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

Monday, March 26, 2012

Teas, teas, teas


Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to sample some great teas to review them! I got the teas right before Kaleb was born so it's taken me a little time to write about the yummy teas, but I'm finally doing it now.

Steeped Tea

Steeped Tea is a company that works by having consultants hold parties at your house. As the host, you get a percentage of the sales of the day. I was introduced to Steeped Tea when one of my friends decided to hold a Steeped Tea party and I got to sample some of their teas.

I have to say that I was pretty impressed when I looked at their catalogue. They have so many different kinds of teas that you can't find anywhere else. The teas are all loose leaf teas, but they do sell things like reusable tea bells or tea bags.

I tried the 5 different teas that Steeped Tea sent to me and I also wanted to tell you about the 2 teas that I bought at the party.




Let's start with "Toffee Crunch". This tea is phenomenal! Both Dre and I love this tea and are going to be life-long drinkers of this one. This tea smells amazing and what's even better is that it tastes exactly like it smells. I'm sure you know that often teas smell better than they taste. This is a rooibos tea so it happens to be naturally decaffeinated which is great for me since I'm breastfeeding Kaleb and I can't have too much caffeine. I give this tea 5 thumbs up. Go buy it...you'll love it!

Next up is "Lady Layla's Whole Fruit Tea". It's really good. This tea is caffeine free as it's fruit tea. It's taste reminds me of summer berries. You can make this tea as an ice tea and I imagine it's phenomenal when you drink it that way. Since it's still cold over here, I haven't tried it cold, but I really look forward to trying it this summer when it's nice and hot outside.

Then I tried "Peppy Peppermint". This tea is good. It's good peppermint tea. Drinking a cup of this tea makes me feel energized and fresh. Peppermint is one of those flavors that is great all the time and makes you feel refreshed when you drink it.

Next came a classic, "Earl Gray de la Creme". This tea is a very good earl gray. I really enjoyed this one. It's very good when you want that classical tea taste...especially on a cold day. I loved it! I can't wait to have it again.

Then we tried the "Breakfast Muffin". This tea smells so good before it's brewed and after it's brewed. I didn't think it tasted as good as it smelled though. It did taste good, but the smell was just better than the taste. I think I'll have to try this tea a few more times to really appreciate all the flavors that are in it.

Next is "Cherry Rose Sansha". This tea was real surprise. When I read the ingredients, I really didn't want to try this tea because I didn't think I'd like it. Well, surprise, surprise...I really liked this tea. It has nice light floral tones and is a perfect afternoon tea.

Last tea is "Caramel Comfort". I thought I would love this tea. Why not? It's made with caramel! Well, I really didn't like this one. I think it tastes like eating cigarettes or something like that. Dre thinks I'm crazy though and thought this tea was great so it's probably just me that didn't like this one.

I also got the opportunity to try their "Red Pepper Jelly". I have nothing to compare this jelly to though as I've never had Red Pepper Jelly. I was pleasantly surprised when I talked myself into trying it though. I tried it with some crackers, but I imagine that it would be amazing served on top of cheese like melted Brie.

Overall, I found the Steeped Tea teas to be phenomenal and of great quality. I can't wait to buy some more and try some of their other flavors!

Disclaimer: Steeped Tea provided me with 6 flavors of tea and the Red Pepper Jelly at no cost to me.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

41 Weeks

You thought I disappeared didn't you?

The truth is that between feeding Kaleb and trying to get simple stuff like emails answered I just don't have any time to sit down and take 30 minutes to hammer out a post.  So sad!

Anyways, here is my 41 week picture.  This was taken a couple of hours before we left for the hospital to have Kaleb and the day before he was born.  I was huge!  Whenever you see these pics, you realize how much weight gain was going on and it's kind of crazy to see how much I've lost now. 

Week 41
My doctor wanted to induce me when I hit 41 weeks, but Dre and I told her Biophysical Profile.  Fancy term for another NST test and an ultrasound.  Dre decided to come to the ultrasound with me since they might have kept me if the results showed that Kaleb was not doing well.

The last ultrasound I've had was at 18 weeks so I was looking forward to seeing how different this one would be.  It definitely was different.  For one, the baby is so big when he gets to full term that to see everything they have to look at him in sections.  The ultrasound person started the ultrasound after confirming that we were just there to check on the baby's progress and well-being.  Right away she told me I had tons of amniotic fluid.  She went on about this for a while so I guess I really did have lots.  She told me that usually by now she can't get good shots of things like his face because most of the amniotic fluid is gone, but because I had so much she was able to give us a picture of baby Kaleb's face.  Exciting!  She checked everything and measured things like his head and stomach.  Then at the end she tells us, "I estimate the baby's size to be 4.8 kg."  We were like oh that not too bad...then we made the conversion to lbs and I freaked the crap out.  That's 10.5 lbs people!  Dre and I then spent the next 2 days convincing ourselves that weight estimates on ultrasounds are very often wrong and that the baby would be a least 3 lbs less than that.

