Start of Something - A New Life

Start of Something - Charlie Rhoades Fadner

I am lying here with Charlie Rhoades Fadner a blond little bundle of perfection, curled up asleep at my side.  My fortune cookie from last Wed, Aug 27th said to trust my instincts.  I took this advise to heart as my due date drew closer.  Well, it was close, and yet I still supposedly had about a month to go!  I still had my birthday and our anniversary to celebrate (Aug 30 & Sep 1st).  Jonathan had a big week in prep for starting his 2nd year of grad school.  Jack and I - and Charliebelly - were essentially moving back to NYC after a full 3 months away.  And it was HOT - the hottest week of the summer.

You know how other moms just “know” things.  I encountered many women in that last week who looked at me and said it’s gonna be soon.  I heard many words of advise and encouragement.  Most frequent was “Drink lots of water” since it was the hottest week of the entire summer.  My feet were killing me.  My appetite was huge.  Sleep was nonexistent.  I had ongoing contractions for weeks, which was confirmed at the Dr. on Tue, Aug 26th where they hooked me up to a monitor and sure enough saw contractions!  YET, I kept assuring myself to chill, thinking I still had weeks to get through.

chillin'

Let me remind you, my due date was September 22 and it was still the end of August...

As the delivery day drew unexpectedly closer…

On Thur, Aug 28th, we drove to an NYU potluck in Brooklyn.  A stretch of road was so bumpy I was afraid I was going to bounce Charlie out!  Jack kept shouting “Charlie bumpy!  Charlie bumpy!”  I was joking about it at the party … Thankfully we took a different road home.

On Fri, dinner with our dear dear lovely awesome friends, Steven and Bea and Monty!  YAY!

On Sat, we celebrated my birthday by going to see Pippin on Broadway!  It was the show that Jonny and I met working on together.  We almost named Jack Pippin and Charlie’s full first name is Charlemagne (Pippin’s father & king).  Seeing the show brought back so many memories on so many levels - memories of Jonathan and I, acting with the kids and my time at Berkeley Playhouse, aerial dance and performing, my life dreams - I cried through the whole thing!  It was an internal battle to not burst out uncontrollably - pretty ridiculous.

That night we had my favorite - Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake!!!

Sun and Monday were pretty uneventful.  I think I got my eyebrows waxed or something.  And ate leftovers of !!!Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake!!!  

On Tues, we went to an NYU Students with Children gathering which was something that I’d wanted to join up ever since last year.  So, that was super awesome!  We met friendly parents from all over the world and in many different fields of study - not a huge group, which is good, and the kids were close to Jack’s age.  Everyone kept telling me about Charlie, “Oh, it could be anytime now!”  And I was like, “I know!  I know!”

I walked home from the subway that afternoon and was followed by this young man, maybe like 23 yrs old, for blocks and blocks.  I didn’t actually notice him - I was singing songs with Jack and walking along when he cornered me.  He totally hit on me, saying how beautiful my smile was that he had to ask me out and please would I go out with him and I’m like HELLO - I’m walking my 2 yr old and bursting with a baby on the way, Are you insane?!?  And I’m married.  He was like, Oh, so you’re not the babysitter?  I’m like NO, NO, NO, bye bye.  

I’m guessing the pregnancy glow cast a spell on the poor guy.

On Wed, we went to the stupid DMV and J and I were both really crabby.  I was having contractions, lots of them, still.  My night of sleep was awful and crampy…

On Thur, September 4, 2014, I continued to experience highly uncomfortable contractions.  That morning I felt compelled to take my prego picture a day earlier than usual, call it a woman’s instincts.  Had I waited til Fri morning, there woulda been no more prego lady!

Sep 4th - Final prego pik -

Next, I requested that we drive to the hospital so that when labor comes, we know where we are going.  Jonathan drove and was grumpy about traffic.  We got to the hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, and walked into a magical palace of glory!  The hospital is sparkly new and has a feeling of futuristic utopia!  We couldn’t tour the Labor/Delivery floor, but I was content to walk in and out.

