One crazy day at a time...my life!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Week 32

I think I’m starting to have some mild panic attacks over the fact that the baby is going to be here in about 8 weeks.  On one hand, I want him to get here so I can go back to eating and feeling like a normal person, but on the other hand I really, really, really don’t want to go through labor.  Especially since every time I mention that Dre and I are leaning towards having the least amount of intervention needed, I get told that it’s going to be the worse pain of my life or they tell me a story about how they know someone who’s now paralyzed from getting an epidural.  I’m a little freaked out!

I definitely have not gone to IKEA.  I don’t have enough energy these days to go walk through that store.  I think I’ll go on one of my days off in the next 2 weeks. 

No progress on picking out baby names.  Dre really likes a name that I think is just OK and I really like all names that are more English than bilingual.  It’s a problem.  I’m going to bring my short-list of names to the cottage and Dre and I will discuss this.  I’d like to have a name to call the baby.  Everyone else on my online forum seems to have named their babies already and I’m still going around calling the baby, Baby boy or LO (loved one).

I’m still keeping up my regimen of drinking prune juice every day because I’ve developed some serious constipation issues.  I think the baby just likes sitting on my intestines which backs me up!  I have to say that the taste of prune juice is disgusting.  I’m hiding a quarter glass of it in a full glass of other juice, but I can still taste the nastiness.  I’m going to have to find a better juice to disguise the taste.  Here’s my picture this week. 

Week 30
Week 32
I thought a change of scenery would be nice!
 I meant to update last week’s post with my picture since I had forgotten to have Dre take it, but when he took it I realized that I had forgotten the memory card in my work laptop and so the picture saved to the camera itself.  The problem is that I can’t find the cord for our camera so for now my Week 31 belly picture is being held hostage by my camera.

My average weight this week is 176.6 lbs which is a gain of 1.1 lbs since last week.  This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy 23.6 lbs.  I’m quite close to getting to the 25lbs gain!  Since I’m supposed to gain between 25-35 lbs according to all the books and doctors, I’ve almost reached the lower end of the range.  I wonder how much weight I’ll gain in the next 7-9 weeks.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll end up gaining around 35-40 lbs this pregnancy.  I’m happy about that.

I love Zantac!  It’s like the miracle drug.  I take it every night and it keeps the acid reflux and heartburn in check most of the time.  Lunch tends to give me some heartburn and acid reflux, but it’s not too bad.  If I don’t take a Zantac before dinner though, I suffer the most awful burning.  It literally feels like I’m breathing the fire of a thousand suns!

I have zero energy.  It’s especially bad during the week since I expend all of my energy going to work.  By the time, I get home at night I have no energy or desire to do anything.  I’ve also noticed that I can’t do too much during the weekends either or I get so tired!  My plan for the coming 11 days of holidays is to do nothing, lots of nothing, and lots of sleeping.  This is a good spot to mention the fact that I still need to do a million thing before the baby comes which gives me panic attacks, but I can’t find the energy to start doing any of them.

A few BHs for me this week.  They were probably caused by me doing too much.  It’s hard to pace myself with all the Christmas stuff I have to do.  When baby boy moves, he’s much more noticeable since different part of my belly move at the same time, but he’s also started moving a lot less because he’s pretty much run out of space.  Of course, this freaks me out most of the time.  The ligament pain from the baby compressing it is still excruciating most of the time.  I’ve just learned to walk through it.  The belly button is still flat for now, but every day it’s inching its way to being an outie.

I’m really looking forward to my massage this Thursday and then being on vacation for the next 11 days.  Working while being pregnant is much harder than I imagined it would be and it’s taking everything I have to get through every day.  Only 4 weeks and 3 days of work left for me till I go on mat leave for a year. 

Baby is the size of a squash again.  He weighs around 4 lbs this week and it feels like it!  When the doctor measured my fundal height (height of your uterus) yesterday, I was at 34 inches.  The inches usually correspond to the number of weeks you are.  At my 30 weeks appointments, I was measuring exactly at 30 inches.  Just 2 weeks later my measurements have gone up by 4 inches.  So now baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead!  Craziness!  He’s already growing like a weed and he hasn’t even come out yet.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas at our House

Here is what our house looks like this Christmas.  I managed to put most of the decorations out even though it took me a couple of weeks to get it done!


The centerpiece on our dining table.

The Christmas Tree!

Christmas Tree and our fireplace. 
We'll need to find baby boy a Christmas stocking next year.


 
The Christmas wreaths on either side of our front door. 
The bell one hangs inside since it would rust outside and the berry one hangs outside.

So that's what our house looks like for Christmas this year.  Next year I'll probably go a lot bigger since it will be baby boy's first Christmas. 

Monday, December 12, 2011

Week 31

I’ve officially reached the end of my rope!  This week has been filled with trying to get presents for all the nieces/nephews and parents.  I know that we kind of left it to really late, but with all the baby stuff we’ve been preoccupied with other stuff.  Also, all of the stores and online stores seem to have run out of stock of stuff you’d buy an 8 year old boy.  I normally enjoy Christmas shopping, but this year I have to say that I haven’t enjoyed it.  Hopefully, next year I’m more on the ball and things go more smoothly!

