Here was my tip of the day from What to Expect. Of course I sent it to Brad.
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/for-dad/week-11/keeping-house.aspx?xid=nl_YourDailyNewsletterfromWhattoExpect_20111229
And yes, I will love for Brad to invite me to sit with my legs propped up to watch him clean.
Don't forget. Men have no major changes other than their wive's attitude towards them. Women have darkened "areas", stretch mark worries, ligament pain, can't drink booze anymore, etc. Growing an alien inside of you is tough work! Why add cleaning to the list?
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas!
Christmas this year was awesome. Pretty relaxing. We had our tree up and the lights up outside. Very nice compared to last year's Scrooge Christmas (Scrooge = Brad). However, I was not the best Santa to friends and family. Since I have been so sick I couldn't bear the thought of shopping or even online shopping. So, no one got gifts. Sorry.
The highlight of Christmas was the end of my morning/night sickness!
We spent Christmas Eve at Erin and Brooklyn's for dinner. Stan and Linda were there too. It was a nice quiet Christmas Eve. I did splurge and get Brooklyn her Pottery Barn Arm Chair. All babies need that! We hung out and watched Brooklyn open gifts. She went to bed and we hung out for a little bit with the Gorka Fam. Afterwards we headed down the street to my Uncle's for The Pham Christmas. Since the kids are older and Santa is not a factor we open gifts every year at midnight. An exhausting tradition for a pregnant person. We wrapped up gifts around 1:30 and headed home. Exhausted.
Christmas Day was our tradition. We wake up. Well, I wake up and bug Brad until he wakes up. Hang out and watch TV and cook up Linda's Sausage Roll. YUM. We usually eat most of if and then I watch Brad play video games. Fun right? Then we headed over to my Uncles for the day. I was super excited. Baby Gorka has been craving some Vietnamese Food. And I think that's what kicked my appetite back into gear. I ate and ate and ate and ate. LOVED IT. We lasted until 11:00 pm and then headed home. Brad has been fighting a cold so he wasn't feeling to well by then.
Christmas next year will include Baby Gorka. Crazy right?
The highlight of Christmas was the end of my morning/night sickness!
We spent Christmas Eve at Erin and Brooklyn's for dinner. Stan and Linda were there too. It was a nice quiet Christmas Eve. I did splurge and get Brooklyn her Pottery Barn Arm Chair. All babies need that! We hung out and watched Brooklyn open gifts. She went to bed and we hung out for a little bit with the Gorka Fam. Afterwards we headed down the street to my Uncle's for The Pham Christmas. Since the kids are older and Santa is not a factor we open gifts every year at midnight. An exhausting tradition for a pregnant person. We wrapped up gifts around 1:30 and headed home. Exhausted.
Christmas Day was our tradition. We wake up. Well, I wake up and bug Brad until he wakes up. Hang out and watch TV and cook up Linda's Sausage Roll. YUM. We usually eat most of if and then I watch Brad play video games. Fun right? Then we headed over to my Uncles for the day. I was super excited. Baby Gorka has been craving some Vietnamese Food. And I think that's what kicked my appetite back into gear. I ate and ate and ate and ate. LOVED IT. We lasted until 11:00 pm and then headed home. Brad has been fighting a cold so he wasn't feeling to well by then.
Christmas next year will include Baby Gorka. Crazy right?
Announcing to The Linkers
Brad's company is pretty tight knit group. Brad was bursting at the seams keeping the secret from his co-workers. The company has steadily "become pregnant" or "with child" over the last 4 years. There is a pool going on the next pregnant Linker. Every time there is an email with clues for the company to guess who is pregnant we are usually the first or second guess. There was even an odd pact between Brad and some of the husbands of the women Linkers on getting their wives pregnant. Not so PC right?
We decided to announce the pregnancy during the annual holiday party. It worked out well since they brought back the White Elephant Gift Exchange. We bought a GSU onesie and wrapped it. Since Brad is the die hard GSU alum at The Link Group (TLG) we assumed they would get it as soon as someone opened it. NOT SO MUCH. Much of the group was either pregnant or had children...so the onesie was one of many baby themed gifts up for stealing. Michelle, who just had her 3rd child a few weeks prior, opened our gift and everyone oooh'd and ahhhhh'd over the cute onesie. They didn't get it. Then someone stole our Buddha Butter Dish (yes, Brad stole that from another co-worked - why? NO CLUE). So it was our turn to either pick a new gift or steal a gift. I told Brad to steal the onesie and as soon as Brad pulled it out of Michelle's hand the whole room got it. So much excitement. Maybe relief for Brad since he was having a hard time keeping it a secret. Every day is baby talk at the lunch table per Brad.
