"Please Bring Back the Cold Weather"

My husband can vouch for me when I say that I don't think I EVER would have guessed those words would come out of my mouth. Don't get me wrong, any time fall or winter rolls around each year I get excited, but my excitement usually lasts for all of 3 weeks and then I'm ready for summer again. I'm a full on hot-weather, beach bathing, swimming, sweat fest kind of girl. I would prefer to be hot over cold any time of the year. Usually at the first sign of spring I am giddy, anxious to do anything and everything outside. Not this year. This year has been different. This year we have been holed up in our house on numerous occasions due to the cold, ice and snow and I can honestly say I have LOVED every minute of it. I've even enjoyed venturing outside in the 30-40 degree weather to take my dog on walks. I will always remember 2010 as the year that pregnancy made me appreciate winter (lets not get crazy, I'm sure next year I'll be back to only appreciating summer but it was nice to have it one year).

Here's the problem. The temperature has started rising and I'm not ready for it to do that yet. First of all, its February right? Are we really supposed to be having 70 degree weather in February? It has to get cold again, right? Every day I anxiously open the paper and read the 5 day forecast, only to be disappointed when the words "70 degrees and sunny" are staring back at me. How depressing is that?! Now is when I should be jumping for joy, anxious to get outside, planning all activities around being outdoors. But no, I want to be nice and cool, snuggled up in my house and lets be honest, a) you just can't do that when it is 70 degrees out and b) someone will classify you as certifiably insane if all you do is sit inside on these gorgeous days. So instead, I find myself sweating (a lot) and making my lazy bum get up and "enjoy" the outside so that I seem normal to everyone else. And while all my friends and coworkers talk about the weather and how they hope it stays this way, I politely agree on the outside, but truthfully am yearning for just a few more snow days.

Now I leave you with my latest belly pic. This was taken at exactly 33 weeks. Upon seeing this pic, you clearly understand where I'm coming from....I'm carrying an extra basketball worth of heat around with me!

"You Having Boy"

Ok - before everyone freaks out, this is NOT what the Doctor told me...this is what my Asian nail tech (plus 3 other Asian nail techs) have told me in the past couple of months and for some reason I've bought into it. In my 8 months of pregnancy only 3 people have told me they think I'm having a girl...my husband, my friend Julie and my husband's business partner Dave. Those odds are not great. On top of that I've had 2 midwives tell me that if they had to guess they would say boy. Now I'm not saying they have any special powers, but given they have been doing this for years and seen a LOT of preggo women, I have a feeling they have a pretty good sense. Anyhow, I thought it would be fun, to let you all in on all the fun tests, old wives tales, etc. that I've done over the last few months to try and determine what we'll be having. After reading you make the call :)

String Test
This is the test where you take a piece of string, place a gold ring on the end of it and hover it over your body. If it goes back and forth it is a boy, if it goes in circles it is a girl (*Disclaimer, there are numerous takes on this test, some say if it goes in circles its a boy and if it goes side to side its a girl so I'm going to say this one is about 5% accurate....not great odds). As soon as we placed it over my stomach it began going crazy in circles and only got larger and larger from there. Check one box for girl (depending on which theory you go with).

Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar
This is supposed to be based off the month you conceive and your age at the time of conception. Test claims to be 99% accurate...not sure I'm buying that. At any rate, ours said girl. Check one box for girl.

Asian Nail Techs
As mentioned above, I went to get my nails down about 2 months ago and as soon as I walked in the lady said "You having boy" to which I polietly replied, "well actually, we aren't sure" to which she insistently replied "No, no, you having a boy. No question". Alright, I'm not going to lie...this just flat out creeped me out. She seemed to be seeing right through the skin of my stomach or something. I had an overwhelming sense right then and there that it was a boy. Needless to say I've been back to the same nail salon 2 times since then, had 2 different nail techs and all have pretty much told me I'm having a boy. No questions asked. Check one box for boy.

Heartbeat
Two weeks ago I went for a check up and saw a new midwife that I had yet to meet in my practice. She walked in, took the heartbeat and immediately said.."You having a boy?". To which I replied "Um, I'm not sure, but now I'm thinking I am. Why did you just say that?!" She went on to tell me that she honestly had no idea but that an old wives tale says that when a heartbeat is above 135 it is a girl and below 135 it is a boy. Mine was at 124. Check one box for boy.

