This is freaking disturbing. State officials are threatening parents with JAIL TIME for not vaccinating their children for chicken pox?? I am utterly appalled… and rather angry! I sure hope this doesn’t catch on in other states… and that it gets thrown out in Maryland. It just makes me very sad, and very worried what’s going to happen in the future.

The MSNBC article just makes me freaking angry. “Protecting the public health” – that term, that concept, just does not sit well with me. Parents are being forced to do what’s best for the “herd” over what THEY think is best for their child. I really really don’t like government interference except in extreme cases. Chicken pox is NOT a good enough reason for this crap. I also love how the article says that people need to either get an exemption or get immunized – which WOULD make sense, if exemptions were actually available to everyone. They left out the part where they don’t allow any sort of philosophical/personal belief exemption, so a lot of people who WOULD make that “simple choice” and are NOT “sitting on the fence” CAN’T. It’s like saying, “You have to choose either A or B. But you can’t choose B.” And then claiming you gave them a choice. WTF?

Ugh I’m just so ticked off now.

When I booked the appointment I was later kicking myself for making it at 8:45 in the morning. Just so happens that this week my sleep has completely flipped and I’m up by 6am every morning, so it worked out perfectly. (I’m also asleep by 6pm, unfortunately. If I don’t actively go to bed by 6, then I’m falling asleep wherever I’m sitting!) I feel nice and bright-eyed and busy tailed. Well, as much as I can be when my back is hurting so I have to hobble around.

I will skip over the fact that my car had a little run-in with someone’s tire in the parking lot. The other car doesn’t have a scratch (thank god for hitting their tire!). Mine however… well my poor car is a little dinged up. :( It was my own stupid fault too. So glossing over that…

Checked in, sat in the waiting room. I think the nurse called me in at around 8:55. She apologised for being behind, they had to organize my records. I’m wondering why they didn’t do that earlier – I dropped them off last week – but I wasn’t in a rush and it was no big deal to me.

I felt a little rushed during the initial stuff… you know, the pee-in-a-cup (“Do you mind if we get to you give a urine sample first?” “Please?!!?!!”), blood pressure, weight thing. I was given a little cup thing and sent to the bathroom. I had no idea what their usual proceedure was, and I think I did it wrong (I didn’t do a clean catch, and now that I think about it I probably should have), and I had to carry the little cup back to the nurse’s station. That was a little… weird. (The old practice had a little door you put the urine cup through, no carrying.) Blood pressure was 118/60. Weight was 140.2, so I am now back at my starting weight at least. (Which I knew, according to my own weekly weigh-ins, but it’s nice that they have it on record now, LOL.)

I then was put in a room and the nutritionist came in to see me. Now I don’t know what it was about her… she was very friendly and nice… but there was just something about her that mildly irritated me. I kind of got the feeling that maybe she’s a little new at this? I don’t know, maybe it was just little mannerisms that irked me. We talked about eating habits. Umm, yeah, I don’t know if any of you are aware of this, but my eating habits in general suck. I hate veggies and don’t touch them with a ten foot pole if I don’t have to. I have very limited taste in fruits (and apparently I don’t like the “citrus fruits” that I’m supposed to be eating). I’m bad about eating meat – I LIKE it, I just can’t exactly afford a nice filet mignon every evening. Well, that and I’m supposed to cook my meat really well, and that ruins it for me. Even like ham. I like a COLD ham sandwich. So maybe it was just the fact that I didn’t like the questioning. But actually I eat lots of grains and lots of dairy, so there’s just a few things I need to do better about.

But yeah, she wasn’t thrilled with my lack of weight gain. She didn’t outright lecture me, but she had a graph thing that showed the recommended weight gain range by months along. I’m sitting at the very bottom of the graph, heh. I’m apparently 10-15lbs underweight, did you know that? So she said I need to aim for gaining 5lbs a month until delivery. Yikes. That seems like a lot to me. And the idea of forcing myself to gain weight doesn’t sit any better with me than forcing myself to lose weight! I’m going to really try to eat more protein and snack more throughout the day so as not to make myself sick, but I’m not going to force myself to eat just for the sake of eating. Besides, I don’t want to turn into a blimp. ;) Now that my appetite is gaining I think I’ll be fine with it.

