17 Weeks

Oh, lordy.  Another pregnancy post. 

Well, what can I say?  My semester hasn't started yet.  David is back to work full-time.  I'm doing my pre-semester planning and doing lots of reading and thinking about Baby Duck.

Lots of reading.

Maybe too much reading?

Grad school has trained me to approach a topic by striving for total comprehension of the field.  To collect as many sources as possible on the subject, evaluate them carefully for publication date and author credibility, and then read.  Read a variety of opinions.  Skim if it gets boring.  Read the people who mention each other and get to know the big names.  I feel like my research is getting to be thorough when sources start repeating each other and overlapping.  This is how academics do it.  We read, re-read, overread.

I have probably read at least twenty books on pregnancy and/or labor and delivery.  What can I say?  It's what I'm trained to do.  Read and analyze.  Although the overload of information can feel overwhelming at times, for the most part it just makes me feel prepared.  I like to be informed.  And when I get tired of reading books, I read blogs.  When I get tired of blogs, I read the free magazines they send as soon as you make your first OB appointment (seriously).  Do I retain everything I read?  No, not everything.  That would be impossible.  But I do remember a lot of it.  A freakish lot of it, according to David.

It's funny how doing all of this reading and research will still leave me pretty much clueless when it comes to what will work for me and for Baby Duck.  I am well aware that we've fully committed to this baby without having any idea of what we'll actually be getting (please, please not a colicky baby).

(Funny sidenote about colic:  A couple of years ago David was talking to another teacher about a mutual friend who had recently had a baby.  The teacher said that the baby was very cute but that the parents were having a rough time because the baby had colic.  David was puzzled and said, "Oh, I had that.  I think it's kind of cute."  The teacher stared at him like he was out of his mind.  When he told me the story later, I finally figured out that David had never heard of colic and he thought the teacher was saying the baby had a cowlick in her hairline.  At the time, all I knew about colic was that it meant the baby's tummy hurt and they were very fussy all the time.  Recently, I read David one book's definition of colic:  unexplained, unstoppable crying for more than three hours a night, three nights in a row.  Now he frequently remarks that he hopes the baby does not have colic.  Agreed.)

Anyway, so I'm reading.  I'm doing lots of research and thinking about:  cloth diapering vs. disposable diapering; diaper services; attachment parenting vs. Ferberizing (or, more likely, some system in between); bassinet in our room vs. crib in the baby's room; breast feeding vs. formula feeding; what to buy, what to skip, what to borrow, what to buy used; natural childbirth vs. epidural; healthy weight gain during pregnancy; nanny vs. day care...  So much to think about!

At 17 weeks preggo, I've gained 14 pounds.  To me, this seems like a tremendous amount for this point in the pregnancy, although I would also argue that 6 of those pounds have been gained in my bra.  My doctor is not at all worried and says the baby is measuring right on target and my weight is exactly fine. 

I am trying to eat well, but I've been particular about eating healthy for a long time now.  I try to avoid foods that are full of chemicals (Red Number 5 or Yellow Number 40 or whatever those are, also high fructose corn syrup).  I'm eating fish but not meat.  I'm still craving fruit of all sorts and I'm sending David to the farmer's market on Saturday to buy whatever fruits they have.  The necterines we got there a couple of weeks ago were to die for.  For a while, in the first trimester, I was eating peanutbutter and honey on an English muffin every. single. day.  Now I am pretty much hungry for the same old stuff I've always liked, but especially fruit.  String cheese.  Baby carrots.  Tomato and mozzarella sandwiches.  Mmmm.  My favorite summer lunch.  And, on hot days, lemon icies.  Culver's restaurant has the best lemon icies.  Anything that is kind of tart, or both sweet and sour, tastes so good to me. 

I have been eating more ice cream than usual.  My favorite is Trader Joe's mint chocolate chip and I have two Trader Joe-Joe cookies (Oreo-like) on the side.  Yum.

We will find out in less than a month whether we're having a boy or a girl.  (Any guesses?  If I had to guess, I'd say I think it's a girl--I've thought so from the very beginning.  But my parents thought I was a boy and called me "Junior" throughout my mom's pregnancy, so I'm not counting much on this "mother's intuition".)  We've both sort of surprised ourselves by not having a real preference either way.  We're going to keep the name a surprise to avoid undesirable comments from well-meaning friends, relatives, and strangers.  I think we've pretty well settled on a boy name.  If it's a girl, though, the name is totally up in the air.  (Cash gifts could totally get your name in the running and will, of course, be directed to Baby Duck's 529 college savings account, which we recently opened.)

Boy or girl, the guest room is going to keep the same light blue paint color when it's converted to a nursery.  We're going to decorate the nursery in a baby ducks theme so it will be blue and yellow.  My nana made me the most beautiful baby quilt (I'll post a picture on her when I get it back from her--she's currently using it as a pattern to make another quilt) and I'm basically going to decorate the room around the quilt.  I want to find a white crib and dresser.  I also want the room to grow another closet because the one that's in there is already full of our off-season clothes (as well as a couple of bridesmaid dresses, David's graduation robe, my collection of purses and tote bags, and a hunting rifle... I'm waiting to get that "nesting" feeling so that I have the impetus to clean out the closet). 

I've been sort of astonished and totally delighted by gifts that people have already given us.  Mostly adorable baby clothes (including a set of Cardinals onesies, a Pujols t-shirt, and a tiny ball glove).  Also bibs, blankets, books, a couple of toys, and a piggy bank.  Right now everything is piled up on the dresser and the guest bed is covered in clothes that I can no longer wear (sniff, sniff, good-bye True Religion jeans, I will miss you this season.  Also, favorite shirts, I hope my boobs fit back in you again someday.)  On my to-do list for this week is picking up some storage boxes for clothes.

Wearing maternity clothes this fall is going to seriously limit my wardrobe.  I'm trying to avoid buying "maternity-maternity" as much as possible.  There are lots of flowy, long, tunic style shirts in regular stores and in shirts I can usually just go up a size as long as it's a flowy style.  (Because, seriously, Heidi Klum is doing her part, but so many maternity clothes are just painfully ugly).  I can teach in jeans if I want to, but usually I like to dress up.  This fall, though, I think my uniform will be maternity skinny jeans, flat boots, and tunic tops.  My mom bought me a bunch of clothes I can wear to teach in, I have some hand-me-downs from friends, and there are a couple of resale shops in St. Louis that I'll be scouring on a regular basis once my belly gets bigger.  So far I've had trouble finding pants that fit--most of them are so baggy in the hips, thighs, and butt, it looks like I'm wearing clown pants.  So there will probably be a lot of wearing leggings and dresses.  Still, I'm trying not to spend too much money on clothes (so that I can spend it on shoes and accessories instead, obvy).

And that's where we are at 17 weeks.  Baby Duck is now the size of an onion or turnip (depending on which website you're reading).  I still don't think I've felt the baby move.  I thought maybe I felt something the other night, but then I thought maybe I just wanted to feel something so much that I imagined it.  I'm feeling good, have my normal energy level back, and I am able to sleep through the night without having to get up to pee!  17 weeks is a pretty good place to be.