Geek in Heels - Page 116

Oct 23, 2010 • In Baby, Claire, Personal, Pregnancy

The Birth Story, Part 1

If you recall, we had gone to the hospital on the evening of September 29, only to be sent back home because I was only 1cm dilated and showed no signs of progress. And while I had been getting regular contractions, they tapered off by about 4am on the morning on September 30, leading me to believe that I had, in fact, experienced false labor.

Disappointed, I closed my eyes once more, determined to get some sleep. That, it turns out, was a great idea because I would require as much rest as possible for the approaching day…

(image source)

At around 8am, I awoke to contractions once more…except this time, they were about three times more painful than the night before and I definitely could not talk or walk through them.

Side note: several of my friends have asked what contractions feel like. To me, it felt like the worst menstrual cramps combined with horrible diarrhea cramps…times ten. The pain was not confined to my abdomen, but rather radiated through my entire midsection (including my back and sides).

That being said, while the intensity of the pain was pretty bad, it still wasn’t as bad as the horrible round ligament pain I experienced that one night in my second trimester.

I woke up J and we started timing the contractions once more. One minute long, 3 minutes apart. J wanted to head to the hospital, but I was scared that we would be sent home again. I remembered that I should follow the 5-1-1 rule — 5 (or less) minutes apart, lasting at least a minute each for an hour — and tried to wait it out for a full hour.

However, after only about 15 minutes, I yelled at J to call the doctor.

“Hi, I think my wife is in labor…yes, one minute long, three minutes apart…”

Then he handed the phone over to me. “The doctor wants to talk to you,” he said.

I grew increasingly frustrated and shot him — the messenger — a dirty look. “Do I LOOK like I’m in any condition to talk?!!” I hissed at him. However, I grudgingly took the phone and spoke.

“Hello? Yes…I’m pretty sure…I AM…IN LABOR…WE WERE AT THE HOSPITAL…LAST NIGHT…ONLY 1CM DILATED THEN…OKAY WE’LL COME IN NOW!”

Meanwhile, J was running around the house gathering all of our things again. The night before, we had calmly collected our hospital bag and other paraphernalia between my contractions. This time, we haphazardly grabbed what we could remember and bolted out the door.

Actually, I take that back. We hurried out the door, but it took quite some time to get from our apartment, down the hallway, into the elevator, to the parking garage, and into the car, because I really couldn’t walk through the contractions. Every time I felt the waves of pain starting again, I had to lean against a wall for support and try my best not to curl up into a ball.

We finally made it to the car and started for the hospital. The time was now 8:45am — rush hour! Additionally, it was raining cats and dogs. (Remember how I said that whenever something big happens in my life, it always seems to be accompanied by bad weather? Well, this was no exception.) The 15-minute drive to the hospital took almost double the time…

To be continued…

Guest Post: Sung & James

Jane is an up-and-coming photographer who recently documented her friend Sung’s pre-wedding photo shoot. I hope you enjoy the photos and the accompanying story as much as I did!

A couple weekends ago, my friend Julie and I went to give moral support to our friend Sung and James as they took their pre-wedding photos in our nation’s capital (more like the E-Jung Wedding Total Bridal Shop located in northern Virginia). If you can get some wedding photos taken before the wedding, I highly recommend it! It’s less stressful on the official wedding day because you get those bride and groom shots out of the way. We were really there to make sure Sung’s hair, make-up and everything else was in place. Luckily I brought my camera, along with my f/1/4-50 mm lens in case their photographer either loses their photos, accidentally deletes them or his camera ends up malfunctioning (eeek). Trust me; I’ve heard worst case stories from my photographer friends.

(They were calling each other names and poking fun at each other when they were posing for this shot)

(James messing with the owner of E-Jung)

(I caught him off guard in order to achieve this photo. He was obviously looking at his wife to be.)

(This was taken right near the Capitol. Their photographer told them to splash their feet in the fountain. Awkward. Let’s hope the photos turned out well for this shot.)