At the glorious hospital

Later, we walked to the park to let Jack play and I was saying, “If these Braxton-Hicks or whatever they are don’t let up, I’m not gonna be able to do anything for the next few weeks!”  And Jonathan replied, “You were like this with Jack too.”  I don’t really remember that so we continued on…

I made dinner, but by the time I sat down to eat I could barely eat.  After dinner I decided to lay down and time my contractions.  I was finally suspecting something more than false labor.  

Jackrabbit, my sweet boy, came and cuddled with me on the air mattress that I’d been sleeping on because it’s right in front of the air conditioner.  He was SO loving and cuddly.  I asked Jonathan to take a picture because it might be the last time Jack cuddles with his Mommy without a little brother around.

Jack's last cuddle as an only child

The contractions were coming every 7 minutes.  It was no fluke, people.  By the time I called my clinic, they had increased to every 3-4 minutes.  The doctor said “Take a shower and go to the hospital in about an hour.”  I asked, “I am in labor, then?”.  She said, “Yep!  Good luck!”  She wasn’t on duty and I was too uncomfortable to care who was on duty.  I couldn’t believe I was actually in labor!

AHHHHHHHH!!!!

I took the suggested shower, while trying to pack my hospital bag and gather essentials for Jackrabbit.  It was approaching 9pm, and Jack’s bedtime had come and gone.  Jonathan, well, he was scrambling around, pretty much caught of guard!  We had no one to watch Jack!  Not part of the plan - Jonathan expected to be the rock and hold my hand through labor and give me all his love and attention, but instead he was on Jack duty!

Immediately after the shower, I lost my delightful mucous plug - gross! yay!  OMG - it was really happening.

Jonathan had to get the car so I slowly made my way downstairs, met a couple acquaintances on the way down who were sweet and supportive but I was pretty much not able to accept any help.  Those contractions are super uncomfortable!  LOL

I literally stood at the street corner, bracing myself on a tree, waiting for the car.  It was the hour of gangster wannabes hanging out on the street and I am not kidding, a couple guys were like, “Hey.”  I laughed deep down inside but the pain masked my amusement and I just held my composure as best I could!

The car ride was free of traffic jams - Halleluia!  Jackrabbit sang Happy Birthday in the car with Daddy which definitely helped ease the discomfort.  Jack sat own at the piano the day Charlie was born and sang him his own special version of Happy Birthday Dear Charlie, which we happily caught on video:

And now, back to the action ...

Eventually we, Jonathan, Jackrabbit, Me and the persistently pushing yet still to be born "Charliebelly" arrived and went up to the 3rd floor to get admitted.  It was 10pm.  Paperwork, paperwork.  The admitting lady called back to the nurses, saying “She (referring to me as I grasped onto her desk for dear life) is very uncomfortable.”  

I went to a receiving room and got checked.  I was 7 1/2 cm dilated already!  The nurse said it would be fast and I thought, “Yeah right.”  36 hours of labor for Jackrabbit - I doubted this would be fast.  My contractions were coming in couples so I had literally no down time.  Yikes!

Next move was to the delivery room.  Since J & J were staying out of the way, I resorted to using the pretty pink bedpan as my trustworthy hand to hold.  I held that bedpan so dearly and desparately to my face that when a nurse trued to pry it out of my hand, I zapped her with laser beams.

Whatever Doctor that was “on duty” hadn’t gotten there yet.  A very kind and youthful resident doctor came to my room.  He told me it would be very fast.  I was like, “Whatever’.

But, to my surprise, when I told them I felt like I needed to push, he said “Push!”

