Hospital tour

Tonight we went on our hospital maternity ward tour...and we figured out WHY they want you to do the hospital tour!

We got to the hospital on time, but we couldn't find the tour. We entered through the emergency entrance and went to the maternity ward on the fifth floor -- they told us to go to labor and delivery on the fourth floor. They told us to go to the Lisky Lobby. So we followed the signs to the Lisky Pavilion, which we later found out was not the same as the Lisky Lobby. The people at the Lisky Pavilion sent us back to labor and delivery. We found some nice doctors who led us in the wrong direction for a couple of minutes.

Then we found a nurse and told her we were looking for the maternity tour. She thought I was in labor. "You need a doctor, honey?" she asked.

"No, we're just looking for the tour."

"Oh, you need a doctor! Let me help you up to labor and delivery!"

"NO!" We ran off the elevator and left her yelling after us.

Finally, we found the tour. It was actually great, and we learned a lot. Some really important stuff -- like our hospital (Beth Israel) is where Rachel had her baby on Friends!

Seriously, though, the hospital tour was very informative and reassuring. The hospital is very big on baby bonding with the parents, which of course we are also in favor of! This means that the baby stays with us immediately after it's born -- it doesn't get whisked off to the nursery. Also, the baby gets to sleep in my room, not the nursery. The guide walked us past the nursery -- and there were no babies in it! The babies are sleeping in the mommies' rooms -- what a concept!

Beth Israel also has one of the best neonatal intensive care units in the state. Hopefully, we won't have to use it, but it's nice to know that it's there.

We also got a look at the rooms. Not surprisingly, insurance pays only for a double room, but you can pay extra for a private room. There are even deluxe rooms, which have fridges and flat-screen tvs. Kevin decided if we are going to be there on a Sunday (ie football day), we would splurge for the deluxe room.

Halloween babies

This post is a little overdue, but I think it will be worth it! Here are some cute babies dressed up for Halloween!

This is my friend Samantha's family in Denver. They might just be the most adorable family ever! This is Nick, big sister Sloane, Samantha and baby Sydney. Keep in mind Sydney is only two days old in this picture! But Samantha still looks perfect, like always!


Here is my cousin Maggie's daughter Allison's first Halloween. She is with her big cousins Casey, Bailey and CJ (my cousin Charlie's kids). Could you find a more angelic face for an angel?


Then here we've got little James the pony. This is the son of one of Kevin's best friends. He is nine months old and lives in DC. (We got to see him in person last weekend, but I will write another post about our adventures.)


And now, the nieces and nephews. Well, we don't actually have any nieces and nephews -- Cohen Kiddo will be the first grandkid on both sides. But our siblings do have dogs, and they do dress them up for Halloween!

These are Kevin's sister's dogs. Maggie is a prisoner, Laci is a witch, and Nerak is a football player. They even went trick-or-treating!




Last but not least, my sister Mel's dog Buster.



Happy belated Halloween!

Memory books

My Aunt Carol bought a memory book for the baby. It has things like what our family tree looks like, funny moments during the pregnancy, what happened when we took the baby home from the hospital, a list of baby's firsts, and other things like that. It is so cute, and I know we will have a lot of fun filling it out. There is just one problem.

When I brought it home and showed it to Kevin, he was looking through it, and toward the back, there is a page with favorites -- favorite toys, favorite books, favorite songs, favorite activities, favorite foods, favorite playmates, etc. Kevin said, "Do we put the baby's favorites or our favorites?" Well, it's the baby's memory book, so it is for the baby's favorites. "Oh," he said, looking slightly disappointed. "But where do our favorites go?"

More crazy symptoms

It was always amusing to me the way anytime anything ails you when you are in Colorado, it is blamed on the altitude. Headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, depression -- the altitude can cause any of these things, or so the locals say.

Pregnancy is kind of the same. Stuffy nose, bleeding gums, heartburn, insomnia -- all blamed on pregnancy.

