around!" I hear you, babe.

I am particularly looking forward to having a little girl after spending time with my niece Olivia, who is nearly 4 months right now. She looks so much like Katie did when she was a baby, and, man, is she cute. She literally looks like the little Gerber baby. I am *really* going through withdrawl from holding her, though-- I cried when we had to leave. She's such a doll and I miss her huge, full-face smiles, so big her little eyes close. Katie will fly out with my Aunt Carol and bring her in December, she'll be 11 months old, and I am excited for that. It's just hard when I know how much of her cuteness I will miss along the way.

A few pictures from the trip are up at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freemanwilliams/
with more to come when Mark has time (or when I remind myself how to do it). :)

Well, time to go put away some groceries so they don't go bad. I think I'll also feed the little sprout an apple.

Current Mood: happy

It's a bouncing baby...
...GIRL!!!!

Wheeeee!

Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: air filter

adventures of many kinds
I just got an email from my friend Alix who I stayed with in Spain. She is doing an internship in Costa Rica for an environmental organization. She had a rough start with lost luggage and discovering she's being housed in the middle of a bar-- seriously, a studio apartment in "Stan's Irish Pub," in San José, Costa Rica-- but I think she's excited about the prospect of venturing into the jungle.

She brought to my mind some of my favorite moments from my trip in 1996. I took a horseback ride from Arenal Volcano to Monteverde (in a cloud forest) that was dreamlike and surreal. I wanted to go to Tortuguero, on the east coast, where there are colonies of sea turtles, but never got to go because of a bad storm. Our flight was actually halfway there and we had to turn around. I was bummed at the time, but in retrospect, better safe than sorry, I guess. On the west coast I went to Manuel Antonio National Park, went to the beach, took hikes, and saw howler monkeys, which I found fascinating-- pretty small, but make this disproportionately huge, eerie sound. A small part of me envies her opportunity to play with agoutis, margays and fer de lances (well, okay, not that last one, since I think it's a big ol' poisonous snake), but the larger part of me is done with adventure travel for a while. I've had my share, and am enjoying my creature comforts at this point in my life.

In my current adventure, I'm truckin' right along. Mark and I decided in the end not to have amniocentesis done since it is an invasive procedure and our test results were quite good. I ended up with the risk of a 20 year old, and the doctor assured me that a false negative in the nuchal translucency is rare. I'm in my 5th month and feeling good. I'm more tired than usual, of course, and my allergies seem to be raging, which my sister said happened to her in her pregnancy, but, overall, compared to some women's experiences I've heard about, I'm having a very pleasant pregnancy.

Maternity clothes are definitely more comfortable now, no waistband is a really good thing. Mark has taken a few pictures, but I don't think I am wearing maternity clothes in them, just my bigger regular clothes, and I think I just look chunky. We'll have to get some of me in Florida in my maternity regalia.

So, Mark leaves for Texas today, boo, I will miss him, but I know he needs to go. He and Lori have lots of work to do on the tri-plex their mom lived in-- I don't envy them that cleaning and fixing. Then he'll meet me in Florida for the baby shower! Yea! I can't wait to see little Olivia.

I am stoked today because later we have an ultrasound and I love seeing our little pugilist. We call him/ her that because s/he seems to be a real mover and shaker judging from previous ultrasounds, and the fact that on Tuesday, our doc had to chase her/him around with the Doppler machine to follow the heartbeat. I also can hardly contain myself because, if the baby cooperates and doesn't decide to moon us, we should find out if it's a boy or girl and I can stop this s/he, him/ her business. At first I was feeling like it was a girl, I think because my sister had just had my niece, Olivia, but now I'm thinking of it in terms of being a boy. We'll see how good my intuition is, I guess.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: watering the lawn

I'm experiencing "be careful what you wish for" today: It's 99 degrees outside right now. We don't have air conditioning. I'm pregnant. You do the hot, sweaty math. Actually, I'm not minding it too much yet, I still prefer this to the cold, dark, cave.