That’s when my shock hit it’s peak.  It finally proved true - this was going to be fast!  I pushed for the first time… The second push my water broke!… The third time and the baby’s head crowned part way.  I had to push again to get his head out all the way.  It was about now that the admitting lady reappeared with papers for me to sign!  LOL!!!  I could not even see where or what I was signing, but she gosh darn it all did her job!  … Fourth push and Charliehorse pummeled out!

I cheered “Yay Charliehorse!”  and everyone laughed .  Charlie was crying nice and loud.  Jonathan and Jack came in right away and saw the umbilical cord being cut.  Jonathan said he wanted to cut it and a guy intern said “Too late.”  Real nice, guy, thanks.

I remember the rushing emotion of complete disbelief and of course joy that Charlie had been born.  It was 3 1/2 hours from when I timed my contractions, and there he was!  A perfectly healthy baby boy at 7 lbs 6 oz, 20” long with BLONDE hair!!!  That part blew me away the most!  Of course, 3 out of 4 of his grandparents are blonde so it was completely possible, but still, that Chinese gene runs strong and I thought it would dominate through everything!  I love being surprised with amazing things like blond babies that come out easily with no drugs or painkillers, ready to greet the world!

He nursed right away.  I felt so good - crazy as that sounds after giving birth - but the euphoria and miracle of having a baby overcomes all pain and exhaustion!

To be real, I did have to tolerate the few stitches after Charlie came out and my body was trembling uncontrollably for an hour or so as well.  But those things were minuscule comparatively!

Jack greeted his little brother with kisses and funny comments like “yummy booboo” and then Jonathan took him off in his stroller to get Jack to fall asleep for the night…

They definitely look like brothers!

Charlie

Jack

Bros!

The next morning was Fri, and like clockwork, I got up and was ready for my regular photo that we'd been taking every Friday morning for over 8 months, but now there was a baby there!  

Fri Morning - a few hours old

Any new mother knows that the next couple days are like living in a bubble with your newborn.  Charlie was so sweet and easy, and still is a week later - he slept and nursed and slept and occasionally let out a very loud, high-pitched banchee scream instead of crying, so that’s fine with me!  Compared to the 36 hours of labor, the pitocin and epideral, the drama of the cord wrapped around his neck, the emergency vacuum I experienced with Jack - I had so much more energy and clarity this time around!  I also had and still have this new sensation of peaceful calm and I feel more grounded that ever.  I believe that Charlie is the missing link bringing harmony to our family!

WAY TO GO CHARLIE!  You ROCK!!!

Ka pow!

My photo journal has now come full circle.  With the help of a wonderful artist and friend, Ken Bernstein, and of course my dear hubby Jonathan who took all the photos, we created this fantastic video that follows my body’s natural growth and progress from beginning to end to the beginning of a new life.  The song is one that inspired the title of my first pregnancy blog “Start of Something”.  It’s a song that Jonathan wrote the music and lyrics to and is sung from the perspective of an unborn baby, though it can also be interpreted as a universal sense of discovery of the unknown.  I just love this song and the meaning!  We recorded it together at the beginning of this journey and now, like I said, it’s all come full circle.  

Here is the final video: “Start of Something”

To stay true to the end, here are my last photos in the Start of Something Series:

Week 35

Week 36

Week 37

Charlie 1

Charlie 2

Charlie 3

Life amazes me.  Thank you for joining me on this journey!  Please share your amazing lives with me.  This journal has allowed me to feel connected to a greater whole and appreciate that we all travel through such similar yet unbelievably unique and magical experiences in this world and beyond!  

Call it nature, god, spirit, universe, Love… life is simply amazing!

We all start somewhere!

With all my love - Kimbirdlee and The Fads

Kimbirdlee's Nesting in Wisconsin

Hello blog-land!

I’m still pregnant!  It’s been a busy time.  I’m involved in several upcoming events during my Wisconsin Summer and I’m trying to avoid feeling too pregnant - ha ha, good luck with that!  So after this prego blog update, I’ll be switching my focus to the 3 concerts and 3-4 art shows I have coming up.  Once those are done, I’ll only be a month away from BABY TIME!!!