Well as it turns out that ultrasound was not too wrong!  I had a 10 lbs 2 oz baby!

On the day, that I went into labour I weighed 193.4 lbs.  That is a total pregnancy weight gain of 40 lbs.  Yes, that is right...I managed to gain massive amounts of weight in the last 1.5 weeks.  Every other day I would step on the scale and it would be up another couple of lbs.  It was craziness! 

That's what was going on while we were waiting for our little baby boy to make an appearance.  Up next...the birth story.  I'm still working on it, but I hope to post it in the next day or 2.  Then I'll post pictures of our little man because he's sooooo cute!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Update

Since I'm up all night now, I might as well update. But I'm warning you guys that I'm typing one-handed on my phone so no pics and there might be mistakes because of the lovely autocorrect feature.

Baby Kaleb Jacques was born last Monday at 9:53AM weighing 10.2 lbs, and measuring 22.25 inches by c-section. This is one big baby. A fact that every single nurse and doctor in the hospital pointed out to us. I'll type a proper birth story very, very soon. I promise!

For now, I'll just catch you up on a little of our lives. Dre is at home with me. He was supposed to go back to work next week, but he managed to get an extra week. My mom is also coming to help out next week so that will be nice. I need lots of help since I had a c-section and am supposed to take it slow.

I am breastfeeding, but that is the biggest challenge ever. Especially when you have a baby that clearly prefers one side over the other. Kaleb also was born with a tongue-tie and has a short tongue. The tongue-tie thing was easily fixed, but the short tongue is what makes his latch so difficult and we can't fix that apart from just wait till he hats bigger.

Also, this baby loves to suck even when he's not hungry. We tried a pacifier on him but he just spits that put. Also we think that the pacifier might be confusing to him as he's still learning to suck properly. So I'm taking it one day at the time and concentrating on getting the latch correctly every time.

All of this feeding though means that I do that ALL the time and don't have time make a proper post.

Alright, I'll update soon again!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Week 40

Well I’m over my due date by 4 days now.  Blah!  I get texts, emails, and Facebook messages from a hoard of people every day asking me how I feel and if the baby has come yet.  I’m pretty sure that I’d let most people know if the baby had decided to make an appearance.  Also, I’m not really sure what to say about how I feel.  I’m huge!  My skin is stretched to the max and this baby seems to still be gaining weight so I don’t feel great, but I also don’t feel awful either. 

I see the doctor on Thursday and she’ll most likely want to induce me right away since the weekend will be coming and next Monday is Family Day.  I had my non-stress test (NST) on Monday and everything looked good.  Baby was moving well, had a good heart rate, and showed no sign of stress.  The resident who came to review my results with me told me that since I’m overdue I can look forward to these every 3 days until I get induced or have the baby.  I’m not too excited about that since I have to do the NSTs at the hospital and they have ridiculous parking rates over there. 

My mom is coming tomorrow.  I really didn’t want her around before the baby comes, but she has some business stuff she has to do.  The problem is that whenever she comes down she manages to stay at my house or friend’s houses for 1-2 weeks.  I can only take about 1-2 days before she gets on my nerves and I want to send her back.  She loves visiting though and so she’s usually here way too long and we end up fighting because she gets on my nerves or disrupts Dre and I’s schedule.  Anyways, I’m picking her up at the bus station tomorrow afternoon if I haven’t gone into labour by then.
I’m getting tired of drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea.  It doesn’t taste bad, but it just hasn’t done anything yet and it gets really old to drink the same tea 1-2 every day.  I’m also still taking Evening Primrose Oil, but I think I’ll cut back to 1 or 2 a day because those pills are seriously giving me the runs and that’s not cool!  They’re the perfect cure to constipation!  I’ve gotten every suggestion under the sun to “naturally” start my labour, but I personally don’t think any of them work unless your body is ready or was going to go into labour anyways.  The weirdest ones I’ve had suggested are to eat lots of popcorn and to drink castor oil with orange juice.  Hmmm, yes I totally want to drink an oil that’s going to give me the runs.  So needless to say, I’ve tried most of the sane ones like walking a lot and all that, but I’m going to stay far, far away from the crazy ones like castor oil.
I lost my To-Do list so I consider it all done.  Of course, I have a ton of small things to do every day, but nothing major is left.  I just need to do stuff like go consign the baby clothes I’m not keeping, harass my insurance company into paying the expenses they’re supposed to cover for Dre, send in my claims for the massage therapy and chiropractor expenses of the past few months. 
We’re done the baby room!  Yay!  Dre and I are in the process of buying the letters to spell the baby’s name and then I’ll paint them.  Michael’s only lets you use one coupon per day, but you can print as many as you want so every time I go by the store I pick up another letter.  Also, I need to figure out how to paint MDF wood since that’s all they had.  We don’t plan on hanging the baby’s name until he’s born since we’re not telling anyone what the name is.
Here’s my pictures.  I just keep getting bigger…
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A disclaimer…my weight is leaping up every few days.  I mean in the past 2 days my scale tells me I gained 5 lbs.  How is that even possible?  I’m going to eat more Valentine Day Hershey’s Chocolates with cherry filling to make myself feel betterJ My average weight this week is 186.0 lbs which is a gain of 2.5 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 33 lbs. That’s the most weight I’ve gained in one single week this pregnancy.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be even worse for this week (Week 41) too.

