Introducing: Aviana Rajan Owings

She's already 1 month old, but this is the first time I have been able to formally post her introduction to the web world :). Aviana Rajan Owings arrived on on August 10th, 2009, 3 days after her planned birthday. Although the birth didn't go exactly as planned, I can't complain too much b/c she arrived healthy! (The birth story will be posted at a later time).

So far Aviana has been a great baby girl. Not colicky and sleeps well most of the time! She has had her fussy days/nights, but overall, we feel very fortunate to have a sweet baby to share our lives with.

I do have to admit though - being a mommy is one of the hardest things I have ever done! Spending almost every moment caring for a child is a test of one's patience, strength, and mind! I have heard it gets easier as they get a bit older, but I'm not convinced that is true ;).

I will be adding a link to photo's of her shortly!

Love -

S

She's late for her own birthday!

Baby AminOwings has apparently decided that August 7th won't be her birthday! She's already rebelling against her mommy and daddy. I guess she's just giving us a glimpse of what to expect the rest of our lives!!

I am completely anxious at this point. At every contraction, I get excited thinking that maybe this is it! I'm not exactly looking forward to labor, but I am definitely excited to finally meet this new member of my family. I think that all my friends and family are a bit anxious at this point as well!!

I can't wait to post our first picture of our daughter. Hopefully it won't be too long now.

love,

S

Nursery

My friend Robin has been asking me to post a few photo's of Baby AminOwings' nursery - and I'm finally getting around to it!! Below is a short video of the room. It is still a work in progress - we are still awaiting our glider, we are still putting together the bedding on the reading pallet you see in the nursery, and Justin is painting a piece to put between the sconces....so even though baby is due any day now, her nursery will probably take a few more weeks to complete!! :).

Let me know what you think!!

Aminowings Nursery from j o-wings on Vimeo.

Love

S

Natural Birthing Experience via Hypnobirthing

Since I've gotten pregnant, I have been seriously thinking about what I want my "birthing experience" to be like. Early on, I decided I wanted to attempt a natural birth - without any medications. The two methods that I started considering were the "Bradley Method" and "Hypnobirthing." After speaking with my midwife, my husband I made the decision to try Hypnobirthing. We wanted to make sure that our practioners were supportive of our birthing decision, and every midwife we spoke to at our practice recommended Hypnobirthing over the Bradley Method. I think the general consensus with the Bradley Method was that, in their experience, the mothers who chose this method were more anti-intervention and/or recommendations made by the midwife AND the success rate for completing a natural birth was higher for Hypnobirthing in this particular practice.

I have read up on both methods and I believe either is a great method to prepare for childbirth. But I do recommend that your practioner supports whichever you decide upon.

Anyhow, Justin and I have been attending hypnobirthing classes for the past three weeks or so, and have found that the relaxation and breathing techniques are definitely beneficial in "destressing." We have a few more classes, and a lot more practicing to do, but I'm crossing my fingers that my birthing experience will be as relaxed as possible.

For references here's a link to a Dateline special on Hypnobirthing that came out about 10 years ago:

PART 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llT30oHxz6g&feature=related

PART 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f05YQbnsUGA&feature=related

And a great resource website: http://www.hypnobirthing.com/

T-36 days to go!

So I had my 35 week appointment today and there wasn't much new that they told me. The baby is about 5 1/2 weeks from being due, and all else seems normal.

Now let's define "normal" - swelling, fatigue, round ligament pain...all normal :). Anxiety, mixed in with anticipation is also "normal".

The house set up is coming along - as is the nursery. Even though we've made a lot of progress, I still feel like we're a gazillion miles away from having the house ready for baby. I know that sounds a bit ridiculous - I know baby doesn't need much anyhow. She'll have milk, clothes, diapers, and two loving parents. I'm sure that is really all she needs.

BUT, I know that all the stuff that needs to get done around the house won't really get done after she arrives. Moving at 30 weeks pregnant is really not something I suggest anyone to do. I'm trying to take a "laid back" attitude, and not let small things get to me...but I'm definitely not programmed that way it seems. Reprogramming oneself is not an easy task, but I'm trying!

I've been reading up on nursing and calming unhappy babies. I've gone to LLL meetings and watched DVD's on how calming techniques. We'll see how useful any of these things are once baby arrives :).

Husband and I are super excited to meet this little munchkin who's kicking around inside.

Baby Registry, et. al

Folks have been asking me about where I'm registered lately, so I thought I'd go ahead an add that information on this site as well. I'm registered at Babies R Us - this is the only place I actually have a "registry". However, I also have found a few items online and at various places that I like, and decided that rather create a "registry" there, I'd just post the items that I like on this site. For example, BabyLegs is a site where you can get these nifty leggings for children. They are one size fits all, and are also sold at various retail stores. Rather than searching them out, I thought I'd just put the link and give folks the option of getting it online, or at a local retailer near them. I know this throws the whole "return" policy thing out the window, but if you give me a gift receipt, I'm hoping wherever they are bought from will honor the receipt in the rare chance I receive 15 of the same item!!

