April, 2011 Archive

Pour Some Sugar On Me

by Alison Friedman in Mommy's Musings

What does a pregnant teacher do on her last day of freedom over Spring Break? She wakes up and drinks a bottle of sugar water of course!

On Monday, I went to the lab around the corner from Dr. Fiiiiiine’s office and presented them my paperwork ordering me to have the glucose tolerance test. I had no idea what to expect from the routine test that checks for gestational diabetes, except that people said it was horrible and long and disgusting and the worst thing about pregnancy. Awesome.

I wasn’t too concerned about the whole thing as I haven’t gained that much weight in the past 6 months of pregnancy and I’ve never typically had blood sugar problems, so I decided to document the morning.

After waiting for almost 30 minutes just to get to the back room for the control blood draw (I guess the morning after Easter is an exciting day for patients to do lab work), I survived the first prick just fine. I’m actually really easy going when it comes to blood draws. I don’t mind them. And that’s surprising coming from the girl who procrastinated and dreaded the flu shot earlier this year. And don’t ask me about the first time I got my eyebrows waxed and FAINTED in the salon (now you don’t have to, because I just told you everything). So I really am a big baby, but blood draws don’t get me all queasy thank goodness since pregnancy is full of ’em.

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After my first blood draw, I got my orange flavored “cocktail” from the “bartender” in the white lab coat. He couldn’t decide whether to run away or laugh when I leaned on the counter and said, “I’d like 50 grams of your top shelf dextrose beverage! Make it a strong one!”

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So, bottoms up! I drank up and was surprised to find out it wasn’t horrible and disgusting like people said. It was like Diet Sunkist, which, if you know me at all, you know is my favorite beverage. Except this particular varietal of Diet Sunkist had lots of sugar and zero bubbles. That part was disappointing, but really, it was like snow cone syrup! And who doesn’t like Snow Cone syrup?! Call me Buddy the Elf, but that sugary delight is THE reason to get a snow cone and now my insurance was paying for me to drink it. Score.

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I had 5 minutes to drink all 10 ounces and I’m not usually a chugger (I was a lame sorority girl), so the timed consumption was a little difficult for me, but I paced myself appropriately. Toward the end I noticed that the drink is kosher. Not that I keep kosher… bring on the pepperoni pizza… But as a Jewish mother-to-be, I appreciate the effort. Then again, I’m sure the medical supplier of the drink knows what’s good for them, considering the average prescriber. Anyway, I giggled to myself that the drink is kosher, but on the final day of Passover, it was probably NOT kosher for Passover. Oops.

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And before I knew it, I was finished. I drank the whole thing in just under 5 minutes. I brought the empty bottle up to the “bartender” in the white lab coat, presented my trophy, and declared “I’ll have another!” He chuckled politely — probably to amuse me — and then asked me to throw it away and sit for an hour. I brought books with me with every intention to read, but iPhone trumps paperbacks. So between Facebook and Words with Friends, I kept myself busy for most of the time.

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About 15 minutes into the waiting game, I felt my baby go absolutely nuts. I asked the phlebotomist if that was normal and she said that just like little kids, fetuses love sugar and get a rush. No kidding. Baby was doing cartwheels and somersaults and jumping jacks in there. I was sure that the crowded waiting room of people could all see my baby’s body parts poking out through my shirt. I was like a human bounce house for our daughter who clearly loves sugar drinks. I think we may name her Buddy the Elf-ette. Either that, or I’m carrying a hummingbird.

At any rate, during my daughter’s first experience getting high on sugar (just say no!), I started to get very sleepy. I had felt fine — no nausea, no dizziness, no vomiting, like the really comforting warning label indicated — but definitely started to crash. All I wanted was to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

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It was finally noon — sugar high noon — and I had 30 minutes left to wait. My tushie was getting tired of sitting, and I was starting to get hungry. Oh yeah, did I mention I had to fast for 12 hours prior to the initial blood draw? And that there was a giant bowl of chocolate Easter candy on the “bartender’s” counter staring at me? Why couldn’t I just eat a jar of egg-shaped Reese’s or Sees chocolates? Hel-lo? They have sugar, too! I should really have been a doctor.

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Finally, tick tick tick, the clock struck 12:35 and I was called back for my second blood draw. I sloooowwwwwly stood up, felt a little lightheaded, prayed to the pregnancy/self esteem gods to keep me upright in the packed waiting room full of people staring at my belly, and cautiously walked to the back room for the tourniquet/vein routine. The phlebotomist probably thought I had a hobby of drug use thanks to my vast awareness of my vein blueprint and immediate acquisition of the squishy-squeezy ball.

