Winter Worries from a Pregnant lady......

I'm not a winter person. I don't like being cold. I don't like getting out of bed when it's dark and cold out to take a shower or a bath before work...or before bed. I don't like blow drying my hair. I don't like bundling up or putting on boots. I don't like taking my time driving, because I'm usually running late.

Now imagine each one of those things I don't like about winter, and then imagine it with a 7 1\2 month pregnant belly.

How convenient, last night and today we got a lot of snow. Yay.

I'll admit, I haven't really been too cold yet, since my body is like an oven (maybe that's where they get the "bun in the oven" saying). But it's not as easy anymore to get out of the bath tub....especially if I have to wash my hair. And blow drying it? I like that my hair has grown so long, but blow drying now takes a half hour! Bundling up is fun when your coat fits like casing on a sausage, and boots....try putting a soccer ball on your lap and then bend over to put your boots on. Thank god mine are just the pull on kind and I don't have to tie or zip anything.

I saved driving for last, because it's more of a worry than a complaint or inconvenience. It never fails that every year I get stuck in a snow bank or on a road that's not plowed very good, like mine. Especially now that I've got a nice little fuel efficient, 4-door-so-it's-easier-to-load-a-car-seat car. I worried about driving in this fluffy white crap before, when I could dig or shovel myself out if I had to, or push even....now I better hope that I have my cell phone to call Aaron, or that some Good Samaritan (and not some wacko) will stop to help a crazy pregnant lady kicking snow at her car and swearing! Heaven forbid I'd have to walk home. So I slow down. And yes, I'm going to be late, so if I have to deal with it, so do you :)

29 week checkup

Last week I was back at the doctors office. Everything is still going well....except I was tested for a bladder infection. I told the doctor that the night before (and that morning) I was having some pains, but not really cramps.....so she said it might be my bladder. Could also be that they baby has turned around and pointed head down. He could be pushing on my bladder. But I've been fine since, so I'm not worried.
Just getting ready for Christmas!

Negative diabetes :)

The three hour test at the blood lab on Tuesday wasn't so bad. These people have lots of practice poking needles and taking blood. Sitting in the waiting the rest of the time was boring.....good think I took some "New Parent" magazines with me. And I called Hamot to sign up for a Baby Basics class and a Breastfeeding class next month.....

And the good news is, it was all worth it. My test results came in today and I am negative for gestational diabetes. I'll still watch how many Hershey kisses I have, but I'm glad I can still have them :)

Taking blood hurts!?!

Last Friday I had my glucose test at the doctor's office. I had to drink "glucola" which looks like orange kool-aid, but tastes much much sugarier. (Yes, I made that word up. Get over it!) The first nurse took a look at my arms and said she was going to get the other nurse, because she was much better at finding tiny veins and only having to poke once. I had no problem with that! If only it took once......as you can see, the first try left quite a bruise. And that's days later! The second poke, in my other arm, worked much better.

Or so I thought....until the nurse called me today to tell me that my glucose level was higher than normal :( The average is 130 or below, and mine was 134. Darn it I knew I shouldn't have eaten those Hershey Kisses that morning!!! So now I have to fast after 7:30pm tonite, nothing but water, and then go to the ACL Lab tomorrow morning at 7:50 and drink another "glucola" drink and let them poke my arm 3 more times. And it gets worse! They poke once every hour for 3 hours! I have to sit there and wait for 3 hours to go by while I'm starving and sugared up!

I'm just hoping that everything turns out ok and I don't end up having gestational diabetes. I've been told that (not only baby and I can develop diabetes later in life) this may lead to a bigger baby to deliver. I don't need any bigger than I'm already getting, so if it means no Hershey Kisses, I think I'll make the sacrafice.

Little nervous....

Aaron is away at camp for 6 days for his annual hunting trip. I should be used to it by now, but every year when he goes I can't help but feel a little nervous....and lonely. Thank goodness I have Chevy and Roody to watch out for me and cuddle me at night.

Anyways, I have to admit that yesterday morning as I spent a few hours on the computer planning out Christmas presents and such, I had a little scare. I felt something going on in my belly and it didn't quite feel like kicking, it almost felt like his heart was beating extra hard because I thought I could feel it pulsing while I was just sitting here! It made me nervous for about 5 or 10 minutes. But then it stopped so I figured I was ok. Later that day he was kicking again, so I knew he was ok.

