I wrote a post in my head last night while I tossed and turned and hefted Larry* around the place trying to get comfortable. The howling wind and rain didn't help, nor did the fact that the little man stayed in his own bed all night. Yes I know I have begged the gods for him to do just that but he does it so rarely that when he does I think there's something wrong and lie awake all night listening to the fucking monitor to hear him breathe!
Anyway I forgot the post, I've poked and prodded my brain all morning to try to remember what I wanted to tell you and I haven't the slightest idea, not one, not even a clue.
I fucking hate that.
So here are some snippets instead:
Little man poo'd on the floor this weekend, nice! I took his nappy off and couldn't get my fat arse in gear to put a clean one on so decided to let the air at his bum for a while, poor childeen wrapped up in damp fabric/paper all the time. I heard him grunt and saw him make that face just a nanosecond too late, Moved my fat arse right quick that time. Had to give him a bath and clean the floor - serves me right for being a lazy git.
Had to go to the doc and get nuclear power cream/suppositories for the itchy fanny - yum! Seems to have done the job though and I might even have a shag one of these days now that I'm all better.
Had another scan last week to see the face, all well, still the same gender, had her check to make sure, still can't tell you. But I can tell you that my sister-in-law is also pregnant and having a girl - yahoo! You hear about these things, people adopting and then finding themselves preggers from plain ol sex even though every ART trick in the book didn't work - you never expect it to happen to somone you actually know, but it did and I'm thrilled and kind of laughing at them too going from 0 kids to 2 in 9 months, ha ha, that'll learn 'em.
* Larry is my body pillow, a cool $10 in Sears, served me very well last time and is doing his job this time too. Why is he called Larry? I have no idea, I came to be done night and big man had him propped up on my side with eyes and a mouth drawn in, he christened him Larry and it stuck.
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Deal or no deal?
Bastard fucking blogger ass, I wrote a long post about deals and no deals and fucking blogger ate it.
Well in short the gist of it was that big man keeps trying to trip me up and let slip whether little man will have a baby brother or sister.
The deal was that I would find out and he wouldn't and if he wanted to know he would ask me - so big man if you're reading, try to trip me up one more time and I'll tell you straight out and then you'll be pissed off and so will I, so cut it out there's a good fella - k?
The rest of the post was a sweet little story about little man trying to make a deal at bed time, I'll write it again when I'm not so cranky.
Gods am I cranky...mutter mutter...
Well in short the gist of it was that big man keeps trying to trip me up and let slip whether little man will have a baby brother or sister.
The deal was that I would find out and he wouldn't and if he wanted to know he would ask me - so big man if you're reading, try to trip me up one more time and I'll tell you straight out and then you'll be pissed off and so will I, so cut it out there's a good fella - k?
The rest of the post was a sweet little story about little man trying to make a deal at bed time, I'll write it again when I'm not so cranky.
Gods am I cranky...mutter mutter...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The big scan
Had the BIG scan yesterday, the one where you can find out the baby's gender and...
I can't tell you!
Ha ha, sorry, we were still (arguing) discussing our options when the time came so we decided that I would find out and Big man and little man would leave the room. So I know but they don't and I can't very well tell the internet if they don't know so sorry.
I'm glad I know but it's going to be difficult to keep it to myself for another 20+ weeks!
Baby is fine, big - no surprise there - measuring a week ahead as am I so due date is moved forward to August 7th. Placenta is in front which is why I haven't been feeling a whole lot of movement, I was a bit worried about that.
Had a midwife appointment afterwards, met a new midwife - well new to me - who I adored, she was fab, just how you want a midwife to be, big, friendly, competent, capable and no nonsense. She said the GD may not be a problem, I have to do the yummy sugar drink thing next week. And best of all she reiterated that I am an excellent candidate for a VBAC - yahooey!
Took little man to the dentist for his 1st ever appointment, was cute, no work done or anything, just a meet and greet kind of thing, he got a sticker.
And then little man and I went home and slept for the afternoon, I was wrecked, the scan wiped me out, took all of the tension away, I didn't realise how tense I was until I let it go, I had myself convinced there was something wrong with this baby - phew.
I can't tell you!
Ha ha, sorry, we were still (arguing) discussing our options when the time came so we decided that I would find out and Big man and little man would leave the room. So I know but they don't and I can't very well tell the internet if they don't know so sorry.
I'm glad I know but it's going to be difficult to keep it to myself for another 20+ weeks!