Sung is obviously the hotter one of the couple but when you get to know both her and James, you can understand why those two really gel together. These two goofballs keep each other and those around them laughing all the time. They had us laughing at the comebacks they threw at each other, at their charismatic photographer who taught Sung how to pose like a lady and James’ best man who was supposed to record their moment but couldn’t get the LCD screen to turn on (nice Eric). You can’t tell with James who looks kind of stiff in these photos because he’s just like Chandler from Friends — he just tightens when posing in front of the camera or as Sung would say, “He’s soo bad at pictures!” So I made sure to capture some candid photos of him and Sung. It’s only when he’s getting her to laugh is when he’s truly himself. Congrats to you two lovebirds, I’ll see you two at your wedding!

Me posing some K-pop moves

About the Author:

Jane from JaneKChun.wordpress.com resides 20 minutes from our nation’s capital. Besides working for the government, she’s also a freelance photographer and a Sunday school teacher at the church she attends. Her blog entails photos and stories that capture her ongoing journey as an up and coming adult!

Guest Post: Women in Tech, Where for Art Thou?

Susan is another reader whom, upon first glance at her own blog, I immediately added to my Google Reader. A fellow girl geek and a fantastic writer to boot, I truly feel honored to be able to share three of her posts in the upcoming weeks.

This particular post talks about a topic I often struggle with myself, and I remember bookmarking the exact same piece from TechCrunch with the intent to blog about it. Lucky for me, Susan has done the job herself in a succinct and well-written post that is worthy of much praise. Enjoy!

I work in a technology field, though sometimes my technical skills leave much to be desired; the copier at work ate one of my documents recently, leaving me staring helplessly in horror. So you might think I’d be offended by this post/rant from a while back at TechCrunch, a site I read daily, saying that everyone (ahem, women) needs to stop whining about the lack of women represented in the tech industry. They fully support women in tech, despite accusations to the contrary. They support the women they can find, that is. The reason they don’t have more women speaking at their events is that the women they ask to participate are already booked.

I don’t disagree. Sometimes it seems there are not a whole lot of us. There are even less women out there with their own start ups, though I am pleased to say I know one. But it’s not for lack of encouragement, which I think is the claim some people register. In fact, TechCrunch says that press and other outlets are falling all over themselves to shine a positive light on women entrepreneurs. An example of this is the recently failed search engine Cuil, which received extensive coverage on TechCrunch.

Women traditionally have been caretakers, and for someone who likes that role, it can be difficult to go from towing the company line to writing it. Not to mention the financial instability of starting your own company from scratch. If you are a Mom, I can see where that might make you uncomfortable. Kids are always needing expensive stuff like food and clothing. If you don’t know how well your business might do from month to month, it’s hard to figure out how to take care of your family. Read some of Penelope Trunk‘s blog posts and you’ll get the idea.

It doesn’t mean we lack ideas or even motivation. But I think it can make us more careful about carrying them out, which is not always ideal in the world of the fast and loose start up. So what will it take to get more women in tech? I don’t have the answer, and neither does TechCrunch. But I am going to keep my eyes open, and see if anyone is still complaining about it five or ten years from now. I have a feeling we won’t.

Image by Mike Licht.

About the Author:

Susan Cruickshank is a feminist, blogger and owner of too many pairs of trousers. She investigates women’s career and other work-related issues on her blog Wearing the Trousers. When not blogging, Susan enjoys the local Boston music scene as fan and sometimes performer and spending time with her husband Rob. Her other favorite activity is posting ridiculous pictures of her cats on Facebook.!

Guest Post: Impending Motherhood

While I may not have many friends in real life with babies, I have many online friends to whom I can turn for support, commiseration, and questions. Creature Gorgeous is just one of these friends, and we have developed quite a bond entering motherhood for the first time with our pregnancies just 8 weeks apart.

Not only is she drop-dead gorgeous (even at 8 months pregnant!) with one of those “basketball bump” bellies that all pregnant women long for, she is kind, oozes intelligence and charm, stylish, and a great blogger to boot. Here, she writes about her thoughts on her pregnancy and impending motherhood. Enjoy!

