Bump Day: 39 Weeks!

At 39 weeks pregnant, it’s weird to think that this might be my last ‘Bump Day’. Though many first time moms go over their due date, my midwife confided in me at my last appointment that she really didn’t think I’d make it to 38 weeks. I wonder if she’ll be surprised to see me if baby doesn’t come before my 39 week check up tomorrow. I felt some rumblings this weekend that I thought were surely the onset of labor, but 4 days later, I’m still sitting here baby-less.

Since we’re only one week away from Baby Boy’s due date, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic about the last 9+ months. I wanted to take today as an opportunity to reflect on this time in my life via a FAQ/interview type format.  

When did you find out you were pregnant? 

On Valentine’s Day. Jonathan and I had been trying to get pregnant off and on for 3 years without success. Due to a really erratic cycle, we just couldn’t seem to get the timing right and my midwife in the US was starting to suspect that my eggs might not be mature enough. My best friend Talia made a referral for me to get in to see a fertility specialist to run some preliminary diagnostic tests while I was visiting the States. We figured we’d run the tests and then follow up on our visit to Louisiana in May/June and take it from there. 

Before leaving for my fertility appointment, I took a pregnancy test just in case. I had the test sitting on the bathroom counter while I did my makeup, and almost forgot to even check it before I left. Afterall, I’d taken possibly 50 of these things before, all with the same result. However, while I was putting on my mascara, I glanced at the test out of the corner of my eye and saw something I had never seen before : two lines; a positive result. 

I started screaming and my mom came upstairs to see what the fuss was. I couldn’t speak so just gestured to the pregnancy test. She was confused because she’d never taken one before so didn’t really understand what I was so hysterical about and all I could do was keep pointing at it. Finally it clicked and we both started crying. 

The hardest part was having to keep it a secret from my Dad and brother for the next 2 days. I wanted to wait to tell Jonathan in person and didn’t think it was fair to tell the other men in my life before I told Jonathan. 

I was very proud of my Mom for keeping it a secret. That’s probably one of the hardest things she’s ever done.  

Did you have any intuition about it being a boy or a girl? Yes and no. When I first saw the test result, I just knew it was a boy. So did my mom. But when Jon and I had our first ultrasound, we started having an inkling that it might be a girl. It wasn’t until I had my 18 week ultrasound with Talia that I was 90% sure it was a boy. I think that she and I are just so close that her knowing gave me a better inclination as to which it was. It was still exciting to have so many of our friends and family with us to celebrate the moment when we officially found out.

Is your ‘bump dress’ a maternity dress? No. It’s just really stretchy. And it keeps getting shorter and shorter… 

But I’m glad it made it through the whole pregnancy. I thought I might have to switch it up for a while there.  

What was the hardest part of pregnancy?  

The first trimester. I was just so nauseated. I remember people trying to comfort me by saying, ‘oh it will only last a few more weeks’ and I just honestly didn’t think I’d survive it. The very worst was weeks 8-10, but I spent the better part of a month laid up in bed watching Friends reruns. In week 10, I finally got a doctor to prescribe some pregnancy-friendly nausea medicine, but by that time, I’d made it through the worst of it and only used them when we were going out to a restaurant. 

Another hard part about this early phase is that you usually haven’t announced your pregnancy yet so you’ve got to act like every thing is peachy-keen. I’ll never forget when Jonathan ordered for me at an Indian restaurant and they brought out a teeny tiny chicken and put it in front of me. I shot him a look and he knew that he better get that offensive bird out of my sight immediately or I would spew. I think a few people started to suspect something at that dinner... 

Also, I remember going to a bar and Jonathan asked what I wanted to drink. To throw off the scent, I winked and said ‘A Rum and Coke’ thinking he’d know that was code for ‘Coke’. When he handed me my drink, I took a big swig of it to prove to everyone that I wasn’t pregnant by drinking a mixed drink, only to take a big gulp of actual Rum and Coke. Apparently, our friend Luke accompanied Jonathan to the bar so he had to order a real mixed drink to throw him off. 

The next week was our group ski trip so we decided to come clean right away. I couldn’t get through a week of not drinking wine or using the chalet sauna or hot tub without everyone knowing. 

Plus, the decadent French food being served to us every night was making me sick, so we had our chalet angels pick me up a cheese pizza every night and I ate on the couch while the rest of the crew was served their wine and fancy food in the dining room. 

Other than the nausea and keeping the pregnancy a secret, the hardest thing was probably having to stop jogging. I made it til about week 27 but at that point, it became so uncomfortable, slow, and laborious that walking was much more preferable. Hard to believe I haven’t gone for a run in almost 3 months! I caught the running bug back in high school and it’s been a part of my life ever since.  