To escape the heat I went and got my hair cut at Aveda and since I was early, and my stylist was late, they gave me a complimentary hand massage, very nice. I had also received a coupon for a free perfume based on an essential oil I picked out. I chose #3 from the "Fire Nature." That Nature is supposed to represent power, energy and transformation and it has jasmine, vanilla and cinnamon tones, which are supposed to be soothing and focusing. Sounds good. More importantly, smells really good. ;)

It's official. I can no longer wear my old pants anymore. The gals at Aveda were surprised that I "wasn't showing" for 4 and a half months. What they didn't know is that my pants were holding it all in-- just too tight. And, since my sister gave me her old, really cute, maternity clothes, there's no reason for that. I wore one of the maternity outfits the other day to work and everyone was commenting on my poofy belly-- in a nice way, not in a "makes you want to smack them" way. So, it seems that I am showing if I wear the proper attire.

To try to escape the heat, Mark and I will go out for dinner somewhere and probably a movie, if my energy holds up. Not watching tv, I have no idea what's out, so I think I'll go do some research...

Current Mood: hot but happy
Current Music: Mark on a conference call and lots of fans

Mark will be home soon and we'll be going to Baby Super to look at furniture.

I've been enjoying registering for baby stuff, even though the sheer volume and variety is overwhelming. Consumer Reports online has been helpful.

It's a beautiful (read: hot) day here today, and the warm enters much better in our new rental house than in our old apartment, yea!

Well, back to registering, and trying not to pee my pants every time I sneeze. Damn allergies!

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: birdsong outside (and distant freeway noise)

Request for advice from parents
"The Internet is really, really great..." The song from Avenue Q does not lie! I have missed being connected while we've been moving.

We are in our new rental house and it's so much better than our old apartment, I'm thrilled to say! But more about that later. Right now I have an information request from you parents out there, especially those of you who have had babies recently. You see, I need to register for baby gear this week, and I am completely overwhelmed by it! What do I need? Any advice would be helpful, and much appreciated. Feel free to respond here, or to my yahoo email.

Thanks, buds!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Mamma Mia soundtrack ("Rich Man's World")

the mirror versus the window

I've never done one of these before, it'll be interesting to see the results. Please feel free to go take this quiz about me. Thanks to Ryan for the link.

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Kristen-Marie

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: air filter

Tests you can't study for...
Today we had our second appointment with our OB and everything looks good. No sugar or protein in my urine. Strong heart beat heard through Doppler. We didn't get to see the baby on the ultrasound this time though, bummer, I love that!

As far as tests, I will be 36 at the birth of our baby, so we are having more tests than usual. We had a nuchal translucency test at 12 weeks, and I'm going to have an AFP screening and amniocentesis at 16 weeks. I'm glad to say that our nuchal came back normal.

I'm lucky that tests and blood draws, etc. don't bother me too much, although I have to admit that I'm not thrilled about the amnio procedure (that's one freaking long needle!). Mostly, I just want as much information as possible, and, if there is a problem with the baby, I want to know about it as soon as possible. An added side benefit is that with the amnio, we'll get to know the sex of the baby, which I'm excited to know.

Mark and I signed up for a bunch of "baby classes" through our Hospital and Medical Center. I like going to them, learning about the baby and what's going on with me... Our next one that we're doing is an Infant/ Child CPR class next Saturday. I wasn't very smart about the planning, because that is the weekend after we move (May 1), but, you know, things will get unpacked eventually.

Tonight I'm going over to Harmony Birth to try out their prenatal Whole Birth Yoga. I'm a little concerned about it being a little too "new age," as an acquaintance on a forum mentioned about a yoga class she tried. For example, the women there seemed really against pain meds and hospitals and really pro home birth. Uh, no thanks. I'm not into unnecessary suffering, thank you. But I'm still excited about this class tonight; I'm keeping an open mind and hoping it will focus on the exercise benefits of the yoga practice.

