When I found out I was pregnant, I mentally prepared myself for morning sickness, uncontrollable weight gain, hormone-induced-craziness, enhanced sense of smell, weird and uncontrollable cravings, unfortunate food aversions, swelling and all of the other usual suspects. With the possible exception of craziness (it's not really fair for me to be the objective judge on that one, but I maintain that I'm normal), I have experienced none of these. I will concede that I was more tired than usual, but I'm not even entirely convinced that this was due to pregnancy rather than taking final exams and being a summer associate.
I do however, get all of the weird ("a few women may experience") symptoms. I am apparently one of the few who's sex drive went down instead of up, who's skin became more prone to breakouts, and now this...
I woke up yesterday with the first bloody nose of my life. Back in June, I thought I was getting a sinus infection, and upon googling it, I figured out that it must be Pregnancy Rhinitis. But that went away pretty quickly. This came out of nowhere too. Upon googling "nosebleed pregnancy" I realized I have another apparently common side effect of pregnancy... nosebleeds?! Who would have thought?
Granted, these two things are probably related... but really, how can these be that common if I've never heard of it before?! No wonder pregnant women are always so paranoid!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Home Improvement
PJO (and I, sort of) recently refurbished our bedroom furniture. We didn't want to buy a real bedroom set yet because we can't afford it and we're not living in the place we want to stay long enough to know what to get for a permanent set. So, I thought we could buy cheaper furniture and stain it all to match. He had bought a dresser when we moved out to California two years earlier from this place that is a discount store which makes pretty generic looking stuff from real wood. It's not the best craftsmanship, but so far it seems sturdy and looks decent. Plus, it is very reasonably priced. So I decided to get a dresser and nightstand in a matching style to his dresser.
PJO's dresser was finished in a fairly light stain and I wanted to end up with dark cherry or mahogany stain, so I ordered mine unfinished. That meant that we had to sand down PJO's dresser and then stain all three and put a protective coat on them. Needless to say, it was a lot more work than we anticipated.
Here are my nightstand and dresser before we started, and the little helper (Furious George) who had to crawl in EVERY drawer space after we pulled out the drawer from the dresser.
It ended up taking several coats of stain, plus two (or three? I can't remember) coats of polyurethane. It took a week to dry and even then, we were afraid to put it on the carpet, hence, the cardboard and plastic underneath the furniture once it was on the carpet.
Overall, I'm pretty proud of ourselves! They aren't perfect, but they look pretty good (especially without the light of the flash on them) and we didn't waste a ton of money on furniture that we don't really need. My husband is so handy! ;)
PJO's dresser was finished in a fairly light stain and I wanted to end up with dark cherry or mahogany stain, so I ordered mine unfinished. That meant that we had to sand down PJO's dresser and then stain all three and put a protective coat on them. Needless to say, it was a lot more work than we anticipated.
Here are my nightstand and dresser before we started, and the little helper (Furious George) who had to crawl in EVERY drawer space after we pulled out the drawer from the dresser.
It ended up taking several coats of stain, plus two (or three? I can't remember) coats of polyurethane. It took a week to dry and even then, we were afraid to put it on the carpet, hence, the cardboard and plastic underneath the furniture once it was on the carpet.
Overall, I'm pretty proud of ourselves! They aren't perfect, but they look pretty good (especially without the light of the flash on them) and we didn't waste a ton of money on furniture that we don't really need. My husband is so handy! ;)
Foundation for a Nursery
This past weekend, we finished unpacking the apartment. Well, really we had finished that a while ago, but we had a second bedroom full of all the crap that we couldn't find a place for (or just hadn't tried to put away yet) but couldn't face throwing away. After strategically stuffing the closet in the second bedroom and our bedroom as well as throwing out some stuff, we finally had cleared out the room.
PJO and I were eager to change this room from "useless second bedroom" to nursery. In part, this was because we are excited to set it up and prepare for our baby. (Perhaps in bigger) part, it was because we weren't sure how long we would be able to keep this room clear of clutter.
