I Dream of Peeing

I would imagine everyone has the image in their head of a nine month along, due-any-minute pregnant woman, waddling her way to the bathroom every 60 seconds. It's easy to understand how a bowling ball baby, pushing down on your bladder (and up and sideways on everything else inside you) would be uncomfortable and cause a prego woman to have to visit the facilities quite regularly. Who would have ever thought that that begins much earlier than growing that bowling ball baby?

According to one pregnancy website, I'm growing a kumquat this week. Does anyone even know what a kumquat is? I had to google it to find out.

(A kumquat is a citris fruit, that closely resembles an orange, only smaller and often oval)

So lately, instead of dreaming of bears or being a CTU agent, I'm having the 'pee dream.' "What is a 'pee dream', Stephanie?" you ask?? Anyone out there that has ever had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night has had to have had a 'pee dream' before. There are several aspects that will help define this sort of dream. First, you spend the entire dream trying to find a bathroom. The only thing on your mind is getting to a bathroom. And key....you wake up from the dream and you....surprise....have to actually go to the bathroom. So pee dream leads to me getting up at least once or twice in the middle of the night. What's going to happen when it's a bowling ball???

TMI???? HA! Sorry :)

(Buckeye) Bun in the Oven

Adam and I had made a deal (before we got pregnant). I get to raise our daughters to be Ohio State fans. He gets to raise our sons to be Illinois fans.

I didn't mean to lie on purpose....but our children....will be raised Ohio State fans.
Adam teaches the dog tricks.....

I will be teaching our kids "O-H" "I-O" from the age they will be able to speak and somewhat be able to move their arms in the shape of the letters.

They will be the first kids in their class to be able to spell OHIO when they actually live in Illinois.

They will know what Muck Fichigan means and will be allowed to say 'damn' only if it's in the song "We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan...."

They will ask to paint their room Scarlet and Gray when they are 2 years old.

They will know who Jim, Eddie and Archie are.

They will be one of "those" kids that has the Ohio State cheerleader or football uniform.

I will be able to teach them at a very young age that if people hate you because you are an Ohio State fan....it's only because they are jealous that you are better than them.

Pretty much...they are going to be Buckeye fans from birth. In preparation of this day....Grandma and Grandpa Von Wahlde have purchased some "start up equipment" to help with this. Who doesn't need an Ohio State sippy cup, OSU bib and OSU pacifiers?? (pictures to come) I already have two children's books ready to go.....now we just need to to start raising the future Buckeye.

Shhhhh.....don't tell Daddy.......

Craving......

Mommy....wants....no, NEEDS....SKYLINE! Pretty, pretty please!

Cincinnati, look out. Fatty-bo-batty is coming to town and needs her some Skyline!!!

Hormones or just being a woman?

So lately, I have been perhaps a teensy bit more emotional than usual, but I don't blame ALL of it on pregnancy hormones - I think being emotional is also just part of being a woman in general. Adam seems to think that anything that upsets me or annoys me or makes me a wee bit "cra cra" is related to hormones. I just think he wants to imagine that I'm totally normal and I can't help my hormones so he blames it all on them.

So the other day, I was relaxing and watching TV when a Folgers commercial comes on. I cried. Not just "aww, my eyes are watery," but sobbed. Ok, so perhaps a little "cra cra," but check out the commercial. Father + daughter + warm cup of coffee + cheesy Folgers music = magical, right?!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1320151605?bctid=60450628001

So I thought I'd dig up a few other commercials that might make me a little emotional. Take a look for yourself. I can't be the only one that gets choked up with these, right?!

Never Walk Alone (P&G): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo0ejBHp8UI

To their moms, they'll always be kids (another P&G): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSn5Z7EC4ME

Peter home for Christmas (another Folgers): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOQk_pWmisA (Jaclyn showed me this one)

Short and Bald (Johnson & Johnson): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7FyH_A9xQ (Meredith showed me this one - she cried after Mason was born)

So seriously, am I the only one? I can't be! Any other commercials that you get emotional when you watch?

Baby's First Robe

Baby got his/her first present today! Baby's first bathrobe!! Just looking at the picture, can you tell who gave it? Can you hear her quacking away while baby wears it? Can you see Auntie Jaclyn pinching (or biting) the baby's chubby cheeks? In 9 months we'll have a little soft-skinned baby O'Neill to wrap in the robe after a bath! I can smell it now.....

Babies and Hormones and Bears...Oh My!

Let it be said....hormones can cause some interesting problems, as I'm finding out. One of which is crazy dreams. I rarely remember my dreams, but lately, I feel like I'm either in an episode of 24 where I'm a CTU agent or just totally bonkers. Last night, I was being attacked by bears....not just me, mom and dad, Melanie and Jordan were there too (sorry guys). We tried to rent a lovely cottage in the woods but barely made it in the door because of a huge bear that kept following us around on the edge of the cliff that apparently this magical cottage was on. Where does this stuff come from??