Before my class, Mark and I are dashing over to our new rental house and measuring rooms to plan where we will put things when we move there, should be fun. We found out that they are replacing a faucet in the bathroom because it leaked. And maybe replacing the faucet in the kitchen, although Mark said her English was less than clear on the message. It does seem that we are getting new marble countertops in the kitchen which, "your wife will really like." Geez, sexist--not the one who does the cooking! Although I might find them easier to clean and so maybe she'll be right from that perspective. :)

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: ticking clocks

So, good news: we received the combined results from the nuchal-translucency test on Saturday (combination of the neck fold measure, blood test, my age, weight, angle of the moon etc.-- just kidding about that last one ;) ) and it was normal and "within parameters." Since this is not a diagnostic test, but merely a determination of risk factor potential, we may still decide to go ahead and have an amnio. (I'll be 36 at the baby's birth.) Still, I was happy to here that things look normal, anyway.

I told my boss at work on Friday, but asked her to keep it to herself until we got the full results back. Now others can know at work. That'll be interesting. My boss was cool, she just reminded me not to lift anything too heavy. She seemed surprised to hear I was pregnant because she said I'd just been my same old energetic self. Yes, I saved the crashing for when I got home. ;)

In about 15 minutes I'm heading to Mountain View for a prenatal aerobics class; I have two more classes for free, then I'll have to decide if I want to join. I'll only be able to go on Mondays, because of a prenatal yoga class I signed up for on Wednesdays, so it will work out to about 8.00 per class, which isn't that bad for around here. The going rate for yoga classes seems to be about 15.00/ class. I may do it if I like the instructor today-- she's the regular instructor who's been on vacation.

It would certainly benefit me to do some moving, my eating has been hit and miss lately. This weekend the stars were macaroni and cheese, pancakes, and ice cream (twice). I did manage to get milk, oj, veggie juice and an apple in there, so the fruit and vegetable department was not completely unrepresented, and of course, there is always the goodness of the prenatal vitamin, but improvements should be made.

I'm meeting a friend for lunch in Sunnyvale after class, so we'll see if maybe I can convince myself to order a salad...

Current Mood: just a little nauseous
Current Music: hum of the MacBook fan

As per Jenna:
One word
Not as easy as you might think. Remember: one word answers.
1. Where is your mobile phone? purse
2. Your significant other? kitchen
3. Your hair? red
4. Your mother? loving
5. Your father? learning
6. Your favorite thing? marriage
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? martini
9. Your dream/goal? harmony
10. The room you're in? bedroom
11. Your ex? kind
12. Your fear? alone
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Austin
14. Where were you last night? work
15. What you're not? famous
16. Muffins? chocolate
17. One of your wish list items? house
18. Where you grew up? Minnesota
19. The last thing you did? dressed
20. What are you wearing? jeans
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? remembered
23. Your computer? iBook
24. Your life? changing
25. Your mood? interested
26. Missing someone? many
27. Your car? trusty
28. Something you're not wearing? makeup
29. Favorite Store? none
30. Your summer? visiting
31. Like someone? love
32. Your favorite color? blue
33. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
34. Last time you cried? Tuesday

After working at the library today, I have an interview with a company for another part-time job. It's an internet startup. I was contacted by the temp agency I applied with a year ago! (They do take their time, I guess, I had completely written them off when I didn't hear a thing.)

I was upfront with the CEO about my pregnancy, only wanting to work until October, and the three weeks we hope to be traveling this summer (Florida, Texas, Minnesota), and he still wants an interview.

I'm in a weird position in which I'm not sure I want the job. After all, I finally got through a block and found a couple prenatal exercise groups where I hope to meet some other moms-to-be, and this would likely take up that time.

On the other hand, I usually do better when I stay busy, and the money is good. It's more per hour than I get at the library.

I'm also nervous if I will be able to perform the job. It's been a long time since I've had an Administrative Assistant and my computer skills are lacking (beside Word, basically).

But, I decided it doesn't hurt to go find out more about it. The money would be so welcome, especially with our ridiculous jump in rent starting in May and the travel this summer... Maybe I will be qualified and it will be fascinating...

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Mark making breakfast, yum!