I haven’t made it to IKEA yet.  I have to confess that I’m too exhausted most of the time to even contemplate going over there.  Where did all my energy go? 

Dre and I also haven’t made any progress at picking a baby name.  None!  That’s my fault because I just ran out of steam and couldn’t keep reading books filled with names.  I think it’s something we might be tackling over the Christmas holidays.  We’re spending a week at a cottage with my family and since I can’t ski this year we’ll have plenty of quiet time to discuss this stuff.  I hope!

This week I have started drinking…PRUNE juice.  Yah!  I never thought I’d do that, but you have to do what you gotta do!  Even with me starting the poo juice, I didn’t gain any weight this week.  My average weight this week is 175.5 lbs. which is a weight loss of 0.2 lbs from last week.  That really surprised me because I haven’t started eating any better than before.  This makes my total weight gain so far 22.5 lbs.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’ve noticed that I can’t eat anymore.  I feel full after I barely eat anything.  The baby is starting to take up a lot of room and I’ve definitely noticed it with my appetite.

I’m religiously taking Zantac after Friday night.  What happened Friday night you ask.  Well, I woke up throwing up acid into my mouth.  That was lovely!  I had taken my Zantac with dinner, but I’d also had my Omega 3 Salmon Oil supplement right before bedtime.  (This is normal for me.) Apparently, there’s acid in those pills and that along with my bedtime snack combined to make me violently ill for 1 hour on Friday.  I can’t describe to you guys the taste that that pill left in my mouth as I was trying to get the acid under control.  It was so bad that I took another Zantac and some tums and then sat up in bed for 2 hours trying to keep from throwing up again.  On Saturday, I had to get up early enough because I had 2 friends coming over to do a day of Christmas baking.  Needless to say, I felt like death warmed over on Saturday morning.  Thankfully, I got my energy back since I sampled everything we baked.  

I’m feeling like crap most of the time, but I’m still telling people I feel great because I just don’t have the energy to talk to them about all my symptoms.  I think this fatigue is going to kill me.  I feel like I’ve run out of energy.  I can’t wait for this nesting thing to kick in because then I’ll at least get some of the stuff that needs to get done before the baby arrives done.

I’ve had some BHs this week.  They’re hard to catch for me because they don’t usually hurt…they just make my belly feel super hard and tight.  The baby has taken to jabbing and poling random stuff.  One website described it as gestating an angry housecat.  I think they had it right!  Sometimes, I feel like this baby has a lot more than 2 legs and arms with the way he’s poking and prodding.  Dre thinks all of this is extremely cute.   He’s cute.

Ligament pain is still around.  Back pain has joined in to make sure that the right side of my body hurts all the time.  I walk really slowly most of the time.  Belly button is flat.  I’m expecting the baby to kick the crap out of it and officially “pop” it into an outie any day now.  

I cannot wait for my massage next week.  It makes my body feel all better for a little bit.  It’s like heaven! 

I’m really looking forward to completing our last baby class tomorrow.  I like them and found them informative, but I’m kind of over them right now.  I feel like I could use the time better to do something else.  I’m also really looking forward to the Christmas holidays starting.  I need some R&R.  Some days, I wonder how I’m going to keep working until February 1st.  One day at a time is my motto right now!

Baby is a squash again this week.  He weighs a ton…I can’t imagine how he’ll put on 3 more lbs at least before he comes out.

If this post seems a little rambly and random this week, ignore it!  I’m just stressed and tired todayJ

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Week 30...75% baked!

Yup, it’s taken me forever to write this post.  I’ve had a hectic week and I feel like I’m always running around and doing something.  Now, I’m officially ¾ of the way done with my pregnancy!  How crazy is that?  On one hand, it’s gone by really fast, but on the other it’s also crawled by.  All those lovely symptoms just make it seem like I’ve been pregnant forever.

We now have a crib AND a crib mattress in the baby’s room.  Craziness!  It almost looks like a baby room nowJ  This weekend or next week, I’m braving the crazy crowds at the new IKEA in town to go get the dresser and a bookshelf for the baby’s room.  Then I’ll have everything I need for that room except for a lamp, curtains, a hamper, and a wall decal.  I might just get this room done by the time baby boy decides to appear!

I saw my doctor on Monday which is partially why this post wasn’t posted on Monday and she told me I’m having a really good pregnancy.  Yay!  I wouldn’t want to see what a bad one looks like!  I know I’m lucky, but sometimes as I’m trying to rock myself out of our bed at night so I can go pee I don’t feel so lucky.  I need to keep in mind that baby boy is very healthy, measuring right on track, and that I’ve had no major issues.


Week 29
Week 30

I should just stop writing about the ::GASP:: crazy amount of weight I’ve gained in a week because every time I do the next week I gain even more!  We’ll blame this one on the baby being hungry all the time and me being constipated a lot lately.  My average weight this week is 175.7 lbs.  Yes, you heard me right that would be a whopping 2.4 lbs gain in ONE WEEK!  This makes my total weight gain so far 22.7 lbs.  And I wanted to stay under 30 lbs gained this pregnancy….bahahahahaha!  With Christmas coming and all the yummy stuff I’m baking for the holidays I have a feeling that my weight is going to go up, up, up.  Join me in 3 months when I’m trying to work off all those cinnamon rolls and shortbread cookies off my ass…until then…where are those cinnamon rolls?