The nutritionist also gave me a bunch of handouts on dealing with nausea. But she didn’t really know the material you know? Like she told me B-12 vitamins, then when I mentioned B-6 vitamins she was like, “Oh that’s the one! Here I’ll get that handout.” And she was talking about chewing on ginger when I’m feeling nauseated and stuff. I don’t know, it just didn’t inspire a lot of confidence. She had no clue about using Unisom for nausea, she looked totally blindsided and confused by that and remarked, “Wow, that must really knock you out!” Ummm, no not really. :/ She was talking to me as if I am nauseated 24/7, but she didn’t seem to get that the Unisom keeps it really manageable, I know what to avoid, and I just have a few days here and there where it’s REALLY bad. And I’m sorry, but when it’s REALLY bad sniffing a lemon is not going to help – I’ll be too busy hanging over the toilet. Thanks.

Oh, and the, “What do you do?” “I’m the assistant manager at a cat sanctuary.” “A ca-…… what??? What is that?” *scratches head* Now I know it’s unusual, but I think “cat sanctuary” is rather self-explanatory? I get a lot of varied responses when people find out what I do, but I’ve never quite seen a blank, clueless face before. “We have cats. Stray cats… unwanted cats… sick cats. We take care of them.” I need to learn when to say “shelter”. People understand that term far better, even if it isn’t completely accurate in this case. (A shelter has a much higher in/out rate, animals are usually caged, and their focus is on adoptions. A sanctuary may have some adoptions, but the main focus is taking in the animals that the shelters can’t handle/don’t want, and caring for them for life.)

Plus as she was leaving she asked me if I’d gotten my flu shot yet. “No, and I won’t be getting it.” She blinked. “Oh. I always get it. Just seems like one less thing to worry about.” I just nodded and smiled, because I didn’t feel like explaining my motivations to the nutritionist. Nodding and smiling gets me through a lot.

Anyways. I spent a long time with the nutritionist answering questions and going over nausea management techniques and what I should be trying to eat. When she was done I waited a few minutes for the midwife to come in.

The midwife was really nice! Like the other one I interviewed, she was very relaxed. We went over my chart. They always ask if my LMP is correct, and I usually just kind of stare and say, “Umm, if that’s what it says, sure.” I get a blink. “This is an IVF pregnancy.” “Oohhhhh. So what were those dates?” LOL So I gave her my retrieval and transfer dates. They go by my EDD for everything, so it doesn’t really matter anyways. I know the EDD is [mostly] correct (off by one day). She went through all my lab results, and since everything came back normal/negative there wasn’t much to talk about. She did say that my iron had come back slightly low, but she said iron usually drops a little in pregnancy so it’s nothing to be concerned about. She said they’ll re-check it at 28 weeks, when it usually takes a harder hit, and go from there. All fine with me.

I mentioned my Celexa, which as you know was my big concern since I had forgotten to bring it up during the interview last time with this practice so I didn’t know what their policy was. But the Midwife totally reassured me, she said if it was prescribed before and it’s working, then they are totally fine with staying on it, and she repeated what other doctors have told me about the greater good. She said they’ll look into if I should switch or not for breastfeeding, and that they’re happy to provide my refill prescriptions or whatever, so YAY!!! My big worry eased!

Then it was up on the table for a quick feel of my uterus (up to my belly button, yup), and then a listen with the doppler. She found it quick, the wand was about an inch and a half below my belly button, but tilted up and to my right. So Devin’s sitting up high! Heartrate is in the 150’s this week.

Oh, and the Midwife asked if anyone had offered me the flu vaccine yet. I said, “No, but I know about it and I’ve decided not to get it.” And she said, “Okay then! Sounds good.” YAY for not having to argue!!

My next appointment is set for December 14, at 24 weeks. :) I hope it’s the same midwife, I’d like to see the same one and develop a bit of a relationship.

