First Prenatal Visit: there is a heartbeat!

I like the midwife office I picked more and more. They are so low-key and relaxed. I was NOT relaxed on account of being late.

The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe came to the appointment. He acted totally disinterested at first, but he also liked the midwife so once she came in he was friendlier. He was also so cute, reading all the materials we were given by the nurses.

She felt up my uterus and my boobs, but then the fun part (that wasn't fun? No, no it wasn't, thanks though) was hearing the baby on the doppler.

I learned there is lots of static in my abdomen! And there is also a mouse. The midwife said the heartbeat was at 160-170 beats per minute. If I was more on the ball, I would have thought of a piece with that beat and tried it out to see if it fit - have a gauge for myself. :) Tip for you when it is your turn. :)

It kinda freaked me out. It was the proof that yes, there is something in there. Woah.

Afterwards we talked about it together. THCSITU had some interesting observations: that little click-click-click (seriously sounded like a metronome over the doppler) already started a few weeks ago and will keep going for possibly 90 years! Holy smoke.

Then it occurred to me that with a heartbeat so very fast, that tiny tiny heart will beat more times inside of me than it will for the first couple of years outside! That's kind of weird.

Another question we had, is it already four chambers and compressing like our hearts? Or is it a little mass of cells pulsating rhythmically but otherwise unrecognizably? I looked it up since to find out.

No room here.

I was late. I tried grabbing a cab, but the one I stopped was on the way to a pickup. So I booked it the mile+ from the train up to the midwife office, plus having to detour to not be spotted by family en route. About five minutes before the end of the journey, I saw another cab. Huzzah! I would just make it in time!

He refused me a ride. That totally pissed me off, especially because it was on the grounds that my destination was no within walkable distance. "It's just, like, 3-4 blocks!" he says.

I KNOW where I am going. I happen to be late. Can I pay you to drive me a quarter freaking mile, please? Since that is your profession??

Also I moved many boxes and some mattresses the day before. Uterus kicked in with a vengeance afterwards, and all that hustling across town 24 hrs later made me feel all tender over there.

But whatev, cabbie. It's cool. Sorry I offered to pay you for 3 minutes of your time.

You are what you eat

I got this today via email:

10 PreNatal Power Foods from 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat during Pregnancy

Does Chipotle count?

Symptoms: from bad to... gone?

Argh feeling worried. Feeling worried because I feel totally normal.

This post is a boring account of aches and pains. Just chronicling them so that I have a reference.

Over the weekend, I felt pretty terrible. Friday night and Saturday night I only slept 4-6 hours, which of course were punctuated with trips to the bathroom. Saturday I had to lay down for a while mid day because I felt dizzy and sick. Not like actually throwing up, but just really crappy in the stomach-type area. Saturday night my uterus was cramping horribly, I was sort of bent over to finish putting the laundry away. It cramped like that up through Sunday morning, then that went away. I checked my nipples but couldn't figure out if they were less sore, or it was all in my head.

Monday I was totally exhausted. It as as though I had been at work 12 hours after just 5. And then I had to keep working 9.

The websites I looked up said that at 9 weeks, the uterus grows a whole bunch and can cause cramping, so I thought it could be normal maybe, and growing more tissue could lead to the exhaustion too.

But now today, Tuesday, I feel... fine. I didn't eat as much as I ought, but I felt *hungry* instead of ill. My nipples are definitely not sore. I had so much more energy today, even after going to the gym in the morning.

And I am wondering, wtf?

:-(

Inappropriate

Well, we better have sex now because your baby is totally going to cockblock.

That's gotta be true. No way people have more sex AFTER they have kids.

(That was me saying that. The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe laughed in spite of himself.)

Protein

Ugh so after the previous post, I went to bed. And laid there. And realized I felt yucky. I had very little protein of any kind yesterday, pretty much only the beans in the Pasta e Fagiole at Pompei around 7pm. So I toss and turn, trying to find the position where my stomach doesn't revolt, which bothers The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe, and I finally get up, knowing I won't sleep until I eat.

So I am shuffling around the kitchen in the dark to wash a pan and make an egg (with toast). Crying because I am so pissed off that I have to eat NOW and brush and floss AGAIN and not only was I up from 2:30 till 4 but now it'll be more like 5 before I sleep.

And sure enough, at 8-something I have to pee again and that is it. No more sleeping. Ugh.

STTN? wtf.

STTN is shorthand on parenting message boards for Sleeping Through The Night, as in "My kid isn't!" or "When did you kid finally?"

However this is a subject I think about several times a week, although this Guajolote won't be here till March. As it is, this is the second time in this week I've gotten up at a stupid hour because I am hungry. Actually I wake up because I have to pee, and then can't sleep again right away because of being hungry. At least today I figure I can go back to sleep. Friday morning I woke up at 4:51am and that was it for the night. :(

Side note: this "hunger" is weird. I still feel mostly full, where my belly is sort of poking out (I'm almost 8 weeks, so it's not poking out because of that yet.) but also hungry. I can scarf down fruit, for instance. But it doesn't feel like a bowl of cereal would fit in there. It's the same at work during the day, I go from eating, to feeling hungry-but-not, to vaguely ill, to I-might-kill-you ravenous. Annoying.