I’m still taking Zantac on most nights since dinner seems to be what sets off the acid reflux/heartburn combo.  It works really well when I remember to take it before I eat dinner. 

BTW, every single person who sees me asks me, “How are you feeling/How are you doing?” every single time they see me.  This is fine when it’s my friends or Dre, but I’m dangerously close to telling my coworkers to take a hike.  I know they’re just excited/happy/curious about the baby, but I’m getting a little tired of coming up with an answer every time.  No one tells you about this when you decide to have a baby!

I think I’ve had 1-2 BHs this week.  It’s hard to tell because the baby is so active now that a lot of the time it’s hard to tell his random poking and jabbing from an actual BH.  The ligament pain is still very bad.  I can’t lift my right leg and walking hurts.  I’ve gotten very slow when walking because the faster I walk to more it hurts.  The stretch mark count is still at one.  I plan on keeping it that way.  Belly button watch is still reporting that it’s basically flat.  It could become an outie at any moment…it just needs a good kick from the baby.

I still don’t have any sciatic pain.  My back pain has flared up, but I had a massage last Sunday and that took care of it.  The clinic accidently booked me for a 1-hr massage instead of a 30 min one, but I didn’t care since it made my back so much better!  She also massaged my hips and upper bum and told me my hips were super tights and locked.  Wow, that hurt, but it feels great now!  I love my massages!

I’m really looking forward to Christmas baking this weekend with two of my really good friends.  We each cook 2-3 recipes and then exchange goodies.  So good!  Last year, we decided to do this instead of buying Christmas presents for each other and it was an awesome idea so we’re doing it again this year. 

Baby is now the size of a squash…again!  He’s pretty much stopped growing in length, but he now weighs about 3 lbs. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shopping Frenzy

Dre and I went to visit my aunt and uncle for the weekend partly because I hadn’t seen them in a while and partly to shop for baby stuff.

We had amazing food while we were there and I ate way too much. 

On Saturday, Dre and I ventured out by ourselves to visit all the baby/maternity stores we could think of.  Dre planned the route out…it was really cute.

We stopped at the Carter’s baby clothes outlet first.  My aunt had given us a coupon they had that was for 20% off your order and when we went everything in the store was 50% off!  We got $200 worth of baby clothes for $60!  Score!  We quickly glanced at the Osh K Osh and Gymboree outlets, but they mainly focus on outfits for kids and I personally don’t think that babies wear that many clothes in the first 6 months.  

Then we headed for Best Buy to check out their video cameras.  They had a few good ones, but Dre and I decided to wait until after Christmas sales and see if we still want to get one then.  I think that filming with our iPhones will work as well.  Up next we stopped at Old Navy.  Yes, we have Old Navy here in Canada, but all the stores that have maternity lines in the states don’t have them in Canada.  So for $50, I got leggings, 2 sweaters, and 3 undershirts.  That would have cost me $200 over here at our maternity store. 

After that, I was starving so we stopped at this little pizza joint which had the best pizza EVER!  It was thin crusted pizza which I don’t usually like, but it was amazing.  Then we headed over to this consignment store my uncle had mentioned.  I’ve had bad luck with consignment stores.  I find them crowded and they make me claustrophobic.  This one was gold though!  We got 10 sleepers and 10 onesies for $30.  Some of the PJs still had the original tags on it.

After that, we went to Baby R Us.  I hate the Baby R Us in Burlington, VT!  It’s worse than the one over here!  This Toys R Us apparently decided that baby stuff didn’t sell and used 80% of the store for toys and the 20% that had baby stuff was crammed full.  We couldn’t find everything we were looking for, but we still saved money compared to how much stuff costs in our BRU.  They didn’t really have any good sales either.  Dre had also decided that he wasn’t waiting on IKEA to stock our crib anymore so he wanted to get one while we were down there since they’re cheaper in the US.  We needed one that was in stock though.  So BRU had a total of 6 cribs jammed together and setup (ours has at least 12 setup).  After seeing that, we paid for our stuff using about 10 gift cards (the cashier LOVED me) and decided to keep going.  

We made a brief stop at Walmart.  We found out that Walmart sells the Bumbo for $20 cheaper than BRU, but there was no way in hell that I was going back into that BRU to get a refund so we just kept the one we’d gotten.  I found a larger winter coat that didn’t make me look like a homeless person there for $20. Didn’t find anything else here.

Our last stop was at this baby boutique we’d visited the last time we were in Vermont.  They have great stuff, but it’s a little expensive since it’s geared towards the higher end stuff.  I started looking at their cribs and was getting discouraged because all they had were Pali cribs (which are actually really good cribs, but too expensive for me) that would take 12 weeks to order.  Then I found our crib!  The floor model was white, but it said it came in dark brown too so Dre goes and asks the sales lady if they have it in stock and they actually did in the dark color!  How perfect is that?



So we found everything we needed, we spent a small fortune this weekend, and getting through customs with all the stuff was a breeze which is not what I’d expected.  

On the way back home, we stopped at a BRU to get the crib bedding set we like.  It was on special in the Canadian stores this weekend only.  At the same time, we picked up almost everything else we needed and returned the 4 items I got in double at my shower.  

