I am not being very consistent with these blog posts, but no one is reading so who cares anyway. I am now three days away from my fifteen week mark on the calender. I have a pronounced bump now, so there is no longer an issue about whether I should be showing or not. I have been having some issues with pain in the mornings which could be hunger pangs or cramping. It isn't a sharp enough pain to make me scared. Or more scared than I already am, anyway.
We are in the process of moving, and our goal is so be out by the first. I guess you could call it more than a goal, because we can't afford another month in this house. I am not allowed to pick anything up, however, so I must console myself with filling and taping boxes. I have been doing very good this week on my prenatal pills. It is surprising and kind of exciting to see that the giant bottle is already half empty. I suppose I will go through more than one.
My appetite has finally increased, although I am still picky about the same things that I always have been. I have been experimenting with strange food combinations; yesterday I ate a twice baked potato with stir fry on the side and some jalapeno poppers as a snack. And chips. I can't wait until my belly is big enough that strange eyes don't even question the collection in my shopping cart.
My nurse has been trying to help me with my diet and exercise issues. The exercise issue is that I'm not getting any now that I don't work. Even when we do a good day's packing I don't break a sweat, and although I can't run I know I should be making more than a few laps around the block every day. She says that I should be starting out with just fifteen minutes and making my way up to thirty. I'm glad she's not pushy, because this moving business combined with school leaves only time for sulking.
As for diet, I am eating lots of fruit and vegetables, and I have incorporated nuts and berries into this diet as well. They're already gone, but they were incorporated, nonetheless. I drank too much soda yesterday, but that's not normal so I think I'll be okay. I am compensating for that by drinking only healthy fluids today.
I have been sick for four days. It seems to be getting worse rather than better, although I think my peak is now and last night. I literally could not chew my food because I couldn't breathe through my nose. We made delicious hamburgers with sauteed mushrooms, garlic and onions on sourdough baguettes and I couldn't even taste it!!
I think I am going to push my Anthony to go to church with me tomorrow. That will be a compensation for the party that he wants to go to tonight. He has been including me on these outings even though I am kind of a stick in the mud. And an automatic d.d. I still have fun though. I crave church like my body craves nutrients in the morning. This getting up early thing has got to become a habit.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Coping with Nothing
Well, I'm not very good at the every day posting thing, but I think I can still keep up on the weekly additions. I have gone to one appointment besides the original hospital visit, and so far it seems that I know more about how my baby is progressing than anyone else does. I've received three different due dates, and other than wondering when the thing is going to come out, no one seems too interested in what is going on. My mother and a few friends are obsessing over the news, mainly because it's something new, and other than that my life is exactly the same.
My mood swings are continuously attacking my husband without any warning. I feel really bad for him, but if there's no way for me to predict them, how can I stop them? I seem to be fine at work and with friends or my brother, probably because I'm on superguard against rage, but when I'm around my mom or my baba I just let my guard down and that's when my weird stress unravels like a coiled panther. With rabies.
Another thing I am very concerned about is my swollen belly. According to the little research I've conducted so far, I shouldn't be showing at all in my 9th week. Stupid websites are saying I should be looking like a freakin' supermodel, because my boobs should be swollen without the stomach addition quite yet. BUT THAT'S NOT THE CASE!! Granted, I haven't been doing any sit ups, but am I weird for thinking that might be harmful to the fetus?! It said not to start working out more than I did before, and I was kind of slacking already so I just kept slacking. I am still on my feet all day and eating more healthily than...well, ever. And I quit smoking and drinking, blah blah blah. Shouldn't that make a positive difference?
This might seem like a stupid thing to stress over, except that I will be showing the premature curvaceousness of my body to my husband's family in California in a mere two weeks. In a skimpy backless dress. And I'm supposed to get in a skin-colored bikini tomorrow around my hub and his four friends.
Call me paranoid.
