Pregnancy Chronicles – Part Deux

Sorry for the delay my pretties. I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into with this yoga-life 2008!

Currently, I am so happy to just be sitting down… but after reading everyone’s comments and well wishes; I am so full of gratitude I just wanted to say thank you from the fullest most expansive part of my heart (yes, I’ve been doing a lot of “heart opening” in yoga.)

Here’s some things I’ve noticed about pregnancy… you mothers (or husbands who have been through this, please feel free to weigh in on if I’m going crazy…)

I fell as if I am embracing my inner Elvis, best described in the words (which are a cover, I note)… “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog…”

CRYING ALL THE TIME
#1 I cry a lot! Last weekend my dad bought me a “lemon lime and tiger’s blood snowie” at the Bees game that I was so grateful for I started crying. Who knew heart opening extended to shaved ice?

#2 Go go gadget nostrils… because beyond the crying, there is the SNIFFING!!! Holy crap! Danny ate garlic a week ago and I could still smell it days later (poor guy). We’ll be driving down the street and I’ll start getting a little gaggy… like “EW! What smells like fried chicken?!?!” And three blocks ahead of us there’s a KFC. The Colonel’s secret recipe is not sitting well with this fetus.

I could lay down for a 15 minute nap, and never return from Neverland…
#3 Tired, tired, tired…. This isn’t really a fair one because I’ve heard pregnancy makes you tired from just “being.” The preggers Bible “what to Expect When You’re Expecting” says I exhaust more energy just sitting than Danny does at the gym… but I’m not sitting much… I’m yoga a go-go-ing about 9 – 13 hours a day. Thankfully only about 4 - 6 hours of it is actually postures, but still… wouldn’t that wipe me out even if I wasn’t making a placenta?!?!

OK, so enough of that… let’s get you up to speed in my crazy fabulous OBGYN. I’m actually switching to a mid-wife (yes, to give birth in the woods with a stick in my mouth.) No I kid… it will still be at the hospital, and I’ll keep my OBGYN as a back-up in case there are any complications… but I’d live to take the road less traveled if possible, and try to do this thing the old fashioned way. ☺ We’ll see how it goes since I start sweating from the pain when I’m getting laser hair removal done…) But I think natural child birth is like running a marathon… you train, you do the best you can do… but you can’t wake up the morning of and think, hmmm today I’ll run the Boston Marathon. There’s some back end work – mentally and physically – that needs to happen if you’re going to make it happen…. (understanding my birth clan totally includes clauses for whatever’s best for the baby… like if I need to be cut open or something, you know? I mean, you just never know.)

OK, so if you’re still with me… the crazy OB/GYN:

Danny attends the appointment with me, and the nurse that meets with us initially is so super practical… I’m pretty sure she can tell I’m totally Type A because I have a list of my initial questions that’s about two pages long; and that’s AFTER I’ve read all of the supplemental chapters in “What to Expect” been on babycenter.com AND been to my family practice doctor.

In a nutshell, she explains that the Doc is pretty mellow, no ultrasounds unless there’s a concern until about the 16 week (depending on need) and that I shouldn’t be so stressed out about making everything perfect.

I pee in a cup, talk about how I’ve been feeling and get some blood work done. When we return the Doc is in his office and invites us in. He’s got Led Zeppelin playing in the back ground, and I compliment him on his taste in music. He muses about John Bonham (which is my favourite drummer too, but I leave that detail out)… and then he begins (what appears to be a ritual) of dumping a box of good-n-plentys on his desk and invites us to partake…

Um, doesn’t he know I’m preggers and therefore am trying to limit my intake of processed sugar for the health of my child? Not to mention the dangers of HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP?!?!? EEK!

He begins to explain to us why this particular Zeppelin song is so amazing (switch from ¾ time to 5/8 time or something…) At one time, as I’m sipping on my ½ gallon water jug (because “What to Expect has told me the importance of keeping hydrated) he remarks, “Dang woman, you’re going to drown!” So much for my baby-your-baby efforts.

