Beating the Spread

I'm considering a form of Chinese foot binding.  All day yesterday, the bottoms of my feet felt bruised.  Today I the shoes I was wearing yesterday are too tight.  I can hope that my feet are just swollen, but stretching ligaments could explain yesterday's sore feet and today's ill-fitting shoes.  I already have wide feet--short, wide feet.  It runs in the family.  I'm pretty sure that both my dad and grandpa wear EEE shoes that they specially order.  If my feet get wider, I'm going to have cubes at the ends of my legs.

I don't want to buy new shoes.  I like my shoes, and I'm not sure how I will find cute cube-shaped shoes.  I already have trouble wearing fairly high heels because my feet are so short, and my short toes don't peep out of peep-toe shoes.  And totally flat shoes make my calves look chunky.  Of course, cubes for feet will keep people from looking at my calves.  What a silver lining!

All's Forgiven...Maybe

I've been feeling a little bad for a couple of days because the baby stopped being active for a while after I laid on his head one night.  I was trying to get comfortable in bed, and I'm often able to get into a tripod position that keeps most of my weight off my belly.  The other night, though, I was getting kicked on one side and so tried to lay on the other, and the tripod position didn't work because there was a head on that side.  I wriggled around and got off his head when I realized what I had done, but he shifted positions and stayed quiet for a few days after that.  Not that I minded a bit of peace after his recent assaults, but it was becoming worrysome.

So I thought that I have apparently been forgiven for laying on his head because he's kicking a bit again.  But then I realized that he might have been sulking for a few days.  Or maybe he was scared to move.  Or maybe he decided to start kicking because he's worried about me and trying to tell me to go to bed instead of blogging after midnight when I already have a sore throat.  My interpretation of his actions is pure speculation and says more about me than him.  Matt can tell you that it is not uncommon for me to project feelings onto others.  So the poor kid whose mother laid on his head is being projected on, and he's likely to be projected on for the rest of his life if his mother can't learn to stop doing it.  I can, however, promise not to lay on his head for the rest of his life.  A baby step on the path to "perfect" parenting. :)

OMG: Obviously More than Gas

The baby has just become noticeably active over the last few days. Yesterday, I though his foot was going to exit the lower left corner of my abdomen.  Until then, I hadn't been completely sure what I was feeling.  I've had pangs from my stretching uterus since the beginning of the pregnancy, and I've had weird rolling gassy feelings most of my life.  But this was obviously not gas. I grabbed my side in case my belly ruptured (as I felt it had) and my guts started spilling out.  Other than that jab, he hasn't assaulted me so fiercely.  So far he's actually been very obliging when I ask him to stop laying on my bladder or to quit kicking me when I'm tired.  I can only hope he'll continue to be so obliging after he arrives, but I'm not holding my breath. After finding out the sex of the baby, registering for baby stuff, feeling the baby move, and beginning to outgrow my clothes, I finally feel pregnant.  It only took 24 weeks (goodness! nearly 6 months).

Nesting: Registering & Nursery Prep

Most of the baby items we registered for are at Walmart, but we liked some things at Target.  So Matt and I started a baby registry at Target when we were in Elizabethtown yesterday.  Mostly, the registry has a breast pump and some clothes.  Target has much more infant clothing than Walmart, and it's super cute.

There were a couple of packages of onesies that we registered for in multiple sizes.  Our child won't have much variety in his wardrobe, but he'll be cute for a whole year.

The monster onesies have matching bibs with monsters eating the cars and helicopters coming at them.









There's an outfit on the registry that would be a cute coming home from the hospital outfit, which includes a hat, booties and bib.  The legs can be snapped together to make a gown, too.






I cleaned out the nursery this week and organized the few items in the baby's closet.  We bought a cream-colored rug at Big Lots when we moved here, which is on the hardwood floor in the nursery.  The walls are painted white.  I plan to use wall art that we already own.  I have no plans for themed bedding; the fitted crib sheets we've registered for are neutral.  I did buy some removable wall stickers at Dollar Tree if we want to decorate some more.  Now we need furniture and a baby.  Fortunately, we have four months to come up with both.