For the last week or so, my feet have been horribly itchy. Like, take off my shoes at work and use my letter opener to offer some relief itchy (my apologies to my officemate Peter!). I have heard of itchy stomach while pregnant, but not itchy feet. Could this be another pregnancy symptom? Or maybe just athlete's foot? (Not that I've been what you can call an athlete in about, oh, eight months.)

But I googled it, and apparently this is a somewhat common pregnancy symptom! Due to increased levels of estrogen or something. Some women get itchy palms too. No good remedies offered for it though -- just moisturizer and oatmeal baths. But at least I won't have to pull out the Tough Actin' Tinactin.

Debevoise should bottle this stuff

Well, for any of you concerned that I would be lonely being the only pregnant woman in the office -- not to worry! Two more have come out of the woodwork. Emily is due in March with a boy, and Sari is due in January with a girl. Sari is actually a temp hired to help out while Sarah, Susannah and I are gone -- hmmm, ironic, but exciting nonetheless!

Many law firms are trying to figure out how to deal with this economic downturn. Seems to me if Debevoise could just figure out how to sell their magic fertility substance, we should be okay.

Get ready with the blue...?

I am getting more and more unsolicited comments from strangers that this is a boy based on the way I am carrying. The TSA woman at LaGuardia last weekend is positive it's a boy. And her colleague is pretty sure it's not just one boy, but two. (Yes, this is the third and fourth TSA opinion I have gotten -- maybe they have X-ray vision in addition to X-ray machines?) The cashier at Chipotle agrees. And my cab driver coming back from LaGuardia too. "I am going to drive extra careful to protect that baby boy of yours," he tells me. (Interesting that he wouldn't drive extra careful just to protect me!) But he didn't stop there. "Yep, it's a boy, and he's going to be born on Friday." "THIS Friday?" I asked, because of course, I am entirely not ready for a baby showing up five weeks early. "No, just another Friday," he said, shaking his head at me as if I'm crazy for not believing him. Riiiiiight, I'm the crazy one -- you're the one that is making predictions about a total stranger's baby!

All of these opinions have made me wonder -- does the way you carry really make a difference in the sex of the baby? It just doesn't make any scientific sense to me. I decided to research it by taking an informal poll of my friends and family who have had both a boy and a girl. Here are the results:

-- My friend Colleen (has a boy and a girl): carried differently in her pregnancies
-- My friend Susannah (has a boy and a girl): carried differently
-- My cousin Tammy (has two girls and a boy): carried differently for all three
-- My cousin Sandy (has a boy and a girl): carried the same way ("just big," she says)
-- Kevin's cousin Marcy (has a boy and a girl): carried the same way
-- Random Debevoise secretary (has a boy and a girl): carried the same way (but then went on to tell me the only difference in her pregnancies was how often she had to shave her legs -- with her daughter, hardly ever; with her son, she "was an ape". Um, too much information, thanks.)
-- Sarah Palin (has two boys, three girls): carried the same way in all of her pregnancies (okay, so I don't know if this is for real, but I did dream that I met Sarah, and this is what she told me!)

I will let you all draw your own conclusions.

UPDATE: Let me know how you carried if you have had more than one baby!
-- Kevin's aunt Rita (has three girls): carried differently every time (and every time, people said it was a definitely a boy)

Two kids to take care of

"But Maureen, are you ready to take care of TWO children?"

This was Kevin's Aunt Rita's reaction when we told her we were pregnant. Anyone who knows Kevin can see where she was coming from. I was reminded of her comment on Sunday morning when I woke up to see Kevin rubbing his leg.

"What's wrong?"

"My shin hurts," he said.

Kevin's been playing soccer and running lately, but I knew he hadn't done either in a week. "Why does it hurt?"

"Well, last night Julia and I were kicking each other in the shins all night."

It sounds like some kindergarten courting game. But this was his friend Julia from Long Island -- two adults.

"Hmmm. Well, maybe if you don't kick girls in the shin and let them kick you back, your shin won't hurt. Can you remember that the next time we see Julia?"

But I think Kevin's immaturity will serve us well as parents. I have essentially been dealing with a child for seven years, so I consider myself experienced. And Kevin, well, he will be on the same level as the kid, so he will understand fully what he or she is going through!

