Boy, oh BOY!

Gender is a funny thing. Apparently the universe was not sending me "girl" signs, but in fact, I was making them up in my head. I admitted this to very few people, but the main reason I decided to find out the gender ahead of time is because I thought I wanted a girl so badly that I didn't want to be disappointed at birth if it was a boy, I wanted some time to ease into it. Most of you know, I'm a big girly-girl. Love pink. Love sparkles. Love Barbies and horses. And there's a good chance we're only having one child, so I thought I would be devastated with a boy.
Well, when we were in the ultrasound, I immediately saw the boy parts. It took the technician about 20 minutes to get around to actually telling us that it was a boy. And when he did, I started crying right away. I could tell Eric was thinking, oh no... she's gonna have a meltdown. But I realized immediately that I was crying from happiness, that a boy was wonderful.

My dreams of dressing a baby girl in pink cowboy boots and bows quickly turned to dreams of raising a boy to be an intelligent, courteous and respectful man. Suddenly all of my short term parenting goals of braided hair and dolls morphed into a life long mission of raising a human being. And I realized what an honor it is to raise a good man. I'm surrounded by them. My grandfathers, father, brothers, husband, brother-in-law - these are all men who treat woman well, have amazing senses of humor and make the world a better place. And there are incredible women behind each of these men... in most cases, many women. But it all starts with one very special woman. A mother. And now I'm convinced, to be a mother to a good man, must be one of the greatest feelings in the world. 

And although I get sad sometimes when I see frilly dresses in the tiniest sizes, I did find a pink onesie that reads "Real Men Wear Pink." Totally mine.

Testing, testing, one, two, three....

I've been exhausted. There has been no second trimester pick-me-up for this pregnant mama. And after a long, wonderful, three-day weekend of family and friends, I needed a good night's rest. But really, that's been the problem, for the first time in my life I haven't been sleeping very well. I toss and turn and toss, flipping from one side to the other, searching blindly for a pillow to shove between my knees so my hips don't ache. Not to mention the 3-4 times I get up to use the loo each night. It's a dream.

Last night was truckin' along as usual until about 4:00 AM. Eric got up, used the bathroom and came back to bed, but he shut the door. I said, "Why did you shut the door?" "Because one of the smoke detectors is beeping and I'm hoping I won't hear it with the door shut." Oh, ok. Two minutes go by... Beep! Ugh. Covers fly off, his glasses go on and he storms out of the room. But where is it? (Modern Family anyone?) Beep! It's not upstairs, it's probably down stairs. But when he starts playing with the downstairs one, the upstairs one starts beeping. So for about the next hour he was wrangling the two smoke detectors downstairs and the one upstairs, up and down the stairs, batteries in, batteries out. Every 10 minutes or so, he thought he had fixed it and would come to bed. Then... Beep! Up again!

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. "No, sorry it's keeping you up," he replied. It's ok, I thought, I knew this was a test. This is what our life will be like in a mere five months. Listening to Eric stomp around the house, talking to the maddening white circles was amusing. Over the course of an hour it went from "God darn it!" (the most foul mouth he gets) to "Please be quiet!" to "Shut up!" I could easily replace the beeping inanimate item with a colicky red-faced baby. That is until he dismantled all of the smoke detectors and put them on the porch, "I'm done dickin' around," he said as he climbed back into bed just after 5:00 AM.

Good thing it's only a test.

Oh baby!

We had an ultrasound today that tested for some genetic abnormalities. At first glance, everything looks great! (there are blood test results that will come shortly - but I'm feeling good about it)

The ultrasound was awesome. Besides the fact that they suggested I drink a glass of water ahead of time, since a full bladder would help get a better picture, and then proceeded to press as hard as they could with the scanner on my full bladder. She said, "I'm just going for the best picture and sometimes I forget if I'm pressing too hard, so you'll have to just let me know."

Well, I wasn't going to say anything that might risk getting an inaccurate measurement or a bad picture that might falsely lead me to believe my baby was missing a limb, so I happily laid there for 30 minutes as she pressed and poked my full bladder. I guess these are the sacrifices you make as a parent, huh?

It was totally worth it... 

3-D imaging is crazy!

Profile of our little one.

Two legs and feet, crossed at the ankles. My favorite shot!