Note: This post was written three weeks ago so the dates are a bit off. Creature Gorgeous is now 33 weeks pregnant with her little one. Be sure to stop by her blog to congratulate her!

Hi there! You may know me as Miss Perfume on Weddingbee or the author of Creature Gorgeous blog! Here I am volunteering to guest blog for Jenny while she is away! We all cannot wait to meet her little one!

Speaking of which, I too am expecting in less than 10 weeks. Ten weeks! I can’t believe it. Literally. As a wise friend told me once, It takes all kinds. I decided to write this post after receiving a comment from a reader who suggested that the way I was writing about (and perhaps thinking about?) the baby made it seem like I was inconvenienced. I’m here to say, that, yes! baby will be burdensome…in a good way.

Our lives will change tremendously. Hopefully as things unfold, it will be more apparent that we’re just a couple trying to figure it all out as we go along, feeling at once happy, perplexed, and yes, at times, inconvenienced. It’s a reality that we won’t be able to do some of the things we used to do or at least they’ll be more difficult to accomplish. But it doesn’t make us love the baby any less. We’re reconciling our DINK lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed while doing the best we can for our baby-to-be. That is the balance we seek and here is a small peek into our journey of figuring it out.

So as some of you may know, our baby was not at all planned. Having just married in May 2009, my husband and I were *just* settling into married life, enjoying getting to know each other as a married couple, wearing our new identities of Mr. and Mrs. very proudly. We were not even sure that children would be a part of our future. And then ten months into our newly-wedded bliss I found out that I was pregnant! What? How is it possible that two older people like us (I am almost 38 and my husband is 42) could have done this without intending to? For months, we were somewhere between denial—well, denial isn’t the right word; it’s more like disbelief—excitement, and ignorance. It had not really set in that we were going to be parents.

In fact, we had been quite lazy and slow about doing anything related to preparing, save for being really diligent about prenatal care. It’s been a somewhat passive experience for us, and the reality of the baby had not hit us…until now…nearly 8 MONTHS into the pregnancy. All this time, we’ve been determined not to accumulate unnecessary baby stuff and clutter our home with baby paraphernalia (we’ll see how that works out).

I have not purchased but a few pieces of maternity clothing—$66-worth to be exact (having been given or lent much of it). I’ve done some cursory reading and have apps and weekly email updates online and on my phone, though I have been given several books (which I haven’t really read until now). I have not really purchased anything for the baby (we have been given a lot of hand-me-downs). We won’t have a nursery (because we’re selling our home). We only visited a baby store once and just looked at strollers.

Perhaps this apprehension to *not* change our lives too much is a function of having been single and child-free for so long, because we’re old and stuck in our ways. Amanda at Doubly-Happy sent me this great article on older couples who try to maintain their lifestyle while introducing a child into it. It resonated with me big time.

But finally, last night as I was preparing for bed, in the quiet and still of the night I had a (to me) profound thought: I will have a new relationship in less than 10 weeks. A new person in our lives who will live in our house and with whom we’ll spend a lot of time. Nights will no longer be leisurely and unstructured. That PERSON will be my responsibility…all mine. I felt a twinge of excitement and incredulousness. A cold sweat came over me, the kind that comes when you realize some truth. Sure, I’ve been marveling at (and baffled by) obvious bodily changes, the large belly, the doctor’s visits. But those things are pregnancy-related.

Pregnancy, to me has been a medical condition, a thing that’s happening to my body, like a cold (but not in a negative way—my pregnancy has been so easy and wonderful). For me, it is separate from parenthood. Impending parenthood: I hadn’t thought about it. I have the charge of caring for a helpless human being, to ensure his/her proper development, well-being both emotional and physical, for making sure s/he is brought up to be a good person and citizen. I’m not sure I fully understand this or how to go about it. I’m neither nervous nor blasé, just waiting. Waiting for something to hit me (like the first sight of baby) to get me moving and motivated. I’ve only focused on taking care of my body and the making sure things are developing well for the baby. Oh yeah, The Baby. S/he is still very conceptual to me. But things are changing.