Everyone's a doctor

The woman behind the Burger King counter is positive we are having twins. “Yep, I can tell, that’s why you’re so big.” “No, I am sure it is not twins – we have had enough ultrasounds to rule that out.” “No, I am telling you, it happened to my cousin, one of the babies was hiding behind the other.” “Really, we would know if it was twins.” “Why have you been having so many ultrasounds, anyway? Is anything wrong?”

Um, can you just keep your opinions to yourself and get a pregnant lady her Whopper Jr.?

We have also been hearing from a lot of people that really have no experience in this field that it is a boy. The TSA guy at the airport, people at work, the women at the nail salon. It is hard not to believe it when so people tell you that it is definitely a boy, even if these people have no scientific basis for their opinions!

Benefits of being pregnant

Benefits of being pregnant:
-- Getting an extra piece of pork from the cafeteria worker (“for the baby,” he says with a wink)
-- When you start breathing heavy, your husband takes over laundry duties
-- Unsolicited smiles from just about everyone
-- Getting a seat on the bus (usually, although sometimes not, but that's for another post)
-- Getting told you’re beautiful all the time
-- Ice cream pretty much whenever you want

I have a feeling none of these benefits will continue once the baby comes. We will see how all of these people treat me next year when I have a screaming baby on my hip. Yes, in addition to that whole being-responsible-for-someone’s-life thing, I would be okay with being pregnant indefinitely.

Kevin, on the other hand, is so anxious for this baby to get here!

Might want to think before drinking that water...

I am not the only business development staffer at Debevoise to be blessed with a little one this fall. My colleagues Susannah and Sarah are pregnant too! We are all due within seven weeks of each other -- Sarah is due December 3rd and Susannah is due to have a Halloween baby.

It was pretty funny last spring when almost every day someone went into our boss' office to tell her she was pregnant. Yolanda took it pretty well (at least when she was in our presence).

But it has been very comforting to have women that are going through the same thing. Like when Sarah came to work freaked out because her gums were bleeding ("Not to worry, that's a pregnancy thing," Susannah told us). Or when I was afraid I was miscarrying in the first trimester because my boobs weren't sore anymore ("Don't worry, mine stopped hurting about two weeks ago," Sarah reassured me).

Here is a picture of us a while ago, I don't remember exactly when, probably sometime in July (me, Sarah, Susannah):



And now we are winding down. Sarah has decided to quit and focus on her pregnancy and baby (yes, I'm a little jealous), and tomorrow is her last day. Susannah is set to go out on her scheduled maternity leave in a week. We took another picture on the last day we are all in the office together (Sarah, me, Susannah):



We also had four weddings in our department this year, so I might not be the only pregnant one in the office for long...

Another heartbreak...

So I really thought this was the Cubs' year. No, really! Throughout the season, they were just so confident, every aspect of their game was superb. There was none of the waiting for the inevitable collapse like in previous years. And it would be so poetic -- winning the World Series after a 100 year drought.

Kevin and I had been so excited, making lots of comments about how this baby was going to be born into a championship household what with the (upcoming) Cubs World Series win and the Giants Super Bowl win last February. In fact, we even had names for the baby picked out based on the Cubs impending championship.

Until the NLDS. Who were these guys? Pitching was subpar, the defense was horrendous, and the offense was even worse. And they had NO HEART! It was so pathetic!

The worst part is, it has made me question my abilities as a parent. As many of you know, Kevin and I made an agreement long ago on which teams we would raise our kids to be fans of (every couple should have this discussion before things get too serious). We decided our future children would be Cubs fans.

But can we really do this to a poor, innocent child? Year after year of heartache? Like the Cubs management, Kevin and I have a lot of thinking to do this offseason.

And it looks like Fukodome Cohen will never be...

This one's going to be a handful!

We have had a lot of ultrasounds throughout this pregnancy, but this one we had on Friday was so cool. Before this ultrasound, I always pictured the baby as a faceless, personality-less blob. (Yes, Angelina Jolie caught a lot of criticism for using that word to describe Shiloh, but I understand what she meant.)

