**I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but have been waiting to post it because I wanted pictures.... I think I only have a few I could post.... so today I thought, what the heck, let's just post this! The reason is partially due to the link my future brother in law, Danny, posted on Facebook this morning, that will be on my blog, too. Just scroll down to the bottom of Celebration #1 :) .
So my 22nd birthday was about two weeks ago, and I failed to write about it! So here it goes.
Celebration #1: The weekend before my birthday, we celebrated with my family both on Friday and Sunday. Friday, we had a super fun Mexican Night. First, we all went to Maria Bonita's Restaurant in Orem. We love this place to death. The owner, Maria, is so sweet. She calls all the women "Princessa" and the men "Champion." The service is on the slow side, so you must be prepared to wait for a while for your food, but it is dang good and there is a ton! If you're going on a date, you could easily split an entree. And the entrees I believe range from $8-12. I got beef fajitas (normally $16 other places) and I think my plate could have fed a family of four! I'm not kidding. Jed generally gets a burrito and he can't even finish half of it. Next time, though, I am getting their flautas! They are divine. You get three that are LITERALLY the size of an arm. No joke. And they taste awesome. And if you are a Pepsi fan, as Jed is, they have Vanilla Pepsi. Jed I think died and went to heaven when he found that out.
So after a slightly rushed but awesome dinner, we went up to Salt Lake to see Who Shot Juanito Bandito. It's a troupe of 6 actors who in the summertime have a playhouse in Bear Lake (The Pickleville Playhouse). They had done this show in SLC last year and Brittany had seen it, and she said it was hilarious. Well, we had no idea how hilarious. Jed says it was the funniest play he has ever seen, and one of the funniest things in general he has seen in a very long time. Seriously. The man who played Juanito Bandito was amazing. He had the funniest fake accent and he did improv better than anyone I've seen. Better than Who's Line is it Anyway. He could dominate that show. Jed even said if the second night wasn't already sold out, we for sure would have gone. So, this summer, they are doing another Juanito Bandito at the Pickleville Playhouse. You want a weekend getaway this summer? GO TO BEAR LAKE AND SEE THIS PLAY! If you're feeling extra rich, do the dinner and a show. I bet the food is great. Here's the site for the Pickleville Playhouse in Bear Lake.
*** I told you I was excited about a post from Danny? It was that they posted Who Shot Juanito Bandito online (the whole video) for the duration of the month of March! So I am terribly excited and want all my family and friends to watch this hilarious show. I haven't actually watched this online version, so I am hoping it's as funny and I'm making it out to be.... (there's lots of improv) but I'm sure it is! So click HERE to go to Pickleville's blogpost about it and watch the video. Please? You won't regret it!*****
So that was birthday celebration number one! It was awesome, to say the least.
Celebration #2: That was Friday night, now on to Saturday! It wasn't a birthday celebration, but it was a great evening. Jed's mom was in town for a Family History Conference, so we got to go to dinner with her in SLC and then she stayed at our house that night. Before dinner, we walked around the Church History Museum and the Family History Library. Both are really cool, but the library was SO overwhelming. I don't know how people browse through that place and find specific names! I hope I find the drive to do family history one day.
Then was dinner at the Roof on the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I have heard of how great this restaurant was, so I was super excited. It was amazing. We got the most requested table available, which was in the northwest corner. So on my left was the Temple and in front of my was the Conference Center and the mountains. Awesome. And the food. Wow. First off, Jed and I both for the vanilla raspberry italian ice. You could hear the angels singing as you drank that thing. I loved it to pieces and if it was not so expensive, I would have gotten another. But it was well worth the money. If pinterest can find me this recipe, I would be eternally grateful. The food is a buffet, and so I only tried a small portion of things so as not to stuff myself silly! There was only one thing I was not thrilled with, and everything else was really good or amazing. There was some tortellini salad that I would have ordered a tub of and this amazing sushi thing on a cucumber that I meant to get another one of so I could dissect it and figure out why it was so good! They chicken cordon bleu was amazing, and none of us could figure out what it was, but there was some other flavor in there that they put in that made it one of the best I've had.
Am I making you hungry yet? I'm sure you're already craving Mexican food and chicken. Now on to the dessert!
The dessert buffet. Yes, there was a buffet of dessert. And there were 30 desserts! Oh my gosh, you could have died in there from the overdose of chocolate. So, I had to choose wisely, because by this time I was definitely full. The best desserts there were definitely the chocolate mousse, the key lime pie, and the creme brulee. I actually got a second of the brulee because they were so little! It was the only thing I got a second of. If I had been crazy and wanted to blow up, I would have gotten a second piece of key lime pie because that was amazing as well. (I'm sure the fact that lime/sour flavors are my pregnancy craving have nothing to do with how much I loved it....)
***Quick side story. We went to Applebees this weekend and I squeezed a lime over our Fiesta Lime Chicken. Throughout the rest of the evening, My hand would be near my face or pass by my face and immediately I would think or say, "What smells so amazing????" And I forgot everytime and had to recall every time that it was simply lime juice on my fingers. This story was to attest to my major pregnancy craving. Seriously folks, lime is so great!
So, that was Saturday. It was a beautiful restaurant with amazing food and the most beautiful piano music being played from the coolest piano.
Celebration #3: Sunday was the Super bowl! We had some great finger foods, tres leches cake with amazing raspberry sauce on it, and opened presents. It was great. I love my family, and I got some great things! Thank you family :)
Celebration #4: Finally we are on to my actual birthday which was on a Wednesday. At school, we always have birthday parties for the kids and teachers. So, as it was my birthday, I knew I would get a fun little party. I came back from lunch to my kids all sitting in our calendar area and yelling "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Stephenson!" They were so excited and it was adorable. My co-workers were so great and got me a gift card to Olive Garden. For a while, it sat on a desk next to the card the kids signed, and the kiddos kept asking, "When are you going to open you presents???" When I did, they all oohed and ahhed over the card ha ha. And then one student said, "Is this the only present she's going to get?" Ha ha it was cute. Throughout the rest of the day, one of the kids would tell me happy birthday and it would set off a chain of happy birthdays from the other kids, and that was just plain adorable.
Celebration #5: (And the last of the celebrations.) Jed was an awesome husband and took me to Happy Sumo for my birthday! We had a coupon for $15 toward your meal, so we had to use that! It was great, too, because generally when we go to Happy Sumo, we go on 1/2 off night. We love it, and we love the selection of rolls, but there is another page of rolls we never get to try because they are never 1/2 off! So for my birthday, we tried those rolls. Oh it was good. One of them we got the previous year when we went with my mom and step dad for Jed's and Tony's birthdays, and I remember it being amazing. This year, not so much. Our favorite by far was the Samauri Roll. If you go to Happy Sumo, get this one! It's very rich and creamy. Then, we went home and watched a chick flick! Ha ha I've been trying to convince Jed to watch our edited version of Love Actually since Christmas because I knew he would like it and it is one of my favorite chick flicks. He has refused every single time, though he did promise he would watch it "eventually." So for my birthday, he suggested that we watch it. We did and it as great and Jed liked it! So, I consider my birthday a success. He was also an awesome husband and got me some great gifts.
So there you have it. I was thoroughly spoiled for my birthday and it was great! I only hope that I can thoroughly spoil Jed on his birthday. I have come up with like 6 different ideas of what to do, all depending on it we have had the baby or not! It's so hard to plan! Here is my dilemma: Baby is due April 5th (Thursday). Jed's birthday is Sunday the 8th. So, I really shouldn't plan anything that weekend and we won't be going out to eat on his birthday since it is Sunday. So, we resort to the weekend before, right? Wrong! It is General Conference! So the only time we can go is Friday night, because I don't see it being very good to skip any of the sessions to celebrate a birthday..... But on of the plans actually has us driving up to SLC during the 2nd session, doing my fun activity between sessions, Jed going to priesthood while I.... ? And then us going out to dinner after. So, hopefully I will have some great inspirational idea come to me, but I have a feeling I won't be able to really plan what to do until his birthday is upon us!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 34
What a week it has been! Seriously, crazy. And despite the fact that I'm on bed rest, we never took a picture.... but I thought it was more important to update you on my health than how big my belly is getting.
So, on Friday at my doctor's appointment, we got some more information about what's going on.
First of all, I am on bedrest, but it is okay if I go out every once in a while. And by go out, that means I can go somewhere where I will be sitting. So, still no grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc, but I can go to a hair appointment, to a restaurant, or to my mom's house. And I can go to church! Only one hour though. This is half his rule, half mine. This weekend I went to my brother's eagle scout project where I sat the whole time and sanitized books, but by the end I was pooped. Today, I barely lasted through church. Those church pews just aren't what you would call comfortable. So, already my body has adjusted to bed rest and can only handle an hour or two of activity. Kind of sad and pathetic, but I'm glad to know.
Next, he told me that as long as my blood pressure doesn't go any higher, I will probably make it to full term! I have mixed feelings about that. It means that the baby gets more growing time (yay!) but it also means instead of 3 weeks of bed rest, I have a potential of 6 weeks.... so perhaps I will get everything done on my to do list! Oh and he also said that after 34 weeks, steroids to help the baby's lungs grow don't really have much affect, so I won't have to take those.
Last, I will be going to the doctor at least 3 times a week. Every Monday we will do a non-stress test with the baby and measure the amniotic fluid. Every Thursday we will do a non-stress test. THEN starting at 36 weeks I will have my regular doctor's appointment every week. So, this week I don't have a doctor's appointment, but I do have to go in to get the supplies for another 24 hours urine sample. I will be doing these about every week as well. Whew! The receptionists already recognize me, but but the end of this pregnancy they will for sure all know my name.
So, obviously Monday was yesterday so I had my first NST and amniotic fluid test. They took me to a room with a SUPER comfy recliner. It was sweet. First they tested the amniotic fluid. It was basically an ultrasound. She "divided" my belly into four quadrants and looked at how much fluid was there. Somehow she came up with a number, 9.6 (units? Ounces? I don't know), which is on the low end of normal, but still normal. Yay! Then we did the NST (non stress test) where I just sat there with the fetal heart monitor and the monitor to check for contractions on. We were going to sit there until the baby's heart rate elevated 3 times. I didn't realize this, but the heart rate elevates every time he moves around! On that Sunday we went into the hospital, I was on the fetal heart monitor, and Jed and I kept getting a little concerned that the baby's heart rate kept getting super fast, then slowing down. Little did we know, that's exactly what is supposed to happen! So, that was my appointment. Oh and they took my blood pressure. Still high, but not too high.
So, there you have it. The thing I've been complaining about the most to Jed this week is my swollen hands/toes. I shouldn't complain, because seriously, it's not that bad. I still don't like it though. I think I have officially outgrown all my flats. It is just too darn uncomfortable. So, it's either slippers or sneakers from now on.
So, on Friday at my doctor's appointment, we got some more information about what's going on.
First of all, I am on bedrest, but it is okay if I go out every once in a while. And by go out, that means I can go somewhere where I will be sitting. So, still no grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc, but I can go to a hair appointment, to a restaurant, or to my mom's house. And I can go to church! Only one hour though. This is half his rule, half mine. This weekend I went to my brother's eagle scout project where I sat the whole time and sanitized books, but by the end I was pooped. Today, I barely lasted through church. Those church pews just aren't what you would call comfortable. So, already my body has adjusted to bed rest and can only handle an hour or two of activity. Kind of sad and pathetic, but I'm glad to know.
Next, he told me that as long as my blood pressure doesn't go any higher, I will probably make it to full term! I have mixed feelings about that. It means that the baby gets more growing time (yay!) but it also means instead of 3 weeks of bed rest, I have a potential of 6 weeks.... so perhaps I will get everything done on my to do list! Oh and he also said that after 34 weeks, steroids to help the baby's lungs grow don't really have much affect, so I won't have to take those.
Last, I will be going to the doctor at least 3 times a week. Every Monday we will do a non-stress test with the baby and measure the amniotic fluid. Every Thursday we will do a non-stress test. THEN starting at 36 weeks I will have my regular doctor's appointment every week. So, this week I don't have a doctor's appointment, but I do have to go in to get the supplies for another 24 hours urine sample. I will be doing these about every week as well. Whew! The receptionists already recognize me, but but the end of this pregnancy they will for sure all know my name.
So, obviously Monday was yesterday so I had my first NST and amniotic fluid test. They took me to a room with a SUPER comfy recliner. It was sweet. First they tested the amniotic fluid. It was basically an ultrasound. She "divided" my belly into four quadrants and looked at how much fluid was there. Somehow she came up with a number, 9.6 (units? Ounces? I don't know), which is on the low end of normal, but still normal. Yay! Then we did the NST (non stress test) where I just sat there with the fetal heart monitor and the monitor to check for contractions on. We were going to sit there until the baby's heart rate elevated 3 times. I didn't realize this, but the heart rate elevates every time he moves around! On that Sunday we went into the hospital, I was on the fetal heart monitor, and Jed and I kept getting a little concerned that the baby's heart rate kept getting super fast, then slowing down. Little did we know, that's exactly what is supposed to happen! So, that was my appointment. Oh and they took my blood pressure. Still high, but not too high.
