I know, I know, no update since March! Shame shame, tsk tsk. I thought I would share the highlights.
April
I finished my second semester of my grad program, which turned out to be quite difficult as pregnancy can make you not feel great the first few months (what? crazy!). I managed to squeak through with good grades, which was surprising as all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep, and was also working in the Ann Arbor office of GreenPath for 20+ hours a week.
Ian and I traveled to Honduras in April to meet our new nephew, baby Josiah, and to hang out with Sarah and Jason. We had a lot of fun cooking and talking, and Ian and I were excited to see all of the progress that's been made on the orphanage and community they're building. Josiah was the first baby Ian ever held, and after about a minute with baby in arms, Ian declared he wanted one too.
May
We celebrated out first year anniversary by staying in a very sweet little bed and breakfast over the border in Canada. The highlight of the trip (above and beyond just relaxing together for a few days) was a Brazilian BBQ with amazing food.
June
We traveled to Albuquerque to visit the lovely Jan (Ian's dearest mother) and gorge ourselves on New Mexican food. The trip was really low-key and an excellent way to unwind with family and friends. Vixen (our two-year old female kitty) stayed in Albuquerque with Jan (much to the dismay of Jan's two other cats) so she could enjoy being an outdoor kitty and start living again. So far, we hear reports that Vixen is starting to lose weight (which is good, we had taken to calling her 'Tubs,' which was completely appropriate as she weighed about double what she was supposed to) and is learning to frolic and chase bugs again.
Ian successfully completed his dissertation defense on June 22nd, 2011! (Yay baby!). We had drinks with a few friends after the defense to celebrate, and then went to a really lovely dinner at Pacific Rim with Ian's wonderful adviser and two members from the dissertation committee.
I finished my third semester of grad school about the same time. I have an independent study to finish up, and then just have to write that darned thesis before our little wrinkled prune arrives in November.
I also gave Ian his first Father's Day present (it's an Aristotle-themed gift; the text translates to 'happiness' in Greek):
July
We found out that we're having a girl on July 1st. So far, she looks healthy and well and is growing normally (even though she looks like an alien in her ultrasound pictures). I've been feeling flutters since the middle of June, which is the most precious, beautiful thing. In the past week they've transformed into little ninja moves and I swear she tap dances on my bladder when I'm trying to concentrate or sleep! Ian has been able to feel the baby move a couple of times as well.
Ian submitted his dissertation to the graduate school on July 8th and received this little number to prove he's legit:
About a week before our move we placed my sweet little kitten with our friends in Ann Arbor (we decided to adopt out / foster both cats as we had no idea how big our new place would be, Columbia never told us if we would be able to have pets or not, and Peter, though the sweetest and most loving cat you could find, would probably knead the baby to death with his affection). Being kitty-free isn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially now that we're in a new place. Ian's and my allergies both improved, and it is nice not to have to lint-roll our selves off before we leave the house (which lets face it, was never that effective anyways). Now we can wear black with confidence!
.... To the Present
Aaaannnnddd of course the BIG news is that we've moved to New York City! We arrived on Friday, July 15th. Although Columbia University did approve us for subsidized housing before our move, we had no information other than the address and that it was a one-bedroom unit. As our apartment last year was just about or slightly under 500 square feet and was really too small for us, we were very much hoping for a larger space, especially with, you know, another human being on the way!
I almost cried when I was let into our apartment for the first time - it's so beautiful and spacious and just really, really lovely. We are still in the process of unpacking (an awful heat wave arrived in the city about the same time that was did, and we only finally broke down and had an AC unit installed yesterday, so progress has been slow due to pregnancy woes and the heat), but will put up pictures as soon as everything is in place (almost there!).
It certainly is very different living without a car, but we already love it. For instance, we love that we don't have to pay around $400 a month for street parking, which frankly doesn't seem to exist anywhere near our apartment. But we do have to get creative to do things we normally would drive to do, like go grocery shopping, look at furniture, and get anything back to our apartment.
We're slowly exploring our environment. We discovered a muli-level Trader Joe's that is a few subway stops down from our apartment - it has a (mind-blowingly cool) cart escalator, and there is another grocery store about five blocks down that has excellent produce but is a little expensive. It's different shopping for a few days at a time instead of a few weeks at a time, but hey, no car (wahoo!). We also discovered a few great cafes and an excellent Asian restaurant / noodle bar a block away before we unpacked our kitchen. We furniture shopped for a few days and located a fantastic sleeper couch (which will hopefully arrive before Sarah and Jason visit in last August so they have a bed), and have in general been walking everywhere to do as much as we can muster energy for (well, it's really me mustering energy and Ian being patient with my waddle-walk and lack of energy). We both already feel and look a little healthier, and it's only been a week!
