For Moms Who Are Going To Have Boys

This was originally written on Thursday, March 20, 2008:

I read an article that I just HAD to share, lol! It was in Ladies Home Journal, October 2003, titled "The Energizer Boy." The caption caught my eye: A new study proves that boys suck the life out of you even in the womb. I immediately laughed and had to read more!

Sure enough, that year the Harvard School of Health showed that mothers who are pregnant with boys need to eat 10 percent more calories than mothers carrying girls. . .8 percent more protein, 9 percent more carbohydrates, 11 percent more animal fat and 15 percent more vegetable fat!

A mother of two boys said she could have saved Harvard the money and told them that herself, haha. At 21 months old one of her sons "climbed out of his crib, up over the adjacent railing that separates the two floors, then clambered onto a very tall highboy that stands in the dining room below. He somehow managed to lower himself onto the dining room table, then onto a chair, then onto the floor. He did this in the dark." She said, "The mere act of watching him in action is exhausting. So was carrying him."

Hmmm. . .looking at my pregnancy as a whole--from the severe morning sickness September thru November, to the rapid weight gain and horrible back pain in December & January, to the fatigue and everything else all throughout. . .I'm thinking there might not have been any other way for my body to handle all of L.J.'s testosterone! The Harvard study reported that "in utero boys are already more demanding than girls."

And here I always thought boys were easier :p But, according to the author of this article, they are as much slaves to their hormones as females--and their hormones are screaming, "MOVE!" She wrote, "Yesterday, I watched Henry on a play date with his three little friends. After 15 minutes, Susannah--who deftly avoided all the mud puddles Henry and the other two boys were Kowabunga-ing into--was ready to sit down and have a snack. But the boys were just warming up, Henry running around to his own personal 100-decibel soundtrack which goes likes this: Wheeeeeeeee! Susannah, only two months older, can and does have something approaching an actual coversation."

Yes, there are girls out there who are wilder and more demanding for their parents than boys (and boys who may sit quietly). . .but that appears to not be the norm. At one of my scrapbooking nights I overheard a mother of four (two boys and two girls) talking. Her friend asked, "Who's harder, boys or girls?" The woman immediately answered, "The boys! All of that energy!"

I pretended not to hear :p

But, considering that L.J. has been moving in my body more than ever lately, I know I have to hear it. Just as I had to admit this pregnancy wasn't what I had hoped going blindly into it, and so therefore I had to educate myself, I'm now going to have to start focusing on teaching myself about how to handle a boy!

But, the good news about him moving even more than usual lately, is that I think he might have turned on Sunday. This would be ideal (if he doesn't move again) because then I won't have to worry about him being breech. Around week 32, babies will turn head down to prepare for birth. By 37 weeks, all but 3-4% are head down. Well, I'm in my 33rd week right now--and on Sunday I felt movement different than ever before. It was five hours of constant, MAJOR, kicking and sliding. It seriously felt like he was doing sommersalts in my stomach. Through my shirt you could see him sliding around and jabbing me. Joe could only take so much, haha. He watched it with my shirt up and put his hand there for a while. . .but it was really creepy! It looked like my stomach was an ocean of waves!

If L.J. wasn't turning then I have no idea what was going on with him that night. I've continued to have similar movement off & on (but for not as long) so he could just be thinking, "hey, it's gettng cramped in here, make more room for me!" Because my stomach now looks like it's ready to pop. I can't believe it's possible for it to get bigger--I feel like I'm at my maximum!!! I've gained 28 pounds.

Seven pound babies don't seem as small as they always did to me before :p I recently went through all of the pictures I saved over the years that people have sent me of their newborns, and I looked at their babies and then looked at my body and thought, HOW?! There's a real kid in there now! I mean, at this point he doesn't look any different than a nine month old fetus. He has fat on him, hair, etc. I'm so close, I really can't believe it.

I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, but I canceled because my doc is on vacation (good of her to take it before I'm due, haha) and I was scheduled to have it with her PA instead. I decided that since I haven't been having any problems and I don't have any new questions, I could skip a week. (Things have continued to be the best this month.) I should probably move my next appt. up, though--right now it's set for April 4th but that will have been four weeks since my last one which isn't the best thing to do at this stage of pregnancy. They want to start checking me for dilation and effacement now, because they can see things coming that I am oblivious to. From 36 weeks on I'll be going in every week until I give birth!