Now though, I have a better idea of what the baby will look like (we could see its adorable chubby cheeks) and what it is going to act like (future babysitters, you may want to stop reading now).

I think all pregnant people talk about how active their babies are. "Oh yeah, he moves around all of the time, I have a future [insert soccer player, gymnast or other being that kicks or somersaults a lot] in here!" It is like we are already competing for best baby before it's even out of the womb.

But no, I am being totally objective here when I say that my baby really is the best! Two different ultrasound technicians and two different doctors have told us that our baby is REALLY active. It's moving around all of the time (except of course when my friends put their hands on my belly to feel it)!

So anyway, the ultrasound technician last week was cracking up (granted, it was a Friday at 5:45 -- she might have been a little giddy). She said she couldn't get a good picture because the baby was moving around so much. I am not surprised, since Kevin has ADD, so it makes sense that our baby would not be able to stay still.

We were all looking at the monitor when the technician burst out laughing again. "Did you see what it just did?" Of course, we are ultrasound laymen and didn't notice anything strange. She rewound the tape. "It just licked its arm!" And it did -- you can clearly see it open its mouth, stick out its tongue, and LICK ITS ARM! The technician said she had never seen a baby do that. "Your baby is hilarious!"

That's when she stopped laughing (that sounds very ominous -- didn't mean it that way). "Wow, I guess it doesn't like me making fun of it! Look what it's doing now!" And here's a picture of what it was doing then:



Can't tell exactly what it's doing? Here's a picture with the baby outlined so it's a little bit easier to see:



Yes, that's right -- it is giving us the middle finger! The three of us were in hysterics! Note to everyone: Do not poke fun at our baby ever!

Besides the fact that we know this baby has a personality, I think we also confirmed it is a Cohen!

BabyCohenPool

The Baby Cohen Pool is still open! Don't forget to put in your guesses -- winner gets to name the baby!*

Go to http://expectnet.com/ and in the upper left hand corner where it says Invited Guests, put "BabyCohenPool" in the box.







* If winner's name matches the name Kevin and I choose.

Team Craig

Today Kevin and I participated in the Have a Chance Walk to Fight Brain Tumors in Battery Park. We walked in honor of Kevin's cousin Craig, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year. Here is a picture from the walk, although neither me or Kevin are in it. Craig is doing great, and you can see him in the yellow shirt on the right side.



It was very inspiring to see all of the survivors and hear their stories. I met an adorable young boy named Jonah during the walk. He is finishing his chemo next week and looking forward to his trip to Disney World this fall.

Team Craig raised almost $34,000 for brain cancer research, and the event raised over $430,000! Thanks to all of you who donated!

Picture time!

So I have been talking about how big I am getting, but a lot of you don't see me too often, so here is a recent picture:



This was taken last weekend at our friends Kristen and Thornton's engagement party. We are on Thornton's parents' rooftop in Brooklyn Heights. You can't see it too well in this picture, but their place has an amazing view of Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Also, I am preparing to be a mom with my new mom haircut!

The tradition continues...

Maybe the woman that thought I was having twins isn't so far off...

So, as I have mentioned, both Kevin and I were big babies (9 lbs, 14 oz. for me, 10 lbs for Kevin). It turns out the tradition is about to continue.

We went for another ultrasound yesterday, and they told us they were going to see how much the baby currently weighs. As he always does, Kevin turned it into a competition. "Let's both guess how much and whoever gets closest will get to decide what we have for dinner tonight." (Always thinking about food...obviously his head is still in the same place it was when he was first born.) Well, I had just gotten my BabyCenter Week 28 email, so I knew exactly how much the baby is supposed to weigh. This would be easy for me to win.

"Okay," I said, "You go first."

"Three pounds, two ounces," he says.

"Two pounds, four ounces," I countered, knowing that even if I wasn't right on target, I was going to be much closer.

A few minutes later, the ultrasound technician says, "Which one of you guessed over three pounds?"

It turns out the baby currently weighs THREE POUNDS, SIX OUNCES! This for a baby that is SUPPOSED to weigh two and a quarter!