We are in Wisconsin now - thank the lord!!! - curse the mosquitos!!! - 

I swear, my “self” feels completely different one day to the next!  I will go from feeling like a bloated cow to being free and agile; super critical and irritable to super-charged and enthusiastic; just wanna watch movies to work-a-holic.  When I see photos of myself, I swear they reflect the way I feel, too!  One day I look just plain awful and the next day I’m glowing!  So weird!

Celebrations

Jack celebrated his 2nd birthday.  We had such a great time celebrating over 3 days with family, friends, neighbors and dogs.  Then we carried the party over to Father’s Day, which I spent with J-Dad, Jackrabbit, great-Grandpa, Uncle Jim and Matt.  It was a big time “let’s-honor-the-boys” week!  My favorite part was making and decorating Jacks Grover Cake twice.  The first one was so gratifying that I made a second one.  I liked the first one better.  Jack loved them both and is still talking about the Grover Cake.  

Mostly I just love good reasons for getting people together.  Life is for celebrating!!!  Now that we’re back in Wisco, we thankfully have folks to celebrate with - Yahoo!!!

Up and Downs on the Charliehorse roller coaster…

The worst case of jinxing!  I am experiencing extremely painful charliehorses in the middle of the night and early mornings in my calves, sometimes spreading into my thighs.  They leave my legs SOOO sore during the day.  They appear from the simplest little shift - like when I turn from my side to my back, or stretch my legs out straight.  Today I needed to sit and relax cuz they hurt so bad!  Guess that’s what I get for dubbing the little one “Charliehorse”.  

My belly is just getting bigger, along with my butt and thighs.  yay.  Not much more to say about that!

I am in a constant dilemma about what to wear, especially for upcoming concerts.  But, to my joy, I found a solution - petticoats!  Since the Palmyra-Eagle Band concerts are going Country this year, I have the prefect square-dancing skirt get-up to wear.  Just pull that thing over the ole belly and Voila - I’m good to go! LOL!

Swimming is my favorite prego activity.  Jack is obsessed with swimming, too, so it’s working out great.  We have the Mukownago YMCA - brand new, beautiful facility with a children’s adventure pool and the lake, so never a shortage of swimming opportunities.  

Other than swimming, I try to keep moving in nice ways through the day.  Dancing around with Jack, spontaneous stretching sessions, vacuuming… Mostly it's my silly and sentimental time spent with Jack that I love the most right now.

And a couple cherished moments with best friends:

Let’s see, my current menu… Salad, water, birthday cake, turkey and ham (no sulfites) sandwiches, granola and yogurt, and a 1/2 cup of coffee per day.  Nothing exciting or weird at all!  Sorry, no reports of chocolate covered pickle popsicles for this girl.  Our favorite local restaurant is Dos Amigos in East Troy.  Ironic that we get yummy mexican food in small town Wisconsin, but not near our apartment in NY.  Kosher or Halal, yes, but Mexican, nope.

I’m continuing to be blessed with wonderful opportunities to sing and perform both with PECB (Palmyra-Eagle Community Band and my dad) and La Boheme.  I’ll cover these events in a separate blog, but just have to say how excited and grateful I am to have these opportunities to share super fun music with a great community!!!

Here’s a list of upcoming events.

The art shows are still hanging in there this summer.  I’m praying for good weather - not too hot, not too stormy.  My mom is still going strong with her Chinese Brush Paintings and I’m joining her as well as doing a couple on my own around the Midwest.  I’m painting when I can - just finished a giant flying dragon and am almost done with a new water dragon.  

Here is a list of my upcoming art shows.

