Whoa whoa whoa...

... she's a LADY!

We decided to have the ultrasound technician put the gender results in an envelope for us so we could open it privately when we got home. Something about sharing that moment with a stranger just didn't feel right to us... although, it would've been cool to have her point out those body parts on the screen :) We barely got through the door before we sat together on our couch and tore open the envelope. First thing we saw was pink footprints. I figured it must be a bi-gender card and the blue footprints would be on the other side. Wrong. I looked at the word "girl" in complete shock. I thought for sure it was a boy during the ultrasound. As I watched my little baby move around and shy away from the camera, I thought, there's my son! Michael, on the other hand, was pretty sure he was looking at his daughter. And he was right! That was the first thing he said, by the way :)

Our daughter will be the luckiest girl in the world. Not only will she have a super cool boy cousin just 9 months older in Bellingham, she'll also have a best friend girl cousin just 2 months older here in Seattle. As if that weren't special enough, she'll also have all her second cousins on the Campbell side to play with and learn from. What a lucky baby.

We still don't have a name yet but we may decide to keep it secret until she arrives anyway... I've been told by a few friends that if you don't want opinions, wait to share the name until after the baby is born. People don't want to be rude when it's "official." Sounds like good advice to me! We'll see...

Until then, I'll just have to refer to her as Baby Girl Thompson. Or Baby G.T. for short :)

Here she is sucking her cute little thumb!!

I should've known she was a girl during my last blog entry. Michael doesn't dance. She's her Mama's daughter!!

Dance, Pants, and a Pain in the Neck

I am 18 weeks along now and changes are definitely becoming more noticeable! I feel my baby practicing dance moves daily - as well as the occasional karate chop/kick. My ribs are starting to ache now that my stomach is insisting they make way. Work pants that I could still zip up and wear with a belly band just last week, are now so friggin' uncomfortable that my wardrobe has dwindled down to two pair of pants that I trade off each day with different tops. I can't seem to find ANY decent maternity pants for work! I'd love some suggestions - just don't bother suggesting Target, Old Navy or Motherhood. Too short, too big, too nerdy.

All things considered, my pregnancy has been smooth ridin' so far. Sure, there was some nausea, food aversions and headaches... but can I really complain? Not until last week. Cause unknown, I found myself with the worst neck pain I have ever experienced. It started out as my regular back pain that I've been living with for the past month or so - but somehow it moved its way up to my neck and out through my shoulders. By Thursday I was barely able to swallow. The pain was so intense, I left work at 11 that day and spent the entire afternoon on the phone with the physical therapy offices my OB referred me to. I knew I needed to get in to see someone right away but of course they were all booked until the following Tuesday (causing "mini" tantrums on my part for Michael to enjoy). Finally, one was able to fit me in on Friday at 9:15AM. After a miserable night sleep that I gave up on at 3:30 in the morning, I was in even more pain and unable to eat because swallowing water alone made me want to cry. Michael came with me to my appointment and got to witness me bawl in reaction to the PT's examination. She determined that I had a bulging disc in the base of my neck that was pushing forward into my throat. She was concerned about how quickly this happened and wanted me to have a MRI and start taking muscle relaxers immediately. Then the conversation basically went as follows: Oh yeah, you're pregnant... so instead, wear this neck brace and use this TENS unit (that will shoot electrical pulses into your neck) and here's a towel tied to a rope that I want you to secure to a door nob and hang your head in for five minutes at a time. Oh, and go ahead and take the occasional small dose of that super effective Tylenol for your pain!

I listened to doctors orders and barely moved the entire weekend. By Sunday I was eating solids again and today I'm back to enjoying only the preexisting back pain that I now have a fond appreciation for (it just seems so polite and mild by comparison). I have a follow up appointment with the PT tomorrow where I intend to give back the neck brace, tens unit and towel noose. I'll ask her for advice on how I should attempt to prevent a recurrence too. I'm not even 1/2 way through my pregnancy... I sooooo don't need a recurrence!

In spite of this experience, I still don't like to complain because I know how fortunate I am to be pregnant. And even though it seems unnecessary for my face to share some of the pregnancy weight I'm gaining, I have a new appreciation for my body that I never could have imagined before. It's truly amazing.

Especially now that baby does the boogie!!

