28 Weeks

It's been a rough week for sure (see my previous post), which sort of explains my delay in posting this update.  Sort of.  I'll be 29 weeks on Saturday.  One of these days I'll post these in a timely fashion but for now this is what you get!


How am I feeling? Not horrible.  Baby Boy is starting to crowd my lungs, which is causing some breathing discomfort.  As I mentioned in my last update, I keep forgetting that I'm 28 weeks pregnant.  I just got back from taking a walk (to get a bagel...don't think I'm actually going out for my health!) and had some major discomfort in the left side of my abdomen once I realized that I was walking too quickly for my body.  I've also suddenly been having some sleeping trouble.  I had a hard time getting comfortable last night and am still waking very regularly (at least once per night) with a body part that is numb.

Weight thoughts: Still frustrated, but trying not to think about it.  I'm eating when I'm hungry and I'm trying to be smart about what I'm eating and eating lots of fruits and veggies.  And a Shamrock Shake.  Try not to judge.


Doctor appointments?  Nothing until 2/22.

Movement?  Yes!  Baby Boy is VERY active, especially in the evenings.  I have a feeling we're going to have a definite witching hour in the evenings with him.  I had my first experience with painful movement right at 28 weeks--it felt like he was trying to bruise me from the inside.  I'm pretty sure he's still transverse, based on a very emphatic flourish of movement that I got last night when I must have rolled too far toward my stomach.  It was like he was letting me know that I was squishing his head--he was flailing on both sides of my stomach, waving his arms and kicking his legs.

Baby preparation? Our basement is done, which means that the nursery is the only huge project we need to tackle before his arrival.  We haven't even thought about it much, though.  If we're healthy this weekend, maybe we'll go shopping and see if there's anything that we really like.

The biggest news, though, is that we are about 90% sure that we have a name.  We had narrowed our list down to about 3 names and had said them all to Baby Girl to make her feel involved.  Now when we ask her what Boomer's (our nickname for Baby Boy) real name is going to be, she'll respond with one of the names consistently.  We question her about the other two and she says, "No..." and tells us the name she likes.  We could obviously convince her of a different name, but listening to her say it has convinced us that we like it, so I'm guessing it's going to be Baby Boy's name.  And no, I'm not sharing with anyone.  Hopefully Baby Girl doesn't either!

Sick Days

I've been delaying this post until I had some sort of resolution...but we're still just not there.

Saturday morning Baby Girl coughed once or twice.  We assumed a cold was coming on--no big deal, especially since we hadn't been sick since prior to Christmas.  We still shipped her off to her Grandma and Papaw's for the night for Grandma's birthday (yes, a night off for us is a birthday gift for my mom).  They came back Sunday night and we went out to dinner and nothing seemed off.  When I took Baby Girl to bed that night, she felt a little warm.  She was still acting normal and since she always feels a teeny bit warm to me, I didn't worry too much.  She was coughing a bit more, but again, nothing to worry about.  Something in my Mommy Gut told me to take her temperature before she fell asleep and I'm glad I did--101.1 orally (the first time she's ever had her temperature taken that way, actually--she did remarkably well).  I gave her some Tylenol and she slept a normal night.

I went downstairs to talk to The Hubby.  I know a fever isn't a big deal for most kids, but the only fevers we've seen have knocked Baby Girl out and were due to double ear infections.  She's cut almost all of her teeth and we've never had a fever from them.  She's had 6 (I think) single ear infections and no fevers from them.  She's had countless colds...no fevers.  So for her to have a fever of 101.1 was a fairly big deal.  We decided to wait and see how she was feeling Monday morning to decide what to do, but did compare our work schedules and The Hubby concluded he could stay home all day if I could stay home on Tuesday.

Her temperature was between 101 and 102 on Monday.

And Tuesday.

And again today.

WTF?

Yesterday the cough got so bad that it woke her from her nap, which hasn't happened very many times, no matter how bad her coughs have been.  She'd been sleeping for about 45 minutes when she woke up.  Once I'd concluded that she wasn't going to go back to sleep on her own, I gathered her up and took her into our bedroom to snuggle.  At first I didn't think she'd fall asleep, but after just a few songs, she was breathing heavily, stirring only to cough.  At some point, I dozed off, too, and woke when she'd shift or cough.  Around 4:00 I was done napping and turned on the TV quietly.  It wasn't until 4:20 that she woke up--she slept with me for 2 hours and 20 minutes!  Wow.  The only bad part about it was that she kept coughing in my face...I'm sure it's inevitable that I'm going to end up with this cold.  I just hope it doesn't come with the fever. But getting a snuggle with my busy 2 1/2 year old was blissful.