“I want to see if I can feel the baby kick!”
“Honey, that’s my boob. You’re not going to feel anything up there!”
“Well, I haven’t yet… but just to be SURE, I’d better leave my hand here for a while. Just in case, you know.”

OH MY EFFING GOD!!! I was approved for a credit card!! My own credit card!!

Okay, backing up – I’m Canadian, I moved to the U.S. two and a half years ago, got married, did the immigration process thing. It took a while to get my Green Card (permanent residency card) and social security number, both of which are pretty much required in order to have an identity here in the United States. (Thank god for my husband, that’s all I can say… I relied solely on him for EVERYTHING! I couldn’t even get a bank account!)

And now, despite having a legitimate job, paying taxes, etc etc – I still couldn’t get a credit card. I applied a few times, and was denied over and over again because I had no credit history. Actually the first few times I was denied because they couldn’t even identify me as a person, isn’t that quaint? (This was months AFTER I got my SSN.) I even got denied for a freaking Bon Ton store credit card.

We bought my car and put it all in my name. Den co-signed the loan.

At Motherhood when I was there last the cashier lady talked to me about the FutureTrust credit card they promote/offer, which gives you a percentage of every charge into your child’s college fund. I applied for it but was like, “Eh, I doubt this is going to work.” I got a letter afterwards saying that they were “gathering more information” – which is usually the precursor to “Sorry, we can not approve you at this time.”

But I just got an email saying I was approved!! I have my own credit card now!! It probably has a ridiculously low limit, but that’s okay!!

I’m so excited right now. LOL

I love the night time, don’t you? It’s so quiet. The dogs have gone to sleep and are no longer pacing/whining/barking. (Kind of like after putting the kids to bed… silence, finally.)

When I made the bed originally I put the fitted sheet on the whole bed, then just put the top blankets on half the bed (to hopefully allow the other side to air out still). But when I layed down it was obvious the wetness of the mattress came a lot further onto my side of the bed than I thought. I had more like 1/4 of the bed. Not good for a pregnant lady that can’t exactly sleep all stretched out on my back. So I took the hairdryer to the mattress in an attempt to give me another little bit of space, and then when I re-made the bed again I put a fleece throw blanket down under my sheet. This appears to be the best idea ever. I had a moment of brilliance (one of few) when I realized that fleece is used for diaper covers because it repells wetness! So hopefully this will keep me dry until morning. I’ll strip the bed before going to work so that the mattress can continue to air out.

I am really settling down with the boy idea. Only took me a week, thereabouts. I knew it was going to be just a momentary panic, but I didn’t know how momentary, if you know what I mean. But really, I’m getting used to the blue thing. I’m really falling in love with the idea of having a little boy. Devin… I just love that name! Of all the names we had chosen (1 boy, 2 girl) this was the one I liked the most. I am just so excited to be able to use it!

I was thinking yesterday about the two embryos from the previous failed IVF cycle. Going through it I didn’t really think of them as much more than embryos – potential. Same as this cycle. It was an embryo, a potential baby. But now that I know it’s Devin in there kicking me? I wonder how different the other embryos would have been. I wonder what children they would have given me. Would it have been a girl? Would it have been kicking me like this one is? It’s a strange thought, really. Not really upsetting at this point, since I have a healthy baby growing inside me, but strange. It’s funny how things work out, and when they do you look back and think it worked out just how it should have. I love that I’m due in April, I love that I have my little Devin. It was shitty to go through a failed cycle, but it doesn’t hurt nearly as much now, knowing how things worked out.

I think that’s the absolute worst part about infertility, really – not knowing how or IF things are going to work out. When that first cycle failed I really had to admit to myself the possibility that it might not work at all, ever. I sure as hell didn’t know the next cycle would work, even as fucked up as it was. I had no way of knowing I’d be so happy just a few months down the road. Infertility is a crappy, crappy place to reside, and all you want is answers. It’s not strange at all how many people are on forums asking “psychics” to please please tell them when they’re going to get pregnant. We all just want some sort of reassurance that it’s going to work out somehow, that we’re going to have a baby in the end, and not even our REs can give us that promise. Someone who has never been through it can never truly understand the despair and hopelessness that causes.