While I was pregnant with Jackrabbit, I experienced numb hands which made it impossible to paint.  It was truly sad!  I think it had to do with my wrists being SO intensely toned for aerial dance, and when I stopped dancing due to the pregnancy, my poor wrists were in a state of shock.  Plus, the obvious fluid retention that accompanies pregnancy.  So far, I’m free of numbness and thankful every second!  I’m starting a new project that involves Jonathan’s original music with my singing and paintings, which I’m very inspired about!!!  Stay tuned for that - probably in the fall.

That just about covers Kimbird’s nest status for now.  You’ll notice there was no avoiding the change of scenery for my weekly photos, going from the NY apt to the WI lake house, but still staying faithful to the photo journal.  [There's also a missing pik for week 20 - who knows what happened, with moving and all kinds of stuff going on.  Too bad.]  

I feel big now, but I know I have a lot more growing to do!  

Week 21 

Week 22

Week 23

Week 24

Week 25

Lastly, a request to the people of the world: If you’re not telling a pregnant lady how fabulous she looks or how fantastically she is handling being pregnant, you should probably not say anything at all unless you want to see an offended, crying and/or pissed-off female force of nature.

XOXO

Start of Something: Jackrabbit and Charliehorse

Oh where oh where to begin...

It's been a roller coaster but I'm glad to say that I am on the up side of the ride today as I write this.  I can't say there's been any real dangers or challenges, because I am blessed to be healthy and have a healthy little child growing happily in my belly.  His big brother is talking about "belly" and "Big Brother" all the time and it's so adorable!  I've had opportunities to travel and sing and be with my family.  I'm very fortunate.  Look at these little guys!  I dug up my ultrasound pix of Jackrabbit to see how they compare ~

This is Jackrabbit at about 4 months

Here's his little brother at about 5 months.  hmm, they look related, right?!

Here is a 4D image of Charlie at 20 weeks - not bad, considering how freaky these images can be.

I can't believe we are at 20 weeks already!  Seriously!?!?  Half way there baby!  A quick update on the basics, like when you go to the doctor and they run through the questions.  I am less nauseous, but not nauseous free.  I am still easily tired.  I weigh 103 lbs.  I am eating a lot, but the doctor said I should gain more weight, but I feel pretty weighty!  I always gain weight in my arms - what's the deal with that?!?  My butt has grown a couple sizes, for sure.  And I guess my belly too LOL.

I am moodier than ever and find I lack much patience for nonsense, especially when I have responsibilities, such as preparing for a performance.  I'm finding that I'm planning every detail down to the minute and it's actually very satisfying.  I don't want any room for screw-ups or to fall short of what I expect from myself, even more now that I'm pregnant.  I guess I'm subconsciously trying to prove to myself that this won't hold me back.  And in the center of all these plans, Jackrabbit is my priority.  Making sure he is taken care of is top priority!  

I was having a case of the deep winter blues that hit a low during April.  Just when I was about to lose it, it was time for a trip to Wisconsin for some great events.  PHEW!  I just got back to NY so I have a renewed sense of excitement and stories to tell!  

Highlights

I took another trip with Jackrabbit in tow - This time to Wisconsin for a singing engagement with my brother Matt.  While in wisco, I was so busy I did not have time to think about being pregnant.  I didn't even really feel pregnant! Once again I was reminded of the blessing and joy of being with family.  The weather was beautiful the first couple days we were there, all the ice had melted on the lake and Jackrabbit ran wild and free!!!  

Thankfully, I had my parents and neighbor Barb there to watch Jack while I rehearsed and prepped for the "big" night - "Evening Of Elegance", a benefit concert for Children's Hospital of WI and Make-A-Wish Foundation.  I was anticipating this event a lot leading up to it because it's strange performing with someone while living in different states.  Matt and I only had 3 days to get our music up to par.  It was a wonderfully challenging experience.