I called the doctor yesterday and the nurse thought that we should wait out the fever and keep treating it if it was over 101.  She said we should call back today if the cough got worse or the fever didn't subside.

Today I stayed home for the morning then did the switch with The Hubby at our place of work at noon.  After Baby Girl's nap, her temp was still 102, so she was given acetaminophen and The Hubby and I decided that he should call the doctor again.  He took Baby Girl to see a doctor and was told that her lungs sound perfect and her ears look perfect.  He said to keep treating the fever with acetaminophen and ibuprofen and to give some cough medicine at bedtime to help her sleep. If she starts getting thicker snot, we're supposed to call and have an antibiotic called in.

So I have no resolution.  I'd love to be reporting that the fever has broken or that the cough has subsided, but the cough just seems to keep getting worse and the fever is still there.  I'm facing The Working Mom Guilt--juggling both my responsibilities at home and at work and feeling guilty for not being able to give 100% to either one.  On top of that, while we have The Best Sick Leave Policy Ever, I'm feeling stressed because I need to have 240 hours banked by the time Baby Boy arrives.  I'm around 250 as of the end of January and while I will keep earning hours over the next few months, I already know I'll be burning time for my doctor appointments, staying home with Baby Girl, and then for myself if I end up with this.  It will all be okay--just another thing to worry about.

27 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, fairly good.  I'm definitely feeling more and more pregnant, but still have moments of forgetting how pregnant I am.  For instance, I jogged down the street with Baby Girl yesterday and when I was done was shocked at the tightness that I was feeling.  I also will walk at a quicker pace, but then realize how out of breath I am and how much my ankles hurt.  My reflux is mainly in check and I've been able to even enjoy some salsa and tomato-based foods.  I did try to drink a Diet Coke last Sunday and had a REALLY rough evening.  No more of that until after Baby Boy arrives!

Emotionally, I'm worried about bonding with Baby Boy.  Now that I know his positioning and have heard his heartbeat again, I feel a bit more connected to him, but I just find myself wondering how I can possibly love him as much as his sister.  I'm sure it will all be okay once he's here--just anxious about it for now.

I'm also having trouble with my weight gain, which I'll discuss below.

Weight thoughts: I've been weighing myself sporadically at home and had headed to the doctor feeling fairly optimistic and hoping for a weight gain of about 3 pounds.  Unfortunately, what I got was a weight gain of 9 pounds!  That means I'm up 27 pounds since my 7 week appointment--not what I was hoping for.  I thought something was wrong and expressed that to my doctor and she agreed that it was unlikely that I'd gained that much.  I've been a lot more careful about my portion sizes because of the reflux, so I'd assumed my weight gain would be minimal.  However, when I weighed myself this morning at home, the scale reflected the same weight gain.  In fact, I now weigh the same as I did when I delivered Baby Girl, which is also the same weight I was when I got married.  And it's only going up from here.

I'm really upset about this.  I know it's not the end of the world, but I had thought I was doing really well.  I'm now going to cut out some of the peanut butter I've been eating (it's been an easy protein for me so I've been having it twice a day--once on toast in the morning and also in the afternoon with an apple) and hope to start getting out for more walks.  I'm obviously not going to starve myself or obsess *too* much, but it's painful to see another large weight gain.


Doctor appointments?  I just had one yesterday, which is why I waited to post (I'll technically turn 28 weeks on Saturday).  My appointment was at 1:45 p.m., so I finished my glucose drink at 12:55 and told the receptionist when I arrived.  At 1:55 they still hadn't called me back, so I approached the receptionist and she immediately knew why I was there.  She ran and got someone to draw my blood and we did the glucose screening.  My number was 103 and they wanted it at 134 or below--what a load off my mind!  I went back to the waiting room to wait for awhile longer, then the nurse took us back to a room.  She took my weight, urine, and blood pressure (crazy low for me--98/54, I think, because I hadn't had much food since breakfast in anticipation of my glucose screening), then left us alone again.  I'm lucky The Hubby brought our iPad to the appointment because we didn't actually see the doctor until after 2:45.

Dr. S was apologetic about being late and then asked how baby's movement is.  I told her about my suspicion that he might have turned to head down, but then that he might be transverse again, so she checked my stomach and confirmed that he was at an angle--his feet/bum toward my right shoulder and his head toward my left hip.  She immediately found the heartbeat (154 bpm) and reassured me that he has plenty of time to turn.  We talked about my candidacy for a VBAC (she thinks I'm a really good candidate) and my reflux issues.  She suggested I try some Mylanta if I think I'm going to have something that might really upset my stomach on top of the Zantac that I'll continue to take twice per day.