Dreams
They always say (although I often wonder who the "they" is in cases like this) that whatever gender you dream you are having is usually what it ends up being. Its like mothers have this sixth sense that comes out in their unconscious world of dreams. Well up until 2 weeks ago I had had MANY baby dreams but none of those dreams were specific to one sex or the other. In fact, I don't even think I knew the sex of the baby in those dreams.....it was almost asexual. Then it happened. 2 weeks ago I had a VIVID labor and delivery dream (and I mean vivid) and when the baby came out I can still picture Josh and I looking down at our babe, spreading the legs and low and behold...it was a girl. Check one box for girl.

Old Wives Tales
If you are carrying low and out front its a boy. Check one box for boy.

If you are very sick in the first trimester its a girl. Check one box for boy.

If you have bad acne in the beginning its a girl (girl steals beauty). Check one box for girl.

If your face changes shape (i.e. nose gets bigger, wider, etc) its a girl. Check one box for boy.

Alright - now you have all the info...you make the call!

The Tour

Last night my husband and I embarked on the hospital tour. The tour was about an hour long and made things seem VERY real. I sure hope they give you a refresher when you are actually going through labor as I'm about 95% sure neither of us will remember half the stuff.

The first stop on the tour was the actual delivery room. Surprisingly it looked just like any normal recovery room with the exception that it was a little larger. I'm not sure why but I was picturing a big white stark operating room....i think I have the movies to blame for that. At any rate, when our tour guide pulled out the "bare-down" bars on the side of the bed, my heart rate shot through the roof. I kept visualizing myself giving birth to a human being and it just seems so surreal that I will actually be doing that in less than 2 months. Our guide then proceeded to tell us that once the babe is actually born and they've done all the necessary assessments, they will then bring the baby back to mom "at which point you will nurse". She said it just like that. Like it was no big deal. Like we were all supposed to know how to nurse at that moment. UM, EXCUSE ME! So many questions flooded my brain...."how will my baby know how to nurse, how will I know how to nurse, is there someone who will be helping me, are they just going to hand me my baby and expect me to know what to do, ahhhhh". Rather than raise my hand and sound like a looney I kept all thoughts to myself and made a mental note to call my sister as soon as I left.

Now the next part of the tour was the recovery area. Nothing new here as I've visited these rooms many a time in my day. The difference this time, was a feeling. When we walked past the nursery and saw all the newborns in there it hit me and I got this overwhelming feeling of excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, you name it. At that moment I could not WAIT to meet our little one. The whole ride home Josh and I kept talking about what we thought baby murph was going to look like. I"m convinced we are going to have a bald headed boy. Josh used to think girl though he's been leaning towards boy lately, but he thinks there will be strawberry blond fuzz. Josh had red hair as a little boy and mine was strawberry blonde, so no matter what, I think at some point our child is destined to have red in his/her hair.

Friday we meet with our potential pediatrician...more to follow after that!

Babymooning

So this past weekend, Josh and I did a little babymooning. According to the trusty Wikipedia, a babymoon "describes a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage."

Well, I can tell you we did not enjoy any prenatal massages, but we did enjoy some total relaxation. We decided a few weeks ago that we were going to hit up Puerto Rico for some warm weather, fruity non-alchy drinks (for me anyway) and pool time.

For most of my pregnancy I've been in cold weather, so experiencing the heat at almost 8 months pregnant was an eye opener to say the least. While having the luxury of jumping in the pool at any moment was not only nice but a necessity, I still managed to get 2 (yes 2) migraines on our trip that I'm 100% attributing to the heat. I've always had migraines but since I've been pregnant they have literally disappeared (which I thank my lucky stars for every day considering that you can ONLY take Tylenol when preggers and for anyone who has had a migraine you understand that taking Tylenol with a migraine is similar to taking absolutely nothing). In addition, I've also been lucky (knock on wood) to have minimal if any swelling...well we were in Puerto Rico for not more than 5 hours and my wedding rings were already stuck on my finger. SO, one of the main things this babymoon did for me is make me realize that I need to NEVER get pregnant in the summer (lets see if I can actually make that happen).

Some other highlights from the weekend include lounging by the pool, reading books, having people ask me a million and one questions about my baby and when it was due or what I was having, swimming with my large belly hanging out, getting a tan on my front and staying stark white on my back, meeting Trey from Phish (I kid you not), eating some hearty greasy Puerto Rican food (literal name is Mofongo - see picture), watching movies and of course sleeping!


Belly Pic #1

Relaxing

Close up belly pic

Mofongo - I warned you

Belly pic #3

Trey's back. This was the best I could do...if you don't believe me see my facebook wall