So, there you have it. The thing I've been complaining about the most to Jed this week is my swollen hands/toes. I shouldn't complain, because seriously, it's not that bad. I still don't like it though. I think I have officially outgrown all my flats. It is just too darn uncomfortable. So, it's either slippers or sneakers from now on.
Friday, February 24, 2012
How to Survive Bed Rest
I think everyone reading my blog either knows me well enough or has been able to figure out that I am a planner. I don't always follow through with my plans, but I love planning! So as I anticipate being home for the next 2+ months (at least 3 weeks bed rest, probably a couple of weeks after the baby is born before I leave the house....), I think I need a plan.
First of all, I have to say that I am both looking forward to/not looking forward to bed rest. Pros: I get to sleep in and take naps, I will never be forced to cook or clean, I have an opportunity to do some crafts/projects, I can watch all the movies I've been wanting to and read all the books I've been wanting to. Cons: I can't cook or clean and yet I'm stuck in the house so I have a HUGE desire to clean up the dishes and vacuum and such; I'll get bored; I may plan to do things, but actually starting them is really hard to do; I miss seeing people; I can't go shopping and maybe even can't go to church (I'm asking my doctor about that TODAY!); sitting and laying down gets really old really fast..... I'm sure you can think up all of these things.
So here's the plan:
1) Get up at a good hour every day. I hope to get up whenever Jed leaves for the day.
2) Get semi-ready for the day. I think that make-up and certain clothes will rarely see the light of day in these next few weeks, but I know that if I stay in pjs all day and never shower, I will feel extra crappy.
3) Have a plan for the day. I am going to have a To Do list for each day, even if the only item on it is "Watch 2 episodes of Downton Abbey." I will have a purpose every day!
4) Use all this time to do some AMAZING scripture study. Jed and I are doing really great at being consistent with scripture study, but I use the excuse that I don't have time to get myself really into some great study. I no longer have that excuse..... at least for the next 3 or so weeks! So I hope that I can get myself to do that.
5) I'm not on strict bed rest, but they did say that I should generally only get up to go to the bathroom and shower. So, on days I'm not all sweaty, I generally shower every other day. So on the days I don't shower, I have that extra 20 minutes where I would normally be standing in the shower/getting ready to actually do something like put dishes in the dishwasher? Eh? Gosh this bed rest thing can be so hard! I want to do what is best for the baby, so if laying down all day is the key, I will do it. But it's so hard when I don't feel sick AT ALL and when I feel like, what's a little 10 minutes of standing going to do? Well, I think it could potentially do a lot (I've got to ask my doctor). So I may cheat once in a while (because I can't stand those dishes any longer), but I am going to try to practice some will power and not do anything! The nurse did give me the okay to sit like normal, like I don't have to be laying down all the time, so I may take advantage of that and attempt to do some dishes or some cooking while sitting in a chair. My fish tank needs to be cleaned and I'm seriously thinking about doing it in the bath (I will not be in the bath, just for clarification; I will just clean it by sitting next to the bath.). Ha ha that will be interesting.
So wanna see my list of what I hope to do? If you don't, well skip on over these bullets:
How about some fun things?
Okay, so now I need to go eat something. I turned on the stove to cook me up some breakfast sausages, but for some reason the smell of the hot pan mixed with the popcorn smell left over from the popcorn I had last night..... the last thing I want to do right now is eat. That brings me to another important part of my plan for being on bed rest: don't snack all the time! I have a feeling I will be gaining a lot of weight in the next month or so...... Anyways, any suggestions for bed rest are appreciated, as already all the suggestions I've gotten have been awesome! Thanks friends!
First of all, I have to say that I am both looking forward to/not looking forward to bed rest. Pros: I get to sleep in and take naps, I will never be forced to cook or clean, I have an opportunity to do some crafts/projects, I can watch all the movies I've been wanting to and read all the books I've been wanting to. Cons: I can't cook or clean and yet I'm stuck in the house so I have a HUGE desire to clean up the dishes and vacuum and such; I'll get bored; I may plan to do things, but actually starting them is really hard to do; I miss seeing people; I can't go shopping and maybe even can't go to church (I'm asking my doctor about that TODAY!); sitting and laying down gets really old really fast..... I'm sure you can think up all of these things.
 |
| This woman looks much too happy to be on bed rest... Besides, people already go crazy when on bed rest. To be on bed rest in a completely white room? Looks like a mental hospital to me....) |
So here's the plan:
1) Get up at a good hour every day. I hope to get up whenever Jed leaves for the day.
2) Get semi-ready for the day. I think that make-up and certain clothes will rarely see the light of day in these next few weeks, but I know that if I stay in pjs all day and never shower, I will feel extra crappy.
3) Have a plan for the day. I am going to have a To Do list for each day, even if the only item on it is "Watch 2 episodes of Downton Abbey." I will have a purpose every day!
4) Use all this time to do some AMAZING scripture study. Jed and I are doing really great at being consistent with scripture study, but I use the excuse that I don't have time to get myself really into some great study. I no longer have that excuse..... at least for the next 3 or so weeks! So I hope that I can get myself to do that.
5) I'm not on strict bed rest, but they did say that I should generally only get up to go to the bathroom and shower. So, on days I'm not all sweaty, I generally shower every other day. So on the days I don't shower, I have that extra 20 minutes where I would normally be standing in the shower/getting ready to actually do something like put dishes in the dishwasher? Eh? Gosh this bed rest thing can be so hard! I want to do what is best for the baby, so if laying down all day is the key, I will do it. But it's so hard when I don't feel sick AT ALL and when I feel like, what's a little 10 minutes of standing going to do? Well, I think it could potentially do a lot (I've got to ask my doctor). So I may cheat once in a while (because I can't stand those dishes any longer), but I am going to try to practice some will power and not do anything! The nurse did give me the okay to sit like normal, like I don't have to be laying down all the time, so I may take advantage of that and attempt to do some dishes or some cooking while sitting in a chair. My fish tank needs to be cleaned and I'm seriously thinking about doing it in the bath (I will not be in the bath, just for clarification; I will just clean it by sitting next to the bath.). Ha ha that will be interesting.
So wanna see my list of what I hope to do? If you don't, well skip on over these bullets:
- Work on my portfolio for my internship (because I WILL graduate, dang it)
- Meal Plan. This is rather important, because I have to be very creative with my planning... I basically have 3 types of recipes to look for: freezer meals (which my dear mother will be helping me put together), incredibly easy meals Jed can put together, and last but not least, not necessarily easy meals, but meals I can cook while sitting down and that involve minimal standing up and moving around. I think I will planning a lot of crock pot things.
- Catch up in my 10 year journal. Thank goodness I have the most important things I'd want to write about all on my calendar. (P.S. Have you ever used a 10 year journal? I love it to pieces. You should get one!)
- Commission Jed to get me some butcher paper and supplies so I can decorate the baby's room (low priority.... but maybe I'll do it)
- Clean out the folders on my email! Isn't this something you would love to do, but you know it will take hours and hours???
- Cross stitch! I have a project I've been working on since 2009. It's going to look awesome, but I think it's been over a year since I've touched it. Sad, sad day
- Go through all of our papers. This is a project that will take several days, I'm thinking, and that I will need lots of help with from my dear mommy. I have way too many papers, ranging from important things like contracts/birth certificates/car things/insurance, to old school papers that I'm not sure if I want to keep or not, to handouts from church and girls camp. So, the plan is to have my mom help me know which important papers are actually important, file those all beautifully, and then SCAN all my other papers that I would love to keep because they have cute sayings or they have potential importance (school papers), but scanning them will get rid of the clutter and get rid of the stupid things I don't really need to store! I'm so excited! This is really the number one thing I want to do during bed rest. The number one thing I don't want to do is my portfolio, but I cannot wait to have these papers organized! Life will be so wonderful.
How about some fun things?
- Pedicure/manicure/facial (all done by myself, of course). I do have a wonderful gift certificate for a pedicure, so if the doctor says I can go to church or things where I won't have to walk far and can sit the whole time, I will be getting a pedicure!
- Indexing! My sister-in-law was so smart and suggested this. How long has is been since I've done this??? Way too long. But now I feel pretty obligated to spend some time doing this. I want to make it part of my routine every day.
- Visiting! People, come visit me! I love to chat and I love to hear about your lives.
- Watch HGTV. I've already spent the last two days watching way too much of this, but I am seriously going to have this be part of my daily schedule. I love it, and I am learning a lot of little things to look for when buying a house or what to do when you want to sell your house. So I will justify this TV watching by saying I am educating myself in something I don't know very much about, but will need to know lots about!
- Exercise? I hope I can do some little things. I actually want to ask my doctor if a half hour of stretches would be against bed rest.... because I will be relaxing like crazy when I do that! And isn't the goal of bed rest to keep my blood pressure down? We'll see. There's always the kegal exercises, too, which will help in anticipation for labor and pushing.
Okay, so now I need to go eat something. I turned on the stove to cook me up some breakfast sausages, but for some reason the smell of the hot pan mixed with the popcorn smell left over from the popcorn I had last night..... the last thing I want to do right now is eat. That brings me to another important part of my plan for being on bed rest: don't snack all the time! I have a feeling I will be gaining a lot of weight in the next month or so...... Anyways, any suggestions for bed rest are appreciated, as already all the suggestions I've gotten have been awesome! Thanks friends!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Bed Rest
Hello there, friends.
So if you have been reading my weekly pregnancy posts, you probably read last week's about my going to the hospital over the weekend. Well there have been some new developments.
Tuesday near the end of the school day I had strange vision problems again. I called my doctor, and they had me come in to take my blood pressure. It was high, not too high, but high. So they ordered some blood work to be done, a 24 hour urine sample, and bed rest. I had a moment (or several moments) but stress because I couldn't help but wonder what would be done with my job??? I am the main teacher of 11 cute little kindergarteners who need a lot of care and specialization. I was smart and prepared the lessons for the rest of the week (most of it was already done, thankfully), and then I was on bed rest.
Wednesday was boring, and spent in anticipation. The nurse told me that by 4 I should have the results of the test. False! That afternoon another nurse told me there was no way they would have the test results before the office closed. Lame. So, another day of bed rest was in order. The nurse did tell me, though that she would leave a note to the nurse who would be there in the morning to get my test results ASAP and call me ASAP, so that made me feel better. Slightly. That night I honestly felt like a kids before Christmas. I have a hard time waiting sometimes....
Today I waited as patiently as possible until my doctor's office opened and I left two messages, one with the lab work people and one with the nurse's station. And so I waited.... and waited..... and so 50 minutes later, I called again and stayed on hold for a good 6 minutes until they answered and said, "Oh yes you left us two messages this morning." .....yes I did. I felt bad, but hey, they told me they would know first thing in the morning! So then they told me they were just waiting to talk to the doctor and then they would call me.
So, about a half hour later, they called. The test results came back totally fine! That confused me because I definitely had some major signs of pre-eclampsia. So the nurse continued on, telling me that while the tests were good (and that was great news), I did have the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, so they said that basically I had a mild form of it. In order to make sure it doesn't turn into a severe form, they told me I had to be on bed rest, plus they'll be seeing me every week where they will monitor my blood pressure closely and also make sure they do a non-stress test each time on the baby. They said I will probably have to do a few more 24 hour urine tests as well.
So that's the verdict! I have pre-eclampsia, and I will be on bed rest until I deliver the baby. They said that most women in my situation make it to 37 weeks as long as they stay on bedrest, so that's good news. I did not want to have a preemie baby if I could help it! So from what I gather (and I will be confirming this with my doctor tomorrow), I will probably have this baby early. I don't remember what I put in the last post and you may already know this, but the only way to get rid of pre-eclampsia is to have the baby, because it has to do with the placenta. So until that placenta is out of my body, I will have pre-eclampsia. So, from what they've said, they just want me to make it to 37 weeks and then this baby is outta here! That means that my new "due date" is probably March 15th. And Ides of March baby?
I'm feeling pretty good right now. I'm glad that my baby and I are healthy enough that we don't have to worry right now, but I'm also glad that they know they want me on bedrest. My biggest fear when they told me the tests were fine was that I would go back to normal life, only to be rushed to the hospital because I worked myself too hard or something changed. So, while I am unhappy to be on bed rest (and slightly stressed about missing work), I'm glad that I will be able to at least do something (by not doing anything) to help the baby stay in longer and to keep us both doing okay.
