The Small Family     

It’s been a busy but good last week at home before we embark on our grand journey on Tuesday! Theo spent the week attending preschool and swim lessons, both of which were big hits.

Let’s start with swimming. As I think I mentioned a few weeks ago, we decided to abort traditional swim lessons for the rest of the summer, since Theo wasn’t quite ready for them. His particular swim teacher doesn’t believe in using any sort of flotation devices (life jackets, arm floaties, etc.) to teach swimming because she feels it throws off the child’s natural sense of balance in the water--that is, if they fall in a pool without those devices, and they haven’t learned how water feels without them, they’ll be completely lost in terms of how to swim and save themselves. So she goes straight into unassisted swimming. And when the child is only three, she says it’s really a matter of the child’s own desire to do it--those who want to can succeed (and indeed, I saw a little boy a month older than Theo swimming like a fish on Thursday!), and those who are unsure just won’t quite get it and are better off trying again when they’re a year older. Theo falls in the latter group.

That said, we wanted to make sure he still had his backfloat skills, so he’d be safe around water until next year, when he should be able to learn actual swimming. So we spent the last couple of weeks going twice a week, just to refresh his backfloat skills. And what a difference from last year and the year before, where he would scream mightily the whole time! (As you’ll recall, he did learn to float last year--he just wasn’t happy about it. Deborah fondly refers to Theo as “one of [her] toughest students in 30 years of teaching survival backfloat.” What a distinction to have, eh?! I could’ve thought of better ones!) Anyway, this year Theo is a floating champ! Although he was stiff as a board while trying to swim, the minute we switched back to backfloat, he completely relaxed and settled right back into it. And last year, he had to paddle to stay afloat, but this year he floats stretched out on his back, hands behind his head as if he’s sunning himself on a beach in Tahiti--calm and happy as can be. He even smiles and talks while he’s doing it--no screaming! Needless to say, we’re all very proud of the little fish. Deborah is confident he’ll pick up swimming next year--she says there’s a world of difference between age three and four when it comes to swimming ability.

Because this was his last week of float lessons, I took a bunch of pictures for this week’s album, and you’ll see how content he looks. Does my heart good to see him so relaxed!

And then there’s preschool--another place where he’s wonderfully happy and relaxed. (Although in that case, “relaxed” sometimes translates to “let’s see how much I can challenge them, since I feel comfortable here!”) But I think it’s safe to say he loves preschool. Actually, that may be an understatement. On Tuesday morning, he came bounding down the stairs after he woke up saying, “It’s Tuesday! Feo go to preschool! Maybe Sean will be there! Maybe Hunter and Tristan, too!” And he was bouncing off the walls for the next 90 minutes, until it was time to go. And when I picked him up three hours later, the first thing he said was, “Feo go back to preschool on Thursday!” He really does live for preschool, apparently….

Sean, by the way, is his little buddy. I think it’s so sweet! In general, Theo is a bit of a loner who prefers to play on his own. He’s not antisocial by any means--he just seems to prefer to be doing his own thing. And the head teacher at his school had mentioned the same thing to me, so I know the same was true at school. However, he seems to have warmed to Sean. And Sean to him--when I dropped Theo at preschool on Tuesday, Sean was a little late arriving. His family was just pulling up as I was leaving, and as his mom got him out of the car, I heard him ask, “Can I go say hi to Theo?!” And then later, Theo and I stopped at Target to pick up a few things, and Theo was just sure he saw his buddy Sean there. (It wasn’t him, but I thought it was cute that he got all excited when he thought Sean was there.)

Theo’s also singing songs he learned at preschool now, which is fun. “Baby Beluga” is his current favorite, although he only seems to know the chorus, so we just hear that over and over….

Regarding our little Chickpea, we have our 12-week appointment tomorrow. Fingers crossed that we get to hear that beautiful little heartbeat. I’m almost officially into my second trimester, which should allow me to relax a bit, since most miscarriages happen in the first trimester, and I'm nearly past that point. We did, however have a bit of drama on the Chickpea front. Hopefully very minor, though I’d certainly prefer no drama. It seems Luna and I are living parallel lives--we both had routine urine tests last Friday, and we both turned out to have undiagnosed bladder infections. The problem is, my bladder infection is caused by Group B strep--not just the usual bacteria that cause bladder infections. So I'm on antibiotics right now--but the bigger issue is that Group B strep can be very dangerous to the mother and baby. It shouldn’t be a problem, because now that they know I have it, we can watch it and treat it. But still…it is one more thing to worry about.

