baby's first AUTUMN!

OH BABY! Your daddy took your mama out for a beautiful drive in the country! What a gorgeous place we're going to raise you!!!! Mama could feel her lungs max out walking up a not so steep hill to the top of Roan Mountain. You sure make it harder to go uphill, little girl! But I took it slowly (Daddy could have raced up and back ten times in the amount of time it took mama to go 0.4 miles!).

Next we went to see a waterfall on the Elk River....I was scared to go down the steep, damp downhill to get to the waterfall, but Daddy held my hand and walked in front of me, (so if we fell he'd cushion our fall!). Rudy pulled and tugged, wanting to go faster, faster, faster!

Then lunch in Boone. Daddy and I agreed that Appalachian or the other fine universities of NC would be wonderful, affordable options. What we haven't really figured out is how to start saving for it....but baby, we will!

Thanks to you, I can honestly say that I peed NINE TIMES on our day trip (from 11 am - 8pm). Enough is enough, Baby!!!! I fed you a Philly Cheese Steak....you were happy and hula dancing the whole ride home!

lil skunky girl is signed up for DAYCARE!!!

our little peanut is about the size of a skunk. today i went to AB tech daycare and got her on the waitlist (#70!!! only 4 spots!). I went in during nap time and it was the sweetest scene....dimmed lights, soft music, teachers feeding babies, other teachers petting toddlers on the head to soothe them to sleep. I cried. (lame!)

2nd trimester ultrasound

There is no better feeling than seeing that heart beating on the ultrasound. Such a relief! Brian and Granny accompanied me to this fun MAHEC visit where ultrasound tech, Vicki, measured little girls parts, heart, bones, kidneys, bladder, brain (big ole brain!), etc.... She now weighs 11 oz (up from 5 oz only 3 weeks ago!). We couldn't tell how long she was b/c she was curled up and wiggling. It looked like she was Hula dancing, though Brian thought it looked more like Boxing! Her little hands are just as precious as can be!

We got in a quick peak of 3D where we could really make out her little nose and cheeks. She's going to be such a special little girl! I am crazy about this kid already! Ann, our midwife, says that all those times I pressed down on my belly insisting that I feel a baby in there, well....she said I AIN'T FEELING NO BABY!!! She explained that there are several inches of muscle (thank you pilates!) several inches of fat (thank you bacon cravings!) placenta, and fluid, that baby is buried way too deep to feel her from the outside!!! Ah well.

Everyone at MAHEC congratulated me for "normal" amnio results. That was odd! I got my H1N1 flu shot (swine flu) today. Now I'm REALLY craving bacon!!!

Little girl, I can't wait to nuzzle on that sweet face of yours! I love you already!!!

HARD LOX CAFE....I got to eat for TWO!

Granny, Baby Daddy and I went to the Jewish Food Festival in downtown Asheville today. Next year we'll have a 7 month old bundled up with us! How SWEET!!!!

155 days to go!

THANKS, GRANNY!

It's been a rough week.....I'm emotional as hell, tearful, cranky, sleeping terribly, uncomfortable, and HUGE! Granny came over today with home made soup (she makes the best healthy soups!) and hung out with me and the pups, made me fruit salad, brought pretty flowers, and just all around cheered me up. Again, that is one lucky little girl in there, to be born into such love!!!

thanks, Mama. it really helped!

was that a baby i felt????

i think i just felt movement!!!! i was laying flat on the bed, with the laptop on my belly, when I started feeling something kinda "bubbly" LOW in my belly. Hunger? yes, that too. But certainly something different.

i'm feeling it again now, in the same place. hmmmmmm.......not sure???

happy either way!

nana and grandpa!

i think they're getting excited......

(GOD!!! i look HUGE! i was sticking my belly out hoping to look pregnant....mission accomplished!)

week 17

i had a stranger ask me if I was pregnant this week! what a trip! what a rush! he didn't actually ask if i was pregnant, but he patted my tummy and said, "so what's going on here???" he was a fairly flamboyant 60-something, new york, italian gay guy. i was just so thrilled that someone thought i was safe to ask about pregnancy (boy it would have sucked if i weren't pregnant!). tears came to my eyes and i thanked him! i've had a few people rub my belly, clients, friends, granny, and of course, brian. i don't mind it one bit....i just feel the love from their heart and hands to my belly and baby....such positive energy. i just watched "the business of being born" a documentary by ricki lake about birth being treated like a potential catastrophic medical emergency as opposed to the natural life process that it is. i have much to learn about my options, though i don't think mahec will support the option of home birth.....

all i know is every time a baby popped out in the movie, and these women REACHED DOWN and pulled out their babies, i BAWLED!

brian is in virginia. i wish he were here.

a movie we watched this week said baby is almost the size of a squirrel!!! (next week). in my pre-natal yoga class i watched two squirrels running around outside. little itty bitties! i wonder if the description of a squirrel included its tail, which is about the same size as the squirrel itself.

a funny memory

I just recalled something that is blogworthy....

 

In Martha's Vineyard, Brian and i are walking around Felix Neck nature preserve when we come across a family with a kid sitting on the ground, kicking and screaming, red faced, and truly pitching a FIT!  I took this moment to compare future parenting style notes and asked Brian how he'd handle this situation with our kid.  He stared at the kid for a bit, then said, "well I don't know....how would YOU handle it?".  I stared at the kid for a bit and replied, "well I don't know!!"  Then he looked at me and smiled and said, "oh Rachel, our kid won't ever act like that!". 

and more importantly.....

She's healthy as far as we can tell. Amniocentesis is over and we have results for Down Syndrome and the Trisomy disorders, and both are not an issue. I swear they scare the shit out of older moms with their statistics. Why can't they say that 98.5 % of mom's like me give birth to healthy babies instead of having a 1 out of 67 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome. The latter is so much scarier!!! Fortunately she is one of the 66 out of 67, and all looks great!

I can't wait for my next ultrasound!!! (october 21!).

The stress that this has caused has been a little excessive. I am so grateful that is over with! I suspect my days of worrying as a mama are now in the past.....right????