Ode to Slumber
I love lolling around in bed reading, daydreaming, whatever. And I love to sleep. Love it. And I seem to function best with a lot of it, like 8 to 10 hours a night.

Last night I got 10 hours of sleep and it was glorious! I went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 6:30am for the bathroom, but was actually able to go back to sleep this time until 8:30. Heaven. Thankfully, the having to get up to pee every 2 hours at night seems to have run it's course. For now. They say it comes back with a vengeance in the third trimester. I wish sleep could be charged up to use for later. I know we'll be in a deficit after the baby comes.

I often have wished that time worked this same way. Stuck at a red light when you're late for work? No problem, you had 30 minutes to spare last time, so we'll stop time to make up the difference today.

Current Mood: refreshed
Current Music: the air filter

So, we have to wait a week for the blood test portion of the Nuchal Translucency test, but the doctor said the neck fold analysis looked good. The measurement should be under 2.5 (millimeters?) and our little pugilist's was 1.2.

We bought the DVD of the procedure and boy, the little girl/ guy was boppin' around. Apparently s/he wasn't fully cooperating, though, because the ultrasound tech had to bounce the wand on my tummy several times to get the baby to change position. I made a comment like, "Oh, he or she isn't cooperating, I guess," and the tech who was an Indian man with a very sweet demeanor, said, "oh no, this is a very good baby." I'm sure that they are trained to death on "don't say anything that could be remotely conceived as alarming to the nice pregnant couple."

One scary bit is that I almost passed out during the finger prick, which is really weird, because I used to give plasma and had no problem with that. Mark thinks it's because I was nervous and also that I was picking up on the tech's inexperience. Honestly, she did seem a little green. She had to prick two different fingers to get enough blood, but I think I have bad circulation in my hands and feet (these are constantly freezing), so it wasn't entirely her fault.

Anyway, I grew worried when I started to feel nauseous and really hot and sweaty (the room was really cold); I really knew I was in trouble when I saw stars at the edge of my vision and the nurse's voice started fading away and seeming more and more distant. It was really disconcerting! I've only ever experienced the almost fainting thing once before, after I overdid it in a weightlifting class, and I don't like the feeling. Anyway, I told them how I was feeling (the nurse and Mark) and Mark took great care of me. I'm so glad he was there!

Speaking of Marky coolness, he made the most delicious dessert tonight, a peanut butter, chocolate mousse. I licked the bowl. Literally. Yum!

Current Mood: content
Current Music: nothing

We have our nuchal translucency test in about an hour. I had bad dreams about baby stuff last night so I think I'm nervous about it, even thought I didn't consciously feel like I was. So I will be relieved when it's over. At any rate, I am excited to see our little pugilist (the baby) again on the ultrasound.

If we get a happy answer from this test today, I plan to tell my manager at work about the pregnancy. I'm curious to see how she'll react. She shouldn't be too worried, I think, as I feel that my work standard hasn't changed at all since I've become pregnant. I've been so lucky with feeling pretty good most of the time, and I keep picking up extra hours, so, so far anyway, not much of a change. We'll see how it goes.

I'm pretty excited for people to know I'm pregnant and not getting chubby.

On another note, Mark and I went to a San Jose Giants (A division baseball team) game last night with our friend Don and had a lot of fun! The Giants lost, but the fireworks after were beautiful.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: Mark's shower water

I've started taking the counselor's, and several good friends', advice and am looking into pregnancy groups and pregnancy yoga classes around here. From my Google and Goodsearches, I haven't found a whole lot yet. I'm sure they exist, it's just, not knowing the area well yet, I'm not sure where to start looking. I'm going to keep at it.

I've found a Meet-Up group that sounds perfect, but unfortunately it's in San Francisco. There are several people on that site who have said they are interested in a pregnancy group if someone else takes the reins, so if I get desperate enough, I guess I could organize it... Another promising group is called Las Madres that my friend Kathryn told me about, but I think that's just for after the baby's born, I'm going to investigate further, though.

Mark and I are attending our first "baby" class tonight at the hospital, "Early Pregnancy," it's called. My hope is that I might make a connection there, but it's just a one-time class, so I'm not sure how much we'll get to know people, but it's a start.

