The Exploratorium-August 24, 2013

 Yesterday GK & I decided to take BART into the city to visit the newly relocated Exploratorium. Anyone who grew up in the bay area probably went to the original Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of a school field trip. This year it relocated to Pier 15 which makes it much easier to get to from the East Bay. Before heading in we stopped at the Plant Cafe for an iced decaf soy latte and a vegan chocolate peanut butter cupcake.

Above is a pic GK is taking of me squatting out front in a twisted type mirror. My Bradley Method teacher advises to squat often so I have worked this in to every day routines-squatting to pet Elsie, squatting to peel vegetables over the compost bin, squatting to readjust my new maternity pants on the Embarcadero.

The Exploratorium is  described as a "learning laboratory" filled with hands on exhibits to encourage learning. Understandably-the place is filled with children which was a bit overwhelming at times. At one point GK complained-"That little girl is hogging the drum set!" I told him that's what little kids do. Inside I was thinking that she seriously did need to give someone else a turn. Luckily we had some room to take these really cool Andy Warhol type pics.

This experiment is a window where you and another person sit across from one another, match your faces up, and slowly change the light setting resulting in a combination of your faces. We saw two sisters playing around with it and their end result was very cute. I figured that GK and I could get a possible glimpse of what the baby may look like. Terrifying.

 

Just a reminder that we are actually very good looking people.

 My 24 week belly shot with Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge in the background.

 

After a 6 mile road/trail run that morning coupled with walking to and around the Exploratorium, I was beat and took a little break on the observatory. Shortly after this pic was taken, I returned home for a nap at 5pm-only to wake for about and hour and a half to watch an episode of Breaking Bad and eat Indian food in our guest bed.

If you can-go to the Exploritorium. A few recommendations-purchase your tickets online, if you can't (we didn't), no worries-we still got a discount for living locally. I got an additional discount after I told him I'm a Social Worker that works with children (teachers get an automatic discount). There was also this amazing exhibit about mental health that we stumbled upon that will be there until next spring. Also-if you're not into some little girl hogging the drum set-Thursday nights they're open from 6-10pm and you must be 18 or over to enter.

Weeks 16, 18, & 20

 16 weeks-Me getting ready to go for a run. I refer to this stage as my beer/burrito belly. If you didn't know that I was pregnant-you'd just think I stopped working out and had a large meal. At the time I really thought that no one had a clue but when I finally decided to go public-I was informed by many that they had suspicions for weeks.

 18 weeks-At a 60s pool party rocking the monokini. This was an extremely hot day and I was one of a few guests over the age of 12 who actually made use of the pool. There also happened to be a hula hoop demonstration at the party and we were invited to try it out. It was almost like I was born to spend a week in the desert wearing oddly cut swimwear while engaging in somewhat meaningless exercise/entertainment. The only thing that was missing was the ecstasy.

20 weeks-GK's 41st birthday in Carmel. I think I look much bigger in this picture than I really was at the time as I was still wearing all my regular clothes. I blame the angle, the cropped jacket, and the Buddha elephant statue.

Alien Baby

 I had my 20-week ultrasound on July 23rd when I was exactly 20 weeks along. My favorite pic is the first one on your left-the one of her lying on her side with a very serious look on her face. Like an alien. A serious alien.

The two above are much more traditional but don't quite capture her personality like the alien portrait.

I have to give Kaiser credit. By the time I was back in the office I already had an email from my doctor who had received the good news from the radiologist that everything looked normal and that my due date was confirmed. 

Doesn't look like I'll get to have another ultrasound until somewhere around my due date unless I decide to pay our of pocket for a private 3D/4D one. These ultrasounds generally serve no medical purpose at all and are purely for entertainment. I have mixed feelings. I'm a bit cheap when it comes to giving in to the business of babies-so much stuff the industry will tell you that you need but you really don't. I say this with a certain sense of authority having worked in the Child Welfare field for 10+ years. I know that the only things you really need are a car seat, diapers, clothes, and a blanket or two. Everything else is really all about comfort and convenience. 

However-I got to thinking and confided in GK that what happens when she turns 7 and wants to know what she looked like in the womb? What if there's a show & tell at school where the kids bring their 3D/4D pictures to class to share and she has nothing? I'd hate to have to make up a lie in an attempt to conceal my love of saving money. So to put things into perspective-I thought about myself. I'd love if a 3D pic of myself and my twin existed while we were still in the womb. So we're 90% sure we're going to go forward with it.

The Beginning...

I found out that I was pregnant on April 6, 2013 when I was only 4 weeks along. A visit to my doctor around week 8 confirmed the pregnancy. Because I am considered Advanced Maternal Age (AMA) I was offered and opted for genetic testing. This was done during week 12-right after we returned from a vacation to Hawaii. One perk (besides finding out if there are any chromosomal abnormalities) about having genetic testing completed is that you can also find out the gender. On June 12th I finally received my testing results and no problems were noted.

GK was a bit undecided if he wanted to know the gender, that it could be a nice surprise to wait until the birth but I think having a baby is surprise enough. I received my testing results by phone, said I absolutely wanted to know the gender, immediately texted him to let him know everything was fine and did he want to know the gender. Initially he replied, "no," but then about 3 hours later he texted indicating he did want to know but not over the phone. This was a work night for him and he did not plan to be home until 3am when I would be fast asleep. Elsie agreed to help me out.

While I understand that first and foremost you want a healthy child-I was also pretty vocal about wanting a girl and so was GK. I think for me this comes from having two brothers and longing for a sister. For GK-he has 1 niece (oldest) and 3 nephews so he felt it was time for another girl in his family. And the clothes are so much cuter.