look at this baby!

Holy Cow!


I woke up on Saturday and realized for the first time I have to bend over to see my feet. That was an eye opening experience! But baby is growing and moving and doing all the right things so far, so that's good :)

We just got a new camera, so I'll be posting more pictures soon.

Also, wanted to share some of the nicknames this baby has gotten so far. I call him/her "baby Baker". At work, he/she is "Bubba" or "Roo" (I like them both). My mom calls him/her "Baby Boo Boo", especially when she talks to my burgeoning belly. Its hilarious! The nicknames are sweet, and since we are keeping the real names a secret, having something other than "it" is kind of nice.

baby showers

Along with a baby often comes a baby shower or two. I guess the typical shower includes several things. Let's go through the short but much adhered to list.

First, the food. Usually, at least in my experience, the food tends towards girly finger food like cucumber sandwiches, fruit trays, and something involving chocolate. (By the way, I LOVE cucumber sandwiches like my mom makes with ranch dip...if anyone wants the recipe, please just let me know...they are AMAZING!). The drinks are usually punch, juice, and water, right? Wine seems just cruel to serve at a baby shower since the mother would have to watch longingly as her friend imbibe while she mournfully sips 7-up mixed with cranberry juice. Mmmm.

Next, the games. There's boy/girl games, baby name games, games involving balloons under shirts (like the new mom doesn't feel big already), etc etc etc. They usually sound silly, but sometimes turn out pretty fun.

Finally, gifts for the expectant, and hopefully exceedingly grateful, mom-to-be. This should be her favorite part of the party, unless, or course, her friends have veered away from the registry she worked so hard on and gone their own way. While this sometimes works out, I would say on behalf of all soon to be mothers out there, please just use the registry. We do it for a reason! Still, the gifts are awesome and so desperately needed, especially for a first timer who's husband works at a church.

Now, I say all this because God has been very gracious to us and two separate showers are in the works for Chris, baby Baker, and me. What a blessing!

One of the showers, I'm sure, will look very much like what was described above. Food, games, and gifts. LOVE IT! I know I'll have to probably wear a dress and be cute and pregnant, but sometimes even pregnant women want to get out of their sweats (but not today). My mom's friends are arranging everything, and I think its going to be held at the same place we got married, which is just the coolest idea. I can't even thank these ladies enough for their generosity and hard work. And I can't wait to see what it all culminates into.

The other shower, given by my sweet mother-in-law, will probably look very different. She said that she wanted to do something different and not typical and wondered if I had any ideas. What we've come up with so far is a Friday night "girls night" with dessert and coffee and fun "virgin" drinks where everyone has to dress up like its a night out. I think it'll still be a "shower", so please see our registry at target.com and amazon.com (ha!), but it'll be less fancy and more fancy free. My sweet friend Lisa suggested we then go out afterward and go dancing in Chapel Hill. Yes, I'm going to get out on the dance floor 7 months pregnant...and I'm going to shake it like a polaroid picture. Someone better get a picture.

(If anyone has any fun suggestions about what they've seen at showers, please let me know...always open for suggestions!)

Both showers are such a sweet offer, and both will be so enjoyable despite their differences. Still, the celebration of this new life coming into the world with other women is the heart and soul of both events, and I can't wait!

Some updates

So updates on things...

1. The bats are gone! Some guys came today and chased them out, then tacked up some mesh so they can't get back in. Yeah!!! No more squeaking, no more screeching, and no more poo.

2. The baby is doing well :) Little Baker certainly is a mover and shaker these days, and growing. My tummy keeps getting bigger and bigger, which is a fun and eye opening experience. Thankfully, Chris still things I look good despite the growth. We're 22 weeks now...only 16-18 to go.

3. My sister is going to be our doula. For those who think doula sounds like some kind of new coffee drink, it is in fact a birth coach. There's lots of reading and training involved, and its something she's wanted to do for awhile, and now she has a great excuse. I'm so excited to have her as part of our delivery, too.

4. The crib I bought several weeks ago is in the process of being refinished, on our front porch. I'm in the middle of sanding the thing down so that I can paint over the old finish. Its going from a light, honey colored to a dark, antiqued brown that should look AWESOME! Once that's done, the big items for the nursery are all taken care of. Cannot wait for the "little" things to fill it up.

5. We've finalized our boy/girl names for baby Baker, but we're not telling! That's Chris's idea, but I'll go with it. He went with us not finding out the sex, so I'll keep the names a secret for him. I will say that the first names both start with the same letter, and the middle names start with the same sound...and the names are pretty long. Poor thing is going to have trouble fitting his/her name in the boxes for standardized testing, just like I did. Katherine Marie Carringer is LONG! Katie Baker is much more manageable. I love the names we've settled on and can't wait to see which one works.

That's all I have time for now...work tomorrow and its getting late. I'll update more soon.

Hope everyone else has great things happening in their lives too!