Here I am at 18 weeks:

I heart NY

I just got back from a fabulous Mother-Daughter trip to New York. I had been there once before with Michael and we had a great time together but... the shopping opportunities are just wasted on him. I remember thinking how much fun it would be to go again someday with my Ma. She was born there, but moved away when she was five and hadn't been back since. We had talked about going for awhile and finally decided to book the trip as Christmas present to each other (we booked it back in September, before I was pregnant - good thing because I wonder if we would have done it otherwise??).

We arrived on Thursday evening, stayed until Monday evening and were able to fit in ALL of the main things you want to do in the city. We took a carriage ride through Central Park; took pictures from the top of the Empire State Building; walked miles upon miles through Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Little Italy, Soho and the Fashion District. We saw two Broadway shows; viewed the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero; rode the subway and ate deliciously fatty foods. It was everything we wanted to do and we had so much fun doing it.

The thing about being 17 weeks pregnant while touring NY: you get to see a lot of public restrooms. And I mean A LOT. I could show you pictures of the touristy things we did, but most of you have either seen these places for yourself or seen pictures of them already... so where's the originality?

Instead, allow me to present to you...

Tour De New York - Prego Style

(public restrooms - how they rate and where to find them)

Rating key:

YUCK = dirty, stinky, no paper towels etc...

ACCEPTABLE = nothing special, may or may not smell great but has all needed amenities

NICE = clean, smells okay

WOW = everything you'd want in a public restroom and MORE!

Times Square Information Center - ACCEPTABLE

Mott Pho Bang Restaurant, Little Italy - ACCEPTABLE

Bloomingdale's, Soho - NICE++



Europa Cafe, Central Park - ACCEPTABLE

Heartland Brewery, Empire State Building - NICE

Azalea Italian Restaurant, Theater District - NICE

Toys R Us, Times Square - NICE



New World Stages, Theater District - NICE

The Brooklyn Diner, Times Square - NICE

Essex World Cafe, Ground Zero - ACCEPTABLE

Century 21, Ground Zero - YUCK



Hotel Chandler Lobby, Midtown - WOW

Not pictured: Planet Hollywood - NICE, Rockefeller Center - NICE, Gershwin Theater - NICE

All in all, most public restrooms I visited were A-O-K. But if you REALLY wanna enjoy everything NYC has to offer, maybe don't go prego style. That said, it was still one of my most favorite trips I've ever been on. Probably because I love my Ma so much :)

Ahhh... the aromas.

I'm often asked if I have any major cravings now that I'm pregnant... and I don't think I do. It's not that I don't have any sudden cravings for chocolate cake or pickles now and then, it's just that I had those cravings even before I was pregs. Since then, it's been more about what doesn't sound good... than what does.

Smells on the other hand are a whole different story. It's true what they say about your sense of smell being heightened... but what I didn't expect was to have everyday things that I'm used to smelling suddenly smell FANTASTIC! Sure, I occasionally experience the yucky smells too (Steve's gas is even more unpleasant nowadays), but it's more common for me to be surprised by how wonderful certain smells are now.

For example, Michael and I are less than snobs when it comes to hair products and regularly use Dove shampoo, conditioner and body wash. We've been using it for years. Out of the blue, I noticed one morning that the smell of the shampoo was overwhelmingly fresh and wonderful. Same goes for the conditioner and body wash. We also have some hair gel that smells splendidly like Elmer's glue. I love it! No, I don't feel an urge to eat any of it (as I've heard is also common in pregnancy) but boy do I enjoy getting ready in the morning a lot more now!

Another example, and perhaps a far more disturbing one, happened on the bus a few weeks ago. Already sounds strange, right? Usually that's where one would experience more of the yucky smells. Not this time. As I sat in my window seat with an open seat next to me, a BIG, BURLY, HAIRY man dressed in jeans and a leather jacket came walking down the aisle. As much as I wished against it, he of course sat right beside me. Of all the things involved with riding a bus, having to sit so close to strangers is my least favorite part. I leaned as far as I could against the window to keep some distance between us. But as annoyed as I was, I couldn't help but notice the delicious, chocolaty sweetness I was smelling!! I was drawn to it and found myself actually narrowing the distance between us. Soon I was taking slow, luxurious whiffs of this big ol' man. It made no sense at all... but MY did he smell good!! After awhile the bus started to empty and, to my dismay, the man moved across the aisle to an empty seat. I snapped out of my trance and began to worry that he noticed my odd behavior. An Herbal Essence commercial came to mind - where the woman is fantasizing about washing her hair and starts shouting "YES! YES! YES!" in the middle of her office meeting...