Two people from my high school who were both due on April 5th had their daughters within three days of each other this past week--both were three weeks early. I told Joe that's be like me going into labor in just three weeks! Good thing we're pretty much prepared.

Otherwise, let's see. . .I have been doing better with my fiction writing after not much creative writing at all during this pregnancy. A doctor recently told me that being pregnant tends to suck up a lot of creative energy for people. Maybe one of the reasons why I've been feeling better this month is because L.J. isn't requiring as much from me now that he has all of his organs, etc. Because during my bad weeks, it was impossible to write. It's been really nice to have passion for writing again and to remember & enjoy why I became a full-time writer! I hope I can write consistantly again soon.

Over the weekend Joe and I bought our rocker :-) On Saturday, we went to look at more gliders, but I found them to be just as uncomfortable as every other rocker I'd sat in over the past several months. I've never thought of myself as Princess and the Pea, but that's how I was starting to feel. (I'm sure it doesn't help that I've generally been uncomfortable anywhere the past seven months.)

It didn't seem worth it to spend $400-$1000 on a glider that I wasn't crazy about. Plus, we learned that every store around here requires you to order the one you want because they only carry floor models since people like to pick their exact color, fabric, etc. We realized we'd be cutting it close since they all said it'd take 6-8 weeks for the chair to be delivered.

We finally decided to return to the glider that we'd considered the previous week--since it was the closest to being comfortable. While sitting in it (and saying hi to the psychic woman from before, haha), we noticed that in the next section were recliners. Many of them rocked, too, so Joe suggested I try them out.

I found pretty much every single one to be SUPER comfortable!

The smaller recliners were in the $300 price range--way cheaper than the gliders. Best of all, it wouldn't have to be ordered. Since their recliners only came in a few colors, they had each chair in stock. So, we chose a tan, comfy chair that should blend well with our nursery. . .and bought it on Sunday (on Saturday we had to go home first to measure to make sure it would look/fit okay).

I am so relieved that the situation turned out better than what we'd expected. I really thought I was going to have to settle. Although neither of us had ever imagined a recliner in L.J.'s room, this seems much more practical. Once we're done with it up there, we can move it downstairs to our living room and have a cozy chair down here! In fact, I'm anxious to pick it up this weekend (my parents are coming with their Blazer so hopefully it'll fit in the back), so that I can use it for the remainder of my pregnancy! I think it'll help my back a lot more next time.

After paying for it on Sunday (the guy who rang us up said, "I see you have a junior due in a couple of months." I'm still amazed that strangers can tell so much about me these days, lol), Joe and I then went to Babies R Us to use the rest of our gift card. Lisa and Sara had said their favorite item from their registries was their monitors. After researching their particular kind online and seeing nothing but the highest ratings and most positive comments, we knew that was what we wanted to buy. It's by Bebe Sounds, called Angelcare Movement Sensor with Sound Monitor. It picks up if the baby has stopped moving or breathing--and has saved many lives. There's a pad that goes under the mattress, and because it's hooked to a monitor that's placed away from the crib, it's safer than signals from a cell phone or computer. False alarms are rare; overall, the monitor appears very reassuring.

Finally, we met Melissa for ice cream, as she's been trying to sell their house and her realtor was having an open house that day. We had a great time chatting both there and at our house--where she brought her yorkie over to play with Cosmo (they're best buds). I can't believe she only has two more weekends left in Omaha.

Not much to report between Monday (happy belated St. Patrick's Day!) and today. I went over to say hi to Jenn next door and told her I should be able to scrapbook now, so that is the plan for next Thursday. This weekend is Easter (a few weeks ago I put out decorations early since I hadn't decorated for V-Day this year) and, as I said before, my mom & stepdad are visiting. Next weekend is my last time for doing the paid scrapbooking with Heather and Sara (and Sarah is joining us this time, too)--until after L.J.'s born. I figure April's gonna be an unreliable month.

Seven weeks to go!