Baby is fine, big - no surprise there - measuring a week ahead as am I so due date is moved forward to August 7th. Placenta is in front which is why I haven't been feeling a whole lot of movement, I was a bit worried about that.
Had a midwife appointment afterwards, met a new midwife - well new to me - who I adored, she was fab, just how you want a midwife to be, big, friendly, competent, capable and no nonsense. She said the GD may not be a problem, I have to do the yummy sugar drink thing next week. And best of all she reiterated that I am an excellent candidate for a VBAC - yahooey!
Took little man to the dentist for his 1st ever appointment, was cute, no work done or anything, just a meet and greet kind of thing, he got a sticker.
And then little man and I went home and slept for the afternoon, I was wrecked, the scan wiped me out, took all of the tension away, I didn't realise how tense I was until I let it go, I had myself convinced there was something wrong with this baby - phew.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Pregnant Men?
I've been dealing with family for the past couple of weeks so have had no time to blog.
All is well, have learned to take 1 Dulcolax laxative, not 2 - hmm...
Had some bleeding at 12w but no big deal, had baby checked and s/he is okay. Have scheduled Level II scan for March 19 - have started to waver on the gender mystery, not so sure I want to find out now. What do you think?
Refused all tests, just want to enjoy the pregnancy (ha ha) and not worry about what might or might not be, if baby has issues, we'll deal as best we can.
Have found doc from Romania who is refreshingly old country, complained to her about my awful skin and she said "Oh it must be a girl!" not what I was expecting, I was hoping for a cream or a referral to a dermatologist, made me laugh though and set me up to keep this pregnancy as unmedicalised as possible. She's a little bitty thing though, I hope she can manage me when I look like a whale! So far not doing so bad with the weight gain, 11lbs in total at 14 weeks and 9 of those went on in the first 2 weeks so I've been doing well since then.
Not abiding by the GD diet at all at all, feck it, I'm not so sure it isn't a made up thing anyway, I have a link to a really interesting FAQ about it which I can't find right now but I will.
Read this today and thought you might enjoy:
RELATIONSHIPS; EXPECTANT FATHERS' SYMPTOMS
Article Tools Sponsored By
By GEORGIA DULLEA
Published: September 6, 1982
MORNING sickness, weight gain, backaches, food cravings. The symptoms appeared, only to disappear nine months later, when his wife gave birth. ''I was eating more to keep her company,'' he told the others in a class on parenthood at the 92nd Street Y. ''When she got sick, I got sick. Empathy, I guess.''
The man had experienced what mental-health professionals call the couvade syndrome. The term derives from the ancient, worldwide couvade ritual, observed in modern times among certain peoples in South America and Africa. In a significant form of the ritual, the man takes to his bed at the onset of his wife's labor and mimics childbirth. The ruse distracts evil spirits during the actual birth, protecting mother and child.
While the practice is based on pretense, the syndrome is very real, according to researchers who have studied expectant fathers. Unlike women, who have nine months to prepare for their new roles, it seems that men have been expected to make the psychological transition to parenthood overnight. It doesn't always work out that way, according to the mental-health professionals.
Dr. Sue Rosenberg Zalk, a psychologist and Hunter College professor who has counseled and interviewed many such men, says some are surprised by their bodily changes and mood swings during the pregnancy. Conflicting feelings of anxiety, depression, elation, ambivalence and envy are not atypical. ''But, '' she said, ''because so little attention and support are given to the expectant father, he sits on his feelings, and frequently they come out in ways that are self-destructive or destructive to the marriage.''
Citing studies of battered women, Dr. Zalk said that some reported being struck by their husbands for the first time during pregnancy. Other men deal with hostile feelings by withdrawing or by lavishing attention on their wives, as a parent might. Still others find creative outlets for their feelings, building cribs or painting nursery walls.
Expectant fathers may experience loss of libido in some phases of the pregnancy. A psychoanalytic explanation for this is that the wife, in becoming a mother, stimulates Oedipal conflicts in her husband, who then sees her as sexually taboo. Further reasons advanced for the man's depleted sex drive include fear of the fetus, fear of harming the mother or the baby, or feelings of inadequacy in relation to the magnitude of motherhood.
Whatever the cause, a decrease in sexual desire often triggers anxiety in men, perhaps because of the myth that they are not supposed to be affected sexually by stressful events peripheral to sex. At least that is how it seems to Sam Bittman, a Massachusetts writer, who lost interest in sex at one point in his wife's pregnancy.
