Oh, the places you'll go

15 weeks into pregnancy, and here I am planning our child's future travel itinerary. Locations where I've travelled, but B hasn't; places we've traveled together; geographies we still hope to explore in the future. 15 weeks. Imagine the plans I'll have devised by the time g-unit makes his or her first real trip into the light of day. Nevermind at 15 months or years. But I suppose this is part of the journey that I've embarked on, as well. Finding a way to balance between dreaming of possibilities for our child and allowing him or her to create them independently. And I'm sure thoughts of travel are just the beginning--there's always those other details like education, career, lifestyle. At the heart of it all, though, I just hope for g-unit to experience all of the opportunities I've been fortunate enough to experience, like travel. And if we get a postcard from Turkey some day 20 years down the road, then that's icing on the cake.

This recent bout of introspection was prompted by our return from a week-long trip to the Pacific Northwest. We were there first and foremost to celebrate the wedding of Elizabeth, my friend, teammate, and roomate from college. The wedding was beautiful, and being in Seattle for the first time was pretty awesome. After the wedding, we drove up to Vancouver, BC. Another awesome city.

Some highlights of g-unit's in utero firsts:

• Plane ride. Cross-country, no less. He/she is already a trooper.
• Walk down the aisle. g-unit was more visible than ever, courtesy of an a-line bridesmaid dress with sash that accented his/her growing space requirements.
• Meeting with the Williams friends. I like to think g-unit was waving right back in response to the hellos and belly pats.
• Border crossing. Into Canada. Next time we leave the country together a passport for him/her will probably be required.
• Trip to the casino! If mom and dad can't afford diapers in six months it's because we blew it all on the slot machines. ;)

All in all, it was a wonderful week. We spent a lot of time outdoors, visited with new and old friends, and enjoyed the unending generosity of Elizabeth's family. I'm hoping to post some pictures in the next week or so, stay tuned.

Measuring life in 3-month increments

For many of us, we tend to live life with some awareness of the passage of time, and increments of time in particular. Weeks until vacation, years married, work deadlines, and happy occasions. But for me, pregnancy has certainly tapped into that natural inclination in a new way. This week I said good-bye to the first trimester and welcomed in the second. Three months down, six to go. And I've got to say, I will not miss the first trimester. All-day "morning" sickness, sheer exhaustion, growing out of my regular jeans but not yet looking visibly pregnant, and of course the anxiety of wondering if something will go wrong in that tenuous period of pregnancy. I've heard that the second trimester is the most blissful of the trimesters, and I'm looking forward to the experience.

Already, I've bid adieu to the morning sickness and overwhelming need to sleep, and the difference is remarkable. Food tastes good again--maybe even better than before--which is a huge relief to someone who enjoys cooking and eating as much as I do. One of the memories from mid-first-trimester that B and I will likely carry with us is the moment when I stared (or maybe glared) across the dinner table at him with a look of utter disgust. He asked what was going on, and I couldn't help but respond honestly: "Watching you eat that piece of chicken makes me want to throw up." I was never revolted by B himself, but it's probably hard not to take that sort of thing personally when it comes from your wife. Needless to say, B's been unbelievably helpful and supportive through the ups and downs of those first three months. I feel incredibly thankful for this, and sometimes feel like I'll need to make it up to him at another point. But then I remember what the labor and delivery process will be like. And the feedings every two hours after g-unit arrives. And I think, "then again, maybe it all evens out in the end."

In the meantime, bring on the second-trimester bliss!

It's not for me, it's for the baby

When I've thought of blogs in the past, words and phrases like "narcissistic," "egocentric," and "who cares about your life?" have popped into my head. But, over time my opinion has shifted. I started avidly reading friends' blogs and realized the answer to "who cares?" was "I do." My husband started a blog, and found a new community. And now, as we're expecting our first child, I've found myself doing the unthinkable, and creating my very own blog. Of course, it's not really for me, it's for the baby. (And all the baby's adoring fans.)

For the purposes of this blog, our dear child will be called "little g-unit," invoking 1) the initial of our last name, 2) the fact that we're not finding out the sex, and 3) my poor taste in musical interests/pop culture. For those who don't know, G-Unit is a hip-hop artist. Of whom I'm not a particularly big fan, but the name stuck with me when thinking about our growing G family. The first of many very uncool things I will do as a mother, I'm sure.

Last week, g-unit and I went for our 12-week check-up. Happily, all is well. We have confirmation that both g-unit and I are healthy and fulfilling our respective tasks for "production" (as B likes to call the miraculous process of growing a life inside oneself). And with this confirmation, our comfort level with sharing our news has grown. Not that this really stopped us from telling many family and friends almost the moment we found out we were expecting. As well as random strangers on occasion. Like the waitress B told when I was 7 weeks pregnant. She commented that we didn't eat that much, and he explained "she's pregnant, so she's having trouble eating." B's ability to keep news quiet--especially great, life-changing news--is virtually non-existent. It's one of his charms. And I wonder if it will be one of the charms of our dear little g-unit. Only time will tell...

Until the next post,
MKG and g-unit