I’m still tired and achy.  I also am having a really hard time doing things like putting on my winter boots and picking stuff off the floor.  Most of the time if it falls on the floor, I just want to leave it there.  So last week I mentioned that I found a diaper bag, but since it’s impossible to find in Canada I’ve just decided to ignore the fact that I don’t have a diaper bag.

No contractions.  No Braxton-Hicks.  Nothing.

I’m really looking forward to meeting this baby.  The end!

Baby is still the size of a watermelon.  Although with all the weight he’s gained he’s probably a really big watermelon by now!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Due Dates

Well, my Friday due date has come and gone and I'm still pregnant!

Dre is really cute. He keeps telling the baby where the exit is and that he has to push the exit button or asking him when he'll show up.

I've tried all the old wives tales stuff. Well most of them. There are still a few that I haven't tried. I'd like to say that they're doing something, but so far nada!

I don't get to see my doctor until Thursday and by then I'll be a week overdue. Instead of seeing me tomorrow which she should be doing since she last saw me last Monday, she's sending me to L&D to get "monitored" to make sure everything is going well. Blah! I'm not really looking forward to that at all. It's not hard, but I do have to drive to the hospital and find parking around it (and walk) or pay for $13 parking just to have a 30 minute monitoring. I kind of feel like my new doctor is just passing the buck.

Anyways, I hope that baby boy decides to show up really soon since I don't want to be induced. Of course if I end up being induced, it won't be the end of the world, but I want to avoid it if I can.

40 week update tomorrow unless baby boy decides to make an appearance...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Week 39

I can’t believe that I’m so close to my due date!  Due date is officially Friday.  Of course, ultrasound techs and my doctor have managed to give me 4 different due dates which include the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th.  So who knows if the 10th is really accurate as my due date, but that’s what we’ll go with.

I saw my new doctor last Thursday and then again this Monday since she couldn’t see anyone this Thursday.  I’m still not crazy about this doctor because she likes to just give general information instead of concrete number information.  You have to sit there and ask for everything…it’s very frustrating.  At both appointments, she did an internal exam.  Man that was the worst experience of my life.  I hear it’s worse when your doctor has small hands and this one does.  Anyways, the so not fun experience revealed that I’m barely a fingertip dilated (which is not even 1 cm) and pretty much not effaced at all since she said my cervix was still very high.  It’s depressing to hear this when you’re at 39 weeks.  Then, wonderful new doctor was like I’ll see you next Thursday (meaning the 16th) and you’ll be almost at your due date.  Ummmmm, no my due date is this Friday.  Do these doctors not bother to read the charts or something?  So she starts having a discussion with herself about what to do because obviously if I go over my EDD then she should be seeing me 2x a week.  Her solution is to send me for a non-stress test (NST) at the hospital next Monday if the baby hasn’t shown up by then to make sure everything is going well.  Okayyyyyyyyyyyyy…..  Then she tells me that if I make it to our next appointment on the 16th that we’ll discuss and most likely schedule an induction.  OH GOODY!  This is just what I’d like to look forward to right now.
BTW, I did start drinking Red Raspberry Tea Leaf and taking Evening Primrose Oil every day and so far that really hasn’t done anything.  I’m still taking the stuff though because you never know if it’s helping stuff along.
The To Do list is getting shorter, but it just seems like there’s always something new that I need to do and it’s daunting.  I just want someone else to get everything done for me so I can sit down and say, “Everything has been done and is ready for the baby.”  Any volunteers?  No?  Oh, well!  Booh!
Every time I think I’m done cleaning baby stuff, I turn around and there’s another pile.  Ughhh!  I’m not even going to try to clean the toys any more.  My mom can clean all of those when she comes to visit.  I’m a little overwhelmed and I don’t really want to deal with them at this time.  Plus I doubt that baby boy is going to care if he had toys to play with in the first few weeks.
In the baby’s room, Dre and I put up all the wall decals this weekend.  Now Dre needs to install the double curtain rod so I can add sheer curtains.  I need to buy a garbage can, lamp, and really overpriced letters to spell baby boy’s name for the room and then I’ll officially be done!  So we’re almost done!  It’s my goal to do most of this this weekend.
We haven’t seen any mice at all in 2 weeks so I think that we managed to get rid of all of them in a couple of days.  Dre did a good job of taking care of that!
Here is this week’s picture!  According to a lot of people, I’ve majorly dropped in the last 2 weeks.  Too bad that doesn’t mean that the baby decides to make an appearance now.
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I still think this is going to be a big baby because my weight gain in the past 2-3 weeks has been really high and I’m not eating any more than I was before or any differently.  My average weight this week is 183.5 lbs which is a gain of 1.3 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 30.5 lbs. With the way that my weight has been this week, I think I’ll reach the 35 lbs weight gain easily if I go over my EDD by a week. 