I probably wouldn't have so much of an issue with it if I'd ever really had an issue with my weight before. I was a little chubby when I was twelve, but I slimmed down to the extreme and kept it off permanently...until now. There were a few times when my diet unhinged a little and I leaned toward 125, but I know that's really nothing and usually I stay right between 116 and 117. I'm only at 120 now. I shouldn't be this bloated!!!!
Okay, letting it go, letting it go. Ha. I will just embrace my new body and stick it out like I'm proud of the olive-sized baby inside. Which I am.
I started writing a letter to her. Or him. I think it's a she, he thinks it's a he. Of course. I just started out with the basic thought process, explaining how I'm trying to transition into the mind of a new mother, how I'm trying to help my hubby through it, and how he's holding me through it. My brother, the father of a 9 month old, thinks this is a riot. He endured his wife's trauma, and for some reason watching my husband endure it is hilarious to him. Har de har. Well, time to go rafting tomorrow. Wish luck and some kind of round beauty to this self-conscious sob story, folks.
My mood swings are continuously attacking my husband without any warning. I feel really bad for him, but if there's no way for me to predict them, how can I stop them? I seem to be fine at work and with friends or my brother, probably because I'm on superguard against rage, but when I'm around my mom or my baba I just let my guard down and that's when my weird stress unravels like a coiled panther. With rabies.
Another thing I am very concerned about is my swollen belly. According to the little research I've conducted so far, I shouldn't be showing at all in my 9th week. Stupid websites are saying I should be looking like a freakin' supermodel, because my boobs should be swollen without the stomach addition quite yet. BUT THAT'S NOT THE CASE!! Granted, I haven't been doing any sit ups, but am I weird for thinking that might be harmful to the fetus?! It said not to start working out more than I did before, and I was kind of slacking already so I just kept slacking. I am still on my feet all day and eating more healthily than...well, ever. And I quit smoking and drinking, blah blah blah. Shouldn't that make a positive difference?
This might seem like a stupid thing to stress over, except that I will be showing the premature curvaceousness of my body to my husband's family in California in a mere two weeks. In a skimpy backless dress. And I'm supposed to get in a skin-colored bikini tomorrow around my hub and his four friends.
Call me paranoid.
I probably wouldn't have so much of an issue with it if I'd ever really had an issue with my weight before. I was a little chubby when I was twelve, but I slimmed down to the extreme and kept it off permanently...until now. There were a few times when my diet unhinged a little and I leaned toward 125, but I know that's really nothing and usually I stay right between 116 and 117. I'm only at 120 now. I shouldn't be this bloated!!!!
Okay, letting it go, letting it go. Ha. I will just embrace my new body and stick it out like I'm proud of the olive-sized baby inside. Which I am.
I started writing a letter to her. Or him. I think it's a she, he thinks it's a he. Of course. I just started out with the basic thought process, explaining how I'm trying to transition into the mind of a new mother, how I'm trying to help my hubby through it, and how he's holding me through it. My brother, the father of a 9 month old, thinks this is a riot. He endured his wife's trauma, and for some reason watching my husband endure it is hilarious to him. Har de har. Well, time to go rafting tomorrow. Wish luck and some kind of round beauty to this self-conscious sob story, folks.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Six Weeks
I have been encouraged to keep a baby blog or a journal in light of my new discovery, and since I have already filled all my journals and this is my new blog, I've decided to begin here. I learned only 6 days ago that I am 6 weeks pregnant, and since then my day-to-day life has changed somewhat. I have quit smoking cigarettes, and I am completely ashamed that I didn't realize my pregnancy sooner so I could begin to be healthier last month. There is nothing I can do about that though, so I will have to move on.
I am focusing on my diet and exercise and appointments for now. I have noticed a considerable change in my stomach, which is confusing me. It says on many different sites that I should not notice a change yet. I've only gained a pound, and so this bloat is light, but that still makes no sense. I am trying to follow advice from these websites but all of them are different. For example, is black tea really bad for pregnant women? And what about fish? Each new opinion contradicts the last.