I start at my new office at Penn Plaza on Monday. It's just a skip and jump down the 1 line, and I'm hoping to make friends with my new coworkers (that's right, we have no friends here, and I can say that legitimately this time).
And what else has been happening?
Well, pregnancy. Pregnancy has been happening. The highlights are amazing, but everything else... isn't. Weeks of terrible allergies were followed by weeks of being unable to fall asleep at night. And these have been followed by THE PREGNANCY PLAGUE. Basically, my entire body has broken out into hives of varying degrees of itchiness, starting with my lovely stretch marks (which some have suggested I get tattooed onto my belly as they look like amazing flames stretching up the sides of my belly button), and moving on to hips, butt, legs, arms, back...you name it.
My allergist and midwife weren't really sure what it was, and scheduled me with dermatology. After a few nights of crying for hours (mostly in the shower under cold water, and on Ian's comforting lap) and unable to wait for or move the derm date closer, we went to the ER, where they gave me the official diagnosis of "rash." Helpful, right? As our friend Dustin put it, "I didn't know symptoms could be diagnoses now." When I did finally see Dermatology in early July, they did two skin biopsies from my right hip and prescribed some meds. For a week or so I was on an oral steroid, a topical steroid, and taking way too many oatmeal baths and literally going through a tube of aloe vera a day.
After a week and half, the biopsy results came back as positive for Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy (I specifically LOVE the plaques part), or PUPPPs for short. Basically, it's an aggressive rash that creates bumps and hives all of your body (but never your face), makes you terribly itchy and uncomfortable to the point of actually going crazy, but doesn't harm the baby at all. And no one knows why it happens. PUPPPs usually pops up in the last month or so of pregnancy and lasts until 2-4 weeks after birth (sometimes longer if you are breastfeeding, from my reading).
Two weeks ago the rash was essentially over my entire body, but topical steroids really helped 95% of the rash to disappear. The only thing is that you have to take a 4-6 week break in between the topical steroids so your body doesn't get used to them and so you don't start actually taking them in as prolonged exposure could hurt our little bean sprout. I've been off of them for a week now and the itching is getting progressively worse, but it's not nearly as bad as it was a month ago, so that's good at least.
We'll post pictures of the new place in the next few days, and I'll try to get ultrasound pictures up soon as well.
Love,
Rachel (and Ian)
April
I finished my second semester of my grad program, which turned out to be quite difficult as pregnancy can make you not feel great the first few months (what? crazy!). I managed to squeak through with good grades, which was surprising as all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep, and was also working in the Ann Arbor office of GreenPath for 20+ hours a week.
Ian and I traveled to Honduras in April to meet our new nephew, baby Josiah, and to hang out with Sarah and Jason. We had a lot of fun cooking and talking, and Ian and I were excited to see all of the progress that's been made on the orphanage and community they're building. Josiah was the first baby Ian ever held, and after about a minute with baby in arms, Ian declared he wanted one too.
May
We celebrated out first year anniversary by staying in a very sweet little bed and breakfast over the border in Canada. The highlight of the trip (above and beyond just relaxing together for a few days) was a Brazilian BBQ with amazing food.
June
We traveled to Albuquerque to visit the lovely Jan (Ian's dearest mother) and gorge ourselves on New Mexican food. The trip was really low-key and an excellent way to unwind with family and friends. Vixen (our two-year old female kitty) stayed in Albuquerque with Jan (much to the dismay of Jan's two other cats) so she could enjoy being an outdoor kitty and start living again. So far, we hear reports that Vixen is starting to lose weight (which is good, we had taken to calling her 'Tubs,' which was completely appropriate as she weighed about double what she was supposed to) and is learning to frolic and chase bugs again.
Ian successfully completed his dissertation defense on June 22nd, 2011! (Yay baby!). We had drinks with a few friends after the defense to celebrate, and then went to a really lovely dinner at Pacific Rim with Ian's wonderful adviser and two members from the dissertation committee.
I finished my third semester of grad school about the same time. I have an independent study to finish up, and then just have to write that darned thesis before our little wrinkled prune arrives in November.
I also gave Ian his first Father's Day present (it's an Aristotle-themed gift; the text translates to 'happiness' in Greek):
We found out that we're having a girl on July 1st. So far, she looks healthy and well and is growing normally (even though she looks like an alien in her ultrasound pictures). I've been feeling flutters since the middle of June, which is the most precious, beautiful thing. In the past week they've transformed into little ninja moves and I swear she tap dances on my bladder when I'm trying to concentrate or sleep! Ian has been able to feel the baby move a couple of times as well.