OK - hopefully this helps those of you who have asked :)!

Love
S

The PROJECT!

Hello All!

Only 9 weeks to go, and I've finally created a blog for Project AminOwings :). I've had intentions to start a blog to keep everyone updated on the pregnancy for some time now, but I guess time just has gotten away from me. Our pending arrival was dubbed "The Project" or "Project AminOwings" early on by my husband prior to knowing the sex and since we didn't really like calling the baby "it". We also aren't revealing her name until her birth, so "The Project" has now been how we and others we know refer to our bun in the oven.

I cannot believe I'm already 31 weeks pregnant! Time really has flown by these past 8 months or so. Here's a brief recap of my experience thus far:

FIRST TRIMESTER:
Finding out I was pregnant was definitely a shocker...If I had to replay what was going on in my head it would play out like this: "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OOOOOHHH MY GODDD! HOW ARE WE GOING TO HANDLE A CHILD! WE CAN DO IT...OH MY GOD! HOW IS JUSTIN GOING TO REACT?! OH MY GOD!!"

Telling Justin the big news did help calm me down...his laid back and "we can handle anything" attitude definitely helped put me at ease and make me realize that we were ready for this new challenge.

Nausea, exhaustion and a sore chest plagued me for about the next 5 weeks after I found I was pregnant. I was told by someone (who happened to be male) that some of the first trimester symptoms could be "psychosomatic" - and although that may be scientifically true - let me give you some advise: NEVER TELL A PREGNANT WOMEN THAT THE FEELINGS SHE IS GOING THROUGH ARE A MANIFESTATION OF HER MIND. It's completely foolish, especially considering the fact that as a male, you will NEVER go through anything like pregnancy. Just be supportive and sympathetic towards all she is going through..(ok, I'm getting off my soap box now).

SECOND TRIMESTER
Most books tell you that in this trimester women get begin to get their energy back and feel rejuvanated (at least compared to the first trimester) and I have to agree. The nausea and utter exhaustion definitely went away. I felt good for most of it, but in an effort to be truthful, you do experience some not so pleasant things as well: constipation, round ligament pains started creeping up on me big time and the sore chest continued to bother me.

You also face the reality that you will need to begin buying some new clothes! In my fourth till about the fifth month I got by using the bella band, but towards the end of my fifth month I definitely had to dish out some cash to go maternity shopping. And maybe I'm just stingy, but maternity clothes are crazy expensive!! I started off with a few things from an outlet shop I went to with my sister and cousin, but I've had to add significantly to maternity wardrobe as the weeks progressed since there was no way I'd be wearing my pre maternity clothes to work or at home!

The first big milestone in my pregnancy was feeling the baby move. I felt the baby quite early - 14 weeks. I was sitting in bed reading a book and eating ice cream :), and started feeling butterflies in my stomach. At first I didn't know what it was..I thought I just became anxious for some reason, but then it would stop and start up again. I pulled out our handy dandy version of "what to expect.." and read about what it feels like when a baby moves early on...and it said it felt like butterflies flapping around..the reality of the pregnancy definitely started to sink in at that moment.

Another big milestone in the second trimester is being able to find out the sex of the baby. Justin and I were able to find out that we're having a baby girl in week 18! It was the highlight of the second trimester. Sitting in the room with Justin, as we watched the screen anxiously to know if it was a girl or a boy is a moment that I will treasure for the rest of my life. When the tech said "it's a girl" I looked over at Justin and I realized how much I loved him for giving me this baby.

Ok - there are a lot of other things that happen in this trimester, but in an effort to keep this short :0), I will leave those things to other blog posts :).

THIRD TRIMESTER
They say that this trimester you begin to lose energy again and get a bit tired of "being pregnant". I guess I fit this concept pretty well. Here is what I've experience thus far in this trimester: swollen feet and hands, weight gain weight gain weight gain, really bad ligament pains in my pelvic area, constipation that alternates with diarrea (ok I'm trying to be real here) and fatigue.

Part of the fatigue may be due to work related stress and also having to move into a new place at 30 weeks. I would HIGHLY suggest not having to move in your third trimester. It really adds a level of stress on you mentally and physically that should be avoided!

So that brings me to the present...31 weeks pregnant..9 weeks to go...I'll try to blog on various preggo topics and keep you posted on my progress. You may be lucky and I'll actually post a pic or two of my immensely growing self :).


Love,
S