Update

So I just realized this morning that I've been neglecting my blog. It's been a busy time of year finishing up stuff before Christmas vacation, researching our move to Pittsburgh, concerts, etc. Today I am 30 weeks pregnant, and have but one picture to show for it:

There she is in there.

Last night I experienced heartburn (or what I assumed to be) for the first time ever. Not terribly unpleasant, but the longer it lasted, the more tired of it I became. I need to make a note to not eat our friend, Yarrow's kale-carrot-celery soup with rice - as delicious as it was - again for the duration of my pregnancy. Maybe it was the cream.

And aside from my very sore upper right ribs, I've been feeling quite good. We go on walks regularly, and even jog along a bit when we're feeling energetic. I'm getting very excited about heading down to Maryland again for Christmas next Sunday, seeing the family again, going to North Carolina and introducing Rob to my extended southern family (good thing he has a voracious appetite; my grandmother, Honey, will be pleased), and having a baby shower.

I'm almost down to my last two months, and still, everything looks good.

Getting Bigger

Today I am 5 months pregnant (minus the two weeks). I feel like I'm really on the downhill now, even though I've just started to feel - and look - pregnant. It's now getting more difficult to bend over, and I'm constantly thankful that I wasn't hit with the obesity gene - that this is only temporary. I feel more full after I eat, since there seems to be less room in that area. My appetite is as healthy as ever, but feel more discomfort now after eating. Rob and I went to dinner at some friends' house last night, and I had a small bowl of soup, a small plate of steamed beet greens, two biscuits and, though I was too full for a piece of the apple-cranberry pie (great suggestion, Rob) that we'd brought with us, a slice of that. A little ways into our game of Spite and Malice (a wonderfully entertaining card game), Rafi and I each had a slice more apiece, which totally set me over the edge, along with the three or four cups of nettle tea I was drinking (along with the loose leaves that hadn't be strained. I threw up in a coughing fit once we got home and were brushing our teeth. Please note, however, that brushing one's teeth is a most opportune time to vomit - just try not to do it in the sink. Yuck).

So yeah, I'm feeling kind of funny these days. I'm not loving the bleeding gums one bit. I was a good flosser before, but now I'm doing it twice a day in an effort to strengthen my gums, but it's all in vain. All in all, though, I'm enjoying this quite a bit.

The grapefruit is pink...and still bald.

Rob and I just got back from an ultrasound where the technician said, with great confidence, that we're having a girl. I'm glad to know for sure. As crazy as this sounds, though, as I laid there on the table, hearing that there was no sign of a cleft palette or any other defects, all I could really think was, "Oh, gosh...please don't let her have hair; I don't want to have to shave her head..." I'm sick.

Sorry, Gail...

I feel badly for slighting Gail, my sweet - and oh, so pretty - niece, when I praised her brother Jack. Nothing was meant by this. In fact, Gail's funny ways are making me excited about having a girl, most likely. We'll have a clearer picture tomorrow when I go in for an ultrasound. Rob was pulling for a girl, since that's all he knows. And, while we're not making this public knowledge (as I type this to post up on the interweb for all the world to read) - at least not around our small town ; my stepdaughter, Zoe, had requested to be kept out of the loop, for the surprise of it. At first she protested when we wouldn't tell her, but she hasn't made a peep all week, so I think she's getting over it. I told her we were all set on clothes for the time being (especially since our little lemon - which is now really a grapefruit - can't even wear clothes yet!), and would be for quite some time, and she's settled down in her excitement to stockpile on baby clothes.

So, at twenty weeks now, I'm just starting to show a little bit more, though my coworkers are always commenting on how unpregnant I appear (this coming from people in a place where a good 96% of the populous is overweight; I guess I still look pretty rail-thin in comparison). I am, however, feeling quite clumsy and off-kilter, and EXTREMELY fatigued. I'd be more than happy if I just went on bed rest right now and didn't get up till after I'd given birth.

