Running in the Rain

Thank you everyone for your comments on yesterday's Registry Post.  I really appreciate it.  I will have to do a Follow-up post.  Keep those comments coming.


Hey, I have a novel idea.  Let's talk about running.  This is a running blog right?  So let's go out on a limb here for once and actually mention running.

Hey look, running!

Prior to, well today,  I would have to say that I was still a fair weather runner.  I have run in the rain once or twice but it was pretty minimal rain.  On most days, pre-pregnancy, marathon running Stephanie would see rain and hit the treadmill proclaiming my hatred for all things rain.  When I did go running in the rain, I was ready with all things rain gear - body glide, visor, rain jacket and Stuffits to finish.

Baby B's 2nd Race

But today, things changed.  Miss low key pregnancy runner who has no training plan and comes and goes as she pleases, looked outside and saw the rain, saw the sad text message from her running friend that it was a long night with the baby and had to understandably reschedule, and laced up her running shoes and gave her husband her best - please run with my smile possible.  And once Aaron agreed (even though he had just played a late night hockey game ending at 12:45 and had about 3 hours asleep), we suited up and walked out the door - not just to a light drizzle but a complete downpour.  Yet, instead of turning around, I did something that Aaron remarked was "uncharacteristically not like me"  I smiled, laughed and said "Game On!"  This baby must have some spunk...

I spy a wet baby bump!

As we warmed up our legs by walking to our nearby loop, we were immediately drenched.  We quickly realized today would be a day to go all out on the body glide - something neither of us had chosen to do - Aaron was not even in dri-fit.  As for me, I chose the perfect color for rain - a nice white teeshirt and rolled up running shorts (which btw, I just purchased in a nice very large size for growing room at the price of $5).

We hit the trail and my smile grew wider.  My shoes were soaked, I was hitting all the puddles and we started to sing "Running in the Rain."  We were pretty much alone out there and some walkers that we passed with umbrellas just gave us an eyebrow raise.  We cruised along "trying" to dodge puddles and just having a blast.  I was drenched and loving every second of it.  As we took the last half mile, my smile grew even wider as my husband took off.    There was no way at this point that I could keep up with him and I did not care.  I loved seeing him glide with ease and how far he has come as a runner as well.

Overall, this was not my longest run, not my fastest, but the happiest most fun run I have had in a long time.

So maybe running in the rain is not all that bad afterall...

Do you like running in the rain?

Registry Woes & Prepping (or lack thereof) for a Baby

Ok, I know this sounds crazy because there are so many more important things to worry about and many more things to be happy about, but no matter what I do, I cannot seem to shake the registry worry.  In sum, I am super overwhelmed, nervous, and unsure about the whole idea of what I need to buy/register for, for Baby B.  The concept seems so daunting! What on earth does a baby need?  What are the right products to get?  What are the right brands?  Will the baby like it?  Which lists do I use?  Where do I even start?


I have seen a ton of shopping lists online and in books on what to buy.  I have heard and am heeding the warnings of not going overboard.  But it has not really calmed my nerves to be completely honest.  With every product, there is another major question.  Let's just take a stroller for instance.  Something I know I will need.  Then comes the question of what type of stroller - well I know I eventually want a jogging stroller (clearly!) but not only will there be less jogging/running when Baby B is due in November, but if I understand the "baby rules" correctly, I need a stroller that can fully recline, which jogging strollers do not.  So then we are back to the drawing board on what stroller to get - what will be the safest, easiest to use, most affordable, and make Baby B the happiest.  And once I figure this out, I need to go ahead and incorporate whether or not I want the stroller where the infant carrier can strap into the stroller and as an added bonus could potentially double as a carrier that locks in and becomes a car seat.   And don't even get me started on diapers or baby wipes - what wipes? What brand? Should I order them on amazon.....do I always use commercial wipes or go for homemade sometimes?

Don't get me wrong.  I feel soooo happy to have this "problem."  And even more excited to dig right in and get started.  My theory right now is that I really want to get some major registry shopping done in the next few weeks in anticipation that I might not be 100% during the third trimester.  There is also another added wrinkle that might be causing me a little stress.  You see, Judaism has a tradition/superstition (whatever you want to call it) where in you don't really prepare for a baby.  By this I mean, you do not buy baby items and set up the nursery pre-baby and you don't have a shower pre-baby.  From what I understand, it is bad luck and you hear many awful stories about families who had a pre-baby shower and then the worst happened.  Now many people choose to have showers and fully set up the room and things are fine.  I am not saying one way is right or wrong. But generally a Jewish tradition is to wait.  The custom, I believe, actually was meant  to make it easier on a family who suffered a loss - so not have to come from the hospital after experiencing the worst thing imaginable and have all the baby stuff to return/pack up.