But I also had to consider that my belly is constantly bulging bigger and bigger.  I couldn't really decide what to wear until the last minute.  This was a very formal event and as a solo vocalist and even more because I'm pregnant, I felt the pressure to look my best!  So, I remembered this website: LightIntheBox, that I came across while I was wedding dress shopping.  The dresses are gorgeous and inexpensive but they are from China so I didn't trust if they would look like the pictures or if it would get to me in time, so I went with this obscure Russian lady in small-town wisco who totally flaked on me… LONG STORY!  Anyway, I decided I would take the plunge and order a dress from LightIntheBox about month before Evening of Elegance.  I normally wear a size 0, so I ordered a size 4.  Then I waited.  But I got impatient, so I made a trip to this awesome dress shop here in NY and bought a designer floor model, discontinued sequins dress that was like 1/2 off.  The China dress was waiting for me in Wisco when I got there and I tried it on and realized that Jonathan could probably fit this dress, so I was lucky that I had my back-up plan!  The sequins dress fit great (photo below) - actually had some wiggle room!  I went back to NY and got the huge China dress altered for the next singing gig - a wedding the first weekend of May also in Wisco.  For those of you who could care less about dresses, sorry for boring you.  After being in the performance world for this long, I've become a dress-aholic.  I never get rid of them either!

Now the important part of this trip - the actual night of the event - was super awesome!  The music went smooth - we debuted a few of our new songs - and it was very rewarding to contribute to children's charities!  We met with our fabulous new agent, Irene Cualoping, that night, as well.  I'm so happy that someone is recognizing Matt's and our talent, and I am ready for whatever opportunities come to us!  :D

I love this photo.  Matt is smiling!

 I went back to NY for a couple weeks and then headed back to Wisco for more music and happiness!

Last week's trip to Wisconsin and Chicago was by far the highlight of the month.  I was anxious about how I would hold up through flying with Jack, housesitting and watching the 2 dogs at my parents' house while they vacationed in Canada, meanwhile packing in lots of important activities in 3 days.  Well, it went fabulously!  OK, get ready for a photo borage.  Some pictures can tell a million words that I'd rather not sit here and type!  :)

Matt and I with Irene Cualoping of ENERI

at the kick off celebration of Asian Heritage Month in Chicago.

We met some amazing people at this event, including Tatsu Aoki (jazz musician) and Linda Yu (ABC anchor woman).  A great incentive to get my pregnant self out and about, even if I feel like sleeping all day!  LOL

Next, I had the honor as soloist for a good family friends' wedding (as mentioned above), Tom Krukowski and Susan Spakowitz of Milwaukee.  

I sang and played piano with Matt on bongos and my dad on Bass Guitar - a beautifully touching song "A Page is Turned" about having a second chance at love after life's trials.  Then Matt and I played lounge music for a couple hrs.  But the best part of the wedding was Jackrabbit's dance moves!  

They're all so beautiful... which one do I pick!?

Exhausted little man!

Anyway, I've gone on and on and I haven't even touched upon the "lowlights" of this month.  Not to say I didn't have them (the baby blues, nightmares, indigestion, anxiety), but with all the excitement and joy, I feel like it's best to leave them out for now!

Photo journal

It looks like week 19 is the pivotal POP for me!  Oh god, I can't wait for my tummy to double and triple in size!  :D

See you in a few weeks!!!

xoxoxo -

kimbirdlee

Start of Something: A Little Man

Little Mr. Fadner #3 exclaimed, "Please stop calling me a she!"  Oh yeah, did he ever let us know.  This little guy is NOT a girl, despite me being completely positive that he was!  Take a look at the clear message he sent us at 14 1/2 weeks old:

How he already knows how to spell "BOY" is beyond me, but now we know.  We are having a boy.  Another boy!  I am super excited, but I'm still getting over the shock - you know when you think you are so sure of something... I had this very vivid dream of actually giving birth.  Everyone was out of the room, and I delivered this little baby girl all by myself and it was so easy!  And I already knew what I was going to name her: "Miriella" which is a combination of my two grandmothers Miriam and Helen.  Omg, I love that name so much!  How about Miriello.  Interesting...
Jonathan sort of wished and also had a feeling that it was a boy, but I was like "sorry honey, you're wrong."  Oops!!! We have a saying: "Jonathan is always right."  It is used regularly, I have to admit.  As long as "Yes, Honey" is used just as much from him, I'm fine with admitting he's right.  ;)
Other than those preconceived girly notions I had and accepting that sometimes your wrong and your husband is right, I am totally excited to have a household of boys.  It's gonna be awesome.  I know lots of families that have two boys, including Jonathan and my best friend Theresa.