''It's a pretty frightening thing, '' he acknowledged, ''and it has a ripple effect when the issue is not discussed with your spouse. Then everybody's threatened by it. My poor wife felt she was no longer sexually appealing to me. In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. It's just that there were so many new feelings.''
In an effort to understand the feelings, Mr. Bittman began interviewing other fathers. He came away with the impression that men tend to deal with the appropriate anxieties surrounding parenthood by denying them. This led to his teaching classes for expectant parents and, eventually, to his joining Dr. Zalk to write a book, ''Expectant Fathers'' (Ballantine Books, $6.95). The work draws on discussions with men's groups and interviews with 47 fathers, plus questionnaires from 162 others.
''They were pleased to find someone who was finally interested in their experiences,'' Mr. Bittman reported. ''Occasionally a man would contact us, saying he'd heard we were talking to men and didn't want to be left out. Our sense from these reactions was that expectant fathers often feel neglected.''
Still, times are changing. Just as fathers are playing more active roles, both in the baby's birth and in its care, they are taking courses in expectant parenthood. The 92nd Street Y, for example, is offering such a course for 10 weeks beginning Nov. 30 and plans to repeat it. The instructor is Dr. Wende Doniger, a psychologist with six years of experience in working with expectant parents.
Fantasies of fathers differ from those of mothers, Dr. Doniger said, in that the coming baby is often seen as an older child rather than an infant. Fathers also worry more about the cost of rearing a child. ''Finances are familiar to them,'' she said. ''That's safer than worrying what they would do if the wives go away for four hours and leave them alone with the baby.''
''Fathers,'' she went on, ''have not been given the opportunity to understand their own feelings during pregnancy. One problem is that pregnant women tend to be very self-centered. Wives should be more attentive to what husbands are going through, just as they expect husbands to be attentive to their needs.'' Georgia Dullea
All is well, have learned to take 1 Dulcolax laxative, not 2 - hmm...
Had some bleeding at 12w but no big deal, had baby checked and s/he is okay. Have scheduled Level II scan for March 19 - have started to waver on the gender mystery, not so sure I want to find out now. What do you think?
Refused all tests, just want to enjoy the pregnancy (ha ha) and not worry about what might or might not be, if baby has issues, we'll deal as best we can.
Have found doc from Romania who is refreshingly old country, complained to her about my awful skin and she said "Oh it must be a girl!" not what I was expecting, I was hoping for a cream or a referral to a dermatologist, made me laugh though and set me up to keep this pregnancy as unmedicalised as possible. She's a little bitty thing though, I hope she can manage me when I look like a whale! So far not doing so bad with the weight gain, 11lbs in total at 14 weeks and 9 of those went on in the first 2 weeks so I've been doing well since then.
Not abiding by the GD diet at all at all, feck it, I'm not so sure it isn't a made up thing anyway, I have a link to a really interesting FAQ about it which I can't find right now but I will.
Read this today and thought you might enjoy:
RELATIONSHIPS; EXPECTANT FATHERS' SYMPTOMS
Article Tools Sponsored By
By GEORGIA DULLEA
Published: September 6, 1982
MORNING sickness, weight gain, backaches, food cravings. The symptoms appeared, only to disappear nine months later, when his wife gave birth. ''I was eating more to keep her company,'' he told the others in a class on parenthood at the 92nd Street Y. ''When she got sick, I got sick. Empathy, I guess.''
The man had experienced what mental-health professionals call the couvade syndrome. The term derives from the ancient, worldwide couvade ritual, observed in modern times among certain peoples in South America and Africa. In a significant form of the ritual, the man takes to his bed at the onset of his wife's labor and mimics childbirth. The ruse distracts evil spirits during the actual birth, protecting mother and child.
While the practice is based on pretense, the syndrome is very real, according to researchers who have studied expectant fathers. Unlike women, who have nine months to prepare for their new roles, it seems that men have been expected to make the psychological transition to parenthood overnight. It doesn't always work out that way, according to the mental-health professionals.
Dr. Sue Rosenberg Zalk, a psychologist and Hunter College professor who has counseled and interviewed many such men, says some are surprised by their bodily changes and mood swings during the pregnancy. Conflicting feelings of anxiety, depression, elation, ambivalence and envy are not atypical. ''But, '' she said, ''because so little attention and support are given to the expectant father, he sits on his feelings, and frequently they come out in ways that are self-destructive or destructive to the marriage.''
Citing studies of battered women, Dr. Zalk said that some reported being struck by their husbands for the first time during pregnancy. Other men deal with hostile feelings by withdrawing or by lavishing attention on their wives, as a parent might. Still others find creative outlets for their feelings, building cribs or painting nursery walls.
