Average Evening

Each night, Taylor comes home from work. We chat on the drive about our days at the office, then make our decision for dinner. Since the pregnancy, Taylor has been craving various foods. Tonight, I made my way to Taco Bell, a rare full meal without her feeling nauseous.

We ate, I finished my puzzle (see my blog for details), and Taylor began her downward decline to discomfort, sickness, and eventual sleep. The scowl/lack of emotion on her face is typical. She feels like such crap, I hope we are able to have a good trip to Florida this weekend.

Ignore Newt in the picture, he knows not what he does.

Back with a Vengeance

The nausea is back. It hit hard this weekend. Even with the wristbands, Taylor was practically unable to move. She ate very little, but did have some good periods where the discomfort waned. But I did have to force her out of the house today, at least to be in the sun and not in the house. She stayed in the car while I ran most of the errands. The smell at PetCo surely would have made her puke.

On the bright side, I have had ample opportunity to read so far during the pregnancy. That will change very soon, I know, but since Taylor has been sleeping so much, I have plowed through 14 books. Granted, most are graphic novels, but still they range upwards of 200 pages each. I even picked up a 966 piece jigsaw puzzle of St. Peter's in Rome. It is a 3D puzzle that I thought the two of us could do together, but she didn't even want to sit up.

The trip to Florida to see my parents in in six days. I just hope that this rollercoaster reaches a smooth point by then.

Baby Fund

Nothing much new these days. Just going through it day by day. We deal with the nausea, then the cravings. Then, nausea again. Pretty much routine now, until the next doctor's visit, and our trip to Florida in 9 days!

Life Saver

Taylor's nausea/morning sickness had started to kick into overdrive. Not sure what to do, she scanned her pregnancy books for help. They recommended eating small amounts at a time, saltines mostly and lots of liquids, resting, and laying down. But, even doing all these things, she was miserable. We were going to run a bunch of errands, but she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed or off the couch, meandering between sleep and discomfort.

EJ left a voicemail on both our phones recommending the same things as the books, plus ginger ale, as well as anti-nausea wristbands that worked for her. I ventured to Jewel by myself, hoping to find the elusive wristbands.

I looked through all of the aisles, including the dreaded "women's needs" aisle, with no wristbands in sight. I checked the vitamin aisle hoping it may be there as well. No luck. Even the pharmacist was not sure. But, I glanced down at the nausea medicines and saw the little Sea-Band box. I grabbed it and threw it in the cart.

Taylor put them on according to the instructions, making sure the correct acupuncture pressure points were being covered. Within 20 minutes, she said 95% of the nausea was gone! Thank you, EJ! Thank you, Sea-Band!

Nausea & My Grandmother (Not Mutually Exclusive)

For Christmas, one of the gifts my family gave Taylor was a collection of all the Maidy family recipes in a nice book for us to keep and pass on to our kids, not knowing we have one on the way. Taylor's nausea has been getting worse and worse the last week, so I wanted to look for a soup recipe to make for her. My grandmother always made the best beef & barley soup. I used to always look forward to when she made it. But, the recipe was not in the book. So, I calld my grandmother down in Florida to ask about it.

I started off by asking how the family was and no one was home but her. She struggled to turn off the answering machine, so we had to talk over it for the first few minutes. I asked her why the recipe was not included in the book because I wanted to make it for Taylor since she was not feeling well.

"Is she pregnant?" First three words that shot out of her mouth. Not even a hesitation. I shook my head in shock. Not because I thought she had figured it out, but because she always asks the worst case scenario first. One time, I said a friend of someone I know was very sick (bronchitis) and my grandmother's first question was "is it cancer?" Oh, Mom-Moms.

I didn't lie to her, I only said, "I said Taylor is feeling sick, that is all." She then told me a shocker: the soup was from a packet of Manischewitz available at any supermarket. Great, there goes a childhood memory.

In the end, I got her recipe and will make it soon. Taylor is feeling horrible right now. The nausea is really reaching full speed and she hates it. She is bored, but doesn't want to do anything because she feels so sick. She keeps saying that she didn't know it would be like this. The most I can do is scratch her back and tell her it is going to be okay.

Today's Craving (Oh Lord, we are only 9 weeks in!!)

First, a McMuffin and hashbrown from McDonald's. Now, egg salad. The eggs are boiling and she is asleep.

Today's Craving...

Chinese food.

We ordered from a local carry out place we liked before. Taylor only ate fried rice because she said the Orange Chicken and Mongolian beef "tasted like plastic." They tasted good to me. Her taste buds are hypersensitive right now. Lots of leftovers for me.

"Never Again..."