At Home Depot, we selected a gallon of Fresh Aire paint in the color closest to the nursery theme we settled on, "Endless Rain." From the moment we started taping the walls and putting down the canvas floor covering until we had finished painting, only a few hours had elapsed. It was fun (except for wearing those masks) and I think it turned out pretty well.
It's funny ... I can totally picture the room as a nursery now that it's painted, but I still can't really believe that the nursery will be in OUR apartment, sandwiched right in between OUR bedroom and living room. Surprisingly, I don't feel that much urgency to buy the furniture that will go in the nursery to complete it yet*, but it is really nice to start letting myself get used to the idea that in a matter of months, we're going to have a family in our little apartment!
*This may not be surprising to anyone else; after all, I still have almost 4 months to go until my due date. I'm not saying I'm rational or normal, I'm just saying I'm a type-A planner type who usually likes to do everything as far in advance as possible. I justified painting so early by convincing myself that (a) it's better to do anything involving physical work earlier rather than later, (b) I will have more time for this fun stuff in the beginning of the semester, and (c) it's better to make sure all the fumes from painting have plenty of time to dissipate before a baby is sleeping in that room. There isn't really a similar justification for doing anything further, except possibly to train my cats to stay out of the crib ;)
PJO and I were eager to change this room from "useless second bedroom" to nursery. In part, this was because we are excited to set it up and prepare for our baby. (Perhaps in bigger) part, it was because we weren't sure how long we would be able to keep this room clear of clutter.
At Home Depot, we selected a gallon of Fresh Aire paint in the color closest to the nursery theme we settled on, "Endless Rain." From the moment we started taping the walls and putting down the canvas floor covering until we had finished painting, only a few hours had elapsed. It was fun (except for wearing those masks) and I think it turned out pretty well.
It's funny ... I can totally picture the room as a nursery now that it's painted, but I still can't really believe that the nursery will be in OUR apartment, sandwiched right in between OUR bedroom and living room. Surprisingly, I don't feel that much urgency to buy the furniture that will go in the nursery to complete it yet*, but it is really nice to start letting myself get used to the idea that in a matter of months, we're going to have a family in our little apartment!
*This may not be surprising to anyone else; after all, I still have almost 4 months to go until my due date. I'm not saying I'm rational or normal, I'm just saying I'm a type-A planner type who usually likes to do everything as far in advance as possible. I justified painting so early by convincing myself that (a) it's better to do anything involving physical work earlier rather than later, (b) I will have more time for this fun stuff in the beginning of the semester, and (c) it's better to make sure all the fumes from painting have plenty of time to dissipate before a baby is sleeping in that room. There isn't really a similar justification for doing anything further, except possibly to train my cats to stay out of the crib ;)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Happy Birthday, Google
Today I saw this link on CNN and I suddenly felt both very old and incredibly young in the same instant. Google has now been around for 10 years! I can't really imagine my life without it... I mean, I would be lost without Gmail, google docs, gchat and picasa, not to mention my new-found addiction to blogger. But seriously, what did I do when I had a question, or needed directions, or wanted to find out about a restaurant or salon before I could google it?!
I have vague recollections of "researching" a report in 3rd grade by looking up the listing for "Spain" in my Encyclopedia Britannica set. I also remember thinking that the kids with the CD-ROM version of the Encyclopedia were lucky and that the CD-ROM must have a boundless wealth of information. So, in some ways, I feel like Google has been around forever and therefore I must be old (since I can barely remember life before it). But then I think, my life has been changed this drastically in the past ten years by technology...I was still young enough when Google launched for it to completely shape my formative internet (and college) years, so I must be young and gen-Y. After all, ten years is a relatively short period of time. What will happen ten years from now?! And what will be commonplace for my kids that would just blow my mind today?
I have vague recollections of "researching" a report in 3rd grade by looking up the listing for "Spain" in my Encyclopedia Britannica set. I also remember thinking that the kids with the CD-ROM version of the Encyclopedia were lucky and that the CD-ROM must have a boundless wealth of information. So, in some ways, I feel like Google has been around forever and therefore I must be old (since I can barely remember life before it). But then I think, my life has been changed this drastically in the past ten years by technology...I was still young enough when Google launched for it to completely shape my formative internet (and college) years, so I must be young and gen-Y. After all, ten years is a relatively short period of time. What will happen ten years from now?! And what will be commonplace for my kids that would just blow my mind today?
