Monthly Check-Up

I went for my monthly check up this morning and all is well in the tiny little fluid filled world of baby Swartz!  (Steve had to go to Erie, PA today for a work meeting, so you'll notice me using "I" vs "We" in this post).   Baby still has a strong heartbeat of 155 beats per minute and I was told "there's a lot of activity going on in there" and that I should expect to feel movement soon! 

This scares the irrational side of me:

"There is what inside of me?!"

And excites the rational:

I stole this off of Google images.  To the parent if they ever find this picture, my apologies...but your kid is super cute.



The anatomy scan is scheduled for Monday, February 20th!  They told us to bring a DVD-R so they can burn us a copy of the scan!  So you will get to see somewhat live footage of the goings on inside my uterus-proving that your dreams really do come true!

On growing a watermelon.

I am convinced that I'm carrying what will be a 22 pound baby. 

Exhibit A:  This picture was taken last week at 14 weeks.  Not 20 weeks, but 14.  While common for women who have had babies before to "pop" early, I assure you that there are no 9 months of my life in which I do not remember that would leave room for some prior mysterious birth.

Exhibit B:  One of Steve's sister's weighed in at nearly 20 pounds at birth, thus making my theory that much more possible.  Okay, maybe she was closer to 10 pounds, but when you're talking about pushing double digits out of your nay nay is there really all that much difference?

Mind you, I'm not complaining here.  On the contrary!  I was ready to start showing, well, since that second line showed on the pee stick.  I think just having worked with so many pregnant patients in the past I just always assumed I'd be one of those women who were 24 weeks pregnant who looks like I had a big lunch vs the one who looks like her due date is sometime in the coming month :)  But really, I'll take a watermelon over an orange any day.

In other news, this past weekend we hung out with Jodi and Stacey who as you know have Simon who's pushing 3 years old now.  We've been watching him imitate his parents and others for some time now, but Saturday was kind of insane to see the extent to which he imitates them--down to interacting with their iPhone (a frustrated "Oh c'mon!" when it wasn't cooperating with him) and his argument style ("Actually...")  *side eye to Jodi*

Anyways, it got me thinking about what kind of stuff our kid will eventually pick up from us.  How long until we get a shocked "Shut. UP!" when we tell her/him something exciting?  How long until s/he plays an air instrument?  Or bursts into song about everyday things like eating mac n' cheese?  Mind you, I'm refraining from putting "how long until s/he uses the word fuck?" because I have to believe we'll kick that habit sooner than later.  Fingers crossed. Light a candle.  Say a prayer.  Something, anything!

Beast has been reading up on becoming a big brother to a human this time, rather than another animal.  He's so on top of things!

Baby's First Gift!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Swartz!

Steve SMASH!

Steve accidentally ripped a hole in his pants which lead to him showing his pants who's boss. 

Steve-1, Pants-0.



Oh Hey Y'all!

Well we totally and completely forgot we were in fact going to get another ultrasound before February's big sex scan!  Baby's heart rate still looks good and s/he is a wiggle worm!  S/he was on it's stomach, on it's back, kicking around-the ultrasound tech at several points pleaded with her/him to sit still for a minute so she could get a picture :)

I also met with a nurse practitioner from anesthesiology to discuss my rod situation.  As most of you know, I had corrective surgery for scoliosis as a kid and they placed steel rods along the sides of my spine.  Kind of like this:

Only in my back, but just as badass.  Anyways, I've known for a long time that this could complicate my chances of getting an epidural as the rods can block the needle's way into the sweet spot they're looking for.  The nurse I met with needs to get my records from the children's hospital I had the surgery at (almost 20 years ago, sheesh) to get a better idea, but I was basically told to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  Which is always wonderful to hear :) 

But on the bright side, I have known this would probably happen for a long time.  And to be honest, I met with her right after getting the above ultrasound, so I was still riding the high of seeing that little baby squirming in my gut :)  But still, a day later, I'm making peace with the fact that I have about six and a half months to prepare for some serious whooha pain.  There's still a chance she could get more info from my records and have more positive news, but until then my vagina and I are in some serious heart-to-heart apologies.

Steve on the other hand, is not taking it so well.  I'm trying to be supportive and provide as much information as I can but I can't help but laugh when we're talking about it.  It's just so goddamn cute that he's getting so upset that I may not be able to have an epidural!  Not to get all publicly mushy, but holy crud did I luck out on finding this guy <3



Some days you're the super hero and some days you...zzzzzzzzzzzz.

There are days that I have the intense energy of say, a super productive crack addict (I know, this doesn't really exist, but just follow me, I'm tired).  Others, I feel the intense crash that said addict must feel when coming down from a high.  Let me explain:

Monday: Work, come home and get on couch.  Drift in and out of sleep.
Tuesday: Work, grocery shopping, do 2 loads of laundry, do the dishes, make muffins.  Fall asleep at 9 pm.
Wednesday: Work, couch, sleep.
Thursday: Clean entire house.
Friday: Work, couch, sleep
Saturday: Sleeeeeeeeep.
Sunday: Go to Home Depot, rearrange basement, organize basement, categorize storage bins in basement (what?), do 4 loads of laundry, attempt to put plastic on windows and fail horribly.

You see a pattern here?  It's insane.  Don't get me wrong, I'm entirely loving both swings of this pendulum-I love to sleep and I love to get shit done.  If the baby has anything to do with all of this, then I like that we have the same interests already. :)

In other news, this is happening:

Yep.  Those are my "skinny jeans" being held together with a rubber band.  Skinny no more, my friend.  Skinny no more.

This week our little "peach" is growing into the size of a lemon!  Leaps and bounds y'all!