Ian submitted his dissertation to the graduate school on July 8th and received this little number to prove he's legit:
About a week before our move we placed my sweet little kitten with our friends in Ann Arbor (we decided to adopt out / foster both cats as we had no idea how big our new place would be, Columbia never told us if we would be able to have pets or not, and Peter, though the sweetest and most loving cat you could find, would probably knead the baby to death with his affection). Being kitty-free isn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially now that we're in a new place. Ian's and my allergies both improved, and it is nice not to have to lint-roll our selves off before we leave the house (which lets face it, was never that effective anyways). Now we can wear black with confidence!
.... To the Present
Aaaannnnddd of course the BIG news is that we've moved to New York City! We arrived on Friday, July 15th. Although Columbia University did approve us for subsidized housing before our move, we had no information other than the address and that it was a one-bedroom unit. As our apartment last year was just about or slightly under 500 square feet and was really too small for us, we were very much hoping for a larger space, especially with, you know, another human being on the way!
I almost cried when I was let into our apartment for the first time - it's so beautiful and spacious and just really, really lovely. We are still in the process of unpacking (an awful heat wave arrived in the city about the same time that was did, and we only finally broke down and had an AC unit installed yesterday, so progress has been slow due to pregnancy woes and the heat), but will put up pictures as soon as everything is in place (almost there!).
It certainly is very different living without a car, but we already love it. For instance, we love that we don't have to pay around $400 a month for street parking, which frankly doesn't seem to exist anywhere near our apartment. But we do have to get creative to do things we normally would drive to do, like go grocery shopping, look at furniture, and get anything back to our apartment.
We're slowly exploring our environment. We discovered a muli-level Trader Joe's that is a few subway stops down from our apartment - it has a (mind-blowingly cool) cart escalator, and there is another grocery store about five blocks down that has excellent produce but is a little expensive. It's different shopping for a few days at a time instead of a few weeks at a time, but hey, no car (wahoo!). We also discovered a few great cafes and an excellent Asian restaurant / noodle bar a block away before we unpacked our kitchen. We furniture shopped for a few days and located a fantastic sleeper couch (which will hopefully arrive before Sarah and Jason visit in last August so they have a bed), and have in general been walking everywhere to do as much as we can muster energy for (well, it's really me mustering energy and Ian being patient with my waddle-walk and lack of energy). We both already feel and look a little healthier, and it's only been a week!
I start at my new office at Penn Plaza on Monday. It's just a skip and jump down the 1 line, and I'm hoping to make friends with my new coworkers (that's right, we have no friends here, and I can say that legitimately this time).
And what else has been happening?
Well, pregnancy. Pregnancy has been happening. The highlights are amazing, but everything else... isn't. Weeks of terrible allergies were followed by weeks of being unable to fall asleep at night. And these have been followed by THE PREGNANCY PLAGUE. Basically, my entire body has broken out into hives of varying degrees of itchiness, starting with my lovely stretch marks (which some have suggested I get tattooed onto my belly as they look like amazing flames stretching up the sides of my belly button), and moving on to hips, butt, legs, arms, back...you name it.
My allergist and midwife weren't really sure what it was, and scheduled me with dermatology. After a few nights of crying for hours (mostly in the shower under cold water, and on Ian's comforting lap) and unable to wait for or move the derm date closer, we went to the ER, where they gave me the official diagnosis of "rash." Helpful, right? As our friend Dustin put it, "I didn't know symptoms could be diagnoses now." When I did finally see Dermatology in early July, they did two skin biopsies from my right hip and prescribed some meds. For a week or so I was on an oral steroid, a topical steroid, and taking way too many oatmeal baths and literally going through a tube of aloe vera a day.
After a week and half, the biopsy results came back as positive for Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy (I specifically LOVE the plaques part), or PUPPPs for short. Basically, it's an aggressive rash that creates bumps and hives all of your body (but never your face), makes you terribly itchy and uncomfortable to the point of actually going crazy, but doesn't harm the baby at all. And no one knows why it happens. PUPPPs usually pops up in the last month or so of pregnancy and lasts until 2-4 weeks after birth (sometimes longer if you are breastfeeding, from my reading).
Two weeks ago the rash was essentially over my entire body, but topical steroids really helped 95% of the rash to disappear. The only thing is that you have to take a 4-6 week break in between the topical steroids so your body doesn't get used to them and so you don't start actually taking them in as prolonged exposure could hurt our little bean sprout. I've been off of them for a week now and the itching is getting progressively worse, but it's not nearly as bad as it was a month ago, so that's good at least.
We'll post pictures of the new place in the next few days, and I'll try to get ultrasound pictures up soon as well.
Love,
Rachel (and Ian)
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