Then today, as I checked pregnancy.com for my weekly information (I'm on week 27 now), I figured out what that movement was. It was hiccups! The website described exactly what I felt, and said that it is common now for the baby to do this almost regularly for a few minutes at a time. I feel much better now, thanks to the internet, what did people do before it?

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my family, and the time we spend together. I can't wait for the baby to be a part of it.

I almost made Mom cry, she got to feel the baby kick! I think he was telling her that he liked his name tag at the dinner table :)

Kick Daddy's butt!

This morning the alarm clock went off....and I pushed snooze as always...then I rolled back over and spooned Aaron for a few more minutes. As I tried to fall back asleep, I hear him say "the baby is kicking my butt."

I laughed, and I couldn't believe he felt that kick. At least my little one knows what he's in for :)

26 week check up

The weather almost kept me from my 26 week check-up this past Friday. But I braved it, since the sun came out for a while, and did my monthly "pee in a cup" appointment. This time I saw Peggy, who is a nurse practioner. She was nice. She checked Chipmunk's heartbeat, which was 143. I was also weighed and measured....When I first got on the scale I had my boots and coat on, so the nurse asked me if they were really heavy. I had no clue, so I was willing to take it all off because the scale said I gained about 20 pounds this month! Winter clothing removed, I've gained 11 pounds this month. I told ya my belly was stickin' out farther now! And the measurement was 26. I have to laugh at it now, because I'm not really sure what that is for, other than it's the distance from the top of my belly to my pelvic bone. I'll ask next time. We talked about a family doctor after the baby was born, whether or not we were gonna have him circumcised, and if I was going to be breastfeeding or not....a little more productive visit this time. Maybe I'll refrain from calling it a "pee in a cup" appointment from now on. Now that I'm in my third trimester, I have to go back every 2 weeks. Next appointment is a blood test for gestational diabetes.

Then it was off to a busy weekend. Aaron and I went to Babies-R-Us on Saturday to do the registry while Jaron went to a movie with his two cousins and Aaron's mom. We dropped Jaron off at 2:00 at Tinseltown, and went across the street to Babies-R-Us to start scanning, and at 5:00 Jaron's movie was done so he came over and helped us because we weren't finished yet! Who would have thought that doing a baby registry would take so long. But we picked out a lot of nice stuff, most of which we agreed on. Aaron even asked the lady working there if there was any way to move things up on the list to "really important" or put stars on it. He scanned this backpack child carrier thing that he's really hoping he gets so he can take his boy out with him when he walks the dogs and such....hey, I want stars on that too....that means I get some "Mommy time!" And Jaron picked out a few toys he thinks his brother would like. They were both better at this than I expected them to be!

Then we went to pick up the crib and dresser at Burlington Baby Depot. Got it home....not assembled yet. My Thanksgiving vacation project is to clean out the bedroom that was once the computer/hunting room and get everything organized. Aaron will be at hunting camp Thursday after dinner until Tuesday next week.....so we'll see how much I can do :) It will be nice when I can walk in there and not see a mess.

Crib, Dresser, Clothes, Swollen Ankles, check!

First, I just wanna say that the heartburn's still goin' strong. So according to wivestales, Chipmunk is gonna be a hairy baby. I'm guessing a werewolf by the time he's born. And I think I finally narrowed it down to chocolate as the culprit. Bummer, huh?

Anyways....Mom and I went shopping today after work. It was fun. I like having a shopping buddy that is interested in stuff that I like...not that Aaron's a bad shopping buddy, but sometimes I need more than "uh huh" and "whatever you think." Plus, I didn't have to look at anything I didn't wanna look at :) We went to Burlington Baby Depot to look at cribs and dressers, picked out a nice set, bought it. First shopping trip together, already a success. Then we went to Motherhood Maternity and JCPenney...got new pants, a few new sweaters and a few new shirts. Success again! And here I thought that this pregnant shopping thing was too hard, not as fun, etc. All you need is the right shopping buddy. Then again, Grandma's are a lot more excited about these kinds of things than Dad's are :)

The only downfall to our shopping trip was seeing how swollen my ankles were after about an hour in the mall. Now, I'm sure that wearing ankle socks, tall boots, a winter coat and walking around in a 75 degree (or more) mall didn't help. But today I witnessed what my ankles will be looking like in about 2 more months. Mom said she had toximia when she was pregnant with me. Her ankles and feet and everything were so swollen that she had to take time off before I was delivered and relax and put her feet up.....wait, I think I like the sound of that. Relax and put my feet up? Yeah, like that would happen. I'm too busy making dinner, doing laundry, letting the dogs out.....

