Baby!

Jen's Baby Updates: Week 15

Sunday, October 27th

FAQ of the week: When will we find out the gender?

Answer - It is possible for them to tell the gender right now, but we probably won't schedule our next ultrasound until about the 20th week (that's 5 weeks from now). That's when they can count all the fingers and toes and check for other problems, in addition to determining the gender (if the baby isn't shy!). I think it is kind of fun to not know, right now.

Baby Development

The baby could be sucking his/her thumb. Currently, he/she probably has a fine coating of hair all over his/her body, which he/she will continue growing until around the 26th week. The bones are getting harder, and the skin is very thin and transparent. He/she is probably hiccuping, which they do a lot as they are practicing breathing motions. He/she has fingernails, and can grasp, squint, frown, and grimace.

Symptoms

Well, insomnia has struck. Funny how I'm tired all the time, but still can't sleep. I have trouble sleeping in my usual position (half on my side, half on my stomach) because I feel like I might be crushing the baby. I discovered last night that if I use two extra pillows and prop myself up on them, I can maintain some semblance of comfort. That's bad news for overnight guests... you might want to supply your own pillows.

I've also developed the annoying need to have Travis in bed with me when I am going to sleep. This is annoying only because we are currently on very different sleep schedules. Travis likes to go to sleep around 2:00am, and I'm trying to get myself to sleep around 12:00am. Luckily, being the perfect husband that he is, he is willing to come to bed with me and read until I fall asleep.

I'm starting to feel chubby. I mean, my stomach is all puffy and rounded, which I'm not used to! I realize that this is a perfectly
normal and expected part of pregnancy, but it is hard to curb my natural instinct to go run a few miles to ensure that I stay in shape. I need to remember that even if my body shape is changing, I'm still actually 'in shape'.

I'm taking back all of the labor and childbirth videos that I got from the library. I never watched them. I just haven't had time, so I'll
get them again when I'm done teaching (5 weeks from now). I did call about childbirth classes, and there are several starting up at convenient times, so I'm sure we'll sign up sometime soon. I just wish the hospitals were closer (~15 minutes). Travis and I do hate to drive.

Exercise

If any of you has a treadmill that you would like to sell or if you know of someone who does, please let me know! These updates are doubling in size each week, so be afraid!

I taught the women's self-defense class today for my Karate instructor. I was teaching them how to do forward rolls (very useful if someone throws or pushes you), and I explained that I would be demonstrating them very gently because I'm pregnant. They all went 'oh!' and applauded. These are women that I had just met this morning! It was very sweet and made me blush. I spent quite a bit of time talking about martial arts with them, and I demonstrated a kata for them because they wanted to know what it looked like. They all applauded after that, too, so maybe they are just an appreciative group.

I enjoyed teaching the class, and they enjoying having me there, they said. I am a little nervous about having done the five gentle rolls that I did, but I was very careful not to hit the ground hard. Mostly I'm just thinking about what the little peanut does when I roll. Does he/she tumble, too? If so, could the umbilical cord get wrapped around his/her neck? And that started me wondering why that doesn't happen. I mean, he/she looked to be rolling around quite a bit in there... couldn't he/she get all twisted up in the umbilical cord?

Other People's Babies

One of my co-workers told me today that she is pregnant! She called me over to her desk and said, "Guess what... we have something in common!" It was so exciting to hear that someone else is pregnant! I think that actually I jumped up and down, I'm a little embarrassed to admit. It is, as my friend Kat (12 weeks ahead of me) said, much more exciting to hear about other people's pregnancies when you yourself are pregnant. I know that I was quite disinterested before I was pregnant (and even less so when we were trying to get pregnant). It is kind of a secret, so if she doesn't make it known before this update goes out then I'll save this tidbit for next week.

She is about four weeks behind me, which means that when I told her I was pregnant, she was actually pregnant, too, but couldn't say anything! It is going to be so much fun to have someone with whom to share all of my pregnancy thoughts and feelings, in person, I mean!

Top

Development

Midwife Visit

Movement

Symptoms

Exercise

Other Babies

Gifts

Names

Miscellaneous

Names

Travis and I are still looking for name suggestions, which I hope to get posted up on the web site someday, along with an opinion form and the opportunity to suggest more names. We are leaning toward multi-syllable names, so keep that in mind!