I ask him some questions about our birth plan:

Me: ”So how do you feel about hydro birthing?”
Doc: “Great idea if you want your baby to drown.”
Check, so no hydro birthing.

Me: “But jacuzzi’s are ok?”
Doc: “I don’t care if you want to give birth in the shower as long as you don’t mind washing my back.”
Ew, Maybe rethink the water idea…

Danny, I might mention, is eating this up (not to mention the stash of good-n-plenties). At one time the Doc warns against water skiing because if I fall, and the water shoots up into my vagina (sorry, had to write it) with some sort of bacteria that can lead to infection of the baby… and the baby dies in me, infecting me and ultimately I die… so again, the water thing has taken a turn for worse.
So I’m steering clear of wake boarding this year.

Doc: ‘Listen, women have been doing this for thousands of years. I don’t know what kind of pregnancy you’re going to have. May be easy, may be terrible… my advice? Don’t go skydiving without a parachute, rock climbing without a rope… and stop reading so much. That ‘What to Expect’ book was written by lawyers…”

By this point, I think Danny is going to jump across the desk and hug our OB. (My Mom’s always telling me I read too much too.) He’s totally grinning, like “I knew you didn’t have to be so OCD about this thing….”

Doc: “Listen, here’s what I do. I carry around a fire hose. If I see smoke, I put out the fire.”

By this point, any reference to water are not going so well. I decided to save my questions about hypnobirthing and Lamaze classes for another day. I wasn’t going to get much more out of this visit… the nurse had answered my questions… they gave me a list of things to avoid (medicines, h20 skiing, etc) and didn’t seem to care that I was onl getting 30 grams of protein a day instead of the recommended 75 (I think my baby’s a vegan. Bless his heart).

The moral of the story? Even though the doc is a little nutty, I have every confidence in the world that if there were any complications, he would be the guy I’d want taking care of me. Cut to the chase and take care of business. That’s what I want in the case of birthing complications… but for my pregnancy, I’d think I’d like someone who pays as much attention to my uterus as the time count of Jon Bonham.

namaste

hopefully i'll writer sooner next time.

Procreate in 2008: The Saga Continues

Well, it turns out I am fertile mertle and my husband has super sperm... 

That's right, remember when I wrote all about how much I was craving vegetables and how if I ever smelled fried chicken again I would vomit (well, in more words or less...)??? Turns out, when I wrote that recap from Michigan I was just 6 weeks weeks prego in my ego. ;)  

Danny and I are now between our 10 - 11 week, which means yes, I'm in my last month of the first trimester and hopefully my strength will return soon because as amazing as this miracle of life is in my uterus... It's like kryptonite... seriously, sucking out my energy!

And I just started my yoga teacher training on Monday, which equates to about 9 and a half hours a day of yoga (asana=posture, pranayama=breathing, anatomy, history of yoga, and meditation=trying to quite the mind, ick, but not being very successful and basically just having my legs fall asleep while I sit and wonder HOW MUCH LONGER IN THESE 15 MINUTES OF TORTURE?!?!?!) Oh and did I mention in 9.5 hours 6 times a week?  (When do I sleep?  More importantly, when do I eat?  More importantly... when do I find time to pee because in the immortal words of Juno (paraphrased of course)... this whole bit "makes me pee like Seasbiscuit." )

But let's not forget about how happy I am about this. 

We weren't "trying." And my doctor reminded me that "you don't have as many eggs at 30 as you did in your youth."  OUCH!  Plus, it took both my sisters a bit of time to get preggers on their first one... but apparently whatever divine sea monkey in currently inside of me was in a great hurry to get down here... so we said good bye to birth control (thinking my body could try to "normalize" it's own hormone levels)... and two weeks later .... well, you know how it works, eh?  I like to think it happened during a two week orgy of tantric delight ... where Danny escaped to work/school for recovery from his buxom sexual goddess who waited to devour him at home.... yeah, I like to think of it like that.  But neither of us can really pinpoint what was actually taking place the last couple of weeks in April. ;) 

So I need to sign off (most of you are probably thinking the same thing after that graphic pictorial...) but I've got yoga a-go-go tomorrow from 8am-5pm and then from 7pm - 10pm so it promises to be a long day. 