The last few weeks have been so up and down!  Let's focus on the highlights first... Ahh, Florida!!!

Spring Break in Florida was the highlight of this month.  Since I was off location for my weekly photo, I took my WEEK 13 shot at the beautiful Lake Manatee.  I wish a manatee would've stuck his head out in the background - darn.  It was so liberating and blissful having all my skin in the sun!  Of course there was no one there until I took off my top, so I  positioned myself behind a tree and Jonathan snapped the shots quickly.  I also had to go from the opposite profile than normal because the wind was blowing so much, my face would've been engulfed in hair.  LOL.

                                                          HIGHLIGHTS
We left the Monday after my first post, March 17th, to sunny, gorgeous Florida.  I was anticipating this trip so much after not having spent a winter in a wintery state like NY or WI in like over 10 years.  I was definitely longing for the warmth and water.  My parents go there every year for art shows and vacation, so I decided we were meeting them this year.  This mama needed to shed some layers and feel sexy again, instead of feeling like a hibernating bear/whale.  Sunshine + Water = Happiness in my book and swimming with Jackrabbit is the funNEST thing ever...

~ Warning: diversion into Family Vacation Photos.  Please skip down to return to main story: Pregnancy and it's Ups and Downs ~

Swimming!!!

Making art at Naples Art Festival 

Ready for another swim.

This trip was very healing for me.  My parents are great to travel with because that are inexhaustable and obsessed with activites.  We stayed on Anna Maria Island by day and Lake Manatee State Park (camping in an RV with the dogs!) by night.  The last few days were in Naples for an Art Show.  

I highly recommend swimming and being outside while pregnant.  I also highly recommend eating fresh food like fish caught that very day (only if it's not on the high mercury list, of course).  And maybe most important, spend time with people who love you and support you and can get you out and about!  Without this, it's so easy to fall into a funk.  I'll get into funk-land below, but there's more good news.

I went through a bajillion tests for every birth defect under to sun.  At my 14 week dr. visit, when "Miriello" first made himself known, the doctor started to go through the exhaustingly long test results.  This test - Beautiful.  This test - Perfect.  That test - Beautiful.  This other test - Perfect.  I was waited for something scary as the list went on, but thank the lord above it was ALL GOOD!  You can't help but worry, right!?  All those "what ifs".
I complained about the inconvenience about taking 2 hours to get to the testing clinic when she said there will be one more set of tests coming up.  So the doc, Dr. Maria Culotta, offered that I can give blood at the Forest Hills clinic and save myself the trip to Long Island.  Yippeeeee!

The hospital, North Shore Jewish Medical Center, is actually out there, too. I've been imagining having the baby in the car or even a taxi stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital.  Wouldn't that be awesome!  Eek.  But I was reassured by a mom in our Mommy and Me class at the Y who just had her second son last week out there and she said the drive was fine.  She took precautions to leave before things got too intense, which is smart.  

Side thought - I'm thinking of trying my best to not do the epidural this time, because I felt like it slowed things down last time.  But I also had a weird situation because my water lad been leaking over a whole weekend rather than a single water break, so maybe it was just meant to be slow with Jack, if you consider 32 hours slow.  The actual pushing was only like a 1/2 hour.

Let's do photos before I get into the poor poor sufferings of the pregnant lady!  I have 3 photos to share since last posting.  There's definitely a gradual expanding going on.

Welcome to the 2nd Trimester!