Movement?  Oh goodness, yes.  As of Wednesday the 25th, I was very sure that Baby Boy was transverse.  I was feeling kicks and hits on both of my sides at the same time.  Then Thursday night (the 26th) I had a lot of steady pressure and for the next 4 days or so only felt fairly light movement down very low.  I thought maybe he'd turned to a head-down position.  Then on Tuesday the 31st I started feeling movement on both sides again.  Since our doctor appointment yesterday, I've been very aware of what I'm feeling.  I'm feeling LOTS of kicks under my right breast and some more rolling-type movement in the middle of my stomach (likely either a shoulder or his butt).  I'm also getting some movement on my lower left side and some light movement down very low (which I would assume would be a hand).

Baby preparation? We've been working hard at getting better habits in regards to keeping our house clean (more on that very soon) and have also been organizing our basement so we can create a 2nd living room with more toy storage down there.  But we haven't touched the nursery recently.  We're shipping Baby Girl off to my parents' house this weekend for my mom's birthday, so maybe we'll work more in the nursery then.

Meal Plan: 1/29/2012 - 2/4/2012

Sunday: Baked chicken nuggets with macaroni & cheese and frozen veggies
Monday: Veggie pesto pizza
Tuesday: Out (Baby Girl has her first swimming lessons!)
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Tacos
Thursday: Smoked Sausage Pierogi Bake
Friday: Salsafied Chicken
Saturday: Either quesadillas from pork taco meat or out for a friend's birthday

Two and a half--the short version

I had hoped to write a beautiful, glowing post today to honor Baby Girl turning two and a half. As of right now, though, I don't have much positive to say about anything. It has been a trying afternoon, complete with a very short nap, two pee accidents (when she's had none in weeks), a bad attitude because she's tired, refusal to let me take any pictures, and then topped off with a very, very bad reflux day for me.

I'm now laying in bed while The Hubby cooks dinner (after asking many questions...if I could stand up straight, I would just cook it myself). Hoping tomorrow is a better day for us all.

Our adventure

Yesterday we picked up Baby Girl from the sitter at our normal time and began the trek home.  We exited the freeway like normal, drove down one street, then turned onto another and found that the first traffic light we got to was out.  This was still far enough from our house that we didn't think it would affect us.  There were policemen there directing traffic, which meant we waited longer at the intersection than we otherwise would have, but also meant that people had to stop.  The electric company was working in the right-hand lane just past the traffic light.  We got to the next light, which was also out.*  The Hubby and I began to wonder if this would affect our neighborhood.  We turned into our neighborhood a bit further down the road, but looked ahead and saw the next traffic light was functioning, which made us think that things would be fine.

At this point, it was just before 5:30.  It was light enough out that it was plausible that people wouldn't have lights on in their houses and the street lights wouldn't be on yet, so we didn't have much of an indication of whether our electricity was on.  We still thought that the outage was far enough from our house that we'd be okay.  We turned on the last street before we got to ours and saw someone parking their car in the driveway.  Again, totally normal around our neighborhood, but it made The Hubby and I start to wonder if perhaps the electric garage door opener wasn't working.

We rounded the corner and pulled into our driveway.  Garage door wasn't moving.  Crap.  The Hubby hopped out and opened the door manually so we could pull the car in.  Both of us started thinking about the things we needed to do so we could function without electricity.  He started pulling out candles and I started thinking about what would need to happen with dinner.  We'd planned on just reheating leftovers in the microwave, but it's hard to do that without electricity.  Baby Girl was running around like a crazy person and didn't understand why we were cranky.  I sat her down and told her she needed to entertain herself for a minute and she agreed to go color, so I got her set up on her table with some paper and crayons.

I was able to use The Hubby's iPhone and check the electric company's website to see if they had individual outages listed since we still had no idea how long to expect the outage to last.  Nope--just a count of the outages across the counties they serve.  And then I thought I'd submit an outage, but that portion of the site didn't seem to be working.  Thanks for the help, electric company.

So now we have to prepare as if we won't have electricity all night.  We start panicking thinking about Baby Girl's bedtime.  We consider our dinner options--go out or stay in and don't spend money (a goal we've had recently).  The Hubby suggested that he could grill up some hot dogs and just have some pretzels or tortilla chips with them.  I started thinking--if the grill has gas...and the grill also has a side burner that's never been used...maybe we could cook a whole meal out there.  Thank goodness it was still over 40 degrees outside and not raining.  I planned out what needed to be pulled from the fridge so I wouldn't let the cold air out and got out the leftover brats, the hot dogs, cheese, ketchup, milk, butter, and a few other things.  We got a box of Pasta Roni and The Hubby fixed that on the side burner while he reheated the brats, cooked the dogs, and reheated the veggies we'd had with the brats on the grill.