After all of that, I don’t think Dre ever wants to see a BRU again!  I might have to bring my SIL with me when I go visit a few of the specialty boutiques we have in town to get the last few knick knacks that I haven’t found anywhere else.

Our trip was a definite success!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Week 29

The weeks seem to be blending together now.  I’m really glad that they’re going by, but I seem to be focusing a lot more on the fact that I still have 11 weeks left and OMG I am uncomfortable most of the time!

When baby boy flipped to a head down position last Monday, he landed head down in my right hip and pressing on the ligament that goes under the uterus.  SO MUCH PAIN!  Dre likes to tell me unhelpful stuff like, “Move slowly.”  Doesn’t really matter how slow or fast I move since any movement aggravates the ligament and causes me pain.   Thankfully, this weekend baby boy decided that my hip sucked and has shifted over slightly.  It’s amazing to be able to move without pain!  He does flip flop back and forth between digging into my hip and being in a better position.  I’m really hoping that he doesn’t decide he likes my hip too much because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to walk if he keeps getting bigger and heavier and pressing on that particular spot.

This weekend we went to visit some of my relatives in Vermont which meant we were just in time to participate in some of the awesome Black Friday deals.  I’ll write about all the awesome stuff Dre and I found while we were over there later on.  I just want to mention that we did end up buying a crib.  We got it from a Baby Boutique store so we paid a little more than if we’d bought it from Amazon.com or Baby R Us, but we wanted a particular style of crib for a reasonable price and we needed it to be in stock since we were only in the States for the weekend.  On this side of the border, cribs are consistently at least $200 over the US prices.  Overall, we ended up paying a lot less for that crib than if we’d bought it over here. 

Let’s talk about my weight.  I guess that baby boy is really concentrating on putting on weight because mine has been climbing very steadily in the last few weeks.  I’ve also had a lot of problems with the slow down of my digestive system which means that I tend to be constipated a lot.  I guess I’ll have to start eating prunes or something to keep things regular.


Week 28
Week 29

My average weight this week is 173.3 lbs. which is a 1.3 lb gain over the last week.  My total weight gain so far is 20.3 lbs.  That’s pretty reasonable so I’m happy.  I didn’t have Saturday’s weight in there and next week won’t have Sunday’s weight in there since my aunt does not have a scale at her house.  Overall, it really won’t change anything.

I’ve started taking my Zantac a little more regularly to combat against the heartburn and acid reflux that 90% of food seems to give me.  This weekend I noticed that I really can’t eat as much as I used to.  It seems like I fill up so fast now.  On Friday night shortly after I’d gone to sleep I woke up throwing up in my mouth.  This was not the little acid coming back up which is annoying.  This was so much acid coming back up that I was afraid to get back into bed after I got up to rinse my mouth.  By that time, Dre had woken up and he insisted I take a Zantac.  I also took a Tums.  I couldn’t lie down in bed though.  Every time I lied back I could feel the acid coming back up and being really close to throwing up.  I had to go back to sleep sitting up propped by 3 pillows. I had been sleeping on 2 pillows when this happened.  That was so much fun that on Saturday I took my 2 prescribed Zantac to make sure that it didn’t happen again the next night.

I’ve only had one BH this week.  Like I mentioned above the ligament pain is pretty bad, but right now baby boy is not resting on it so I’m good.  No other stretch marks to report.  My belly button is almost completely flat though!  I’ve thought that I would have an outie by Week 20 since the beginning because my belly button started getting so much shallower so early, but for now it’s still an innie.

Sciatic pain and leg pain have vanished for now. 

I’m really looking forward to setting up the crib and arranging the baby room.  We’re still missing the dresser which we’ll get around Dec. 7th, but apart from that we have almost everything else we need.  The only thing I still need to order is the wall decal for the baby’s room and to do that Dre and I have to figure out the name since most of the decals have the baby’s name on them.  Also, I’m decorating the house for the holidays next weekend which is huge deal for me since I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Christmas!

Baby is the size of a squash!  Yay!  He’s getting so big!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Hospital Bag, Baby Classes, and Hospital Tours...Oh My!

Dre still wants to pack a hospital bag and keeps reminding me of this.

However my hospital bag is still not packed because I like to procrastinate.  I’ll probably be yelling the list to Dre as I go into labor instead of packing it early and having it in the car.  I’m sure he’ll love that!  I just can’t seem to find the energy to think of what needs to be in that bag and then actually pack it.

Dre has also decided to start obsessing about what happens if I go into labor while I’m at work.  It’s cute because I’ve been worried about that, but I didn’t know that he’d even thought about the possibility since I’ve never mentioned it to him.  He hasn’t seemed too worried about the labor part up until now.  When I asked him what he would do if there was a snowstorm when I go into labor, his answer was to gleefully rub his hands together and say “4 wheel drive.  Oh yeah!”  Men are so weird sometimes.

By the way, I have no idea what I’ll do if I go into labor at work since I take the bus to work and most of the people who drive into work are not people I want around me when I’m in pain.  I’ll figure it out eventually.

We had the 1st of 4 baby classes last night.  While it gave tons of useful information, the teacher (a registered nurse, lactation consultant, and doula) was the most boring person ever.  She read the slides and played videos without really getting our input about different things.  They went over a lot of the labor stuff and showed us this video of the baby’s head descending into the cervix and dilating the cervix about 8 or 9 times.  We also got to see several videos of women having the babies.  It was a little scaring.  I know what happens during labor, but I guess I don’t really want to see it in that much detail so I don’t freak myself out too much.  I’d rather get the tools I need to successfully handle pain and breastfeed.