Maternity Clothes are Made to Make You Look Pregnant

Tonight I was doing laundry in preparation for our travels and threw my favorite non-maternity jeans in the washing machine.  The jeans shrink a little when they're washed, so I don't wash them often.  However, today I accidentally took off those jeans without unfastening them and so decided they could probably use a good wash and a little shrinking.  While my favorite jeans were washing, I remembered that I wanted to use our free dinner vouchers at the university dining hall for supper and discovered that the dining hall closed in 30 minutes.  Since my favorite jeans were not available, I tried on my brown pants that fit snugly last week.  They fit even more snugly today and might have exploded off me as my stomach got fuller while eating.  It became clear that my one pair of maternity jeans was my only option, so I put them on.

I remember my maternity jeans being comfortable when I tried them on a few months ago, but tonight they felt like they were going to fall off of me, not a good feeling when you're about to go out in public.  There was no waistband to help them stay on, and they aren't snug around my hips.  Eventually, these things will be assets, but now they make me want to buy suspenders.  Having no other choices, I pulled my sweater down over the maternity jeans and was going to glance at myself quickly in the mirror before rushing out the door, but I was unable to rush because I was transfixed by the image of myself looking very pregnant.  My sweater was bulging with belly.  Before putting the maternity jeans on, my belly barely caused a ripple in my sweater.  And my sweater was just short of covering the maternity panel.  But I had no other options.

While filling my plate in the dining hall, I kept hitching up my pants to keep them from feeling saggy though they were never in serious danger of falling off.  After we ate, I wanted to go to Walmart to return a few items and add some toys to the baby registry.  I tugged on my pants throughout the trip to Walmart and realized that, though I was having fun picking out toys, my face's default expression was not a pleasant one because I was peeved with my pants.  My abdomen felt like it was straining outward to provide enough tension to hold up the pants, and it was failing to do anything but make me look huge and feel bloated (and it wasn't because I was gassy this time).

On the way home I grumbled to Matt about my pants but admitted that as bad as the waistless full panel jeans are they are probably better than the "muffin top" that under-belly maternity jeans would give me.  I have considered suspenders or a belt until my belly is able to hold up the maternity jeans securely.  Having a short torso, I can almost tuck the top of the panel under my bra.  But for now my non-maternity jeans are still the best option, and I may not wash them again until after the baby is born so that I can wear them as much as possible before and immediately our baby's arrival.

Some women really look forward to looking and feeling pregnant.  Many women are completely sick of looking and feeling pregnant by the time they have their babies.  I'm not interested in binding my abdomen for vanity's sake, but I'm also in no hurry to look or feel pregnant.  I have several more months to look and feel pregnant.  Why rush it if I feel better and look better in non-maternity jeans?

So at this moment I am sitting on my couch in my newly cleaned and shrunken non-maternity jeans, stretching them a little for maximum comfort during our travels, blogging about how I hate maternity pants, and feeling thankful that my pregnancy has so few problems that I'm ranting about saggy pants.

...

I decided to take pictures to show what I'm talking about (I'm a little obsessed):
non-maternity jeans (with "slimming" panels) ** maternity jeans ** non-maternity knit lounge pants (the experiment's control)

Matt and I agree that the maternity pants add a month or two of roundness that the others don't.

And they make me feel like my guts are trying to rush out of my navel.  I think a waistband reminds my abs to try to hold in my guts. I'm not talking about sucking in to make me slimmer but "engaging" the abs enough to provide reasonable support to the organs beneath.  Without a waistband, my abs are apparently forgetful.

As another point of comparison, I found a picture of me taken August 31 (approximately 8 weeks pregnant)

The angle is different and the clothes are different, but you can see the same protuberance in my upper abdomen, above my waist, in both pictures.  Mostly my belly is just firmer than it was then because there's more in there than there used to be.  That's why I was so shocked to see how round I looked in the maternity jeans.