Now, even though it is well intentioned, you can see how this can cause much angst.  To do nothing?!? Have nothing ready?! You can't even leave the hospital without a properly installed car seat.  The first few days are hard enough let alone the idea of now shopping for all those items you need!  Can't you just see the stress mounting?  So like anything, there are loopholes that people have developed through the years.  Some people will register/buy items and have stores hold them until the time comes or store them at someone else's home. Others will wait as long as possible and then in the last weeks set everything up, still others will do the bare minimum (car seat, change of clothes, bassinet etc.).  Oh and don't worry there can still be baby showers, just post baby!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Showers are the coolest 

Aaron and I are still trying to figure out exactly what we are going to do. We do know that we are going to register/buy stuff beforehand.  In fact, my dad came to visit this weekend and made me a very happy mommy-to-be with a very generous gift...

Crib, changing table, and dresser.  Thanks Dad!

But what we will bring into the house and where we will store things is up in the air. On the one hand, we feel the need to set up as much as possible (for the obvious reasons) as well as to get Wubby accustomed to the new things first before the baby is born, but on the other hand I am pretty neurotic and superstitious these days.  We have actually received a gift or two already, which happens and is totally completely fine (and is a loophole in my book because they did not know and were just being super kind and generous). For those gifts, I just put them in our office and closed the door, kind of ignoring them for now.  Also, for right now, the new furniture will stay at the store as long as we need it to, which will probably be post birth, but who knows.  As for other things, I think we will plan to leave them at an unsuspecting relatives and then when we are in the hospital, have our family help bring things over or maybe we will set things up just a few weeks before.  Honestly I am still not 100% sure...and

Phew, as you can see there is a lot to consider...

How did you handle the registry/baby shopping as well as pre- or post baby set up?

Baby B - Weeks 19 and 20

Oh dear, am I behind!  I guess I say that every time I blog now, so it is not really behind as much as I do not have much of a schedule at all, but lack of control is the theme of the moment and will probably continue for the next 20-30 years so I better be getting used to it.  I am almost at the end of my 21st week so I better play some catch up with weeks 19 and 20.  Yikes!! I am going to group these two weeks and hopefully I can make some sense of them in that manner...

Week 19

Week 20

How have I been feeling?  Pretty good (knock on wood), but not amazing.  I know people talk about the massive energy spike of second trimester but it is kind of all relative in my opinion.  I feel like I have infinite more energy than I did first trimester and the start of the second trimester but I am still not up to the level of pre-pregnancy energy - and that is O.K. too.  I am not sleeping as late, and to my dismay I was up at 5 a.m. this weekend and had a hard time falling back asleep.  Nevertheless, I am still exhausted in the middle of the day and at the end of the day.   Last week, I came home, ate dinner, and went to lay down.  I did not watch T.V., I did not do anything just laid there for a half hour and then fell asleep...two of those days I did not even bother to change into P.Js a.k.a Aaron's tee-shirts and boxers.

Wubby will always have more energy than me

How have I been feeling emotionally? Hormone city! Overall, I wish I could say I was happy go lucky.  I know I need to relax and find some peace but more often than not I find myself stressing about this situation or that situation. It is also pretty easy to swing my moods especially to tears - although I am not sure that this is the pregnancy talking either.  I need to do a little better job trying to de-stress and stop worrying so much about things I cannot fix or change right now and enjoy the moments of pregnancy.  The other major emotion is excitement.  Although I feel I am sooo not ready for Baby B to come yet, I can't wait to meet him, but I will happily wait to Thanksgiving - you hear that Baby B!

Cravings/Aversions: Cravings are probably still pizza - although that is par for the course for me at anytime. I also had some very big ice-cream cravings over July 4th, again though that is no big news for me. Aversions - still coffee and onion bagels - mainly the smell! YUCK (p.s. Baby just kicked in agreement).  Otherwise, not so bad on either end, which is helpful because I am really trying to get a variety of healthy foods into my diet right now.  I read that the baby is developing taste buds based on what I am eating, so I have forced myself to eat chicken and other things (which are not always my favorites) in hopes that Baby B will have a well-rounded diet.