That brings me to a question. Anyone been on bed rest? Anyone have suggestions for what to do? My instinct when I am home is to cook, clean, and organize. Luckily, I can still do some organizing in bed or just reclining/sitting for a while, but I can't do those other things I would like to do. One thing is for sure: if anyone has a desire to visit me, please come! I have a feeling I will be bored to tears one of these days (and I will literally cry, knowing how I've been this whole pregnancy), so if you so desire, I would love visitors.
Last but not least, thanks to those who knew what was going on and prayed for us! We know those prayers were answered.
So if you have been reading my weekly pregnancy posts, you probably read last week's about my going to the hospital over the weekend. Well there have been some new developments.
Tuesday near the end of the school day I had strange vision problems again. I called my doctor, and they had me come in to take my blood pressure. It was high, not too high, but high. So they ordered some blood work to be done, a 24 hour urine sample, and bed rest. I had a moment (or several moments) but stress because I couldn't help but wonder what would be done with my job??? I am the main teacher of 11 cute little kindergarteners who need a lot of care and specialization. I was smart and prepared the lessons for the rest of the week (most of it was already done, thankfully), and then I was on bed rest.
Wednesday was boring, and spent in anticipation. The nurse told me that by 4 I should have the results of the test. False! That afternoon another nurse told me there was no way they would have the test results before the office closed. Lame. So, another day of bed rest was in order. The nurse did tell me, though that she would leave a note to the nurse who would be there in the morning to get my test results ASAP and call me ASAP, so that made me feel better. Slightly. That night I honestly felt like a kids before Christmas. I have a hard time waiting sometimes....
Today I waited as patiently as possible until my doctor's office opened and I left two messages, one with the lab work people and one with the nurse's station. And so I waited.... and waited..... and so 50 minutes later, I called again and stayed on hold for a good 6 minutes until they answered and said, "Oh yes you left us two messages this morning." .....yes I did. I felt bad, but hey, they told me they would know first thing in the morning! So then they told me they were just waiting to talk to the doctor and then they would call me.
So, about a half hour later, they called. The test results came back totally fine! That confused me because I definitely had some major signs of pre-eclampsia. So the nurse continued on, telling me that while the tests were good (and that was great news), I did have the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, so they said that basically I had a mild form of it. In order to make sure it doesn't turn into a severe form, they told me I had to be on bed rest, plus they'll be seeing me every week where they will monitor my blood pressure closely and also make sure they do a non-stress test each time on the baby. They said I will probably have to do a few more 24 hour urine tests as well.
So that's the verdict! I have pre-eclampsia, and I will be on bed rest until I deliver the baby. They said that most women in my situation make it to 37 weeks as long as they stay on bedrest, so that's good news. I did not want to have a preemie baby if I could help it! So from what I gather (and I will be confirming this with my doctor tomorrow), I will probably have this baby early. I don't remember what I put in the last post and you may already know this, but the only way to get rid of pre-eclampsia is to have the baby, because it has to do with the placenta. So until that placenta is out of my body, I will have pre-eclampsia. So, from what they've said, they just want me to make it to 37 weeks and then this baby is outta here! That means that my new "due date" is probably March 15th. And Ides of March baby?
I'm feeling pretty good right now. I'm glad that my baby and I are healthy enough that we don't have to worry right now, but I'm also glad that they know they want me on bedrest. My biggest fear when they told me the tests were fine was that I would go back to normal life, only to be rushed to the hospital because I worked myself too hard or something changed. So, while I am unhappy to be on bed rest (and slightly stressed about missing work), I'm glad that I will be able to at least do something (by not doing anything) to help the baby stay in longer and to keep us both doing okay.
That brings me to a question. Anyone been on bed rest? Anyone have suggestions for what to do? My instinct when I am home is to cook, clean, and organize. Luckily, I can still do some organizing in bed or just reclining/sitting for a while, but I can't do those other things I would like to do. One thing is for sure: if anyone has a desire to visit me, please come! I have a feeling I will be bored to tears one of these days (and I will literally cry, knowing how I've been this whole pregnancy), so if you so desire, I would love visitors.
Last but not least, thanks to those who knew what was going on and prayed for us! We know those prayers were answered.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 33
Hello, again!
So, I'm sorry I missed last week. I have had a lovely cold for the last two weeks, and last weekend it was getting to its worst. So, I decided to skip my post.
Baby Stats: (I'm wondering when I should stop this... because who knows how big my baby will be? A friend of mine had a baby that was 18 inches.... and the book is telling me my baby is 18 inches.....)
Height: 18 inches
Weight: 3 1/2 lbs
If he were a fruit, he would be a: pineapple
What has happened these last two weeks? A lot! (So you are warned this will be long... But interesting, I think!) Even what happened TODAY was a lot. Yes, I have a story to tell!
I'll start with the story. The background to the story is that at my last appointment, my blood pressure was a little high. I was sick, so they said they weren't too worried. I also gained 9 pounds which was 3x what I have been gaining every month.
Fast forward to last night. I was having some strange vision problems. You know how it looks when you get your picture taken and you have spots in your vision? Well I had a long line of spots where I couldn't see. It seemed pretty bad.... so we went to bed in hopes my vision would be normal in the morning.
This morning, I still have spots on my vision, but thankfully not that huge line. I've done enough reading in my pregnancy books that I knew high blood pressure, vision problems, rapid weight gain, swelling (which I had just developed), and protein in your urine (which I seem to have every once in a while) are all signs or preeclampsia. I would just google what that is, but it's basically severe high blood pressure, which left untreated can develop into eclampsia, which means you will have a lot of seizures. So, we thought we should get this checked out. Being Sunday and my OBGYN's office closed, we thought it smart to go over to Walgreens and get my blood pressure checked for free. This we did, and my blood pressure was 153/97. Woah! So we waited a few minutes and did it again. 163/98. So needless to say, my blood pressure was high. So we called the on call doctor for my OB office and he told us that from what I was saying, it would be best to have some tests done at the hospital.
So, we went to the hospital! It was kind of like a practice run through for when I go into labor. We went up to labor and delivery, we registered with the hospital, then they took me to a labor/delivery room exactly like one I will be in when I deliver the baby! They had me change into a gown and they put on a fetal heart monitor. Over the next couple of hours, I had my blood pressure taken numerous times, gave a urine sample, and got my blood taken for testing.
Here's my bracelet from the hospital:
By the end of the two hours, my blood pressure was normal and all the tests they took were normal. We were all relieved and the doctor told me he was really glad I was paying attention to my body, because women have come in with the exact same symptoms as me and they had severe preeclampsia. For some reason I was spared that trial (for now), so we are very happy! It was a kind of scary few hours, but I've always been the type of person that is very calm in emergencies (like when I filleted my finger on the table saw in woodshop.... I had to tell Chelsea it would be okay, not the other way around). So all is well!
The doctor told me to take it easy this week if possible. He asked me if I didn't work or if at work I could just sit and relax. Ha! I told him about my job and he told me that if anything gets worse, they may ask me to take it easy and could even say I shouldn't go to work, so here's hoping that it doesn't get to that point! It would stress me out way too much! Plus, who wants to be on bed rest?
Now, onto less serious things!
Prego Symptoms:
- Swelling.... major swelling! Okay, not too major. I don't have kankles, thank goodness, but my wedding ring is definitely off for the rest of the pregnancy, all my flats hurt my feet, and in the past few days, bending my toes and fingers, I can feel the excess swelling. It reminds me of going on Trek. I walked with my hands by my side for 10 hours a day, and by the end of the day, my fingers were huge! So huge I couldn't bend them very far. It's not that bad, but I can feel the pressure when I bend my fingers.
- A bazillion stretch marks. Dislike.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Did you know that a lot (and according to my What to Expect book, a majority) of pregnant women get some carpal tunnel syndrome? Well, for the last week or so, my arm has been hurting during the night. And when I say hurting, I mean, I wake up, need to pick up one of my 4 pillows I tend to use, or just want to turn over, and so I move my arm to pick it up or to help me move, and I get this sharp pain in my forearm. I really couldn't figure out the problem. There was no bruising, I hadn't remembered hurting my arm, I wasn't sleeping any differently, there was no change to my body that should have brought on such pain! So, in all my research online, and I know I shouldn't self-diagnose, but I think this is my problem. Apparently, when you sleep on your arm (which I tend to do) or when you don't move it for a long time, that can bring on these symptoms. So, my lovely mother gave me a wrist brace, which I used all yesterday and used last night as I slept, and I had no pain when I woke up! Yay! It's so nice being able to come up with a solution to the pain.
- Continuing difficulty bending over, rolling over, and in general just getting up. Especially when sitting down, it just takes such effort to bend to get something off the ground! And moving when I'm lying down, I feel like a walrus or seal because I have to make such a great effort for such little movement ha ha. Jed is so kind and will get out of bed (not in the morning, just if we're lying in bed on our computers or something) or he will come into the living room to help me up. I hardly even have to ask anymore; if he sees that I have to get up, he will often just come over and put out his hand to help. I love that he is so thoughtful :)
- My belly button has never been so small. Circumference-wise and depth, it is for sure smaller. I am still an innie, but with seven more weeks of growing, I think I could make it to a flat belly button. How strange!
- Weight gain.... I went to my 32 week check up last week.... and I had gained 9 pounds! Ah! I was consistently gaining 3 pounds at each check up, so that was a little scary to have gained 3x the normal amount. I wonder if it has to do with the retaining water. At my check up, my blood pressure was not where it should be, either, so I wonder if we should be worried... However, it was just the beginning of my cold, so the nurse said it maybe had to do with being sick. The interesting thing is, just like how my sleeping habits haven't changed, my eating habits haven't either! I have exercised/eaten just about the same throughout this entire pregnancy, meaning I hardly exercise and I snack quite a bit. I'm getting the the point in the pregnancy, though, where I will go in to the doctor at 34 and 36 weeks, and then every single week after that. It's so weird! I actually made doctor's appointments all the way until my 39 week appointment, because we won't know until that point if I will need on at 40 weeks or not! It is getting so close!
- My belly is huge. How can it get any bigger? I have 7 more weeks of growing.... about a 1/2 a pound of baby a week. How in the world can I get any bigger and rounder! I'm a little worried for the coming month and a half.... I'm still excited, but a little worried for how hard it will be to get around. I actually ran yesterday, because one of our students forgot her backpack, so I ran after the bus. I did not catch it, because it was too far by the time I got outside, but I ran down the hall. I doubt it was fast, but I still can run, despite this huge belly!
- Heartburn still plagues me. It's pretty consistent, too, with what I eat. Pizza is still a huge love of my life, but I know for a fact I will have severe heartburn afterwards. Thank goodness for medicine.
- My gums still bleed when I brush my teeth. I am dilligent in my teeth brushing and semi-dilligent in the flossing, but my gums always bleed. The interesting thing is they don't bleed very often when I floss.... I don't understand, but that's the truth.
- I'm consistently hot. I sleep with the fan on and only a small blanket the majority of every night.
- For the past week, I have woken up almost exactly 12 minutes before my alarm goes off every morning. Not every morning have I woken up at the same time, and yet somehow my body knows when my alarm will be going off and I wake up before it.
- I've tried to figure out when the baby always moves, and I have pinpointed the one consistent time (partially because it's one where I am always sitting or lying down): 10:00 (PM). Just before or just after, that is when the baby is at his most active. The other night Jed actually got to feel him move for almost a whole 15 minutes. There were some pretty big movements, too. It's so fun to share that with Jed, because he doesn't get to feel him move much. Our baby seems to sense whenever I put Jed's hand on my belly. One interesting fact from the nurse who taught our prenatal class: with her babies, whenever they were active in her womb, for the first while after they were born, they were active then. So I guess I can already plan for a 10:00 feeding for the baby!
Those are the pregnancy symptoms..... So I mentioned that I was sick, and still am. My voice is rather funny and I use a ridiculous amount of tissues.
There are a couple of fun things that happened in the last two weeks that I will not write about in this post, but in their own posts. These two things are my amazing baby shower and our prenatal class! Oh they were both so great.
I will end with the fact that I am only 7 weeks away from having this baby. That is so insane to me (and Jed). I had a dream last week that I had the baby, and it made me wish the baby was here so much! I am in love with our little guy already. I am anticipating a lot of crying when our baby is born. I think just looking at him, realizing that he was growing inside me since July, that I've fed and nurtured him while he's in there, and now I get to hold him and love him and take care of him, gosh, I will be overwhelmed with emotions. I've been wanting to be a mom probably since I was 4 and played with my little dolls. I've loved babysitting. I've loved holding any baby I can get my hands on. Now it's getting so close that I will have my own little one to care for! I know it will be so hard, but I can't wait.
