Hot as Hell in NYC

The humidity is through the roof here in NYC. And because I have chosen to be green and not have an air conditioner, I have to rely on the fan. I plan on getting maybe two more fans for the house since in general pregnant ladies tend to overheat faster than the general population. Today I am wearing a short little dress because I can. My mom had the nerve to tell me that despite my own best effort, that I probably don't look cute day to day as a pregnant lady. I was like "Um excuse me, I look cute everyday and guys on the street try to talk to me!" I think she is just in the old mindset that when you are pregnant, being cute is the last thing you should be worrying about. Obviously she isn't aware of my knocked up swagger! LOL! Only time I won't really have being cute on my mind is when I am in the damn birthing center delivery room. Other than that, I plan on have a fabulous pregnancy up until the end. I still go to the gym to keep my fitness and shape. And I have yet to have a need for a maternity outfit. My mom was like "as long as you are neat and clean"....um what is this ? 1920? She obviously hasn't read "The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy"! What can I say, she's old school! I was looking so fly at Coney Island last weekend, she needs to recognize! Plus maybe she is in her suburban mindset, here in NYC, I see so many pregnant ladies who are killin' it in the fashion department! I am always like "well damn, do it!" But then of course I see frumpy ones too but they tend to be older pregnant ladies, you know like late 30s and 40s. The 35 and under preggos seem to be doing the damn thing!

Knocked Up Swagger

Apparently for a 6 month knocked up lady, I still got some swag going on. Yesterday I went with a coworker to pick up takeout and on the way back she says "oooo that guy was checking you out!" And I am like "Oh please, I am 6 months pregnant!". And she says "Well you don't really look pregnant with that on, guys probably check you out and if they see your belly, they probably think 'well she could do a few crunches, but that's okay.' It's a compliment!" I was LOL! And then this morning on my way to the gym, a dude getting into his car said good morning in that "I really just wanted a reason to say something to you" way and then on the way back from the gym another dude was all "wow sweetie, you look gorgeous!". Me: "ummmm okay" as I walk away. I was literally like "well damn, I guess I got the knocked up swagger game on lock! And this is with workout clothes on and zero makeup!". So yeah I am a big supporter of all things natural, ayurvedic toothpaste straight from india, mineral makeup, raw shea butter lotion, etc...But at the same time I am pretty vain and love to look good so of course I am thrilled that at the 6 month mark I can still turn 'em out, LOL! I told B not to be mad. He said "um why would I care?" LOL! I am trying to be a hot pregnant lady and eventually a yummy mummy. Like one of those women who you see with a baby and you are all "Damn, YOU had a baby???" Gone are the days when pregnant women can get away with looking slovenly just because they have the bun(mine is chocolate!) in the oven. Okay so maybe that's kind of sexist but I feel like why should ladies just let themselves go during pregnancy? I mean this is the time when you should pamper yourself the most! I was never into the mani/pedi thing but now I plan on getting it done every couple of weeks! And even after the baby is here, I know it's going to be crazy but I plan on making me time everyday, please believe. Even if that time is only me being able to go to the gym for an hour or so after feeding the baby. Or just going for a walk around the neighborhood. I have plans in place to ensure that as a new maman, I will be balanced, healthy and happy although very sleep deprived I am sure. That's par for the course. I am still wrapping my head around that fact that there will be a little guy coming on the scene in four months! Okay maman feeding time...