I’m betting a lot of you are wondering what Group B strep is…and so I’ll tell you. Apparently Group B strep as a bacteria is very common--one in four women have it in their vaginal or digestive tract. It tends to just lie dormant in there. I didn't have it with Theo, but it can come and go at any time. They normally swab you at 37 weeks (ugh--the silver lining to all this is that now I don’t have to undergo that dreadful swabbing!), and if you test positive, they just give you IV antibiotics during labor so you don't pass Group B strep to the baby during delivery. (If the baby gets it, it can result in meningitis, sepsis, pneumonia, retardation, or death--so nothing you want to mess with.) So it's pretty common (1 in 4) to get a positive swab at 37 weeks. But you become "high risk" for passing it to the baby if you have an active infection of it--that is, a bladder infection, like I have--during ANY point in your pregnancy--no matter how early you are in the pregnancy. So I definitely have to have IV antibiotics during labor (no 37-week swab needed--it's a given that I have to be on antibiotics during labor now), and they have to make sure to treat me with antibiotics during pregnancy if it shows up in my urine again. Obviously, it's better NOT to take stuff while pregnant, but the infection, if left untreated, can not only cause problems for the baby, but also meningitis, sepsis, kidney infections, and all manner of unpleasant things in the mother. So, I guess the plan is to just keep routinely testing my urine, and any time a Group B strep infection shows up, I take more antibiotics.

Now that I’ve had an active Group B strep infection, I’m also at increased risk for miscarriage, preterm labor, and preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy, which requires bed rest). Ugh. In theory, it should all be fine--they caught it, they know to watch for it to reoccur, and all should go well with treatment. And truly, even the “high risk” category I’m now in isn’t really that big of a risk--it’s just greater than for a woman who hasn’t had an active infection while she’s pregnant. And actually, one of Chris’s cousins had a baby born with Group B strep who was fine after antibiotic treatment, so I shouldn’t worry. But you know--you hear words like “meningitis, retardation, and death” related to your baby, and it’s not a happy thing.

But on to happy news about Chickpea: The baby is developing reflexes this week! His/her little mouth will begin making sucking motions, his/her fingers will curl, etc. Supposedly if I poke my belly, the baby will squirm in response--though it’s still much to early for me to feel it. Chickpea is now the size of a lime, weighs half an ounce, and his/her face looks decidedly human now. Awww!

In case you’re wondering about me, I’m rather curvy and chubby right now. That is, I’m rather voluptuous, and my non-maternity pants are rather tight. I’m still wearing non-maternity clothes, but the tops are tight, and I’m wearing cheap, elastic-waist capri pants because my jeans are just too tight now. (Maternity pants are well over $20/pair, so I cheaped out and just bought some $7 elastic-waist capris at Walmart. They're lovely; let me tell you... ;-) But I have maternity clothes for cold weather from when I was pregnant with Theo, and it seemed silly to spend a lot of money on summery maternity clothes when I don’t really need them.) Without clothes on, I definitely have a little belly, but I don’t think it shows when I’m wearing clothes--most people would just think I’ve gained a couple of pounds, I think.

Morning sickness isn’t as bad as it has been--probably because I’m rapidly approaching the “honeymoon phase” of the second trimester, where I’ll supposedly get my energy back and not feel so nauseated! (This was indeed true with Theo--I felt great during my second trimester. Hope it’s true this time, too!)

And let me wrap up with a neat little story. Theo and I went to meet up with some of my friends from Sac State this week, and in the car on the way there, Theo was muttering about the baby. I heard him say, “Feo will share books with the baby. And Feo will turn the pages and read to the baby….” Oh, my heart melted at the idea of my sweet little boy reading to his sibling someday! I’m sure they will have their moments of frustration with each other (probably quite a few in the early days…), but moments like that will make up for sibling squabbles, methinks….

So on Tuesday, we’re off for a two-week jaunt to the East Coast! That said, I won’t be blogging again until sometime after August 21^st. We get back on the 21^st, and I’ll post trip pictures and write-ups sometime after that…as soon as I dig myself out from under the accumulated work and get to upload all our pictures! For those curious, we’re flying into Pittsburgh (Theo thinks Pittsburgh is the height of excitement--he’s telling everyone, “Feo’s going to PITTSBURGH!!”), spending a night there, and then driving to western Virginia (the Shenandoah Valley, to be specific) to spend several days with my Aunt Sally and Uncle David. Then we’ll take a quick pass through the Fairfax area to take a peek, just in case that dream job of Chris’s ever gets funding back and we end up relocating there, and then we’ll head north to Buffalo to visit with a bunch of my family. After about five days in Buffalo, we’re headed back to Pittsburgh, and we’ll fly home from there. A long trip, but it should be great fun! See you all in a few weeks….