Florida Bound

David Doss Art Print
I am heading to Florida this holiday weekend for my Dad’s retirement party. Most of my family lives in Florida, so it will be great to see everyone.

I am still feeling the same, so I am hoping not to have a turbulent plane ride. I don’t want to have an embarrassing moment on the plane especially since I will be sitting with strangers.

Have a great Holiday weekend and I will be back to tell you all about my trip next week.

Food Relief

I have built up a small arsenal that I don’t leave home with out. I even had to switch to a bigger purse to accommodate my nausea. Pictured above are a few of my choice weapons. There are mint candies, Gin Gin’s ginger candies, & crystallized ginger. I also have a stash of peanut butter crackers in my purse. I will be so happy when this goes away.

TLC Overload

I am obsessed with watching channel TLC’s two shows, Bringing Home baby, & A Baby Story. I Tivo them then watch them in bulk when I get a chance. Chris thinks I am crazy for watching those shows but I think I am just trying to get prepared. Some of the stuff is fascinating. This one time this lady had a 10 lb baby, and she had it vaginally. The baby was huge I could not believe it. Another episode the young couple got pregnant because their Labrador dog ate her birth control and she thought it would be alright not to take it one month. LOL.

BLT

Found photo on MSNBC

What I have been craving for the last couple of days is a BLT, and I have no bacon in the house. Unfortunately I live out in the country and it is about an hour trip to run out and get some bacon to bring home to make myself a BLT. I do my grocery shopping on Tuesdays so it is probably the first thing I will be running my cart too in the store.

What is it?

It is killing me already not knowing the sex of the baby. How in the world do people go through the whole pregnancy choosing not to know? I have been to all of the Chinese lunar calendar gender sites. The test results came up half of the time for a girl and the other half for a boy, so that does not help me. I found these lists of what to eat on some old wives tale site.

If you want a Boy:
While pregnant eat red meat, salty snacks such as: crackers and chips Dads should drink plenty of sodas, preferably cola drinks

If you want a Girl:
While pregnant eat lots of fish and veggies, & lots of sweats and chocolates

Of course I don’t believe any of this since I have learned all about the X & Y chromosomes in grade school. The truth is the sex of the baby is already determined upon conception so it does not matter what you eat. I guess I am going to have to wait it out.

Week 7

I am in the 7th week of my pregnancy and I have been nauseous & queasy all week. It starts at about 4 am and continues through out the day. I read something about eating potatoes that it might help so I have some small potatoes already boiled up and in the fridge. It says to take a bite out of them through out the day. I ate one a couple hours ago and it seemed to help a little. I have also read that ginger soothes the stomach. I found some ginger hard candy online that I ordered, hopefully they will get here soon.

Here is a list of natural remedies for morning sickness I found at associatecontent

Ginger ~ The absolute best way to take ginger is in a tea form, but if you don't have the tea bags, you can make your own! Just boil eight ounces of water with one half of a teaspoon of fresh ginger or one teaspoon of ground ginger (from your spice cabinet), then sip slowly.


Chamomile ~ Again, the best way to take this is in a tea. Chamomile is known for it's digestive aiding properties, as well as, for being soothing, and it is safe during pregnancy.


Peppermint ~ You can eat peppermint candies (make sure they are actually made from peppermint and aren't synthetic), drink tea or just inhale the scent! Peppermint is great for settling the stomach quickly.


Water ~ Morning sickness is a way of telling you that you need a drink! Make sure you are drinking at least one half of an ounce per pound of your body weight each day and morning sickness will be a thing of the past!


You can also eat Bananas and baked Potatoes. The bananas and potatoes both contain a large amount of potassium and B vitamins, which is extremely beneficial in aiding nausea. If nothing else works you can always eat dry toast and sprinkle cinnamon on it, this helps too.

Baby Turtles

I found this fabric at Keepsakequilting.com; it is part of the Ocean World Medley. I love this fabric. It is great that it is not gender specific. The fabric is on back order but I ordered a couple yards anyway, I could not pass it up. It will look so sweet in a baby quilt. I am seriously trying to hold back in buying anything for the baby till I get through the first trimester. I live out in the country with several pets, and my floor is impossible to keep clean for more than a couple hours. So I already plan to have plenty of baby quilts, blankies, and towels. With the goal of never setting the kid on the floor or rug with out one.

The Year of the Ox

I could not help but research what Chinese zodiac sign my child would be born under. It turns out in 2009 it will be the Year of the Ox. At first I was scared because I myself am a rat & Chris is a rooster. I was thinking we might be in trouble. The good news is that the Ox is most compatible with the rat, rooster, and the snake. You can read about the Ox and all the other signs HERE just scroll down to the list.

Eating Healthy

I have read that you are not literally eating for two and that you really only need about 200 to 300 more calories a day then what you would regularly need. Since I probably already consume that amount I am not too worried about eating enough. I have however been trying to eat a larger variety of different foods, in hopes to get all the nutrients and vitamins I need. I do take a prenatal vitamin every day. I think my hardest thing will be to make sure I get enough protein in my diet.