On the house front, we bit the bullet and signed on the rental house in San Jose. It's frustrating (and insane) to me that we will have a 600.00 jump in rent a month-- I'm not kidding-- but for a three bedroom stand-alone rental house in a decent neighborhood, that seems to be what it took. It's a mixed bag, the kitchen is old (but at least does have fridge, micro and dishwasher) and it has wood floors (which I know a lot of people like, but I prefer carpet), but I am so thrilled to have sunlight enter my home for the first time in a year and a half. Yes! Our lease there starts May 1st. We've already gotten a few boxes from U-haul (geez those are expensive!) and have started packing knick-knacks and books.

Yesterday Mark helped me go through my clothes and weed out the ones that don't fit anymore. I'm pleased to say that we both survived that process. I haven't had to go get maternity clothes yet, but I think it's going to be soon, especially for pants, I'm down to four pairs that pretty much fit. ;) Moms out there, do you remember at what point you made your first trek into maternity wear-land.

We have the nuchal-translucency test on Friday, and I'm anxious to get the results back from that. Assuming it comes back negative, which means there's a 95% chance the baby does not have Downs and a few other diseases, I'll tell folks at work. I'm looking forward to them knowing, but a little nervous for their reaction, after all, I was only hired in August, around 7 months ago. But, you can't stop your life for your job, right?

Mark and I watched Anne of Green Gables, the Sequel last night. Well, I watched and he worked on his computer and pretty much watched. I love that series. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's sort of like a Canadian Little House on the Prairie. I cry every time I see it. I'm such an old softy.

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: tree trimmers outside

sour-licious
I just made some incredibly sour lemon-orange juice from some lemons that were free at Mark's work, and some oranges we'd bought that were really too sour to eat. It's oddly delicious. Maybe it's a pregnancy thing; I'll get Mark's opinion when he gets home. 'Course I suspect what's making it taste good is the hefty helping of sugar I put into it to make it palatable.

Meeting with the counselor was so-so, she didn't really tell me anything that I don't already know, i.e., since it'll probably be a while (at least a year-ish) if ever, that we get back to Austin, I need to find a way to be happy here. Yeah, great, tell a depressed person, "be happy!", that's a great solution. No, seriously, to be fair, she did give me some ideas of resources, works by Pema Chodron and Deepak Chopra, and ideas, searching out a pregnancy support group and classes as a way to meet people. So far the book by Deepak Chopra (The Book of Secrets) is really turning me off; way too new-agey for me and I just don't get his language. As for the mom's group idea, I'm going to go do a search right after I finish this post.

On the apartment front, it looks like we got it and will sign the lease tomorrow. That's exciting, but the part of me that always has a hard time making decisions is really wobbly-kneed right now. Maybe I'll go check Craig's List and see if any new posting have shown up... ;)

On a bright note, today was nice and sunny and warmer (68). Can't wait to see even higher temps.

Current Mood: pensive
Current Music: next door neighbor's laugh

Mark and I are getting together our particulars to apply for a rental house. It's more than we want to pay, and quite a jump from what we're paying now, but not moving is not an option, and I think we could be happy there. We're going to try to negotiate the price a little down slightly, we'll see how that goes...

I have been so tired lately, the third month has definitely been the more fatigued-filled. My friend asked me to go to a museum in Santa Clara yesterday and I really wanted to, but there was just no way. I ended up going home (we had been out viewing the house), falling asleep immediately, and sleeping for 2 1/2 hours. Crazy. I'm just so grateful that I work part-time and have the flexibility to do it.

Current Mood: nervous
Current Music: the air filter we use to drown out the 7-11 noise

It's official!
Well, it's official; there's a baby in there!! And it is just one baby, despite my dreams of late. Mark is going to scan and post the ultrasound pics on our Flickr account later. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/freemanwilliams/)

So, Mark and I went to my first OB appointment today

( to continue the saga of OB visit number 1, click here! )

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: booming base from 7-11, grrr!