What (the h*ll) is that buzzing??

Me, at 17 weeks, admiring my growing baby bump

One of the great pleasures of pregnancy is the almost daily discovery of new and exciting symptoms.

Of course, some of them are old classics.  Soreness?  Nausea?  The ability to smell every raw onion within a ten-mile radius?  Check.  Check.  Check.  These fun confirmations of pregnancy flood the first trimester, moving you along strong, oniony currents into what I'd call a philosophical place where questions like "Why on earth do women ever volunteer to breed?" take on whole new levels of meaning.

In the second trimester, luckily, pregnancy tends to take a different turn.  I've mentioned the genuine thrill of feeling those first fetal jabs and hiccups.  Your belly starts to take on a Buddha-esque appearance, which at least in my case has been a cause for frequent self-marveling in front of a mirror.  But these symptoms of pregnancy are well-advertised and, therefore, easily (and happily) anticipated.  The real hoot of Trimester Two is the set of symptoms no one tells you about.  Like the constant bloody noses and the stuffed ears.  Or, for me, the mysterious vibrating sensation just inside the inner arch of my right foot.   (It took me a few minutes of confused searching to realize that I wasn't sitting on a ringing cell phone; a nurse advised I be on the lookout for signs of worsening pressure on my sciatic nerve, but for now I guess I can just enjoy some natural electrotherapy?)

I can only guess what pleasures and surprises the third trimester will bring.  Will I get to experience first-hand the fate of Voilet Beauregard (as this brave woman on NPR's recent Baby Project did)? (Warning:  Don't click if you're easily grossed out; it's not pretty.)  Will I finally be hit by the famous preggo cravings?  Or wake up to find myself tattooed with ever-fashionable stretch marks?

Every day's an adventure when baby's on board.  I have a lot to look forward to--not least the many surprises I can't anticipate!

Drama & Momma

If birthing babies were an Olympic sport, my mom would have been a gold medalist.  Six children.  The latter five of them born completely without medication.  And, the story goes, the very last was born breech after what amounted to about a twenty minute labor.  "We had just arrived at the hospital, and the doctor barely had time to put on his catching mitt," my dad will tell you.  Yes, when it comes to baby-birthing, Mom was the stuff of legend.

So when people ask me about my birth plan and I mention that I'm aiming for a natural birth primarily under the care of midwives, the surprise with which they sometimes respond always comes as a bit of a surprise to me.  For me, natural childbirth is one of those things I took for granted when a child myself and then easily adopted into my choices as an adult.  DO go to college.  DON'T wipe boogers on other people's shirtsleeves.  DO give birth without drugs.  Well, of course.

I bring all this up because it turns out that, for me at least, giving birth naturally isn't quite a matter "of course".  Finding a medical team willing to support my goals of a natural childbirth has been a challenge, and as I've shuffled between medical practices--and even between different practitioners within a single practice--I've found that views of my capacity and my potential to give birth naturally (even in a non-emergency setting) vary widely.  It's been the source of a lot of frustration--and a lot of questions.  For instance, what has evolution been up to all these years if I still can't be trusted to push a baby out of my business without intervention?  And don't I get any say in this?  (And also some genuine medical questions.)

When I started this blog, I thought that I'd keep these frustrations to myself.  Keep it upbeat.  Keep it apolitical.  Keep certain things private.  But this morning, after a particularly irritating appointment with a new doctor, I realized with regret that I don't have many peers to whom I can turn to ask, "How did you handle this?" or "Is it normal to feel frustrated when...?"  And I realized that maybe I don't have that system of peers because people don't generally talk about these things.  We all keep it upbeat, apolitical, private.

So here I am opening up--at least a little bit.  I want you to know that this is something I'm going through.  Sometimes I feel that my medical team is not listening to me.  Sometimes I have to struggle to obtain information and options.  Sometimes--I would even go so far as to say--I feel a bit like chattel being herded through the metaphorical abattoir of the medical establishment.  It's not always pretty, and sometimes it downright sucks.

In the end, I'm sure Archimedes will make his or her debut without much consideration of my ideal birth plan.  (Though, in a way, that's what I hope for:  birth on Baby's terms.)  But in the meantime, I will continue to strive for the best and healthiest birth that I have envisioned and to hope that on the big day my mom's good genes and good fortune show up in full force.   And, also in the meantime, I'll take comfort in knowing, rather than hoping, that regardless of what path eventually gets this baby into my arms, I have at least inherited many of my mother's other ample strengths--like conviction and determination and an unflinching devotion to her children--which I'll be able to apply to my relationship with Baby every day thereafter.

Wish me luck until then!

Fetal Movement

Archimedes is on the move!

At twenty-one weeks, we already have a real wriggler on our hands.  Kicks.  Punches.  What seems like a ridiculous number of hiccups.  Rumor has it that the extent of these early movements can be reflective of our child's later personality, which leads me to the question:  ought I be worried?  Are we looking forward to a fidgety little rascal with Energizer bunny tendencies?  (And is it okay for me to admit that I was hoping for more of a quiet bookworm?)

Truth be told, though, I'm delighted by our baby's increasingly frequent antics.  Archie's hiccups make me giggle (they actually tickle).  And the strengthening kicks and punches arrive like unexpected valentines.  I can't get over how fun and surprising and awesome each of these little interactions is.  And now that Bryan can feel the occasional kick from the outside, too, our evenings are taking on the quaint character of a family game night: Mom and Dad and Junior all exchanging high fives.

A little lame, maybe, but from this lame mom's perspective also totally cool.

Introductions

Allow me to introduce you to the newest light of my life:  Archimedes.  At least, Archimedes is his or her fetal name.  Though, if you ask, we might insist that'll be the permanent name.  "We'll call him (her) Archie for short," we'll say, while you politely smile and nod (surprisingly, responses to this suggestion have been fairly positive).  In any case, for now, Archie it is.

These days Archie is a little over twenty weeks old--just past the official halfway point of our pregnancy.  We cannot believe how quickly time is passing.  Why, I still remember when Archie was just a little blastocyst, blessing me with daily nausea and hyperactive tear ducts.  Fortunately, the second trimester has been much more pleasant than the first, and now when I swoon it's not because of an undesirably heightened sense of smell but rather because I can't get over the awesome feeling of Archimedes tickling me from inside or because Archie is just way too cute for words in the latest sonogram.

Speaking of which, here are a couple of pictures of Archimedes at about 19 weeks.  What did I tell you?  Superbly adorable.  Frankly, I'm still in near-disbelief that this little darling is growing inside me.

Welcome!

At the risk of sounding cliche, we'll begin the traditional way:

Welcome to our blog!

In an effort to keep our friends and family up-to-date on our in-progress adventures in pregnancy (without being too pushy), Bryan and I have decided to overcome our technological inertia and start blogging.  We're going to use this space to share information about our baby's development--and about our own development as we prepare for and, eventually, meet Baby.  But we'll also pepper it with tidbits describing other milestones and favorite undertakings:  our new house, for instance, occasional travels, and perhaps a few reflections on the little things that make up important parts of our lives like cooking and gardening and wine (though wine, sadly, will have to take a back seat until after the baby is born).

We hope that you'll enjoy reading about our adventures and sharing some of our journey with us.  Feel free to leave us comments.  We love them.

Cheers,

Meg & Bryan