Do I Really Need That?

It has been longer than usual since I've written something.  However, there wasn't much to report recently.  The one thing I've been wanting to write about is a topic that I'm a little afraid to write about.  I'm worried I'm going to end up having to go back and take back everything I said.


The thing is that I feel very strongly about this, and I really want to share what I've experienced when it comes to pregnancy and staying healthy.  I don't mean eating right (which is also important).  I mean actual health as in not getting sick.  


Now, at the beginning of my pregnancy I was told, "YOU NEED TO GET A FLU SHOT."  This is, of course, due to the fact that pregnant women are among the groups of people who are told they should get a flu shot. (and here's where my blog is going to get very passionate...I do apologize in advance if my views offend anyone) BUT WHY? I do not know what is in that injection, and I see no reason whatsoever to get it! I have never had a flu shot ever.  I have managed to stay away from the flu because of it.  In fact, most people I know who have gotten the flu shot have come down with some strain of the flu from it.  Granted, it may be more mild than usual.  Still, if the flu shot could somehow give me the flu, why would I want to get it?


So, I called a friend during the early stages of my first trimester to talk about the flu shot.  She was against it and informed me that the H1N1 shot had actually not even been tested on pregnant women.  There are also reports of pregnancies that ended abruptly soon after a woman got the shot.  That left me feeling very sure that I did not want to get it.  The question that remained, though, was WHAT SHOULD I DO?


I certainly don't want to put my unborn child at risk.  That means that #1 I don't want the shot because I don't want to take those chances BUT #2 I don't want to stay vulnerable because I don't want to come down with the flu.


So, here's what I did.  I  consumed A LOT of water and orange juice.  I took probiotics for intestinal health as well as vitamins to promote immune system strength. I rested whenever I felt tired.  I washed my hands all the time.  With that, despite being around students and other staff members who came down with the flu, I avoided it.  I made it through all of the flu season months without any flu symptoms whatsoever.


Here's where I feel nervous.  I hate saying I made it out without the flu at this point in case I find out I somehow catch it in March.  Yet, with the weather here being as warm as it is, I do feel safer about it.  Plus, there haven't been any students getting sick with it anymore at school.  


So, basically, all I want to say is that I don't think I want to do something just because somebody on the news says I should.  If there is no research to back up the benefits, I see no purpose in it.  I knew that taking the natural approach could not hurt my child.  I had never done it before; yet, it worked very well for me.  I have felt very healthy.  


The only time I've gotten sick this pregnancy was back in November.  This was before I took any probiotics or extra vitamins.  I had actually had allergies.  Yet, we got those under control.  My allergies may come back again with the start of April/May (they usually do).  But, even then, those are allergies that simply make me feel uncomfortable and don't hurt my child.


I didn't get the flu shot and I'm happy about that.

Halfway!

Wave the baby flag! This pregnancy race is now halfway done for me! I am 20 weeks pregnant today, which works out to be halfway from 40 weeks.  Granted, this would make me 5 months meaning there are 4 months to go.

Also, part of these 20 weeks consists of time when I didn't even know I was pregnant.  So the next "half" might feel quite a bit longer than this one. :) But, still, it feels good to be able to say I'm halfway there.  

Right now, little Gordon Lee has grown exponentially from the time when we began.  Back at the beginning, he was the size of an appleseed and now here we are.  And you will not believe what fruit he has been compared to this week.

A cantaloupe! Here we are at 20 weeks, and he is the size of a cantaloupe. He may be a small cantaloupe right now until the end of this week (because I think the fruit sizes on my ticker represent the end of the week).  He has still grown a lot and should be at least 10 inches from head to toe! 

The miracle of life does not cease to amaze me.  I don't do very much except try to be careful of what I eat and drink for his health.  But my body is the perfect incubator for him! This experience reminds me of just how much God is in control; he created this life from the beginning and has sustained it thus far.  Here I am not really knowing exactly what is going on in there.  Yet, God knows! He knows exactly what those tiny fingers and toes are doing right now.  He knows just how to form this life in every way, and it is remarkable. :)

Kicks and Heartbeats

I had my 20 week OB appointment yesterday.  Although I'm considering myself 19+5 today, it was still close enough. :) So, some of the good news is that baby's heartbeat was strong and healthy at 154 BPM.  This appointment was at 4 p.m. which is around his active time.  So, it makes sense that his heartbeat would be faster then.  I absolutely LOVE hearing his heartbeat! It is music to my ears! 