We’ll have to see if these classes get more interesting in the coming weeks.  It’s disappointing because the 1st series of 3 classes had such an awesome nurse as a teacher.   Another disappointing thing is that they don’t actually let your tour the hospital’s (the course is in the hospital) labor and delivery floor.  That is just so weird!  Instead we have to attend an Information Night where they’ll show up pictures of the rooms and all that.  Ughhhhh!  I deal better with things when they aren’t unknown and not having seen where I’ll end up really won’t help my anxiety and stress levels.  Apparently the all-knowing hospital staff can’t figure out that pregnant women (especially first time moms) might have a lot of anxiety and stress.  

I’m off to get reimbursed for my yoga classes that I’m missing because of the baby classes also being on Tuesdays.  Wish me luck!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

All is Good!



I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday.  This was my last monthly visit.  From now on, I see her every other week until 36 weeks and then every week.  So she had me schedule all of my remaining appointments until she goes on maternity leave. 

***Side note, she’s pregnant and due 7 days after me.  She’s working until I’m 36 weeks and then my care is being transferred to her OB.  Have never met this OB so I hope I like her since I think it’s too late to find a new one at 37 weeks which is when I’ll meet her.***

I am going to be seeing my doctor a lot in the next 2 months!  It’s funny because I feel like I really don’t have many questions for her anymore.  She just measures my uterus height and listen’s to baby’s heart and then we’re done.  Uterus was measuring at 29 cm yesterday.  Normally at 28 weeks you would expect me to measure 28 cm, but doctors aren’t too concerned by a +/-2 cm variance. 

She also poked all around my uterus trying to figure out where baby’s head was.  She thinks he’s head down.  He hasn’t been until yesterday though.  He did this major flip and exercise routine midday yesterday and I guess he decide to get in place.  That’s good because I didn’t want him staying breech.  I know he could flip back around just as easily since he still has quite a bit of room to move right now, but he doesn’t do the big major somersaults very often so we’ll see.

I did pass my gestational diabetes test with no problems.  The CBC panel run on the extra blood drawn didn’t show anything bad and it showed that I’m not anemic.  Yay!  No extra iron pills for me.

I did have to pee in a cup yesterday.  This isn’t exactly news since they make you pee in the damn cup every time you go to the office when you’re pregnant.  I’ve recently noticed that I cannot see my lady bits anymore which makes peeing in a small container is really, really hard.  It’s hard to aim for something that you can barely see!  I have no idea what I’ll do at the end since I won’t be able to see anything by then.  I ended up peeing all over that damn container.  It’s a good thing that the nurses wear gloves!

So everything is going well.  Next appointment is coming up in just 2 weeks!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Week 28

In the news today, I PASSED MY GD TEST!  Oh yeah!  Since there was no way in hell that I was taking that 3 hour test with multiple blood draws, this is a very, very good thing.

I also didn’t make it to IKEA last Wednesday.  SIL and I just didn’t feel like driving to the store.  I’m so lazy during the week.  It would have been good to go and get the dresser though since I had my baby shower on Saturday.  Now I have a room full of stuff and nowhere to put it.  My mom who LOVES to clean and organize has decided that all the baby stuff simply can’t lie around until I get to it so she hung everything up and started organizing it.  She also decided my kitchen floor was dirty and hand scrubbed it.  Meh!  I don’t really care since I was never going to get on my knees to wash it anyways.  Now it’s all nice, sparkly, and clean.

Dre and I start the second part of our baby classes this week.  It’s so exciting because we get to tour the hospital and have discussions about that particular hospital’s ideas on labour and delivery.  I’m sure Dre is less excited than me, but since he’s really obsessed with my belly he gets to come and learn all about breastfeeding and pushing a watermelon out of a donut hole.  I’m sure this will not scar him at all!  Hehe! 

Dre probably kisses my belly more than he kisses me.  The man has a serious obsession with babies!  It’s very cute though.  He’s started playing classical music to the baby at night which is fine with me.  I refuse to play music and put headphones on my belly though.  I don’t want to scare the little guy to death when his nice quiet, floaty environment is invaded by this crazy orchestra music.

Whoa, weight gain!  This week played havoc on my weight.  I started to freak out a little, but I realized that I’ve been constipated.  I’m not someone who tracks whether or not I’ve pooed on a particular day.  Because of that it usually takes me a while to realize that I’m constipated and maybe I should eat something to get me all cleared up.  The problem is that the most effective things for me are green tea or coffee which are things I’m trying not to drink while pregnant.  Green tea because it blocks the absorption of folic acid into your system and caffeine because I think that giving the baby caffeine jolts every day is stressful to his tiny body.  I’ve limited my caffeine to chocolate because there is no way I’m giving up chocolate.  No way!  Want to know how I got rid of Mr. Constipation?  Popcorn!  That’s right, I went to see Breaking Dawn with SIL and I had a huge bag of popcorn.  I’m addicted to movie theatre popcorn…yes, I’m aware that it’s about a million calories and 12 times my daily salt intake, but do you know what else popcorn has?  Fiber!  So next time I’m all stopped up, I’m going to see a movie and eating my body weight in popcorn!