We had our picnic in the living room on Baby Girl's art table, which I could tell she really enjoyed.  As The Hubby and I were finishing up (it was about 6:30 by this time), we heard something.  The furnace!  Woo!  Everything in our house started to function again and Baby Girl said excitedly, "now we can turn on the TV!"  We told her that we weren't going to do that--we were going to spend the rest of the evening like we didn't have electricity.  We read books by flashlight, colored some more, and then did bedtime mostly like normal (I wasn't going to try to put her to bed without her nightlight and wave machine if I didn't have to!).

It was really stressful trying to figure out what we were going to do if the electricity was out for an extended period, but it made me really grateful for lots of things last night: good weather, a nice grill, The Hubby and me working well together, Baby Girl's patience, The Hubby doing some cleaning in the basement so I could get to our overstock shelves, and the ability to interact without a TV on.  We'd actually recently been waiting to turn the TV on until after dinner anyway, but seeing Baby Girl's reaction makes me even more conscious of wanting to spend more time with it off when she's awake.  Yes, it means that The Hubby and I don't get our half hour break before her bedtime while she watches Little Einsteins to wind down, but I think that will be okay for the next few months.




*Why the hell don't people get that when the lights are out they should treat the intersection as a 4-way stop? I don't care that one street is fairly busy (speed limit is 40 mph) and the other is just entrances to a couple of subdivisions.  STOP.

26 Weeks

There are conflicting answers about when the 3rd trimester begins, but based on the way I'm feeling, I'm going to say I'm still solidly in the 2nd trimester.  I think of the 3rd trimester as being 28 weeks, but know that mathematically that wouldn't be true if you're pregnant for 40 weeks.  The real update for this week, though, is that we're just cruising along with the status quo.

I did compare my belly shot from this time to the one from last time and I think my belly at 25.5 weeks looks similar to my belly a little closer to 30 weeks last time.  Of course, I started out this pregnancy about 30 pounds heavier, too, and am nearing the weight I was at when I delivered DD.


How am I feeling? Physically, I'm doing better.  My acid issues have been reduced by the twice daily Zantac and avoiding acidic foods and drinks.  It makes me sad not to be able to drink pop, orange juice, and not to be able to eat oranges and tomato-based foods, but if it makes me feel better, I'll do it.  I did make a dish last week (and have eaten it 3 times since then in the form of leftovers) that had a tomato sauce, but had a good amount of cream cheese and sour cream in it that didn't make me feel horrible, so that was encouraging.  I also need to really watch myself to make sure I don't overeat.

Weight thoughts: Because I've been more aware of my tendency to overeat, my weight leveled off some.  I don't think I'll have a month with no gain like I had originally hoped, but it shouldn't be the ridiculous amount of gain that I had the last couple of months.  My digestive system has...ummm...slowed down recently.  I think if I were more...regular....I might be able to maintain my weight better.


Doctor appointments?  Wednesday, February 1st for my glucose screening test.

Movement? This little guy is a mover.  It varies between punches and kicks and rolls and turns.  I still have no idea what his positioning is in there, especially since I'm getting sharp jabs on both sides of my abdomen at once.  I'd guess he's transverse, but am hoping my doctor will be able to tell at our next appointment.

Baby preparation? Well, the nursery has been un-pinked and Baby Girl's clothes are all now in her room (and packed in tubs).  We went through the teeny baby clothes and pulled out gender-neutral stuff.  There wasn't much, honestly.  Over our long weekend Baby Girl decided to make some art for the nursery, so we bought some frames and hung it up.  I love it.  :)  A friend is going to give me some boy clothes at some point, but not sure what we will find it.  I think both of her boys were August babies, so not sure what seasons we'll have in what sizes.  I'm just really grateful, though!!

Here's the art that Baby Girl created for her little brother (I added this photo after Cassie's comment, so don't think she's crazy!):

Meal Plan 1/22/12 - 1/28/12

We did really well with cooking most nights last week, save some Chinese on Monday night and going out with our families on Saturday and Sunday nights (which means we didn't have to pay...score!).  So it may sound like we didn't do that well after all...but I blame Baby Boy for the Chinese and how were we going to pass up going out with our parents?  I did end up with some chicken leftovers in the fridge, though, and will cook it up tonight so we have cooked chicken for meals this week.  I also have book club on Wednesday night, so I wanted that to be something very simple.

Sunday: Out with my parents
Monday: Leftovers from last week (brats & tater tots and leftover pasta from Saturday)
Tuesday: Quesadillas
Wednesday: Pizza with a pesto sauce (chicken, mushrooms, peppers)
Thursday: Cream of potato & broccoli soup with turkey BLTs (soup recipe will be posted later)
Friday: Salsafied Chicken
Saturday: Chicken Fried Rice

Meal Plan 1/15/12 - 1/21/12

I'm enjoying a nice quiet weekend at home with my two favorite people.  The best part?  We get a bonus day tomorrow!  I've been strangely productive (a post coming on that later) and yet have felt like I've been lazy.  It's been blissful.  I'm going to pick up some supplies to do some baking with Baby Girl when I hit the grocery in a few minutes--we'll probably make some brownies.  Yum.