I received an ultrasound at the hospital where I saw the baby's heartbeat. It was merely a flicker of black and white within a little orb inside a sac, but it was more than enough to stun me for several minutes. Only minutes before I was unaware of anything changing inside me, and then suddenly they're showing me that this secret child has been forming without my knowledge and has already created its own major organ. Anthony hasn't acted quite as different as I have, but he is attempting to curb his shock and his emotions are bouncing radically around just like mine are.
Unfortunately I'm the only one who is quitting smoking in the house, and refusing even to be around it. I've also taken a dislike to coffee, my old friend, and fast food, which is almost unavoidable in my pad. However I make a lot of lists and post them around the house, and hopefully this will help to stimulate new habits in my husband that will result in more healthy snacks and less cigarette butts lying around.
I thought I would have more to say! I haven't been vomiting, but I have had considerable nausea during the morning hours and sometimes past noon. It has been increasing slowly for the past week, almost as if my awareness of the baby manifested the sickness. Sadly. I have not had so much as an inkling to rid myself of this gift from God, and I never will. I feel like I am a vessel through which He has decided to enter another one of his souls, and I have been blessed to take care of him or her until he can run free, little bob. I am excited! More posting in the future. Yay.
I am focusing on my diet and exercise and appointments for now. I have noticed a considerable change in my stomach, which is confusing me. It says on many different sites that I should not notice a change yet. I've only gained a pound, and so this bloat is light, but that still makes no sense. I am trying to follow advice from these websites but all of them are different. For example, is black tea really bad for pregnant women? And what about fish? Each new opinion contradicts the last.
I received an ultrasound at the hospital where I saw the baby's heartbeat. It was merely a flicker of black and white within a little orb inside a sac, but it was more than enough to stun me for several minutes. Only minutes before I was unaware of anything changing inside me, and then suddenly they're showing me that this secret child has been forming without my knowledge and has already created its own major organ. Anthony hasn't acted quite as different as I have, but he is attempting to curb his shock and his emotions are bouncing radically around just like mine are.
Unfortunately I'm the only one who is quitting smoking in the house, and refusing even to be around it. I've also taken a dislike to coffee, my old friend, and fast food, which is almost unavoidable in my pad. However I make a lot of lists and post them around the house, and hopefully this will help to stimulate new habits in my husband that will result in more healthy snacks and less cigarette butts lying around.
I thought I would have more to say! I haven't been vomiting, but I have had considerable nausea during the morning hours and sometimes past noon. It has been increasing slowly for the past week, almost as if my awareness of the baby manifested the sickness. Sadly. I have not had so much as an inkling to rid myself of this gift from God, and I never will. I feel like I am a vessel through which He has decided to enter another one of his souls, and I have been blessed to take care of him or her until he can run free, little bob. I am excited! More posting in the future. Yay.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Obama's Environment
Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods have wreaked havoc on our world at a rate within the past thirty years that has shocked humanity. Scientists are pleading that these are "the beginnings of a new kind of future in which mega-disasters are going to be more frequent."(Global Issues). People may be starting to ask, what is to blame? Unfortunately most of the data points an unwavering finger at humans. Air pollutants from carbon-based fuel and greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment, and nations across the globe may or may not be enforcing rules to change the creation and release of these poisons. The United States in particular is a reluctant partner in the global actions toward creating eco-friendly policies. Now that desperation to save the planet is overflowing, like the floods attacking Australia, the question is becoming more clear. How important should our environment be on the U.S. government's list of priorities?
