Fun with Family

Happy Thanksgiving, Indeed!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! We are so thankful to be having a baby BOY in April!!

And the Baby is a....

Oh, sorry! I can't reveal that information until Thanksgiving when I tell my family in Utah in person! But I will post it as soon as possible. And if you're not following this, you probably don't know that I had my first ultrasound yesterday at 20 weeks and yes, we did decide to find out the gender.

A bit about the scan. Joe and I arrived at ENH at 10 a.m. for the ultrasound II and soon found ourselves in an exam room all ready to go. Our technician was really nice and explained everything we were looking at. Surprisingly, everything seemed pretty clear to us and we were pleased to recognize the feet, heart, head, arms, just all of the little bitty parts. After about 30 minutes of prodding (Baby McG did NOT want to show us a face shot!), it was declard that the baby was "looking good," with no apparent signs of problems. Praise God! The only downside, for me at least, was finding out that I have a 6 cm fibroid that may prohibit natural birth since it is presently blocking the birth canal. This means that a c-section could be in my near future, but the doctor will reassess at 32 weeks to find out if the uterus has grown enough to allow the baby to get by the dumb fibroid. If not, it looks like I will be scheduling Baby McG's birth, but it is too soon to know at this point.

I spent a restless night worrying and feeling a bit depressed about the potential c-section and potential surgery down the road to remove the fibroid. The fibroid is presently just where the c-section incision should go, but there are definitely alternate ways to do a c-section and, as my doctor reminded me, she spent 12 years in higher education to leaern those techniques. So, thanks for joining us in praying that the fibroid would either disappear (Yay! First choice!), shrink, or move. As I mentioned, we have 12 more weeks before a decision needs to be made about how I will give birth, but I am still praying for this to be resolved quickly and for NO pain in the meantime.

Now back to the best news at hand...celebrating a healthy child!

A funny story to close. A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, is also pregnant and had her ultrasound a few weeks ago. After her scan, a nurse talked to her about being part of a study for measuring the cervix to find out if there is a correlation in size and pre-term labor. The study only took a few minutes but required a transvaginal scan (fun). She agreed to be part of the study and while she was lying in the exam room participating in the study, the research nurse handed her a folded up $10 bill and thanked her for participating. "I felt so cheap," she said. Well, during my ultrasound yesterday, guess who offered me cash money??? Those research nurses really get around.

Laying Low

Rox's birthday party!

David Burke's Primehouse

This weekend I am laying fairly low. Besides going out to a fabulous dinner at David Burke's Primehouse last night (family friend, Rose, took Joe and me, and his parents, for a belated birthday dinner downtown...yummy cinnamon and salted carmel ice creams!), I am sitting on the couch in sweats. Work has been so very busy over the past few weeks with Ken Blanchard's house burning down in the San Diego fires and the Schuller book tour (he was on Fox & Friends on Saturday morning!) that I feel like my body needs a rest. I thought I was over the extreme weariness after my first trimester, but I just cannot seem to keep my eyes open.

But it's been a great week and I feel like Joe and I accomplished a lot. For me, the accomplishments were small but mighty--finding a birth class I think we'll like and finishing up some work projects. For Joe, the accomplishments have been mighty big as he worked around the clock to make sure the new B & O store was ready for business on Saturday. I had a chance to visit the new store last night and it is beautiful--twice as large as the last store, with a stunning courtyard for client events. It seems that the new staff will be very happy there. Plus, it's right next door to Pops for Champagne, so friends might find that an added bonus when visiting!

Mixed in with the hard work of the week was the chance to celebrate our friend Roxanne's birthday with a fun girl's lunch at BomBon Cafe in Chicago (way to go with the candle in the guac, Beck!) and a surprise party thrown by her superstar husband Jason the very next night. I also had the chance to breakfast with my dear friend Judy in celebration of her November birthday.

This week promises to be just as filled with fun and adventure as we kick off the Thanksgiving holdiay week with our first ultrasound tomorrow morning! I have not had an ultrasound prior to tomorrow's 20 week scan since by the time I got in to the doctor for my first appointment, I was at 11 weeks. So, this should be very exciting, not to mention a huge reality check. My friend, Colleen, who is just three weeks ahead of me, said something very insightful about her ultrasound. She said that it made the entire pregnancy experience much more real to her and that it helped her bond with her baby (girl). Bearing her words in mind, I think we have made the decision to find out the gender of the baby (besides, I really am chomping at the bit to start pulling a nursery together and I don't want my baby wearing yellow and green each and every day...). So, be sure to check out new posts this week for the update! We fly to Utah on Wednesday for Thanksgiving, and look forward to revealing the gender to my family on that day.

In Honor of the Holiday

First I commemorated Columbus Day, now Veteren's Day, in a very special way. Yes, the two times I have actually thrown up during pregnancy have been on these two holidays, so I'm a little afraid of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's so crazy that I have been feeling good, eating like a horse at times (I ate an entire plate of chicken Vindaloo at Hema's on Friday night!), and, for the most part, have my energy back in spades. But this morning I drank a glass of water rather too quickly, with the results ending up in the kitchen sink.

Oh well, I will just chalk it up to hormone surges since I am now feeling lots of baby movement and and my stomach is exploding into the size of a canteloupe. I have my 19 1/2 week appointment tomorrow with Dr. Herndon, so she can listen to me commiserate about random regurgitation. But being sick makes me want to get in bed and go to sleep and now I have to go to work to hop on a conference call. Sigh.

I do need to mention that several people have asked me if Phil from my last post was a weirdo. The surprising part is that he was very normal!! Doesn't that make the story even better??