But my ankles look fine now :)

It's half done....

I had high hopes of getting the registry done this past weekend. It's half done. And as Aaron explains "half done" it means, done in your head ~ just not on paper yet. We went to Babies R Us and picked out everything we thought we'd like from there, checked the prices....then walked next door to Target....and decided that we should just do one registry at BRU and be done. But it was late, and my feet and my back hurt so we will go back another day to do the scanning. There's only one thing from Target that we really liked more than one at BRU....so I created a registry online for two items. Worse case scenario, I buy it myself later.

Also, the plans for the baby shower are coming along. We booked the Colony Restaraunt for January 18th. Aaron's mom told me some of the details. But I have "baby brain" which means I don't remember much of anything anymore. That's what Grandma's are for :) Between my mom and Aaron's mom, I think they've got it under control.

Mom's gonna take me shopping Wednesday because I complained about underwear. LOL, I was talking to her on the phone while shopping at Walmart, trying to decide what kind of underwear to buy and what size, and then I told her that they don't have any maternity clothes there. My original plan was to not buy maternity clothes. Why spend a lot of money on clothes I'll only be wearing for 3 more months? They aren't cheap! But she said she'd go shopping with me at the maternity store....and hopefully we'll find a good sale :) And then I'll be one of those cute pregnant ladies...well, I'm already cute.... Which reminds me.....I also saw a blue bib at Walmart that said "It's all about me!" Tell me that wasn't meant to be!

He's a kicker!

The other day, Aaron still refused to believe that I could feel the little one kicking in my belly. Until one morning we were laying in bed and I put his hand on the spot where Jr. was kicking. I had to tell him the first two times....but then he caught on and said "he did it again!" Now he and Jaron are constantly putting their hands on my belly and waiting for kicks....but he's smart, he stays still until no one's around to save me from the "don't touch my belly" trauma that I'm still having a little of.

My stomach seemed to grow over a weekend...I went from hardly noticeable to "yep, she's pregnant." Which is nice, but at the same time, making it difficult to keep up on the leg shaving. Hopefully that's close to the worst part :)

Getting things ready

Well, I guess it's about that time to start clearing the room out for baby. So we've started shopping for a crib and dresser set, and bought a new des and computer to move downstairs to the living room. Out with the old and in with the new! Possibly next week Aaron and I will go to Target and/or Babies-R-Us to do a registry. I think I've done enough research on bottle types and what a new mom needs.....but as long as Walmart is open 24 hours, I think we'll be ok!

We also decided that we better start thinking of names. Aunt Maura has been kind enough to start a list for me. I keep forgetting to mention Jack to see how that flies. Although, we may just keep the name a secret until he's born. I already took most of the surprise away by telling everyone it's a boy. There has to be something big to look forward to!

21 week check-up

I don't know how a doctor can see me for two minutes and know that I'm on track, or doing fine...but I am!

So far I've gained 8 lbs. (but it feels and looks like a lot more!) which is "perfect." My ankles feel "good." Little Mr. May's heartbeat is between 140 and 150 which is "wonderful." I can feel him moving around in there, that's "great." And they tape measured my belly from my pelvic bone to my chest? And she said a number that was "good."

And that's all!!! In 4 more weeks I can come back and do it again! Actually, that day I won't see a doctor, I'll just give some blood. And then in 6 weeks, I have to drink some liquid stuff so they can take more blood and test it for glucose levels, to know if I have jestational diabetes.

And FYI, (obviously) the exciting blogs are going to be the ones in between the doctor check-ups!

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

Today I read several pamphlets on childhood vaccination.

I bet you didn't know that vaccines are made form formaldehyde, mercury, aluminum, borax (ant killer), antifreeze, nail polish remover, latex, MSG, aborted human fetal cells, animal tissues and cells and of course human viruses!

Yes, although that wasn't disgusting enough, I continued reading to find that vaccines don't work 100 %, they cause other chronic illnesses such as allergies, asthma, cancer, ADHD, ADD, autism and other behavioral and neurological disorders.

I don't want my baby to sound like a test baby, but I think he's going to be just fine if he's among the un-vaccinated children who are healthly all on their own!