The environment has been taking many drastic hits as humans have become more skilled at getting large quantities of whatever they want out of the earth. Global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, are melting the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, while thermal expansion is causing oceans to rise, which is causing floods. "Global warming results in catastrophic weather events. The recent floods are a result of climate change, undoubtedly," (Simi Kamal). While floods are killing hundreds in China and Pakistan, drought is plaguing Russia, which is causing out-of-control wildfires. Besides global warming, another cause that specialists are pinpointing is change in land use patterns and heavy deforestation. This is a repetition of past mistakes that America learned from in the 1930's with dust storms that attacked the middle of the nation for the better part of a decade. Changing the structure of the land will affect the climate, and humans like to pretend that isn't the fact until it is being presented to their dismayed faces.
These different causes of climate change that humans are enacting is all subject to government rules. Understandably, we have many other issues on our plate that require money and attention from the U.S., but many of the disasters that are pulling money from our pockets are the direct result of the earth crying out against the changes we are causing. Indonesia recognizes these issues with greenhouse gas emissions, and is beginning to act in positive ways to change their population's bad habits. For example, their government is expanding land rights, giving more of the country's land to local communities to reduce loss of forest cover. They are attempting to expand the economic growth rate and reduce plundering of the terrain. In Japan, due to the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami on March 11, 2011, the government is pushing full steam ahead on their plans to replace nuclear power with renewable energy. Various means, such as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass sources, will be put into play, and they hope to have more than 20% of their power industry operating through those means in less than 9 years. Australia, one of the biggest contributing nations to pollution, has both recognized carbon pollution's effect on the climate and incorporated a change to reduce them. Their plan is to tax the nation's larger carbon emitters. This is not to say that the United States is the only country that is not implementing laws and changes that will help improve the environment. Latin America, due to their 40% increase in discovery of underground oil reserves, is now one of the leading countries in the oil and gas market (Global Issues).
It appears that the president has quite a bit of funding planned in the future, but environmental funding is located considerably far down on his priority list. 408 million will go to a new Global Food Security Fund, and the Pentagon's new budget will be at 703 billion dollars. Ten percent of the total budget will be given to
the Department's Foreign Military Financing Programme. 4.46 billion dollars is being requested for security and development assistance in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. "Altogether about 20 percent of the State Department's total budget will be devoted to Afghanistan (five billion dollars), Pakistan (3.16 billion dollars), and Iraq (2.5 billion dollars), according to the budget documents."(Global Issues). Of these budget goals, the World Bank-based Global Environment Facility will be getting 175 million dollars, which is merely a fraction of the budget intentions for the rest of the president's prerogative.
It has been proven that the income from oil imports is widening the U.S. deficit, and makes a large difference on the gap between our nation's import and export costs. The U.S. is spending approximately 1 billion dollars every day on oil imports, making us a major contributor and thus driving up oil prices. (American Progress) One popular issue that Obama promised in the beginning of his presidency was to place solar panels on top of the White House by the end of spring. This promise has not been kept, and along with that note, the New York times agreed that the White House has been very quiet on the subject of climate change.(Guardian.uk) "As he's doing now in the debt ceiling and budget talks, the president could have intervened personally and earlier by using his bully pulpit to galvanize Americans and policymakers on the urgency and economic imperative for launching the clean energy transition. He also could have better leveraged very strong business and investor support for comprehensive energy and climate policies." (Mindy Lubber, Grist Magazine)
Any legislation that required replacing this crude oil energy with clean energy along with pollution reduction would benefit the country and the environment. Gas companies, such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell are spending record breaking amounts of money--between 7 to 75 million dollars at a time--on lobbying to stop this type of legislation. The jobs required to create and support clean energy laboratories and businesses would make up for the job loss when banning our oil producing businesses. It seems that the government is merely afraid of the transition and the momentary losses they would sustain due to this radical change. This goes without mentioning the money the country would be saving since we would no longer be fighting and negotiating with dangerous, unstable foreign countries for crude oil. There would be less of a need to stretch our military across the world, thus compromising our national security.
There are, however, examples of how people can make a difference regardless of the lack of cooperation that society seems to be demonstrating. Some of the methods that business managers deploy in order to motivate their employees to work and sell more efficiently are competition and incentive. Energy secretary Steven Chu has put into effect these methods for large companies; their goal is to decrease the costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems in order to compete with other forms of energy.