It takes all kinds, they say. But now, after some midnight epiphany, I feel like I’m actually going to be a mom. I have started reading the books, looking more longingly at baby outfits online, and am really getting into it. And with every day that I’m feeling more and more pregnant, with every inch that my belly grows, with every kick the baby makes, and with the ever-increasing discomfort, I start to become more attached to the vision and dream of baby. The only difference between me and the woman who has dreamt all her life of having children is that it just took me a little more time to process. And I now share in the same excitement and anticipation that other moms-to-be feel. Baby is more real now and I can’t wait to meet him (or her). Whether or not our home stays a museum still remains to be seen. 😉

To follow my on the last leg of my journey (or the new chapter in my life, whichever way you want to look at it), please stop by at Creature Gorgeous.

The Evolution of the Geek [Infographic]

How could I resist?

Via Nerd Approved.

Guest Post: Geeky Halloween Treats

Stephanie returns with the third and final installment to her Halloween series, and this time she focuses on a topic that would make anyone salivate: food! Enjoy!

As with any real shindig, it’s not a party until you are snackin’ on something delicious. In light of that, here are some manageable and scrumptious treats for your Halloween party. Though I love a delicious and artistic cupcakes, Halloween is the only time of the year that you can make gross or strange food and everyone loves it!

Since Halloween is all about the trick-or-treat, I thought I would put together a round-up of tricky treats (see what I did there? Alright, it wasn’t that great…) to fool your guests. Check out these strange snacks:

Start with a selection of strange drinks: I’m a fan of these radioactive glasses (they come with a recipe for green slime!):

But you could also have these eerily realistic denture ice cubes from Fred & Friends floating in whatever you’re serving:

Once everyone has quenched their thirst, the attention should focus on your spread (I always do just snacks or dessert for a Halloween party, no need to make a full meal!) of tasty though potentially strange foods.

I like this trick and treat idea for “sweet sushi” (and after having tested it) I vote yes:

If not, come to the dark side, via Sweet Me Up:

There are way too many options of what to munch on at your next creepy fete, but if the above haven’t been creepy enough, try jellied eyeballs or Abby Normal cupcakes, à la Young Frankenstein:

Frau Blücher? With all of that (and your choice of entertainment) you have all the tools you need to craft a kickin’ Halloween party, brains and zombies included!

Trick or Treat!

About the Author:

Stephanie is a third year college student, splitting her time between her laptop and sewing machine (and of course school and work!). When she’s not planning another do-it-yourself project, she catches up on what’s new in the blog-world and regales readers with her latest creations and revelations via Real Fine Place. If you like clever projects, innovation and authenticity, she would love to meet you.

Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 5)

Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 1)
Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 2)
Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 3)
Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 4)

Do what works best for you and your family.

I repeat: Do what works best for you and your family.

Books, articles, and internet forums are great sources of information and advice. But don’t drive yourself crazy trying to follow everything to the teeth.

Because as soon as I decided to take my mother’s advice and cut down on my marathon pumping sessions, I actually started producing MORE milk. Additionally, I was better-rested, less stressed, and gave my nipples a chance to heal.

I gradually cut down my pumping sessions from every 2 hours to every 3-4 hours…then every 5-6 hours.

The Medela Pump In Style® Advanced Shoulder Bag: my best (breast?) friend and worst enemy

Today, at 19 days post-partum, I only pump 4 or 5 times in a 24 hour period, and I am producing 2-3 times the amount of milk that my baby needs…and my supply shows no signs of dwindling. I have a hefty stock of pumped breastmilk in the refrigerator and am starting to amass quite a collection in the freezer as well.

And now that my milk supply is sufficient for my hungry daughter (she continues to consume above the average amount for her weight but she seems healthy and happy so we are not concerned), I am ready to try taking her to my breast again. I have even purchased nipple shields and bottles that most closely resemble the human breast in order to make the transition as smooth as possible.

However, I will not worry too much if she ends up never taking my breast again.

Because at this point, exclusively pumping is working for us. Other people are able to take care of Claire while I nap, take showers, and — eventually — go out and have some “me” time away from the baby.