Expectant fathers may experience loss of libido in some phases of the pregnancy. A psychoanalytic explanation for this is that the wife, in becoming a mother, stimulates Oedipal conflicts in her husband, who then sees her as sexually taboo. Further reasons advanced for the man's depleted sex drive include fear of the fetus, fear of harming the mother or the baby, or feelings of inadequacy in relation to the magnitude of motherhood.
Whatever the cause, a decrease in sexual desire often triggers anxiety in men, perhaps because of the myth that they are not supposed to be affected sexually by stressful events peripheral to sex. At least that is how it seems to Sam Bittman, a Massachusetts writer, who lost interest in sex at one point in his wife's pregnancy.
''It's a pretty frightening thing, '' he acknowledged, ''and it has a ripple effect when the issue is not discussed with your spouse. Then everybody's threatened by it. My poor wife felt she was no longer sexually appealing to me. In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. It's just that there were so many new feelings.''
In an effort to understand the feelings, Mr. Bittman began interviewing other fathers. He came away with the impression that men tend to deal with the appropriate anxieties surrounding parenthood by denying them. This led to his teaching classes for expectant parents and, eventually, to his joining Dr. Zalk to write a book, ''Expectant Fathers'' (Ballantine Books, $6.95). The work draws on discussions with men's groups and interviews with 47 fathers, plus questionnaires from 162 others.
''They were pleased to find someone who was finally interested in their experiences,'' Mr. Bittman reported. ''Occasionally a man would contact us, saying he'd heard we were talking to men and didn't want to be left out. Our sense from these reactions was that expectant fathers often feel neglected.''
Still, times are changing. Just as fathers are playing more active roles, both in the baby's birth and in its care, they are taking courses in expectant parenthood. The 92nd Street Y, for example, is offering such a course for 10 weeks beginning Nov. 30 and plans to repeat it. The instructor is Dr. Wende Doniger, a psychologist with six years of experience in working with expectant parents.
Fantasies of fathers differ from those of mothers, Dr. Doniger said, in that the coming baby is often seen as an older child rather than an infant. Fathers also worry more about the cost of rearing a child. ''Finances are familiar to them,'' she said. ''That's safer than worrying what they would do if the wives go away for four hours and leave them alone with the baby.''
''Fathers,'' she went on, ''have not been given the opportunity to understand their own feelings during pregnancy. One problem is that pregnant women tend to be very self-centered. Wives should be more attentive to what husbands are going through, just as they expect husbands to be attentive to their needs.'' Georgia Dullea
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Finding out the gender
Sparked a bit of a tantrum in our house last night when I mentioned to big man that I would like to find out the gender this time.
We didn't last time because he didn't want to and I figured that you can change not knowing but not take back knowing - hope that makes sense. I had scans every couple of days at the end because of the GD so could have found out at any time but at the stage there was no point in finding out, I would soon enough anyway.
This time it's different, if I'm having another boy I want to know ahead of time so that I can prepare. Not that I will love another son any less but I do so want a girl, one of each, perfecto and all that, and to be honest, I'm afraid if it's another boy and that is announced to me in the delivery room I might show some small disappointment, however fleeting it is I don't want my child to feel that even for a nanosecond so I'd prefer to know beforehand.
Big man doesn't see it that way, but then again he rarely sees things my way so I expected this. I could do without the tantrums though, the little man does enough of those, I don't need the 6' version doing an encore!
I'm not even 100% sure I want to find out, and there is the chance as has just happened with my sister (due in April) that the babe will not cooperate at the Level II scan and keep his or her legs crossed, but big mans reaction last night could just make me dig my heels in! Me? Stubborn? There's a pair of us in it!
We didn't last time because he didn't want to and I figured that you can change not knowing but not take back knowing - hope that makes sense. I had scans every couple of days at the end because of the GD so could have found out at any time but at the stage there was no point in finding out, I would soon enough anyway.
This time it's different, if I'm having another boy I want to know ahead of time so that I can prepare. Not that I will love another son any less but I do so want a girl, one of each, perfecto and all that, and to be honest, I'm afraid if it's another boy and that is announced to me in the delivery room I might show some small disappointment, however fleeting it is I don't want my child to feel that even for a nanosecond so I'd prefer to know beforehand.
Big man doesn't see it that way, but then again he rarely sees things my way so I expected this. I could do without the tantrums though, the little man does enough of those, I don't need the 6' version doing an encore!