Though I am glad to be having lots of opportunities for exercise while this little miracle resides inside of me... even if I lack my normal chutzpah (sp?). 

****

Oh, and I can't wait to blog about our first OB appointment... friggin' hilarious.  The doctor kept playing us Led Zeppelin and told me after I asked about non-traditional birthing methods: "I don't care if you want to give birth in the shower as long as you don't mind washing my back."   

****

Anyway, as far as yoga... what have I gotten myself into? 

It's great, fantastic and freaking draining as all get out.  But my class is totally supportive, and the yoga studio owner is totally militant about inversions (no headstands or handstands) and full backbending (just say good bye to "wheel") and anything that basically puts pressure on my uterus is off-limits... (is there another post on the internet with more mentions of the word uterus?  I certainly hope not... what a weird word.)

namaste

 

Salute from Michigan

Hey friends,

Sorry about my absence… not a very interesting story… but I’ve been on the road in Michigan since Sunday afternoon, and before that I was just trying to get a few minutes of QT with the love of my life (no, not my Coach patchwork handbag sillies… Daniel Garth Mangum. Sheesh!)

So the Midwest is a trip, eh?

I’m out here in Ford Country researching story ideas for my SkyWest Magazine column (now that it’s transitioned from the best SLC has to offer… more to the best the Midwest has to offer.)
Michigan has a rocking art scene I knew nothing about… but was really quite surprised to learn what a vibrant artisan community this place houses.

Although the food reminds me of eating in England… in that it pretty much sucks. (That’s about the only similarity.) Don’t these people know that vegetables are your friends?!?!

But seriously, it hasn’t all been bad… but I have sworn off fried foods for pretty much the rest of my life because I don’t think my intestines can handle it… I mean, all I crave is salad… and everyone wants to offer me filet, polish sausage/fried potato hash.

I’m taking a breaking from eating things with souls for a while. I had salmon the other night – but I had pretty much been eating yard-bird every other day of the week… so as of a couple of days ago, I gave up chicken too. ;)

Speaking of yard bird ….Did you know that some of the original members of Led Zeppelin were members of a band called The Yardbirds. OK, well at least some famous guitarists and one member of Led: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, respectively.

So here’s what I’ve learned on this trip:

Nature kills trees, so we should protect them. With all of the devastation to the Midwest wit the thunderstorms, tornadoes and flooding… we need to do everything we can do to protect our environment, because mother nature is as devastating to herself as we are… though some might say WE are the reason mother nature is having so many issues… with the whole climate change thing and all… I’m just saying…

“What am I saying?” you ask. Oh, well thanks for asking… I’m just saying that just because you don’t believe in global warming, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

And what do we risk by taking care of the environment anyway? That’s right….a few inconveniences.

Yeah, and then what again is that we risk by not taking care of the environment?
Oh, well…there’s the lack of a sustainable and healthy environment for our posterity… lack of suitable parks and forests for them to see…clean air, clean water… not to mention the wrath of GOD for not taking care of his creation… but those are just off the top of my head. ;)

The other things I learned on this trip were that:

a) I’d rather have quality than quantity. e.g. I’d rather have one fresh tomato that’s organic and pesticide free that tastes like it’s just been picked from a garden that can be eaten plain… well, I’d rather have that than a bucket of tomatoes that taste like the kind that are on burgers at fast food joints.

I’d rather have one night in a great hotel room for a couple hundred dollars with 800 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets and down comforters and pillows that you sink into like clouds… than 3 or 4 nights in a best western with 100 count brillo pads for linens that scratch against my skin while I try to get rest on a lumpy mattress with a comforter that should be named “uncomforter” because it’s merely a blanket… but not even that.

I’d rather have a small breakfast with yogurt and fruit and maybe a glass of fresh squeezed OJ that makes my cells dance for $15 than pay $4.99 for all you can eat grease sausage, a 12 pack of “hotcakes,” watered down juice from concentrate and some hashbrowns that were cooked in lard because CISCO was having a discount on breakfast taters.