The burning in my chest

It looks like I'm not immune to all of pregnancy's symptoms after all....I've been exposed to heartburn. It was so bad the other day that I really thought I was going to throw it up after it burned it's way up my chest and throat. Thank God for Tums! I still consider myself lucky though, if this is all I have to deal with :)

Boy or Girl?

Well, we went to the doctor today for a sonogram. Aaron and Jaron watched closely as the doctor showed us the different parts of the baby's growing body....we saw the heart's 4 chambers beating, the functioning bladder and kidneys, the ventricles of the brain, a good lip (apparently they check for cleft lip) and a scrotum and penis.

Wait. What?

I looked at Jaron and said, "You know what that means?" He must have missed it, but quickly chimed in with "I'm having a sister?!" No, she said he has a penis. "You're gonna have a baby brother!" He looked at the doctor and said, "but I wanted a sister." She was speechless. But then he said a brother is ok too and he smiled.

I think Aaron's excited because he thinks the baby is going to have a camoflauge nursery. I just hope he's not heartbroken when it's not.

We are all excited and now can start thinking of names, getting boy stuff ready for the baby's arrival, and Jaron has started saving his "baby toys" for his new brother :)

I'm just nervous of how I'm going to handle being the only woman in this testosterone filled house!

Someone's testing me!

Well, last nite I got the test. The wake-up-and-help-me-cuz-it's-1AM test. And 2AM. And why not on your way to work too....and I am now a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.

My poor, poor, 96 pound puppy Roody is sick. He left two big piles of vomit in the living room and one little one on the landing for me when I came home from work yesterday. Imagine, his whole food bowl slightly softened and regurgitated on my living room carpet. Yuck. By the time I got that cleaned up and dinner made, I was ready for bed. I woke up to that sound....the sound of a dog getting ready to vomit.....and after the whole carpet steaming excursion from a few hours ago, I did not want to do it again at 1AM. So I jumped out of bed to try and throw a towel down in front of him. Didn't get too far. My first barefoot step out of bed landed right into another pile of vomit. I did one of those laughs that turns into a cry, and then woke Aaron up to help me clean up the mess. We got the carpet steamer out again and cleaned up the 3 piles....then went back to bed. Around 2:30AM I heard it again, I hate being a light sleeper. But this time I turned the light on and grabbed a shirt out of the laundry basket just in time to slip it under his mouth. Just a little bile this time.....

I had to take the morning off from work to get Roody to the vet. He has an enflamed stomach, and I have to feed him rice and boiled hamburger for a few days with his new doggy prescription. But only after he got two shots and I got a$120.00 vet bill.

So, back to the "everything happens for a reason." I am now thinking that a hungry, crying baby with or without a poopy diaper might not be so bad. I am now a little more prepared for those 1AM wake-up calls. Now I just need to figure out how to get through the day a little bit more tired than usual.

17 week check-up

I just got back from my second pre-natal visit....I had to go to the visit just to pee in a cup and check my blood pressure. Well, that's what it seemed like anyways. I saw Stephanie~ who is a mid-wife. She talked to me a little about feeling the kicking (which starts about now) and she listened to the baby's heartbeat which was in the 140 range. She confirmed my internet findings that boys usually have 140 and below heart rates, and girls 140 and above. So of course I'm right on the border. However, she scheduled me to come in a week from Monday to have a sonogram....which will give me a 98% accurate answer about whether it's a girl or a boy!! Keep your fingers crossed for girl!!

Oh, and today was probably the only day in my whole life that my doctor said I need to gain 5 lbs in the next 3 weeks :)

Bella Band a success!!

After my first post, my friend Michelle left me a comment about the "BellaBand". God bless her for that, because I have never heard of it before so I had no idea what it was....

For those of you who don't know, the BellaBand is basically a piece of stretchy fabric (kind of like a tube top) that pregnant women wear around their waist, over the waist of the pants, to serve 4 very wonderful purposes:
1~to cover up the open zipper and button on your pants that you are growing out of quickly
2~to hold up the maternity pants that are a little bit too loose
3~to add some length to those shirts that are shortening up around your belly
4~to wear as a nursing bra/tube top for those soon to come 3 a.m. feedings

Today I am considering the BellaBand a miracle, because I am still not ready to buy a new wardrobe full of clothes that I'll only wear for 4 1/2 more months. Typically these things run about $25.00 each (which I thought was a bit much for a piece of cloth), but thrifty me, I found them on E-bay 2 for $25.00! So I now am sporting one in white or pink, depending on what I'm wearing that day. Yes, I got to pick my own colors out of about 15 options!