I pretty sure I didn't do that though.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!!

I'm gonna "turn and face the strain" by sharing it with my job tomorrow - so there's nothing else preventing me from posting it here. I'm 14 weeks pregnant! I am sooo nervous about sharing it with my job... I just started working with a new team and I doubt they'll be thrilled to have me leave for 3 months. But we'll save that for another entry...

So far so good for the most part. I did go through a nauseous stage, but that seemed to subside around 10 weeks. I also developed an overwhelming aversion to Asian food - mainly Chinese and Thai. My all time FAVORITE kind of food! If I caught a whiff of something that smelled like Chinese food, if someone talked about curry, if peppers or sesame seeds were an ingredient in anything, even if I just saw chopsticks - I would feel nauseous. I was so disappointed and worried that it would be become permanent. Luckily, I surprised myself the other day by wanting Chinese food for lunch, and I'm totally craving some GOOD phad thai now. I still think curry and cooked peppers sound disgusting... but baby steps work for me :)

My new stage seems to be regular and sometimes debilitating headaches. Last night, I was in bed before 8pm with an icepack on my forehead. Unable to even watch American Idol! I managed to avoid a repeat today - but I'm worried because I think the preventative trick is caffeine... something I've been trying to avoid. I've read just about everywhere that small amounts of caffeine is okay - so I'm gonna allow myself just that in hopes of not missing any more of my favorite shows!

Here's a really great picture of me displaying my growing belly (you can practically see in my eyes the headache that is lurking behind them). I guess I'm kind of an early show-er... but if you can believe it, I am "sucking it in" in this pic.

I am so completely thrilled to be pregnant and I love every single experience that comes with it - good and bad. Okay, maybe I don't LOVE the headaches... but soon I'm going to have a tiny little baby to love with all my heart. That's worth more than all the Chinese food in the world :)

What about my blog?

Okay, so it's been almost 3 months since I last posted a new blog. Yes, Merry and Sarah, I realize that :) But I don't have kids yet and I didn't just build a house - so really, blog entries from me seem so boring by comparison. I only have so many worthwhile things to share in my everyday life. For example, I could tell you about how my old cell phone died and I had to get a new one, or about how cute and sleepy Steve was this morning when I left... or, I know, did you know my favorite berry flavored sparkling water is no longer on sale and now it's a total rip off?

See what I mean? I just don't feel like I have much exciting stuff to share right now. I don't want to blog just to blog. Not that there is anything wrong with doing that - it's just not for me is all :) But I do promise that as soon as I have something remotely interesting to share, you'll find it here.

Sincerely,

Boring McBloggerson

P.S. Interesting and exciting? Not really. Happy as can be anyway? YES :)

Something Meaningful

We just got back from spending several days with my family in the Bay Area. We had two very special reasons to celebrate over the weekend. Saturday was my cousin's wedding. Sunday was the celebration of my Grandma's life. It was pretty amazing the way the two occasions could share one weekend - but truly stay separate. Both were joyful in different ways.

The wedding was fabulous and tons of FUN! It took place in my aunt and uncles beautifully landscaped backyard and the weather was perfect (I'm not bitter... I swear!). I helped my mom decorate about 300 cupcakes to use as the cake for their garden themed wedding. I loved every minute of it - but if I never see another cupcake in my life, I'll be okay with that! It's always so awesome to have an excuse to be with my wonderful family. :)



For my Grandma's memorial, we sat in the shade of a big tree, in the same beautiful yard where my cousin had her wedding the day before. A wedding she hoped to attend (and we think she did). A picture collage of my Grandma throughout her years was propped before us and several people shared stories and memories. The commemoration concluded with playing her favorite song - Mr. Bojangles. As we sat in silence, listening to the music and thinking of my Grandma, a breeze suddenly swooped in. It circled all around and caused her pictures to flutter. I know it was my Grandma Jayne - dancing to her song and breathing freely. Something she hasn't been able to do for several years.

She left a wonderful mark on my life and I will be forever grateful :)