19 Weeks: Transitional Chaos

Well, you guys don't get a fancy whiteboard picture of my belly today because this is what our computer room with the whiteboard wall currently looks like...

It is where we are storing all of our upstairs furniture as we are remodeling the bedroom and nursery.  Dan and I are sleeping in the "bat cave" downstairs which doubles as our guest room but we aren't allowed to call it a bedroom cause there are no windows.  This also makes it surprisingly easy to sleep until noon.  BUT, we are so excited to see how the final product turns out.

Here's some more of the progress...

Nursery.  We ripped up carpet and hired some wonderful contractors to knock down some walls while we were on vacation.  This was once a closet and will now become a reading/play nook.

Other side of the nook, plus a sneak peek at the nursery colors

My baby daddy, painting the ceiling.

Our bedroom got a wall knocked down too to make a bigger closet.  Until now the "nursery" was utilized as "Carise's walk-in closet".  I may be a little bitter about losing that luxury for a while.

Other side of our closet.  It's not pictured, but on the other side of the wall, there is an expletive scratched into the ceiling that was etched in prior to the popcorn ceiling application.  (By the way, we also ditched the popcorn ceiling which frees me from a lot of knuckle scratch injuries as I'm putting on my shirts....who's idea was popcorn ceilings anyway?  Terrible)  The expletive we found read "F**K you Tim!  You lying...."  This person did not finish their sentance and now I'm left wondering just what Tim was.

Don't worry, Mom.  While I was taking these, I had a mask on.

As many of you know, we just returned from a lovely trip to Isla Mujeres with my fam.  It was perfect and just what we needed.  Admittedly, it was a lot easier to have your house renovated and not be living in it at the same time, alas, by mid-week all work should be done and we can start the fun stuff; painting, decorating, filling the nursery with unnecessary baby things, you know....

Mini-Beard is really starting to move around these days.  I noticed a lot of movement while in Mexico, which I fully expected since I'M happier in Mexico as well.  One night I ate some stuffed jalapenos and I coulda swore my kid was gonna tap dance right out of my uterus.  The movements are fun to feel but it makes me wonder how "fun" they will be when the kid gets some bigger limbs and stronger muscles.  I'm also feeling more and more "stretched" these days which I also assume is just the beginning.

This week we have our mid-pregnancy ultrasound where we will find out the gender of our little Beard.  It's too bad you all can't get me drunk and get me to spill the secret of the gender, huh!?  We are pretty excited.  

Since I can't write all the specs on the whiteboard, here's the rundown for the week:

19 Weeks

Baby is the size of a MANGO

Currently loving chips and guacamole 

Currently tolerating a seemily unending winter....and still peeing 6x/night

Looking forward to the ultrasound, the season changing, and going to see my cousin Beth in Denver in 3 weeks

And here's what my belly looks like from MY point of view...which will have to suffice for this week.

Isla Mujeres pictures to come soon!!!

XOXOXO Carise

Are You Crazy?

I mean, do you really want to follow the nitty gritty details of my pregnancy and be privy to every ache, craving, and expanding girth?  I'm sure you can find many other interesting things on the interwebs to follow.  But if you're still here and still interested, I promise to at least add a bit of sarcasm and humor to entertain you.  In fact, there are multiple opportunities for sarcasm and humor during pregnancy, as some of you may know.  Perhaps the most humorous story is how we even got here in the first place....(before I go into further detail, if our kid asks any of you, they were perfectly planned and expected and made our empty lives whole).

As many of you know, I spent much of my internship years as a sex educator in Minneapolis public schools where I taught young people many different ways to avoid an unplanned pregnancy and practice safer sex.  And yes, many MANY people have already pointed out the coincidental nature of this fact.  (No, it's not irony, that's something different)

Around October of this year, I was in the process of being diagnosed with a hormonal imbalance known to cause difficulty reproducing without intensive medical intervention.  This process involved blood tests, exams, and even an ultrasound.  I had come to accept that our chances of conceiving may be low which had one silver lining - we could "pull the goalie" without worrying too much about scoring an unplanned point.

My hours of sex education training clearly failed me, because 4 weeks later we had two positive pregnancy tests on our hands (Ok, 4..it was hard to believe).  I can't tell the story without making a plug for something that I believed contributed to this little surprise.  During the process of diagnosis, I decided to balance my hormones naturally using intensive acupuncture, Chinese herbs, yoga, and eliminating many types of chemicals from my diet.  Though the goal was not to make a baby, I truly believe that these changes made it not only possible to conceive but like a little paradise oasis for a zygote.  I never ended up being diagnosed with any hormonal imbalance...but the diagnosis of pregnant was certainly enough to wrap our minds around.

First trimester I hibernated.  I watched a lot of Hulu.  I survived the flu.  I existed primarily on lime flavored soda water and saltine crackers.  Mentally, I was kind of a crazy person.  I assumed that having a child meant losing everything about me and how I knew myself to be.  Once I came out of that fog, I realized that it didn't have to be so dramatic and was ready to start letting myself get excited.

So here we are, and here you are.  And if you're still reading, it seems we both have an interest in this pregnancy and we will both be involved in the life if this little Beard.  I will do my best to answer every question you have preemptively, except for one...We will not be announcing the gender of the little Beard until the day he/she emerges from the Uterine Hotel.  We have our reasons but mostly its because its fun to have a secret...a secret that I can actually keep, unlike when I found out I was pregnant and couldn't get through a sentence around family without blurting it out.

Welcome to our completely planned and expected journey :)