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Fall is in the air

September 8, 2006

Something about the other side of Labor Day makes me ready for Fall.  The days are shorter, the weather here has been glorious and on the cool side.  I'm ready for jeans and boots, chilly evenings, the whole bit.  We had a really nice weekend, enjoying the last days of John's vacation and the waning days of summer.  Friday John and I took the day and went to buy him a couple of suits for his new job.  It can be rough to get John to spend money on himself.  Buying men's clothes is an experience....  They are so much more expensive than women's clothes!  But the quantity of clothing is probably about 1/3 of mine....  I sorted through my maternity clothes, taking about half to a consignment store because there is absolutely no way I even want them in the house to be tempted to put them on.  Its been four years since I wore them and I swear I'm not sure what I was thinking with a lot of those.  Shudder!  It is going to mean investing in some new clothing to take me through this pregnancy, but I've decided to take a men's view of this...  I'm going to buy 6-7 outfits I really like a lot and just wear the heck out of them.  Mixing those in with the items I've kept from last time should be more than sufficient.

Saturday we took Ava on a bike ride and picnic with our good friends, which was so nice.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  I've attached a picture at the bottom of this entry where you can see my sweet girl running through the park where we stopped to eat lunch.  I swear she ran the equivalent of a toddler marathon taking great delight in sprinting over to the tree, running back toward me and lunging into my arms.  She must have done that 15 times.  Sunday night we went to a neighborhood party that was absolutely teeming with children her age.  It is so fun to see her at the stage of development where she enjoys playing with other children and they can get lost in their own games and play.  We got to the party, she identified the 3-4 children in her age group and off they went.  We practically drug her out the door at the end of the evening and she talked about her friends at the party non stop the next day. 

Monday evening my parents and grandmother came over for dinner. That afternoon John and Ava made homemade pizza dough, much to our Patito's delight.  Since she was a baby John has been engaging Ava in the kitchen.  He loves to cook and will spend a lot of time with Ava puttering through making pizza dough or whatever else is on the menu.  Ava soaks it up like a sponge.  She was so excited to have a family gathering and thrilled beyond all recognition to be in charge of cooking for everyone.  I have pictures of her from when she was a tiny baby, John tucking her into the sling and cooking dinner together.  Ava loves to help with things and is quick to identify her 'jobs' around the house.  For the record, her jobs are; putting the sodas, water etc... into our little 'fridge, helping set the table, helping wipe the table after dinner and picking up her toys.  Frankly she does everything we ask her to, with the exception of picking up her toys which is like pulling teeth.  In short, our weekend was full of everything that makes Ava happy, lots of outside time, lots of time with family and friends. 

This weekend I got in several long rows as we prepare for our big race the end of September.  I felt pretty good while I was rowing (at least as good as you can feel when you're working that hard) but our sessions on the water really burned a lot of gas and wiped me out for the rest of the day.  The first trimester fatigue has found me in a big way.  It is different than I remember with Ava, where I just felt tired all the time.  This seems to come more in waves and when it hits I can just barely function.  Since I saw the two lines on the pregnancy test I can report that I am sleeping like a stone every night.  This is a relatively new phenomenon – I don't always sleep very well.  I am wondering if it is the pregnancy fatigue or the fact that I have eliminated all caffeine and alcohol from my diet?

My food stuff is different this time around too.  I think I mentioned, with Ava my first trimester was one long food aversion.  I couldn't eat anything. I actually lost weight (not intentionally) because a diet of PB&J, Velveeta Shells and Cheese and apples was not really sufficient.  This time I do have some low grade nausea, especially when I'm hungry and some food aversions, mostly to meat and fish.  But generally I am able to eat a pretty balanced diet.  Funny things have come up like – before I was pregnant I was going through a food streak where I was putting banana peppers on everything, pizza, sandwiches, pasta etc...  Now the thought makes me a tad queasy. 

The differences in this pregnancy are making me wonder if I am having a boy?  Does gender affect a pregnancy?  I don't know.  For the record, I quite honestly have no preference in gender.  One part of me thinks it would be nice to have the experience of raising a son, another thinks that Ava having a sister and us having another girl would be a little slice of heaven.  With Ava we were able to find out she was girl around the 20 ^th week and I am hoping our little Swab cooperates and shows us the bits this time around as well.  I liked knowing.

Am I writing too much about the differences in this pregnancy?  I don't have anything to compare it to and I guess I thought it would be more similar to my last experience.  For example, I am nearly 9 weeks along right now and am noticeably pooching out.  With Ava I didn't make the transition to maternity clothes until I was 16 weeks.  Today I am wearing a pair of Gap maternity jeans – the ones you buy for early on that don't really look like maternity jeans.  The sales lady said I should be able to wear them for several months and could wear them 'on the way down' after the baby is born.  I tell you they feel like heaven.  My pooch can do what it needs to do freely!  I am just wearing a regular t-shirt and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in the bathroom and think I am going to have to start telling my work colleagues here pretty soon.  At least to me that bump is pretty noticeable!

An innocent weekly babycenter email about the status of my pregnancy through me into a bit of a panic this week.  Apparently I will be considered of 'advanced maternal age' this go around because I will turn 35 before this baby is born.  News to me, I thought I got in under the wire.  On the email it listed the tests I would likely be offered, which prompted some additional research.  It sounds like the amnio is offered to women my age as a matter of course, but there was some confusion about the CVS test. From what I was able to determine, it looks like CVS is offered when there is cause for concern; prior miscarriage, past history, familial history etc... Due to a whole series of events in my pregnancy with Ava I didn't do any pre-natal testing...  I had some significant spotting in my first trimester, which prompted a level II ultrasound to be scheduled to insure the problems that led to the bleeding wouldn't affect the delivery.  The results of the level II were very positive and my ob said he wouldn't recommend an AFP/Quad Screen or amnio based on that outcome.  Because I am a world class worrier I am concerned about our Swab's health.  I am going to talk with my ob, who I have a great deal of trust, about his recommendations for pre-natal testing.  But if I am offered either the CVS or an amnio at this point I would be inclined to accept them.  I think having the information those tests provide would allow me to plan appropriately and/or relax more for the duration of the pregnancy.  My first pre-natal appointment is next Thursday, which is suddenly making this all seem so real.

A nice, but relatively quiet weekend is in front of us.  I have a baby shower Saturday afternoon and we have a small, but fun dinner party planned Saturday evening.  Maybe my nesting is starting early, but I find myself wanting to do a bunch of house projects, cleaning, sorting and generally restoring order.  Every room in our house needs sorted through, organized and so forth.  Maybe I just need to pick a room a weekend for the next few weeks and try to knock it out.  John is just wrapping up his first week of work at the law firm where is likely to land for the balance of his career.  He has been pretty anxious through this transition, understandably.  It's been a long road from law school, through his clerkship to here.  I am very proud of all he has accomplished and I really look forward to him finding his new rhythm and routine.  This transition has upset our routine at home a little bit, so I am especially looking forward to this weekend. 

Thanks for reading—

--Kate

The two great loves of my life...

Ava on our Labor Day picnic.