My Preview of the Labor and Delivery Floor

Well I just couldn't wait to get into that labor and delivery room until August...we had to take an unexpected visit early this morning. And holy, did it put everything into perspective and make everything suddenly become real.

It's been super hot here all week and I've been doing my best to stay hydrated but it's awfully hard, especially at work. This morning I woke up, went to the bathroom, and had some bleeding. It was about 7:30. Paul was sleeping so I frantically texted my friend Michelle to see if I should call the doctor and she told me I should. After contemplating this and making some noise in hopes that Paul would wake up, he finally did and I told him what happened. He told me to call too. I waited a little while before I called. Dr. Grecco called me right back and told me to come to the hospital since he was on call and it was a Sunday.

So down to Northern Westchester we went. We got admitted right away and went right up to the labor and delivery floor. I was pretty calm until we got to the nurses station and I saw what appeared to be a couple of nurses and my doctor dressed from head to toe in surgical scrubs going in and out of one of these labor/delivery rooms. We stood there for a couple of minutes before they told me which room I would be in. Any one that knows me knows how nosey and inquisitive I am about things (especially things I've never done before). So as the nurse escorted us to our room, I peeked inside the room where all the activity was happening and nearly hit the floor. THAT WOMAN IN THERE IS HAVING A FREAKIN' BABY!

That's what made it so real. Seeing this woman propped up on the bed, just like you see on tv with all these people around her, all the people going in and out totally freaked me out. My nurse escorted us to our room at the end of the hall where I proceeded to look at everything, ask a trillion questions, and play with all the gadgets. Thank God the nurse was patient because I was like a little kid. She strapped 2 monitors on my belly once I got settled in. 1 monitor picked up the heartbeat and the other was for contractions (to see if I was having any). The nurse went out and got me two big jugs of fluid-one filled with crangrape juice (yum) and the other with ice water. I was very happy with my choices of beverage, i just took turns slurping them down. His heartbeat was so loud-it was amazing to hear. That is until he decided that he was going to do all sorts of Cirque du Soleil acrobatics in my uterus and kick the monitor off. He had never been so active. It was really cool to feel, there are really no words that can describe what that feels like. Once I got used to my surroundings and we were settled in, Paul and I turned the tv on (I was more concerned with what the monitors were showing though). It was so quiet on the floor, we actually heard a baby crying not too far away. It took a few minutes for me to realize that the baby crying was the freakin' woman next door! She must have had the baby. Again, this was all really happening...holy crap.

After being monitored for almost 2 hours, Dr. Grecco came in and did an exam. It was very quick but I was so distracted by the way the room was actually like a transformer. The bed turned into this multi-level table that I could be examined on, these huge lights came out of the ceiling...it was truly unbelievable. In the end, I was fine, there was nothing wrong with my cervix or the baby. The bleeding could have just been from being slightly dehydrated, among other things and I need to relax and rest (yeah, relax-June is NOT the month that would afford me any kind of relaxation). So that was it. I am very glad I got a sneak preview of the L & D floor because I am such an information person and need to know everything before it actually happens. I'm chalking this up to a good learning experience.

I said I would never do this but....

One thing I swore I would NEVER EVER EVER do as a pregnant person was take a million belly shots every week and post them on Facebook, GChat, and every other freakin' place for everyone to gawk at and see.

However, if one more person tells me how enormous I am, I'm going to wind up in jail for assault, murder, or both. I am twenty-freakin'-six weeks pregnant. How big am I supposed to be? The best comment is, "Are you sure there's only one in there?" I think being pregnant should give you a free pass to just knock every stupid person with even more stupid comments in the face. God give me the strength.

So here is my one and ONLY belly shot that I promised I would NEVER EVER take, just to prove a point that I am: A. not that big and B. NOT HAVING MORE THAN ONE BABY.

I'm hormonal and have been sick for the last 6 days-this concludes my rant.

26 weeks pregnant-
This is for all of you who think I am enormous. I have two words for you:
BITE ME!

*random thought: my belly looks so nice and smooth, thank you Body Shop Cocoa Butter!*
Here's to keeping those nasty stretch marks far far away! 

WE ARE IN THE NY POST!

Our Gender Cake was in the NY POST! Stuff like this doesn't happen to us but it actually did! I can't even believe it! How did it all happen? Where do I begin....

My sissy and I have a love affair with everything Food Network, so of course we would have subscriptions to the Food Network Magazine. Well, last month, I flipped open to page 27 and low and behold there was an article about Gender Cakes! So I frantically wrote an e-mail to the editor, thinking "what are the odds that my e-mail and photo would be used in the magazine?" I sent it and didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks. Then one day, I check my e-mail and there is a message from one of the Food Magazine editors, asking for contact info because she wanted to call me so that she could follow up and publish my letter in the magazine! She proceeded to tell me that a writer for the NY Post was also interested in doing a feature and would be contacting me as well! I was flipping out!

So after about 3 weeks, several phone interviews, and e-mailed photos later, here we are, in the NY Post! Next month will be food magazine! Lots of stuff for the baby book!

Article starts on here. It was in the Pulse section of the NY Post.

WE EVEN GOT COLOR PICTURES PUBLISHED! OMFG!

Happy Mother's Day!