So, I'm sorry I missed last week. I have had a lovely cold for the last two weeks, and last weekend it was getting to its worst. So, I decided to skip my post.
Baby Stats: (I'm wondering when I should stop this... because who knows how big my baby will be? A friend of mine had a baby that was 18 inches.... and the book is telling me my baby is 18 inches.....)
Height: 18 inches
Weight: 3 1/2 lbs
If he were a fruit, he would be a: pineapple
What has happened these last two weeks? A lot! (So you are warned this will be long... But interesting, I think!) Even what happened TODAY was a lot. Yes, I have a story to tell!
I'll start with the story. The background to the story is that at my last appointment, my blood pressure was a little high. I was sick, so they said they weren't too worried. I also gained 9 pounds which was 3x what I have been gaining every month.
Fast forward to last night. I was having some strange vision problems. You know how it looks when you get your picture taken and you have spots in your vision? Well I had a long line of spots where I couldn't see. It seemed pretty bad.... so we went to bed in hopes my vision would be normal in the morning.
This morning, I still have spots on my vision, but thankfully not that huge line. I've done enough reading in my pregnancy books that I knew high blood pressure, vision problems, rapid weight gain, swelling (which I had just developed), and protein in your urine (which I seem to have every once in a while) are all signs or preeclampsia. I would just google what that is, but it's basically severe high blood pressure, which left untreated can develop into eclampsia, which means you will have a lot of seizures. So, we thought we should get this checked out. Being Sunday and my OBGYN's office closed, we thought it smart to go over to Walgreens and get my blood pressure checked for free. This we did, and my blood pressure was 153/97. Woah! So we waited a few minutes and did it again. 163/98. So needless to say, my blood pressure was high. So we called the on call doctor for my OB office and he told us that from what I was saying, it would be best to have some tests done at the hospital.
So, we went to the hospital! It was kind of like a practice run through for when I go into labor. We went up to labor and delivery, we registered with the hospital, then they took me to a labor/delivery room exactly like one I will be in when I deliver the baby! They had me change into a gown and they put on a fetal heart monitor. Over the next couple of hours, I had my blood pressure taken numerous times, gave a urine sample, and got my blood taken for testing.
Here's my bracelet from the hospital:
By the end of the two hours, my blood pressure was normal and all the tests they took were normal. We were all relieved and the doctor told me he was really glad I was paying attention to my body, because women have come in with the exact same symptoms as me and they had severe preeclampsia. For some reason I was spared that trial (for now), so we are very happy! It was a kind of scary few hours, but I've always been the type of person that is very calm in emergencies (like when I filleted my finger on the table saw in woodshop.... I had to tell Chelsea it would be okay, not the other way around). So all is well!
The doctor told me to take it easy this week if possible. He asked me if I didn't work or if at work I could just sit and relax. Ha! I told him about my job and he told me that if anything gets worse, they may ask me to take it easy and could even say I shouldn't go to work, so here's hoping that it doesn't get to that point! It would stress me out way too much! Plus, who wants to be on bed rest?
Now, onto less serious things!
Prego Symptoms:
- Swelling.... major swelling! Okay, not too major. I don't have kankles, thank goodness, but my wedding ring is definitely off for the rest of the pregnancy, all my flats hurt my feet, and in the past few days, bending my toes and fingers, I can feel the excess swelling. It reminds me of going on Trek. I walked with my hands by my side for 10 hours a day, and by the end of the day, my fingers were huge! So huge I couldn't bend them very far. It's not that bad, but I can feel the pressure when I bend my fingers.
- A bazillion stretch marks. Dislike.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Did you know that a lot (and according to my What to Expect book, a majority) of pregnant women get some carpal tunnel syndrome? Well, for the last week or so, my arm has been hurting during the night. And when I say hurting, I mean, I wake up, need to pick up one of my 4 pillows I tend to use, or just want to turn over, and so I move my arm to pick it up or to help me move, and I get this sharp pain in my forearm. I really couldn't figure out the problem. There was no bruising, I hadn't remembered hurting my arm, I wasn't sleeping any differently, there was no change to my body that should have brought on such pain! So, in all my research online, and I know I shouldn't self-diagnose, but I think this is my problem. Apparently, when you sleep on your arm (which I tend to do) or when you don't move it for a long time, that can bring on these symptoms. So, my lovely mother gave me a wrist brace, which I used all yesterday and used last night as I slept, and I had no pain when I woke up! Yay! It's so nice being able to come up with a solution to the pain.
- Continuing difficulty bending over, rolling over, and in general just getting up. Especially when sitting down, it just takes such effort to bend to get something off the ground! And moving when I'm lying down, I feel like a walrus or seal because I have to make such a great effort for such little movement ha ha. Jed is so kind and will get out of bed (not in the morning, just if we're lying in bed on our computers or something) or he will come into the living room to help me up. I hardly even have to ask anymore; if he sees that I have to get up, he will often just come over and put out his hand to help. I love that he is so thoughtful :)
- My belly button has never been so small. Circumference-wise and depth, it is for sure smaller. I am still an innie, but with seven more weeks of growing, I think I could make it to a flat belly button. How strange!
- Weight gain.... I went to my 32 week check up last week.... and I had gained 9 pounds! Ah! I was consistently gaining 3 pounds at each check up, so that was a little scary to have gained 3x the normal amount. I wonder if it has to do with the retaining water. At my check up, my blood pressure was not where it should be, either, so I wonder if we should be worried... However, it was just the beginning of my cold, so the nurse said it maybe had to do with being sick. The interesting thing is, just like how my sleeping habits haven't changed, my eating habits haven't either! I have exercised/eaten just about the same throughout this entire pregnancy, meaning I hardly exercise and I snack quite a bit. I'm getting the the point in the pregnancy, though, where I will go in to the doctor at 34 and 36 weeks, and then every single week after that. It's so weird! I actually made doctor's appointments all the way until my 39 week appointment, because we won't know until that point if I will need on at 40 weeks or not! It is getting so close!
- My belly is huge. How can it get any bigger? I have 7 more weeks of growing.... about a 1/2 a pound of baby a week. How in the world can I get any bigger and rounder! I'm a little worried for the coming month and a half.... I'm still excited, but a little worried for how hard it will be to get around. I actually ran yesterday, because one of our students forgot her backpack, so I ran after the bus. I did not catch it, because it was too far by the time I got outside, but I ran down the hall. I doubt it was fast, but I still can run, despite this huge belly!
- Heartburn still plagues me. It's pretty consistent, too, with what I eat. Pizza is still a huge love of my life, but I know for a fact I will have severe heartburn afterwards. Thank goodness for medicine.
- My gums still bleed when I brush my teeth. I am dilligent in my teeth brushing and semi-dilligent in the flossing, but my gums always bleed. The interesting thing is they don't bleed very often when I floss.... I don't understand, but that's the truth.
- I'm consistently hot. I sleep with the fan on and only a small blanket the majority of every night.
- For the past week, I have woken up almost exactly 12 minutes before my alarm goes off every morning. Not every morning have I woken up at the same time, and yet somehow my body knows when my alarm will be going off and I wake up before it.
- I've tried to figure out when the baby always moves, and I have pinpointed the one consistent time (partially because it's one where I am always sitting or lying down): 10:00 (PM). Just before or just after, that is when the baby is at his most active. The other night Jed actually got to feel him move for almost a whole 15 minutes. There were some pretty big movements, too. It's so fun to share that with Jed, because he doesn't get to feel him move much. Our baby seems to sense whenever I put Jed's hand on my belly. One interesting fact from the nurse who taught our prenatal class: with her babies, whenever they were active in her womb, for the first while after they were born, they were active then. So I guess I can already plan for a 10:00 feeding for the baby!
Those are the pregnancy symptoms..... So I mentioned that I was sick, and still am. My voice is rather funny and I use a ridiculous amount of tissues.
There are a couple of fun things that happened in the last two weeks that I will not write about in this post, but in their own posts. These two things are my amazing baby shower and our prenatal class! Oh they were both so great.
I will end with the fact that I am only 7 weeks away from having this baby. That is so insane to me (and Jed). I had a dream last week that I had the baby, and it made me wish the baby was here so much! I am in love with our little guy already. I am anticipating a lot of crying when our baby is born. I think just looking at him, realizing that he was growing inside me since July, that I've fed and nurtured him while he's in there, and now I get to hold him and love him and take care of him, gosh, I will be overwhelmed with emotions. I've been wanting to be a mom probably since I was 4 and played with my little dolls. I've loved babysitting. I've loved holding any baby I can get my hands on. Now it's getting so close that I will have my own little one to care for! I know it will be so hard, but I can't wait.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Our Awesome Prenatal Class
I hope that all of you are planning on taking a prenatal class. It was invaluable! We did the two week one at Provo's Intermountain Hospital. The lame thing was that the class was 3 hours long, but it was nice only having it for two weeks. A great plus to it, too, is that you get to go to a breastfeeding class for free when you take this class. That one will be in March for me :)
So, what did we learn? The first night was quite a bit of stuff I already knew. She went over terms and definitions of things. Then she went over other stuff I think I knew..... What I did learn from the first night were these things:
1) When to go to the hospital - mainly for unusual things. (Go when your water breaks, if you are having contractions and it's before you should be giving birth, if you have bleeding--especially with pains, etc.)
2) Signs of labor. This was great because I just can't imagine what contractions must feel like! So basically, if you have any uncomfortable feeling at regular intervals, and the intervals keep getting shorter and the pain keeps getting worse and lasts for longer periods of time, you are having contractions! If they are irregular at all, you are probably fine.
3) Stages/Phases of Labor. There are 3 Stages, and 2 Phases of Stage 1. Stage 1 is basically contractions. Phase 1, 2, and 3 are basically your contractions getting worse and worse. She said that Phase 3, in her opinion and from her experience, is the worst. It is called the Transition Phase. Stage 1 is so bad because it's basically your cirvix dilating and effacing (or moving farther apart and getting thinner). Phase 2 is when you get to push! She said this is better than Stage 1 Phase 3 because you actually get to feel like you are doing something, not just dealing with pain. Stage 3 is basically giving birth to the Placenta.
4) She showed us lots of pieces of equipment. The scariest by far: forceps. They do not look what I imagined them to.
Scary, right? It doesn't help that these don't exactly look clean....
The second night was Jed's favorite/worst. I just loved it all. Here's what we talked about:
1) Postpartum care. We got days/weeks of how long things will take to heal, how long there will be bleeding, how long till your milk comes, etc. Very interesting, and made me feel better, knowing what to expect. She also showed us what sort of things we will be wearing after the birth and what sort of things we will be able to do/take to help with the pain....
2) Newborn care. This was informative, but also repetitive for me. I've been reading my three books I have over and over in an effort to know what to expect, so a lot of what she went over was a review. It's always nice to hear it from someone who knows, though, because they add in the personal opinions and things like, for one child this worked, and for another it didn't. Jed especially loved them going over the proper way to put a carseat in your car and the baby in the car seat. You would think it would be common sense, but there are some things you want to watch out for, and who knows if we would have made some of those mistakes. Interesting fact: The county health department will do free car seat checks if you make an appointment, so you can have an expert tell you if you have it in your car correctly and if your baby is in it correctly! Very nice.
3) Birth video! We watched one made at the hospital, which was cool. There were four births. First was pretty basic, and it included an epidural and an episiotomy. Jed just about passed out at the end, I actually got choked up! The relief from the mom and the excitement of the baby being there made me so excited for that! The next birth was of a c-section. That was a little on the gross side..... Third was a VBAC and they used forceps.... Again, forceps are scary! I did not like watching that one. The woman in it was very funny, though. And last was a natural birth, which really was unfair to watch, because literally, she pushed 3 times and the baby came out. The nurse measured her, said she was dilated to about 9 1/2 cm, so she went to get the doctor, and when he came in, the baby's head was literally halfway out. By the time he had gloves one, the whole head was out and these little hands and arms were squirming their way out. If only I could be so lucky!
4) Tour of the Hospital. This was all done with pictures, but it was nice to see. Now I know exactly where to go (5th floor) when I'm in labor and I know what the room will look like, where I will go after delivery (4th floor), and all that jazz. This was something Jed and I both really wanted to know, so we were really glad we got to see this.
So, there you have it, that is what you can learn in a prenatal class! We are very glad we went, and it only makes us more excited for the real deal!
So, what did we learn? The first night was quite a bit of stuff I already knew. She went over terms and definitions of things. Then she went over other stuff I think I knew..... What I did learn from the first night were these things:
1) When to go to the hospital - mainly for unusual things. (Go when your water breaks, if you are having contractions and it's before you should be giving birth, if you have bleeding--especially with pains, etc.)
