our daughter

we were absolutely thrilled to learn that we'll be having a baby girl! it is just wonderful news and we couldn't be happier. she will be the first granddaughter and the first niece in the family and many people love her already.

girl or boy????

i think every expecting couple spends a lot of time wondering if they're going to have a daughter or a son. and we are no different. it has been fun and exciting to think about. and i honestly cannot say that i am hoping that our baby is one rather than the other. greg and i both would like to have at least one of each. but any combination would be great. since i have so many sisters, i sometimes think that it would be wonderful to have a daughter. but then when i think of jen and her three boys, it makes the idea of being the mother of sons seem incredible too. it's also strange because you realize quite quickly that it's difficult to avoid veering into stereotypical territory when contemplating what a son or daughter would be like. and as greg said the other night when i asked him if he thinks most fathers-to-be would like to have a son: he can't think of any particular activity that he'd want to do with a son (fishing, reading comics, going to see superhero movies) that he couldn't do with a daughter.

my pregnancy dreams have continued to give me conflicting ideas about whether we'll be having a girl or a boy.

to summarize:

one in my first trimester was a happy birth dream in which i had a boy. in another recent dream, i had a girl who was very smart! and in the third (and most confusing) i had a girl and she was incredibly cute and i was so in love with her. and as i was holding her, greg and his mom both told me that she wasn't our baby- that i was still carrying ours, who was a boy and this baby i was holding belonged to someone else!

we are going for an ultrasound today and may be able to learn which we'll be having. i'll be sure to keep you all posted!!

feeling the baby move

this is an exciting time because i can now feel the baby moving. i have been waiting for this! the first few times (about 2 weeks ago or so) it was such an extremely subtle and fleeting sensation that i couldn't be sure.

but now i feel the movements every day and there's no doubt what it is. it is a really amazing experience. and kind of bizarre and otherworldly too, as it is clear that there is a live person moving around inside of me.

whenever i feel it, i try to say something to the baby. it actually felt slightly awkward at first to talk out loud to my belly but i like to think that these are our first interactions, as the baby can now hear. i just say hello and, "i can feel you moving in there" and that i can't wait to meet him/her.

it'll be exciting when greg is able to feel it too.

greg finally gets to hear the heartbeat

we had our next prenatal check-up today- the first one at our new birth center in eugene. it was fantastic. greg was able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and he was smiling as the midwife listened for it.

earlier this week, i had been stressing the fact that there has been a bureaucratic delay with getting my medical records transferred from chicago. they'll arrive eventually but they didn't arrive in time for this appointment. but everything worked out okay: i filled out lengthy forms about my medical history and they were able to see me even without my original paperwork, something for which i am so grateful because i didn't want to postpone my care.

we left with a feeling of security that all is well with the baby and happiness at our choice of center. this was the second of center's five midwives that we've met and she was really cool- nice and calm and intelligent.


  paperwork

examination room

we've chosen our birth center!

greg and i are very happy right now because we have found our midwives & birth center.

we knew that we wanted a natural birth and couldn't decide whether we wanted a home birth or to have the baby in a freestanding birth center. in the state of oregon, there are many, many options for women and many talented midwives practice here. i found this birth center online before we moved here and we scheduled a tour/orientation.

prior to the tour, i was a bit nervous because it is affiliated with the hospital here and i did not want overly medically-minded staff or any unnecessary interventions. so i was very relieved when the presentation started. five midwives work here and the tour was led by one of them. she was so knowledgeable and warm and we immediately felt confident that this was the right place for us. as you can see, it looks like a home and it is very comfortable. they only work with low-risk women and as a result, have excellent outcomes. their philosophy is that it is the woman herself who births her baby and the practitioners are there to support her in this process. 

there is an article in the register-guard about the birth center that explains what it's all about better than i can.

also, some of you know me very well and understand my interest in natural childbirth but others may not know of this and may be unfamiliar with the concept. i am planning to write another post that explains why i am so passionate about it but that will be lengthy and for now, i just wanted to share that we have established our prenatal care and birth plans here in eugene, as that was obviously one of our top priorities upon relocating here.

huge in euge

we made it! greg and i are finally both settled here in eugene, oregon and it has been an incredible experience. i arrived two weeks ago and there is way too much to say, so i think i'll leave that for another blog. (when i get it up & running, i'll post a link.) but we are very happy and so satisfied to have made this move. eugene is all that i had hoped/knew it would be. it is also fabulous to be together with greg again. i missed him so much and we are having a great time checking out the city, cooking dinners, and playing carcassonne.

as far as the pregnancy is concerned, i am feeling fantastic! they weren't kidding when they said that the second trimester is the euphoric one. i am eating very well- the proximity to several incredible farmers' markets helps with that. we always have tons of great produce around. and i am not as tired i used to be. i pretty much feel like my normal self again! 

well, an enormous version of my normal self. ridiculous as it sounds, one very strange thing about being pregnant is that you can't help but feel fat. it is so weird. and difficult to understand because obviously, you expect to be growing and you know that your body changes throughout the nine months. but it still is a weird feeling when your pants don't fit anymore.

however, now that my belly is rounding out and i am beginning to look more like a pregnant woman, it doesn't feel as strange. sometimes i look very pregnant and other times you can't really tell. it depends on what i'm wearing. greg took the first in a series of profile photos so that we can see how big i was at various stages (good idea, jen!). i'll post them in a few weeks when we have several.

pregnancy is wonderful!

everything is going so well.

i can't believe how differently i feel now. i can't really say that i was enjoying being pregnant during the early weeks. i remember dealing with the nausea and wondering how women voluntarily go through multiple pregnancies. at the same time, i felt a bit sad because i'd always considered myself to be a maternal type of person and expected to absolutely love pregnancy.

i was relieved to read in a book that it is in the second trimester that many women begin to experience the blissful feelings often associated with pregnancy. and that has certainly been the case for me. i feel great. much more energetic- i am really active, riding my bike and walking every day.* i am very happy and both greg and i are just so excited about becoming parents and finally meeting our child. we can't wait!

*for those who are concerned, my doctor and books i've read insist that the more physically active a pregnant woman is, the healthier she will be and that usually, staying in shape leads to an easier labor & delivery. not only that, they are now finding that babies born to very active women are healthier and have better developed brains. they suspect that it may be due to being jostled in the uterus, which encourages more muscle movement in the fetus. for more about this, check out Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. i only point this out because it has become clear to me that this is all very different from the common understanding of years ago, when people used to assume that it is a time to take it easy.