Wubby craves chicken, ice-cream, peanut butter, and cheese 

Exercise:  We are still going :) :) Slower than before but I am getting a good solid 5 days a week in, consisting usually of  2 runs, 2 elliptical workouts, and a weights day.  I also have been walking during my lunch hour at work. I can't really ask for much more.  I am pretty aware that a time may come where all that no longer feels so good and thus have started looking into potential pool/swimming options.  I found one near work that is not so expensive so I may have to start that as soon as I feel is necessary.

Doctor's Visits: None since the last big gender visit!  But I have one coming up next week - can't wait to hear the little boy's heartbeat :)

Baby Movement:   I am loving this new category.  I have been feeling the baby move now for a good two or three weeks now and it is becoming more often and more pronounced.  I smile wide every time I feel him - it never gets old!  So far no kicks that Aaron has been able to feel, but maybe Baby B will be a good son and give his Daddy a good old kick for his birthday tonight.  You never know....either way I can't wait for the day that Aaron can feel Baby B dancing away too!

That is all for now.  Tell me when did your hubby or significant other first feel those little kicks?

Pregnancy Counting Confusion

Is anyone else confused about this whole pregnancy counting dilemma?  I have to tell you, maybe it is because I am a lawyer by trade, but I have never been good at math and I do not think this whole pregnancy counting calendar is helping one bit.  I think the trouble begins early, with the fact that you actually start counting week one of your pregnancy before you are actually pregnant - you count from the start of your last period.  In my case, I did not have a last period to count from so we went two weeks back from when we believed conception happened and counted there - that is week one of my pregnancy. Uhhh at that time, I was taking Clomid and nothing was happening down there, so I am pretty sure I was not in fact pregnant.  But that is where the confusion begins in my book.

Things get more complex as you go I have come to realize.  The next issue I have encountered is figuring out when trimesters end.  Some websites told me I was out of the 1st trimester and could breathe a short sigh of relief at 12 weeks but some said not to the end of your 13th week - which made for a little bit of crazy making as I was counting the days, minutes, seconds to make it cross that monumental occasion. We went the 12 week route - we could not keep it a secret too much longer!

More recently, I am just plain confused about what week I am in.  Last week, my "What to Expecting" emails congratulated me on getting half way through the pregnancy and being in my 20th week, which was interesting to me because on that day I thought I was actually 19 weeks exactly.  I wondered how I could then be in my 20th week?!?!  Aaron tried to explain to me that it goes kind of like this - you have completed 19 weeks on this day but you are starting your 20th week this week.  Same concept for what month your in - I have completed 4 months and I am within my 5th month and at 22 weeks even though I would say I am 5 months exactly, I am actually in my 6 month...I think?!?! I hope I got this right.

Week 20 to the day - I think?!

With all this confusion, what is a girl to do?  Michele sent me this calendar  which has proven very useful (Thanks Michele!).  Honestly, it does not really matter the week so much I guess.  Just like how much does it really  matters whether first I thought my due date was the 22nd of November (Thanksgiving), then the 21st (my parent's anniversary), and now they tell me back to the 22nd.  But I guess when you are a "crazy" pregnant woman like me who loves to check her "What To Expect" app and loves getting one day closer to Baby B day, I can't help but just being a little obsessed with the whole counting thing.

All this counting is exhausting!!

Does anyone else understand why pregnancy counting can be so confusing?

Girl or Boy?!?!

This post is late in coming by about two weeks.  I know!  Can we blame it on Aaron who has to take the computer to work everyday and by the time he gets home I am too tired to write?  I guess we cannot truly blame him as he is, you know, working and all, but I have suggested moving his computer onto my desk so you all don't have to wait so long for posts.  He was none too enthusiastic, but who am I kidding by the time I get home I am usually too tired to stare at a computer anymore anyway.  So with a  rainy July 4th morning where I am putting off my run I figured now would be a perfect time.

Where were we?

Ahhh yes....blue or pink?  To Aaron's dismay, I believe, I would not just let us let the ultrasound person tell us.  Instead, I brought these cookies in two separate boxes to the ultrasound tech and had her check off which box (the blue or the pink) we should use.

Use this one!

From there we headed out to diner, originally we were going to have the waiter bring the correct cookie out with dessert but in the end we just kept it private and opened it ourselves over dessert.