I have had the day from hell. I am currently sitting in a wet bed. It all seemed to cascade. Let me back up a little…

3am. That’s when I woke up and found that Den is sick enough that he is snoring even on his side. If I’m already asleep (as I was when he went to bed) I am fine, but now that I’m awake? Problematic.

3am – 6am I slept fitfully, if at all. I had a weird dream, which led to me waking up drenched in sweat, sheets sticking to me everywhere. Gross, gross, gross.

Spent some time with Den, only to find out that he wasn’t getting up until 8am – he had an appointment this morning. Damnit. So, due to my gross side of the bed, I got up to eat and sit at my other computer while he slept (or tried to.

Which led to… the dogs both going nuts because I was up and he wasn’t. I took Zoe out to do her business, which she did. She proceeded to whine for 2 hours, driving me a little nuts.

8am Den got up and had a shower. I immediately threw the sheets in the wash to clean them, and then had to take Zeeke out because he was flipping out at me needing to go.

When I got back in, Zoe was flipping out. I told her just because Zeeke got to go out doesn’t mean she does, she JUST went out two hours ago and did her thing. (The dogs go out first thing in the morning, then in the afternoon, then before bed. They’re on a schedule, and they do FINE with it, unless the schedule gets messed up like today.) She whined whined whined. I was already in a bad mood, as I just wanted to go back to bed but couldn’t, because the sheets were in the damn wash.

In the meantime, Zeeke puked all over the living room floor – thankfully hardwood. I told Den to deal with it (which he did).

9am Den left for his appointment.

9:02am I walked into the bedroom to get something to find a huge amount of urine all over the bare mattress. My head nearly popped right off in a temper fit. I know who did it – Zoe. Partly my fault? Yes. I shouldn’t have ignored her. But why didn’t she pee outside when I took her???? Why why why would she have saved up all her damn pee?? And if she had to have an accident in the house why iin the god’s name did she have to pee on the fucking mattress??

So I sprayed the fuck out of it with our cleaner and tried to soak up as much urine as possible with paper towels. The room still reeked of urine. The dogs – now crated to give me some room – barked constantly. I wanted to throttle someone.

And THEN – oh I’m not done yet! – then I try to feed the cats seperately because Merlin’s on special food due to his medical condition. I put Jo in the basement with his food, but Jo ran upstairs to eat Merlin’s food. Opened the door to put Jo back downstairs – who was squirming in my hands – and Merlin ran past my feet downstairs. Dropped Jo, ran down to grab Merlin… and THAT’S when I discovered our basement had flooded. See, our washing machine drains into a fucking laundry tub downstairs in our basement. It’s a stupid ass set-up done by the previous owners, and we haven’t the cash to hire someone to fix it. It’s flooded before, so it’s not a new thing. But it hadn’t flooded since we got our new washer months ago – we thought we were safe now, since this washer uses much less water than our old one. Hahahaha. Yeah. Idiots.

I call Den and just start ranting, the dog pissed on the bed, the bedroom smells of urine, and the basement flooded. Den asked, “Hon, my fireplace pieces… are they in the water?” Shit fuck shit. I check. Most of them are out of harm’s way. The main mantel piece however? Standing directly in the water. And it’s huge – and heavy. No way I’m moving it. Sure enough, water has wicked partway up the legs and has damaged the wood already.

So Den ended up coming home early to clean up the water mess in the basement with our shop-vac (favorite thing ever). I went to the store to buy some Nature’s Miracle, an enzyme urine cleaner, and soaked the mattress with it to get the stain and odor out. Den thankfully somehow managed to put me in a better mood just by being home. But it’s obvious that our mattress is not going to be dry anytime soon.

We cleaned off the futon in our “spare room” (future baby’s nursery) and put clean sheets on it, so at least Den has somewhere to sleep. I ended up falling asleep there all evening. But you know what… I woke up feeling horrible. I don’t like that mattress at all. It used to be “okay” – too small for both of us at the same time, for sure, but it felt fine to sleep on – but now that I’m pregnant? No way. One of my requirements before I got pregnant was a new pillow-top king size mattress, and damn but did I make the right choice. Den actually prefers the futon to a point, it’s firmer… but there is simply no way I’ll be comfortable on that thing.