2) Signs of labor. This was great because I just can't imagine what contractions must feel like! So basically, if you have any uncomfortable feeling at regular intervals, and the intervals keep getting shorter and the pain keeps getting worse and lasts for longer periods of time, you are having contractions! If they are irregular at all, you are probably fine.
3) Stages/Phases of Labor. There are 3 Stages, and 2 Phases of Stage 1. Stage 1 is basically contractions. Phase 1, 2, and 3 are basically your contractions getting worse and worse. She said that Phase 3, in her opinion and from her experience, is the worst. It is called the Transition Phase. Stage 1 is so bad because it's basically your cirvix dilating and effacing (or moving farther apart and getting thinner). Phase 2 is when you get to push! She said this is better than Stage 1 Phase 3 because you actually get to feel like you are doing something, not just dealing with pain. Stage 3 is basically giving birth to the Placenta.
4) She showed us lots of pieces of equipment. The scariest by far: forceps. They do not look what I imagined them to.
Scary, right? It doesn't help that these don't exactly look clean....
The second night was Jed's favorite/worst. I just loved it all. Here's what we talked about:
1) Postpartum care. We got days/weeks of how long things will take to heal, how long there will be bleeding, how long till your milk comes, etc. Very interesting, and made me feel better, knowing what to expect. She also showed us what sort of things we will be wearing after the birth and what sort of things we will be able to do/take to help with the pain....
2) Newborn care. This was informative, but also repetitive for me. I've been reading my three books I have over and over in an effort to know what to expect, so a lot of what she went over was a review. It's always nice to hear it from someone who knows, though, because they add in the personal opinions and things like, for one child this worked, and for another it didn't. Jed especially loved them going over the proper way to put a carseat in your car and the baby in the car seat. You would think it would be common sense, but there are some things you want to watch out for, and who knows if we would have made some of those mistakes. Interesting fact: The county health department will do free car seat checks if you make an appointment, so you can have an expert tell you if you have it in your car correctly and if your baby is in it correctly! Very nice.
3) Birth video! We watched one made at the hospital, which was cool. There were four births. First was pretty basic, and it included an epidural and an episiotomy. Jed just about passed out at the end, I actually got choked up! The relief from the mom and the excitement of the baby being there made me so excited for that! The next birth was of a c-section. That was a little on the gross side..... Third was a VBAC and they used forceps.... Again, forceps are scary! I did not like watching that one. The woman in it was very funny, though. And last was a natural birth, which really was unfair to watch, because literally, she pushed 3 times and the baby came out. The nurse measured her, said she was dilated to about 9 1/2 cm, so she went to get the doctor, and when he came in, the baby's head was literally halfway out. By the time he had gloves one, the whole head was out and these little hands and arms were squirming their way out. If only I could be so lucky!
4) Tour of the Hospital. This was all done with pictures, but it was nice to see. Now I know exactly where to go (5th floor) when I'm in labor and I know what the room will look like, where I will go after delivery (4th floor), and all that jazz. This was something Jed and I both really wanted to know, so we were really glad we got to see this.
So, there you have it, that is what you can learn in a prenatal class! We are very glad we went, and it only makes us more excited for the real deal!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: 31 Weeks
Here's the picture for this week!
Baby Stats:
Length: 18 ish inches
Weight: 3 1/2 ish pounds
If he were a fruit, he would be: 4 naval oranges
So, the word of the week is... fatigue! I have felt so lazy this week. In the evenings, over the weekend, I just felt so tired. I think a big factor in this is how big I'm starting to get. I just get into a great position on the couch, and then after a while I start to get sore, so I have to move, and it takes so much effort just to shift my weight to move! Getting up from the couch is harder, so I'm very thankful for dear Jed to help me up all the time. I really am getting so big, though. I've had a lot of strangers ask me about when I am due. I think I've finally gotten to the stage where there is almost no mistaking that I am pregnant. People can really tell, even when I have my big coat on. I'm sure it's due to the way I walk, as well. I realized I don't walk with my hips going up and down anymore, they go front to back. Plus, I think I lean back a bit.
Just to show you how big I really am, here is a close up of my stomach. I'm holding back the shirt so you can see just how round this belly is getting!
Crazy, right?
Another blessed fact of the week: I'm officially retaining water. My wedding ring has been retired for the next several months. All last week I struggled to put it on and take it off, which I was hoping was due to the fact that whenever I woke or was going to sleep, I was rather hot. But, I tested it one time when I was cold and I knew my fingers should be smaller, and my ring was still nice and tight. So, Saturday was the day that I had to put my ring into my jewelry box and get out a cheap one I got from Claire's long ago. It's rather sad... My flats are no fun to wear anymore, either. My feet are definitely a bit swollen. Not so much that I can tell, but enough that when I take off my shoes, I have a lovely red line where my shoes were.
I'm sure I had more to say, but I honestly can't think of it! Exciting things are happening this week, though. My birthday is on Wednesday, our first Prenatal Class at the hospital is on Thursday, my 32 week appointment is on Friday, and my baby shower is on Saturday! It's going to be a great week.
Baby Stats:
Length: 18 ish inches
Weight: 3 1/2 ish pounds
If he were a fruit, he would be: 4 naval oranges
So, the word of the week is... fatigue! I have felt so lazy this week. In the evenings, over the weekend, I just felt so tired. I think a big factor in this is how big I'm starting to get. I just get into a great position on the couch, and then after a while I start to get sore, so I have to move, and it takes so much effort just to shift my weight to move! Getting up from the couch is harder, so I'm very thankful for dear Jed to help me up all the time. I really am getting so big, though. I've had a lot of strangers ask me about when I am due. I think I've finally gotten to the stage where there is almost no mistaking that I am pregnant. People can really tell, even when I have my big coat on. I'm sure it's due to the way I walk, as well. I realized I don't walk with my hips going up and down anymore, they go front to back. Plus, I think I lean back a bit.
Just to show you how big I really am, here is a close up of my stomach. I'm holding back the shirt so you can see just how round this belly is getting!
Crazy, right?
Another blessed fact of the week: I'm officially retaining water. My wedding ring has been retired for the next several months. All last week I struggled to put it on and take it off, which I was hoping was due to the fact that whenever I woke or was going to sleep, I was rather hot. But, I tested it one time when I was cold and I knew my fingers should be smaller, and my ring was still nice and tight. So, Saturday was the day that I had to put my ring into my jewelry box and get out a cheap one I got from Claire's long ago. It's rather sad... My flats are no fun to wear anymore, either. My feet are definitely a bit swollen. Not so much that I can tell, but enough that when I take off my shoes, I have a lovely red line where my shoes were.
I'm sure I had more to say, but I honestly can't think of it! Exciting things are happening this week, though. My birthday is on Wednesday, our first Prenatal Class at the hospital is on Thursday, my 32 week appointment is on Friday, and my baby shower is on Saturday! It's going to be a great week.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 30
It's here: Week 30!
Baby Stats:
Inches: 17 ish
Weight: 2 1/5-3 lbs ish
If he were a vegetable, he would be a: cabbage. (I don't know how we go from butternut squash to cabbage..... To me a cabbage is smaller.....)
So this week I'm finally down to 10 weeks left. Next week we will be down to single digit weeks. That is so crazy to me.
I have to start out first by the biggest development: stretch marks! I know, I could hardly believe it myself. Today Jed pointed them out to me, which I'm sure he regretted, because I could not stop talking about it for the next 10 minutes. Apparently he's noticed them there for a week! This is what happens when your belly gets this big; you don't notice things below your belly button because they are so hard to see. So, here it begins. Wow. I wondered if this day would come, and here it has.
Well, I'm sick today, surprise surprise. Since Wednesday I've been feeling kind of like I had a cold, and yesterday morning I woke up miserable and this morning as well. Surprisingly, I am wide awake, but my body cannot handle too much today. Weekends are such a blessing. I have a couple of days to try to recoup before I have to go back to work.... It can be hard being the teacher and being sick. Friday morning I was ready to cry because I was so exhausted. If I had put my head down during lunch, I would have fallen asleep almost instantly. The afternoon went well, though, so that helped. This week was also Parent/Teacher conferences, and as I discovered in October, those wear you out! You wouldn't expect it, but they just make you so exhausted. This whole week I've stayed at school (or left school to go to my class) until after dark. Friday was a blessed day, because after all the work I've put in this week, I got to go home early (10 minutes early, that's right).
If I were to describe my week in one word it would be....... uncomfortable. I have been so lucky to have avoided some of the more unpleasant pregnancy symptoms (swelling being the biggest one I am grateful to have avoided so far, knock on wood), and so when the third trimester came (two weeks ago, I know, long time ago), and I read that the third trimester was pretty uncomfortable, I was excited in those first two weeks that I was feeling just as grand as before. Then came Thursday of this week, which happens to be the day I was officially 30 weeks along. Come Thursday, my right side from my lower back down to my knee just hurts. Sometimes it would hurt like that because that was the leg I broke (did you know I broke my femur? That's another story) and so I wondered if that was the reason, but it would not go away! I had Jed try to massage it out so many ways and in so many places to try to find the source of the pain, and we never figured it out, really. So this, I believe, we can chalk up to our favorite culprit: the sciatic nerve. Before it would give me rather sharp pains when I moved, and now I think our baby is just settling on it, and so I got dull, constant pain instead.
Another development: I think my baby's feet have settled right between my ribs and my organs. Since Thursday, I have felt this lovely feeling of being bruised on my lower right ribs. I couldn't figure it out! There was no bruise, for one thing. Then I tried just to gently press around the area to try to find out where the pain was the worst, and as soon as I pushed under my ribs, it hurt. So, with that, I concluded it was the baby. I could very well be wrong. Maybe I have an entirely different problem. But I think I've finally reached the stage where I have random aches and pains and the only answer it: the baby. He's getting big in there! I look at myself in the mirror and I am just amazing how pregnant I look! Ha ha I know it sounds silly, but it's still weird seeing my body look like this.
After this ranting and raging about my tiring week and uncomfortable week, I was to again mention that I love being pregnant and I have a pretty easy pregnancy, so I don't want to come off that I'm complaining too much. I wanted to blog about the pregnancy experience to help those who are pregnant themselves or haven't experienced it yet so they can get a bit of a "heads up" on what could be happening to them when they are pregnant. Luckily, I think everyone just knows that being pregnant is just uncomfortable, especially when you start to reach the end.
There's one more thing I want to blog about today. A book. But I think I will start a new post for that, so go check out my other post from today and read it.
Baby Stats:
Inches: 17 ish
Weight: 2 1/5-3 lbs ish
If he were a vegetable, he would be a: cabbage. (I don't know how we go from butternut squash to cabbage..... To me a cabbage is smaller.....)
So this week I'm finally down to 10 weeks left. Next week we will be down to single digit weeks. That is so crazy to me.
I have to start out first by the biggest development: stretch marks! I know, I could hardly believe it myself. Today Jed pointed them out to me, which I'm sure he regretted, because I could not stop talking about it for the next 10 minutes. Apparently he's noticed them there for a week! This is what happens when your belly gets this big; you don't notice things below your belly button because they are so hard to see. So, here it begins. Wow. I wondered if this day would come, and here it has.
Well, I'm sick today, surprise surprise. Since Wednesday I've been feeling kind of like I had a cold, and yesterday morning I woke up miserable and this morning as well. Surprisingly, I am wide awake, but my body cannot handle too much today. Weekends are such a blessing. I have a couple of days to try to recoup before I have to go back to work.... It can be hard being the teacher and being sick. Friday morning I was ready to cry because I was so exhausted. If I had put my head down during lunch, I would have fallen asleep almost instantly. The afternoon went well, though, so that helped. This week was also Parent/Teacher conferences, and as I discovered in October, those wear you out! You wouldn't expect it, but they just make you so exhausted. This whole week I've stayed at school (or left school to go to my class) until after dark. Friday was a blessed day, because after all the work I've put in this week, I got to go home early (10 minutes early, that's right).
If I were to describe my week in one word it would be....... uncomfortable. I have been so lucky to have avoided some of the more unpleasant pregnancy symptoms (swelling being the biggest one I am grateful to have avoided so far, knock on wood), and so when the third trimester came (two weeks ago, I know, long time ago), and I read that the third trimester was pretty uncomfortable, I was excited in those first two weeks that I was feeling just as grand as before. Then came Thursday of this week, which happens to be the day I was officially 30 weeks along. Come Thursday, my right side from my lower back down to my knee just hurts. Sometimes it would hurt like that because that was the leg I broke (did you know I broke my femur? That's another story) and so I wondered if that was the reason, but it would not go away! I had Jed try to massage it out so many ways and in so many places to try to find the source of the pain, and we never figured it out, really. So this, I believe, we can chalk up to our favorite culprit: the sciatic nerve. Before it would give me rather sharp pains when I moved, and now I think our baby is just settling on it, and so I got dull, constant pain instead.