And just like that, I was done. I’d survived and beaten the wimpy pregnant girl odds and thought I deserved a medal. I was pretty impressed with myself when I left the lab.

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So instead of a medal, I rewarded myself with a delicious meal. I was hungry and needed some protein (and French fries and a chocolate malt) so I met my folks for a break-the-diabetes-test-fast meal and enjoyed the sustenance.

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And as happy as I was to mark this to-do off my list, I was even happier to get a call the very next day that everything was fine and I passed the test with flying colors. What sacharine-sweet news.

I’m sure Baby Friedman is a little bummed she won’t get to enjoy the by-products of a retest, but I, on the other hand, am quite pleased to continue the pregnancy with a normal plan of action. And more chocolate malts.

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  1. 5/6/2011 10:12 AM

    dear lord if pregnancy involves many blood tests i am a goner and perhaps should never consider motherhood. i am incredibly fainty/wussy with all needles. in fact just entering the lab my face becomes pale and the lab workers all ask what’s wrong with me! 🙁

I Got A Feelin’

by Bryan Friedman in Daddy's Corner

Dear Baby Daughter,

It’s been nearly two months since your mommy first felt you kick and I rushed over to see if I could feel you too. Weeks have passed with so many nights of me sitting on the bed, watching TV while the palm of my hand is suctioned on to your mother’s ever-growing belly, waiting not so patiently to feel you squirming around. It was frustrating for both me and your mom that I hadn’t been able to feel you in there.

Well, today, I finally did! It was just one little bump on your mommy’s tummy, like a punch almost. You’re pretty strong! Anyway, it sure was nice to meet you finally…at least without the all the doctors and cameras around. Thanks for kicking so hard right where my hand was placed. The occasion felt very momentous, but I’m sure I’ll catch you plenty of more times swimming around in there over the next couple months. I can’t wait!

In the meantime, you should know we’ve been hard at work getting rid of all the clutter in the house to make room for you. Your room is starting to come along too! We don’t have much furniture, and we haven’t painted yet, but we’re adding some light and making room in your closet. We’ve already started a small library for you so we’ll have plenty of reading to do when you finally get here. Also, you already have the beginnings of what I think is a pretty cute wardrobe. Believe me, though, it’s only going to grow. Pretty soon you’ll have more clothes than you could ever even possibly wear — although I understand you might go through a few changes a day so it’s probably okay. I don’t really understand “girl clothes” but your mom pretty much breaks into tears whenever she sees your little outfits, so I think you’ll be well dressed.

I’m excited to meet you in person, but for now I’m definitely okay just feeling you dancing around. Feel you later!

Love,
Dad

  1. Cathy
    4/24/2011 9:59 PM

    Awwwwww, so precious!!!

Shooting the Baby

by Princeton in Pregnancy, Tails from Princeton

Don’t read too much into the title of this blog post. It’s not what you think. See, I really love my parents and they really love me. And even though people say I’m going to be jealous because of all the attention and what not, the only shooting of the baby will be with a camera.

The reason I know this is because the new fancy shmancy camera that Dad bought has been in my face non stop. Can’t a dog rest on the couch without being photographed? He’s practicing on me, which means I’m just the guinnea… dog. Lucky for them, I’m extremely photogenic and funny and handsome and entertaining, so even as a beginner, Dad can’t really mess up too badly.

Still, though, he’s spent a lot of time typing and staring at the mini light-up TV on his desk (a computer, they call it?), researching and learning about techy terms like “depth of field,” and “aperture,” and “white balance.” Look, I know words like “sit,” “stay,” and “bang bang,” and those seem much more practical because at least I get food when I do them. Dad doesn’t get food when he learns his new words. He just picks up the camera and does more work.

So anyway, this leads me to my first time in a hotel room. They snuck me in like I was a kidnapped human by putting me in a bag and draping a blanket over my head. Mom thought she was being slick, but any idiot knows there’s a dog breathing and wriggling in there. So they took me to this hotel and I sniffed every corner of the room we were in (which was GIANT) and my doggie nose won’t even go into detail about all the smells I picked up because you humans will be glad you’re humans with lame noses. I had no idea where we were until we started walking around town.

They took me to wine country up in Santa Ynez. Why they’d go to WINE country when 2/3 of our party can’t drink alcohol is beyond me. Oh yeah. The pictures. The whole weekend was a camera love fest and yours truly was the star. Sometimes mom would jump in the pictures, but usually, they’d just put me in these ridiculous poses, look at the screen on the camera, laugh, and be really proud of themselves for their clever idea… at my expense. It’s really difficult being this cute.