Our Attic

When we first moved in our house in May, Chris noticed some "messes" in the attic but didn't think much of it since we didn't live in the attic and wouldn't need it for anything big. Then came the scratching and squeaking, which we tried to ignore, but it got to a point where we had to investigate. What we found was a small family of bats nesting in the corner of our attic, happily oblivious to the fact that they totally grossed us out. Of course, we let our landlord know and he brought us "bomber" to get rid of them, which didn't work at all. They are still up there, living, squeaking, pooping.

After a few more attempts via phone to get our landlord to do something, I gave up. I mean, they are in the attic, not in the living space in our house, and they don't bother us too bad. I guess we can have some sort of symbiosis with these creatures, as long as they stay THERE and not HERE, in my living room.

Then I got pregnant, and we needed some storage space. How about the attic? Oh, but the bats...

THE BATS! I'd kind of forgotten about them, until now. Now we will have a baby in the house. Now we need to put stuff up in the attic. Now I have a compromised immune system and don't want hystoplasmosis. Now I'm wondering if bat poop carries toxoplasmosis (I checked, and don't think so). But STILL!

So I called our landlord last night, asking him to return my call to discuss this ever present though sometimes unnoticed problem of bats in our attic. I'm done with "bombing" them...I want a professional in here to get rid of the bats and clean up after them, safely. If he refuses, then I'll ask to be let out of our lease so we can (gulp) move again. If he refuses again, then I'll threaten court.

Mama Katie isn't messing around any more.

Things you never thought you'd think...during pregnancy.

Pregnancy makes you a little crazy. At least, its made me crazy. Anyone else? I have these thoughts and internal dialogues that, when I stop to consider them, are truly strange and unique to pregnancy. For example...

1. At Kroger..."is it worse to puke in the baking aisle or in the meat cooler?"

2. At the doctor..."Oh good, there's a heart beat. So I haven't killed this baby yet."

3. Driving..."What if that driver suddenly swerves. Its not just me who's dead on the side of the road."

4. At the gym..."I bet these people are wondering why I look bigger every time I come here. Most everyone else usually start to shrink after several months of exercise."

5. On the couch..."I wonder if its bad to lay with my computer on my tummy. Does it emit dangerous gamma rays that could cause damage?"

6. At work..."Can my patient tell I'm pregnant in these scrubs, or does she think I just had one too many pies over the holidays?"

7. Everywhere..."If I don't eat something soon I'm going to kill someone." Also..."Where is my water. I need it, right now, now, now, now."

8. In Japan..."How do I tell a Japanese doctor that I have a raging yeast infection and am 19 weeks pregnant? Will my dad have to be my interpreter? Oh God, help me, this could be awful."

9. In front of the mirror..."So this is what its like to look like Pamela Anderson, from the neck down and waist up."

10. On Craigslist..."I wonder if anyone is selling breast pumps?"

11. In the bathroom..."Bran muffins are the shizzle."

12. In the kitchen..."What does the baby want for dinner?"

13. All the time..."What I wouldn't do for some wine and sushi." Then I opt for juice and toast. So not the same.

14. In the mornings..."I wonder if I'll ever stop gagging while brushing my teeth. Maybe one day it'll be normal again."

15. On the computer while registering at Target..."Why does baby bedding cost more than all my linens combined? I could buy an incredible bike (used) for that price. Or get that tooth crowned...or pay for this kid's first year at UNC."

There's some of my weird pregnancy thoughts. Feel free to add to the list.

Why nice people make my day

When you are pregnant and tired and nauseated, patience can run short. I'm not always the most patient, tolerant person anyway, but this new "condition" I find myself in makes things even worse. I'm have a harder time tolerating whining or people being slow and dragging their feet. It grates me even more when someone talks on and on and on about not a whole lot and I have to sit there taking it. I hate it when people make snarky, sarcastic comments that I know are kind of supposed to be funny but have a grain of truth within them. UUHHH! It drives me crazy. I don't like that my patience is so thin, and I don't like that its hard to be pleasant sometimes.

But I've found some brightness is my sea of impatience--a remedy to a shorter fuse.

Nice people.

Its amazing how freaking nice some people are. They are WAY nicer than me. Running into other people's niceness definitely makes me want to do better, be sweeter, and give more. It picks me up when I'm feeling grouchy. It makes me want to hug someone.

Let me recount some of the especially nice experiences that have happened recently.

1. Candace, my nurse friend at work, stood in for me during an epidural one morning at 5am after a long night shift, which means she did all the hard work while I just sat down. Thank you Candace!

2. My old friend Megan saw me in Target and immediately said congratulations on the baby and "I hope you feel better soon". She knew I was pregnant and sick b/c she saw it on facebook and remembered. So thoughtful!

3. While I was sick the last few weeks, scores of people texted me or facebooked me or messaged me with get well wishes. When you've laid in the same spot all day for 5 days, unable to breath out of both nostrils simultaneously and totally depressed after watching 2 seasons of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, those notes mean a lot.