So this is my new mantra for 2008… (I know I said the mantra was “procreate in 2008” but people started asking me about it and I felt funny in my tummy about it… not because I’m preggers or anything, but that is officially my own personal beeswax, right? Well, at least my husband reminded me it should be our own personal beezewax.)

Anyway, the new mantra is “quality not quantity.”

And there was a part “b” to this story… but I am going to leave you all with a yogic parable. (wade, if you're reading this.. you can quit now so it doesn't seem as long.) This doesn't have much to do with my post, except that I think it's a good story about "seeing your own blind spots" and personal resposibility... but I guess, from that perspective it may have everything in the world to do with the post.

There once was a young yogi who worked in marketing and communications. One day, after straining at her computer screen for hours, she raised her voice to the cubicle universe and asked for help.

“Can someone fix my computer screen? It’s all blurry and I can’t focus when it’s broken like this!”

There was no one that could supply an answer to her problem.

She continued in her frustration and finally called some I.T. Brahman and asked them for a solution to her problem.

“Can you please fix my computer so that I might be able to do my work better? The screen is all blurry and it’s hard to focus…”

“I’m sorry,” said the computer Brahman. “There is nothing we can do.”

The young yogi was upset that the Brahman were so unwilling to help. She screamed (internally) at the gods, felt frustration in her self and thought about contracting her work’s “employee assistance program” for counseling.

“How does anyone expect me to work under these conditions when my computer screen is blurry?” the little yogi pondered.

And just before the yogi was contemplating throwing her shoe at the computer screen, a young intern suggested that to fix her the problem with her PC, maybe she should try getting glasses.

And the yogi never complained about her blurry computer screen again.

I Got In!

Well, it's 9:12 pm...and I just woke up from a nap.
That's right; that was not a typo. I just woke up from a "power-nap" of 90 minutes.

Long story... I actually wrote it down, but it's not really interesting. So I'm just going to post this for the night:

• Danny has been in Atlanta for the past two days with his Dad watching baseball games – what a life!
• We are doing some more “paperwork” on the house tomorrow morning. Apparently this process is pretty intense and requires so much dexterity/ brace to prevent fro carpal tunnel (sp?) that we are doing it in shifts. ;)
• I GOT MY ACCEPTANCE PHONE CALL TO FLOW YOGA SLC’S TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM!!! IT’S OFFICIAL!

NAMA(freakin’)STE!

GREAT NEWS!!!! And graduation pictures!

Things we are celebrating at the suite-mangum/mangum house (not necessarily in order of importance):

• Danny's swanky new job with Zions! Some of you have heard us talk about this opportunity... and just a couple of months ago we were thinking it wasn't going to happen as the timing was just not seeming to be there. He had got a great offer from First Utah Bank, but Zions was where he wanted to be, and yesterday he got the call... the offer... and accepted!  He starts on June 9th.  I'm so proud of him!!!!

• King bed, yo! Danny's family (mom & dad and aunt & uncle) bought this swanky pad in upstate-Utah (Eden in Ogden Valley) and asked if we'd be willing to trade out our Queen bed for the joint and replace it with their King bed... um, HELLO!?!?!  Twist my arm?  Ok, yeah... don;t even need to think about it.  So Monday we're going to hit the memorial day white sales and pick up some 800 thread-count linens!!! Hollah!!!  

• Yoga a go-go. Well, I finally got my paperwork completed and have officially applied for Flow Yoga's Teacher Training program.  It starts July 7 and is a month-long 200-plus hour "intensive" that if completed successfully means I would be a certified yoga instructor. I haven't been accepted yet, but we're anticipating a positive response. I'll need to be away from my official job at SkyWest during this time... so there's a lot of pieces that need to fall into place, but I'm super excited about this new opportunity. 