Another development: I think my baby's feet have settled right between my ribs and my organs. Since Thursday, I have felt this lovely feeling of being bruised on my lower right ribs. I couldn't figure it out! There was no bruise, for one thing. Then I tried just to gently press around the area to try to find out where the pain was the worst, and as soon as I pushed under my ribs, it hurt. So, with that, I concluded it was the baby. I could very well be wrong. Maybe I have an entirely different problem. But I think I've finally reached the stage where I have random aches and pains and the only answer it: the baby. He's getting big in there! I look at myself in the mirror and I am just amazing how pregnant I look! Ha ha I know it sounds silly, but it's still weird seeing my body look like this.
After this ranting and raging about my tiring week and uncomfortable week, I was to again mention that I love being pregnant and I have a pretty easy pregnancy, so I don't want to come off that I'm complaining too much. I wanted to blog about the pregnancy experience to help those who are pregnant themselves or haven't experienced it yet so they can get a bit of a "heads up" on what could be happening to them when they are pregnant. Luckily, I think everyone just knows that being pregnant is just uncomfortable, especially when you start to reach the end.
There's one more thing I want to blog about today. A book. But I think I will start a new post for that, so go check out my other post from today and read it.
Baby Books, Part 1
Hello there. If you read my 30 weeks post, you may have been sent here to look at this blog post. I hope to have several blog posts about books having to do with
pregnancy and babies, because there are so many dang books out there, and I
hope to give anyone who reads my blog a little advice on what has
worked for me and Jed. I plan on going to the library one of these days
and checking out several baby books, and then I can let you all know
which books I think are the most useful. I've read through hundreds of
reviews on Amazon.com for several books about raising your baby, and so I
have a rough idea of which books might work for me.
Anyways, I wanted to talk today about the three books I've read so far.
1) What to Expect Before You're Expecting. Great book! Granted, I didn't have this book for very long before we found out we were pregnant, but in the months before as we tried to prepare and learn what exactly we could do to up our odds of getting pregnant, this book was invaluable. I am a huge fan of the format of the "What to Expect" books, so I like that. She's also very real in her writing, so she will kind of joke about things, and I like that a lot. The book has a lot of advice for dads when trying to get pregnant, and I love that. It also has a lot of advice on miscarriages and trying to conceive again after a miscarriage, which I think is important because sooooo many women go through that. So, I know that the majority of the world knows the general way of making a baby, but this book is great to give you lots of clues when your body has the best chance of conceiving and it helps you keep track of it so you can see patterns in your own body. Love it.
2) What to Expect When You're Expecting. Love this one too! I scoured over this book soooo much in the first few months of my pregnancy. I love that it is divided my month, so you can get a general idea of what will happen to you in each month. I love that it talks about what is happened to your baby each week, and then what is happening to your body as things change. Each month has questions and answers, which is awesome. The one thing that some people don't like about these books is that it can be hard to find your questions in the book. They aren't necessarily in the month you might think they are in or the index doesn't have that topic. Did I mention there was an index? Yes, there is, so it makes for some easy searching. But people are right, you might be in your 4th month and have a question the book doesn't address until the 6th month. But if you're like me, you read through this book well ahead of where you are in your pregnancy. There have been very few questions I have not been able to find an answer to, and if I couldn't, then I searched Google or asked someone, and I always found my answer. To sum up, I love this book, and I am so glad I have had this. I highly recommend this to everyone.
3) When Two Become Three by Mark E. Crawford. My best friend, Natalie, is taking a class and they had to read this book for it, and I'm so glad she told me about it! Seriously, this book was amazing. By the title you can assume that it talks about having a baby. The whole premise of the book is about how much your life, and most specifically your marriage, will change when you have your first baby. He gives lots of reasons why you need to prepare your relationship with your spouse for the baby, and then each chapter focuses on something to think about. The first chapter was about communication and conflict. I loved that chapter! Jed and I went over it a little together, but it's one we will definitely talk in depth about in the future. It gives great advice for any marriage (whether kids are in the picture or not) on how to have healthy conflict and effective communication. I can't rave enough about that chapter. I would buy that book solely for that chapter.
Then he talks about things like feeling lots of pressure, managing chores around the house, intimacy, relationships with family and friends, having a parenting philosophy, and stepfamilies. All great chapters. He also had two awesome chapters: one for the moms, one for the dads. I loved them both. He basically gives advice about how men and women differ and talks all about how the other parent feels with the new baby and why it's different than you are feeling, what sort of problems sometimes arise from not understanding each other, and all these perspective changing things. Both chapters are really awesome and I would read both, whether you are the mom or the dad in the equation, because it really helps your perspective.
I will also add two more things. First, he has a very readable style of writing. It's a little bit conversational and he throws in some funny things every now and then, so I was very comfortable reading his book. Also, he is a Christian author, so there were never moments where I thought, oh that really does not apply to our lives. He does not mention anything religious, but the whole tone of the book was just nice. He definitely values the same things we do (like the hopes of having me be a stay at home mom and Jed working.... whenever we can get to that part of our lives).
Anyways, I loved this book, in case the long paragraphs of me raving about it didn't give you that clue. It was really awesome, and I learned so much from it. I love the thought of preparing your marriage for such a big change, because no doubt it will change. Our marriage has already changed with me just being pregnant, so I can't imagine what will happen once we actually have to take care of this baby (it really is so much easier when it's inside of you... feeding is done automatically, no diapers to change, no spit up...). So, if you are going to have a baby, go get this book! It's less than $5 on Amazon so even if you are on the tightest of budgets (like we are) you can find change on the ground and in your couch to get this book!
Anyways, I wanted to talk today about the three books I've read so far.
1) What to Expect Before You're Expecting. Great book! Granted, I didn't have this book for very long before we found out we were pregnant, but in the months before as we tried to prepare and learn what exactly we could do to up our odds of getting pregnant, this book was invaluable. I am a huge fan of the format of the "What to Expect" books, so I like that. She's also very real in her writing, so she will kind of joke about things, and I like that a lot. The book has a lot of advice for dads when trying to get pregnant, and I love that. It also has a lot of advice on miscarriages and trying to conceive again after a miscarriage, which I think is important because sooooo many women go through that. So, I know that the majority of the world knows the general way of making a baby, but this book is great to give you lots of clues when your body has the best chance of conceiving and it helps you keep track of it so you can see patterns in your own body. Love it.
2) What to Expect When You're Expecting. Love this one too! I scoured over this book soooo much in the first few months of my pregnancy. I love that it is divided my month, so you can get a general idea of what will happen to you in each month. I love that it talks about what is happened to your baby each week, and then what is happening to your body as things change. Each month has questions and answers, which is awesome. The one thing that some people don't like about these books is that it can be hard to find your questions in the book. They aren't necessarily in the month you might think they are in or the index doesn't have that topic. Did I mention there was an index? Yes, there is, so it makes for some easy searching. But people are right, you might be in your 4th month and have a question the book doesn't address until the 6th month. But if you're like me, you read through this book well ahead of where you are in your pregnancy. There have been very few questions I have not been able to find an answer to, and if I couldn't, then I searched Google or asked someone, and I always found my answer. To sum up, I love this book, and I am so glad I have had this. I highly recommend this to everyone.
3) When Two Become Three by Mark E. Crawford. My best friend, Natalie, is taking a class and they had to read this book for it, and I'm so glad she told me about it! Seriously, this book was amazing. By the title you can assume that it talks about having a baby. The whole premise of the book is about how much your life, and most specifically your marriage, will change when you have your first baby. He gives lots of reasons why you need to prepare your relationship with your spouse for the baby, and then each chapter focuses on something to think about. The first chapter was about communication and conflict. I loved that chapter! Jed and I went over it a little together, but it's one we will definitely talk in depth about in the future. It gives great advice for any marriage (whether kids are in the picture or not) on how to have healthy conflict and effective communication. I can't rave enough about that chapter. I would buy that book solely for that chapter.
Then he talks about things like feeling lots of pressure, managing chores around the house, intimacy, relationships with family and friends, having a parenting philosophy, and stepfamilies. All great chapters. He also had two awesome chapters: one for the moms, one for the dads. I loved them both. He basically gives advice about how men and women differ and talks all about how the other parent feels with the new baby and why it's different than you are feeling, what sort of problems sometimes arise from not understanding each other, and all these perspective changing things. Both chapters are really awesome and I would read both, whether you are the mom or the dad in the equation, because it really helps your perspective.
I will also add two more things. First, he has a very readable style of writing. It's a little bit conversational and he throws in some funny things every now and then, so I was very comfortable reading his book. Also, he is a Christian author, so there were never moments where I thought, oh that really does not apply to our lives. He does not mention anything religious, but the whole tone of the book was just nice. He definitely values the same things we do (like the hopes of having me be a stay at home mom and Jed working.... whenever we can get to that part of our lives).
Anyways, I loved this book, in case the long paragraphs of me raving about it didn't give you that clue. It was really awesome, and I learned so much from it. I love the thought of preparing your marriage for such a big change, because no doubt it will change. Our marriage has already changed with me just being pregnant, so I can't imagine what will happen once we actually have to take care of this baby (it really is so much easier when it's inside of you... feeding is done automatically, no diapers to change, no spit up...). So, if you are going to have a baby, go get this book! It's less than $5 on Amazon so even if you are on the tightest of budgets (like we are) you can find change on the ground and in your couch to get this book!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 29
Baby Stats:
Height: 17 inches
Weight: 3 pounds
If he were a fruit, he would be: a butternut squash
Is it sad to say nothing significant has happened this week? I suppose not, because you don't necessarily want significant things to happen when you're pregnant. Significant can often equal bad. I have continued to be grateful that our baby is so healthy, as well as me. It's nice to know that we don't have to be worried about how much weight I'm gaining, gestational diabetes, preclampsia, and all that jazz. I know I should still be aware of those things and watch for them, but it's nice to have the doctor tell me that so far, I'm doing great!
Can you believe that I have 11 weeks left??? And in 4 days I officially leave the 20's and enter the 30's. I will be 30 weeks along! 30 weeks seemed sooooo far off. The last 10 weeks have passed by ridiculously quickly (and I have a feeling that the next 11 will pass by really slowly).
One thing about this week: The baby has been moving a lot more during the day. I know he was before, but now I can feel it better. His movements have also changed a little. I definitely feel like he is still kicking and punching me, but I think he just rolls over and shifts a lot, because I've been feeling some new, smoother movements. They feel a little more like a stomach dropping sensation. It's interesting and fun.
A friend asked me this week if my appetite has changed much since being pregnant. I have to say, not really! I hadn't really thought about it much, so it surprised me when she asked because I realized it hasn't. Honestly, before becoming pregnant, I was not eating well. I snacked all the time, so I wasn't hungry very much. Now, I don't have opportunities to snack much, so I am appropriately healthy when lunchtime comes around, as well as dinner, even with little snacks between. I think I might eat a little more at my meals, but not significantly. Strange how appetite changes are one of the huge pregnancy side effects you generally expect, and for me the only change in food is that I crave sour things a lot.
Oh, speaking of cravings, we went to Brick Oven this week. You will never believe what I got. Spaghetti! If you know me well, you probably know that I don't like spaghetti and marinara sauce much. But I was craving it that night, and I got it, and it tasted oh so good. I had it for leftovers today and Jed was quite unhappy, because he doesn't like spaghetti either, and so I made the house smell like it. But man it tasted good.
So I was thinking, because my pictures from week to week don't look significantly different, I wanted to see what I looked like between several weeks. So here are a few:
15 weeks:
(Can I just say, I feel like I was WAY skinny back then! I actually was at my heaviest when I first got pregnant, but compared to now I feel like I was doing great ha ha.)
22 weeks:
29 weeks:
So there ya go! I like seeing this. There definitely is a difference between 22 and 29! What a difference 7 weeks makes in a pregnancy. What will I look like at 36 weeks??? (I can give you my educated guess: huge!)
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 28
Baby Stats
Length: 16ish inches
Weight: 2 1/2 ish pounds
If he were a vegetable, he would be a: chinese cabbage
This week was a great week! I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I have entered the 3rd trimester. It feels so good to know that I am 2/3 of the way done! I have to say, the 2nd trimester was awesome. The first kind of sucked. I was worried the whole time about miscarriage, I didn't look pregnant at all so I felt weird telling people, and every time I brushed my teeth I threw up. Second trimester, it's awesome. You get to see the baby really well on the 20 week ultrasound and find out its gender, you start to be able to feel him move (which as we've discussed is nice and reassuring knowing he's alive in there), and you start to get a cute bump so people can tell you're pregnant!