I’m tired of talking about acid reflux, indigestion, and heartburn.  They all suck!  End of story.

I still get tired easily and I find that I sleep a lot more.  I go to bed with Dre at around 10:30PM and get up to pee around 4-7 times a night now and sleep until 9:00AM every day.  It takes me a while to do everything because I have to do them around this huge belly and getting up off the couch or the floor is a workout, but I do managed to slowly get some stuff done.  Did I mention that I finally found a diaper bag?  Well, I did and it’s not the Coach or Jujube bags I wanted which cost an arm and a leg.  It’s a really nice, affordable Carter bag, but it’s impossible to get in Canada.  Booh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BHs.  I don’t get very many anymore.  I think I was getting so many before because my job was stressing me out.  Since I’ve stopped working, I don’t really get more than a couple a day. 

I’m really looking forward to having a baby and having everything organized in my house!  This is what my kitchen looked like last week when I decided to organize my cupboards.  Dre was so impressedJ  I ran out of steam in my last cupboard so I left everything out and directed while Dre put it all back.  I never do this type of organizing because I find it boring, but so far I’ve done the fridge, freezers (with Dre), and the cupboards.  I might even do the front closet which is stuffed full of coats and shoes we never use.



Baby is still the size of a watermelon.  Who knows what he weighs now, but I think he’s well around the 7-8 lb mark.  If he comes out weighing 6 lbs, I’ll be very shocked. 
We’re waiting for you baby boy!  People want to know what we named you and honestly I’m getting tired of not telling.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Week 38

This past week Dre and I have been hammering away at the To Do List.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll be done by the end of this week which means that I’ll officially be trying to get this baby here.  How? You ask.  Well I’ll certainly be trying to walk as much as possible to try to get some progress going.  My doctor is supposed to check to see if I’m dilated or effaced at my appointment this Thursday so that will give me an idea of where I am.  Other things which might work are good old-fashioned sex, red raspberry leaf tea, or evening primrose oil.  They might not work, but on the other hand they might do the trick!

I’ve finished washing all the baby clothes I plan to wash for right now.  Now, I just need to clean all the toys.  I got a lot of second-hand toys, but I think that I should probably wash all the new ones too since babies put everything in their mouths.  Baby boy’s bedroom is almost done.  The only things I have left to do is buy a lamp, double curtain rod, and sheer curtains.  It’s too bright in the baby’s room during the day so I need something to cut the light, but at the same time not remove all of it.  The other thing is that Dre and I need to hang the wall decals and get some letters to spell baby’s name over the crib.  So we’re almost done!  It’s my goal to do most of this this weekend so I can finally post pictures of a completed nursery.
In other news, Dre figured out that we have mice in the house last weekend.  What on earth?  So my amazing husband took apart the storage area where they’ve been residing and cleaned and stored everything.  I didn’t have to do a single thing.  I went to an Epicure party and spent way too much money while he was doing this and then went to my Pre-natal Aquafit class.  I felt bad that I didn’t help at all, but just doing those two things made me super tired.  I get tired walking across the room lately.  Anyways, Dre set up traps and put some poison cubes out that are supposed to dehydrate the mice so we don’t have rotting mice in our walls.  He caught 5 in the first 2 or 3 days.  We seem to have caught them all though because we haven’t heard, caught, or seen any in the past 4-5 days.  Victory for us! 
I’m finally done work.  Last Wednesday at 4 PM, I officially handed it all to my replacement.  I don’t have much hope that she won’t mess some of the stuff up, but hopefully she’ll pick up stuff faster when she’s on her own than when I was training her.  It is officially not my problem anymore.
I did meet the new doctor this week and let’s just say that I’m reserving judgment until later because I wasn’t overly impressed.  I’ll update after my Thursday appointment.
I think Dre and I have finally settled on a name.  Yay!  When baby boy arrives, we’ll be announcing it.  I was going to post on here, but I do have some family members and friends who read this blog.

