"Baby Alert!"

This was the title of an e-mail from my Aunt Barbara today saying that her daughter, my cousin Jess, is pregnant too!!! She found out the day after we told our parents a few weeks ago, so we are within a week or two of each other in terms of due dates. SSSSOOOOOOO exciting. I called her tonight and we shared our symptoms, and lack thereof, with each other - the main missing symptom being morning sickness which we're both VERY fine with. I hope I didn't just jinx us by putting it in writing...



Can I also just say I'm so glad Nate picked such a flattering picture of "us" (read: "me") to post. We definitely have lightened up on the pictures in the past year or two... I guess we were just saving up for the picture-heavy parenting years ahead of us.



Okay - a FRACTION of my dreams in the past few days:

* My sister Leigh told me she was pregnant; that she got pregnant right around when I did but didn't want to say anything "to take away from my special time". I remember wondering, but knowing it would be rude to ask, "What happened to you guys not planning on having kids? Were you trying?" So I just exclaimed that it was exciting, big news.

* My sister Emi's wedding day had come, and there was so much that still needed to be done that she was paralyzed and speechless, unable to speak to give directions for those of us who were asking what we could do to help. (I did send her an e-mail the next day to ask if there was anything I could do to help. She has since shared quite the extensive list of completed and well-under-way wedding tasks and projects - so rest assured it's under control in real life!)

* My family, friends and hundreds of neighbors had been rounded up and herded into a gymnasium during some kind of war-time conflict in which Jews and people of French heritage were to be executed. A few of us devised an escape plan, which consisted of excusing ourselves to the guards at the doors, telling them we had been mistaken for Jews or French people, but that we were in fact neither, and planned on them taking our word for it. It worked, but then my dad realized he forgot a camera case to a new camera he had just gotten himself for Christmas (See? That rules out Jewish!), and said he needed to go back in to get it. I figured that I, an innocent looking young pregnant woman, would be less likely to get questioned by the guards. So I told him that I would go in and get it - HOWEVER I had no intention of going that far. I was just going to pretend that I looked for it, and tell my father that I couldn't find it, knowing that in the end, he'd be more thankful that we were all alive vs. someone dying over the camera case.

* I should state that the subtitle for any of my dream postings should be: "I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up if I Tried".

And don't worry, other friends and family - you will at some point be included in my dreams as well. It's just a matter of time.



Okay back to pregnancy - "We'll" be 8 weeks tomorrow - image included.
Yes, people, those are webbed-paddle type appendages, and alien-looking eyes. Aren't they adorable??

I had an appointment with the OBGyn office on Wednesday - got a bag of free stuff - coupons for all the things we MUST have to be good parents, and Clorox wipes for all of those scary germs out there just waiting to infect our little Chester. And, I am not making this up, a personal razor for women with the shaving gel included in the handle of the device - because, presumably, moms don't have time to pick up a shaving gel bottle, take the lid off, squirt the gel onto their legs, and THEN shave. But it's enough of a priority to this company, and my doctor's office, that I still shave my legs, no matter how sleep deprived I may be. Well, I guess an OBGyn sees a lot of legs.... etc....


Oh yeah - the doctor's appointment. So I peed in a cup and had blood drawn to make sure I don't have syphilis, etc. Keep your fingers crossed on that one!

Did you feel the personal connection in that re-counting of my first prenatal appointment? No, me neither. Which is why I still consider myself to be shopping around for a provider. I had an appointment scheduled with a midwife that day as well, but she had to reschedule due to attending a labor. I guess I'll forgive her - goes with the territory. So, I'll see her next week instead.


Okay - I don't know why I thought for a second that I would maybe, just MAYBE, keep this entry shorter than the last one.... but for anyone who knows me, you know that short on words is just not my style. Just be glad this isn't a phone message on your answering machine. I'm the first to admit - I'm bad. I'm wordy. I'm out of control. I apologize to those of you who have been affected by my condition.

