I Just Started Typing and This Is What Came Out

Happy 2011 everyone! I hope you all had a joyous, safe, and nausea-free New Year's. Because I did. But I was worried that I wouldn't. Last week was such a bad week. I was sick off and on from Monday to Thursday. It was annoying. Also, I never want to taste chamomile tea or ginger ale ever again. I drank SO MUCH of both for four days, and sometimes it helped, and sometimes it didn't, and I'm just so glad I'm feeling better.

So yeah. Don't get the flu. It's a bad idea, and you WILL regret it. Especially if you're pregnant. Did you know that I lost five pounds? I weighed myself on Monday (mere hours before the flu hit me), and the scale (which is perfectly accurate) told me that I had gained 20 pounds. I weighed myself on that same scale on Friday, and it told me that I had only gained 15 pounds. Oops. I understand now why my midwife told me at my last appointment that I could stand to gain more weight than I have. I didn't think I was THAT sick, but when your body, well, you know, when you have the flu, and then you barely eat for four days, it's pretty easy to lose five pounds!

Thankfully, the baby is fine. S/he never noticed that I was sick (although sometimes I wished they had noticed. When you're already nauseated, and they're happily twisting and turning in there, it does not feel good). I think it's amazing how my body puts Baby first. It will throw my immune system under the bus, but will do everything it can to make sure that the baby has a strong immune system. Any cold or flu that I get won't be passed on to him or her, but the antibodies will be.

Something else I found out at my appointment last week is that I have an anterior placenta. When I casually mentioned this on Facebook, it generated a huge discussion, so this time, I'm going to explain myself so ya'll aren't worried.

Anterior placenta means that the placenta is sitting on the front of my uterus (behind my belly button) instead on the back of the uterus (close to my spine). Anterior placentas aren't as common, but it's NOT A PROBLEM. I want to make that very clear. There is nothing wrong. It doesn't make one little bit of difference for the health and development of Baby. It's not dangerous, it won't cause any complications for this pregnancy, or for labor, or for future pregnancies. It's just not as common, but that's it.

I was just surprised to hear about the anterior placenta, because I wasn't told at my 20 week ultrasound, or my 24 week appointment. She only told me at this last appointment. And I know that mothers with anterior placentas tend to not feel fetal movement as early as other mothers, but this wasn't a problem for me. I felt Baby move at 18 weeks, and we've been going strong ever since.

I'm at 28 weeks now (officially in my third trimester!), and after talking with my midwife, I realized that I've been feeling baby hiccups! I assumed they would be strong, and that my whole belly would jump with every hiccup (like when I hiccup), but it doesn't feel like that at all. It almost feels like a slow, steady heartbeat. It can't be felt from the outside at all.

Also, my midwife told me that I will probably start experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. I was really surprised when I heard that. I just assumed they didn't start until a few weeks before labor begins. But you know what? She's right. I think I have been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions!

It just feels like a tightening, usually quite low on my belly. It doesn't hurt at all. I just can't believe that they start this early. I guess the uterus needs a lot of practice for the real thing.

Know what else? I've been rambling. I totally meant to write about New Year's, but I've gone and done a baby update instead. Switching topics now!

New Year's was wonderful (and I have zero pictures to show you because I was too busy enjoying it and completely forgot about my camera). The past couple of years have been kind of disappointing as far as plans are concerned. Two years in a row I tried to plan a party, and invite our usual friends, and I made food, and I planned to play games, and both years, it kind of flopped. People showed up really late, or not at all, and we didn't really play games, and it was just kind of a let down.

This year we got to spend one night and one day with friends of ours who came up from California to see their family. I love how their family considers us family as well, and they didn't mind at all that we basically crashed their family gathering. It was at our friends' grandparents house. Lots of aunts and uncles and cousins were around (most of the cousins are our age), and most of them stayed the night. I couldn't believe that they had room for all of us!! We had a casual dinner on Friday night, rang in the New Year all together, and then everybody who didn't stay the night came back for a big breakfast on New Year's Day.