An Emerging Bump

My bump has officially emerged. I feel like it just grew a lot in the past week actually. Now people don't have to look at me and question whether the bump is just too much red velvet cake or a baby. LOL! It's an undeniable baby bump that would have the tabloids buzzing if I was some sort of celeb. I am eventually going to take a pic of the bump for anyone who is interested. So now that the baby is making his presence known more and more, I have been concentrating on getting my baby registry together. I actually finished it last night, it seems like everything we need and some of what we want has been covered. My mom looked at it this morning and I am sure she was rolling her eyes at all the "organic" items but she didn't mention anything in the e-mail reply she sent. I used the book "Great Expectations", a complete guide to pregnancy and childbirth as my guide in what I absolutely would need before little Bojangles makes it on the scene. Today I didn't make it to the gym because I was so sleep deprived. So I plan on going to the aquatic aerobics tonight, forcing myself to go because exercise after work has always been a struggle for me. That's why I normally go at 6 am before work to get it out of the way. And I normally feel energized for the day after my morning workout. But I woke up around 3am and didn't fall back asleep until 4:45am so the thought of getting up an hour later to hit the gym just seemed cruel and unusual. I try to workout at least 4 times out of the week, 5 being optimal. I will still be on point as long as I go tomorrow and friday. But I am hard on myself so I really will probably end up pushing myself out the door tonight at around 7:10pm. I mean once I am there and in the pool, I feel good. It's just getting myself to go. I am so unmotivated in the evenings. It's like sitting in my cube at work in front of the comp just drains my brain so by the time 5pm rolls around, I am like a zombie. So hungry right now, but what's new? I've been so curious about how the baby is going to look. I almost feel like cheating and getting one of those 4d ultrasounds that show what the baby actually looks like. It would be fun to have the photos at the baby shower. Everyone says that they think I will be a great mom. Really? I mean I guess they wouldn't tell me if they thought I would be a crappy mom, lol! "Oh you're pregnant? I feel bad for that baby!"...Can you imagine if someone said that to your face? I mean I know people who would probably say that about someone but not TO them! But who knows, I've known some bold tactless people in my time. I mean I am old enough that it is not like my life is ruined and I am an afterschool special, but I am also young enough to be considered a "young, hip" yummy mummy whose body(keeping my fingers crossed!) will snap back within 6 months of delivery. I plan on being in the gym up until the day I go into labor so that should help my cause! Okay, time to pick up my lunch! A bientot!

Bottomless Pit aka Honoring My Hunger

So why I am getting hungry just looking at the above pic? LOL! I think I may have to get chinese from Kum Kau tonight!!! So I have definitely noticed an increase in my appetite in the past couple weeks. But don't think that now you are going to see me jamming on Cheetos or something, LOL! Today I had a hemp protein shake made with chocolate soy milk as the base and when I got to work I had about a pound of fresh strawberries. And I just ate 2 apricots. Now I have to wait until at least 12 to eat again. I am all out of snacks! I swear little Baby Bojangles started punching me on Sunday while we were on the train because he was hungry. I thought my morning Go Lean Kashi cereal and like 4 dates would cover me until we got to Coney Island. NOT! It was definitely a rumble in the jungle of my belly and the baby was like "EAT!". I feel I do best grazing throughout the day. I hate eating too much in one sitting and feeling sluggish. My acupuncturist told me that in traditional chinese medicine they say in the 5th month of pregnancy women should eat "not too much, not too little". Ambiguous, yes but I believe it basically means follow or "honor" your hunger as Deepak Chopra puts it. I have been skimming and dabbling in his book "Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth". There are some gems in there; I like the exercises he suggests to "enliven" your pregnancy, for example talking to the baby, envisioning the baby, massaging the belly to make contact with the baby, etc... But I digress, it is now 10:36 and I think I am going to have to eat my lunch now, LOL! I am not going to make it for another 90 minutes. Chopra claims that pregnant women should include the six basic flavors in their daily diets: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. I think so far, including my lunch that is about to become the midmorning meal/snack, I have sweet, sour and bitter. I need to work on that. Okay so signing off to "honor my hunger", haha!

Coney Island Babymoon Afterall!

So after all that fussing I did yesterday morning about the weather and such, we DID end up going to Coney Island. I just thought that we could take a gamble on the weather and we did and we ended up not getting caught in any t-storms. It actually stormed while we were on the Q train on our way back home that evening. We had a BLAST! We will definitely be going back before the summer is over.




B and I in front of Brighton Beach with our beverages of choice(he had an extra large beer and mine was a medium lemonade, talk about supersized!) from world famous Nathan's.
B stealing a smooch while we were at the New York Aquarium.
Chilling in front of a pic of walruses at the aquarium.
Me in front of the shark tank.
B waiting for the Q train on our way to Coney Island.
B made me get some corn, I really wanted pizza!
B loves Nathan's hotdogs.
He loved his hot dog BUT complained that the actual weiner was too small, LOL!
B made me get a candy apple, I don't remember the last time that I had one! It was good!
Me waiting for the train on our way to Coney Island.