I dabbed up most of the wetness I could, then put the clean sheets on our mattress… I only put blankets on half of it though. Thankfully Zoe peed mostly on den’s side of the bed, so I have about a third of the bed that’s okay. I just can’t move too far to my left, or I’ll be sleeping in wetness. Ugh.

And that, ladies and gentleman, was my day. Oh, except for the fact that I was violently dry-heaving over the toilet in between putting sheets on the bed. Yeah that’s fun. Stomach is upset today. On the good side of things, the mattress does seem to be stain-free at this point, and the smell is gone. So once it dries it should be fine. I just don’t know how long the sucker is going to take to dry out. Although, with Den snoring the way he is lately… he’s accusing me of soaking the mattress on purpose to make him sleep on the futon. LOL

I don’t know what I’d do without Den’s sense of humor. I was in such a foul mood all morning, but after he came home he managed to get me to laugh and relax a little.

::

Just wanted to make a note that I layed on my back yesterday to feel my uterus and was having a bit of trouble until I realized it comes up to my belly button now! Last time I checked it was an inch or two below it. Sometimes I feel Devin kick low down, sometimes now it’s up higher, just below my belly button. Guess it depends where he’s facing. It’s weird that he moves around like that.

My pregnancy calendar says that he should be around 7 inches long (crown to rump, not crown to feet!) by 20 weeks!! Holy crap. That’s huge! I can’t believe something that big is in my belly and I’m not bigger than I am. lol

Looking for the first time specifically at boy memory books…. here are some on my “maybe” list:

Aimee J Baby Days – Nice looking outside, postbound so I can add/remove pages, but it’s only 8×8 and the inside pages are only “eh”

Carter’s Baby Train – 80 pages, the inside pages look really cute and simple. I have a thing for trains, passed down from my dad. ;) But the book might be too simple.

Penny Laine Blue with White Dots – I love the look of the outside of this one, but they don’t have any photos of the inside! :( You can add blank pages though.

Baby Prints Memory Book – Looks very classy, 65 pages, postbound.

I also saw one at Hallmark yesterday that I really liked – it was a 3-ring binder type, the pages were really cute, it had “Sweet Baby Boy” on the front (simple blue)… but I can’t find it online anywhere! Grrr!

One of the things I’ve had to learn really well during this pregnancy has been to listen to my body. I think too often in life we really do need to ignore our body – you have to get up and to go to work no matter how you feel, you have to do x, you have to do y. And even me, who generally has a FAR more flexible lifestyle than most people, did fall into that trap a lot. But now that I’m pregnant I feel like I’m allowed to say, “I’m really tired today, I’m going to sleep in and go into work later.” (Even though I technically could have done that before too.) I’m allowed to say, “I really can’t eat that right now.” And people just nod their head knowingly. It’s pretty cool.

But in order to say it – to yourself or to someone else – you first have to notice it. The pregnant me is making things really really clear. Like today, we ordered a thing of chinese food to share, and man it was GOOD. My favorite dish, cooked properly. I wanted to eat a second helping. But one bite of that second helping and my stomach did a complete roll and I put the fork down. No, I should NOT eat any more. No matter how good it tastes. I tell you, there has been very little binge eating in my life – junk food or not, my body allows only so much food into it and then says, “Sorry bucko, any more and it’s coming back up.” Oh yes I listen now. Not listening is bad.

Another example, yesterday I got home from work at a decent time (around 5:30). I wanted to get some work stuff done on my laptop before going to bed. So I sat here on the bed with my laptop in order to do that. I was getting stuff done, installing a program I needed. I know I’m tired, but I’m trying to fight it off just a little bit longer. Suddenly I couldn’t keep my eyes over, I start wobbling. I end up laying down onto my husband’s pillow and falling asleep just like that. That was at 6:30 – Den woke me up at 10:00 when he got into bed. I hastily grabbed my laptop and finished what I had been doing earlier (because it was time-sensitive and needed to get done before morning), and flopped back down to fall back asleep. And I slept until 5:30am, people. Body said, You can do work later. Sleep now. And it would have taken a lot to make me ignore it! My body is no longer hinting at what it needs. It hits me over the head with a sledgehammer.

