Arts and Crafts

You'd think with as much going on as there is, I would be blogging more about my recent adventures. Sadly, no. While waiting for the new baby has been interesting, it would be really boring to be constantly writing, "well, I gained another 4 pounds this week, and I lost the ability to see the drawstrings on my pants!" My sister suggested that I blog about what we've been doing to get ready for baby, so I guess I'll do a little of that.
Darren and I have actually not purchased one single item for the kiddo. We were given the crib and changing table by a friend, and most of the rest of stuff came from family and friends at my baby shower a few weeks ago. Since we figure we'll be buying a ton later on, we decided that we would each first make something for the baby. Darren had actually planned a long time ago what he was going to do if we found out we were having a boy. He planned and plotted and finally went out and spent a decent amount on supplies. He spent several hours working on it at the dining room table. Trust me, the final result is awesome. Did I not mention what "it" is? Too bad, you'll have to wait.
As for me, I was going to fall back on my old stand-by of making a cross-stitch sampler. I made one for Laura's baby and I was just going to use the same pattern. Then my mom mentioned she was making one and I lost all momentum for that. I think I'm going to end up making a Christmas stocking, but I haven't ruled anything out. Any suggestions? Can I make anything neat out of unused orthopaedic implants?
The nurserice/officery seems to be coming along. We're planning on leaving the desk in the room (mostly because we have no where else to put it), but the bookshelf and cds have already been moved. My in-laws are coming in tomorrow to move the bed and file cabinets and start setting up the baby furniture. The room is already yellow, so we'll just leave that as-is.
Other than that, things are pretty much normal. Work is work, but not too stressful for me right now. My doctors appointments have gone on without any problems and the baby is healthy. I do hate the heat, though. I thought it was one of those wimpy mom-to-be things that they were always hot, but trust me, I am always hot. I also laugh at the wimpy mom exercises in my books. For example: sit in a chair and lift one leg up into the air and then lower it back down. Repeat 5 or 6 times. If you get tired, take a break in the middle (slightly exaggerated, but only slightly). Seriously? Is there a version where I can strap 60 pounds on my ankles to make it interesting?
Alright, enough rambling. I think I'm going to turn the air conditioner down a few more degrees and take a nap.

Life after cable

When Darren and I first got married, we didn't get cable for nearly two years. I was finishing med school, he was finishing his Master's, and we didn't have a ton of money (which hasn't changed). So instead of mind-numbing cable shows, we played cards, played all the Simpsons games on PS2 (Road Rage is fantastic, btw), and watched our favorite shows on DVD. Our parents also loved it because we would come visit whenever we wanted to watch a sporting event on ESPN.
With the coming of the new baby, we have once again decided to cut some costs and eliminate junk such as cable. With Comcast now getting close to $90 a month for basic service, we decided to get rid of it completely. We also switched to DSL to save a few bucks. We bought a TiVo and an HD antenna to continue to be able to record our favorite shows (Lost, 30 Rock, um, and well, Pushing Daisies got cancelled, um, maybe something good will start this fall). We're still working out the kinks with the antenna (we share two walls with neighbors), but I'm hoping we'll have all the broadcast channels soon. We're also getting NetFlix so we can rent the 10 movies I don't have on DVD.
I spent the weekend reading and playing Wii, and I started to remember the good old days before I wasted time with things like Jon and Kate plus 8. Darren is working on a project for the baby, and I'll start my own soon. Here's to well-spent free time!

Nesting

In an attempt to prepare the house for the arrival of el bebe, we have finally cleaned our basement. Max was a notoriously destructive doggy, and our basement paid the price. Most of the junk was just shredded cardboard, but there were also some broken fluorescent bulbs and eaten electronics. No problem.
The disturbing thing was that we found a dead bird. An actual, skeletonized, decayed bird, in the basement! Clearly, we need to clean more often (and seal any cracks).

Baby Boy!

Despite every gut feeling I had and everyone's guess, we are having a boy. Darren claims to be genetically YY, so this was an eventuality anyway. We are registering for baby stuff later today, and I have no idea what kind of stuff a baby needs. Darren spent an obscene amount of time researching strollers, finding this perfect model that weighs 17 pounds and folds down to the size of a ham sandwich. I started re-reading Harry Potter (and if you've ever accidentally picked one up, you always end up reading the whole tome).
My last OB visit went well; I managed to only gain 3 pounds this time for a total of 15 (actually closer to 18). I've had to quit riding my bike because 1) bending over for that long results in fists of fury from below and 2) my hands go completely numb from carpal and cubital tunnel compression. Swimming is still fine, but I feel like a breaching whale doing backstroke or trying a flipturn (still faster than douchebag frat boy next to me).
Here's some pics!

legs

arm

As of today, 22 weeks, 2 days

Philly Hexathlon 2009

I wanted to try and do one triathlon while pregnant, and so I did. While I wasn't going for time or speed, I did want to at least go out and do a pretty good job. I think I saw one or two other women who appeared to be in about the same state as I was. Darren even made me an iron-on shirt that had my theme of Hexathlon (triathlon for two) on it. Because of the extra weight gain, I bumped myself into the Athena class (that's 150lbs plus, no age groups) to try and make myself slow down (I hate losing to people in my own class). It was a gorgeous day, clear with a water temp of 74 and air temp just under 80. Darren and T came to watch, along with Anne Marie's dad. By the way, her dad said he would make fun of her if she lost to a pregnant chick. Commence with the taunting (I beat her by about a minute)!