For the first time, she measured my fundal height.  This is the measurement in centimeters from your pelvic bone to the top of your uterus.  It should correlate roughly to how many weeks you are.  Mine was 20 cm exactly.  So, that was good! 


Many times, when I have an ultrasound, they will tell me some of the main things and leave out others that they type up in a report to the doctor.  Well, one of those things that I just found out yesterday was that I have an anterior placenta.  All that means is that the placenta is in the front of my uterus.  And also because of the location of it, makes me pop out more! ;) It also explains why I feel baby sometimes and not as much at others.  When he is moving in an area not covered by the placenta, I can feel him easily.  But when he is directly behind the placenta, the movements are subtle.  However, the further along I am, the more I can feel him.  


I am not sure if I am feeling kicks or what.  Yet, I don't know if I'll ever be quite sure.  It baffles me how you would know whether it is a kick as opposed to a punch, elbow jab, head-butt, or some other quick, sharp movement.  I guess I'll find out as I go.


There isn't much else to report just yet. I'm just glad my baby is doing well! 

Baby Blog 34

First of all, I think I am going to stop giving each blog the title of Baby Blog + # anymore.  I am starting to find myself wanting to assign a title to the blogs. Who knows? I may go back through and give each one a title. That's probably only if I find the time.  For now, since I can't think of any creative name for this blog, it will remain titled as they all have been.


So, there are a couple of things that I have been wanting to write about.  Since they are fresh in my mind and it's Saturday, I'm taking the time to write the blog now.


I was 19 weeks pregnant yesterday...aannnd...we are finally back to fruit! No more roots like potatoes and onions.  I did realize a pomegranate would have been a good substitute back when my ticker gave me a large onion.  But anyway, this week, my book and my pregnancy ticker both say that baby is the size of a mango!

I believe this size is head to rump.  I haven't checked out any mangos in the produce aisle (which I will, of course, be doing as soon as I am in the grocery store again).  However, I just have a feeling that this is probably more like 6-7 inches (size from head to rump) rather than 9 inches, which would be roughly baby's size from head to toe!  I'm just glad we are back in the fruit bowl.  

Pregnancy hot flashes? Back in the blog when I wrote about things I didn't know happened during pregnancy, there was still something I didn't know about! Pregnancy hot flashes! I was sitting at home last night watching a movie with Lee when I started feeling very hot.  I have actually had this happen a few times, but I just thought it was because the weather in Georgia has already started getting warm.  So, I asked him, "are you hot?" He said, "no." I couldn't believe it.  "I'm burning up!" I said.  Then he looked at me and just calmly replied, "You're having a hot flash."  "A hot flash?" I respond in disbelief.  "I am not menopausal." "You get hot flashes due to pregnancy," he informed me.  

I can't believe he actually knows more about pregnancy symptoms than I do.  He must be reading some literature somewhere about this!  Either way, I did look it up and lo and behold pregnancy hot flashes do occur.  I know I did say something about night sweats in my other blog, but I just thought that was something else. I don't know why I didn't make the connection.  Still, when I did my reading, I found out that hot flashes start becoming prevalent in the 2nd trimester, which is exactly where I am (it's due to lowering estrogen levels in case anyone wondered).  I also learned that leg cramps can be common too.  Except, I have been eating a lot of bananas recently, and I wonder if those are keeping leg cramps away for me.  Anyway, so it isn't the Georgia heat that I am experiencing after all, it's the mama-to-be heat.

Onto the next topic, WORK! I have yet to break the news to anyone at school that I have no plans to return next year.  I am not sure how to do this yet.  Normally, I'm given a paper I must fill out as a statement of intent.  But I haven't gotten one here yet.  I did not get pregnant on purpose, and I really don't want them thinking that I came there to work for them only for a year only to fall pregnant and leave! It has simply been my plan for a long time that I would stop teaching when I have children.  After working in daycare, I just feel that I need to be with my children when they are very young.  Plus, there is only such a small window of time when you can really have that.  I don't want to give that up for work.

But this does lead me to what I am going to do after he gets here.  For a few months, I won't be working at all. Yet, I do bring in a pretty significant portion of our income.  I am not saying that his pay isn't enough.  It is.  He will also be receiving a raise before Gordon Lee comes, but my paycheck is actually very decent here.  So, I really don't want to go from this to bringing in no money at all.  So, I'm exploring my options for what I could do while caring for my child at the same time.

I first thought of tutoring, but I have ruled that out for two reasons. 1.) I can tutor during the day, but I cannot guarantee that the baby will not cry or interrupt tutoring sessions for some reason. 2.) If I tutor at night, then Lee and I never have any time together, and I don't think that is good.  So, no tutoring.  