Side note: My morning sickness was getting a little better by this point. Still no appetite, but no nausea during the party. I made it till 11pm that night!
We decided to announce the pregnancy during the annual holiday party. It worked out well since they brought back the White Elephant Gift Exchange. We bought a GSU onesie and wrapped it. Since Brad is the die hard GSU alum at The Link Group (TLG) we assumed they would get it as soon as someone opened it. NOT SO MUCH. Much of the group was either pregnant or had children...so the onesie was one of many baby themed gifts up for stealing. Michelle, who just had her 3rd child a few weeks prior, opened our gift and everyone oooh'd and ahhhhh'd over the cute onesie. They didn't get it. Then someone stole our Buddha Butter Dish (yes, Brad stole that from another co-worked - why? NO CLUE). So it was our turn to either pick a new gift or steal a gift. I told Brad to steal the onesie and as soon as Brad pulled it out of Michelle's hand the whole room got it. So much excitement. Maybe relief for Brad since he was having a hard time keeping it a secret. Every day is baby talk at the lunch table per Brad.
Side note: My morning sickness was getting a little better by this point. Still no appetite, but no nausea during the party. I made it till 11pm that night!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Sickness Oh My
Since our first visit to the OB netted nothing but an image of a black hole and a dot. We headed back the morning of November 30th. We saw the heart beat. It was weird to see something growing inside of me. Seeing movement like the heart beat was weird. I have an alien inside of me.
Brad dropped me off at work. I had a flight to catch for work. Yay. Schenectady,NY while morning sickness was kicking in! Good news is I was prescribed some anti nausea medicine. I don't want to be that chick vomiting on a plane (it happened to one of Brad's co-workers). What was weird was during the 3 days I was traveling I did not get sick. I did not take any meds other than my prenatal vitamins. I was just extremely tired. Maybe the morning sickness wasn't going to hit me too bad. Wrong!
After I got back my 3 weeks of sickness began (and still hasn't ended 100%). I had 2 weeks of morning and all day nausea and then after that I had it at night. I only technically got sick twice. On the 2nd occasion Brad made the following request as I ran to the restroom "Can you turn the fan on so I don't have to hear you". Nice right? Don't forget he gets to suffer just as much as I do right? I had 1 week of feeling "off" all day and then nausea would hit me right at 6:00 in the evening. That has pretty much last to date. I am OK anytime other than in the early evening other than the extreme exhaustion. SO TIRED. I have been in bed every night by 6:30 at the latest. Sad right? I cannot wait to start feeling somewhat normal.
During the peak of the sickness Brad asked if I was excited. I told him the sickness puts a damper on the excitement. Does that sound bad? If it does I honestly felt that way. I think this is when women experience penis envy. If you look at pregnancy at face value it's easy to see. Men get it easy! But I will tell everyone that Brad has been pretty good and has met many of my odd demands and whining with ease. My cravings for BBQ Lays (not the healthy baked kind) have made Brad drive past our street while on Suwanee Dam and straight to the Kroger on Peachtree Industrial to get chips. Those of you who know where we live know what a pain it is to go up and down Suwanee Dam during the evening rush hour. There have also been times where everything in the house has disgusted me and all I ate was bread and he ate frozen pizza while I gagged at the smell. But I will not feel bad for him too much. He doesn't have an alien growing inside of him making him feel crappy all the time!
Brad dropped me off at work. I had a flight to catch for work. Yay. Schenectady,NY while morning sickness was kicking in! Good news is I was prescribed some anti nausea medicine. I don't want to be that chick vomiting on a plane (it happened to one of Brad's co-workers). What was weird was during the 3 days I was traveling I did not get sick. I did not take any meds other than my prenatal vitamins. I was just extremely tired. Maybe the morning sickness wasn't going to hit me too bad. Wrong!
After I got back my 3 weeks of sickness began (and still hasn't ended 100%). I had 2 weeks of morning and all day nausea and then after that I had it at night. I only technically got sick twice. On the 2nd occasion Brad made the following request as I ran to the restroom "Can you turn the fan on so I don't have to hear you". Nice right? Don't forget he gets to suffer just as much as I do right? I had 1 week of feeling "off" all day and then nausea would hit me right at 6:00 in the evening. That has pretty much last to date. I am OK anytime other than in the early evening other than the extreme exhaustion. SO TIRED. I have been in bed every night by 6:30 at the latest. Sad right? I cannot wait to start feeling somewhat normal.