It's called the Sunshot Initiative. With hefty funding toward this development, companies will compete across the nation with solar photovoltaic energy and it will become much more accessible to the population. The president does have a goal of doubling energy in the next 25 years, and this could be the most efficient step so far in making that happen.(Grist).
Everyone finds it easier to get along in a clean home. Imagine a day when we could look at the facts on the internet and see that the health of the environment is improving on a daily basis. It would be something everyone could look forward to. Our nation has been a leader in many different aspects; shouldn't it be a leader in the most important aspect of all? Showing that the once front running country with the most individual freedom and rights also has the best morals and ethics would encourage other countries, and we could once again be a positive role model. We teach the practice of setting a good example to others, and yet our country is destroying everything in its path to accomplish its own personal goals. We are butting heads with the oil companies over money that could be earned in a respectful, honest, and healthier method. It may be a bumpy road in the process, as it is proving to be now, but as each person learns the facts on how to change the economy in small ways, we will slowly change the country's opinion.
"A Diary of the Planet." EarthWeek. Oct. 1988. MMXI Earth Environment Service.
Web. 02 Jul. 2011. <www.earthweek.com/index.html>
Center For American Progress. 2003. CAP Action Fund. Web. 22 Jul. 2011.
<www.americanprogress.org>
"Climate Change and Global Warming." Global Issues. 12 Jun. 2011. Web. 02
Jul. 2011. <http://www.globalissues.org>
Grist Magazine. 1999. 11th Hour Project. Aug. 5, 2011. <www.grist.org>
Guardian. 2011. No. 908396. The UK Patent Office. Web. 02 Jul. 2011.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk>
The environment has been taking many drastic hits as humans have become more skilled at getting large quantities of whatever they want out of the earth. Global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, are melting the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, while thermal expansion is causing oceans to rise, which is causing floods. "Global warming results in catastrophic weather events. The recent floods are a result of climate change, undoubtedly," (Simi Kamal). While floods are killing hundreds in China and Pakistan, drought is plaguing Russia, which is causing out-of-control wildfires. Besides global warming, another cause that specialists are pinpointing is change in land use patterns and heavy deforestation. This is a repetition of past mistakes that America learned from in the 1930's with dust storms that attacked the middle of the nation for the better part of a decade. Changing the structure of the land will affect the climate, and humans like to pretend that isn't the fact until it is being presented to their dismayed faces.
These different causes of climate change that humans are enacting is all subject to government rules. Understandably, we have many other issues on our plate that require money and attention from the U.S., but many of the disasters that are pulling money from our pockets are the direct result of the earth crying out against the changes we are causing. Indonesia recognizes these issues with greenhouse gas emissions, and is beginning to act in positive ways to change their population's bad habits. For example, their government is expanding land rights, giving more of the country's land to local communities to reduce loss of forest cover. They are attempting to expand the economic growth rate and reduce plundering of the terrain. In Japan, due to the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami on March 11, 2011, the government is pushing full steam ahead on their plans to replace nuclear power with renewable energy. Various means, such as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass sources, will be put into play, and they hope to have more than 20% of their power industry operating through those means in less than 9 years. Australia, one of the biggest contributing nations to pollution, has both recognized carbon pollution's effect on the climate and incorporated a change to reduce them. Their plan is to tax the nation's larger carbon emitters. This is not to say that the United States is the only country that is not implementing laws and changes that will help improve the environment. Latin America, due to their 40% increase in discovery of underground oil reserves, is now one of the leading countries in the oil and gas market (Global Issues).