Yeah the pics are kind of in reserve chronological order; I am still getting used to the set up of blogger.com. Overall it was a great day. We played games at the arcade, went on the "Spook O' Rama" ride, LOL! Hung out on the boardwalk, walked on the pier. I had some funnel cake/fried dough and was disappointed in the quality. The funnel cake was just sitting out and they threw it in the oven. I am used to seeing them pour the dough in the hot oil right in front of you and getting a freshly fried cake with the powder sugar on top. So I only at like a little bit of it and then threw it away. They now have the calorie counts on all the items at Nathan's so that totally discouraged me from getting my own order of fries when B was ordering his food. I wanted to eat some of his fries, but I was annoyed because he got chili cheese on them and I had to pick around the chili to get untainted ones since I don't eat meat. He said next time he will just order plain ones since he wasn't so into the chili cheese topping and didn't even finish his order. After the games, the ride and just walking around and chilling on the boardwalk, we headed to the New York Aquarium after we realized it was literally right there off of the boardwalk. We got tickets to the aquarium; there was also a 3D deep sea ride we could have gone on too but I figured I probably could not go on it anyway since I am prego. We had a lot of fun at the aquarium and it was a nice way to end the day at Coney Island. B was like a kid in a candy store! He loves animals and he loves science. I swear he missed his calling as a vet or researcher of some sort. He was just so excited to be there and just in awe of all the different aquatic creatures. He loved the sea otter we saw. He was however cursing the jellyfish, he was stung once while at the beach and now he just thinks of them as sneaky bastards, LOL! So after our nice relaxing tour of the aquarium, I was basically spent. I told him I was tired, it was about 5:45 at that point and we had been there since 12:45. He was a little sad because he wanted to stay. I reminded him that I had to work tomorrow and wanted to get back home in time to kind of unwind and go to bed in a timely fashion. At first he was like "okay..." but then we heard a loud thunder clap boom through the sky and we both were like "let's go!". The rain had held out all day for us at Coney Island so we weren't trying to push our luck. B got a vanilla soft serve cone to go and we were back on the Q train, heading back to our 'hood. When we got back we realized every restaurant was pretty much closed, so we did a little quick grocery shopping for dinner. I ended up snacking a little bit and being too tired to eat my Amy's Vegetable Pie. I couldn't even make it through Family Guy, I went to bed at about 9:20 or so. I am glad too because I woke up feeling fresh and was at the gym this morning earlier than I have been getting there lately. It may be the iron supplement that is helping with the energy I am feeling too. I really think it's funny how I am almost 6 months along and I am still just doing my thing. I always thought this far along in a pregnancy, you just want to lay up and eat all day. I am glad I don't feel that way because I am trying to stay fly! Tonight I want to go to the Aquatic Exercise class, I think the baby likes it. Oh and in parting, I think we have found a name for our little lion! More details to come...

No Babymoon for me today :(

Today B and I were supposed to go to Coney Island for the beginning of a series of mini babymoons for us. A babymoon is like a fun little vacation that you take before the baby comes. Because after that baby is here, it's pretty much a lockdown for 3-4 months. There are supposed to be T-storms today so that totally messed up the plans. And next weekend B will be busy on Sunday I am just annoyed at Mother Nature right now. I was cooped up in the house all day yesterday so I was really looking forward to having a fun day of ferris wheels(the only ride I can go on!), fried dough/funnel cake, pizza, the boardwalk, the beach and the New York Aquarium. That's postponed for now so I have to think of something that we can do that is closer to home. I thought maybe go see a movie but seriously I don't even know what's out and I usually am not interested in many mainstream things. Yeah I am a snob! I just know that if I have to spend all day today in this apartment I may go stir-crazy! Oh and on a sidenote, I got the Floravital iron supplement and it tastes pretty good. I will be taking it twice a day to "build up the blood". I really want to keep everything in the pregnancy as normal as possible since it started it out kind of crazy! Okay so I guess I am going to check the movie listings for the theatre downtown. I am not feel very optimistic about the selection. Oh boy, another week is beginning. Hopefully I will feel better since I am taking the iron supplement.
Baby Bojangles and I wish you a happy Sunday!!!!!

Hospitals, Test Results and Providers, Oh my!