This week I baked some bread. This one pictured above is a banana- coconut, macadamia bread. I like to have a slice for breakfast with some decaffeinated herbal tea. This recipe I have had forever and have modified from one of the Betty Crocker banana bread recipes. I also made pumpkin spice bread, and carrot bread. I am not a huge fan of vegetables so what better way to get your orange veggies than in a slice of bread. Here are the recipe links I used for both. They both turned out great and I will use them again.
Pumpkin Spice Bread & Carrot Bread

6 Weeks

At 6 weeks the baby is the size of a bean. The baby has started to form its organs. The heart is divided into distinct left & right chambers and has begun to beat at a rate of 150 beats per minute. I am fortunate enough to not have morning sickness yet. There are moments were I might feel queasy but nothing that can not be ignored. The only annoying thing at this point is having to go pee more frequent than usual. I get up at least twice at night to go. I have no idea where it all comes from.

Baby Blanket

I started a baby blanket. This crochet pattern is free from the Lion Brand website titled Shell Stitch Baby Blanket. I prefer to knit over crochet but for a blanket it is much quicker to crochet. The pattern calls for 4 colors and I chose to use just 2. I am using Baby Bee Sweet delight yarn in colors naked & berry jam. I have a bunch of these in my stash. I plan to go through my stash of yarn and pull out all the ones that are natural yarns & not marked for a specific project anymore and hopefully use them up on stuff to make for the baby.

How I Found Out

I was a few days late but did not think much of it, thinking maybe my calculations were off. While at the grocery store I dropped a home pregnancy test in the cart. I took the test when I got home. Almost immediately 2 pink lines started to form. OMG! I decided to wait till Chris got home from the office before telling him. He came home and I explained what happened and he said “You are not pregnant.” I showed him the pregnancy test, “Maybe?”

The next day I am not sure what possessed me but I started calling family members, then I got scared and decided I better go to the doctor and make sure the results were correct. My normal GYN does not do babies so they referred me to the Women’s Health center. I gave them a call and the receptionist said they do pregnancy testing from 8-11 & 1-4 every day. If your test comes up negative they will charge you $25 out of pocket and if it is positive they will bill your insurance. I thought that was kind of rough for anyone that was really trying to get pregnant how they would feel having to shell out the $25 after the bad news. Then I thought of the woman who seriously wanted the test to be negative and how happy she would be to pay the $25 and even offer to pay the next 3 women’s fee.

I headed out to the women’s center that afternoon making sure I had $25 on me. Filled out the form, they called me back I took the test, and then I was sent to wait in the lobby for my results. I had brought a book and I sat there reading the same line over and over again. In the background there was some crappy daytime court show on the TV. Each second I sat there my heart beat louder and louder, I could hardly breathe. They called me to the back my face and neck I am sure was all red so they asked me to sit down. She said “The test was positive you are pregnant”. I exhaled not realizing I was holding my breath. They gave me a due date of April 4th and scheduled my next appointment for when I am 10 weeks along.

I am 36 and Chris is 39. Over the years we have gone back and forth on whether or not to have a child. When I was 30 we actually tried to have a child for a whole year with no results. Then after a long discussion we decided together not to have children. We are selfish people and live for ourselves, and I have always felt that the world was overpopulated and someone has already had my babies twice over. Through out the years in my mind I always go back and forth on the idea, trying to figure out what I really want and if I would regret not having a child. Would I miss out on the greatest love of my life, maybe that is what I was afraid of the pain that comes with such a great love.

When I turned 34 I decided to go off birth control and let nature take its course. If I was meant to have a baby then it would happen. So 2 years later and no baby one starts to think the room their eggs are in is filled with cob webs and no longer sporting pastel pink & blue ribbons, or your husband is not as viable as he thinks. Turns out both parties are in good working order and now we are pregnant.

I am doing well. I am trying not to get too excited about it till I get through my first trimester. I did have a small break down in the shower the other day. First I was thinking I am not alone in here. Then I started thinking about having a baby and how it was a part of me, flesh of my flesh kind of thoughts. Then I started crying uncontrollably. I just let it flow. I was in the shower anyway. My face was a little puffy for awhile but I felt a little relief after releasing some emotion.


So now I am stocking up on pregnancy books and magazines and trying to figure out what is going to happen and prepare for the many days ahead.

Hello

Welcome to my blog. I recently found out I was pregnant and decided to journal about my experience through this blog. This is my first baby so this is all new to me. I will be learning as I go. My husband, Chris and I live out in the country in a small town in New Mexico. He is a dentist and we own and run a small dental office. A couple of years ago we got involved with alpaca ranching and have been able to grow a small herd.



The dental office and the alpacas keep me pretty busy but in my spare time I enjoy knitting, sewing, quilting, baking, & gardening.



We also have a few pets besides the alpacas. We have a 13 year old Bassett Hound named Brandy.



We have a 6 yr Old Italian greyhound named Haley.



Lastly we have a 5 year old cat named Cosmo.

Come on back if you are interested in reading through my experiences of being pregnant and having our first child.