Charlie is Here!

Everyone is happy and healthy... and busy and tired, 

so I'll have to tell you about it later, but here is a look at our little man.

3 Weeks to go!

Really, it's 2 weeks and 6 days now. I know this because I check my What to Expect iPhone app everyday, not because I mentally keep track that well. But every time I say it that way, someone says, "Oh, your counting the days!" Of course I'm counting the days until the person living in my torso decides to not live in my torso anymore.

Our Anniversary
After Preston and I had dated for a week, he sent me a half dozen roses with a card that read "Thanks for a wonderful week." We were in college and my roommates answered the door and accepted the delivery for me. They opened the card and then snuck into my room and put the flowers on my bedside table while I was sleeping. So I woke up to those flowers and that card. It was a very sweet moment. So every time Preston sends me flowers, he writes something like that on the card. He also bought two japanese maple trees for our backyard. I bought him a flashlight. And before you think me a bad gift giver, remember that I am also making him a person.

Pre Labor
Pre Labor has begun! What does this mean? It means that "things" have started, a whole list of things, and that real labor could happen any minute... or in three weeks on our due date. It also means that my body is the topic of casual conversation, with questions like "Are you dilated?" and "How effaced are you?" at top priority. These are both nice ways to say, "So... tell me about your cervix?"

These conversations happened...
Pres: What are you laughing at?
Me: Just this facebook picture of skinny smiling pregnant people that are still happy to be pregnant.

Kroger check out lady: How much longer do you have?
Me: Ooooh God.
Pres: A couple weeks
Me: Feels like a couple hours

My Onlineness

I have an internet friend. Her name is Stephanie. I'm glad we met in the era of blogs and social networks, otherwise we would be listening to that AOL dial up tone and spending lots of minutes on IM and lots of our parents dollars on "internet time."

Stephanie just wrote a really fun post about what she does online - favorite sites, blogs, etc. I thought it was really fun, and my response was too long to put in her comments, so I'm writing my own. 

It would be really interesting (to me, at least) to compare lists of what I look at online from pre pregnancy, during pregnancy and post pregnancy. I know it would all be drastically different post pregnancy and will mostly be parenting blogs and how to not traumatize my child websites.

Pre Pregnancy: 

Dailymile: to log my workouts. It's like if everyone on facebook only wrote about working out, and then was really excited and motivating about everyone else's work out post. This is also where I met Stephanie!

Facebook: to check in on friends, but mostly to communicate with the students that work in my office

Gmail: obvious reasons

Google Reader: To check in on those people that refuse to use Blogger because it's not as good as fill in the blank

Blogger: to check in on friends and family

swimplan.com: To create unique swim workouts, because it is so tempting to just do the same, comfortable workouts every time.

trifind.com: An online database of distance races that can be organized by city, state and date.

National Geographic: to look at cool pictures and read articles I didn't know would interest me. 

Trip Advisor: Travel Forums. Nuf Said.

Pinterest: Mostly to waste time

Google Searches: triathlon advice, workouts for specific muscle groups, Adobe creative suite tutorials, fiction writing advice

During Pregnancy:

Facebook, Gmail, Blogger, Pinterest and ABC for TV show watching. Yes. It's a short list and if you're on it, well, then it's lonely at the top, my friends, it's lonely at the top.

Google searches: cankles, how to reduce swelling, how to get rid of heartburn, what medicine can I take?, baby names

My favorite way to waste time online is to do a random Google Image search, like for sharks, or cupcakes, or swimming animals or animated commercials. Try it, you might find something awesome.

3 weeks and 6 days to go!

I'm feeling...
Braxton Hicks contractions - They're not fun and exciting anymore! And Charlie has started a new movement where he pushes out to the sides. He's practicing his flip turns.

I'm not driving anymore. I had a few contractions while driving and it was scary! Also, my hands really tingle when I hold the steering wheel and it's hard to look to the sides and behind me. Thankfully Preston likes me enough to drive me around town.

I keep thinking...
I don't want to be pregnant anymore. The reason they don't tell you pregnancy last 10 months instead of 9 is that they don't want you to know about what happens during the tenth month. And I'm not telling.

