{second trimester}

As of last Friday we are now officially in the second trimester! Time is flying by. I have been struggling a little with the changes in my body for the past few weeks. Not because I don't want to gain the weight for the baby but because you just couldn't tell that I am pregnant. I want to look pregnant! For once I want to not worry about my belly looking fat (as many women can understand) and for the first three plus months of pregnancy my belly has looked fat. Not a cute baby bump. Chubby.

So the past few days I have been so excited to notice that Omelette has popped out a little! I'm not all the way there yet, obviously, but I think strangers could tell that I am with child and not just best buddies with a buffet somewhere (even though I do miss me some Golden Corral, aka the Golden Cow in my family). So here come the first "belly shots"!*


Me at 8 weeks, which is the closest thing I have to a pre-preg shot.



Me last Thursday, which for some reason I kept thinking was Friday. Those are the same jeans, but I can't button them anymore and now wear a bella band.

Yay Omelette!

*I am not one to use unnecessary quotations, I am just reluctant to call these actual belly shots... for now :)

{fluffy mail!}

I am so excited because today I got my very first fluffy mail! That sounds really weird so let me explain. Danny and I are planning to use cloth diapers when Omelette is born. I guess that also sounds really weird!

Seriously though, I have been thinking about it for a while and I think it will be the right choice for us. I have lots of reasons, I won't bore you with all of them here, but after doing a lot of reading I think we can handle it. Danny has been wonderful enough to go along with the idea, poopy diaper concerns aside.

Which brings me to fluffy mail. Moms who cd their babies affectionately call them fluffy bums, the diapers are called fluff, and when your new dipes arrive they are called fluffy mail. Which means, our very first cloth diaper arrived today! Woohoo!

These aren't your mom's (or depending, maybe your) old cloth diapers with pins and rubber pants. There are a ton of options out there, and they are all freaking cute. The one I got today is known as a pocket diaper. The main diaper is shaped like any disposable (aka "sposie") out there, with a pocket in the middle into which you stuff an absorbent insert. This particular diaper has an top layer of fleece (which wicks moisture away from the skin into the insert), the pocket, a layer of waterproof material, and an outer layer of cute flannel monkey print. The insert and the diaper both go into the wash and presto- reusable diaper. This one has snap closures that can be adjusted to fit a baby from 7 to 28 pounds.

I could totally geek out over this whole cloth diaper thing. I have learned so much and I want to explain it to everybody! Here are some pics of the diaper... I am so excited to share the beginning of my "stash" with you!

{dramarama}

Last summer I decided to find a good OB since I have been seeing a family doc or NP since we moved here. So I did a ton of research on google and forums, trying to find someone who sounded good, not to busy, and with a view similar to mine on interventions. After a false start with one office that made me wait an hour, only to tell me that they didn't take my insurance (the info about which they got over the phone when I made my appointment), I went the the OB arm of my current medical group. I met with the main doc who absolutely met my criteria and was pretty cool to boot. At a second appointment I got to meet the other doc in the practice, whom I also deemed awesome. So when the time came to make my first prenatal appointment, I was pretty shocked to hear that the first doc is no longer with the practice and the second one (Dr. M the Nice) is out on medical leave.

I decided to see the doctor that was covering for Dr. M the Nice. He has his own practice in another city but has graciously agreed to cover Dr. M's patients. Danny and I were so excited at our first appointment, also a little nervous and really, really hoping I could get an ultrasound. After the medical assistant tried to tell me (using her magic due date wheel) that I was going to be due on November 31*, Dr. C the Rushed swept into the room. He was so quick that he barely got my answers to his questions and hardly made any eye contact. After the quickest pap of my life he did the u/s, but just long enough for us to quickly see the heartbeat and get a picture. I was lying on the exam table with tears in my eyes from the emotion of the moment and as Dr. C puts things away and flips through my chart he asks the most impersonal "So are you excited?" ever. And then he leaves.

I made my next appointment with the midwife, even though she doesn't do deliveries, just because I didn't like Dr. C and wanted someone who will look at me and take the time to be present with me during the visit. When I went in for the 12 week visit, I was greeted not by the midwife, but by Dr. C. Huh? I guess when you make your first appointment with someone you are their patient FOR-EV-ER. So I decided to try to understand his style and at least get to know him better since he will be my doc all the way through. Again, my visit felt rushed and though he did answer my questions, I had to ask them a couple times to get a word in before he rushed off to the next thing.