Sunday: Cheesy Sausage Penne: When Cassie posted this on Facebook, I immediately thought, "Nah...I probably shouldn't try it just yet.  It also looks like it'll take too long to do on a weeknight."  But then when I showed it to The Hubby, he insisted we try it and reminded me that we have both Sunday and Monday to cook longer meals if we want.  So we're going to go for it.  Hope I don't feel horrible afterwards!

Monday: Cream Cheese, Chicken & Veggie Soup: We made this just a couple of weeks ago, but Baby Girl (and her parents...) loved it so much that I decided to make it again.

Tuesday: Salsafied Chicken with Rice: This is one of our old favorites and it'll be my first foray with salsa in about a month.  I hope it goes well.  The dish itself isn't that spicy, so I think it'll be okay.

Wednesday: Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops: Another one of Cassie's creations that I'm eager to try.  I hope it's as delicious as it looks.  We'll be having it with mashed potatoes and some sort of frozen veggie, but I don't think I can handle the huge serving of mashed potatoes that Cassie features on her blog :)  In a former life I could, but not these days (unless I want to be tasting mashed potatoes over and over again all evening).

Thursday: Brats & tater tots: I was cleaning out my coupons and found a pretty good one for Johnsonville Chicken Sausage and then happened to look at the Kroger ad and found that Johnsonville products are on sale this week.  Double score!  We'll likely have these made in the skillet with some peppers and onions.

Friday: Veggie quesadillas: The Hubby suggested quesadillas and when he actually requests something, I'll gladly oblige.  I asked what kind of meat he wanted and he said veggie would be fine.  We'll include mushrooms, peppers, and onions inside our quesadillas and serve it with some sort of rice and maybe some beans.

Saturday: We *think* we'll be going out with The Hubby's family to celebrate his mom's and both of his brothers' birthdays (1/30, 1/15, and 1/25), so we're not planning a meal.  If we end up at home that night, we can fix a frozen pizza or go out to eat for the first time in 2 weeks.  We'll just have to wait and see!

21-25ish Weeks

I've been quiet and I'm sorry.  I'm sorry to my readers, however many there may be left, but mostly I'm sorry to myself and my baby.  I've always dreamed of taking selected blog entries and turning them into a book for my kids and for myself someday.  I feel like I've missed out on a huge chunk of my pregnancy by not blogging about it.

I can explain why, though.  You see, in my head, pregnancy should be a joyous thing.  I don't remember feeling too down when pregnant with Baby Girl, except when I would look in the mirror.  But things haven't been as happy this time around.  I was in this funk for a few weeks that I couldn't shake, plus trying to focus on the holidays and all the joy that that brought with my two-year-old (totally serious--it was a great Christmas!).  And then right after the holidays I started to feel horrible.  I was achy all the time, couldn't get comfortable, and then felt like I couldn't eat or drink anything because of the massive amount of acid (and subsequent nausea) I was dealing with.

I went to my doctor appointment on January 3rd and was told I should take Zantac twice a day, which I've been doing since that day.  It has helped get me to the point where I can eat and drink water again, but I'm still feeling acid-y for no apparent reason sometimes.  I can deal with that, though.  I'm trying very hard not to overeat and to avoid acidic foods and have done a fairly good job so far.  And I am lucky that the reflux is not causing heartburn generally--it's just making me burp up everything that I eat, which is disturbing and disgusting, but not painful.


How am I feeling? Physically, I'm doing a lot better than I was (see above).  I haven't had nearly as many uncomfortable days as I had been.  I've been completely exhausted most days and just want to sleep my life away.  A few weeks ago I noticed that I had stopped losing my hair and my nip.ples had gotten a lot larger.  I think my bo.obs have grown some, but it may just be the natural growth from the weight gain.  I'm still sleeping well (knock on wood), even without a pregnancy pillow, and have only had to wake up a few nights to pee.

Mentally, I'm still feeling yuck about the way I look.  My organs have pushed my fat up and out above my pregnant belly, so my upper belly is still bigger than my lower.  I can typically wear things to round it out, but some days I don't and feel really self-conscious all day.  I still have many people saying they had no idea I was expecting, which makes me feel like they were used to me being fat.