The family hadn't celebrated Christmas yet, so Art and I sat back and got to watch them all open their presents. It sounds like it would be awkward, but it wasn't at all. Then we all bundled up and headed out to see a porpoise necropsy! (An autopsy on an animal.) Yeah. I guess a bunch of the family found a dead porpoise washed up on the beach earlier in the day on the 31st, so they called up a marine biologist friend who lived close by, and he said he would perform the necropsy on the 1st, and we could come in and watch.

I'm not particularly grossed out by that stuff, so I found it fascinating. The smell wasn't great, but it could have been a lot worse. She (the porpoise) had only been dead about 48 hours.

They found out that the cause of death was a fungal infection in her lungs, which can actually be passed on to humans, so we all had to wear masks, and not stand too close. It probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done (being pregnant and all), but they assured us that as long as our bare skin didn't come into contact with porpoise blood or tissue, that we'd be fine. If it was truly that dangerous, we would not have been allowed in there at all.

This porpoise was also pregnant (about three months along), but we didn't stick around long enough to see them open up the uterus. Other people did, and took pictures, so I still got to see a porpoise fetus at three months. It's so tiny (about six inches in length), yet fully developed (complete with a blow hole). Porpoise gestation is 12 months long, so it still had a lot of growth left.

Everybody was surprised that I would have wanted to see that, (being pregnant and all), but again, that stuff doesn't bother me. Maybe it's because I've seen so many fish gutted in my life, and to me, this was just a really big fish. I mean, it's still sad, but....I don't know. I just find it interesting! I just think it's funny that we were all eager to spend part of New Year's Day watching a porpoise necropsy.

Anyway, after that was over, Art and I and our couple friend who came up from California went for a long walk on the beach. (The grandparents live mere blocks from the beach.) The guys smoked their pipes, and we girls talked about babies and weddings and all that girly stuff. It was cold, but thankfully, it wasn't windy.

When we got back, it was time to curl up by the fireplace, take a nap, and wait for dinner. The grandparents went all out. There must have been at least 20 of us around that huge long table in their dining room (like a royal banquet or something), and grandma got out her fine china and crystal, and we had goose and prime rib, and mashed potatoes, and all sorts of other things that I didn't eat because I wasn't that hungry! But I did try a tiny piece of goose. The meat is quite dark, and I don't know that it's amazing all by itself, but someone made a cranberry and blackberry sauce to go with it, and the combination was amazing.

After that, Art and I decided it had been a wonderful 24 hours, and it was time to head home. But then we stopped by his parents' place to see his dad before his dad left for work (he works nights). So we ended up only getting home at midnight anyway! We slept in this morning, had breakfast for lunch, and that brings us to right now.

I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but it's been a good, full two weeks off. Busy, but not too busy. And other than being sick, I really enjoyed it. I'm kind of nervous as well. Up until now, my due date has seemed so far away, but now these last three months are going to fly by, and before we know it, we're going to have a little baby! And then you all get to look forward to blog post after blog post about pooping and crying and sleepless nights...... :)

Before I end this incredibly lengthy post that most of you have long since abandoned (except for my mom), I should talk about New Year's resolutions. I don't have any. Well, I guess I do, but they're not new. They're just a continuation of last year. I want to be as healthy and fit as possible.

These past couple of months I've barely been to the gym, so I want to try and go at least twice a week before the baby is born. And we've got a fridge full of good food, and recipes and meal plans for the next month, so we can get back to eating healthy. I'm going to spend some time today doing as many preparations as possible for the week, so that on the days that I go to the gym, I can still serve a healthy dinner that doesn't take forever to put together, and we can actually eat before 8pm.

And that's the latest! 2010 didn't start off being really great, but it got better and better as the months went by. And now I'm looking forward to 2011. I think this is going to be the best year yet. And I pray it is the same for each and every one of you!