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I’m 13 weeks now and relieved to put the first trimester behind me. Thankfully, my morning sickness dissolved just in time for me to attend the Smart Marriages conference, which I wrote about last week.

So what’s the next big thing in the pregnancy journey? The  “Nuchal Translucency“, also referred to as the “First Trimester Screen” or “Early Risk Assessment”.  It’s a non-invasive ultrasound and blood test designed to “help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby’s risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems,” says Babycenter.com.  I’m excited for it because of the hi-resolution ultrasound (and the chance that I could find out the baby’s sex).  Then again, it could give way to more worries.

Disclosure Note: NTD Labs is a provider of first trimester screening.
Both NTD Labs and ViaCord (our blog sponsor) are part of the PerkinElmer family. Although I have to admit, I didn’t know this before I started writing this post.

My friend’s nuchal results indicated that her child’s DS risk was (more…)

I was going to write a post about how little time I spend reading the week-by-week pregnancy updates, as compared to the immense amount of time I devoted to that during my first pregnancy.  I was going to write about how this second child is already getting less attention than my first, but, I can’t even write about that right now, because I am totally sidetracked by lack of AC!  It was in the 90s today.  It’s 85 degrees right now, and a high of 98 tomorrow.

We have AC working on the first floor, but it broke down today on the second floor where the bedrooms are. If it was only my husband and me at home, we’d live, but with Blake, my sweet little 2-year old?  Poor thing!  His crib is upstairs and we’ve debated all options.  It’s too late to go to my parents’ house, his crib is too heavy to carry downstairs, so we put on our little fan and my husband is out running to Walmart to buy an industrial strength fan.  We have an emergency AC guy coming sometime before midnight, but who knows if he can fix it?  And in terms of stressful marital moments, lack of AC certainly creates one.

I guess I am back to my original topic.  There is so much going on in life and so much of my energy is taken up by Blake that I just don’t have the time to devote to the wonder and excitement of my pregnancy.  (Just checked the baby monitor, thank goodness Blake fell asleep!).

A while ago I wrote a post about the affect of birth order on personality. The first-born is (more…)

We moved to a new house a few weeks ago and the other day a good friend asked me how I like it here.  “I don’t know.  The house makes me nauseous,” I answered.

“Oh, and my car also makes me nauseous, so do the streets and my backyard.”  There really was no other way to answer the question.  I think I love it here, but I need to wait another few weeks before I can know for sure.

First trimester is icky.  Thankfully, I haven’t thrown up (yet), but the head spinning in pretty frequent.  If I think too deeply about something like my house or where to go out to dinner on Friday, I might gag.  My morning sickness wasn’t this bad during my first pregnancy (and I’m hoping that a different experience of pregnancy might mean that I’m having a girl.  I know, it’s delusional, but let me hope.)  One more complaint to add before I change the topic – I’m also extremely tired.  “How tired?” asked my father.  “Well, on some days, it’s as if I woke up in the morning and took NyQuil and then tried to go about my day.”

My new neighbor told me that during her first (more…)

Now that I’m out (aka made the pregnancy announcement), I’ve been asked that strange question, “Do you like being pregnant?” which is usually followed by a pressure-cooker comment like, “because I LOVED being pregnant!”  Hmm, what am I supposed to answer?  I’m fine being pregnant and I’m also fine when I’m not pregnant.  I don’t have strong feelings about it.  Heidi Klum says she loves being pregnant, so does Jessica Alba, but are they for real or just saying that because it sounds good?  A woman named Kat writes a whole blog taking the opposite view – I Hate Being Pregnant.

I wonder if people love and hate pregnant for the same reasons.  For instance, (more…)

A recent New York Times article, “Labels Urged for Food That Can Choke”  by Laurie Tarkin, featured the harrowing story of a 23-month old girl who died from choking on popcorn.  Her father tried to save her but he was too late.

This is an example the American Academy of Pediatrics points to as a reason why they want food to be subject to the same scrutiny as children’s toys.

They say that parents don’t know which foods are dangerous and that the Food and Drug Administration should require warning labels on foods that are known choking hazards.  While the New York Times didn’t list which foods are hazardous for kids, I found a list on SHEKNOWS.com:

The AAP recommends that you avoid giving the following foods to young children: (more…)