During the peak of the sickness Brad asked if I was excited. I told him the sickness puts a damper on the excitement. Does that sound bad? If it does I honestly felt that way. I think this is when women experience penis envy. If you look at pregnancy at face value it's easy to see. Men get it easy! But I will tell everyone that Brad has been pretty good and has met many of my odd demands and whining with ease. My cravings for BBQ Lays (not the healthy baked kind) have made Brad drive past our street while on Suwanee Dam and straight to the Kroger on Peachtree Industrial to get chips. Those of you who know where we live know what a pain it is to go up and down Suwanee Dam during the evening rush hour. There have also been times where everything in the house has disgusted me and all I ate was bread and he ate frozen pizza while I gagged at the smell. But I will not feel bad for him too much. He doesn't have an alien growing inside of him making him feel crappy all the time!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Our First OB Visit and Announcements
We're pregnant. Now what? Well, I booked our first Prenatal visit with my Gyno...well OB now for Nov 21. I should be about 6 weeks at this point. We also wanted to be able to confirm the pregnancy and tell our families of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Good plan right?
Brad agreed to meet me at the OB's office that afternoon. I went ahead and checked in and Brad met up with us while they were still getting my vitals. It was funny to think this was his first time at the Gyno/OBs office. Don't know why, but it made me chuckle. Vitals were good. I was not too happy with my weight. I mean come on. They have to let me take all my clothes off before they weigh me. That number is BS. My clothes add at least 50 lbs right? I was taken to a room quickly (love my place - I hardly ever have to wait - Peachtree Women's Clinic at Northside Forsyth). Brad was checking out all the diagrams and models in the room while I got prepped for the ultrasound. He learned a lot. When Dr. Middleton came in she was happy for us and got right to work. She was kind enough to direct Brad towards my head to avoid the business end of the ultrasound. He seemed relieved.
She found Baby Gorka quickly and confirmed the positive pregnancy test. At this point it looked like a black hole with a dot. Apparently I was at 5.5 weeks instead of 6. Too soon to see the heart beat. Darn. We had to reschedule for Dec 30 to see the heart beat. At that point Brad and I put Dr. Middleton in the hot seat. Should we tell our family? When should we tell our family? She said she is not concerned and that we could tell our family if we wanted. Brad was happy since he was dying inside keeping the secret. We headed home with our ultrasound pictures of a black hole with a dot.
Coming up with ideas on how to announce the pregnancy was hard. How do you tell them? I decided to use our baby pictures and the ultrasound picture. Kind of a Yen + Brad = Baby. We framed the photos and put them in gift bags and got ready for the Thanksgiving festivities. We headed to Chu Long and Co Loan's house (Uncle and Aunt) Nov 21 to make the announcement to my whole family. We gave the gift to my mom and she opened it. There was silence...more so because my parents did get it right away. My mom thought I framed a picture of us and my ultrasound from when she was pregnant with me...why? Maybe because I have repeated over and over to my family that I would never have a baby. Maybe. Our whole family was excited and can't wait. 1st Grand baby for my parents so they are excited. One family down one more to go!
Thanksgiving at the Gorka's was at Stan and Linda's (Brad's dad and mom) Nov 22. At this point I was feeling weird. The onset of pregnancy exhaustion and sickness, but mostly my body was aching a lot like I was coming down with the flu. Linda unwrapped the gift and caught on quickly. Maybe because I have never been as adamant about the no baby thing Brad's family. Everyone was super excited. We were excited to share our news with our families!
Now Brad is asking when he can tell his co-workers. One step at a time man!
Brad agreed to meet me at the OB's office that afternoon. I went ahead and checked in and Brad met up with us while they were still getting my vitals. It was funny to think this was his first time at the Gyno/OBs office. Don't know why, but it made me chuckle. Vitals were good. I was not too happy with my weight. I mean come on. They have to let me take all my clothes off before they weigh me. That number is BS. My clothes add at least 50 lbs right? I was taken to a room quickly (love my place - I hardly ever have to wait - Peachtree Women's Clinic at Northside Forsyth). Brad was checking out all the diagrams and models in the room while I got prepped for the ultrasound. He learned a lot. When Dr. Middleton came in she was happy for us and got right to work. She was kind enough to direct Brad towards my head to avoid the business end of the ultrasound. He seemed relieved.