The things I'm thinking of now are jobs where I can work from home or take my child to work with me.  Since I do have a degree in English, there are some writing positions where you can write articles from home.  You can also do editing from home.  I just don't have any experience in that area, and I'm not sure exactly how possible it will be.  The other thing I've thought about doing is going to the YMCA and possibly working in the childcare department where I could bring him with me and work at the same time.

As of now, those are the two main things I have thought of.  If anyone else has any other ideas, let me know!

Baby Blog 33

Potato or hamster?

This week, my pregnancy ticker says that little Gordon Lee is the size of a sweet potato. I am starting to think these statements reflect his size at the end of each week of pregnancy rather than the beginning.  So, since I am less than 2 days away from being 19 weeks pregnant, I will say that he is probably close to that size right now.  

If it seems he has grown exponentially, it is only because he has reached the point where his legs are long enough to be factored in to his length.  Before, all of the measurements were crown to rump (i.e. head to butt).  Now, he is being measured from head to toe!  

I was just talking to my mother today describing the fact that he began getting active today near the end of the school day (maybe he was excited for school to let out! ;) ).  And, as I was telling her that I was feeling him move, he was still moving all around.  I really couldn't think of a way to describe it.  Butterflies just didn't fit for me.  I know the feeling and I can see why people would say butterflies.  However, it didn't seem to aptly fit the description of what I was feeling.  I finally found myself saying "It feels like there is a hamster running around inside of me!" And I laughed out loud about that, but it was so true! That's exactly how it feels to me when he moves!

Granted, I've never had a hamster inside of me.  However, compared to the way the one feels in my hand, the tickling of the little feet is the way it feels at this point when he moves around!

Baby Blog 32

Right now, I am on "winter break" for the school system here, which is really nice. I had Friday off and then I have Monday off.  So, we get a 4 day weekend.  Anyway, with my day off Friday, I went shopping! It was wonderful I was up and out to get to the stores by 10 am.  Nothing was crowded at all, so shopping was a breeze.


Anyway, amid my shopping, I decided to swing by Carter's to see if I could find anything on sale for little Gordon Lee.  Well, I did! I found 5 adorable outfits for $7 each.  I went to the Carter's website to get pictures of the outfits I bought because I can't find my camera cord to upload pictures to my computer right now.  I know it is nearby somewhere. However, we're organizing right now and putting things in storage.  I'll find the cord later.  For now, here are some pictures of what I bought for baby on my mini shopping spree.

I got a cute gator romper!

A shorts set (size 3 months)

This froggie sleeper...I love the feet!

Then, I bought 2 outfits LIKE this one, but I didn't buy this one (mine were not pictured on the website but you get the idea).

Q&A

There are a few FAQ that I've been getting asked recently, and I've decided to go ahead and answer them here.

1.) How do you feel?

I feel GREAT! I'm in the 2nd trimester (honeymoon phase) of pregnancy and I'm definitely going through one of the easier phases of it right now.  I still have a strong sense of smell, which doesn't always make things great.  But compared to how I felt in the 1st trimester, this is smooth sailing right now!

2.) Are you feeling the baby?

Yes, I am! I'm not sure exactly what I'm feeling. But when I feel a little live being moving around inside me, I know it is him.  He seems to alternate between being active and not very active.  Yesterday, he was moving around a lot.  Today, he hasn't moved as much. I'm not so worried because I read it's normal for this to happen at this point in pregnancy.  I'm not supposed to start counting kicks until 28 weeks.  I have a pregnancy book that counts down each day, and this week it suggested I drink orange juice.  It said that the coldness of the orange juice plus the vitamins in it will get baby moving.  Well, it's true! Whenever I drink orange juice, I feel him moving immediately.

3.) What are you going to call him?

Right now, I'm settling for Gordon Lee (double first name) or calling him GLee.  I'm satisfied with both.  But we'll have to see what he looks like when he comes into this world!

Baby Blog 31

Well, I had the anatomy ultrasound today.  All of his organs looked great! He also had good bones.  So, that was a relief.  Everything came out normal.  Plus, I got confirmation from the tech at the hospital (and a much clearer 2D ultrasound) that he is indeed a boy.


The black and white pictures from the hospital are much clearer than the ones I had privately over the weekend.  So, I'll go ahead and post them here for all interested.  I put "18 weeks" on there because I'll be 18 weeks tomorrow.