Month: April 2010

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Pregnant Rachel, originally uploaded by Ben Mason.

We went to Belmar Ponds to take some huge belly pictures. They turned out pretty nice, although I look really tired in them. Ben is a great photographer and I love that he’s enthusiastic about going on photo shoots with me. There’s more pictures in his flickr photo set, follow the link above.

Here are two things I’ve made for kickpuncher. 

This vest has been a slow work in progress since January.  It’s hard to stop and start the pattern because I had to make many adjustments to the gauge.  Also the instructions are British, which are surprisingly different than American instructions and take a bit of time to decipher.  It’s a cotton yarn I bought at Fancy Tiger. 

This little hat came together in just a few hours.  I bought three skeins of this sweet green cotton yarn in SoHo and it has been calling to me since I got home.  Yes, I have three other knitting works in progress, but WIPs be damned!  I wanted to make a soft, tiny hat for kickpuncher’s spring debut.  It only took half a skein!  Babies are so tiny . . .

This week brought on a new pregnancy woe – SI joint pain.  It started Tuesday with a little pain.  By Wednesday I was limping, unable to lift anything at work, and struggling to get up out of chairs.  Thursday I missed work (after much ado, argh-I hate our management) because the pain was so bad.  I went to my midwife who diagnosed SI pain.  I got a prescription for Vicodin and a referral for PT, who can’t see me until next week.  The outlook is bad, that this pain will come and go until the end of pregnancy, and return for all subsequent pregnancies.  I found an article here that describes what I have perfectly.  Basically the relaxin hormone is doing its thing to get ready for delivery, but it over-loosened the ligaments surrounding the sacral-iliac joint.

I tried a Vicodin and it didn’t work any better than Tylenol, which is to say not at all.  I’ve had heat and ice on my back round the clock.  I had Jenni give me a massage and Ben bought me a supportive brace.  This morning my pain is still here but only 60-75% of what it was yesterday, so I’ll go to work tonight.  I hope it’s an easy night.  And I hope the weekend is relaxing and makes the pain go away.  And I hope I find time to try swimming at the rec center – I bought a swimsuit two weeks ago and haven’t had time yet.

Last week I put my foot down and said I wasn’t taking call anymore.  It was too difficult for me to have interrupted sleep and to respond to patient needs alone.  I’m so glad I ended it.  They worked out a schedule where I cover evening shifts during the week.  The hours are unpredictable but I get to sleep in every day and that makes a huge difference in my well-being.  I get up slowly and eat a decent breakfast, and even have time for a little leisure and errands.  Well, if this blasted SI pain wasn’t holding me back.

Instead of counting up I’m counting down.  5 weeks until my due date.  The last few days I have felt very pregnant.  Achy in my back and joints, tight in my belly, moody, tired, everything you expect.  I think kickpuncher is going through another growth spurt.  I’m to the point where I’d be happy if he came.  Yes, it’s early.  But I’m ready for him and done being pregnant.  I’m feeling very wistful for the olden days. 

I miss:

• feeling chilly
• my flat stomach
• sleeping on my stomach
• sleeping through the night
• waking up feeling refreshed
• eating bacon
• eating hot dogs
• eating cold deli sandwiches
• eating undercooked eggs
• eating a meal without causing shortness of breath
• drinking caffeine guilt-free
• standing up without groaning
• bending down without groaning
• tying my shoes from a standing position
• clothes that fit
• changing the cat litter (HA!  That one’s for you Ben)

Sadly I realize that most of these will not be resolved immediately upon delivery, or even the next couple years.  Here’s hoping I have a marvelous, fun, exciting, joyful summer.

One of the great outcomes of being pregnant is that it brings out the craftiness in women. I have been slowly working on a knitted sweater vest and already finished two flannel blankets. But I have also received some wonderful handmade items by other women I love.

This is a cuddly soft teal and blue blanket knit by Betty. The amazing thing is she learned to knit just to make this! It’s her first project and I’m super impressed. The model doll is named “Squints” and came from a friend at my shower.