It appears that the president has quite a bit of funding planned in the future, but environmental funding is located considerably far down on his priority list. 408 million will go to a new Global Food Security Fund, and the Pentagon's new budget will be at 703 billion dollars. Ten percent of the total budget will be given to
the Department's Foreign Military Financing Programme. 4.46 billion dollars is being requested for security and development assistance in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. "Altogether about 20 percent of the State Department's total budget will be devoted to Afghanistan (five billion dollars), Pakistan (3.16 billion dollars), and Iraq (2.5 billion dollars), according to the budget documents."(Global Issues). Of these budget goals, the World Bank-based Global Environment Facility will be getting 175 million dollars, which is merely a fraction of the budget intentions for the rest of the president's prerogative.
It has been proven that the income from oil imports is widening the U.S. deficit, and makes a large difference on the gap between our nation's import and export costs. The U.S. is spending approximately 1 billion dollars every day on oil imports, making us a major contributor and thus driving up oil prices. (American Progress) One popular issue that Obama promised in the beginning of his presidency was to place solar panels on top of the White House by the end of spring. This promise has not been kept, and along with that note, the New York times agreed that the White House has been very quiet on the subject of climate change.(Guardian.uk) "As he's doing now in the debt ceiling and budget talks, the president could have intervened personally and earlier by using his bully pulpit to galvanize Americans and policymakers on the urgency and economic imperative for launching the clean energy transition. He also could have better leveraged very strong business and investor support for comprehensive energy and climate policies." (Mindy Lubber, Grist Magazine)
Any legislation that required replacing this crude oil energy with clean energy along with pollution reduction would benefit the country and the environment. Gas companies, such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell are spending record breaking amounts of money--between 7 to 75 million dollars at a time--on lobbying to stop this type of legislation. The jobs required to create and support clean energy laboratories and businesses would make up for the job loss when banning our oil producing businesses. It seems that the government is merely afraid of the transition and the momentary losses they would sustain due to this radical change. This goes without mentioning the money the country would be saving since we would no longer be fighting and negotiating with dangerous, unstable foreign countries for crude oil. There would be less of a need to stretch our military across the world, thus compromising our national security.
There are, however, examples of how people can make a difference regardless of the lack of cooperation that society seems to be demonstrating. Some of the methods that business managers deploy in order to motivate their employees to work and sell more efficiently are competition and incentive. Energy secretary Steven Chu has put into effect these methods for large companies; their goal is to decrease the costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems in order to compete with other forms of energy.
It's called the Sunshot Initiative. With hefty funding toward this development, companies will compete across the nation with solar photovoltaic energy and it will become much more accessible to the population. The president does have a goal of doubling energy in the next 25 years, and this could be the most efficient step so far in making that happen.(Grist).
Everyone finds it easier to get along in a clean home. Imagine a day when we could look at the facts on the internet and see that the health of the environment is improving on a daily basis. It would be something everyone could look forward to. Our nation has been a leader in many different aspects; shouldn't it be a leader in the most important aspect of all? Showing that the once front running country with the most individual freedom and rights also has the best morals and ethics would encourage other countries, and we could once again be a positive role model. We teach the practice of setting a good example to others, and yet our country is destroying everything in its path to accomplish its own personal goals. We are butting heads with the oil companies over money that could be earned in a respectful, honest, and healthier method. It may be a bumpy road in the process, as it is proving to be now, but as each person learns the facts on how to change the economy in small ways, we will slowly change the country's opinion.
"A Diary of the Planet." EarthWeek. Oct. 1988. MMXI Earth Environment Service.
Web. 02 Jul. 2011. <www.earthweek.com/index.html>
Center For American Progress. 2003. CAP Action Fund. Web. 22 Jul. 2011.
<www.americanprogress.org>
"Climate Change and Global Warming." Global Issues. 12 Jun. 2011. Web. 02
Jul. 2011. <http://www.globalissues.org>
Grist Magazine. 1999. 11th Hour Project. Aug. 5, 2011. <www.grist.org>
Guardian. 2011. No. 908396. The UK Patent Office. Web. 02 Jul. 2011.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk>
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