Then the doctor came in. "Besides the size, the baby is healthy." Just how big is the baby? "We consider big to be over the 90th percentile -- your baby is at the 96th percentile."

(When I told this to my mom, she said, "Well, you always were an overachiever. I'm not surprised to hear that your baby is at the 96th percentile of something.")

When I told the doctor our family history, he nodded sympathetically. "Yep, it sounds like you inherited this." Then he shrugged. "Some people inherit money."

Joking aside, here's where I need to give a big (pardon the pun) shout-out to my mom and Kevin's mom Kathy. Not only did they deliver huge babies (my mom had three 9+ pound babies, I think Kathy was two for four), they did it in an era where c-sections were for emergency situations only -- so they did it naturally. I might not get that chance (which could be a very good thing) -- this doctor told me most likely I will have a c-section if the baby is over nine and a half.

Besides the whole weight issue, this ultrasound appointment was really fun. I will write all about it in another post.

Oh yeah, and the other bonus -- because Kevin was right, we had ice cream for dinner. I am sure my chubby baby enjoyed it immensely.

Cravings

I get asked a lot about whether or not I have been having cravings. To answer, I took the above picture last week.

But to be honest, this picture speaks a lot more to pregnancy laziness than actual cravings. I have always loved pickles and ice cream (not together) -- I just haven't taken out my recycling in a while! I just had to take a picture because it was so cliche.

Actually, I really haven't had any cravings. Just guiltless eating. So I see a Wendy's commercial and I decide I want to eat Wendy's. But I don't have to rationalize this decision like I normally would.

I love being pregnant!

Labor pains

So I am home sick today and stuck watching bad television. I watched an episode of TLC's A Baby Story. Might as well prepare myself, right?

So Helen is the expectant mommy, and she is talking about her feelings about the impending labor. "Yes, I am very afraid of labor," she says. Then we cut to her husband, Geoff: "I am really not scared of labor at all, " he says. "I am actually looking forward to it!"

Geoff, what do YOU have to be scared of?

UPDATE: After I posted this, Kevin and I had a doctor's appointment for another ultrasound from which they estimated the size of the baby. Turns out we are on pace to have a 9+ pound baby! As I was bemoaning our genetics (we were both big babies too), Kevin just looked at me and said, "So it's a big baby. It's not that big of a deal." Of course it's not -- for YOU -- you are not the one that's going to be pushing it out of your body!

Maybe Helen and I should start a support group for mothers with unsympathetic birth partners.

Free pass

So I have realized that pregnancy can be an excuse for just about everything. And I don't think I'm taking advantage of it enough!

Seriously, eating like a piggy? Well, you're eating for two. Clumsy? Passing gas? Forgetful? Tired? Dressed a little more casually then normal for work? It's all expected.

My sister Mel was here a couple of weeks ago, and we were out to dinner. I had my heavy bag hanging over the back of my chair. When I got up from the table, I moved my chair back, and the weight of my bag knocked the chair over. As I bent down to right the chair, I hear Mel say to the girls at the table next to us: "Sorry, she's pregnant." The girls nod knowingly.

Um, my being pregnant really had nothing to do with the chair falling over! I just think it's funny that everyone immediately assumes that's what the problem is!

The nerve!

So as a pregnant woman, you have to put up with a lot of obnoxious comments from people -- most of them people you don't even know that well. "Was it planned?" ("Yes, but that's really none of your business..."); "You just got married -- you guys move fast!" ("Thanks, we've been together almost seven years..."), etc. You get the idea.

But yesterday I really got a double whopper. I ran into a secretary at work that I haven't seen since the beginning of summer.

Her: Wow! I didn't know you were pregnant! You look like you're due any day now!

Me: Actually, I'm not due until December -- more than three months to go!

She should have taken this as her clue that she was skating on thin (pun intended) ice. But she didn't.

Her: Oh...well, are you having twins?

Me: No, just one baby.

And she didn't stop there.

Her: Are you sure? You're really big!

I am growing a person inside of me -- can you please cut me a bit of slack?