• We got the house! That's right!!!!  The pad that we've been living in (basement-status since we relocated to the East bench early this year) is going to be ours!  They took our offer, and paperwork will be processed this week.  I can hardly believe it.  Of course, I must make note that this whole deal wouldn't be possible without help from our families. We're so blessed...There are so many memories in this home for me. It was my grandparents.... in fact, we even lived here when I was a wee little tot for just over a year when my grandparents were serving a mission in Montana. I lived across the street, and down the street around the corner...I love this piece of property... and am so thrilled we are back to the neighborhood of my childhood!

• "I is now a GRAD-U-IT!"  OK, not so much me (well, I think Danny and I figured out I had actually graduated with my bachelors two years before he graduated from High school... man, am I a cougar or what?!?!?!)  Anyway, he is now officially a graduate from the U of U -- with a bachelor of Arts in Economics and a minor in business.  I am so proud of him.  I think I was more excited for him to graduate that I was for myself!  (Actually, I wasn't really excited to graduate. I was only 21 and would've stayed studying for years in the safe-walls of institutionalized learning as long as they would've let me... but the $$$$ was not there.)  So, please enjoy these pics from Danny's big day earlier this month. 

Below: Danny's Dad, the grad and Princess Di 

(oh, wait... that's my mother-in-love Stevie.  Doesn't she have 

a striking resemblance to "the people's princess"?

Below: Three generations of Mangum men.  Danny's grandpa Garth used to teach (head of the dept of Economics at the time, actually)  at the U.  While we were there, all of these professors and the dean of the Social Sciences came up to talk to him and shake his hand. 

It's pretty cool to be part of a family 

that's so amazing and well respected.

Below: The Suites and Us. Do I look tan?  

I got a spray-on tan earlier that day that my husband thinks 

smells like teriyaki sauce -- nice!

Below:Danny just chillin' ... wishing his wife would stop

 yelling at him to "Smile!!!"

Below: the greatest picture of Garth Mangum possibly ever taken.  To the left, his wife and Danny's grandma -- Marion (she's hilarious... and also has the same name as my college town in Indiana, so we've got a connection.)  To your right... barbara.  

I could not adequately explain the dynamics of this woman in one post-- she's hilarious and I love her: we'll leave it at that. (Oh, and Barbara is Princess Di's mom)

Below: Um, if you don't know who this is... 

why do you read this post?

Below: Barbara and the grad... Every year Danny and Barbara 

go shopping for his B-day and do a lunch date.  

I LOVE that I am married to a man who has 

lunch dates with his g-ma.  It warms my heart. 

 

***Danny says he likes this post because he is the star.  I like it too... and for the very same reasons***

Also, did you know that neither of us like hot fudge on our brownies and ice cream?  If that doesn't prove we're soul-mates, I don't know what would.  Also, neither of us have showered today... but all that proves is that we're dirty hippies... well, maybe just dirty. ;)

Have a great night!  We're counting our many blessings this evening, and it feels great!  We could go on forever... but I've heard complaints form my sister that my posts are already too long... so I'm shutting it down now. ;)

Namaste.

ssm

3PD - more form colorado

So here we are celebrating an over-priced meal at Kelly Liken in Vail..

Here's Danny's fancy dessert.. complete with sugar-hair.. that's what I call it, because I don't really know what it's called when one whips sugar like that... Dessert was totally the best part of the meal.

As I mentioned, we took the scenic byway... and this was one of the towns..

By far... my favourite part of the trip!!! (It's a town people... come on!)

The 3PD Photo Journal

So here's some photos of the ball game:

This is a photo of me and my crazy curve ball... smokin!

While we were expecting a compact, we ended up with this SUV and some GR-R-R-REAT parking at the ballpark.  I bought "lot A" privileges online with our tickets, and around town parking was going for 20-bones; so I think this was a great thing.

Some pics of the digs... as P.Diddy would say on Cribs:  "where the magic happens." ;) 

Can you say "Club Level?!?!"

In case you don't know what a baseball field looks like... here's one for reference.  (Also, there is no half time... and apparently Drew Barymore ONLY attends Red Sox games... not the Rockies.)