But hey, I mentioned earlier that I'm in "making-the-most-out-of-pre-baby-life" mode... and even a non-parent like me can see the writing on the wall (or the computer screen - groan) to know that I should not anticipate the amount of free time it takes to write blog entries of this length once I have little Chester attached to a mammary or asking for an eleventeenth bedtime story...


So - look away if reading these entries will be too painful for you. But for those of you who are intrigued enough to check in with the Sylvestieu Times, I think it's a realistic prediction that my entries will not be daily, but they will be comprehensive once they are posted - maybe once a week.

And as for Nate... well, he had the idea of starting a blog in the first place, did so, posted the ultrasound picture, and showed me how to make posts. I'm sure he's just holding back because once he gets started expressing his thoughts and feelings on such life-changing events as the one we'll be going through - you just can't stop him. Talk about flood gates.

I'm estimating that approximately 87% of you knew that that last statement was 100% sarcasm.


Okay, it's 8:16 and time for this pregnant lady to hit the hay.
Hope you got some chuckles.

Slow News Day

In case you haven't talked with us in awhile.... there is a bun in the proverbial oven.

Everything IS still going along as hoped.
However I think it’s safe to say that I, at least, have been in a “breath-holding mode”. Just counting down the days till the 12-week mark, when the risk of miscarriage greatly decreases. I know no one likes to hear a newly pregnant woman verbalizing these thoughts, and Nate was asking, “Why would we be any more likely than someone else to go through that?” For a while that logic comforted me, but after going through more than two years to get to this point, I’d say I have the “Infertility Complex” which is what often plagues women who went through a range of difficulties getting pregnant. Once it finally happens, you just can’t believe it. So, I’m definitely not taking one moment of this for granted.

I’m also in “enjoying-pre-baby-life-to-the-fullest mode”.
We hosted a dinner party Saturday night, then slept WAY in Sunday morning. I chalk that up to perhaps (I don’t think it’s my imagination) feeling more tired than usual – a common early pregnancy symptom. The thought of having another pregnancy symptom comforts me and helps it feel more real.

I also have another upcoming Girls’ Day/Night Beading Getaway next weekend. A few of us have gotten together a couple of times so far in 2007 for an overnight estrogen-extravaganza… a total indulgence, I know. So far they’ve been hosted by Amy Whitman and Leigh Mathieu, but the next one is going to be at a hotel in Freeport, and will feature beading galore, as we hooked over 3 new beaders to the addictive (and dirt-cheap – NOT) hobby. So, I have that to look forward to as well.

Nate just finished his 4th class through Penn State on-line, so he now has a certificate in GIS (Geographical Information Systems). He’s taking some time to think about whether or not he wants to get his masters.

We received a card of congratulations from Nate’s Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim, advising us to stay away from names for Baby Sylvester like: Chester, Lester, Esther… I crack up every time I think of those names… and now think of our raspberry-sized, tail-sporting, “Chester” and smile.

And speaking of funny names, in an e-mail recently from my mother-in-law (or “MIL”) Debbie, she referred to me as her “favorite daughter-in-law-and-future-daughter-of-her-grandbaby”. Aww shucks. In my e-mail response, I referred to her as my “favorite mother-in-law-and-future-grandmother-of-our-baby”, and then had a good laugh when I spelled out that acronym, which is FMILAFGOOB. Of course I couldn’t help but to include my astute observation in my e-mail to her. I think she thought it was funny too. :J

My already active dream-life has been on overdrive in the past few weeks. I don’t even know where I would begin with that one. That could be a whole other blog! For those of you who know how detailed and colorful my pre-pregnancy dream life has been, I’m sure you can only imagine. Expect to be entertained in future posts by this sub-theme of the effects of pregnancy.

I’ll end with a partial list of things that, no, we still don’t know about:

What we’ll do about work, daycare, etc.
Baby names
My last name
Names for grandparents
Midwife vs. OBGyn
Cloth vs. disposable diapers
Whether or not we’ll find out the sex before the birth
How many and what type of drugs I’ll want for the delivery. (Good lord I still can’t wrap my mind around that one.)


We’re just taking it one day at a time and trying to enjoy the ride.
Thanks everyone, as always, for your love and support!
Until next time,

Nicky and Nate