Birthing Class

So here's where you get to know Elana more than you thought possible...

I enrolled in a birthing class today. Now for the background story. :-) When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by pregnancy and childbirth, but also completely embarrased by it. I could watch the same footage of someone on a TV show giving birth (completely fake, of course) a zillion times, but I'd be rediculously embarrased if someone was watching with me or if someone "caught" me watching it. It's not like I was watching pornography, but it still felt weird. Anyhoo, if someone else was in the room, I couldn't even watch someone on TV in a birthing class without my face getting all red! So now you know how I feel about this. I'm terrified that I'm going to be all embarrased just being in a birthing class with my hubby! Heck, I'm terrified that I'm going to be embarrased giving birth in front of anyone--hubby, nurses, even the doctor. So I'm all excited to be going to a real birthing class (where I probably know all the info anyway from watching all those tv shows and reading everything in sight), but I'm also embarrased that I'm even signed up. lol Maybe I should just stay home and give birth by myself in the bathtub. :-) I'm a weirdo, but that's why you love me!

Ebay Shopping Spree

I had some fun on Ebay and bought a few things for myself at much cheaper prices than I'd ever find in a store. There are two more things I have on my watch list, but these are the things I bought in the last few days...

First is a black skirt with sparkly gold stripes


Next is a pink and white blouse


This is a pretty black dress with some kind of flower design


And finally, this is a brown dress


All things with long sleeves, most with high necklines--and those with lower necklines can be worn with a shirt underneath, and the skirts safely below the knee!!

Award

I got a bloggy award thanks to my good friend Blue @ Operation Offspring!! :-)

Answer the following questions with single word responses. Then pass on the award to 7 other bloggers:

1. Where is your cell phone? Next to me
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Rochester
5. Your father? Heaven
6. Your favorite thing? Sleep
7. Your dream last night? Bizarre
8. Your dream/goal? Motherhood
9. The room you’re in? Den
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Death
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Right here
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Submissive
15. One of your wish list items? Baby
16. Where you grew up? Rochester
17. The last thing you did? Feed Guinea Pigs
18. What are you wearing? PJs
19. Your T.V.? Days of our Lives
20. Your pet? Guinea Pigs
21. Your computer? Ancient
22. Your mood? Happy
23. Missing someone? Pookie
24. Your car? Small
25. Something you’re not wearing? Shaytel
26. Favorite store? Wegmans
27. Your Summer? Too hot
28. Love someone? Absolutely
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Don't remember

Right, so I didn't do so well on using single words, but it's difficult to do that! :-) Anyhoo, here are the people whose blogs I absolutely love (trying to avoid people who already have this award...)

1) Shauna @ Serendipity Lost
2) Sherry @ Sherry's World
3) Molly @ The Logical Mommy
4) Margelina @ What a Long Strange Trip I'm On
5) Cate @ Why is it Always So Cold Next to the Lake?
6) Murgdan @ Conceive This!
7) Fuentes @ Life at 335

Mazal Tov!

One of my IRL friends here had a baby girl on Friday!! She had been thinking it was a boy, but I had had a dream (waaay back before even I got pregnant) that I was playing with three babies--twin boy & girl, who were mine, and another baby girl, who I assumed to be my friend's. Well, I was right and she was wrong. :-D I believe both mother and baby are doing well and hope to see them within a day or so (they live about 5 houses down the street). The poor thing was in labor for 29 hours--half at home with a doula and the other half in the hospital so she could get an epidural. I know she wanted to go natural (as do I), but even I would be begging for something if my labor dragged on like that!

Other than that, nothing's been happening. My belly almost always feels like it's stretching...and it's totally unconfortable. For those non-preggo's and males out there, you know what it feels like after Thanksgiving dinner when you KNOW you've eaten WAAAY too much and your bellly feels like it's going to explode? Yeah, that's the feeling 24/7 over here. :-) Not complaining, as I'll take any symptom pregnancy brings me, just stating a fact. Also been having some trouble sleeping...like I just can't get comfortable on my left side and I REALLY want to sleep on my back. I tried to prop myself up a bit, but by the time I woke up in the morning, I think I'd been sleeping nearly flat on my back for hours. WHOOPS! Oh well, not much I can do about it.