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Top Ten Things You Can't Do While Pregnant
10. Drink Coffee or caffeine
9. Poop
8. Go on Amusement Park rides (and apparently even catamarans ... I was not supposed to go on the catamaran in Hawaii, but I did not volunteer the fact that I was pregnant)
7. Eat sushi or delicious cheese
6. Take advil or any other effective drug
5. Do pilates (or exercise lying flat on your back)...um, not that I've been to the gym once in the past 4 months, but it sounds good if I'm sad I can't do it...)
4. Sleep comfortably
3. Wear sexy clothes ... or even just NORMAL clothes
2. Go a month without seeing a doctor / go a week without thinking you should call a doctor
1. Drink alcohol (really, I could have made a top ten list of all the different wines, beers and mixed drinks I wish I could drink, but I don't want to sound like a lush)
9. Poop
8. Go on Amusement Park rides (and apparently even catamarans ... I was not supposed to go on the catamaran in Hawaii, but I did not volunteer the fact that I was pregnant)
7. Eat sushi or delicious cheese
6. Take advil or any other effective drug
5. Do pilates (or exercise lying flat on your back)...um, not that I've been to the gym once in the past 4 months, but it sounds good if I'm sad I can't do it...)
4. Sleep comfortably
3. Wear sexy clothes ... or even just NORMAL clothes
2. Go a month without seeing a doctor / go a week without thinking you should call a doctor
1. Drink alcohol (really, I could have made a top ten list of all the different wines, beers and mixed drinks I wish I could drink, but I don't want to sound like a lush)
Friday, September 5, 2008
24 Weeks
Today I am 24 weeks pregnant and I had a doctor's appointment before class ... it was the much-dreaded glucose test. I had heard horror stories about these sickly-sugary liquids that you have to drink on an empty stomach, and fully prepared myself for gagging and an insurmountable crash thereafter. I don't know if the stuff has gotten better, or if my tolerance for sugar is dangerously high, but it wasn't that bad. I had the red/fruit punch flavor, and I refrigerated it prior to drinking. To me, it tasted like a carbonated Hawaiian Punch (are those carbonated?). I got to the doctor's office, they weighed me (I have gained about 9-10 pounds) and they took blood and blood pressure.
Then I met with my doctor. I have no actual complaints (i.e. things that I think are not semi-normal) and had no questions. She asked me if I have been feeling the baby move, and I told her that I have, AND I can actually see him kicking sometimes! (a new development this week). She seemed kind of shocked that I could see it so early, but I have no idea if it's actually early or not. But then she said, "so you're feeling good, not lifting anything too heavy?" Since I was heading to school after, my backpack was in the room at her feet. I looked at it and said "is that heavy?" She pretended to try and pick it up, and then GLARED at me, and said, "MUCH too heavy... You cannot carry that." I really don't think it's heavy, but I am not so stubborn as to continue to carry a backpack (not even that cool anyway) at the risk of having to spend time in the hospital, so I'm going to look into a rolling laptop bag/suitcase this weekend (decidedly less cool than any other option, but then again, I guess being pregnant is not exactly "cool" at law school anyway).
After this, I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! I don't know how I missed this earlier, I guess because I always just had ultrasounds, but it was pretty cool. We heard the heartbeat ("a strong, steady 160 bpm") and she said a few of the noises were the baby kicking. She said, "wow, he IS moving a lot!"
So, the appointment was good. It was my first one without PJO, so I'm sad he didn't get to hear the heartbeat, but I guess with so many appointments in our future left, he'll hear it at some point.
Next on my to-do list is schedule tours of the two hospitals to decide on one for delivery (they're about 4 blocks away from each other, both walking distance from my apartment). I guess we'll sign up for a child birth class too, although that does not sound exciting at all. Supposedly my doctor will talk about finding a pediatrician at the next appointment in 3 weeks, so that will be interesting.
