Week 8: Wiggles and Prayer

Week 8 has been alright. Still puking nearly daily but the number of things I can tolerate going down my throat has increased for sure. Maybe I am getting more optimistic since I'm about to be at 9 weeks and the countdown to end of awful illness is likely within a few weeks...hopefully, I should say, not likely. I can only pray, or intend, as is my kind of praying.

Taking a rest on the mac and cheese and ramen and eating things like fried rice, potatoes, pizza, bagel with peanut and apple butter and of course my middle of the night and early morning rice cakes to absorb some of that plentiful stomach acid that leads to the nausea and pukes.

Fruit is good but still no veggies. Julie's Organic frozen yogurt, blueberry flavored...yum. That was my nighttime snack for a bit but now I am out. What I wouldn't do for a personal food shopper and a personal chef (they'd have it pretty easy right now) and fresh beverage provider and I worry that Pete is wearing out though he promises he's fine. He has had entire charge of dish duty for the past month since being at the sink and smelling the food on dirty dishes brings me running to the toilet.

He is a rock star.

Yesterday we had our first big appointment. It was a rough start to the adventure and as soon as the ferry landed at Coleman Dock in Seattle I was headed for the bathroom to have the most embarrassing puke session thus far. I made it to the toilet fine but there were women in and out of the stalls next to me who clearly heard my hacking upchuck sounds. Lovely. It made me think of the few times in the past I've heard someone puking in a public bathroom and my thoughts went immediately to drunk or bulimic for some sick reason. More likely is the pregnant puke excuse. I'll forever be more sympathetic in public rest rooms I swear.

Pete and I were equally disgusted by how cold and unfriendly the nurse tech was who called us into the office, took my blood pressure and weight and told me to put on gown open in the front. She walked out and Pete just looks at me like "what was that?"

Whatever, I tell him. We've just got to figure out a midwife soon so I can stop coming to this baby factory for check ups.

Next the nurse practitioner came in. Her name was Lucia (pronounced Loo-sha). We liked her. She did an exam and talked to us forever about birth options. We told her we'd likely be using a midwife when we found one and she was supportive of that. She told us that Swedish has nice birthing rooms with tubs but that their C-section rates were right at the national average of 20-30%.

Yeah, unless we are at high risk for some reason later in pregnancy, we will go with mid-wife and birthing center or home birth. Good to know your options though and if it has to be a hospital, Swedish is a great one: Pete was born there.

Lucia puts the magic wand in the magic hole and there we see our little embryo. Its head is half the size of its body and right about where head and body meet, yeah right there, you can clearly make out the flutter of the beating heart. Cool. She points out that its wiggling. I see it. Kinda. Pete imagines a little wave and immediately is calling it a he.

If its gonna be a boy we are gonna have to come up with some names. I think we are set with a girls name. Love it.

Speaking of praying...there is a job opening in Redmond that could mean a move back to Seattle for us. I told Tara that I was gonna google "effective praying techniques" because I want this job to work out so badly. I was kind of kidding but...what the heck?

Here's what I found. According to some person on some website that talks about prayer and relates it to quantum physics, prayer releases an energy that emanates from the human mind and has a direct effect on the environment. Okay. I believe that. Quantum physics has shown us that we change the basic nature of matter just by thinking about it and the human mind releases an energy radiation that is capable of interacting directly with matter. Whoa.

It says that with a basic understanding of the mechanics of prayer, we can use this knowledge to help us pray more effectively. Cool. I know nothing about prayer besides: "Please G-d, let that cute boy not be at school today or tomorrow or at least until this huge zit goes away". Everyone knows that kind of prayer. But I mean real prayer. The kind that heals people.

Here are the supposed keys to effective prayer:

Key One: Adding positive emotion to the energy of a prayer improves the outcome of the prayer.

When you pray, think about an event that is positive and emotionally meaningful. This event should be something that makes you feel good no matter what you were thinking about before the prayer. Research shows that this type of positive imaging improves the power and focus of the prayer.

Key Two: Repeat a prayer mantra focused on your desired outcome.

Mantras are ancient tools that are designed to empower the force of prayer. The rosary is one good example of a prayer mantra. Repetition amplifies the force of a prayer and gives it more power. Some mantras have been repeated millions of times and have a great deal of standing force attached to them. Adding your prayer to this standing force field can greatly increase the chance that it will be answered. The mantra need not be long and you don’t even have to speak the language for it to be effective. Here are some examples that you might find useful.

"AUM GUM GANAPATEYE NAMA”

This is the Ganesh Gayatri Mantra. It has been spoken for thousands of years as a tool for removing obstacles to progress and achievement.

Key Three: Pray for others; especially strangers.

When you pray for others, the energy of the prayer automatically benefits you. Most people do not know this and tend to pray only for themselves and those that they know. Praying for others, especially those that you do not know, releases a powerful force from the unconscious that benefits you as well as the recipients of the prayer.

Key Four: Pray while meditating.

While you are meditating, the mind is much calmer. The calm and focused mind generates a great deal of positive divine creative force. By praying while meditating, we take advantage of this force and make our prayers much more powerful and effective.

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Alrighty then. These are the laws of effective prayer as described by some guy named Mitchell Earl Gibson, MD. I left stuff out that didn't resonate with me or, in other words, was a bit too cheesy.

With this in mind maybe I'll have a go at some prayer. I do after all have a lot to pray for right now: healthy embryo soon-to-be-fetus and some day baby, Pete staying healthy and alive to help raise this kid, my preggie-sickness passing sooner than later and with all the world troubles there's always plenty to pray for in the way of selfless prayer.

I'll give it a shot. All this down time (ouch my ass seriously hurts from being on it just too much) has got to be good for something besides reading about pregnancy and watching every show I've ever wanted to see and then some.

Notice the ultrasound that looks like a blob of nothing. Translation: See the dark oval at the bottom left of the picture? Thats the outline of my amniotic sac. Inside it (the dark area) is amniotic fluid and in the middle of all that is the embryo (two more weeks and it becomes a fetus).

See there are two little plus symbols and a dot in the middle of those marking head to rump distance (21mm or 0.8 in). From the dot up to the right is all head and from the dot down and left is rest of body. The nurse practitioner could see arms and legs moving about. We just nodded along "sure"..."right". The resolution is not so good but in a month we'll pay a bit extra for the better machines and therefore higher resolution image. What the heck right?