Do you miss alcohol?  Yea, but I had a pretty low tolerance before getting pregnant so other than the occasional glass of wine or two, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on much. Football season has been hard. Nothing makes me want to reach for a beer more than LSU football. I miss sushi and jogging more than alcohol though, that’s for sure.  

What are your biggest cravings? For a while, it was any sort of red meat. Now I just crave American junk food. I actually had a dream about velveeta cheese slices last night. Scotland is possibly the worst place to be in terms of pregnancy cravings. I’m so hungry all the time and yet there really isn’t much that is delicious, fast, and convenient here in Aberdeen, whereas America is overflowing with yummy options. I really miss Wendy’s but have been making due with Burger King lately. 

Too bad the closest one is a 20 minute drive from my house:(. First world problem? 

What was the best part of being pregnant? 

Um, you usually get special treatment. That’s not always the case here in Aberdeen though… I’m surprised at how many people still will run me off of the sidewalk or cut me off getting into line at the grocery store. But I do think the bump helped me pass my driving test so I’ll take that! 

I also really loved my gender reveal party and baby shower. Those were very special occasions that reminded me of what great friends and family I have to support me and Jonathan and baby boy.  

What are you most looking forward to about not being pregnant anymore? 

Not having to pee every 30 minutes. Not having to eat every 30 minutes. Getting back into shape. Eating sushi. Being able to touch my toes/tie shoes/zip boots/etc. And of course, meeting our little man!!! 

Alright, that’s enough blabbering for today. As a recap, here are some past Bump Pics to show you the slow progression. 

And as a special treat for the 39 week bump shots, I decided to have Jillian take them with the gorgeous sunset in her backyard as the backdrop. 

Maybe I’ll see you here for a bump day next week, or maybe bump day will be replaced by Baby Boy’s weekly pics. Who knows!?!?!?  

Winter Running Gear

I’m sorry that my blog has been so sporadic lately. The truth is that right now I am quite pre-occupied and more than just a little baby obsessed (imagine that). Yesterday it hit me that as soon as baby boy arrives, it will be at least 8 weeks until I get a full night of interrupted sleep again. And let’s be honest, that is absolutely the best case scenario. 

I’m sure in 2 months’ time I will look back bleary-eyed at this blog post and laugh and laugh at my optimism and naivety that I'd have one of those babies that sleeps through the night at 2 months old. But for now, it’s basically what I have to tell myself to push through the nerves. The other thing that is getting me through these final days/weeks is the thought of *not being pregnant anymore*. 

Being pregnant hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be, but it still hasn’t been a cake walk.  I am ready to drink wine and eat sushi and go through a 30 minute span without having to go to the bathroom. I’m sure during those newborn weeks and months, I will look back on pregnancy and dream about how easy it was to get up and go without worrying about feeding time or nap time or towing along an infant and all of their necessities. 

But one thing that I am absolutely looking forward to with anticipation is being able to run again. A friend of mine had her baby about 3-4 weeks ago and was already able to go for a short jog. I was so jealous and it got me pumped up for how soon a run might be in my future. I’m guessing my re-entry will be more on a 5-6 week timeline, but still, Jonathan and I are already brainstorming on how I’ll be able to squeeze an hour or two away to be able to hit the trails again. 

My goal is to run a ½ marathon or similar distance before baby boy is 6 months old (around April timeframe). I feel like that goal will help me get back into pre-pregnancy shape and from then on I can just maintain until the next rug-rat (Lord willing) makes it’s way into my uterus. 

Running in the winter months is hard in Scotland. The days are short and the trails are soggy and cold and often times saturated with ice and snow. 

I still had a great time last year getting out in the brisk air with Bailey, but I remember several times coming home with miserably soaked and freezing cold feet. 

I’m hoping to avoid frostbite this winter so have begun my research on which running shoes would be best for the type of training I hope to do. Before baby, I mostly did trail runs, but with baby and BOB stroller in tow, I’ll probably intersperse that with some paved trails to make for a smoother ride for baby boy. 

Ideally, I’d like a shoe that is water resistant and offers support and stability, but is still flexible enough for running off road. Any of your runners out there have a recommendation for me? These are a few that I’m leaning towards. 

1. The Nike Air Pegasus Shield Trail (90 pounds)

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I'm all about brand loyalty, and after some failed experiment with New Balance and Adidas and Puma, I found that Nikes were the most consistent with my particular running style and foot. Their new 'Shield' line is water resistant, and this shoe is specifically designed for trail running. I'm not crazy about the design, but I'll choose function over form any day and plus, these shoes will be caked in mud from day 1 so I'm not too concerned with that. Nike has a whole range in this direction that are basically road shoes with a few trail features added on.

2. Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 (100 pounds)

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Referred to as a 'hybrid' shoe, this footwear is supposed to be good for both trails and road running. It's water resistant, has great reviews and is a favorite brand among marathon runners. I guess my only hesitancy is that I've never owned a pair before. Still, it seems to check all the boxes I'm looking for, so it might be worth the try. 

Any other brands or models I should be checking out? What do you think?

Getting a UK Driver's License: AKA The UK's way of Getting Back at Americans for Winning our Independence

As we get closer and closer to baby boy’s due date, I’ve been feeling so much pressure to get things done. It’s exhausting because I am beyond tired and have been warned by everyone to ‘rest up while you can’, but still I know that certain tasks will become low priority or next to impossible with a newborn in tow. 

One of these tasks has been qualifying for my UK driver’s license which is a long and arduous process, and most people hit a snag somewhere along the way which pushes their timelines for achieving this way back. (For instance, on Jonathan’s initial application, he signed his name slightly out of the box so had to completely reapply.) 

I didn’t have any room for error if I wanted to become a legal driver before baby boy arrived, so over the past few months I’ve invested a lot of time and money into study materials and driving lessons to prepare me for the two qualifying exams (a written and a practical). Basically, I had to go through Driver’s Ed all over again.  Here’s a bit of an overview of the process: 

First you have to apply for your provisional license (learner’s permit). This is a scary step because it involves sending your passport away for potentially up to 4 weeks. No expat wants to be without their travel documents because you just never know when you may need to go home or travel out of the country. Technically, you have a year of eligibility to drive on your American license before you become an ‘illegal’ driver. However, because Jonathan was traveling so frequently for work and we were busy exploring Europe, we didn’t feel like we had a 4 week opportunity to be separated from our passports until after our ski trip last March. 

Once we got our provisional licenses (aka learner’s permits) we could sign up for our theory test. Usually it takes at least 3 weeks to get a test opening so I waited until after our May/June trip to the States to get this scheduled. Since we got here in May of 2012, this meant that as of May 2013 I was officially driving illegally in the UK (but I was still insured legally so it’s a bit of a loophole).   

In August I finally decided to just bite the bullet and take my theory test. I studied for 4 days straight, and despite being quite bitter about the fact that I had to answer questions on driving a manual car despite the fact that I was specifically applying for an ‘automatic’ license (yes, they differentiate  between the two), I was able to pass this step in the process. 

The theory test is broken in to two sections: 1) multiple choice questions 2)Hazard perception. For the multiple choice questions you are just supposed to answer a series of questions regarding information in the Highway manual and Road Signs booklet. There are several apps to help you adequately study for this part of the test. I paid a pretty penny for the official DSLA app and it did the trick. Most of the test questions were identical to ones on the practice tests. 

The problem is with the Hazard Perception test. During this section, you are supposed to click on the mouse every time you see a hazard appear on a simulation screen. However, if you click too early, you don’t get any points and if you click too often, you automatically get a zero for that particular scenario. Despite there being many potential hazards in each instance, there is only one or two that you’re actually being scored on. It’s all very subjective, but I managed to pass with pretty high marks so I want rant too much on this. Here is a video to give you a glimpse of the hazard perception portion. 

Once you pass your Theory test you are given a code to sign up for your ‘practical’ test. This one is the real doozy and I would say that MOST people have to take it at least twice before passing. I’ve known several drivers who are way better than me have had to take it twice. The big issue is that it costs about $100 every time you take it and it also takes about 6 weeks to get in for a retake. 

I was under a lot of pressure to pass the first time around because the earliest test date I could get was October 9^th, exactly 2 weeks before my due date.  I knew that if I didn’t pass, I wouldn’t have time to retake it before getting swallowed up by motherhood. 

I hired an instructor, Gary Laing, for lessons and over about an 8 hour span in the past 3 weeks, he slowly broke me of my ‘American’ driving habits. It’s quite a patronizing experience after driving without incident for 15 years to have to be ‘taught’ to drive correctly, especially since the British driving standards are impossibly high.

The driving test lasts for about 30-40 minutes in which you drive around with an examiner while they observe you. I was super nervous. During the test you have to complete one of 4 maneuvers of the examiner's choice: parallel park, reverse into a ‘bay’ (parking space), reverse into a side road, or a 3 point turn in the road. 

I would say that my skill level ranks these tasks: 1) 3 point turn 2) reverse into a bay 3) parallel park 4) reverse into a side road. Well, OF COURSE, I got reverse into a side road and as soon as I started the maneuver, it started hailing outside and I had zero visibility. My hands were sweaty and midway through the turn, my sunglasses fell off of the top of my head onto my neck and I had to stop and remove them. 

I’m sure my examiner thought I was a total spaz, but my baby bump must have won some sympathy points because despite some mistakes and misjudgments on my part, she PASSED me! Woohoo!  