I'm already completely behind my school work... not that I really care, although I probably should. Until now, getting the apartment unpacked and organized has completely consumed all my free time and energy. It took longer than it ever has before because we had to wait for furniture to be delivered so we could put stuff away. But now, everything is done except for the nursery. We might actually paint this weekend to get that out of the way. I don't think we'll get any nursery furniture for a while, but it will be nice to be able to just put stuff in there when we feel like buying it, rather than waiting to paint then. My plan was to be on top of school early, so that when I inevitably stop caring closer to the due date, I will still know SOMETHING for the finals. We'll see if I can pull it together this weekend.
Then I met with my doctor. I have no actual complaints (i.e. things that I think are not semi-normal) and had no questions. She asked me if I have been feeling the baby move, and I told her that I have, AND I can actually see him kicking sometimes! (a new development this week). She seemed kind of shocked that I could see it so early, but I have no idea if it's actually early or not. But then she said, "so you're feeling good, not lifting anything too heavy?" Since I was heading to school after, my backpack was in the room at her feet. I looked at it and said "is that heavy?" She pretended to try and pick it up, and then GLARED at me, and said, "MUCH too heavy... You cannot carry that." I really don't think it's heavy, but I am not so stubborn as to continue to carry a backpack (not even that cool anyway) at the risk of having to spend time in the hospital, so I'm going to look into a rolling laptop bag/suitcase this weekend (decidedly less cool than any other option, but then again, I guess being pregnant is not exactly "cool" at law school anyway).
After this, I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! I don't know how I missed this earlier, I guess because I always just had ultrasounds, but it was pretty cool. We heard the heartbeat ("a strong, steady 160 bpm") and she said a few of the noises were the baby kicking. She said, "wow, he IS moving a lot!"
So, the appointment was good. It was my first one without PJO, so I'm sad he didn't get to hear the heartbeat, but I guess with so many appointments in our future left, he'll hear it at some point.
Next on my to-do list is schedule tours of the two hospitals to decide on one for delivery (they're about 4 blocks away from each other, both walking distance from my apartment). I guess we'll sign up for a child birth class too, although that does not sound exciting at all. Supposedly my doctor will talk about finding a pediatrician at the next appointment in 3 weeks, so that will be interesting.
I'm already completely behind my school work... not that I really care, although I probably should. Until now, getting the apartment unpacked and organized has completely consumed all my free time and energy. It took longer than it ever has before because we had to wait for furniture to be delivered so we could put stuff away. But now, everything is done except for the nursery. We might actually paint this weekend to get that out of the way. I don't think we'll get any nursery furniture for a while, but it will be nice to be able to just put stuff in there when we feel like buying it, rather than waiting to paint then. My plan was to be on top of school early, so that when I inevitably stop caring closer to the due date, I will still know SOMETHING for the finals. We'll see if I can pull it together this weekend.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Anniversary!
Today is our first wedding anniversary! (Yeah, we move fast). It was a great day involving the beach, shopping, brunch with friends and a dinner at the place we ate the night we got engaged. It's weird to think about how much has changed since this time last year, but I'm so glad that everything happened the way it did. I feel so lucky to be married to PJO and for us to be starting our family this year.
The level of love is high tonight!
****
I'm updating these with a couple pictures so that when I look back next year, I'll find them... the first one is of us at dinner.
This is the free anniversary cake that was part of our wedding cake package (which we didn't realize until we called to order it). It's a 6-inch version (well, the same flavor) of our cake (red velvet). We took the obligatory bite of the top layer of our actual cake that had been living in our freezer for a year, but we wanted to remember our wedding cake for how delicious it really was, so we got a new miniature one. It was soooo yummy!
The level of love is high tonight!
****
I'm updating these with a couple pictures so that when I look back next year, I'll find them... the first one is of us at dinner.
This is the free anniversary cake that was part of our wedding cake package (which we didn't realize until we called to order it). It's a 6-inch version (well, the same flavor) of our cake (red velvet). We took the obligatory bite of the top layer of our actual cake that had been living in our freezer for a year, but we wanted to remember our wedding cake for how delicious it really was, so we got a new miniature one. It was soooo yummy!
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