Here is this week’s picture!
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Everyone keeps telling me that I’ve dropped and I guess they’re right because my belly looks lower than it did last week.  In every picture, I think that I can’t possibly get any bigger, but every week the belly seems to get bigger.  This is gonna be a big baby if he keeps going!

My average weight this week is 182.2 lbs which is a gain of 1.3 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 29.2 lbs. I had this sudden, dramatic weight gain around Thursday of last week and my weight shot up a couple of pounds and has stayed there.  It’s so weird when that happens.  It’s like the baby has a sudden growth spurt or something.

To fight the heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion, I now take Zantac twice a day and drink lots and lots of Ginger Ale.  It’s the only things that seem to help.  I hope that after I have the baby I’m not dependent on Zantac to avoid indigestion and heartburn since I take it so often now.  

I still have a lot of fatigue, but I’m focusing on getting a few things done every day.  That way at the end of the week, I can see that I’ve made some progress in getting everything ready without being too overwhelmed that I don’t have to energy to do it all in a couple of days. 

I’m starting to get a lot more BHs.  Sometimes, I can almost start timing them because I get so many in an hour.  They’re mostly not painful although I’ve a few slightly more painful ones.  I’m sure that when I’m labor they’ll be much, much worse.

I’m really looking forward to having everything ready for the baby.  I’m glad I decided to stop work earlier than I had originally planned otherwise I would have a ton of stuff left to do in the next 2 weeks. 

Baby is the size of a watermelon. He weighs around 7 lbs this week. Baby weight is very subjective by now so I’m giving you the average according to my books.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Week 37

I am finally FULL-TERM!  This is so exciting!
I’m finally done work.  Last Wednesday at 4 PM, I officially handed it all to my replacement.  I don’t have much hope that she won’t mess some of the stuff up, but hopefully she’ll pick up stuff faster when she’s on her own than when I was training her.  It is officially not my problem anymore.
Now I just get to talk to the insurance company taking care of our Short Term Disability plan a lot.  Apparently, when you leave work even by doctor’s orders they still feel the need to call and get “more” information.  Dre mailed them my paperwork this morning and I’m hoping that that will be all they need to process my claim.  Really, the complete maximum amount of time I’ll be off work and covered by them in 5 weeks since my due date is in 3 weeks and doctors don’t let you go over your EDD by more than 2 weeks nowadays.  I just feel like they’re giving themselves a lot of work by trying to see if I could go on modified duties for work by corresponding with my supervisor and all that stuff.  Is it really worth it to get me to work an extra 2 to 3 weeks?  I kind of wish that baby boy hurries up and gets here so I don’t have to deal with all this ridiculous stuff.  I’m sure he’s like me though and he’s happy hanging around until someone forcibly evicts him from my uterus.
At my last appointment with my doctor this past week, she told me I tested negative for Group B Strep.  Yay!  It was my last appointment with her because she is also going on mat leave.  So I get to meet my new ob-gyn this Thursday.  I’m kinda nervous about that.  I hope that I like her because I don’t do well with people I don’t like.  My present doctor tends to be a little too happy, sunshiny about everything, but I can deal with that since she listens to my concerns and is open to what I have to say.  I’m really hoping that the new doctor is the same way.
I’m still having panic attacks over having an actual baby in the next 5 weeks, but I think I need to get into the mindset that we’ll be okay even if we don’t have everything done for the baby when he gets here.  We should probably pick a name for him though.  The problem is that Andre’s name I don’t like AT ALL and my name Andre is not fond of what the name means.  I have to say that when I found out the meaning of the name I wasn’t impressed either.  I think we might have to go back to the drawing board and make a list of possibilities and try to find one that we both like.  Apart from picking a name, I still need to find a diaper bags and a baby carrier, make some more frozen meals, and finish cleaning and organizing all of baby boy’s stuff.
Here is this week’s picture!