Sure, exclusively pumping has some drawbacks. Breastmilk loses some of its nutritional value once it is cooled, and even more so once it is frozen. A mother and child may not bond as well as they may with directly breastfeeding. And it is a lot of work cleaning and sterilizing all the pumping parts after each session.

However, they say that pumped breastmilk is still better than formula. Exclusively pumping is starting to gain in popularity and I have found much support and resources in sites like The Lactivist and Exclusively Pumping. So if this is what ends up working for me and my family, neither J nor I will have any problems with this solution. (Besides, J loves feeding Claire!)

This will be the last post in this series.

I am sure that I will have additional — and probably more difficult — challenges ahead of me as a new mother.

I still struggle at times, especially in the middle of the night when Claire won’t sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time and will only stop crying when I walk around with her in my arms.

Or when I catch myself in the mirror, baby in my arms, and I ask myself, “Whose baby am I holding?” (Nope, she doesn’t quite feel like MINE yet…)

And I still feel silly talking to her. Did/does anyone else have this problem?

But at the moment, I am starting to get the hang of it…being a mother, that is.

And I hope that I have helped new and future mothers by sharing this journey.

Next up: my labor story! (I know I seem to be going backwards, but bear with me here!)

Thank you to everyone for your support, advice, and prayers!

Guest Post: Comic-Con — The Real Deal

New York may have its own Comic-Con (which unfortunately coincided with a new baby this year), but nothing can compare to the original and the best: San Diego Comic-Con. J and I always said that we will make a trip out to the West Coast one year to partake in its magnificence, but now that we have a baby it might be quite some time before we can do so. Perhaps we can make it a family trip when our kids are a bit older?

Fortunately, for the time being, I can live vicariously through other attendees like Jen who has offered to write a post on her Comic-Con experience. Enjoy!

Be honest, some of those reading this who have never been to Comic-Con are picturing people in ill-fitting costumes, arguing about the finer points of the mechanical operation of the Starship Enterprise*. Am I right? Well, hopefully, if you are reading Jenny’s blog, you know that geeks come in a variety of packages, but the former can still be the widely-held perception.

I made the pilgrimage to San Diego this past July, and had an absolute blast. First of all, there are costumes, and some of them are absolutely amazing, either in the incredibly detailed recreations of existing costumes, or a clever play on a character, like the guys dressed as Boba Fett and Darth Vader, re-imagined as pimps. There are opportunities for fun photo ops abound, and if you like dressing up and creating costumes, you will never find a more appreciative audience than there.

In fact, being a part of the incredibly appreciative audience at Comic-Con was my favorite part about being there. I liken the experience to going to a fantastic movie on opening night, and gasping and cheering and laughing along with your fellow audience-members. Now, imagine that experience, but with thousands of people in the audience, and the actors and creators are there, in person, to give you the behind-the-scenes stories, their take on the characters, and maybe even a few hints about what’s to come. You get to laugh and cheer and clap for them, and they are just as excited as you are, and in awe of all the attention and support. How often do TV and movie stars really get to experience a live audience?

One of my memorable moments was the experience of watching an episode of Eureka, since it aired the Friday night of the conference, with hundreds of other fans and several cast members who (surprise!) showed up to watch it with us. The amount of reaction when something funny or exciting happened was so much that it startled me several times! When you are used to watching something in your living room and all of sudden you are doing it with hundreds of others, it can be a little jarring, but also exhilarating.

It was such a thrilling weekend in so many ways. Watching Stephen Moyer describe exactly how they got Lorena’s head to turn all the way around in that scene was hilarious. Hearing Alan Ball (creator of True Blood) earnestly thank Charlaine Harris for creating Sookie Stackhouse’s world was heartwarming. The roar was deafening when Joss Whedon officially announced that he would be directing The Avengers. Hearing the Mythbusters gang recount some great stories was a blast. Meeting Janet Evanovich, and being able to tell her in person that I think her Stephanie Plum novels are hilarious was great. Seeing the cast of Futurama do a live table read in their character voices was just icing on the cake.

Countless other cool things happened; it’s impossible to experience all of them in one weekend. It makes all the line-waiting worth it.