::

I feel fabulous today as a result, though. I’ve been awake all day, and in a fantastic mood. I stopped by the mall (and thus Babies R Us, of course) on my way home from an errand – just to browse. It was my first time in BRU knowing that it’s a little boy we’re having, and it was like I was seeing the store in a whole new way. I skipped all the pink stuff and looked longer at the blue stuff – and, more than that, I was picturing my little boy in all those cute clothes. Just filled my heart with joy. They have the cutest puppy dog outfits… little happy puppy dogs on a sweater-vest set – not sure when I’d ever have an occasion to put my child in a sweater vest outfit other than photos, but you know, it was wicked cute. I didn’t even buy anything this time, I was really good. But oh it was fun to indulge my fantasies for a little while and just revel in the baby stuff.

I’m starting to feel really excited again about having a boy. Yeah, it was kind of up and down for a while. The weekend was… full of panic. I didn’t write a lot, but my brain was spinning out of control for a while. Immediately following the ultrasound I was just really really excited, then that evening the reality sunk in… the TRUE reality. I can’t even really explain it, but it was like… suddenly I was thinking about how I am going to have a teenager one day… a bratty, snotty teenager… a CHILD who throws things and has tantrums… not just a cute little helpless baby, but that cute little baby was going to grow up to be a child with a mind of his own and an attitude and OMFG what am I going to DO?? And it’s not like I can say that I freaked about having finding out it was a boy. I think I would have freaked had it been a girl, too. It was just like knowing the gender, choosing a name, giving the baby an identity, just pushed this from fantasy land to reality. I think most people have their freak-out earlier in pregnancy… like after the “I’m pregnant!!” high finally settles and you start wondering what on earth you got yourself into. No, I had to wait until halfway through to have mine.

But it’s all good now. I am still nervous about having a boy, but friends are always telling me how great little boys are, and how they’re easier (and that they love their mamas!). That helps. :) Plus it doesn’t hurt that my friends have the CUTEST little boys. When Kel had her little boy it really made me want my own. When I look at old pictures of my brother, back when he had chubby little cheeks – gosh he was cute!! – I can totally see how AWESOME it would be to have a little boy. (Then I think about my brother as a teenager and I start panicking again. LOL He’s a shit, even still at 22! He’s a good boy for the most part – lippy as hell, but overall a good kid – but he sure doesn’t give mom an inch! Thank goodness Den loves his mommy, it gives me hope.)

I guess all I can do is what every other parent does – do the best they can, and hope like hell it’s enough to end up with a happy, adjusted, educated, respectful member of society. But shit, it’s hard not to worry. What if my kid has a behavior disorder? What if he has trouble in school, or has a bad teacher? What if he falls in with the wrong crowd? What if he ends up with depression like his mama has? Yes, these are all fears that have been running through my head. Idiotic, really, because what the hell can I do about it now? I haven’t even had the kid yet! But I guess I’m doomed to it, being a mother-to-be and all. The fears are a part of parenting.

It’s funny because I’ve been a natural pet-parent all my life. I never stopped to think about evaluating myself or worrying about how my dogs would end up as. I just did it, I did the best that I could, and I loved them with all my heart. And it all ends up okay. They’re not perfect. Both current dogs have moderate-to-severe behavioral problems (one is spastic ADHD type with some guarding issues thrown in; the other has pretty severe anxiety problems). One of them has serious health issues that will require surgery (hip displasia). One of the cats now has a health condition that needs constant managing for the rest of his life (a urinary condition). (Yeah, after reading that list – we’re stopping at 4 animals not just because Den would kill me if I got more, but because we can’t AFFORD any more! Sheesh!) But I don’t sit here and think OMG, my dog isn’t normal!! What am I going to do?! But then again, my dog never has to become a productive member of society and leave the nest, either. She’ll stay in my care for her entire life, and it’s perfectly okay for her to be terrified of strangers and never really venture outside of the house. Not ideal, but it doesn’t really affect our lifestyle, she’s happy within the family, and it is what it is. She’ll stay at the mentality of a three year old, as dogs do, stay mama’s little girl. So it’s okay. Raising a whole human being? That’s a freaking scary proposition.