Week 36
Week 37



You can’t tell by looking at the picture, but my shirt no longer covers my baby bump.  I could feel some skin down there when Dre was taking the picture. 
My average weight this week is 180.9 lbs which is a loss 0.1 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 27.9 lbs. When the nurse weighed me this week, she couldn’t seem to believe that I might have lost some weight.  I’m really not doing anything differently, but the doctor tells me that that can happen towards the end of pregnancy.  Weird since the baby is putting on more weight than ever now.  I feel like there’s no more room in there for him so he’s going to have to come out pretty soon.
I still get bad, bad, bad heartburn.  I’m pretty sure that won’t change until baby boy gets here.  I’m also getting a lot of indigestion so I’m drinking a lot of Ginger Ale to help.
I haven’t really seen any “nesting” urge around.  I look at stuff and tell myself that I need to do something about it, but I don’t have the energy to go do it.  Everything seems to take so long to do when you’re pregnant that at the end of the day it feels like nothing got done.  Right now I’m focusing on accomplishing a little every day and hopefully everything will get done.  Thank goodness that Dre is happy to help though because the man does tons and then I feel bad that I let him do everything. 
I didn’t get as many BHs this week.  I tend to get them when I’m up and walking around though which makes all my shopping excursions interesting.  No painful contractions this week.  Doctor didn’t check me for dilation or effacement at my weekly appointment since I didn’t have any timeable contractions.  I’m ok with that because it reduces the chances of an infection being introduced to my uterus that way.  Anyways, I’ve heard all the stories of mamas walking around 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced for weeks before finally being induced because they went over their due dates.  We’ll see what this new doctor does, but I’d rather wait until I’m 40 weeks before we start doing the fun, fun cervical checks.
I’m really looking forward to being organized.  I feel like everything is always un-organized and everywhere right now.  I think that I’m going to work on a to-do list tonight so that I have a clear idea of what I need to do before the baby gets here.  The list will also help me feel more organized.
Baby is the size of a watermelon. He weighs around 6.5 lbs this week. I can officially say that I’ll be squeezing a watermelon out of my hoo-haa in a few weeks!  Eep!

Week 36

I know it’s taken me a really, really long time to update this.  I guess that in the middle of all the crazy stuff I had to get done so I’d be ready to leave work for a year that this blog post got lost.  Since I’m already a week late, I’ll just do a short update for Week 36.
Dre and I organized and sorted most of the baby stuff this weekend.  Now, I have a better idea of what I can start to wash.  My mom thinks I should wash every single piece of baby clothing that I have, but I think it’s a bad idea since I don’t know if I’ll even use some of it.  For now, I’m washing everything I got second-hand and a few of the smaller outfits as well as all the sheets and blankets.  I’ll re-evaluate how much we need after a week of baby being here.  I figure it will give my mom something to do if I give her a big basket full of baby stuff to wash.  She loves doing that type of thing!

Here is this week’s picture!


Week 35

Week 36


My average weight this week is 181.0 lbs which is a gain of 1.1 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 28.0 lbs. I can’t believe I’m still under the 30 lbs. gain. 

Heartburn and indigestion are a constant pain.  I take Zantac regularly otherwise I can’t breathe at night with the heartburn burning in my throat and the acid trying to come back up. 

I’ve gotten a lot of BHs in the last week including some painful contractions.  Nothing really that I can time though.  They seem to get worse every time I get stressed out or walk around too much. 

I’m really looking forward to finishing work and hanging out with some friends this weekend.  I’m going to an Epicure party that one of my friends is throwing.  I LOVE Epicure spices so I’m really excited about this.  I’m even thinking of having my own Epicure party this summer so I can stock on some more spices and get awesome discounts.

Baby is the size of a cantaloupe again. He weighs around 6 lbs this week. From now on, the weight is more of an average since babies are usually born anywhere from 5 to 10 lbs in the next few weeks.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Week 35

Turns out that training someone to take over your job is stressful, exhausting, and really annoying.  I'm pretty sure that she'll either do a great job and make me look like an idiot when I go back since she has more qualifications than I do or she'll do a really crappy job and I'll have to fix all the problems when I go back. 

I'm going on sick leave starting next Thursday.  This is 1.5 weeks earlier than I had originally planned to start my maternity leave.  When I saw my doctor last week, she wanted to pull me out of work immediately, but that almost gave me a panic attack so I told her not yet.  I've since decided that I will leave earlier because I'm exhausted and in pain most of the time and sitting at work makes it worse.

While I was at the doctor's, she decided to do Group B Strep swab test.  Ugh!  So not fun to have a long q-tip shoved up there. 

In other news, I've reached 35 weeks which is wow!  I can't believe that my due date is 4.5 weeks away and that really baby boy could be here at any time.  Cue panic attack when I think about the baby's room which is not organized yet, the lack of name, and the frozen dinners that I haven't made yet.  Deep breaths!  Maybe if I ignore it all it will magically get done!  Yeah, I'm probably dreaming!

Picture time!

Week 34
Week 35
That shirt is barely covering my bump now.  I might have to use a different one soon!

