Sunday, March 11, 2007

Harbingers

Signs of Spring today:

This beautiful, warm, sunny, breezy, day.
Crocuses, and the beginnings of daffodils.
Neighbors, doing yard work.
Neighbors, hanging laundry outside.
Grills for sale.

Things that have made me cry spontaneously:

A country song on the radio.
Burning part of dinner.
Five different completely imagined scenarios.
Don coming home from work half-an-hour later than I was expecting him.

As Don says, my brain is more pregnant than my body, right now. Physically, I feel great. Wonderful. Not just not bad, but actively good. I think this may be because I've been taking vitamins continuously for 3 weeks now, which is probably longer than I've ever taken vitamins. They're probably stopping up all kinds of dietary gaps or something. Or, my body is really enjoying this very very first stage of pregnancy, getting high on hormones or something. Or, because I'm so happy to be pregnant, I feel good. I don't really care, to be honest, I'm just enjoying myself.

Unfortunately I seem to be spending money like a mad woman, money that I'm trying to save! Because, hello! Baby coming, need every last dime, right? So far I've bought:

From Amazon.com:

Dr. Sears' Guide to Pregnancy* (used)
Dr. Sears' Birth Book* (used)
A book on pre- and post-natal nutrition (used)
A prenatal yoga DVD

From Old Navy:

Yoga pants (you know, to go with the DVD!)
a really cute, *longer* sweater


From Mountain Rose Herbals:

2 pounds of Red Raspberry Leaf tea
1 pound of Nettle leaf
1/2 pound of Red Clover

From the grocery store: 100 dollars' worth of healthy, nourishing food.

From Whole Foods: Natural peanut butter, almond butter, flax seed, wheat germ, whole-wheat pitas, frozen berries, and the new Mothering magazine--another 30 dollars' worth of stuff.

From Lowe's:

A grill, so that Don won't feel left out.
Bag of hickory chips for the grill.

Please, somebody stop me! I can't help myself! Usually I'm not much of a shopper, but I have a reason and a motive like never before. I have an excuse to buy the best, healthiest, (most expensive!) foods that I usually avoid. Books and magazines that I've held off on in the past so as not to be crazy. Now, it's like the floodgates have opened and they have a debit card. Stand back people: she's pregnant, hormonal and ready to shop! Actually, I think I'm done for awhile now. I've got what I need, or I will once it all arrives in the mail. I just went a little nuts with the ordering is all.


*Don't worry, Amanda, I've read through the books before, and they're not scary like What to Expect-- they don't list EVERY SINGLE THING THAT CAN GO WRONG to the point where having a normal pregnancy seems almost impossible. The birth book is pretty empowering, I think.

4 comments:

ayla said...

I've heard the birth book is really empowering. I haven't read it yet though. I've read a Penny Simkin book and now I'm reading Sheila Kitzinger, both women I really enjoy, though Sheila is more judgemental toward the medical profession. Remember, "organic" does not always mean "better quality". I eat natural peanut butter because it has less sugar, but I guy regular old fruit and wash it. Sometimes I buy canned fruit. But a grill? We need one of those.

Bella said...

Be careful with the red raspberry and nettle. Wait until you are into the beginning of the third trimester. They are good to get the uterus strong, but it does so by promoting contractions (not the birthing kind) and if you start too early with the teas, it can lead to some bleeding. The joys at working for Whole foods and having friends that run the nutrition section. :)
Might I recommend Yogi Tea? They have one especially for expectant moms (it's called Mother To Be Tea) and it's yummy. After the little one is born, I recommend their Nursing Moms Tea to help keep your milk production up (and drink LOTS of water).
Mothering Mag is AWESOME!! and the prenatal yoga saved my ass; literally. :)

Mara said...

Amanda, I'm planning on being very, VERY careful w/ the RRL. Getting *most* of my information about it here:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=347728

The thread is like 30 pages long, dozens of women sharing their experiences with it. Some agree with you, others take it all the way from trying to concieve until after birth.

I've always tried to choose organic foods not just for their health value but for ecological reasons-- the chemical pesticides and fertilizers, water waste and etc. I can't afford to go all-organic all-local but the CSA will be a great start.

Bella said...

regardless of what you do, just make sure you feel comfortable and dude HAVE FUN BEING PREGGERS!!!! Heheh