On Being Pregnant

I guess I could be writing more about being pregnant than I have, but the truth is, I feel like I'm still adjusting to this life phase. Between being sick at the end of the first trimester and suddenly gaining my energy back at the beginning of the second--which has led to a flurry of shopping and comparing prices at every baby store in the Chicagoland area--I haven't had much time to actually ponder the fact that I am, as they say, with child. Now that I'm approaching week 19, feeling movement and seeing a larger roundness in my stomach, I am at the beginning of acceptance.

Part of that acceptance is recognizing the fact that sometimes you just feel frumpy when you're pregnant. But that goes with the territory, right? As I dressed today, I realized that I had donned my first complete pregnancy outfit. Gap pregnancy jeans. Check. Cool long-sleeved graphic t-shirt with hood. Check. I thought I looked pretty cute, but then I realized that the jeans, so loose when I purchased them in a fit of early pregnancy excitement in August, were already snug. And I even bought a size up from my regular size. It dawned on me that I will probably need to buy another pair in a month or so, and this depressed me a bit. Another depressing thought hit a few minutes later. Pregnancy has already forced me to crack the 130's (don't judge--we all have different body types!), and today I already weighed in at 139.6. A horrific thought entered my head: I will soon weigh 140 pounds, and I'm not even half way through pregnancy. So, it stands to reason that I can expect to hit 150 in the not-so-distant future. AHHHHHHH!! A depressing set of thoughts, indeed.

But I guess God knows when I need a boost. I was without a car today, so in the afternoon I took the El downtown Evanston to do some shopping. As I walked my pregnant-belly self down the street looking for a shop, a handsome man on a bike passed me, giving me a glance that made me think we had somehow met before. I didn't give it much thought and had walked another block when I heard a voice behind me say, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" I turned to see the man on the bike behind me. Holding out his hand he said, all in one breath, "Hi, my name is Phil. I noticed you when I passed by earlier and just wanted to say hello. I think you are very attractive and didn't want to let the opportunity pass by. Do you live in the area? Are you single?"

Taken aback by his guts (nerve, cajones, boldness) I politely told him that I was taken (and didn't he notice I am 4 1/2 months pregnant??!). Poor Phil didn't get a date, but he gave me something even better...a moment of un-frumpiness!

Doing Fallish Things

This past weekend was very fun, very fallish. Beautifully sunny with dappled leaves floating through the air, I embraced the gently brisk days like a coat I knew would only be warm enough to wear for another week. Smoky smells, pumpkins, and corn were all part of the outdoor ambiance.

One of the more interesting things that happened during the weekend was the wonderful opportunity for Joe and I to meet Shauna James Ahern, author of the Gluten Free Girl blog(Shauna's blog has been linked to my blog for months and I encourage you to check it out if you have not already done so). I stumbled upon Shauna's blog about a year ago, after Joe was diagnosed with gluten intolerance, and fell in love with her prose, her recipes, and her real-life stories. From sharing her struggles with celiac disease, to meeting her now-husband, the Chef, to sharing tidbits from her wedding and honeymoon, I almost feel like I know Shauna. Now, she has released her first book, Gluten Free Girl, and when I found out she would be in Chicago as part of her book tour, I knew we had to meet her.

Making a potential meeting with Shauna even more intriguing was the fact that our friends Karen and Shawn, who just moved to Seattle, are currently living with Shauna's book publicist! I turned Karen on to Shauna's blog months ago since she is also gluten intolerant, and it was just a big happy connection for all of us.

That is how we came to sit inside Swirlz Cupcakes in Lincoln Park on Friday afternoon sharing stories with one of the most prolific bloggers we know. She is a great gal, and even invited us to have dinner with her that night. Alas, we already had plans, but we sure were sorry to pass up the opportunity. Joe found her story really encouraging as he navigates his own journey as a wheat-free guy. Check out her blog today to read the shout out she gave us!

From gluten-free conversation on Friday to Northwestern football on Saturday...who says we aren't well-rounded? Saturday dawned beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and we were happy to make our way to Ryan Field at Northwestern University to watch an autumn football game between Joe's alma mater and Iowa. Northwestern was slated to WIN, but they really let us down in a big way. But we enjoyed ourselves among the purple-clad fans.

Parties and More Parties

Even though I don't enjoy Chicago winters, I do enjoy how, after summer disappears, all of my friends are back in town and cozy get-togethers commence. The past few weeks marked this lovely time of year, and we have had the opportunity to celebrate Joe's birthday, my birthday, a fun dinner party with our friends, the Currat's, and a bittersweet goodbye party to dear friends Shawn and Karen before they moved to Seattle (we're so sad to see them go!). Enjoy the photos and I promise to keep up with my blog better than I have been. Darn the distraction of Face Book.

The First Bit of Bump

As I approach week 18 on Saturday, I am happy to report there has been a bump sighting--finally! (Uh, don't you hate that word? I feel so BFF with Nicole Richie). Anyway, the fact that I just sort of popped out over the past couple of days is more support that I am bound to give birth to just one child, right? Really, how could two children survive in the small space that is currently my uterus? I know, I know, it's going to get gi-normous in the next few months, but take a look at JLo. She's reportedly three months pregnant, and believe me girlfriends, you can tell! The report today is that SHE is the one having twins.

Twins, or not? You be the judge.

*****

In other news, I think I felt the baby polk me. Not just one time, but four different times this week and multiple polks at one time. Today I received the most number of polks--six--and got a little freaked out to think that a tiny person inside of me is floating around bumping my stomach. A tiny, five-inch person anywhere is an oddity, but especially when it's inside of you and you can't do anything to get it out of you short of giving birth. But I am teaching the baby to like Mexican and Thai food, eating lots of spice, so maybe all the polking is prenatal rebellion.