Nursing tanks are just like those shelf bra tanks that skinny, small-boobed people can wear, except they're for big-boobed people. Why doesn't anyone make them is regular sizes?

Cravings?
Strawberry flavored cake and cupcakes with some kind of icing. If I could eat only that, I would.

Awkward Moments
Last night at our childbirth class, this conversation happened.
Me (Whisper): Pres, didn't you go to high school with the nurse teaching this class tonight?
Pres (without looking): No.
Nurse: Oh, hi Preston!
Pres: Oh, Hi!
Nurse, later, during the class: I'm not going to tell you all how old my oldest child is because it makes me feel old. I just realized I was old the other day, and I didn't like it.
Pres: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing... when I saw you... about myself... I felt old too when I saw you were teaching the class.
Nurse: ... Yeah.

I wish I would have...

There are a few things I'm glad I did during pregnancy, like taking the initiative to hire a trainer when I knew I wouldn't be motivated to workout and staying in touch with my friends rather than isolate myself in a pregnancy hole for nine months. But now that I'm nearing the end at 36 weeks, there are a few things I wish I would have tried to do differently.

Taken maternity photos during the second trimester
Around the fifth month, I decided I wanted maternity photos. I also decided to take them around 9 months to get the "full effect." This is a bad decision. First, I now know that I don't want to document the "full effect." I'm swollen up like a puffer fish so the cute maternity clothes I've worn for the past 7 months don't fit anymore. My hands are numb from swelling so I can't really style my hair, apply make up, pluck my eye brows or paint my nails or any other grooming activities you might do for a portrait. It's harder to move around because my knees, calves, ankles and feet will swell into one giant cylinder and I'll start having Braxton hicks contractions if I get tired, and they aren't the "Oh, look! I think was a Braxton hicks contraction. How exciting!" kind. They're the "So that's my breath out word" kind. And Carla, my extra chin, is much more prominent than she was in the second trimester. My aunt managed to snap a few good pictures of Preston and I last weekend, and I'm really thankful they turned out well. But if there is a next time, I'll be sure to do pictures during the second trimester.

Returned the maternity clothes that were too big
When I bought maternity clothes at 3 months, and they were too big but still really cute, I kept them, thinking I would wear them in the third trimester. Some of them were on sale and only cost maybe eight dollars, so no big deal. But a few were nicer shirts that I loved, and were thirty or forty dollars. And guess what? They're still too big. I also did this with some pants and jeans. You couldn't pay me to wear pants or jeans right now. I will only wear maternity yoga pants, dresses and a lose cotton skirt. So I don't really need the pants either. If there's a next time, I'll return those items or exchange them for the smaller size to wear at the time of purchase if I can't live without.

Requested that baby showers be held during the second trimester
I've always heard and thought that baby showers should be held as late as possible. I enjoyed all three of my showers and I am really thankful that I have friends and family that want to celebrate with me and Preston. But I remember worrying about swelling in my feet and being extremely tired after two showers at seven months, and during the shower at nine months, I had trouble opening gifts because my hands were numb and I was soaked in sweat. My swollen cylinder legs have taken two days to get back to almost normal and I woke up the next morning with my first ever pair of bags under my eyes (I only thought I had experience puffy eyes before - I was so wrong). Also, the sooner the showers, the more time you have to figure out what you still need to purchase. I wouldn't trade my showers for anything, but if you are given a choice, choose second trimester!

Maintained a few health measures
Everyone says this one, but I really do think I would be more comfortable right now if I had started out at a lower weight. There were some unavoidable health issues that caused me to gain weight right before we got pregnant, and I was more concerned with getting pregnant as soon as possible than getting back to a manageable weight before I got pregnant. I felt confident that I was at a manageable weight at the beginning, but not now. If there is a next time, a manageable starting weight will be a main focus for me. Also, I would have used a nasal rinse EVERY DAY, regardless if I was sick or had an allergy issue. I would also take an antihistamine starting in February, before the attack of the pollen, to prevent the crazy cold/infection I got mid March, as long as the doctor okayed it. Better yet, I wouldn't have messed up my allergy shots in the first month, because you can take them while pregnant unless you mess up the schedule. Then I might not have gotten sick at all!