Weight thoughts: I have packed on the pounds over the last two months.  Between my early November appointment and my early January appointment, I think I gained close to 15 pounds.  I gained 6 or 8 between December and January and all of that was BEFORE the holidays.  How crazy.  With my new-found reflux, though, I'm eating a lot smaller portions and therefore am being more conscious of what I eat.  If I want an apple and some junk food, I've generally chosen the apple with some peanut butter.

I'm currently getting close to the weight I was when I delivered Baby Girl (which, subsequently, was also the same weight I was when I got married...and then lost another 50 pounds...)


Doctor appointments?  My next appointment will be February 1st and it will be my glucose screening.  I'll be 27 1/2 weeks at that point.  I'm actually sort of nervous about the glucose screening and hope that I don't fail.  I didn't have a problem last time, but I was also a lot smaller last time.

Movement? I'm feeling lots of definite movement.  Over the holidays (I believe it was the day or two after Christmas), Baby Girl got to feel her baby brother kick her.  The Hubby has felt it a few times, but generally loses patience after awhile.  I do think that Baby Girl was more active than her brother has been.  I don't worry about him, but I just don't think he's moving quite as much as she was.  He's definitely getting around, though.  One hour he'll be way over at the side and the next he'll be down low.  His favorite place to hang out is down very low and his favorite punching bag seems to be my urethra or my bladder.  It's not a comfortable thing at all, especially when I'm in the car getting kicked in the back by my lovely daughter!

Baby preparation? Besides trying to choose a name (which we still haven't been able to do), we have done a whole lot of nothing.  I've looked very casually at bedding online, but I'm just not feeling crazy about any of it yet.  I'm sure I'll get there soon enough.  We've decided that all we need to buy is a double stroller and some sort of carrier.  I don't plan on getting a carrier until baby is here so I have a better feel for the way it will fit with baby and with my body post-baby.  We think we'll get a Sit and Stand stroller and still use the single for awhile with Baby Boy in a carrier, at least until Baby Girl is 3 or so.  She still rides will in a stroller, so I hate to mess with that!

Meal Plan 1/8/12-1/14/12

I'm still struggling to remember what foods we can eat that don't have tomatoes in them.  In addition to the acid flare-ups (which have gotten better thanks to some medication), my rosacea has been really ugly the morning after we have tomatoes for dinner.  I never realized how much tomato we eat until I've tried cutting it out.  We just love Mexican and Italian flavors.

I'm just taking guesses at what nights we'll have each meal--it might get switched around based on my pregnant tummy.  It's also likely one will be carried over to next week or through the long weekend--I can't imagine we'll actually cook every single night this week.  I hope we will, but just don't have faith in us :)

Sunday: out
Monday: Smoked Sausage, Cabbage, & Potatoes (left from last week)
Tuesday: Roasted whole chicken with mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Cube steak w/gravy cream of mushroom soup over rice (a childhood favorite of mine)
Thursday: Roasted garlic & potato soup
Friday: Pancakes, turkey bacon, and fruit
Saturday: Chicken pot pie

2012

I don't know that I can call these resolutions, but I've been trying to consider some goals for 2012--some things I'd like to work on.  It's going to be a year of flux for us, so I don't know how much I can realistically take on, but there are parts of my life I can try to improve either way.  I know you've probably read many, many blog posts about people's resolutions...so just add this one to the list.

1) Be more appreciative.  I want to start showing people how much I appreciate them.  I think we are too quick to take things that people do for granted without telling them that it's been noticed and I want to try to change that, at least from my point of view.  I also challenge YOU to tell people around you how much you appreciate them.  It doesn't have to be a three paragraph essay--just a sentence or two to let someone know that their efforts are noticed and appreciated.

2) Get a firm budget (for the next 6 months).  Things will be changing in July (approximately) when we have to start paying for two in daycare (eek!), but I'd like to get a really firm budget in the meantime.  I feel like we actually do a great job of balancing saving with living comfortably.  We splurge on cable and eating out (and by splurge, I mean we will have Tim Horton's for breakfast once a weekend and eat out for dinner once or twice a week, not usually costing more than $20/meal for all three of us....), but balance that with shopping for deals, grocery savings, and generally watching what we're spending.  I do, however, fear that there is some money falling through the cracks, being spent on "Miscellaneous".  Those trips to Walmart/Meijer/Target, a quick stop in a grocery store that costs $20 because I bought a couple of boxes of Hostess snack cakes (they were BOGO!)...  I don't feel the need to really limit what we're spending, but just be more aware of it and, possibly more importantly, make The Hubby more aware of it, even though (and because) I'm the one who typically spends it.