BOY!

I was pretty surprised because I have already had two "it's a girl dreams,"  but then again I had a "its twins" dream too so we can't really rely on me.  But honestly we are thrilled - I think Aaron is super psyched it is a boy and is ready to make a hockey player out of him.  I am just happy that so far we have all healthy reports.  Honestly, all of this still seems so unreal to me, but as the whole thing sets in I am left with excitement and happiness.  I am excited for Baby B to have lots of other boys to play with and I may already be setting him up with my best friend's soon to be baby girl due a month before Baby B (because of course he will be a heart throb).  I have also been told boys are the best, but in the end we would have been happy either way.

In the meantime, we also told my dad and grandparents the news in sort of a special way.  I ordered flowers for my grandparents which arrived the next day in "boy colors" and they loved it and were so excited.  We were so happy to include them and surprise them.  My brother schemed with me and brought a card and a bottle of wine over to my dad's house the night we found out to tell him too.  We really enjoyed including our family in our news even though we could not be with them.

That's it.  Happy 4th!!

Did you find out the gender beforehand?  How did you find out?

Baby B - Week 18

So it seems like I never get to these posts on turn over days (Thursday) but I will work with what I have got. And this week thankfully I have got lots of energy this week (ironically however not right now, right now I can hardly keep my eyes open even though I went to sleep at like 8:30 last night and slept until 6:30 - go figure).

Week 18

How have I been feeling?  Full of energy this week!!! It has been wonderful to feel as close to normal as I could possibly hope for this week. I will take it.  Granted this energy is a bit short lived and usually energy is from 7 a.m. until about 3 p.m. when I start to majorly crash, but honestly I will take anything I can get.   So I am very happy with it minus today where I feel extremely tired (Baby B must be busy because I am majorly tired at this moment).  The swollen foot thing has also been lingering.  I talked to my Physical Therapist about it yesterday and he worked some magic and made me feel so much better. 

How have I been feeling emotionally?  Happier for sure! A lot more normal and like myself, which makes me in turn a lot happier.  But there are lots of things changing or potentially about to change over here so I have also been excited, nervous, anxious etc.  Otherwise though happy this week - yayyyy!!!

 And how can you not be happy when you see signs like this - thank you!

Cravings/Aversions:  Hmm not so much this week - major plus!! I still wish I could eat all the tuna fish in the world but don't worry I am abstaining.  I had tuna two times this month and think I will continue to be neurotic and wait until next month to enjoy another serving.  I also have gotten the O.K. from the doctor to have turkey and other cold cuts, but just have not had the nerve to do it.  I just don't know if I really want to chance it, but I am rocking the pasteurized goat cheese - its pasteurized, its fine in my book.  In even better news, we only ate out once last week!  This is amazing compared to my first trimester where I demanded chinese, pizza, and thai every other night - our bodies and our wallets are thanking us.

Exercise:  Has been amazing this past week!  I have had some "normal Stephanie" elliptical workouts and runs!  I have also walked a few times at work during lunch and done some weight training.   Even this morning, where I really did not think I had it in me, I ran with Wubby outside for 5 minutes until he dragged me back to the house and then banged out a good/hard 3 miles on the elliptical still rocking the Mind over Matter theme.

Doctor's Visits:  We had a big one!  The gender one!  But I think that might deserve its own post! I know I am cruel, but you all probably don't care that much anyway.  Be back tomorrow or the next day with the big gender reveal.

Dreams:  Another "it's a girl" dream!  I dreamed that our baby came early (dear Baby, don't do that, come on time) and labor was super easy and yet at the least minute I wanted the epidural and out popped our baby girl.  It felt so real, but the clue should have been that labor was super easy and did not hurt at all - hmmmm, if only.... Pregnancy dreams are crazy though, they seem so so real!

Who else has some good crazy baby dreams for me?

Today's The Day!

Today's the Day!  Will our baby beluga whale be pink or blue?!!?

My first true stab at cookie decorating, be kind...

We could find out as early as our appointment today at 2:30.  But I have some dorky cookie surprise fun planned to add to the excitement so we won't know until after dinner.  Is 3 p.m. an acceptable dinner time?

Any guesses blue or pink? I asked Wubby today and he went with pink ... I think so too.  Hopefully the little boy or girl will cooperate and give us a good picture. But above all, this is hopefully our last major screening for certain diseases and just praying for good test results.