Bed Rest

I had some questions about why I was talking about bed rest. Firstly, I am not currently on bed rest (although I wish I was confined to the house so I didn't have to go to work...) :-) Secondly, my OB as well as every Perinatologist I've seen have all told me that I will be going on bed rest at some point...most likely around 6 months. There are a few reasons why--#1) Because it's twins (duh) #2) Because it's an IVF pregnancy and therefore even higher risk than twins that occur naturally #3) Because I'm a small person and we don't know how my cervix is going to react to the double pressure of twin babies once we get further along. Rather than risk my cervix opening prematurely, they want me to be on bed rest in order to try to avoid it.

In other news, I'd go into the horrific day I had at work today, but I'd rather not talk about it...it just pisses me off. I am, however, very happy about Barack Obama being elected president, so that makes it a little better. :-)

I do believe I'm starting to feel little kicks as well as movements. This morning I woke up with my hubby's alarm for a bathroom break and felt a kick while I was on my way to the bathroom. I actually said "oof" out loud. lol I can't wait to feel more of them!!

Belly Button and other things

When I was in high school, I was convinced that my belly button was "unfolding". Yes, I was a bizarre child, but I seriously thought it was just going to come apart. Now, I know it's not unfolding, but it's definitely getting shallower. :-)

I follow a lot of blogs, and today I read something that I really want to share. My blogger friend Nancy has one post today about childhood vaccinations and another about the flu shot. I think everyone should read them (especially those who are nervous about vaccinating their children or even themselves). Thank you Nancy!!

In other news, I'm 16 weeks today!! I'm just recharging the batteries for my digital camera and then I'll upload my newest belly pic. It's definitely getting bigger and sometimes I can feel it stretching, and BOY does it hurt! But I'll take it! I've also had some headaches for the last few days, so hopefully those will go away soon. I also voted today, and I hope everyone else has done the same!

I did go maternity shopping last Sunday and bought a winter jacket, a black blouse and 3 bras. Holy cow I'm so happy about those bras. I'd been wearing regular ones 24 hours a day and they were starting to get small. I don't actually think my boobs have gotten any bigger, but my ribcage/chest has. So I'm one size up for chest, but the same cup size. That makes a huge difference in comfort, though! I had actually given myself a sore under my boob and it hurt like mad! Now I have a bra that is specifically for sleeping and two other ones that I can wear during the day.

Today I had the second blood draw for my Sequential Screen, so I will hopefully find out the results of that next week at my OB appointment. And the Big Ultrasound is two weeks from today!!! My sister and brother-in-law are coming in for it, so I'm really psyched to see them too. Then, my mom and her boyfriend are probably coming to visit for Thanksgiving, so that will round out November nicely. I'm going to get spoiled seeing my family so much! But after November I probably won't see anyone again until the babies arrive, unless I get visitors while on bed rest.

Yikes!

Well, this has been a really dull week. It's already Saturday night and I haven't posted a thing since Tuesday. Whoops on me! So, here's the scoop.

One of my IRL (in real life) preggo friends is in the hospital--not pregnancy related, thank G-d. I won't go into any more detail than that because it's quite personal. She actually referred me to my current OB (who is AWESOME). I visited my friend on Wednesday evening and ran into my OB on my way out (she was on her way in to visit my friend). It was very funny. This friend also has a guinea pig who I am pig-sitting. I have 2 guinea pigs, so the humans in my household are currently outnumbered by guinea pigs...

I'm planning to go maternity clothes shopping tomorrow as I find that 4 outfits just don't work when there are 7 days in a week... I have a $100 gift card to Motherhood Maternity, so I'm psyched for a spree!! (Thank you mypoints.com)

I can't believe I'm going to be 16 weeks on Tuesday. I'm going in for the 2nd part of my sequential screen that day. The sequential screen is like the triple/quad screen except they test you twice...once at 12 weeks and once at 16 weeks. They then use those results combined with the neuchal translucency to give you the chances of your baby/babies having Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18. I'm not particularly worried seeing as the NT values for both babies were very low. (Both under 1mm) And my age works for me even though my husband's age is working against. And then I can go vote!! Man, Tuesday is going to be a big day.