Week 27
Week 28
So my average weight this week is 172.0 lbs.  Yeah, that would be a 2.7 lbs gain in one week!  Lovely!  The baby is either packing on the weight or my poo weighs a lot.  My total weight gain so far is 19 lbs in 28 weeks.  Hopefully, baby boy doesn’t decide to add almost 3 lbs of weight to mommy’s butt every week or I’ll be rolling into the hospital at 40 weeks. 

Heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion like to hang around.  I figure it’s because the baby has started taking up so much space.  I just need to get the hang of eating less at meals and snacking more often.  Easier said than done.

No BH in sight.  Instead I have this weird pain in my pelvis.  Doctor says it’s ligament pain so most likely round ligament pain (RLP).  It hurts a lot more than the ligament pain I had in the 1st trimester.  I still only have one stretch mark and my goal is to make sure he stays an orphan. 

Sciatic pain is there.  Back pain has also flared up.  I think it’s because of how I need to sit at work now to make my belly comfortable.  I still need to remember to stretch every day.  The leg pains seem to have vanished for now so I’m happy. 

I’m really looking forward to visiting my aunt in Vermont on Friday!  Black Friday shopping here I come!  I’ve really missed you over these last 5 years.  Of course, the first year I decide to go to the States for Black Friday Canadian stores decide that they’ll get in on some of the action and start advertising Black Friday deals.  WTF!  Whatever baby stuff is still cheaper in the States since our dollar has been at par for the last year.  I plan on scouring all the baby and maternity stores.  Poor Dre!  I might have to buy him boy toys to reward him for spending a day shopping among the crazy deal hunters.

Baby is the size of an eggplant again according to the ticker I have on the sidebar.  Really!  It’s been 4 freaking weeks and they haven’t figured out what other type of fruit or vegetable could be about the same size so we could have a variety.  Hold on…according to another website baby is the size of a CHINESE CABBAGE!  Yay!  Although I have no idea what that is…

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Shower Time

I had the best shower on Saturday!
Lots of amazing people showed up and we had tons of fun.  My SIL who hosted the shower put tons of work into making it the best shower ever.  Several people commented about the fact that the shower was very impressive, well planned, and well though out.  They were impressed with how SIL had thought of everything! 

So a huge thank you to my SIL!  (I didn't just put that on there 'cause she reads this though:-)

My mom, brother's girlfriend, and myself all headed to my SIL's house about 30 minutes before the guests were supposed to show up.  SIL thought it would be a good idea for me to be there and greet everyone as they came in.  For showers, I would usually be the last to arrive which is what happened for my wedding shower, but I much preferred doing it this way.  At my wedding shower, I felt like the center of attention and like I didn't have time to talk to everyone for a few minutes.  Since I saw everyone come in, I had the time to take a few minutes with everyone and chat which was really nice. 

I mean I like attention, but I don't necessarily like being the center of attention for a group of 30 women.  That part can be a little daunting.

Anyways...when we arrived I spotted the awesome diaper cake that SIL made for me. 

Diaper Cake
Isn't it gorgeous?  She has lots of talent people!  The best thing is that when SIL asked me what color I wanted for the shower I told her blue and green.  I didn't specify any shades of blue and green or anything.  She found the exact blue and green that I LOVE and even got ribbon with polka dots on them.  AWESOME!  I really wish I could have found crib bedding with these 2 colors for our baby boy, but whenever these 2 colors are combined they tend to be for girls.  Apparently boys only like pastel blue, brown, and red because those are the predominant colors in boy bedding sets...oh and navy blue.  Blech!  I love bright colors!

SIL had several games setup on the main floor of her house as well as a table full of appetizers to tide guest over.  She had diapers full of melted chocolate which were revolting looking.  She had baby food jars without the labels so we could guess what kind of baby food it was.  Then, she had a baby BINGO where you guessed what I would receive as a gift and as I opened them they crossed them out until they had a BINGO.  The games list went on and on, but they were all fun and not the kind of games that are all like.  LOOK AT ME!  WE'RE PLAYING A GAME!  There were plenty of games. but they were unobstrusive.


Games and my presents (pack and play) from SIL and MIL!
After that we got herded downstairs and I got to open presents!  Yay!  Presents for the baby!  There were so many presents...it was overwhelming.   Halfway through opening the presents I was done.  If someone had told me a few months ago that I would get tired sitting in a lazy boy and opening presents I would have laughed at them.  I love presents so I love opening them = not a chore.  Apparently when you're pregnant and in your 3rd trimester, ripping prettty, sparkling paper out of gift bags and off of boxes is really hard work.  Who would have guessed?

This picture doesn't do justice to how pretty everything was downstairs!


Dre and I got tons of stuff for the baby and tons of gift cards for Baby R Us so we can go get the stuff we're missing.  We were truly blessed by our friends and families!

Presents!
After presents, SIL rolled out the food.  There was soooooo much food and it was soooo good!  She even made the shower cake from scratch and decorated it herself.  Isn't it cute?  Yah, cutting into a cake that looks like a baby is a little creepy at first, but it was so good that we got over that one rather quickly.

Baby Cake.  It was so yummy!