4. My husband told me to get a massage. That's awesome. I'm going tomorrow morning. The anticipation alone relaxes me.

5. Sweet Lisa called me tonight, just to talk, on our way home from work. I love that.

6. My mom is giving me her rocking chair when the baby comes. It was the same one she used when I was born.

7. My former maternity clinical instructor hugged me today with such excitement when she saw my burgeoning belly. She's a midwife. She likes bellies.

8. A friend, who tends to be fairly private and guarded, opened up to me about some hard stuff she's going through. That's the kind of talking I like to listen to.

9. A coworker is bringing me prenatal yoga DVDs.

10. A friend from church gave me a huge bag full of maternity clothes. Yeah!!! Now I just have to grow into them.

11. My patient last week loved my haircut. Sometimes that's what a girl needs to hear.

12. Even though I'm getting bigger (and badder), Chris still thinks I'm pretty and tells me so very often.

13. My dad told me he's proud of me. It about made me cry.


Those are just the cake toppers to a laundry list of niceness oozing around me, and hopefully rubbing off. I need help, and I'm so thankful for friends who are more sweet and more patient than I am. Hopefully, one day, when I'm less hormonal and less exhausted, I'll be able to get back to my old self. Maybe it'll be second trimester? I sure hope so, as does everyone else around me too! I'll keep ya'll posted :)

What's happening during my 1st trimester

With only a few weeks left until I get to my 2nd trimester, I thought I'd give a quick recap of the last 11 weeks.

We'll start with physical changes. Where to begin...let's see.

Well, my waist has definitely expanded, which I knew would happened but am a little bummed it happened so quickly. It might because I had to eat pretty much all day to keep from puking for a few weeks. And a few times I ate an entire thing of hummus in one sitting, sometimes with my finger or a spoon when I ran out of crackers. It was just so good. As I ate it, I kept thinking of my friend Laurie once saying, "I could like, bathe in hummus." She was pregnant when she said that. Now I totally get what she meant.

My chest has dramatically increased, which I think explains the ever increasing numbers on the scale. My bras hardly fit and I keep "bumping" things accidentally with these things. A girl at work commented, "You will have to get used to your new body habitus," which means get used to growing because it won't stop for awhile. She said that after I totally boobed her in the locker room. We both had a good laugh over it. I'm hoping that my changing chest size will help off-set my growing waistline and booty.

I haven't gotten acne too bad, which some women complain about, but that's never been a big issue, even in high school. Thankfully something is staying the same.

My energy is starting to return, and even as I lay here with a terrible cold, I think I might have more energy this week that I did last week. Its been tough to feel so exhausted all the time, but supposedly that changes with the 2nd trimester.

Finally, the nausea is also starting to wain and my appetite is returning. Salad and cereal are finally sounding delicious instead of repulsive. Now, a few things sound good when I'm hungry, not just one thing. I still crave orange juice, and in fact, I'm waiting for Chris to get home from the store so I can have a glass. Man, that sounds so good.

Emotionally, I'm much more sensitive than before, if you can believe it. While I've also been pretty quick to cry, its about 10X what it used to me. Since being sick the past few days, I've had some time to catch up on upcoming movies on iMovie Trailers, and only cried at like, half of them. I cried during a movie trailor! Good grief. I can barely tell stories from work b/c they bring me to tears. My friend Jena Marie asked me why we weren't finding out the sex of our baby, and I cried recounting the moments when my patients who didn't know had their baby and discovered who and what it was. By the way, that's why we aren't finding out--b/c those are the best moments of my job, hands down. I want that. I cry thinking about our baby--who he or she will be, what they will love, how they will laugh...how Chris will be a wonderful father and teach our little one so much of living and loving and laughing, and shooting guns. Even now I'm tearing up. So we'll move along...

Spiritually, I'm learning more and more of being in God's presence and of prayer for life and endurance and for this new thing springing up within me. Never before have I been so afraid and curious and excited. When I'm afraid, He is faithful to remind me that He is good and near and knows. Though I'm not Catholic, I'm finding a weird peace in thinking of Mary, as she did this. She got bigger and felt tired and probably had weird food cravings, and possibly found satisfaction in hummus as well. Thankfully I don't have to ride a donkey during my 3rd trimester or give birth in a barn. I'm finding a new appreciation for the other mothers in scripture--I get their longing for a baby and also their excitement. I get why they dedicated their children to the service of God. I hope and pray our child will be as Hannah's little Samuel who heard God's voice and served Him faithfully. I'm knowing more of God's goodness in how my sweet husband has supported me and loved me despite my exhaustion and queasiness. He is so patient and kind and gracious and an example of God's grace to me.

So that's that for now. Things are moving along as they should. Our parents are asking about names and colors and showers, which is so fun. And honestly, that's what this should be. It should be fun. Its emotional and difficult and amazing--and fun.