3) Send birthday cards. My mom's family really makes a point of sending cards for occasions and my mom would love me to be the same way.  I'm, unfortunately, not.  I don't think of it early enough and then feel like a jerk for sending it too late.  So I'm going to pare down the list that my mom has given me (multiple times....) and determine whose birthdays are important to me to recognize (especially if we won't see them) and create a plan for making sure the cards are actually sent.  For instance, I realized during a meeting about an hour ago that my best friend in college's birthday is at the end of the month.  I want to make sure to send her a paper card for it.

4) Enjoy Baby Boy's infanthood more than I enjoyed Baby Girl's.  I don't look back at Baby Girl's early days fondly.  I put a lot of stress upon myself throughout that time (and still do...) and didn't really enjoy the stages she went through at the beginning.  I'm not a person who loves the infant stage anyway (and I am so happy I can admit that now!), but I want to try to relax a bit more with Baby Boy.  I want nursing to be something to enjoy, even at the beginning.  I found that I enjoyed it with Baby Girl once there was less pressure, once I'd made my one-year goal.  I want to allow myself to pump and let others feed Baby Boy and just not stress about the whole experience as much.

I have other goals related to both of my children, but don't really consider them goals for 2012.

I think these are doable.  I really would like to get others to join me in showing appreciation to others!  I think it could go a long way!

Meal Plan 1/1/12-1/7/12

I've been a slacker blogger over the last few weeks.  Besides the craziness of the holidays, I've been feeling pretty out of sorts with this pregnancy.  Don't worry, I'll post an update on that in the next day or so, but the thing to note in the context of our meal plan is that I'm trying to cut out as much acidic food as possible.  Since our dinners in the past consisted a lot of either Mexican or Italian (ie. tomato-based foods), I'm going to be trying some new recipes.  Any recommendations would be very welcome!

Sunday: Sausage, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes--I've never worried much about following the tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day, but it just sounded good to me.
Monday: Honey Lime Enchiladas--this will be my foray into trying to do some Mexican without a red sauce.  We'll see how my body likes it.
Tuesday: Cream Cheese Chicken and Veggie Soup
Wednesday: Creamy Stovetop Mac & Cheese
Thursday: Smoked sausage, cabbage, and potatoes--a comfort meal that reminds me of growing up.  We had this just a few days ago as my first try at a non-acidic meal because I saw cabbage on sale.  It's a great, cheap meal (about $5 for the entire meal and it made about 7 or 8 servings) and, best of all, my body liked it.

The rest of the week will be up in the air.  I'm sure one of those days I'm not going to feel like cooking, so we'll end up eating out, pushing a meal later in the week.

Happy New Year

It is 10:15 pm. I'm sitting here, watching football, listening to The Hubby snore on the couch. It has been a good night. We had friends over, celebrated the new year at 7:00 with the kids, then put my little lady to bed a little late. I got a fight, with wasn't fun, but it is all fairly quiet now. Just me, my kicking baby, and my snoring husband.

Not only does this night mark the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012; this is also what The Hubby and I consider our 10 year anniversary. It's a long complicated story, but we went from friends to more 10 years ago tonight and have been inseparable ever since. We didn't celebrate our 5 years of marriage this past summer, so why would tonight be different? We're low key type of people, so this is okay with me for tonight.

My wish for all of you is happiness as we enter the new year, whatever that means for you in your life. I can't wait to see what excitement 2012 brings--meeting our little boy and who knows what else!

And now it's time to prod The Hubby off the couch and ring in 2012 in an acceptable way for this pregnant lady--going to sleep.

Sometimes you just need to take a break

This morning I was lying in bed, dead to the world snoozing a bit longer as The Hubby took his shower, when I awoke to the sound of "Mommmmy....Mommmmyyyy...."  I opened my eyes and looked at the clock.  It was a little early for her to get up, but because she typically just cries as she awakens, I rolled out of bed, and went into her room.  I scooped up my girl, her head laid on my shoulder, and we went downstairs.  We sat in the same rocker/recliner that I'd nursed her in for 21 months, the same place I used to rock her to sleep every night, and just rocked and snuggled.

Eventually, she slid down so her head was in the crook of my arm--the same position (minus the swaddle) that we'd sat in for months at bedtime.  She looked up at me with her sweet brown eyes and said, "I want to sing, Mommy".  So we did.  We sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", the ABCs, and then she asked me to sing "The Rainbow Song".  I'd been singing "Rainbow Connection" to her at bedtime for the last few weeks, so I started and was surprised when she started to sing with me.  We snuggled in the dark living room, singing, rocking, for a few minutes.

She started to wake up more and asked to see "The Farmer Song...with the Animals", so we sang "Old MacDonald" and we were singing it when The Hubby came downstairs to see what we were doing.

What a great start to the morning--I wish I could start every day like that!