This was the most creative fruit salad I've ever seen.
Overall, I think that everyone had an amazing time.  I had a great time even though I was exhausted by the end.  When we got home, I just sat surrounded by all the gifts and organized everything from the couch. 

It was the perfect shower!  I couldn't have asked for more.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Today...

I had an awesome shower today!

Now I'm totally exhausted. It's surprising that the only thing I did today was eat and open presents and it totally drained me.

So I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Funny Kids


I asked my oldest nephew what he wanted for Christmas today.  His answer...an iPod.

I guess this generation of children is really different from our generation.  When I was eight, I wanted the latest Barbie and her awesome pink car!  Everything revolved around who had the coolest Barbies and accessories.  Yes, we had a computer, but back then we were still running stuff on the MS-Dos platform (not advanced at all) and the Internet hadn't come into our lives yet.

Today, my nephew wants a laptop, and iPod, or a 3DS (he has a DS already).  My 9 year old niece probably wants some similar things for Christmas...I just haven't asked her yet.  My 16 year old niece only wants cool stuff and never has any money so she's easy to buy for and my 5 year old nephew can amuse himself with a piece of paper and tape for hours. 

I think I understand what my aunts and uncles found difficult about buying us presents when we were kids.  I couldn't understand why they didn't know what was cool and what I would want for my birthday or Christmas.  Now I understand since I can't for the life of me figure out what to buy for nieces and nephews when birthdays and Christmas roll around. 

I'm guessing that getting them a lump of coal for their Christmas stocking isn't going to be popular so I'm just going to have to go back to the drawing board to figure out presents this year.  That or I'll start harassing SIL to give me ideas for them, but since she has to give ideas to all the grandparents and other relatives who want to buy the kids gifts it's not that easy.

One thing I do know...I'm not buying the nephew an iPod, or a laptop, or a 3DS...I'm way too cheap for that:-)  Plus, nephew seems to think that Santa brings iPods, laptops, and 3DS'.  If that's true, I've been sending my wishlists to the wrong person.  I need to start sending some ideas about a brand new Kobo or awesome Le Creuset dutch oven to the North Pole!

I do love seeing Christmas through the sheer joy that kids get from that holiday.  It's what makes Christmas magical!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Why Mondays Suck…This is One Reason

Every day I get the privilege of joining the masses that take the bus out of our suburb into the city to go to work.  On most days, this is a boring trip punctuated by nothing more than late or early buses.  I’m sure bus drivers arrive early or late on purpose to see how many people’s schedule they can screw up.
Late last year, the bus company (which is owned and subsidized by the city) decided that they needed to make the transit system more efficient to save money which would in turn help to pay for their new $12 million dollar call system.  Now, I’m in favour of creating more efficient routes to save money, but what I cannot understand is how making the system “moreefficient” means that buses are NEVER EVER where they are supposed to beat the time they’re supposed to be there.  This makes us, the riders,annoyed which make the bus drivers surly and annoyed.  Who am I kidding?  They were surly and annoyed before these changes. 

We have about 10 major transit stations in this city.  Every day, I have to get off at the transit station hub that is in the middle of the city. Almost every bus in circulation will go through this station.  So it’s an understatement to say that this station is busy.  It’s a zoo at night!  You have to keep an eagle eye out for those slippery buses because if you glance down at your phone for .000005 second your bus will have come and then taken off like lightening.  These drivers have perfected the art of stopping and then immediately stomping on the accelerator pedal to peal off if they don’tsee someone frantically running towards their bus.  These same drivers have been known to pretend to not see frantic people trying to weave through the masses to get to the bus.  You can never be sure where exactly your bus will stop along the designated portion of the transit station for the busyou’re waiting for.

My stop is the busiest at night because it’s the stop for every express bus through that station and the stop for the several other very buses.

Let’s go back to Monday.  I’m blissfully waiting on the curb trying to spot my bus.  I’ve texted their new $12 million dollar POS system, but of course the thing is fried and tells me the bus has already gone by.  I know it hasn’t because Dre is happily sitting on the bus textingme the bus’ progress towards the station.  (Dre takes this bus from the downtown core.) 

I see the bus turn the corner and I start walking towards it since there are 2 stretch buses in front of it.  Suddenly, the stretch buses pull away and lovely driver decides that he needs to pull up to the stop sign. That’s OK…they do this frequently.  I don’t have to run after it because surely the awesome driver will stop under the sign like he usually does so I don’t have to haul my 6 month pregnant ass by running to said bus.  To make sure that the bus stops, I wave at it with my pass.  (See picture) Then I turn and start walking fast to the spot where he should stop. Bear in mind that the bus hasn’t even gotten close to the curb once in this whole story. 
Aren't my drawings so awesome!

Wait!  Are you kidding me!  Fucking POS bus driver just peeled away as if no one was trying to get on his @$%^$%^#@## bus.  He never even stopped. Now, a lot of buses manage to not stop at this station, but they usually have handy excuses like, “My bus was full.”  This bus was almost empty. It’s why I take it.   I hurry and text Dre, “Your bus driver is a fucking moron.”  in the hope that he’ll go chew a piece off of this particular driver’s ass. 

