Absolutely Delightful

Well, after weeks of stressing about it, the day finally arrived today and this morning I had my amnio. Looking back now I would say that the anticipation of it was way worse than the procedure itself. I made it worse than it had to be. There was no numbing beforehand in my case but that’s common as they can only numb the outer skin and not the uterus, so really what’s the point. The needle going into the skin feels like a pinprick and is not painful at all. The cramping when it goes into the uterus is like a mild period cramp and doesn’t hurt but it scared me even though I knew I would likely feel one. I freaked out. I started shaking and was trying so hard to get myself under control and be still. The doctor and nurse told me to breathe and I squeezed my husband’s hand even tighter. I made the whole situation so much worse b/c I was a nervous wreck for something that was pretty breezy actually. I just didn’t want to be there and I was worried about complications and then my shaking made me even more worried about complications. In the end the doctor said that my shaking was fine and that it did no harm. I hope not. I am a worrier…I know, I hide it so well! Anyways, some cramping afterwards and still into the evening. I read it can be up to 24 hours afterwards and is normal. So, for those of you who are thinking about it or who are about to get an amnio, try not to stress and know that it’s true what everyone says, it’s not that bad at all.

Note: I am aware that some people feel the “correct” word is nauseated, and not nauseous. These people are in fact highly nauseating, and need to take it up with Merriam-Webster.

Before we were married, and long before she was ever pregnant, there was one thing that never failed in making J nauseous - me fiddling with the soccer ball air freshener that hung from the rear view mirror in my car. I would bat at it playfully, and she would say “Stop it, you’re making me nauseous.” At the time I did not realize this was foreshadowing.

Fast forward a few years to a couple of pregnancies, and I now have an ever-growing list of items that are nausea-inducing to J.

1. Saying the Word “Rubio’s”

That’s right, during the first pregnancy there was a particular bad bout of nausea immediately following consumption of a Rubio’s burrito. While likely unrelated, this did not prevent a moratorium on me using the word Rubio’s for about a year.

2. Closing the Blinds in Opposite Directions

When you close some horizontal blinds, you can close them in two ways. Naturally, there is both a right and a wrong way, which almost certainly varies from person to person. You may not however have realized that closing two sets of blinds in different ways is a potent inducer of nausea.

The strange thing during all of this is that the one item which makes me most nauseous (a big pile of stinking Muffin-poop), seems to have little ill effect on J at all.

It is so hard to find reliable information on vitamins during pregnancy. I have been having some NVP (nausea & vomiting in pregnancy) and although not nearly as bad as with Hayden, I had sought the counsel of the folks at Mother Risk (www.motherisk.org). Awesome organization - more on that in another post. Anyways, the folks there told me to increase my protein intake and one of the ways that I can do that is through protein powder since meat doesn’t really appeal to me right now and I certainly don’t want to smell it cooking. I do have a protein powder that tastes awesome but it has added vitamins and minerals so I was looking up RDA to see if my prenatal vitamin combined with this and the food I eat would put me in a danger category since I’m pregnant. I got as far as vitamin E and apparently there is this new Dutch study that has shown a possible link between vitamin intake over 15 mg (the RDA) during pregnancy and heart defects in babies. Yikes! My prenatal has 15 mg in it and then I’m sure my daily diet has some. This particular protein powder has 15 mg also. I looked into getting a different prenatal but most had about 10-15 mg and some even had 30 mg! I have even seen some prenatals that have way over the RDA for vitamin A (not as beta carotin) and this has been proven as a teratagen. Anyways I’m annoyed. There are so many things to worry about and look out for when you are pregnant and so many sources of conflicting information. I’ll just be glad when this is done and we have our healthy baby in our arms.

Ah, something as simple as going pee in a public washroom (I was raised in Canada…it’s “restroom” for my American friends) can be a very difficult task when you bring a toddler into the equation.  When our little ones are strapped into their strollers, all we need to worry about (for the most part) is finding one of those big “accessible” stalls.  However, for those of us who are thrill seekers and sometimes go stroller-less, something as simple as a visit to the public bathroom can be considered an extreme sport, not for the faint of heart…or even slightly self-conscious.  Huh, you say?!  Well, fortunately, this story I am about to tell you is not my own and did not happen to me personally but I could easily see that it could.  I have the blessing of my good Mommy Friend, D, to share it with you here.  Not so long ago, D was out and about with her very active toddler daughter and needed to use the public restroom.  Having no stroller, she had her daughter stand in the stall with her as she went about her business (”number one”, I assure you).  Midstream her daughter makes her escape through the space under the stall door and D, acting quickly like any mom would, finds herself rushing out into the public area of the restroom…with her pants (and undergarments) still down around her ankles.  Ah, the joys of Mommyhood.  

Epilogue:  Fret not…the story ends well in that there happened to be no one else in the bathroom at the time of The Incident and, thanks to D’s speediness, her daughter did not have enough time to escape more than a few feet from the bathroom door and was thus safe.

P.S.  If Bathroom Stories or Bathroom Etiquette is your thing, check out the website for The International Centre for Bathroom Etiquette at www.icbe.org

So, our 2 year old “Muffin” (name has been changed to protect the innocent) is a pretty terrible eater and meal-time is not mommy and daddy’s favorite time since it’s so frustrating not being able to get your child to eat anything.  Anyways, one morning not so long ago, my husband made banana pancakes - yummy, right?!  To any normal 2 year old, yes, but not to our little Muffin Man.  So, when Muffin wouldn’t even try the pancakes I thought it would be a good idea to interest him by bringing up one of his favorite Sesame Street characters, Cookie Monster.  Well, for those of you who have seen cookie monster eat, you can probably guess what madness ensued.   Lets just say the pancake that Muffin held ended up in a broken mess strewn about in a 6 foot 360 degree radius.  Nice.  I’m just glad we didn’t give him any syrup.  On to the next idea to motivate the little man to eat.  Any good ideas out there?!