While baby boy isn't even born yet, he is certainly letting me know he is on the way by tap tap tapping a ton! A lot of people have wished me a happy mother's day and a little boy in my class even brought me a mother's day gift on Friday. It's really hard to wrap my head around the fact that people are actually wishing ME a happy mother's day! I am going to be a mom!!! It just seems so surreal.

So hear's to all the mommies and soon-to be mommies out there. For those of you who have children already, I look forward to joining you. And to those of you who are "housing" your babe, enjoy your first in what I hope will be many for you. <3

Me with my momma-1st Christmas

Good morning! 1987ish

Easter-1987 or 1988

The things you realize when you are pregnant...

Before I became pregnant, I always tended to be a thinker....I totally over thought things and analyzed everything way too much. Apparently, as a pregnant person, it only becomes worse because now there are so many new and unexpected things to notice, think, and even worry about.

I always wonder about what he will look like. Will he have dark hair and skin like me? Will he have light eyes like Paul? Will he be tall and thin like his daddy or will he be a little meatball like his momma? I wonder what his personality will be like. Will be be even tempered and patient like his dad or a loud ball of thunder like his momma? (God help us all) I wonder what he will like and what he will grow up to be and if he will enjoy some of the same things Paul and I enjoyed as children. I even wonder what kind of parent I'd be and how I'd handle certain situations. I pray every day that I don't "screw him up." I see a lot of different situations and parenting techniques year after year being a teacher, so I have a pretty good idea of what/who I want to be as a parent, but I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know how things will pan out. All of these things are so out of our control. I just hope that other soon to be moms worry about the same thing and that it's not just me being crazy.

Last night, I went to a dinner/celebration to honor one of my most favorite teachers growing up and to say good bye to the school that I attended as a child for 9 years. It was only until after I started driving home after this celebration that something occurred to me that I couldn't help but notice. I went to that school for 9 years. I started as a 5 year old babe and left there as a 14 year old, not sure of who I was or where I was going. My family was moving, and even though I was graduating from that school, it was all I had ever known, and my classmates, their parents, and the teachers there were like my family and that school was my second home. Even after all the years of being away from that "family," I realized that being with those people who had such an impact on my life as a child and young adult hadn't felt any different. It was as if no time had passed and, whether it was a classmate I went to school with, a teacher I had for those 9 years, or my elementary school crush, when I saw these people, we did not skip a beat. It was like coming home. It occurred to me on the ride home last night that I had the most incredible school experience, filled with love and kindness that no one can take away from me. The bond that I had with those families and teachers in that school is priceless and, I fear, cannot be matched. I can only hope and pray that my son could have the same school experience that I had growing up, but it's hard to imagine that to be possible...I try to find the words to describe how what a huge part of my life that school community was and still is, but, I don' think thats possible.

It breaks my heart that I won't be able to take my children by the school I went to growing up, that instilled discipline, morals, and values that I will carry through the rest of my life. Sure, the building will always be there, but it will be never be what it was, with the people inside that cared for me so much and that I loved so deeply. The one thing I can do to help the legacy of this amazing school and these amazing people live on is to instill the same discipline and values that they instilled in me, into my children.

As a parent, you want your child to have the best possible school experience-and my parents can say that. I thank God every day that my parents sent me to that school because I would not be who and where I am today. I can just hope that for baby boy, he will have a school experience somewhat like mine, because what I had growing up, cannot be matched or superseded. It was truly once in a lifetime-St. Bart's and its teachers were God's gifts to me-gifts that I have never taken for granted and will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life that I hope I can pass on to my children.

24 Weeks and counting!

I had my 24 week check up today with the 4th and final doctor that could potentially be delivering baby boy. I was actually pretty nervous about seeing her because rumor had it was that she is "tough" and "in and out." So I was a little anxious. They told me at my 20 week appointment that the 24 week is a quick and easy one so I figured I'd make it with her. Well I was pleasantly surprised because she was great. Apparently, the 24 week appointment really is an "in and out" appointment. There aren't any ultrasounds, blood tests, or anything like that. It's really just to check in, see if I have any questions, and to check the fetal heartbeat. She was very pleasant and spent a good amount of time with me, answering all of my questions. She was much "warmer" than I had expected.

So I am 4 for 4 with my doctors! I'll be happy to have any of them deliver baby boy, however I am rooting for McDreamy Mootabar but I am not going to get my hopes up.

Baby's heartbeat sounded great! He's getting bigger and stronger! Can't wait until I get to see him at my 28 week appointment. What I can wait for is that Glucose Test...not a good feeling about that but I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Half Way to the Finish Line!

We had our 20 week check up today! The big one! We had the anatomy scan and everything look perfect. I loved the appointment because Barb, the ultrasound tech, spent over 30 minutes going over every little detail of the baby's anatomy. It was kind of amazing what you can see and how much is developed. Everything looked perfect she said and so did Dr. Werbin-Silver. In my OBGYN office, there are 4 doctors. If you are pregnant, you have to see all 4 of them before you deliver because you never know which one you are going to get when it comes time to have baby. So this was my first "non-McDreamy" appointment. While I missed him a lot, she was fantastic, and I'd be thrilled if she was the doctor on-call delivering baby boy. So I'm 2 for 2. Next appointment isn't until the beginning of May (yuck). Let's see if I can hold off for 4 weeks without having a nervous breakdown about something.

I've posted some of the pictures from the scan. Totally amazing.

Baby boy Hafemann, side profile

Baby Boy's big penis

3D baby boy...he's so freakin' cute already!