I’m looking for another bus and I see another express.  No choice, I have to take this one.  Of course, it’s full and it’sstanding room only which is great when you’re 27 weeks pregnant and your balance is shot.  I get on and try to hang on as the bus driver who thinkshe’s an Indy car driver squeals around the corners.  Then Dre calls me and tells me that he’s at the transit station since he basically got kicked off the bus.  What???   I tell him to get on another bus and I’llget the story straight later on.  He tells me that he’s calling a complaint to wonderful bus company.  I get to last major transit station and I have to get off as this bus veers into a suburb where my car isn’tparked.  I wait for another bus to come along to take me to my car and Dre arrives.

He tells me that when he noticed the bus driver not stopping he started yelling at him (from the back of the bus) to stop the bus and got up and went to tell him that he’d left me, his pregnant wife, behind.  Apparently,bus driver finally decides to stop at the end of this station (there’s noway I can see that since millions of other buses are blocking the view).  Bus driver tells Dre to look and see if I’m coming.  Hello?  Yes, I can magically see your bus through the other buses and will run for it and try to plow through thousands of people before you decide to peal away again.  Anyways by this time, bus driver is feeling self righteous and decides to tell Dre that I didn’t wave enough to get him to stop.  So Dre, the love of my life,tells him, “What?  You want her to stand there and jump up and down in joy to get you to stop?” 

Driver, seeing that he sounds like a moron now, tells Dre, “Sir,do we have a problem here?”

“YES, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!  YOU LEFT MY 6 MONTH PREGNANT WIFE AT THE BUS STOP!”  Bus driver tells Dre to go see if he can find me but that the bus might not be there when Dre comes back.  Dre gets off and driver slams the door behind him.  Dre turns back around and the driver opens the door again and asks him if he's getting on or off since he needs to go.  So Dre went to get his bag and got off the bus because he was so mad at the driver.

So basically dumb ass driver didn't stop when he was supposed to and instead of waiting for Dre to go get me, he took off as fast as he possible could.  Jokes on him though since Dre called customer service twice and filed a complaint.  Customer service agent told him on the second call that another gentleman had also called to complain about the "appalling behavior he witnessed on the bus".  Dre's co-worker called to file a complaint...she takes the same bus we do.  Even I called customer service and that is not like me.  I hate phones and never use them, but I was so mad that I didn't think I could adequately convey my message through the online forms.  The customer service agent I spoke to said that EVERY bus driver is required to stop at major transit stations.  Driver is going to have a least 4 complaints against him for the same incident reported to his supervisor.

So that was my lovely trip home on Monday.  After that Dre and I went to do the groceries because we were both too mad to make dinner and then ordered pizza.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

(I got this off of The Bump and the person I copied this from didn’t remember where she got it.  Anyways, I’ve included my thoughts in bold because I can’t just let you guys read this and not put in my opinions.  Come on!)

Need to buy this!
I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm....
If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice. (Yes, I mean YOU!)

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations!" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an a$$. (Asking me if it was planned when I’m 28, have been married for over 2 years, and have a steady job makes you a douchebag or someone who doesn’t think a lot before blurting out whatever goes through that brain of yours.)

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase "my baby". (Bahahaha!  Love it!  My mother actually told me that SHE was the grandparent as if that gave her more say than ME the mother.  I need to send this to her.)

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it. The same goes for the name of the baby. (I need to come up with something to meddling people that tell me what they think before it happens.  I don’t want to be standing there just giving them a dirty look because I can’t think of a good comeback quickly enough.  I always think of great ones after I walk away.)

4) The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman. (For some reason, a lot of the people I work with think it’s fine to touch my baby belly whenever they feel like it.  Really!  Do I walk around randomly groping you and standing in your personal space?  All my friends have managed to ask before they touch me so I can’t figure out why co-workers and acquaintances can’t figure this one out.)

5) Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is "You look fabulous!".  (Co-worker asked me what my doctor thought about my weight gain.  In what reality is this an appropriate question…ever?  When I tell my friends I’ve gained about 17 lbs, they all tell me that I don’t look it and I look great which is awesome!  Also, if you’re going to tell me that I look like I’m 2 months pregnant when I’m 6 months pregnant on the bus be prepared to get the bitch face.)

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.  (Or cold.  Or tell me how lucky I am that I won’t have to be SO HOT when I’m huge like a beach whale {their words, not mine}.  I’m aware of the temperature and also the hormones they make me snarkier so don’t tell me the sky is blue and that winter is cold.)

7) There is a reason that tickets to L&D are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents’ home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to "help out". If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.  (Someone needs to tell my mother this.  She hasn’t gotten the memo that I don’t need her to “teach” me how to be a mother…her words.  Also, no one is allowed in while I’m in labor unless your name is Dre, doctor, or nurse.  I’m not pleasant when I’m in pain.)

8) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should cleanup the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping. (Interfere with my schedule and feel the wrath!  I’m just saying.  We’re trying to get the new baby on a schedule here not make sure the grandparents get 10 hours each of baby holding time.)

9) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less. (I might post this on my door except it’ll say something like this…”If you disapprove of how I do things, though bananas.  Tell me you disapprove of how I do things and I might kick your ass.”  Just a thought before you come hold our new baby bundleJ  Do you think they’ll like my sign?
I hope this helps- it sure makes us feel better.

Signed,
All Pregnant Women