What am I expecting for the third trimester? Well to be honest, I'm not exactly excited. From everyone, even my books, it seems if they were to choose one word to describe the 3rd trimester, it would be uncomfortable. The baby keeps getting bigger, hurting your back and kicking your ribs and kidney and bladder, or not even kicking, but just settling in a spot that hurts like the dickens, and you just can't move around as much. Lovely, right? But I'm still extremely excited for it. Come February, I will finally arrive in the 30 weeks zone, which honestly has seemed so far away. It's just going to be exciting.
So this week I had my 28 week appointment! First off, I had to do the glucose test to test for gestational diabetes. Everyone told me how nasty it tasted, and honestly it was not pleasant, but not the worst I've had to drink. To me, it tasted like fruity cereal mixed with old orange soda. I drank it through a straw so it was done really fast.
*Side note. As I am typing, the baby is having a little jig on my bladder. They always talk about in my books and things about accidentally peeing a little as your baby kicks your bladder. He has kicked my bladder before, I've always been fine (just uncomfortable). Just now, I have to admit I had a hard time holding it in when he kicked!
Back to the doctor's appointment. So I drank the drink, and an hour later I was getting my blood drawn. Then we had to wait an extremely long time to meet with the doctor (he was the only one in the office at the time.....) but we finally made it in. I gained only 3 pounds! And the appointment before this one I gained 3 pounds. So I am at a healthy weight gain and that makes me feel awesome. I don't know how much I will gain in the 3rd trimester (this is when I expect to gain a lot, but I hope it is not so....), but if I continue to gain 3 pounds every 4 weeks, I will have gained exactly 25 pounds, which seems to the the agreed average of what women should gain in their pregnancy.
So then we met with the doctor. He was very nice and very friendly, but he made me laugh. So in the last few appointments, I've had my stomach measured (from pubic bone to the top of the uterus) because apparently, the length should be about the same as weeks you are along. So at my 24 weeks appointment I was at 23 3/4 inches and then at this appointment I was at 27 inches. Yay! So my doctor said to that, "Your uterus is 27 inches which is right on track...... this pleases us," and he proceeded to get out the dopplar and find the baby's heartbeat. Ha ha but I was having the hardest time keeping myself from laughing! He sounded like Gollum when he said "this pleases us." Who is us? It was funny. It was also funny because I was laying down with my stomach exposed as he tried to find the baby's heartbeat. (For my representation of this doctor's assessment, watch this video and cut to 1:30. - Jed)
Anyways, he kept having to move the dopplar around to get the baby's heartbeat which he said is great because it shows our baby is nice and active, which also means he's nice and healthy. Yay! Seriously, that made me so happy. It's so nice to hear your baby is healthy! It's so hard to know anything about your baby as it's inside you, and that can be a little scary, so I love going to the doctor to get that reassurance.
Speaking of being active, I have noticed this week the baby moving a lot more. Before, the best time to feel the baby was lying down, especially if I was on my left side. But this week I've been able to feel him a lot as I am sitting doing lessons with my students. Cool for now, but possibly annoying later. I love it though!
Anyways, that's been this past week. It's been great and I love that we're moving forward so well!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 27
27 weeks down, 13 (ish) to go! Sorry for the unattractive picture for this week....
Baby Stats
Length: 15 inches (We've been measuring from crown to rump, now it's from head to toe!)
Weight: 2 1/2 ish pounds
If he were a veggie, he would be: a cauliflower
So, this week. This has been a great week, physically! Sleep still is not the best, but it's better than over the break. I think getting back to work has exhausted me enough to help me sleep more soundly.
One thing I am hating which I don't think I've mentioned before is dry skin on my lips. A while ago it started, but it went away until last week. So basically, I have little teeny flakes on my lips. No amount of lip balm will help. I use a scrub to try to get rid of it, (this worked the last time) but this time around I'm having some difficulties getting rid of the flakes. So, I just keep trying to use my lip balm and scrub, and hopefully it will go away again! My hands have been kind of dry, too. This winter weather combined with pregnancy symptoms is not great for my skin.
Jed and I are also now starting to try to figure out what to do with our baby's pediatrician and insurance. Man, I hate all this. Since I (most likely) won't be teaching next year, I will no longer be on their benefits. But I will have benefits until August. So do we add the baby for the first 4 months of his life, then move him to BYU insurance? Or should we just put him on the BYU insurance as soon as he's born? I have never understood insurance, so trying to read all of the different insurance stuff is confusing to me. Hopefully we will come to a decision and things will go smoothly! I don't want to sound like I am ungrateful for life right now, because life is great, but I look forward to when school is finished and Jed has a steady job that provides benefits and things. No more switching around. I wonder if life is ever like this, but wouldn't it be great to be in the same house, same company, same insurance, same cars, for several years! I know life is super unpredictable, but going to college makes it more so. I look forward to a few years down the road when we are a little more settled. That being said, life really is grand right now! College is great, I graduate soon, the baby is coming, the pregnancy is going SO well, I'm not gaining pounds and pounds of pregnancy weight, we both have jobs and money coming in, we have a great apartment with super nice landlords, we live near my family, I could keep going! The point is, all is well with the Stephensons and we are grateful for Heavenly Father's help in our lives!
Have a happy Sunday!
Baby Stats
Length: 15 inches (We've been measuring from crown to rump, now it's from head to toe!)
Weight: 2 1/2 ish pounds
If he were a veggie, he would be: a cauliflower
So, this week. This has been a great week, physically! Sleep still is not the best, but it's better than over the break. I think getting back to work has exhausted me enough to help me sleep more soundly.
One thing I am hating which I don't think I've mentioned before is dry skin on my lips. A while ago it started, but it went away until last week. So basically, I have little teeny flakes on my lips. No amount of lip balm will help. I use a scrub to try to get rid of it, (this worked the last time) but this time around I'm having some difficulties getting rid of the flakes. So, I just keep trying to use my lip balm and scrub, and hopefully it will go away again! My hands have been kind of dry, too. This winter weather combined with pregnancy symptoms is not great for my skin.
Jed and I are also now starting to try to figure out what to do with our baby's pediatrician and insurance. Man, I hate all this. Since I (most likely) won't be teaching next year, I will no longer be on their benefits. But I will have benefits until August. So do we add the baby for the first 4 months of his life, then move him to BYU insurance? Or should we just put him on the BYU insurance as soon as he's born? I have never understood insurance, so trying to read all of the different insurance stuff is confusing to me. Hopefully we will come to a decision and things will go smoothly! I don't want to sound like I am ungrateful for life right now, because life is great, but I look forward to when school is finished and Jed has a steady job that provides benefits and things. No more switching around. I wonder if life is ever like this, but wouldn't it be great to be in the same house, same company, same insurance, same cars, for several years! I know life is super unpredictable, but going to college makes it more so. I look forward to a few years down the road when we are a little more settled. That being said, life really is grand right now! College is great, I graduate soon, the baby is coming, the pregnancy is going SO well, I'm not gaining pounds and pounds of pregnancy weight, we both have jobs and money coming in, we have a great apartment with super nice landlords, we live near my family, I could keep going! The point is, all is well with the Stephensons and we are grateful for Heavenly Father's help in our lives!
Have a happy Sunday!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
If Ken were alive....
If Ken (you know, the doll) were a real man, he would be John Davidson.
Today I have had a lovely afternoon watching the Disney movie "The Happiest Millionaire." I love that movie. If I had been a teenage girl when this movie came out (1967) I would have for sure been in love with him. He has the most lovely singing voice. He's also in "The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band." I love that movie, too. He and Leslie Ann Warren have some of the most beautiful duets between these movies. If you haven't seen these movies, I highly recommend you do. They are the classic, good clean fun Disney movies with some great songs. Plus, there's the attractive John Davidson to look at too, ha ha. Looks like we know my celebrity crush...
Monday, January 2, 2012
Fireproof
I finally saw the movie Fireproof yesterday! Jed and I had it from Netflix for much longer than we should have, like at least a couple of months, so I'm really glad we took the time to watch it. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. For those that haven't seen it, it's about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. The husband gets a challenge from his dad to find love through Christ and to do a 40 day "Love Dare" where he does something nice for his wife each day. He is reluctant at first, but learns to fall back in love with his wife. The wife of course is reluctant to trust him, so that puts a wrench in things when the husband finally wants the marriage to work but she is still holding back. There's also an element in the movie about the dangers of pornography and how it can ruin a marriage. I think this could be an awesome movie to have and to use to reflect on how your marriage is going. Being married for 19 months is not that long, and while I could never see us having such big problems that would cause us to grow as far apart as this couple did, you don't want to become complacent because I think it's probably when you get comfortable and stop trying that a marriage starts to fall apart. Constant vigilance, am I right?
Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't cry more than I actually did. I really only teared up a couple of times and tears actually escaped my eyes only in one scene. It was funny, too, I think Jed was expecting me to cry (Scratch that, I'm sure he was. I cry these days over the most ridiculous things). In the beginning, the couple has these terrible fights with awful yelling. They say the most selfish things. Jed was on his laptop as we watched, but he kept reaching over and rubbing my arm and looking at me like, are you okay? I wasn't crying (believe me I was surprised) but it was making me extremely sad to see these people be so selfish and rude to each other. Ha ha but what a good husband is Jed? I think he wanted to make sure I wasn't going to start crying and make sure I remembered that the mean husband is in the movie, and that Jed is a nice husband. It's good to reassure your spouse that you love them. In the arguments we've had, Jed has never been rude to me. We were just talking about this the other day, too. Of course we have had our arguments, and in the beginning of the marriage, I don't think either of us knew really how to deal with the other person when they were upset. Jed would get mad, I would cry, and him being mad made me cry more and my crying made him feel worse and worse, and so he was more mad. Now, if I'm upset, I still cry of course, and Jed gets mad of course, but we have both learned to look past our emotions a little and try to help the other person. It's just awesome knowing that we know each other so well, even in moments when we are most upset and the least likely to be kind to each other, we are learning to be less selfish and help the other person get over their unhappy feelings. I am so glad we have a relationship like that, and not one like the couple in the move where we yell and insult each other!
Anyways, I wanted to write this post not only to recommend the movie to everyone out there, because it was great, but also to talk about how awesome to do something like that! Last year, before Valentine's Day, I did the 12 Days of Valentine's. Starting on February 2nd, I gave Jed a small Milky Way and a Vanilla Coke along with a note of why I loved him. It was really fun for both of us, and I think that doing a challenge like that, whether a 12 day challenge or 40 day challenge where you really focus on showing love to your spouse is awesome. I told Jed we should do that this year as a count down to our anniversary. So, if we do it, you will hear of it! Maybe I will even type up all the things we do for each other so that you can get some inspiration of your own. (And if anyone out there has done something like this, I know Jed and I would both appreciate getting some ideas of what to do. 40 days of different acts of service, gifts, etc. is a lot of things to do, especially when there are two people doing it!) I think I will approach this by looking at the five love languages (physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and acts of service) and think of as many as possible of each. I just have to think of 8 things for each love language, and there's my 40 days! We'll see how it goes.
So, if you're looking for a New Years Resolution, this is a great movie to spark some ideas for resolutions with the people in your life!
Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't cry more than I actually did. I really only teared up a couple of times and tears actually escaped my eyes only in one scene. It was funny, too, I think Jed was expecting me to cry (Scratch that, I'm sure he was. I cry these days over the most ridiculous things). In the beginning, the couple has these terrible fights with awful yelling. They say the most selfish things. Jed was on his laptop as we watched, but he kept reaching over and rubbing my arm and looking at me like, are you okay? I wasn't crying (believe me I was surprised) but it was making me extremely sad to see these people be so selfish and rude to each other. Ha ha but what a good husband is Jed? I think he wanted to make sure I wasn't going to start crying and make sure I remembered that the mean husband is in the movie, and that Jed is a nice husband. It's good to reassure your spouse that you love them. In the arguments we've had, Jed has never been rude to me. We were just talking about this the other day, too. Of course we have had our arguments, and in the beginning of the marriage, I don't think either of us knew really how to deal with the other person when they were upset. Jed would get mad, I would cry, and him being mad made me cry more and my crying made him feel worse and worse, and so he was more mad. Now, if I'm upset, I still cry of course, and Jed gets mad of course, but we have both learned to look past our emotions a little and try to help the other person. It's just awesome knowing that we know each other so well, even in moments when we are most upset and the least likely to be kind to each other, we are learning to be less selfish and help the other person get over their unhappy feelings. I am so glad we have a relationship like that, and not one like the couple in the move where we yell and insult each other!