Swim: 0.9K, 16:06
Two seconds faster than this race last year! Started out pretty well, swallowed a half-gallon of Schuylkill about 200 yards in and had to stop for a few seconds. I recovered fine and finished the swim in a respectful time. You will not see pics of this because I am too chubby.

T1: 3:18
Took my sweet time, got some water, threw on a shirt, and started the bike.

Bike: 57:41, 15.5 mph
Again, although it hurts my ever-competitive soul, I took my time and tried to just keep a nice effort up. I skipped wearing my bike gloves in order to save time, and instead my carpal tunnel got so compressed in my left hand that I couldn't shift about 15 miles in. My thumb and index finger were completely numb.

T2: 2:25
More water, more gatorade, slipped the running shoes on.

Run: 32:40, 10:30 min/mile
Because of the lecture I got at my 16 week OB appointment, I was wearing my heart rate monitor for the run and bike. During the bike, I kept my heart rate around 170 and tried really hard to keep it under that. However, during the run, I went off the charts. I kept having to stop and walk because I was getting up in the upper 180's, even though I didn't feel all that tired. Ugh. But I know I have better things to worry about.

Total: 1:52:12, six minutes faster than last year (with a broken leg)! I came in 5th in the Athena division, which is fine with me.


Although I didn't break any PRs or win my division, I'm completely happy that I was able to finish in a respectable time (and 20 weeks pregnant). I'm hoping to sign up for the Olympic distance next year, but we'll see what happens after the baby is born. No more tri's this year!

Baby Updates

Everything is going great so far with the baby. I followed in my mom and sister's footsteps and had zero morning sickness or other first trimester problems. I did have some shortness of breath, but that resolved several weeks ago. At the present, my friend Anne Marie and I are training sorta hard for the Philly Triathlon this weekend. I say sorta hard because obviously I can't go bonkers and train 3 hours all out in the heat in my condition. We usually ride for about an hour or so and then maybe do a quick half-hour run. Which brings me to my first story of the blog.
At my last OB visit, my weight was up 10lbs from my visit 5 weeks earlier. Oops. Besides the fact that I ate a gigantic lunch that day and was eating starburst and coke in the exam room, I had also just gotten back from my sister's wedding. Presto Fatso! No problem, I told the nurse practitioner, I'm training for a triathlon and the weight will hold steady there. You would have thought I had told her I was taking up competitive smoking and drinking. I explained to her that I was taking it more easily than usual, but she didn't seem reassured. She then told me I shouldn't get my heart rate above 140 while pregnant. I didn't ask where the random number came from, I just told her I would try.
Being a good patient, I went out and bought a heart rate monitor. Now, I have used a lot of cardio equipment that records heart rate, and I am a friggin' hummingbird when exercising. While biking and running, I can get into the 170's with just minor effort (this is in addition to my non-pregnant resting heart rate of 55-60). So I took my little heart rate monitor out for a quick run. As soon as I got going, BAM!, 163 bpm. Okay, I'll jog slower. Only down to 158. Huh. So I started walking. Within 10 seconds of walking, I was down in the low 120's. I bounced around for about 20 minutes of walking and running with the same results: no form of exercise that I do keeps me in the 140s (maybe swimming). Which made me think, if I can do moderate exercise with a pulse in the 150-160s and still be able to carry on a conversation, I can't possibly be shunting blood from the uterus (otherwise, the lungs would be compromised too). So, screw the arbitrary 140 limit, I'm doing what I know I can handle without too much effort. Besides, everything I've ever read on pregnancy and exercise mentions that it's good for the baby as long as you don't overdo it and try to run a marathon or something.
In other news, my big ultrasound is scheduled for next Tuesday (6/30). That's when we find out baby's sex and, more importantly, if everything is going ok (I had no genetic testing or triple screens performed). Just scheduling the ultrasound reminded me how much HMOs suck and I won't go into details here (shocking as that is).
Currently: 19 weeks, 3 days (6/21/09) and with no more nights spent in the hospital for call!

Good Dog

I love dogs. My favorite books and movies as a kid were about dogs and their undying devotion to their owners (Where the Red Fern Grows was my favorite book for years). So when Darren and I got married 7 years ago, our first gift to ourselves was a rescue dog named Max. We had gone to the Humane Society in Louisville in search of a great big dog to bring home, but after looking around, we were struck by this cute little beige dog that would just watch people go by, with none of the anxious yipping and barking of the others. He just watched and wagged his curled tail. During his, uh, audition for us, he immediately went outside to the lawn and rolled over. He did this for about a full minute before he decided it was time to pay attention to us. We took him home and kept the name of Max.


Max had been given up by his previous owners at the age of five due to his massive anxiety issues. He was the most awesome chill dog when people were around, but would go absolutely bonkers when he was scared and people weren't around. We went through several kennels, couches, and rooms of carpet over the past seven years. He also went to the doggy shrink and was placed on sedatives, but we hated the side effects and gave those up.

About six months ago, I noticed that Max was having trouble getting up the stairs. He kept getting weaker and weaker until he could barely stand for any length of time. He had also gotten extremely thin, dropping from his adult weight of 42 lbs to 28 yesterday. As with humans, their are very few options available for the treatment of spine disorders. So with heavy hearts, we said goodbye to Max, two days shy of our 7th wedding anniversary. I'll miss our walks, his openness to wear any stupid thing I would put him in, and his big brown eyes and curly tail. Goodbye buddy.


Also see Darren's blog.