Here's what we've gotten this week (along with a count of gender guesses):

BOY (3 - Ellen, Sheryl, Nancy)
Sammy - Aunt Nancy (for Aunt Ellen's dog)
Dayton - Aunt Nancy
Darius - Frank Lapinski

GIRL (no votes)
Char - Sheryl (Grams) Doom

EITHER
Ziko - Matt Csaki

Miscellaneous

Errata

I spelled "claustrophobia" wrong in my last update. I am ashamed. I apologize to everyone, particularly my Dad (at least it wasn't 'jewelry') and those of you in the literary field, and I'll be sure to spell check my updates from now on.

Web Site

Last night I actually worked on the web page for the baby! No, no, don't get too excited... it isn't on the web yet, but it should be
after next weekend. The ultrasound pictures are there, as well as pictures of me in various stages of pregnancy. Nothing terribly noticeable until this week. It will get more exciting as time goes on.

Clothing

I've discovered that clothes that I used to believe were completely respectable are no longer quite so respectable. I'm showing more cleavage today than I used to. Hmmm... I didn't know that being pregnant would make me look trampy. Interesting.

Getting dressed in the morning is getting to be a chore. I never know what I can wear until I put it on, and my selections are getting more and more limited.

Weekend

We had the Halloween party last night, and it was really fun! I went as a nun at first, though I didn't pad myself. Everyone knew that I was pregnant, so it wasn't really necessary, though it would have been funnier that way. Halfway through the night, I changed into my friend Holly's harem girl costume, because I thought I should show off my new belly a little! It was really cold, though, so I ended up leaving on the over-sheath so I didn't freeze to death.

We played a game in which everyone had pieces of paper stuck to their back with the name of some character, movie, or object that was somehow related to Halloween. That was a surprising hit! Sometimes it really helps to have spent four summers as a camp counselor! Anyway, Travis put "The Blob" on my back. I'm not sure if he was referring to the baby or to me, but it was entertaining to everyone, nonetheless.

We (Mike, Delia, Travis, and I) went to see "Swan Lake" by the Dayton Ballet tonight. I always love ballet, and it was a reasonably good performance. It was odd because it wasn't the "standard" Swan Lake; they had changed the era and made it a lot more intellectual, or so the program claimed. Regardless, there was still dancing, so it was fun for me. I hope that my child, boy or girl, enjoys the arts so I can take him/her to see plays and dances and such. I just need an excuse and someone to go with!

Teaching

Wednesday: I need to give a midterm tomorrow in my class. I'm very nervous about it, probably more so than the students. I don't want to make mistakes on it that will cause it to be unfair! I also don't really know how long to make the test... I could accidently give them a 4 hour test and they only have an hour! Yikes!

Thursday: Well, I just gave my midterm. I'm sure that all of you remember taking tests at some point in your lives. Having experienced both taking and writing tests, I must say that I'd rather take 10 tests than write one. I'm sure that my students spent less time studying than I spent creating the exam.

My students are so lucky that I have so much help. I had written what I thought was a pretty good test. I showed it to Travis. He promptly removed half of the questions. OK, no problem. I reorganized the points a little and it all worked out. Then I showed it to Mike Raymer (the usual teacher of this class), and he cut another 25% of the questions.

After all that, it turned out to be about the right length, I think. My first student finished after about 35 minutes, and I only had to
kick 7 students out at the very end of class. According to Mike, that indicates that it was a pretty good length for a test. If I hadn't showed it to Mike or Travis (my original plan) the poor students would have been able to finish about a quarter of the exam.

My conclusion? Professors (and teachers in general) aren't paid enough to do this job. It is really difficult!

Well, I was up until 3:30 last night working on the midterm, and have been stressing about it all day today, so I'm going to go home and take a warm bath and then take a long nap. Hmmm... I don't know how to tie this topic into the 'baby' theme, except that I've been a little worried that my high level of stress could be detrimental to the baby.

Work

Here I am at work, at 8:00am. My boss called a meeting at 7:30 today, which is a really unrealistic time to expect programmers to be awake and alert. Luckily, I was really tired last night, so I went to bed at 9:30, so 6:30 didn't feel very early, until I started driving to work. Why are so many people on the road at that hour? Don't they know that it is dark and cold? Crazy.

Read Jen's Baby Update: Week 15 Addendum next!
Read Jen's Baby Update: Week 16 next!