The Baby Registry is Started

Today Matt and I went to Walmart to put items on the baby registry, which is in our names because the baby doesn't have a name yet.  I had a list of items with comments from trusted mothers, and we registered for almost everything on the list.  I have a few more items to add, but I thought I'd talk to my sister when we go to Missouri before adding those.  She hasn't been involved in the email consultations I've been doing with other new mothers I know.

Matt always has fun playing with the toys, and he found several non-electronic toys that jingle and rattle when manipulated by a baby.  I'm particularly fond of sock rattles for some reason.  We both agreed that the combination book/teether didn't send the right message about how to treat books, a very important lesson in a family that dedicates an entire room to books (and office stuff) no matter how small the apartment.  I realized later that we didn't actually go to the toy department while we were registering, so we'll make another outing for further toy registering sometime.  I've had my eye on a stuffed sea horse that glows gently and makes soft music and waves on the seashore noises for bedtime.  It kind of reminds me of the Glo-Worm I had when I was little.

While we were at Walmart, I hit the clearance rack and got a 0-9 months blanket sleeper for $5 and a changing pad with storage pockets, which rang up as $2.50 at the register.  Yay!  I decided to put a few diapers and an article of clothing in the changing pad pockets when we got home.  The diapers are so small and cute; they have Big Bird and Snuffy on them.  I realized how small our baby will be, and I guess he'll be similarly cute because he'll be wearing the Big Bird/Snuffy diapers.

When I have access to a Target store, I'll probably register for some things there, too.  The times we've gone to the Target in Elizabethtown we've seen some things we like, mostly clothes and bibs.  And they have the breast pump recommended by the nurse practitioner in Madison.

I gave my resume to the chair of the English department today and am hoping that job works out and pays enough to get some of the big ticket items that we may not receive from friends and family: a dresser, a rocker-recliner, a really nice breast pump, and a crib.  There may be plenty of other items we don't receive as gifts, but hopefully we can stretch those purchases out over several months.

Now I just need to clean out the extra bedroom so we have a place to put the baby and all his stuff.

What's-His-Name sure is a snappy dresser!

Our son has no name, but he has the beginning of a wardrobe.  I've been picking up a few pieces when I find something cute and inexpensive.  I thought I'd share a few pictures on the blog along with the careers they suggest.  It's never to early to dress for success. :)

These are some dinosaur onesies I got in a dollar store in Springfield. (Paleontologist)

A space-themed footed sleeper from Big Lots.  (Astronomer.  I'm not sure I want him leaving the planet without me, so I'm not recommending astronaut at this time.)

Some glow-in-the-dark post-Halloween clearance onesies from Walmart. I plan to write the names of the bones on the skeleton one. (Anatomist or doctor)   The top one says "I love my mummy." (Archaeologist)

Post-Halloween clearance lion costume from Walmart.  I doubt we'll do anything Halloweeny next year, but I liked that the two pieces could be worn anytime and separately.  The striped footed onesie could be worn alone or with pants if it's cold enough.  The lion part of the costume is a fleece hooded vest.  Super cute as an early fall hoody before a full coat is necessary.  (Zoologist, veterinarian, actor, Dr. Doolittle, Clinton Kelly - he split his first suit into separate mix-and-match pieces!)

Semi-footed pajama on clearance at Big Lots.  I think this was intended for a girl, but when I bought it I felt that flowers and bees are not only for girls.  I was able to talk myself into believing it was gender-neutral because I like the feet (see below).  (Botanist, entomologist)

The feet have a cuff that can go over the toe to make them footed pajamas or can be rolled back to leave the feet out.  As someone who likes to wear one piece PJs but doesn't like her feet covered while in bed, I would love to have a set of these for myself.  They even have non-skid studs on the bottom of the feet.

They're blue with an insect on them, and they have multi-tasking gadgety feet.  What about that doesn't sound like something a boy would like?

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