I miss running. Yesterday Rob, Zoe's grandmother, Filomena, and I went to Zoe's cross-country race to cheer her on, and I ached a little bit from wanting to be running with them. Months ago, back in the mid-spring, I'd had big plans to run in my third Baltimore Marathon, which is happening this year on my birthday, which is next weekend. Needless to say, I scrapped that idea once I decided I'd rather have a baby this year. Still kind of a bummer that, even if I wanted to do it, I simply wouldn't have the energy. This business is hard work.

M or F?

Today is the day that we find out (hopefully) if we're having a boy or a girl.  Earlier on I was hoping for a boy, given my fondness for Jack and how sweet he is, but lately I've warmed to the idea of having a girl.  Either way I'll be excited; this will simply narrow down our name pool by 50%.  And either way, we're all set when it comes to clothes, thanks to Kellie's generous gender-nonspecific clothing donation.  We're not big on the all pink or blue wardrobe, and are thrilled with all the greens, oranges, and yellows, and the abundance of animals.  Zoe even found a tiny Alaska tee shirt in the bag, which thrilled her to no end.  So while we'll find out what it is, Zoe has requested to be kept out of the know, even though I know that by her bedtime tonight she'll be running us ragged with her pleas to be informed.  Too bad.  In about three hours, we should know what this lemon is...

A fun way to entertain unruly 8th graders

So my 8th grade class has, for the past 2+ years, been the bain of my existence, taking great joy in testing my patience (which has worn quite thin as of late).  They're utterly out of control on most days, but are all capable of behaving themselves; they simply choose not to.  My being pregnant, however, has somehow captivated the interest of nearly every one of them.  Today they were all wanting to touch my stomach, which has just started to grow.  I guess at 18 weeks, I was expecting to be a little bit bigger than I am now.  Clothes are still fitting the same as they always have, and only after I've just eaten do I feel any larger.  

Anyway, I took advantage of my unusually respectful, good-natured students and entertained their questions, telling them about our plans to have a home birth without drugs.  They were surprisingly mild-mannered for the remainder of the class, diligently painting watercolor turtles, feathers, and medicine wheels in preparation for next week's National Indian Day.  Now I know how to keep these kids in check; I'll just have to keep cooking up stories of the baby I'm having, even if I'm not!  The worst part of my day is now over, and blessedly, it wasn't so bad at all.  

Not alone...

Last night while working my second (4th?) job as hostess at the Pickled Herring, Anne, a friendly acquaintance - girlfriend of our friend, Rafi - congratulated me, then quietly leaned forward, telling me that she, too, was pregnant. I was very excited for her, as she seems so warm, and Rafi will make a wonderful father. I was so pleased to know that I have someone else in our tiny community who is joining me on this journey. We're having them over later this week.

I've also just started getting some books in the mail about birthing at home and avoiding the conventional methods using medications and technology. This stuff is all well and good, but not necessary when things are all in place - as I hope they will be - so we're preparing to do this more or less on our own.

And...we find out in ten days whether we're having a boy or a girl, at which point we'll start seriously considering names.

New Directions

I was first prompted to keep a running blog to motivate me to run through the bleak and snowy Maine winter, the second of which I successfully weathered last year, by my coworker, Eric Pendleton (see his blog, www.sonriserunning.blogspot.com, for inspiration). Now that my mileage has seen a significant decrease since this summer, I've decided to keep my friends and family posted on a blog not dedicated to charting my 9-mile jaunts through the backroads of coastal Maine, but on more riveting fare, such as my art projects, musical endeavors, or, should those become too dry and mundane, my pregnancy.

We learned late the night of June 17th, the night before we left for a summer in Alaska, that I was, in fact, pregnant. We kept it to ourselves for about three weeks before letting more people know, after the reality of it started to set in. Rob's daughter, Zoe, my stepdaughter, is delighted with the idea of becoming a sister. I'm due the third week of February; right now the thing inside me is the size of a lemon - a lemon with appendages (a good band name to keep on file: Appendaged Lemon). This is an incredibly exciting time, and, though I know it happens to so many women, still can't quite believe it's happening to me. My doctor reported last week that it's perfect, and that was all I needed to hear. After some really great times spent with my nephew and niece, Jack and Gail (read about them and see the sweetest faces at The House of Jack and Gail - www.michaelandkellieryan.blogspot.com), who live much farther away than I'd like, I was eager to have one of my own...