Cookie All Clear!

The numbers for my three hour glucose test came back and I do not have gestational diabetes. Thank you cookie Gods! No u/s at my doctor's appointment today, but I did hear Max's heartbeat. The doctor said I'm doing great! Only about 10 more weeks to go.

Alien Baby Checks In

There is a very nice girl I know with two beautiful daughters and a very handsome son. Her son was born within the last few months. Shortly before she gave birth, she posted a video to her blog of her belly. Now this girl works very hard at staying fit and slim and stayed that way throughout her pregnancy. In the video, you can see her belly move pronouncedly from the baby moving. When I watched it the first time, I was a little disconcerted. It made me sort of grateful that, in the words of the radiologist, I'm "fluffy." I figured I probably wouldn't be able to see my stomach respond to all the baby acrobatics.

Yesterday, I was sitting on my couch watching the Denver-Buffalo game (THANK YOU BUFFALO! GO CHARGERS!) when all of a sudden I saw my stomach jump. Holy crap was it freaky! I made J watch and it happened again and he saw it -- though he wants to know why he should believe me that it was the baby and not just some particularly bad gas. As freaky as it was, and it really was freaky, it was also really beautiful and amazing and I cannot wait to see it again!

Cookies Are the Reason for the Season

I knew that if I conceived booze was off limits. And I knew there would be other things off limits, too, but I didn’t really have a grasp on how long a list it was. Now I know that with some of these things it’s more about moderation than full abstinence, or it’s more suggested than required, or still being further investigated, but they are still things “to be avoided.”

Let’s see, there’s 1) booze, 2) ibuprofen, 3) caffeine, 4) artificial sweeteners, 5) lunch meats, 6) hot dogs, 7) certain types of herbal teas, including green tea, 8) raw meat/sushi (also rare meats like a medium rare hamburger), 9) tuna, or other fish high in mercury; 10) raw eggs, or foods made from raw eggs like custards, 11) unpasteurized cheese/dairy products, and 12) all the others I’m forgetting.

List item No. 1 left me a bit sad (oh how I love you red wine) and looking for a happiness replacement. But I couldn’t even turn to items No. 3, 5 and 6 as substitutes. Oh sad day! So I turned to cookies. I’m really not much of a sweets person, so it’s not like I’ll down a carton of Costco cookies in a sitting, but a cookie here and there does help generate the smiles. Especially at Christmas. We all know that it’s really cookies that are the reason for the season.

So even though it’s football season and I can’t drink beer, and even though it’s the holiday season and I can’t drink wine, at least I have cookies, right? RIGHT? Well, actually, maybe not.

I had my first gestational diabetes screening last Friday, the one hour glucose test, and I failed. Ack! Now, not all hope is lost. I have the three hour follow up test this Friday. There are many women that fail the one hour and pass the three hour with flying colors. Please please please think good thoughts that I’m am one of these women. Because, well, I freakin’ deserve some holiday cookie happiness!

Nicknames

The baby will be named Max. Just Max. Not Maxwell, not Maxfield, not etc.. It's a family name. My Mom's brother is Max, but they called him Maxie growing up and still do, so I'm sure we'll call the baby Maxie, especially since we are already calling the puppy Maxie.

J and I have taken to calling the baby Maxie Pad - which is good because then by the time his classmates do it, he'll be desensitized and can say, "Ya, good one, so original." But it's also bad, very bad, because how do you explain to a kid what a MaxiPad is?

The last few days I've been calling him Maxie Bear. Like Teddy Bear, since his middle name is Theodore after Roosevelt. J says that is exceptionally lame. Thoughts? What would you call him? Our friend Phil wants to call him Teddy Max, says it's cool, I have no idea why he thinks it's cool? What am I not getting here?

Favorites

Me: What was your favorite toy as a child?

J: I don't know.

Me: I always liked my Tinker Toys.

J: Well then mine would be my Lego blocks. I'd create little towns with their own economies and the blue people would oppress the red people. The red people were always the ones that died when the aliens attacked.

You can’t understand until you’re a Mother. You’ll understand when you’re a Mother. Until you’re a mother, you won’t understand.

Ever since my first few friends or similarly aged family members had their first children, I’ve been hearing the above. In the beginning, I was just all, yeah yeah yeah, whatever. Sure, the comments are a wee bit annoying for a non-Mom to hear, but when you aren’t looking to have a kid anytime soon, you can easily suffer through them.

It’s a different story when your dealing with infertility. Or even if you’ve made a decision not to have kids. Some statements can be true. They can be the most true things you’ve ever heard. You can hear them and know they ring with truth. But it doesn’t make them easy to hear or even okay things for someone to say.

Expecting Max is the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. But it doesn’t erase all the hurt, all the memories of three plus years of infertility. Even the “you’ll know soon enough” comments are hard. Because you know what, if it hadn’t been for those three years of heartache, I’d know now. I don’t mean to say that I’m not very lucky. I am. And I don’t mean to say that I still hurt the same way women still struggling with infertility hurt. I don’t. But I do know how they are hurting, I remember it. I was there. And I’m going to try to keep on remembering so that I don’t hurt someone with my words.

Mmmm, tasty baby legs.

Sauteed Baby Legs with Tomato Garlic Butter

1 pound large baby legs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Essence
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Cut the baby legs in half. Season both the legs and flour with Essence. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Dredge the baby legs in the seasoned flour and shake to remove any excess flour. Add the baby legs to the hot pan and saute until golden, turning as needed, about 2 to 3 minutes each side. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, simmer for 2 minutes, then stir in the parsley. Remove from the heat and serve.