I hope this helps to explain the cult phenomenon of Comic-Con a little better. It’s really about being a fan, and that’s not a bad thing.

*I have to say that I’m a big fan of Star Trek, so no offense intended to Trekkies

About the Author:

Jen is from Phoenix, AZ, where she lives with her husband and 2 cats. She loves reading, television, photography, design, Americana, and general geekery. You can find her blog at ataleof2monkeys.com and her photography shop at jelitan.etsy.com.

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Floorplan

What did everyone think of last night’s season finale of Mad Men?

I managed to catch it — little by little between the 2:34am diaper change and and the 4:56am feeding last night — and I ended up becoming incredibly frustrated due to the fact that I watched it alone. Well, not completely alone but there are only so much “What the FREAK just happened?!?” and “Did I catch that correctly?” remarks you can say to a baby in an extremely sleep-deprived state before you start questioning your own sanity and wondering if you are making up extra plotlines in your head.

Anyways.

Illustrator Tadej Štrok decided to celebrate the season finale by creating the floor plan of the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce office and I couldn’t help but bookmark it to share with my readers. I especially love the mysterious room marked “Whiskey storage?” Enjoy!

Via Curbed.

P.S. — This season of Mad Men has definitely been the best yet! I can’t wait to see what they have in store for Season 5!

P.P.S. — I only just realized that the actor who plays Pete Campbell is the one who portrayed Angel’s son Connor in the show Angel. I knew there was something familiar(ly annoying) about him!

Guest Post: Eat Pray Love, Travel Edition

Here is another guest post from Elyssa. Today, she draws inspiration from the book-turned-movie Eat Pray Love to talk about her travel experience and aspirations, filled with some truly inspirational pictures. Enjoy!

Note: This post was written last month when Eat Pray Love was released in theaters.

Eat Pray Love hits theaters this Friday (note to self…go see) so I thought it would be fun to ask my readers where out of the three countries she goes to (Italy, Bali and India) you would like to see the most.

As most of you now know, J and I travel A LOT. And we’ve been fortunate enough to have been to Italy and Bali. So, as for me I would want to hit up India since it’s the only one left out of that group. Reasonable, right? Me thinks so.

Italy:

You can’t go wrong with Italy. From the jagged coasts…

To the breathtaking Tuscany region…

To the Palladio inspired Piedmont region…

And back to one of my Top 5 cities, Venice.

Italy honestly has it all. And no, I did not “forget” Rome. You can have Rome. There are so many better and more lovely places in Italy.

Bali:

I’m not going to go into Bali since you can link back to it at the top of this post and see our pictures that we took. It’s a great place. But it’s in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. If you can swing it, go and see it. Just remember to upgrade to at least business class. You can thank me later.

India:

Now this is not a place that everyone wants to go. Most of us who think of India think of this:

Or this:

India is one of those countries where I will admit, I’d be a snob. I’d want to see this, at sunrise with a private tour guide:

While staying here:

I’d sidestep a little Bourne and hit up Goa:

I’d cross my fingers and hope to hell that Mumbai was safe so I could see some of the best Medieval architecture in India:

And then, I’d licketyspit my arse over to Nepal.

I’m sure I’ve left out a lot of India that many people can rave over but these would be my highlights. So tell me, where would you go?

About the Author:

I’m just a girl, living in Seattle. With the boy, J, the dog, Gwen, and the kitty. I love to muse about things that little ole sarcastic me thinks is funny on my blog TwentyFiveFifty. Pretty simple stuff! Thank you Geek in Heels for letting me guest blog. Congratulations to you and your family!

The Birth Story, Part 1

You may also like:

Guest Post: Sung & James

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Guest Post: Women in Tech, Where for Art Thou?

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Guest Post: Impending Motherhood

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The Evolution of the Geek [Infographic]

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Guest Post: Geeky Halloween Treats

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Motherhood: The Most Difficult Journey Yet (Part 5)

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Guest Post: Comic-Con — The Real Deal

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Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Floorplan

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Guest Post: Eat Pray Love, Travel Edition

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