Here we are on Saturday, my official rest day. I woke up at around 6:30 and then went back to bed at 8:30 for about 2 hours. Now I am up again, not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed but coherent. Yesterday I finally succeeded in finding a provider at St. Luke's Roosevelt who is in-network AND supports natural childbirth and the birthing center. And I was able to get an appointment for this Wednesday. My doula told me to make sure that I let them know that I JUST found out that I was pregnant and I am not just switching providers because I don't like my doctor or something. Trying to avoid the "PITA" rep early, Pain In The Ass! LOL! The nurses and the doc at the women's health center at Beth Israel kind of were giving me the side-eye like I was crazy for not knowing I was pregnant. Yeah, I think I was the last to know.
I had blood tests done and I guess the results are in. I came home yesterday and I had a message from Beth Israel on my answering machine. It was a nurse telling me that my iron is low and I am anemic. Well quelle surprise! Not a big shocker considering I don't really eat any of the main sources of iron, beef, chicken, liver(blech!) and eggs. Luckily for me dried fruit is a very good source so I plan on getting some dates and figs on my little adventure outside of the house later today. Apparently watermelon has as much iron as spinach! So in addition to the nutrition side of things she told me to get ferrous sulfate iron pills. At first I was like "okay". Then after doing a little of my own research, I was like "Um hell to the nah!" I found a better product and yes it's more holistic I guess you could say.

Salus® Floradix® Formula

Natural solutions for your daily iron needs. Embraced by women for over 60 years.

It's a liquid and is easier for the body to absorb apparently. I have 4 months to build my iron back up so that I can have a safe, low risk labor and delivery. I don't even want to go into all the problems that are associated with anemia in pregnancy. My level is 10.4, I need to bring it up to at least 12. Between the low protein and the low iron NOW I understand why I get so tired in the beginning in the afternoon. I plan on picking up either Floravit or Floradix when I go to the health food store later. Oh and I have more ultrasound pics, I'll upload them sometime next week. I can see Baby Bojangles little nose! I am going to try to finish watching "The Business of Being Born" now, really good so far. Kudos to Ricki Lake. Go Ricki! Go Ricki! Go Ricki!

Preggo on the Subway

Why is it that people find it so hard to give up their seats for pregnant ladies on the train? When I see an obviously pregnant woman on the train, if I am seated I will definitely offer her my seat. I feel like I am in the minority. People will pretend to be asleep, look away and conjure up all sorts of oscar winning performances in an effort to remain in their seat and somehow avoid eye contact with a 6 month pregnant woman during the evening rush hour. Everyone is so self-absorbed; they don't care now but I am sure they would be pissed if a pregnant lady passed out in train and they were kept from getting home in a timely fashion because of being held in the station due to a "sick passenger" on the train. At this point in my pregnancy, it's not that deep if I can't get a seat. I still feel pretty energetic so 20 minutes on the A train standing isn't going to kill me. But trust, once I am around 7-8 months, I plan on putting on performances worthy of an emmy to secure a seat on a crowded train. I'll fake contractions. I don't care. If I have to guilt trip some of these new yorkers into give up the goods, I certainly will. To all of those who have given their seat to me in the past month, baby bojangles thanks you kindly. To all you other wanksters, he says this: je t'emmerde!

Visit with the integrative doc and preliminary thoughts on "The Business of Being Born"

First thing this morning, I had a visit with my primary care physician, an integrative doctor. So before he could really get into the results of my blood tests I said to him, "I have to give you an update...I'm pregnant". He gave a closed mouth smile along with the thumbs up signal! LOL! He's hilarious. He then proceeded to say how rare it is for women with my medical condition to get pregnant. And my own little note to you guys is that usually when women with my condition DO get prego, it's after months or years of trying to conceive with different treatments, holistic, conventional or otherwise. Anyway, he was very excited and happy for me. Then I told him about how the OB/GYN doc that I saw last week told me stop taking my medication for my insulin resistance. And I told him that I didn't stop because I didn't agree with her at all. He also doesn't agree with her. He said that the medication has been successfully used in this country for 55 years and there have been no studies showing that it could cause harm to the fetus. To the contrary, it helps prevent women like me from developing gestational diabetes and having over sized babies who could be diabetic from birth. So yeah we basically agreed that the OB/GYN doc was wack for saying that. He even said that if she wanted to talk to him about it, she could call him. GANGSTA! LOL! So overall the visit today was really good. Only one thing that was of concern: my protein levels are low. I don't understand why, I feel like I eat enough protein but I guess I need to make a more conscious effort. I may have to whip up my egg white, spinach omelettes once again on the daily. Protein and folic acid for me and baby bojangles. Everyone in the office was congratulating me. It was really nice. And my integrative doc even gave me hug. Cute! For those of you who don't know, an integrative physician is trained in both conventional and holistic medicine. So he basically has a larger breadth of knowledge to draw from when treating his patients and picks the best course of therapy or treatment from both realms of medicine. I actually found out about his practice because he used to have a call in radio show about holistic health on 1600 AM. Everyone I tell that too is like "Damn you have a celebrity doc?" Well he has made his rounds in the media. He's even been on The View but that was awhile back, think pre-gastric bypass Star Jones; I saw a framed photo in his office. So to wrap this post up, he gave me some suggestions on OB/GYN providers at St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital. It's cool because he is affiliated with that hospital and if they need an internist to consult with in regards to me and the baby, he said he is more than happy to do it. Sweet!
On a completely different note, I began watching the documentary "The Business of Being Born", produced by Ricki Lake. So far I have watched about 20-30 minutes of it and it scared the SHIT at out of me! I never realised how standard interventions in childbirth have become and how it is not in the best interest of the mother and baby. Inducing labor, epidurals, blah blah blah...the big question is "whatever happened to natural childbirth and why have midwives become so marginalized???" I mean seriously childbirth is natural but these hospital treat it like an illness that needs heavy medication and intervention. I will reserve the rest of my rant for when I finish watching the doc.
Signing off for now. I bid you adieu!