The new kid that’s coming in August better be ready to be shoved in clogs and wooden soldier cutouts all for the sake of a photograph. Glad someone else will relieve me of my on-camera duties. Then I can just go back to living the life of a lazy dog.

Outside of Panino.

Walking around Los Olivos.

Back in the hotel.

Princeton, do you wanna go in the caaaaaaar?!?!

Meeting a friend.
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Princeton in a shoe.

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  1. Cathy Reeves
    4/22/2011 8:03 AM

    The wooden soldier pic is hysterical!!!

Breeding and Reading

by Bryan Friedman in Daddy's Corner

ALISON: You can't take anything seriously! You know, you didn't even read the baby books.

B: I didn't read the baby book! What's gonna happen? How did anyone ever give birth without a baby book? That's right. The ancient Egyptians #@$%ing engraved What to Expect When You're Expecting on the pyramid walls! I forgot about that! Who gives a flying #@$% about the baby books?

ALISON: It just shows your lack of commitment...that you're not in this with me!

No, this isn’t a transcript of a conversation I had with Alison. It’s just one of my favorite scenes from the great Judd Apatow movie Knocked Up where Katherine Heigl’s Alison Scott and Seth Rogen’s Ben Stone are in a fight. knocked_up.jpgI remember seeing this movie and thinking, at the time, “He is so right. Who cares about some stupid baby books?!” Okay, so I was naive. (So was Ben, by the way, who later in the movie “matures” and does indeed read the books.)

Ever since we found out we were pregnant, we’ve been in complete information-overload mode. Alison, in particular, began consuming as much information as she possibly could even before conception. (There was a special trip to Barnes and Noble even then to purchase What to Expect BEFORE You’re Expecting.) Now, with What to Expect When You’re Expecting (the “Baby Bible” as I call it) a fixture on Alison’s nightstand along with multiple iPhone apps, thebump.com, and babycenter.com, there is definitely no shortage of content for us to consume in an attempt to prepare us for whatever the future holds.

I would say that both Alison and I are pretty much equally curious about all this stuff, so we are both willing to do plenty of research on a topic and read as much as we can find to educate ourselves. This is especially true because it seems like there is just so much to know and we were basically clueless before this experience started. When it comes to information consumption, there is one key difference between the two of us. I think the best way to explain it is this — Alison wants to know right now all the information she needs to cover the next 2-4 years of the child’s life; I’m interested mostly in what I need to get me through the next 2-4 weeks of time. Frankly, that’s about all I can really handle. But the good news is, as usual, we’ve balanced each other out pretty nicely.

Thankfully, Alison my wife isn’t nearly as demanding as Alison from Knocked Up, but the “Baby Bible” is always right by the bed if I’m interested in looking. Plus, like I said, there is plenty of knowledge to be had from online resources. Still, I’m happy to report I am indeed reading my own version of the “baby books” courtesy of a very thoughtful gift by my amazing wife. I’ve got two books by my bed and I really do love them both.

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My Boys Can Swim is a super easy read with a light and humorous tone. It’s very short, but it’s broken up by trimester and just does some general expectation-setting about what the mother is going through and what you should know. It’s entertaining and funny while still being helpful and informative. I’ve pretty much read the entire thing three times and I’ve enjoyed it a lot, especially when I’m itching for info but looking to lighten things up.

The Expectant Father on the other hand, is the “Baby Bible for Dads” in my opinion. It’s a fabulous resource and I can’t recommend it highly enough if you’re a dad-to-be. It’s broken up by month and in each section it gives you an overview of what the baby is going through, what the mom is going through (both physically and emotionally), and most importantly, what you (the dad) are probably feeling and thinking about. Then each chapter goes into some topic of fatherhood, and it’s honestly uncanny how many times the book has been absolutely dead on about what’s going on in my head during any given month. Trust me, it’s not random…it’s calculated. Things like financial stability, work-life balance, feeling the baby move, taking care of your wife…it somehow places the right topic in the right month to be in sync with my brain (and many dads-to-be brains I’m sure). I try to stay about a month or two ahead of real-time (I’ve read through half of month seven) and I typically read each chapter two or three times (repeating it once every couple of weeks of the month) which, like I said, is about as much as my information tank can hold at a time.

Anyway, I wanted to share what I’ve been reading because dads don’t have it as easy when it comes to “baby books.” What to Expect When You’re Expecting can be a bit much at times, and most of the web sites have a grand total of four or five pages dedicated to expecting dads…and they get old fast. So these are my recommendations. Happy reading!