Now I don't have to worry about people looking at me funny and wondering if they see my open fly. Yes, I know it's down, I did it on purpose. Thank you Michelle!

Allergies :(

For the last week or so, I've had a stuffy nose. Now I'm starting to get a mild headache. My doctor said it was ok to take Tylenol or Sudafed, so I went to the Walmart today to get some Sudafed. After a few minutes worth of trying to decide if I need PE, Cold, PE Cold, Flu, PE Allergy and Sinus.....and so on.....I picked up the Allergy and Sinus and went to the pharmacist to make sure that type was still safe. According to her, it's a Category C risk.

OH! OK!! That means what to me?!

Apparently, things that are not tested in pregnant women are placed into Category C. Go figure, after successful animal testing, not a lot of pregnant women will allow a drug company to test it on them next. However, a lot of doctors (including mine) trust it because they've seen it have good results.

Now, why don't they use those results in the studies that drug companies can't do?

I think I'm gonna have to suffer this one out for a while longer. I've tried the fluids and rest.....possibly soon the allergens will be gone and I won't have to worry about it.

Welcome to Mayhem

Well, I figure that since the chaos will soon break out, it is time to start sharing the joys of my pregnancy. And before I forget, thank you to Aunt Maura for the inspiration :)

I'll start from the beginning for those of you who don't already know......I'm pregnant!

Aaron and I decided at the end of March that we wanted to start a family together. So I started taking prenatal vitamins and waited for my doctor appointment that I scheduled to discuss the beginning of a healthy pregnancy....and also find out what to expect. A few months later, June 24th to be exact, I took the test. It was positive!! I took another one because I was still in shock, almost disbelief (I didn't expect to get pregnant that quickly). Same outcome. So I shared the news with Aaron. Let's just say I don't think he expected this so early either, and yes, I had to take another test.

We tried to keep it a secret until after my prenatal exam, but it wasn't so easy. We ended up telling the whole family and everyone was excited for us. The first exam was just some blood tests and a long talk about family history. Nothing exciting. But the Nurse Practitioner explained alot to us and said I was doing a good job so far. By then I was already 8 weeks!

Time passed, quickly because I took a lot of naps and went to bed early....but lucky for me, no morning sickness! I was shaky a few times when the weather was a sticky, muggy 90 degrees....but I made it. My doctor's office called to tell me that the results of my blood test were in and to start taking an Iron supplement. :( I'm anemic. No wonder I had been feeling so weak and tired. The vitamin helped though, and I finally have the schedule down: Iron and Vitamin C vitamin in the morning on an empty stomach, eat breakfast after I get to work, drink lots of water throughout the day, prenatal vitamin with a meal (usually dinner). It took a while to remember all of that!

Soon after that we went to our second prenatal exam. I was 13 weeks pregnant, and had my first sonogram. Aaron, Jaron and I got to see the baby on the monitor. For the sake of arguement, the baby will be "she" until further notice (since Jaron wants a sister). She started upside down and backwards, but after a few pokes rolled around to a good position to see how beautiful she was! We saw her moving around her arms, eating the amniotic fluid, and rolling back around to face the other way. While all of this was going on, Jaron kept asking me questions like "why is it black and white?" and my answer, "because it's dark in there!" Aaron asked me if I could feel the movement yet, but sadly I could not. The sonographer also took measurements to asses for down syndrome and to see how far along the baby actually was. She was the size of a lemon then! And yes I got more blood tests and the infamous pap smear! Oh, and some pictures to bring home from the sonogram. Aunt Maura was kind enought to post it on Mati's Musings (her blog that inspired me) after I took a picture on my cell phone and texted it to her!

I think our two dogs are able to sense that somethings going on....especially Roody. He's only a year old and soooooo hyper. But now he is settling down, I think he understood me when I told him to either calm down or you're gonna have to find a new home soon.

Anyways, that pretty much brings us up to date. I am now 4 months pregnant and starting to show a little. Ok, not too much, but my pants won't button anymore. I have to keep them closed with a rubberband or a ponytail holder for now....too early to buy maternity clothes!