My average weight this week is 179.9 lbs which is a gain of 1.2 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 26.9 lbs.  I can't believe I'm still putting on a lb or so a week.  The baby is now so big that he takes all of my stomach space so I'm eating about 60% of what I was eating a month ago.  So it's not the food putting weight on me and I really haven't changed any of my physical activity habits so it must be the baby.  If he keeps growing this way, he'll be quite the big baby when he's born.
Heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion are my constant friends now.  I get them all every day.  I'm so over it.  I'm ready to get my digestive system back.  I can't wait to be able to go to a restaurant and eat whatever I want and not have to be afraid that 30 minutes later I feel so stuffed I want to die or feel the "burn" of heartburn.
No energy here.  I'm still waiting for this mythical "nesting" thing that everyone keeps telling me about. 
BHs are always around now.  I get them a lot.  I've gotten a few painful contractions, but it's mostly when I'm at work or walking around a store.  So basically I should just sit on my couch and not move.  During my doctor's appointment last week, she sent me to L&D to get monitored since I'd mentioned that baby boy hadn't moved much in the last 4 days.  As soon as I got hooked up to the monitors, baby boy started kicking the crap out of those monitors.  No problems there!  When the nurse checked me, she told me that I was contracting.  I can't feel most of them though.  Crazy! 
 
I’m really looking forward to this weekend.  I get to attend one of my friend's baby shower.  She's due 4 days after me on Valentine's Day so we might end up in the hospital at the same time!  I got these adorable toy leashes made by my friend Bibmababy.  Adorable!  I'm keeping one and giving the other one away to my friend for her baby shower, but now I can't make up my mind because they're so cute! 
 
 
Anyways, I can't wait to go to the shower.  After it, we have a Pre-Natal Aquafitness class which is awesome.  Floating around is really, really awesome when you're carrying around an extra 25 lbs.  It 's going to be a great weekend!
 
Baby is the size of a cantaloupe or a honeydew melon. He weighs around 5 lbs this week.  Baby is getting big!
 

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Week 34

This week baby boy's lungs are mature.  It's another milestone!

When Dre and I got back from the cottage, we went shopping for the rest of the baby furniture at IKEA.  We have a brand new IKEA in town and it's huge.  I wanted to look at everything, but since Dre hates IKEA he kept trying to get me to look faster.  We found the dresser and bookcase for the baby's room.  We also found the curtains and a lamp for the room.  I'm not sure that the lamp will work, but I'm going to give it a few days before I decide for sure.  I'll post picture of the room once Dre and I have time to organize all the baby stuff.  For now, it's kind of all stacked together...it makes the room look like it got hit by a hurricane.

On New Year's Eve, we had dinner with my SIL so we could give them their Christmas gifts since we didn't see them on Christmas.  The nephews seemed happy enough with their gifts which was a huge relief since we had a really hard time getting those gifts.  After that, we went to our friends' house for the countdown celebration to a New Year.  It's a good thing we decided to go too because every single other person that was supposed to be there cancelled at the last minute.  That would have been a real bummer for the hosts.  We had a great time even though it was just the 4 of us.  We watched the ball drop in Time Square in New York on TV and toasted with champagne (sparkling juice for me) the arrival of 2012. 

Today was my first day back at work and since I'm now training my replacement it looks like I'll have too much to do to keep up with this blog.  Yes, I usually do blog in my free time at work so now I'll have to try to write more often from home.  I'm a big procrastinator so I really have to motivate myself to do it.

While I was at work, Dre installed the car seat in the car.  Wheeee!  It's exciting and terrifying at the same time.  It seems like we're getting that much closer, but at the same time it's still far away.  We're getting the installation checked by some volunteers for our local association for S.E.A.T.S for kids on Saturday which is why we installed the car seat now.  The next date they had was Feb. 5th and I thought that was cutting it really close since my due date in Feb. 10th!

Here’s my picture this week. I'm getting huge!

Week 33
Week 34
My average weight this week is 178.7 lbs which is a gain of 0.7 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 25.7 lbs.  It seems that I have a week of big weight gain followed by a week of little gain.  For the past 10 weeks or so that pattern seems to hold true.  It's certainly interesting.  I'm happy though that I haven't had any huge, crazy weight gains and that it's been a steady weight gain for the most part.  
Today, I discovered that talking a lot gives me heartburn.  You don't believe me?  Well, since I'm training someone at work that involves spending a lot more time talking than I normally would and I got heartburn both this morning and afternoon in the middle of my "teaching".  Lovely!  Tonight I feel great though so I guess I'm getting a reprieve.
 
