awesome vegan kids.

I am very aware that there is a big divide in the vegan community in regards to giving birth to children, rather than adopting or remaining childless. While I completely respect anyone who chooses not to have children for any reason, I also expect others to respect our choice to have a little vegan. Sadly, many vegan parents catch a shit-ton of flack for having biological children. I have not yet been faced with any anger, judgments, or elitist remarks about the pregnancy, and hopefully I won't. All I ask is if you have a problem with me and my vegan husband having a kid, kindly think it, rather than tell us. As my mom always says, "What other people think of us is none of our business." Unless they make it our business.

Our friend Josh wrote an excellent blog post a few years ago about he and his partner's vegan daughter, the discrimination they experience within the community because of her, and the most logical reasons to back off. Sadly, he deleted his old blog. Did you happen to save that post, Josh?

"Tell your politics the world needs awesome vegan kids raised by awesome vegan parents."

- our wise friend Josh

15 weeks, moving right along.

food image from The Bump.

I scored my first pair of maternity jeans at a consignment shop Miss Jill told me about called Tadpoles. $9.99! They're so funny, maternity jeans. I tried on six pair all labeled the same size, three of them the same brand. Every single pair fit differently. But these, I like. I think I heard the fetus sigh with relief when I put them on.

And hey, I have a bump! I seem to be showing a lot more than just a week ago. To to the untrained eye, it probably just looks like I've been hitting the donuts harder lately. it will be nice to look a little more pregnant. However, I am going to miss sleeping on my back.

the triple screen test.

So, the triple screen test. During Friday's appointment, we were asked if we had decided to move forward with this testing option. Originally, I thought I would go ahead with the test because there's no harm in drawing a little blood, right? Then I did some reading about the triple screen, which helps estimate the chances of a child being born with various birth defects. What I found out was that the test tends to be around 60% accurate when an abnormal result is given. So basically I could get an abnormal result, then have to either freak out with worry for the rest of the pregnancy, or go through a potentially harmful amniocentesis procedure. We discussed these things with our doctor, and he said in his experience, the abnormal triple screen results are almost always inaccurate, 4 out of 5! After hearing this, I feel my risk of a miscarriage during an amnio procedure (about 1 in 400 chance) is outweighing the benefit of "knowing" (but not really knowing for certain).

It would be a real tragedy to have our child be born with down syndrome or spina bifida. And if I were in a higher risk category, then we would probably reconsider our decision to pass on the testing. But neither of us have a family history of birth defects, I'm not diabetic on insulin, I haven't had a viral infection while pregnant, I don't work around high levels of radiation, and I don't use drugs. The only risk factor I have is my "advanced maternal age" of 35.  We are passing on the triple screen test and the amnio for now. The doctor not only supported our decision, but completely agreed that the inaccuracy of the triple screen test tends to cause more harm with worry than anything else.

I'm still gonna worry, I just don't need to feed it more than my late night googling sessions already do.

14 weeks- lemon.

I finally had my 14 week appointment this morning. We got to hear our kitten's heartbeat on the Doppler for the first time, which means my chance of miscarriage is really low now, about 3%. The doctor was in such a hurry that he was just going to send us off after that, but it had been a month since my last ultrasound, and we really wanted to see the change. So we waited for almost an hour (!) for an ultrasound. I tried entertaining Ken in the ultrasound room by inflating a rubber glove to make myself a rooster comb, and by messing with the equipment. I tend to make him nervous. Anyway, the ultrasound was cool. It was hard to see since my bladder was empty (sound waves travel better through water, don't you know), but we saw a foot, a fist, and spine. It was so difficult to make out that they didn't even bother printing one out for us. Next time, I'm sneaking in a bottle of water with me, because the first thing they always have me do is give a urine sample. You'd think they would wait until after the ultrasound, since it makes such a big difference.

My friend Malia and her cutie pie toddler Alessia visited me at the store yesterday. She was so kind to bring us a few things, like a Baby Bjorn, a baby book, a newborn tee, and some tiny clothes hangers. Such nice friends I have. The tiny little baby things are a reminder that there's a baby at the end of all of this. A little scary.

I'm feeling pretty good though, overall. I will need to get myself a pair of maternity jeans soon, I think. I attempted to do this via my favorite thrift store, Value Village. But of course VV doesn't have dressing rooms. So two pair I've picked up have been all wrong for my size. It's hard to tell with maternity jeans, they fit so different than regular clothes. I'll just keep the with the hair-tie-through-the-beltloop trick until I can break down and buy a pair.

Oh, one last thing from this week- the depression study I'm enrolled in contacted me, and they are keeping me in a group that only gets to answer questions on the phone. No classes, no yoga. I still get paid the $35, at least. Bummersville.

12 weeks 2 days.

The last week of my first trimester. And just like all the books and articles say, my symptoms are dropping off like clockwork. No more queasy, and a lot less boobie pain. But I did wake up to a new, annoying issue: dizziness. So of course I Googled that shit. Here's what I found out:
During pregnancy, progesterone increases the flow of blood to your baby, resulting in lower blood pressure and reduced blood flow to your brain — giving you that dizzy feeling all over. This tends to start around 12 weeks. source

I wonder how pregnant ladies got on before the internet? It's not like doctors tell you everything (or anything, really). Guess their moms, sisters and friends helped with that stuff.

More energy and less queasy helped out yesterday when Ken and I went for a light hike at Kennesaw Mountain. The insanely hot weather has started to give way to cool breezes, so it was a nice time to be outside. Those of you who know me in person know that I'm not exactly the athletic type. But I enjoy walks and yoga for exercise. I have noticed that I tire more easily just walking around. It's kind of pathetic to be panting away after 15 minutes on a slight incline. But I'm trying to not be too hand on myself, and not push myself too far. I do plan to keep moving throughout the pregnancy, but I can't expect to have the same stamina as I did before baby.

I have my next doctor appointment late next week. I can't wait to see how the little plum is growing!