All of this I decided to deal with. But the other night at work I got the brilliant idea to google Dr. C the Rushed. Most of the 15 reviews or so that I saw were negative (and I understand to take them with a grain of salt). However, there was a common thread throughout all the reviews: rushed in the office (ding ding ding), inductions, and scheduled c-sections. Many women said he told them (or their loved ones) that their baby was too big to deliver vaginally and scheduled the c/s. Some one said the hospital staff called him "Dr. Slash and Dash". Not a good sign.

My concern now is that this doctor is the kind that is not patient to let nature take its course and is bothered if you don't deliver during the day. Hence the scheduled c/s and inductions. I really don't want a c/s unless it is for the safety of my baby. Then I'm totally on board, but there is no way I am going to let someone cut me open for their convenience.

So this is my doctor drama. At this point I don't really feel like switching practices is an option. There's no one else nearby that I want to see and many don't accept patients that are already pregnant. One thing that makes me feel better is that with Danny, my mom (a labor and delivery nurse) and my best friend Gissel (no one to be trifled with) at my side during labor I will have people to advocate for me. And there is always hope that Dr. M the Nice will be back from her medical leave before I deliver, or that someone else will be on call when I go into labor.

*In case you didn't catch it yet, there is no November 31.

{ultrasound pics}

The first pictures of our baby...
The unmarked one was at 11 weeks and 5 days, in amazing 3-d!

{Catchup}

So here is what's been going on the past few months...

We got our BFP (big fat positive) on March 27. By that time I had some experience with home pregnancy tests and the negatives were always so disappointing. So this time around I decided to be patient and not take tests early. I was so patient (and with other factors) that when I tested there was absolutely no question that it was positive! I saw the first line, then the second line, and then I spent a few seconds double checking what I was seeing and started screaming! Danny said later he knew as soon as I started screaming that we were pregnant. It was a beautiful moment, the elation, the reassurance, the expectation already taking hold. At first I thought I wasn't very far along but I was in fact already 6 weeks pregnant at that point.

We told our families right away, as well as our close and newly-parented friends Luis and Gissel. I have been getting lots of advice from everyone (thanks!) and I am already asking my mom and Gissel lots of questions about everything.

I was on jury duty (shoutout to my dept 309 peeps!) at the time that we found out and I had already noticed that I was having a harder time eating breakfast each morning and the subway was making me nauseated when it hadn't before. I guess I was too afraid to hope that those were early pregnancy symptoms but now I knew why! I told my fellow jurors our news and they were so nice to me in those early weeks. I started falling asleep during testimony and they would wake me up if the judge was looking my way, they asked questions and shared in my excitement, and made that time of cautious excitement so much fun.

We had our first appointment with the OB at 8 weeks and got to see our baby on the ultrasound.
It was amazing to see the heartbeat! I also noticed some things about my OB that will have to wait for another post (and trust me, I have a lot to say about him), but let's just say that I didn't pick him, he is covering for my regular OB who is out on medical leave (please come back sooooooooon!).

I have been blessed to have very few symptoms: some nausea, food aversions, and fatigue. They were uncomfortable but I know many women who have experienced much worse so I am not complaining! Around 10 weeks they started fading and now I feel pretty good. This may sound vain but one of the hardest things has been the pregnancy pudge. Don't get me wrong, I can.not.wait to get my belly. But right now and for the past few weeks I pretty much just look fat. I have some "belly" shots but I'm not posting anything until they are legitimate baby belly!

In week 11 we went for the first trimester screening (well, I went for the blood draw and Danny came with for the ultrasound) which I guess they do for everybody now. The ultrasound was great, the baby looked perfect and we got a pic. The labs are still pending but I am sure they are fine too. We have already scheduled the "big" u/s for 21 weeks, which I am very excited to say my mommy is coming out for! So July 14, people. Hopefully we will find out if it is a little Amelie or a little Elliott (final spelling to be determined) hanging out in there.

Which brings me to "Omelette". If you haven't heard the story, Danny came up with it right when we found out we were pregnant. It's sounds like "Amelie" and "Elliott" together. Hence, the Omelette blog!

If you are still reading, thanks for reading this super long post! I have much more to say, especially about the OB, and hopefully when Danny is not swimming in sketches and splines he can get some male perspective on here. Later!

{welcome!}

Welcome to our blog! We are so excited to be expecting our first child and we want to share our journey to parenthood with you, our family and friends. Danny and I will both be posting on here. I have so much to write about that it's going to take a few posts to catch up!

Today I am 13 weeks and 1 day pregnant, almost out of the first trimester and I can't believe it! Our November 20 due date seems far away still but each day ticks by and before I can turn around another week has passed. We are so thankful to God for blessing us with this pregnancy. So much has happened already that I feel a little context would be good.
I will be back and post a little back story later!