Anyways, I wanted to write this post not only to recommend the movie to everyone out there, because it was great, but also to talk about how awesome to do something like that! Last year, before Valentine's Day, I did the 12 Days of Valentine's. Starting on February 2nd, I gave Jed a small Milky Way and a Vanilla Coke along with a note of why I loved him. It was really fun for both of us, and I think that doing a challenge like that, whether a 12 day challenge or 40 day challenge where you really focus on showing love to your spouse is awesome. I told Jed we should do that this year as a count down to our anniversary. So, if we do it, you will hear of it! Maybe I will even type up all the things we do for each other so that you can get some inspiration of your own. (And if anyone out there has done something like this, I know Jed and I would both appreciate getting some ideas of what to do. 40 days of different acts of service, gifts, etc. is a lot of things to do, especially when there are two people doing it!) I think I will approach this by looking at the five love languages (physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and acts of service) and think of as many as possible of each. I just have to think of 8 things for each love language, and there's my 40 days! We'll see how it goes.
So, if you're looking for a New Years Resolution, this is a great movie to spark some ideas for resolutions with the people in your life!
Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 26
Hello, hello! So sorry for not only skipping last week, but being late this week with the baby bump posts....
Baby Stats:
Length: 9 inches
Weight: 2 pounds!
If he were a veggie, he would be a: hothouse cucumber (or as my pregnancy book says, just pick up a 2 pound chuck roast at the grocery store, and there's my baby!)
Aren't the holidays wonderful? I loved being able to have a lazy morning, knowing that my afternoon and evening would be all about family, which was equally as fun. It makes me extremely sad that my break is practically over, but at the same time, I'm super duper excited to start the new year, because the sooner it starts and gets going, the sooner this baby will come! I have become so excited for him to come. I used to be scared about him coming early, because I was scared to have to go back to work, but then I realized, it won't be for long, and it will give Jed lots of time to learn to be a daddy or it will give my mom/brothers lots of time to bond with him. Plus, pregnancy is starting to slowly get more uncomfortable.
First, I will talk about the great things about the last couple of weeks, namely, being able to see my stomach move when the baby moves! Seriously, it was only a little bit after the doctor told me, and bam it happened! It generally is most noticeable when I'm lying on my back. It's kind of crazy. It looks like someone is punching (or kicking) the inside of my right side, so my whole stomach moves in that direction and goes back in place. Sometimes he is pretty active and I can watch for a little bit, but usually it's not more than a kick or two. The sad thing is, Jed has yet to see it! I've tried so hard to get him to see it, but every time I call Jed over to look, the baby stops. Ha ha no joke. I wonder if it's because something in my body changes, like my blood pressure, because I'm concentrating so hard on the baby, so it stops because of the changes. It's funny though, when I see my stomach move, my first thought is that our poor baby needs something or is trying to say "Let me out of here!" ha ha. I know that's strange. It is very reassuring, though, to feel my baby. Last week I didn't think I had felt him all day and it scared me! So I turned on my left side like they tell you to, and just concentrated on relaxing (oh and I said a little prayer that my baby was still okay.... I hope that God doesn't mind my little 10 second prayers like this because they happen probably more than they should). But I shouldn't have been worried because I didn't have to wait more than 5 seconds to feel a little movement. I will have to remember things like this in a few months when the baby won't stop moving and it keeps me from sleeping. Then I can be grateful that I get almost constant reassurance that my baby is alive and well. Jed has been able to feel the baby more, which makes us both happy. I even have dreams, like last night, where I can feel specific parts of my baby. In last night's dream, my baby's foot was pushing out, so I could see this foot and leg trying to push through my skin. Describing it makes it seem a lot grosser than it was... but in my dream I could feel the head and the feet of my baby with my hands and let other people feel it too. I'm excited for when my baby gets even bigger and my brothers can feel the baby. I think they'll really like that.
Speaking of sleep.... I think the break has marked the beginning of a hard third trimester (which starts next week!). The first week of the break, I woke up wide awake around 3 or 5 in the morning and nothing would help me get back to sleep. I'd go to the bathroom, eat a snack, drink some milk, cool down in our family room because the bed was too hot, and after all that, I just had to lay in bed looking at my iPhone for a while until I fell asleep. I wonder if it had to do with how little activity I had compared to how much I move around when I teach.
The last few nights have been different. Long gone were the days of sleep on my stomach (it used to be the absolute only way I could sleep). Sleeping on my side was actually more easily achieved than I could have hoped, but I think that's because I sleep at a slight angle down, so my body still feels like it's sleeping on it's stomach. Well now, side sleeping is even slightly uncomfortable! I wake up after sleeping on my left side for a while and my side feels like it's being stretched way past it's ability. So I move to the right, sleep there for a while, and when I wake up, same feeling. Our bed has been over taken by pillows in order for me to sleep well. Poor Jed, he probably feels very cramped on his side of the bed, because I'm pretty sure my huge body pillow has found it's way over to him several times. I even resorted to trying to sleep on my back two nights ago. The only times in my life I've slept on my back were because I was sick and no other positions worked for me, or because I was recovering from my broken femur and moving even the slightest inch brought excruciating pain. But the other night, sleep would not come, and so I actually slept on my back (with the use of 3 pillows). Pillows are a pregnant woman's best friend.
Every day I feel more and more pregnant. I've been sick since Wednesday (really I've felt sick off and on all break, but I've been actually sick since Wednesday), so maybe that's why, but I have just been moving slower. The thought of picking up my feet to run sounds impossible. We have a Kinect, and anytime I have had to jump, I feel the need to hold onto my belly. I hope to goodness I can be fast with the kiddos at school, but I think as the days and weeks go on, I will only become slower and slower. It's kind of crazy how much of a difference I feel in the last two weeks. Quite suddenly, some of my maternity pants are no longer fitting well. The unfortunate thing is that the other pants I have are the ones with the huge band that goes over your whole belly, and those just don't stay up all that well yet because my belly isn't quite big enough yet. But if my belly continues to grow at the rate it's been growing (or at the rate I feel like it's been growing) I will be plenty big in no time and those pants will probably get snug themselves.
Well, as crazy as being pregnant may sound, it's awesome. There's just something about knowing your precious baby is in there that just makes even the awful things so great. And really, nothing has been very awful. I've been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy. I would probably say the worst part of being pregnant has been my immune system. I have gotten sick at least twice a month, September being the worst when I got two different colds and two bouts of the flu. Let's hope that this has left along with 2011!
Oh, and two more awesome things: First, if my baby were born today, he would probably survive! I have no idea how long he'd be in the NICU, but he could survive! It is so nice to not have to be scared of a miscarriage anymore. Of course, any number of things could happen and we could have a stillborn, but odds are good that from now on, our little boy could be born and live!
Second awesome thing: I have less than 100 days to my due date! 94 days until April 5th. Awesome, right? I'm into the double digits.... it's crazy! Time is flying, and I hope it continues to fly by, because I can't wait for out little guy to come! And, like I said before, third trimester starts next week! (As in, calendar week, not week 27. It will start week 28.) I can't believe the second trimester is gone already! It passed by so fast. I think I can thank the holidays for that.
Anyways, happy new year! I hope you all have a great time going back to school.....
Baby Stats:
Length: 9 inches
Weight: 2 pounds!
If he were a veggie, he would be a: hothouse cucumber (or as my pregnancy book says, just pick up a 2 pound chuck roast at the grocery store, and there's my baby!)
Aren't the holidays wonderful? I loved being able to have a lazy morning, knowing that my afternoon and evening would be all about family, which was equally as fun. It makes me extremely sad that my break is practically over, but at the same time, I'm super duper excited to start the new year, because the sooner it starts and gets going, the sooner this baby will come! I have become so excited for him to come. I used to be scared about him coming early, because I was scared to have to go back to work, but then I realized, it won't be for long, and it will give Jed lots of time to learn to be a daddy or it will give my mom/brothers lots of time to bond with him. Plus, pregnancy is starting to slowly get more uncomfortable.
First, I will talk about the great things about the last couple of weeks, namely, being able to see my stomach move when the baby moves! Seriously, it was only a little bit after the doctor told me, and bam it happened! It generally is most noticeable when I'm lying on my back. It's kind of crazy. It looks like someone is punching (or kicking) the inside of my right side, so my whole stomach moves in that direction and goes back in place. Sometimes he is pretty active and I can watch for a little bit, but usually it's not more than a kick or two. The sad thing is, Jed has yet to see it! I've tried so hard to get him to see it, but every time I call Jed over to look, the baby stops. Ha ha no joke. I wonder if it's because something in my body changes, like my blood pressure, because I'm concentrating so hard on the baby, so it stops because of the changes. It's funny though, when I see my stomach move, my first thought is that our poor baby needs something or is trying to say "Let me out of here!" ha ha. I know that's strange. It is very reassuring, though, to feel my baby. Last week I didn't think I had felt him all day and it scared me! So I turned on my left side like they tell you to, and just concentrated on relaxing (oh and I said a little prayer that my baby was still okay.... I hope that God doesn't mind my little 10 second prayers like this because they happen probably more than they should). But I shouldn't have been worried because I didn't have to wait more than 5 seconds to feel a little movement. I will have to remember things like this in a few months when the baby won't stop moving and it keeps me from sleeping. Then I can be grateful that I get almost constant reassurance that my baby is alive and well. Jed has been able to feel the baby more, which makes us both happy. I even have dreams, like last night, where I can feel specific parts of my baby. In last night's dream, my baby's foot was pushing out, so I could see this foot and leg trying to push through my skin. Describing it makes it seem a lot grosser than it was... but in my dream I could feel the head and the feet of my baby with my hands and let other people feel it too. I'm excited for when my baby gets even bigger and my brothers can feel the baby. I think they'll really like that.
Speaking of sleep.... I think the break has marked the beginning of a hard third trimester (which starts next week!). The first week of the break, I woke up wide awake around 3 or 5 in the morning and nothing would help me get back to sleep. I'd go to the bathroom, eat a snack, drink some milk, cool down in our family room because the bed was too hot, and after all that, I just had to lay in bed looking at my iPhone for a while until I fell asleep. I wonder if it had to do with how little activity I had compared to how much I move around when I teach.
The last few nights have been different. Long gone were the days of sleep on my stomach (it used to be the absolute only way I could sleep). Sleeping on my side was actually more easily achieved than I could have hoped, but I think that's because I sleep at a slight angle down, so my body still feels like it's sleeping on it's stomach. Well now, side sleeping is even slightly uncomfortable! I wake up after sleeping on my left side for a while and my side feels like it's being stretched way past it's ability. So I move to the right, sleep there for a while, and when I wake up, same feeling. Our bed has been over taken by pillows in order for me to sleep well. Poor Jed, he probably feels very cramped on his side of the bed, because I'm pretty sure my huge body pillow has found it's way over to him several times. I even resorted to trying to sleep on my back two nights ago. The only times in my life I've slept on my back were because I was sick and no other positions worked for me, or because I was recovering from my broken femur and moving even the slightest inch brought excruciating pain. But the other night, sleep would not come, and so I actually slept on my back (with the use of 3 pillows). Pillows are a pregnant woman's best friend.
Every day I feel more and more pregnant. I've been sick since Wednesday (really I've felt sick off and on all break, but I've been actually sick since Wednesday), so maybe that's why, but I have just been moving slower. The thought of picking up my feet to run sounds impossible. We have a Kinect, and anytime I have had to jump, I feel the need to hold onto my belly. I hope to goodness I can be fast with the kiddos at school, but I think as the days and weeks go on, I will only become slower and slower. It's kind of crazy how much of a difference I feel in the last two weeks. Quite suddenly, some of my maternity pants are no longer fitting well. The unfortunate thing is that the other pants I have are the ones with the huge band that goes over your whole belly, and those just don't stay up all that well yet because my belly isn't quite big enough yet. But if my belly continues to grow at the rate it's been growing (or at the rate I feel like it's been growing) I will be plenty big in no time and those pants will probably get snug themselves.
Well, as crazy as being pregnant may sound, it's awesome. There's just something about knowing your precious baby is in there that just makes even the awful things so great. And really, nothing has been very awful. I've been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy. I would probably say the worst part of being pregnant has been my immune system. I have gotten sick at least twice a month, September being the worst when I got two different colds and two bouts of the flu. Let's hope that this has left along with 2011!
Oh, and two more awesome things: First, if my baby were born today, he would probably survive! I have no idea how long he'd be in the NICU, but he could survive! It is so nice to not have to be scared of a miscarriage anymore. Of course, any number of things could happen and we could have a stillborn, but odds are good that from now on, our little boy could be born and live!
Second awesome thing: I have less than 100 days to my due date! 94 days until April 5th. Awesome, right? I'm into the double digits.... it's crazy! Time is flying, and I hope it continues to fly by, because I can't wait for out little guy to come! And, like I said before, third trimester starts next week! (As in, calendar week, not week 27. It will start week 28.) I can't believe the second trimester is gone already! It passed by so fast. I think I can thank the holidays for that.
Anyways, happy new year! I hope you all have a great time going back to school.....
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