My energy is still on the fritz, but I think that it's just my body's way to get me to rest a lot before the baby gets here.  So for now, Dre is still doing most of the cooking. 
I've gotten some BHs here and there.  They're definitely not regular, but I am getting them a lot more often.  I'm not too concerned though because my doctor doesn't seem concerned about them at all.

The ligament pain from the baby compressing it was getting much better. Surprise!  First day back at work and it's come back with a vengeance.  I need to figure out what is causing it because I started having it in the bus on the way to work and then it just got worse as the day progressed which is what used to happen before my holidays.  I think I might just have to wait it out until I go on mat leave.
I’m really looking forward to going to celebrate my SIL's birthday this Thursday.  My nephews (5 & 8) are going to decorate the birthday cake which should be really adorable.  My youngest nephew especially likes doing things like this.  He helped his mom decorate the room for my shower by making special decorations for the baby.  So cute!  Need to get picture of it so I can show you guys!
 
Baby is the size of a cantaloupe. He weighs around 4.75 lbs this week.  I'm pretty sure that he's trying to escape whenever I walk around now so I can definitely feel the extra weight on my cervix nowadays.
Tomorrow, I'm going for a doctor's appointment.  This is my second to last appointment before I switch OBs when my doctor goes on her mat leave (remember...she's due 7 days after me).  I hope I like this new doctor as I don't think I'll have much choice once I meet her since I'll be 3 weeks from my delivery date at that point.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Week 33

I know, I know!  I'm really late with posting this update.  I was planning on posting from the cottage since I'd have lots of time.  Problem is that at the cottage my phone's 3G network worked more like dial-up for smartphones.  Other times, it didn't work at all!  So no posting for me!

Dre and I had a great Christmas with my family at the cottage.  We got to meet my brother's girlfriend's 2 daughters.  They're a riot.  They really livened up the place and I'm really glad we got to meet them.  I think that when my sister is back in the country for our next family Christmas in 2 years with my niece that they'll all have a blast together. 

I cooked the Christmas dinner this year and I have to say that it was a success.  This is only the 2nd time that I've actually cooked a complete turkey.  I usually cook the Butterball Turkeys that have no bones...so much easier to cook.  So the turkey was done an hour early and I was freaking out, but my younger brother suggested I keep the bird in the oven with the heat turned off.  I was concerned that it would dry out the turkey, but little bro was right since the turkey turned out AMAZING!  I was so happy!  Dre helped me with the whole dinner of course; he's had to become pretty handy with cooking since I've gotten pregnant. 

It's back to work for me tomorrow, but I really needed those 11 days off.  A lot of my pregnancy symptoms got a lot better since I've been off.  Because of that, I'm thinking that I'm allergic to my work!  Only 4-5 more weeks of work...the countdown has begun.

Here’s my picture this week.   I'm getting huge!

Week 32
Week 33
My average weight this week is 178.0 lbs which is a gain of 1.4 lbs since last week. This makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy exactly 25.0 lbs.  Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't gained more since I've been eating a crazy amount of sweets and desserts for the past 2-3 weeks.  Gotta love the holidays!
I still love Zantac, but baby boy is definitely compressing all of my stomach, intestines, and some of my lungs.  When I eat now, I have a hard time eating and breathing at the same time.  I would never have thought that that would happen.  Zantac still works overall, but it's not working as well as it was.  I'm guessing that pretty soon nothing will stop the heartburn and acid reflux.
 
I still have very little energy most of the time.  This fabled nesting that everyone keeps talking about hasn't appeared yet.  So I'm letting Dre install the car seat tomorrow all by himself because I can't see myself sitting outside in the cold trying to figure it out.
BHs are getting more frequent and intense.  I've even had a few that felt like real contractions and not just BHs, but it's really hard to tell.  Mostly, I just get period like cramping every now and then.  I figure that as long as they don't get more intense or regular then I'm fine.  I think Dre is worried though because his favorite question lately is if my cramps are regular.  Cute husband is getting worried.  I don't know what he'll do when I tell him that it's time to go to the hospital in a few weeks.   Baby boy is a lot less active most days.  It's not very reassuring for me, but I understand that it's because he's running out of room to stretch out. 

The ligament pain from the baby compressing is much, much better. I think that sitting at my desk and getting in and out of cars in aggravating that particular symptom because it's basically disappeared for the most part in the past 11 days.  The belly button is flatish to almost being an outie.  It's so weird to be able to see the bottom of your belly button like that.  No other stretch marks for me so far. 
I’m really looking forward to getting everything ready for the baby.  It seems that baby boy will be here so soon now!
Baby is the size of a squash. He weighs around 4.5 lbs this week and it feels like it!  This is one heavy baby.

Tomorrow, I'll do my 34 week update...stay tuned!