Thursday, February 28, 2008

Theme Songs

I am one of those people that seems to always have a song running through their head. I've been putting some thought into what songs I might like to have with me during labor with this new little person and it's got me thinking about personal theme songs.

I often think of "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate. The part that I focus on is the "I believe in miracles" line. I find it difficult to remain despondent in the face of this song and it's one that I often, often hummed to myself while teaching. Occasionally, I would even put it on and have my students dance around with me to it. It was excellent at snapping them out of particularly awful moods.



When I was pregnant with Charlie, I often thought of "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles. It was so appropriate for the whole situation. When he was born, I was saying hello to a whole new experience and goodbye to a former version of me. He was saying goodbye to the comfort of my womb and hello to all the many experiences of humanity. Once he was born and we really got to know him, the song fit even better. He is a very sweet natured boy but has a mind very much his own. He is quite willing to say "yes," when I say "no." And, the "hay laa" ending makes for a lovely lullaby.



With this pregnancy, it is "New Soul" by Yael Naim that runs through my head. I'm sure it has to do with the apple commercial but it also just seems so appropriate for her somehow. Whenever I hear it (in reality or just because it's running through my head), the closing scene of a movie runs through my head. It's one of those montage, clippy things where you see the baby born, a clip of the cake eating from the 1st birthday, learning to ride a bike, reading a book, and ending with her wedding scene. It makes me hope that should she be homosexual (unlikely but it would be foolish for me to ignore the possibility) that she will be a lipstick lesbian. I don't think I'll feel complete as a mother until I have wrestled with tulle rounds and jordan almonds far into the night. I keep wondering if her personality will wind up reflecting the wonderfully quirky cheerful quality of the song.



Finally, just because I like it, "In the Jungle" which makes a surprisingly good lullaby if sung a slightly slower tempo.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Ung...

Overall, I have found this pregnancy easier than the last. The physical therapy I diligently pursued seems to have done the trick in regards to keeping my pelvic bones where they belong. I've needed some periodic maintenance and there is still some pain but it is of a manageable variety rather than the agony of my last pregnancy. My morning sickness has generally subsided although there are occasional dicey moments. I didn't have so much in the way of contractions with Charlie but they are manageable and there has been much less insomnia with this pregnancy. So, had expected to cruise nicely into my 3rd trimester and feel reasonably human for the next month or so at least but I was wrong...

While I had heard that you tended to be more tired during a second pregnancy than the first, I had not realized the extent to which they meant. This is starting to be that rather soul sucking fatigue that I really thought would confine itself to weeks 8-12. It's when you want to take a nice relaxing bath but are worried about the likelyhood of accidental drowning. It's the sort of fatigue where you can have a 2 pound fetus sitting directly on your bladder and you begin to contemplate how much it would cost to replace the foam mattress pad because you are just soooo tired. Luckily for me, I have a very caring husband who finds his wife in hysterical tears more difficult to handle than getting up with Charlie in the middle of the night and so, I at least am only awakened by 1 child and really, there's no way he could field her needs anyway. Making the fatigue more frustrating is that I am also entering some hard core nesting urges- although, I still contend that it isn't so much nesting as a frantic attempt to fend off the mounting feeling of impeding doom. I'm finding the idea of 2 under 2 rather more terrifying as the day gets closer. I keep remembering the projects that I didn't quite manage to finish before Charlie's unexpectedly prompt arrival and how they then sat for the better part of a year. We have childproofing that is yet to be done and I have an unquenchable desire to dust the shoe cubbies in the closet- really, at 2 am, when I have insomnia, it takes actual effort to prevent myself from pulling out a duster and going to town.

And, my husband is in Finland for business. When we were discussing the trip in the fall, it didn't seem that it would be all that awful. I would only just be starting my 3rd trimester and I felt pretty good up until somewhere in the 8th month with Charlie. Now, it's causing nothing but anxiety. I just wasn't expecting to be quite this tired, quite this soon. I keep reminding myself that Charlie doesn't actually expect intelligence after 5 pm but I do have to try to read those pesky books at bedtime...

Due to some scheduling difficulties at other times, I am now to 2 week appointments. It gives you such a ridiculous feeling of accomplishment- sort of like when you finish a tube of toothpaste or a bottle of shampoo. So far, all looks well but I have the gestational diabetes test on Thursday and I failed the one hour last time for inexplicable reasons since I then passed the 3 hour with no difficulty. I'm hoping for the best but we'll see.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Am I the Only One...

Who has been half asleep, forgotten that she was pregnant, felt the baby moving around and wondered what in the world she ate to give her such odd gas?

Friday, February 01, 2008

Drive By...

So, we're traveling and that's really throwing off my mojo but I did LOVE this post by Julie because I have to say I thought the same thing but without nearly the witty graphics. Be sure to click the link to see what she wants them to branch out to.

I wish I were making this up by Julie