Week 11

Home sweet home! Eric surprised me with an epic vacation including trains, planes and automobiles. We flew in to Colorado Springs, took the train to Sacramento then on to Portland and drove through the Columbia River Gorge. It was really an amazing adventure. 

In Portland we went to a famous bookstore called Powell's Books. It's huge and it was the perfect place to find a baby book! I can't wait to start filling it out. 

I felt ok throughout the trip. I had ups and downs as usual, but I never let it get the best of me. And we had a great time. Today, I'm feeling the best I've felt in a very long time. I even had energy to make dinner, pasta and meat sauce AND a dessert, apple crisp!

 

The apple crisp is delicious (I'm eating as I type). The thunder is starting outside and I'm getting ready to pull on my jammies and jump into bed. It's good to be home!

Bon voyage!

This year Eric and I decided to take each other on surprise vacations. The picture above is from the secret getaway I planned to Vancouver Island in August. And I know what your thinking... but according to the ultrasound technician and her mad baby dating skills, this little one was made in the U.S. of A.!

Tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM we leave on another adventure, and this time I'm in the dark! I'm very excited. I'm even feeling a little better. Although pretty awful bouts of nausea still attack in waves, the waves are getting shorter. They're more like Lake Michigan waves instead Pacific Ocean waves. I can't wait to be a morning-after-the-storm rain puddle again.

Packing was interesting, because I feel like everyday I'm getting bigger and bigger. I don't know if it's my imagination, the bagels and cream cheese or an actual human being growing inside of me, but my belly seems a bit rounder. So I've packed layers upon layers of loose clothing. Perfect travel clothes anyway!

I'll post pictures soon!

Ding, ding, ding!

A pregnancy PLUS.... no seasonal allergies! Weird huh? I don't have any science to back this up, but I just realized that I haven't had a single runny nose or itchy, watery eye since finding out I was pregnant. And apparently the air is filled with nasty stuff. This is amazing since my brothers and I suffer from constant stuffy nose syndrome. I'll take it!

Updates...

My fingers are fat. It was getting risky taking my wedding ring on an off, especially putting it on, because every time I did I was scared I would never be able to take it off! My dear mother-in-law brought me some of her mother's rings to try on for size. They are a tad bit big for me normally, so surprise! They fit! I chose the one pictured to wear for the next seven months. It's not that I'm worried I'll be seen as an unwed pregnant mother, pshh, that's nothing. The fear of going ringless is that I'll have to put up with hundreds of come-ons thrown my way. I mean who can resist a greasy, zitty, puffy woman who's constantly stuffing her face? Not many.

Truthfully, the ring brings me comfort. I absolutely LOVE being married. And I love looking at my ring finger and remembering the vows, the love, the man that makes me so happy every day! Now, I get to remember all of that, plus an awesome mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law, whom I never met, but I'm sure would be honored that my fat finger is wearing her ring.

Speaking of vows, our dear friends Steve and Phil were married in a beautiful ceremony this weekend. It's true, there is no legal piece of paper that states they are united, but they were married in an ecumenical church in front of their friends, family and God. It was a truly moving ceremony filled with love, commitment and faith. And to top it all off, I made four cakes! I don't know how I found the energy to do it. Again, I can thank my MIL for her assistance. I'm proud to say they turned out beautifully and tasted delicious. It's easy to find strength to keep going when you have something like love as a motivation.



The most exciting update is the new additions to our family! Clara Caroline and Dominic Stephen Zitske were born a week and a half ago. They are absolutely beautiful and we can't wait to meet them in person. Clara is a dark haired little fairy and Dominic is the spitting image of his father as a baby. The family is home and getting into the grove of being a foursome. They doubled their family with one trip to the hospital! Well, an exciting nine months and a trip to the hospital.




And finally, I had a midwife appointment yesterday. She found the heartbeat immediately. It was a strong 165 beats per minute! She assured me that the nausea would start to gradually subside and the second trimester would be a whole new world. Again, this is what everyone keeps saying. Tomorrow I will be 10 weeks, I can't believe I've made it through four weeks of feeling like poop! Hopefully only four more weeks to go! Oh! And next week Eric is taking me on a surprise vacation, so that has been something to look forward to. I know we'll be gone for a week and I should pack with layers, but other than that, I'm completely in the dark. Fun!