LOWLIGHTS
Prior to leaving for Florida, I was feeling the need to not only warm up, but to be around people who I love, like my family.  Being pregnant brings this out like crazy.  I remember feeling like this in California while pregnant with Jack, but here in NY it's even stronger because I really have very limited family and friends out here and the winter is brutal!  It's been tough building any community for myself and Jack while Jonathan is at grad school.  I'm sure lots of new moms can relate to this, especially if you are a new mom who just moved to a new place.  Life is just not like it used to be.  I can't really explore on my own and it's just not convenient to get around here on public transportation with a stroller and a squirmy toddler.  I'm going to bring my car out from Wisconsin next Fall so the three of us (Jack, Baby Boy, and me) aren't stuck in our little box (also known as apartment) all the time. 

Spring has just started to peek out, along with April showers, this week, but I already feel a huge difference in my state of mind.  And people on the street, or in the laundry room, check out line, subway, elevator, don't have quite as much of that chilly disposition that makes me miss California either.  A feeling of isolation has probably been my worst enemy over the last couple months.  With spring here, hopefully the feeling will subside.  And don't get me wrong, I treasure every moment I spend with my little spunky angel Jackrabbit.  I want both of us to be surrounded by good people and good feelings.  And we are a lot of the time and we will be more, so I keep telling myself just get through and don't lose sight of all the amazing things we have going for us!

On a more physical, less phsychological, level, I've experienced really awful Round Ligament Pain this pregnancy.  Only twice, but when it happened, it totally floored me.  Both times it was in bed in the middle of the night.  First time was really early on, and this last time was between 14 & 15 weeks.  Sometimes I get a shooting cramp in my left side when I pick Jack up or get up from lying down.  It's always on my left.  But this seriously painful Round Ligament pain is different.  It lasts for hours!  I can't even move.  It's a little funny, because sometimes Jonathan gets up at night to get Jack to go back to sleep and he falls alseep in his bed and never returns to our room.  So that was happening the night I was in excruciating pain and I was weakly calling out for Jonathan both because I felt weak and also cuz I didn't want to wake up Jack but I did want to wake up Jonathan.  I can't remember what happened exactly, but I ended up keeping Jonathan up all night and he had to take care of Jack in the morning too cuz I still couldn't move.  I called the doctor on call (it's a 100% guarantee that I always have urgent matters happen on Sunday when clinics are closed) who said it was probably what I thought - Round Ligament Pain.  The usual - if you start to bleed or the pain worsend go to the emergency room.  To my great relief, the pain faded away and I was back to normal uncomfortable pregnant lady.  

I also got a nasty cold, which apparently 90% of NYC has.  It's still hanging on, but at the tail end now.  Headaches, stuffy runny nose, sore throat, you know the Nyquil ad... I went in to sing at NYU last Thursday, fighting this cold and gagging through a horrible bout of nausea, but proud that I battled through and sang my heart out - thankfully not my guts.

So lastly, I was tricked into believing that my nausea had swam away with my winter blues in Florida.  I felt great and didn't get sick at all that week.  Then, literally the night we got home to NY, I was back in the bathroom, throwing up.  Yuck yuck yuck.  The nausea returned.  Boo.  I got so sick again just the other night, I had to make sure not to watch what was coming out so I could get out of there alive!  It's SOOO rough!!!  I'm not gonna tell you what I had for dinner that night, but since then I resolved to eat more simple, fresh food.  I have a thing for veggie sushi now.  It's perfect because in out Kosher neighborhood, sushi is like the thing.  I'm also consuming lots of Japanese rice crackers.  Yum, sodium!  And frozen yogurt.  Pregnant taste buds change constantly, so we'll see what's next on the menu...

Stay tuned!

Thank you for letting me share these moments and please feel free to share yours with me.  So much happens, and it's so much better to be able to share and laugh about it, or cry about it, but at least the sharing part!

Lotsa love ~