Taylor has been feeling tired and generally uncomfortable pretty much every single night. She comes home, eats dinner, starts to feel sleepy, then naseuous, then sleepy, then cranky, then naseuous, and then hits the sack at about 10:15. I don't think she will be posting on this blog for a good period of time, at least until the 1st trimester symptoms begin to fade.

Tonight, she looked over at me and said "I don't think I will be doing this again. I don't like the way it makes me feel."

I cannot relate to exactly what she is going through, but do know that is something almost every woman says at this stage in the pregnancy. She tells me that I am lucky because I don't have to go through the discomfort of the actual birth and the 9 months that lead up to it.

There is not much I can say to debate with that.

Today's Craving

Pizza and whipped cream. We ordered a large pizza with sausage, hot peppers, and onions.

Last night, I made hamburgers and Taylor DEMANDED a pickle. She was ravenous. She never wants dill pickles, especially by themselves. But, she ate one really fast and didn't ask for another.

OB Visit #1

Today we visited our OB, Dr. Nakanishi, for our first appointment of the pregnancy. I will probably not be attending more than 2 more appointments since everyone says they are just checkups. I am planning on attending the big ones: ultrasound and heartbeat.

The appointment was mostly routine questions and background on family genetic traits to help determine any possible warning signs with the pregnancy. Luckily, our families are pretty healthy. However, since I am Jewish, that increases the risk of being a cystic fibrosis carrier. If we wanted to, Taylor could be tested and if she is not a carrier then there would be no need to test me. But, we are going to pass on that test for now since the threat for us is about the same as any average couple due to being from different ethnic backgrounds.

The doctor also mentioned the BUN Test. This is a screening to detect Down's Syndrome in the 1st trimester. But, it is not always covered by insurance due to it being a relatively new screening. I don't think we are going to be doing that either since it would mean we would be taking our only ultrasound covered by insurance now and not later to detect the baby's gender.

So many questions and so much information to process. It is like trying to cram for a final exam, except much more important. Taylor is still feeling slightly queasy and always tired, but Dr. Nakanishi said that that was typical and everything is on the right track.

Our next appointment will be in early March, and we will be hearing the heartbeat! So exciting! I have butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it.

Super Bowl XL

Tonight, we spent the evening watching the Super Bowl with Tim and EJ and baby Jacob. It was fun and I held Jake for a few minutes. I remember holding my niece Ellie a few years ago and how great it felt. I remember holding my sister back in 1989 and how cool it was to have a baby sister. But, when I held Jake and looked into his eyes, it just got me excited to have a baby of our own. All of the babies born into our circle of friends have distinct personalities and are all great kids. It just makes me long for the end of this year when we will be able to experience all of the ups (and downs) of being first time parents.

I can't wait!

On another note, the Buzzards decided to round up all of the extra stuff they have from when Jacob was a newborn. It is baffling the amount of stuff you don't actually use. But, EJ put it best when she said that it is better to overprepare than get stuck without the ONE thing you actually need that day. Well said.

Special Delivery

Today was a nice lounge around the house kind of day. Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, but today is vacuous and we have no errands to run besides the standard trip to Jewel for groceries. I decided to roll the coins from our ginormous piggy bank and Taylor just took it easy on the couch, watching TV and napping.

Taylor loves watching science/medicine/nature shows. Needless to say, I sometimes get a little tired of them especially in large blocks of the same show. But, while I tend to watch my favorites over and over again, I bite my lip and watch too.

But, today, I realized something. The show Babies: Special Delivery is something I cannot watch for the next 9 months. There is something unsettling about watching these dangerous and unhealthy births that makes me worry more than I already am. I feel cautious about even hugging Taylor because she feels sore. So, seeing a child born with clubbed feet or sometimes worse is not doing good things for my state of mind.

Taylor thinks that these things are a reality that we should face because anything can really happen in any pregnancy. True, but why watch it for four hours in a row?

Slow News Day

We are in that region of time right now where there is not much news going on with the baby. Monday is the big first appointment that we will both be attending. So, all we have are questions and lots of them.

Is the baby ok?
Will we hear a hearbeat?
What do we need to be careful about?
Is the baby ok?
What tests will we need to do?
Is the baby ok?

And so on. As you can see, there is one question I want to be answered more than any other. I could read all of those baby books, but I just feel overwhelmed by all of the information that I don't need to process yet. Just tell me what I need right now and I will prepare for the 2nd and 3rd trimesters a little further down the road.

Mother's Point-of-View

Taylor really needs to start posting on this blog. I can write all fine and dandy about what I am experiencing in this pregnancy, but she will have the insight only the mother can experience. I can try and ask her about it and get details, but no matter how much I get from her, it won't be the same unless she writes it herself.

We shall see if she actually does.