So between having to get up to pee in the middle of the night at least once or twice and these crazy dreams and the fact that I'm hot....then cold....no, hot....wait, I'm cold....I'm sleeping poorly. On top of that fact that I'm already exhausted even before I get out of bed in the morning. I struggle to keep my eyes open at work because I'm so tired. I'm contemplating building a place to take naps under my desk...right?! There's plenty of room just going to waste under there!

Check out this link....Imagine this girl....but me....and at a desk, instead of a highchair....this is me today.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prlesIFijMA

What's the point?

So I guess I started this blog to try to keep some sort of a record of my pregnancy (and hopefully after baby is born too!). I don't keep a journal (even though I've always 'meant' to) and I haven't been keeping up with my scrapbooking that much. I figured this would be a way to jot down my thoughts and feelings and what's going on with me (and the baby). I've found that my memory is turning into something like my mother's (sorry, mom) and I don't seem to recall things that I might have considered myself able to do previously. I'm convinced, after having countless hours of conversations with Jaclyn, that this is because my brain is full of things that happened about 15 years - like ridiculous, random, absolutely useless memories from our childhood/teenage years. So why not blog, right?

And although my mother gets multiple calls a day from me, most days (again, sorry, mom), I hate being away from my family and seeing them all the time, so this might also be a way they can see what's going on with us and not have to pick up the phone or Facebook stalk me. Aren't I making it almost too easy?

So although I have backdated some of the previous posts from notes I had been keeping before on my own, I start the blog now.....or again....

MEETING BABY!!

We met baby yesterday!!!!!!

My first doctor appointment. I had no idea what to expect and I was really trying not to get my hopes up that we would have a sonogram done. I kept reading on the internet that most of the times they don't do one until later since you can't really see it and that you won't really be able to hear the heartbeat until about 12 weeks. So I tried really hard not to get my hopes up.

We walked back into an exam room and the technician dimmed the lights. Are we going to meet baby?!

I undressed from waist down and the technician came back in. They used a v- sonogram and within seconds we could see something....just a white spot. The technician moved it around a little more and there it was....OUR BABY!!

It's probably one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. I didn't cry...I just sat there in amazement with my mouth open. Adam sat and rubbed his face and didn't say anything. Baby was only 1.8 cm long...but you could see details of the features - nose, hands, feet and you could see the heart flickering. The technician moved around a little more to make sure things look ok and I asked her if she could go back to the flickering heartbeat again...she pushed a button and you could HEAR the heartbeat!! Our baby, at 8 weeks, has a heartbeat! 183 beats per minute is what it measured out to be.

Blood work followed and then schedule the next appointment in three weeks.

We left the doctor and couldn't even wait to start the car before we were on our phones calling our parents. WE MET BABY!! Adam just wanted to drive around to see who was around anywhere to show off his baby like a proud father with the four sonogram pictures. I still had a queasy stomach and really wanted to nap but how could I even think about those at a time like this?! There is a life inside me....with a beating heart! It had a nose and hands and feet and wasn't bigger than a bean. I feel like, for the first time, I have that pregnancy glow! I feel like I'm on cloud 9. WE MET BABY!!!

I'm actually growing fruits and vegetables....

So in Wanda Sykes' most recent stand-up she talks about how messed up the US measurement system. We don't like the easy metric system with 10s....we would much prefer 12s and 16s. She speaks in a hilarious bit that doctors have to learn to give diagnosis in "fruit". If a doctor told you, you had a tumor in your head that was 10 cm, we might just look confused, wondering if 10 cm was good or bad. Seeing this confused look, the doctor would have to give the same diagnosis in fruit, you have a tumor in your head the size of a grapefruit.......then you can fully grasp what they heck they are talking about.
Adam and I have been noticing the same things while reading about the growth of the baby.

Week 5 - baby is now .3 cm or the size of an apple seed. Oh, I see those all the time. Much easier than metric and fractions!

Week 7 - baby is now 1.3 cm or the size of our blueberry. Aww, he or she is our little blueberry this week! What a cute fruit.

Week 8 - baby is now 1.6 cm or the size of a lima bean. Aww, now it's our little lima bean! And my uterus is the size of a grapefruit.....how lovely.

It's all cute and fun and games until I'm carrying a watermelon.....

Since you're pregnant, you should have clean air....

My husband is the greatest. I have needed an oil change and since my routine lately has been - get off work, come home, eat something, fall asleep, it hasn't left much room in my schedule for me to actually go and have the changing of the oil actually done. This morning he tells me, half asleep, that I should take his car to work so he can take it in for me. What a sweetheart!

He tells me later that he got the oil changed and the cabin air filter replaced. He told me that this act of kindness wasn't something he would normally do, but since I was pregnant, I should have clean air to breath. How thoughtful! HA! So the rest of the time, dirty air is fine??