She found Baby Gorka quickly and confirmed the positive pregnancy test. At this point it looked like a black hole with a dot. Apparently I was at 5.5 weeks instead of 6. Too soon to see the heart beat. Darn. We had to reschedule for Dec 30 to see the heart beat. At that point Brad and I put Dr. Middleton in the hot seat. Should we tell our family? When should we tell our family? She said she is not concerned and that we could tell our family if we wanted. Brad was happy since he was dying inside keeping the secret. We headed home with our ultrasound pictures of a black hole with a dot.
Coming up with ideas on how to announce the pregnancy was hard. How do you tell them? I decided to use our baby pictures and the ultrasound picture. Kind of a Yen + Brad = Baby. We framed the photos and put them in gift bags and got ready for the Thanksgiving festivities. We headed to Chu Long and Co Loan's house (Uncle and Aunt) Nov 21 to make the announcement to my whole family. We gave the gift to my mom and she opened it. There was silence...more so because my parents did get it right away. My mom thought I framed a picture of us and my ultrasound from when she was pregnant with me...why? Maybe because I have repeated over and over to my family that I would never have a baby. Maybe. Our whole family was excited and can't wait. 1st Grand baby for my parents so they are excited. One family down one more to go!
Thanksgiving at the Gorka's was at Stan and Linda's (Brad's dad and mom) Nov 22. At this point I was feeling weird. The onset of pregnancy exhaustion and sickness, but mostly my body was aching a lot like I was coming down with the flu. Linda unwrapped the gift and caught on quickly. Maybe because I have never been as adamant about the no baby thing Brad's family. Everyone was super excited. We were excited to share our news with our families!
Now Brad is asking when he can tell his co-workers. One step at a time man!
Lets Just Try
As many of you may already know Brad and I have been a pretty odd dynamic the last 3 years. Brad has been pushing for Baby Gorka since his 29th birthday and I have been pushing back. Can we seriously be responsible for another human being? Yes we have 4 cats and 2 dogs...that's a pretty big responsibility...but there is a major difference. You can leave them for a few hours. Some people frown upon that when it comes to a baby. What about kennels? Can't use those either. I knew for sure we would be in for a rude awakening. PLUS we would have to make sure the baby grows up into a mature and responsible adult...are we? Sometime we can be. My goal was to hold off for as long as I could.
Let's get the timeline straight (this is going to be long - you can skim)
Brad and I met at the end of 2004. He had just graduated from GSU and I was still in school and working full time. We moved in together 6 months later. I was starting at GSU fall of 2005 and wanted to be "settled" before the semester started. Somehow Brad and I agreed to live together. Odd how things like that happen. It was probably more of a surprise for my parents. After we moved my Mom asked if Brad was living with me and I said "Oh yeah. He is". So much for grown up decisions and discussions right?
Living together was...unique (we'll stick with that word for now). We discovered quickly we didn't like each other 24/7 and that alone time was very much needed (and still needed to this day). Too bad we were in a 780 sq ft apartment with one bedroom. Not much alone time available, but we made it work. In the 2 year span of living in Atlanta/Tucker we somehow managed to buy 2 cars and a boat. Yes a boat. Crazy. And then we ended up with 3 cats somehow (Pickels, Dade and Grady). I blame Brad. I only forced Grady upon the family. Once we got the the 3rd cat and the boat I put my foot down. If we can have 3 cats and a boat then we can have a house! Thus began our search for a home in 2007 (if you are doing the math we have been together for over 2 years at this point).
With the help of the Hicks Family Realtor (Judy) we were able to find our home quickly. We looked in June/July at 4 homes and found the Tattersall house. Love. We moved in Aug of 2007 and revelled in the space (now we need more space). More than one room! Bliss. I also get to get a dog! YAY! I have always had dogs at home, never a cat. That is why many of you will note that Pickles (our first cat) acts like a dog. My fault. We adopted Sal from Erin (Brad's Sister, my SIL) and Daisie (Corgi/Retriever Mix) from a rescue group. Yes. At this point we have 5 Animals. We got Roscoe (Bengal) sometime ago. Not sure on the actual time line, but I do remember the cost to get him healthy (crappy breeder). Long story for a different Blog. And now we have a home filled with 6 animals and us. Crazy animal people. I still blame Brad.
Now on to the pertinent info. Brad surprised me Nov 2008 with a proposal. I called him a dork and put the ring on. I was still in school (yes - forever in school) so a wedding was far from my mind. We stayed engaged longer than the "standard" 1 year time frame and Brad was getting anxious. In his words "I have to lock you down now". So I went out in search of a venue (to stop the nagging). We booked Windermere Golf for Sept 25, 2010 (side note - I was also committed to being in a friends wedding Sept 18, 2010). To summarize - we had a great wedding and honeymoon (still paying for it to day by the way).