Yesterday I opened a surprise package in the mail and found this beautiful quilt. Grandma Lois made this for the baby to play on. I think it will be perfect for spreading out with some toys. The fabrics have different fun textures too. The model is, of course, Link from Wind Waker Zelda. I couldn’t resist getting him in NY.

Finally, check out this amazing amigurumi set of animals my mom crocheted. They are incredibly darling, but I think the Octopus is my favorite. I don’t know how she finds time to do such things, but these will be treasured for sure.

(Photography by Ben, styled by Rachel and Ben. We used our cool photo studio set-up that Dad got us for Christmas to take these.)

Amanda beat me to blogging our trip, and did such a great job summarizing that I’m afraid I can’t add much to it!  So here are some of my favorite photos with brief explanations.  See Amanda’s blog and the flickr accounts for me, Ben, and Jenn for more travel bits. 

Beautiful produce and crafts at the Union Square Farmer’s Market.  I got some art prints for the nursery from this artist. 

Second breakfast was at Le Pain Quotidien.  Loved their bread and spreads. 

Third breakfast was hot cocoa from Chocolate by the Bald Man.  Next time I’m in NY I’ll have to stop here for dessert.  The waffles and fondue looked really good. 

The Tim Burton exhibit at MOMA was fun, but I think I enjoyed seeing the other classics even more.  And the benches.  I was a big fan of the benches. 

I’m glad we made it to a deli.  I had a rueben in the hospital cafeteria yesterday because I can’t get this sandwich out of my head.  I love pastrami and cole slaw!  Ben attacked a true NY cheesecake and declared it delicious.

Bebe Neurwirth made this show for me.  No one can do isolations like that girl.

Ben and I skipped the second museum in favor of extra sleep the next day.  We leisurely got up and walked to Rockefeller Plaza.  They had Easter lilies and gorgeous azalea trees.

Mavi and Jeff met us at Jing Fong in Chinatown for dim sum lunch.  By the way, I have no idea why I look so grumpy in most of my pictures.  Maybe because my mouth was always full?  I seriously had a great time during the whole trip.  I apologize to my family if I looked like a grumpy toad the whole time. 

After dim sum we shopped around SoHo and got our second round of Pinkberry.  I picked up some beautiful yarn to add to my basket of beautiful yarns with no purpose yet.  Then we had a fancy-pants dinner at BLT Fish.  This restaurant tried their hardest to make me dislike them, but I wouldn’t let them.  First, many of you know I hate seafood.  Yes, all seafood.  Yes, I have tried “this is the best though, it doesn’t even taste fishy” many times as my fellow diners entice me to try again.  I still hate it.  So I ordered the only non-fish item on the menu, filet mignon.  Normally this is no biggie-except for the whole rare meats are bad when you’re pregnant thing.  I had them cook it as much as possible without ruining it and they did a perfect job.  It was still delicious.  Everyone else seemed enchanted with their fish entrees.  Ben got to make up for all the fish-less meals he endures at home. 

After Lend Me a Tenor (which was really good and funny) we found dessert and snacks at Junior’s across from the theater.  I realized that I had ordered pickles and ice cream, how cliche is that?

Here’s mah swag, lots of fun things to take home, aside from my fun memories.  I love traveling with my family!  I hope it doesn’t slow down once we have a kid.  (I foresee a fantastic trip to Disneyland in 5 years or so). 

Just got back from New York City!  My family took a weekend vacation and we had a fabulous time.  Shopping, shows, and lots and lots of food.  I love to visit NY and each trip is different because there is so much to do there.  Tomorrow I hope to do a proper recap of my trip with photos.  Coming home I’m always struck by the wonders of home comforts.  Here are some things that I appreciate about being home:

• Clean mountain air
• Soft 2 ply toilet paper
• Shopping without the crowds
• Mexican food
• My animals

But New York has plenty of awesomeness to make giving these up for a weekend completely worthwhile:

• Pizza.  Seriously, the pizza. 
• H&Ms and giant-sized Anthropologies
• Good live theater every night of the year
• Pinkberrys
• And a new edition to my food-love list – Le Pain Quotidien

I could do a whole list that’s just food.  Looking at my photos, about half of them are what I ate 🙂  Here’s me and Ben in Rockefeller Plaza.  More to come soon.