::

I’ve gotten a few comments lately about how tiny I am, which cracks me up. Though, granted I do still have my big days and my small days. Today was a small day. I guess some women would get upset at any kind of comment on their size/weight, but I just laugh. No I still haven’t gained any weight. I’ve gained girth out front – and lost some of my saddlebags and butt. I call it a fair trade. If he’s going to make me this sick for this long, the least he can do is get rid of those stupid pockets of fat I’ve been carrying around for years. (And at least I know baby can still get plenty of nutrion out of my body, despite me throwing up food on a regular basis. Never thought I’d be glad to have those fat storages. So that’s what they’re for…)

I’ve also gotten a couple of comments about the name, that it’s “unusual.” It’s really not. Devin, spelled that way, is ranked #100, and spelled Devon it’s #197 (according to BabyNames.com). And it’s not one of the newly created names either. It’s gaining popularity recently because it fits in with the current trend of Aidens/Cadens/Jadens, but it was quite popular in the 80’s and has been on the name charts since the 60’s (as per the Name Voyager). But I’ve also gotten a ton of comments on what a nice name it is. :) To be perfectly honest, out of the three names we had – two girl’s names and one boy’s name – this is the one I liked the most. So I am SO happy to be able to use it!!

::

Den’s getting really ticked off and upset this week. Devin’s been kicking like crazy for a week, enough that I can feel it on the outside. And every single time Den tries to feel something, Devin stops. Just now there was a flurry of activity… I call Den in… he runs in, puts his hand on my belly… waits… waits… nothing. Absolutely nothing. He’s so disappointed! I don’t know if it’s his voice? The way his hand feels on my stomach? Just really bad timing? Arg. I know as Devin gets stronger and more active Den will catch it one of these times… but man, I really want him to feel it too!! And now he’s kicking again, 10 minutes later. :sigh: Figures. Who says babies don’t have a sense of humor.

A very good article showing just how poor our system is set up for childbirth here in the US: What Women Aren’t Told About Childbirth.

Something to think about:
“Among developed countries, the World Health Organization reports, 29 have better infant mortality rates than the United States, including Slovenia and Cuba, and 41 have better maternal mortality rates.”

That’s pretty poor, and pretty depressing. Most people assume that with all our technology and hospitalized births that we are safer in childbirth, but the numbers paint a very different picture.

I figured I could sleep in a bit today due to veteran’s/rememberance day – I still have to work, but I have no idea if Costo or the recyling center are closed for the holiday so I’m putting off that stuff until tomorrow (the Costco order I need to pick up before 9am, so I need to be up and moving at 8). Ha, what was I thinking?

Den apparently is getting a bit of a cold/sinus thing, because he is snoring horribly. And when I asked him to roll onto his side it got worse! I had to pee then, and when I got back into bed I started wheezing (I’m all clogged up too, but mine’s due to pregnancy and the cold winter air).

As if that wasn’t all bad enough, that damn reflux kicked in. The back of my throat was just burning and it wasn’t feeling nice. I sat up, didn’t help… so I went to go make myself some hot chocolate. I didn’t make it all the way to boiling water before my gag reflex got triggered one too many times and I ended up throwing up stomach acid. That’s the worst kind of puke, in my opinion. Nasty, and painful.

So here I am in bed, propped up to hopefully relieve some of this reflux, sipping a hot chocolate, with a heating pack down at my feet, and my husband asleep beside me – who is currently not snoring, by some miracle. I would be sleeping, if laying down wouldn’t induce some more puking.

Every time I burp it hurts. :( This is so nasty.