The Shock of My Life!

So I am starting this blog to journal my first pregnancy and share the experience with my friends and family. First off, let me just say that this was not planned, but it is definitely wanted. I have so many emotions going on right now: anxiety, fear, happiness, excitement, etc... It's crazy because I really didn't know I was pregnant until I was almost 5 months along!!! I know you guys probably think that is off the wall but I will fill you in on why the knowledge of my current state remained so elusive to me.

1. I have a preexisting medical condition where it is not abnormal for me to just skip cycles for months at a time.
2. I had no OBVIOUS symptoms. No morning sickness, nausea. I only have gained about 6 pounds to date, which for most women would be annoying but not alarming.
3. I am not showing that much for someone who is close to 6 months pregnant. I mean yeah there is some poochy belly there, but nothing different from what I see spilling out of jeans on people marching out of McDonald's on Fulton Street everyday.
4. I didn't and still don't have cravings. I always had this idea that pregnancy was the horrible state where you have no control over your emotions, your nutrition or your body. To be real, I probably eat healthier than most people. I need to work on upping my green veggies intake though. Why did I think pregnancy was going to be like 9 months of getting up at like 1 in the morning and eating an entire sheet cake? LOL LOL That would be SO gross!

So then when I had been working out religiously for a few months 5 times a week, doing intense strength training 3 times out of the week along with cardio, i.e running intervals on the treadmill, spin class, etc... I wondered why everything on my body was looking toned and fit yet my abs were looking the same and then eventually pooching out even more! (p.s I am still working out pretty much the same but of course there have been a few tweaks in the program)
So when my jeans became uncomfortably small in the waist(fitting so wonderfully in the thighs though!), I began spinning up theories of the likely situation as follows:

1. I had a/some fibroids the size of grapefruit and I would need to have surgery to remove them. I blamed my diet of hot chips and other junk during my couple of months of depression during the months of November and December.(I came out of it in January with the help of my wonderful acupuncturist!)

2. I have developed full blown type two diabetes and we all know that one of the leading symptoms of this disease is abdominal obesity caused by out of control insulin resistance. Diabetes Gone Wild!

3. I have ovarian cysts that have gone wild, similar to number 1.

And last but not least:

4. I have a malignant tumor in my uterus that I will need to have surgery, chemo and radiation for. Oh no! I don't want all my hair to fall out!!!! Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Pregnant didn't even make the list for reasons I explained earlier. So when I found out I was, I was shocked but I mean hey at least it was not cancer!!!

The next shock was when I finally got an ultrasound and the tech tells me that I am 21 weeks!

Yeah, B and I were both like "Um....okaaaaaay."

But now I have had a full week and a half to drink this all in and I think I am going to be okay. I had an ultrasound done and it's a boy! I am half relieved because I was kind of not cool to my parents between the ages of 11 and 17 so I was thinking that karma is a bitch so I would have to live through that too. So I am safe from that...for now. This will be my first and last until further notice. I may eventually want another baby but that one will be PLANNED! LOL or adopted which is still planned.

I also want to let you guys know that I finally found a doula and she is AMAZING! B and I just love her! So when any of you guys decide to spawn a little cutie and are in the NYC area, you totally need to hire her!

It feels great to write about this y'all. I look forward to updating this blog often. So please check back for updates when you get a chance. The little dude in my belly is strong and kicks his maman a lot but he needs your support!


Love ya!