Mommy Matters rocks my socks!

I just need to spread some good loving to all the ladies at Mommy Matters in Fresno, California.
This store is super special.

Now, I come from the Bay Area and moved to central Cali after living and working in the freewheeling, crunchy, Earthy, beachy goodness of Santa Cruz for many years, and I gotta tell you, I don't even think a space like this exists in Santa Cruz.

Owners Gena and Sabrina are dedicated to women and babies. The products they sell are beautiful and practical, sometimes trendy, always devoid of cartoon characters. The classes they offer are amazing, chock full of information you probably wont find at your local hospital. Especially wonderful and highly recommended is the Lamaze class, taught by Lisa Garten. Seriously. This woman knows her stuff and her class made me so excited that I am a woman with the power and ability to give and experience birth.

Thank you Ladies!
And a special thanks to our wonderful midwife for directing me to these women! :)

Say What?

The best recent conversational morsels:

My midwife and I were discussing the items and supplies I need to have in the house for the birth. When the issue of food came up, she said, "Make sure you have ice cream around. It's the perfect food."
To which I replied, "Well I've always known that, but thanks for making it official."


This of course led to me relaying this beautiful tidbit of information to anyone who would listen. So in analytical chem lab, while waiting to use the atomic absorption machine, I was telling a friend about the wonders of ice cream. Her response?
"You're having a home birth? That is so medieval."


A good friend whom I haven't seen in a while met with me last weekend for a bike ride. I've pretty much put the road bike away and ride exclusively on the mountain bike or the cruiser (more upright). This, combined with the ever expanding body parts beginning with "b" necessitate the wearing of running shorts and tee shirts in lieu of tighter, flashier, spandex options. In short, I look like, gasp, a recreational cyclist.
Amy looks at me and says, "Awww. You have a booby-do."
"A what??"
"When your belly sticks out more than your booby-do."


But the best was later that day when I was changing out of aforementioned recreational cycling gear in preparation for the shower, and Adam says "You finally look pregnant and not just fat."

I did it! I completed my one and only race for the season... normally by this time in the year I'm 3-5 events deep into my season (a mix of tris, road races, duathlons, cycling events, etc). Then again, I'm normally not pregnant, either :) I hemmed and hawed about participating today. I slept poorly, woke up at 5 thinking "This is stupid. I'm nuts. What am I DOING?" I mean, I've been working out consistently the whole time, but not super hard core.

It was so worth it to be out there today.

The swim wasn't bad, I felt strong once I warmed up. My good friend Amy and I were on the same pace and swam parallel to each other the whole time. Walked the 1/4 mile rocky hill to transition, got my gear off/on and was out on the bike. Felt normal t1 weirdness for the first 3ish miles, then got into my groove and just went with it. It was hard to turn off the competitive instinct. I kept getting passed. I just had to breath, take it in, let it go, and keep moving forward. Got into transition, changed shoes, and shuffled out. t2 run always feels super strange for the first mile for me. I ended up tripping and rolling my ankle (swollen and hurts now, but didn't feel it at the time) and felt out of sorts for several yards after the spill. By the turn around I felt really in synch with myself and my pace...

I wore a "Baby on Board" sign pinned to my back for the bike and the run. The response on the bike was more from men, then out on the run tons of women would run past and yell "way to go!" "are you really pregnant??" and the like. I was slower than a tortoise but I shuffled along the whole run - only walking through the aid stations. (The distances were a 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile hilly cycling course, 5 mile run). The run got uncomfortable - baby was right on the bladder and I started to feel rather strange around mile 3.5. I kept Guing and drinking and just kept moving forward. By the time I got to the finish chute, people were yelling "go pregnant lady! bring it in!" I crossed the line and was so overcome with emotion I started crying.

I can't even describe what if felt like... but I think that was the best race I've ever done. :)

No one mentioned this stuff...

Aren't I supposed to be a jovial, bubbling pregnant lady?

Isn't the process of creating a life supposed to draw my husband and me closer together?

WhatEVER - I am the bitchiest pregnant lady ever. Yegads. I can hardly be around myself. It's like PMS x 10 to the 6th.

I am also finding it hard to deal with my husband... forget sex. Everything bothers me. The way he smells. The way he chews. The noises he makes when breathing. I bought the above product (called a Snoogle - it's absolutely fantastic) to help avoid sleeping on my back, which is supposedly no good at/after the 5th month. It has a second, even better, unadvertised benefit: it provides an effective nighttime barricade between my sleeping self and my husband. I honestly hope this is just temporary, pregnancy induced insanity. Though, from what I've read, the sex thing isn't going to get too much better once baby is born.

I have also made the startling and somewhat disturbing self discovery that not only have I turned into my mother, but I appear to be barreling headlong into my father's particular personality quirks.

I'm telling you, I am more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

16 weeks!

Actually, I wonder if there's really anything in there... the nausea is gone, I'm not quite showing yet, I feel normal.

Other than the attack of the Cheezits, and occasional *cough* bowl of ice cream, my diet hasn't really changed.. except for no booze or caffein.