I'm not even 100% sure I want to find out, and there is the chance as has just happened with my sister (due in April) that the babe will not cooperate at the Level II scan and keep his or her legs crossed, but big mans reaction last night could just make me dig my heels in! Me? Stubborn? There's a pair of us in it!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
A girl??
Madame Zaritska's reading
Madame Zaritska, our resident clairvoyant, wants to help you prepare for the arrival of your child. Here she does her best to predict certain aspects of your labor and birth experience.
What she senses for you
The day you deliver, outside will be sunny. Your baby will arrive at night.
After a labor lasting approximately 11 hours, WHAT! your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and will be 18 inches long. This child will have green eyes and be completely bald. Ah a little baldie!
But there is more. It is perfectly healthy and normal to want to look good, even during these interesting months! I sense you feel a little reluctant. Well, you're not being silly or shallow -- you're taking care of yourself. And I am happy that you are.
Well that's nice Madame, I remember doing this last time, wish I had kept it!
Am off to the doc this avo for a quick scan. Have been having bad pain in my right side so they want to rule out ectopic - don't think it is, am just a nervous nelly.
Am guessing it's just digestion issues, have been suffering with constipation the past few days, been trying to drown my enemy with Diet Coke - ha ha, yes people I know I should be drinking 10gallons of water each day, but I'm just not a water drinker, I'll have to improve I guess.
Day 5 off the smokes, man I hate quitting smoking, it's fucking hard, I don't care what Allen Carr says it is hard, this time I will not start smoking again, no way.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Well - It's still a secret
but I'm sharing the news here so it is and it isn't.
Yes that means I'm like all of 4 weeks pregnant right now so I'm toying with fate by blogging about it but I didn't keep any kind of journal for my pregnancy with my son and I'm sorry I didn't now so this is redemption.
Estimated Due Date is August 17, 2007 and Chinese Gender Prediction says it's a girl.
I guessed I might be pregnant when I started hitting this insane exhaustion wall every afternoon last week, it's due to hit me now again in about 20 minutes, hmm I thought, then the constipation set in and I thought hmm again, I've been here before so I bought a test on Friday even though my period wasn't due until today and there it was a faded + sign, nah I thought and threw it away. Did another one the next day and there it was again a +...so i took it outside to big man who was putting a new roof on the shed and asked him if it was real. He seemed to think it was and reacted as he does.
Bought 2 more tests Saturday evening on teh way to work and did one at work, two || this time, definitely there. One more test Sunday morning confirming the two ||s and now I'm starting to believe it.
Made an appt with the doc to have an official test this afternoon, if it's positive then I think I'll really believe it.
Well I'll really believe it when I see the galloping heartbeat on a scan. Sadly I had a miscarriage at 8 weeks the year before little man was born so I'm all too aware of the risks. I'll relax into it after 12 weeks.
In the meantime if you've stumbled across me and you don't know me this might be incredibly boring for you, if you do know me chances are you're getting a link to this in Jan 2007 so are reading backwards, welcome!
Baby #2 is due to arrive in August '07.
Yes that means I'm like all of 4 weeks pregnant right now so I'm toying with fate by blogging about it but I didn't keep any kind of journal for my pregnancy with my son and I'm sorry I didn't now so this is redemption.
Estimated Due Date is August 17, 2007 and Chinese Gender Prediction says it's a girl.
I guessed I might be pregnant when I started hitting this insane exhaustion wall every afternoon last week, it's due to hit me now again in about 20 minutes, hmm I thought, then the constipation set in and I thought hmm again, I've been here before so I bought a test on Friday even though my period wasn't due until today and there it was a faded + sign, nah I thought and threw it away. Did another one the next day and there it was again a +...so i took it outside to big man who was putting a new roof on the shed and asked him if it was real. He seemed to think it was and reacted as he does.
Bought 2 more tests Saturday evening on teh way to work and did one at work, two || this time, definitely there. One more test Sunday morning confirming the two ||s and now I'm starting to believe it.
Made an appt with the doc to have an official test this afternoon, if it's positive then I think I'll really believe it.
Well I'll really believe it when I see the galloping heartbeat on a scan. Sadly I had a miscarriage at 8 weeks the year before little man was born so I'm all too aware of the risks. I'll relax into it after 12 weeks.
In the meantime if you've stumbled across me and you don't know me this might be incredibly boring for you, if you do know me chances are you're getting a link to this in Jan 2007 so are reading backwards, welcome!
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