Now on to the "Let's have a baby" stage from Brad. At this point he is 30 and currently in an accelerated Masters Program at GSU. Crazy talk! I talked him down from the ledge and advise him we needed to wait until after, yes AFTER, he was done with school. Brad graduated this summer. No more excuses right?
Some how Brad was able to wear my defenses down. I agreed in Oct we can try. It's against all that is ingrained into a woman. Don't get Pregnant! It's weird. But fine. We can try. Well, the tell tale signs of pregnancy popped up (i.e. missed cycle - TMI - but hey it's part of the story). I took the test Nov 10 and sent Brad the picture of the positive test. He gets to work at the crack of dawn while I am still asleep. So yes I sent a picture message. He was super excited. Brad is a gossip. He's worse than me! He was dying to tell someone. I told him we had to wait until our 1st Doctor's appt November 21st.
I'll stop here. More details to come.
Let's get the timeline straight (this is going to be long - you can skim)
Brad and I met at the end of 2004. He had just graduated from GSU and I was still in school and working full time. We moved in together 6 months later. I was starting at GSU fall of 2005 and wanted to be "settled" before the semester started. Somehow Brad and I agreed to live together. Odd how things like that happen. It was probably more of a surprise for my parents. After we moved my Mom asked if Brad was living with me and I said "Oh yeah. He is". So much for grown up decisions and discussions right?
Living together was...unique (we'll stick with that word for now). We discovered quickly we didn't like each other 24/7 and that alone time was very much needed (and still needed to this day). Too bad we were in a 780 sq ft apartment with one bedroom. Not much alone time available, but we made it work. In the 2 year span of living in Atlanta/Tucker we somehow managed to buy 2 cars and a boat. Yes a boat. Crazy. And then we ended up with 3 cats somehow (Pickels, Dade and Grady). I blame Brad. I only forced Grady upon the family. Once we got the the 3rd cat and the boat I put my foot down. If we can have 3 cats and a boat then we can have a house! Thus began our search for a home in 2007 (if you are doing the math we have been together for over 2 years at this point).
With the help of the Hicks Family Realtor (Judy) we were able to find our home quickly. We looked in June/July at 4 homes and found the Tattersall house. Love. We moved in Aug of 2007 and revelled in the space (now we need more space). More than one room! Bliss. I also get to get a dog! YAY! I have always had dogs at home, never a cat. That is why many of you will note that Pickles (our first cat) acts like a dog. My fault. We adopted Sal from Erin (Brad's Sister, my SIL) and Daisie (Corgi/Retriever Mix) from a rescue group. Yes. At this point we have 5 Animals. We got Roscoe (Bengal) sometime ago. Not sure on the actual time line, but I do remember the cost to get him healthy (crappy breeder). Long story for a different Blog. And now we have a home filled with 6 animals and us. Crazy animal people. I still blame Brad.
Now on to the pertinent info. Brad surprised me Nov 2008 with a proposal. I called him a dork and put the ring on. I was still in school (yes - forever in school) so a wedding was far from my mind. We stayed engaged longer than the "standard" 1 year time frame and Brad was getting anxious. In his words "I have to lock you down now". So I went out in search of a venue (to stop the nagging). We booked Windermere Golf for Sept 25, 2010 (side note - I was also committed to being in a friends wedding Sept 18, 2010). To summarize - we had a great wedding and honeymoon (still paying for it to day by the way).
Now on to the "Let's have a baby" stage from Brad. At this point he is 30 and currently in an accelerated Masters Program at GSU. Crazy talk! I talked him down from the ledge and advise him we needed to wait until after, yes AFTER, he was done with school. Brad graduated this summer. No more excuses right?
Some how Brad was able to wear my defenses down. I agreed in Oct we can try. It's against all that is ingrained into a woman. Don't get Pregnant! It's weird. But fine. We can try. Well, the tell tale signs of pregnancy popped up (i.e. missed cycle - TMI - but hey it's part of the story). I took the test Nov 10 and sent Brad the picture of the positive test. He gets to work at the crack of dawn while I am still asleep. So yes I sent a picture message. He was super excited. Brad is a gossip. He's worse than me! He was dying to tell someone. I told him we had to wait until our 1st Doctor's appt November 21st.
I'll stop here. More details to come.
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