I am now legal to drive in the UK. It is such a relief to have that whole fiasco behind me and it really does feel like being initiated into some bizarre sorority. All of us Americans who have gone through the hazing ridiculousness of the UK driving licensing process feel quite bonded to one another. After my test, I headed to lunch with a few of the AWA ladies and as soon as I stepped into the restaurant they started whooping and hollering in congratulations. It was quite the scene. Later in the week, my British friends James and Tash even got me a congratulatory card for passing. 

It’s seriously like a rite of passage here in the Kingdom. All in all, it cost about $700  in the form of processing fees, exam costs, and driving lessons (most of which Jon's company reimburses us for) and I put in about 30 hours total of study time. 

But still, it’s nice to have my driving skills validated after 15 years on the road. Sheesh….

 P.S. One of the things that still angers me about American citizens not being able to automatically exchange their US license for a UK license is the list of countries that can. For instance, our Canadian, Australian, and European friends don't have to jump through these hoops, despite having vastly different driving rules than the UK. In fact, here are a list of countries in which immigrants can exchange their driving license for a UK license, not including all countries in the European Union:

Andorra, Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Faroe Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Zimbabwe.

That last one cracks me up. I don't know if any of you have ever been to Zimbabwe, but I have...

and the driving standards are definitely not equivalent to those in the UK. But I digress...Alls well that ends well and I am just happy to be a legal driver!!

Highs and Lows

Happy weekend everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve done Highs and Lows, so figured it was time to revisit the tradition, especially since this was a pretty big week. Let’s jump to it. 

Lows: 1) Braxton Hicks/possible latent labor contractions. I woke up at 3 AM Thursday morning with off and on contractions which continued sporadically throughout the day. One the one hand, it’s exciting to think that something’s happening, but also kind of annoying to realize hours later that nothing is actually progressing. It was all very anti-climactic. 

2) Pregnancy insomnia. I’ve been pretty fortunate in dodging this bullet until week 38, but now it’s becoming a regular occurrence for me to be watching ‘Party of Five’ reruns at 3 AM. 

3) Our friends Nary and Gerald are moving to California next week, so this week and has been full of ‘good-bye’ festivities and tonight is their official ‘leaving-do’. They are one of the friendliest, most hospitable, and considerate couples we’ve ever met and we are going to miss them tremendously. That’s the name of the expat game, but it still stings each time another friend leaves Aberdeen behind. 

Stolen from Nary's blog

That’s about it for lows. I’ve had a pretty blessed week so let me tell you about some of the highs.   

Highs: 

1) I had a midwife appointment yesterday which was full of good news. Firstly, the baby appears to have grown appropriately and is now measuring 36 weeks, which is still within normal range for a 38 week gestation baby. At 36 weeks, he was measuring 34 weeks which means in two weeks’ time, he’s experienced 2 weeks’ worth of growth.  With me being petite, it’s not at all surprising that my baby would be small; the concern was whether or not he was still thriving in the womb and all the signs are pointing to *Yes* which is such a relief. Thank you for all of your prayers! 

I will have another appointment with my midwife next Thursday (if he hasn’t been born yet) and if he’s still measuring small, I’ll have another ultrasound next Friday just to do another check that everything is working properly. If it isn’t, they’d probably go ahead and induce labor just because he might do better outside of my tummy than inside. But my midwife’s hunch is that he’s perfectly healthy and normal and, while we are keeping a close eye on him, chances are there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Phew. 

The second positive thing was that his head has descended even further into the birth canal. My midwife could only feel 2/5 of his head outside of my pelvic bone which means he’s quite engaged and ready to get born. This is usually a good sign for a quicker labor process because the contractions don’t have to push him down into position since he’s already pretty low. Good job, baby boy! 

2) I passed my UK driving test and am now legally licensed to drive in the UK!!! 

For those of you unfamiliar with the crazy UK licensing process, this is a REALLY big deal and I’m so glad to have this behind me before baby boy is born. I will post a much longer blog post (or two) on this topic next week so that you can fully appreciate all that I have been through with this! 

3) Fall weather. 

Meteorologists are predicting that we’re headed for the worst winter in decades, but for now the sun is mostly shining and the temperatures are perfect for leggings, Ugg boots, and Chai Lattes. 

Still, I did have to pull out my coat on Thursday which is proof that winter is on her way. I bought a 7 A.M. Enfant igloo for baby boy which is basically a down sleeping bag that inserts into his carrier and stroller. 

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It will be perfect for our  winter walks. He’ll be taught early on that in Scotland, there is no bad weather, only bad gear. (And I’m sure I’ll be super jealous that he’ll be warm and snuggly in his igloo while I’m pushing his stroller through the snowy trails. ) 

Alright friends, I need to get back to nesting in case baby boy decides to be born today. My prediction was October 13, which just so happens to be *tomorrow*. I’ll keep you posted!