20 Weeks--Halfway there (technically)!

First of all, I owe you all a real blog--a good blog.  I have a lot swimming around in my head.  But for now you get my weekly update, two days late, as usual.  And you'll get my meal plan tonight.


How am I feeling? Generally, pretty good.  I've got another cold or a continuation of The Cold That Wouldn't Die.  Either way, I was feeling pretty run down on Sunday, especially after staying out late on Saturday night.  I'm doing a lot better with that today, though, and am at work, plugging along.

Mentally, still struggling with my flabby belly.  But otherwise, doing well there, too.

Weight thoughts: I don't really have any at this point!  I've been avoiding the scale and just eating when I feel like eating.  I haven't gone hog-wild, but I haven't really limited myself, either.


Doctor appointments?  None until 2012!

Maternity clothes?  24/7 at this point.  I love the shirts because they make me look more pregnant and the pants are just comfy.  I got a pair of jeans from a friend this weekend.  They actually fell down while I was walking down the stairs yesterday, so they may need to wait or be worn with a belly band.  I also got a pair of black dress pants at JCPenney on Saturday.  I don't love them (they're tight on my thighs) but I don't hate them.  I'm wearing them again today.


Movement? I'm definitely feeling more definite movement, but not consistently still.  I've gotten a couple of good kicks, though, which make me feel a bit better.

Baby preparation?  We painted Baby Girl's big girl room yesterday and will be working on it sporadically.  We're hoping to keep the doors closed so she can get a big surprise from Santa, but we'll see.

Last Wednesday, The Hubby and I had a date at the dentist.  We were done early, so we went out for ice cream and to discuss boy names before picking up Baby Girl from the sitter.  We have about 40 on our list of "I don't hate it" names.  How's that for progress?  We're just incredibly far apart on naming styles for boys at this point.  But with time, we'll come up with something that we both love.

We still haven't made any baby boy purchases.  I want to talk to The Hubby about this and what we're doing in the nursery and maybe about buying some clothes.  We also need to go through the tubs of clothes from Baby Girl and sort out what can be used for Baby Boy.

19 Weeks

How am I feeling? Pretty good!  Still battling a bit of nausea when I don't eat the way my body wants me to.  I've still got a bit of a sore throat and cough at least once a day (for the past FIVE WEEKS).  My hair is still falling out as much as it was pre-pregnancy.

Emotionally, I'm still struggling with the way my pregnant body looks.  I work hard every day to wear something that doesn't make my double belly obvious, but it stresses me out.

Weight thoughts: I gained 6 pounds in under 4 weeks between my two doctor appointments, which was frustrating, but not totally surprising.  I've been hungry, not really worrying about what I'm eating, and eating to quell nausea.  I've been trying to do better, but whenever I eat anything healthier (ie. with FIBER), I get extremely gassy and that gas really hurts.  I was (and still am) craving salads, but end up paying for them later in the day most of the time.

Doctor appointments?  We had our BIG u/s last Friday.  I was feeling anxious about the appointment, afraid something was wrong with the baby.  I knew I shouldn't be feeling as much movement as I did with Baby Girl because of my anterior placenta, but I still thought I should be feeling more than I was.

Before the doctor came in, The Hubby and I started discussing names.  He got (pretend) angry, telling me that we need to wait to narrow down the name pool by about half.  So then I told him I wanted to bet on the gender, since he was so convinced baby was a girl and I was so convinced baby was a boy.  He said, "I don't like to bet because I don't like to lose" and I pointed out that if he loses the bet, he wins b/c he's getting a boy.  He was okay at that point.  I named the terms--person who won the bet gets to sleep in on Saturday morning.  He named the time--8:45 a.m.  I agreed that the loser even had to sleep with the baby monitor on their side of the bed.

Dr. S came in and we chatted for a few minutes.  I told her I was anxious and just wanted to see that little heart beating, so she started there--she located the heart right away.  It was, as always, a beautiful sound.  The heartbeat was 152.  I then told her we had a bet about the sex of the baby.  She found "the goods" and turned the monitor to me and said, "Who was right?"  I immediately confirmed that I was right.  It was obvious to me that there was definitely a penis in there.  The ultrasound wand shifted slightly and I wasn't quite as sure that I was right, but she confirmed--"Yep!  A boy!"  I asked if she would grant us the guarantee that a different OB/GYN did when she did our anatomy scan for Baby Girl--a wardrobe of the opposite sex if their determination is wrong.  She said she doesn't make guarantees like that :)

I looked at The Hubby.  He still looked confused, but I honestly think he was in shock.  And I smiled.  I grinned.  I kept smiling while we looked at the parts of the brain, the four chambers of the heart, the humongous noggin (measuring at 20 weeks even though I was only 18w6d), the fingers, the toes, and everything in between.  Baby had one hand up to his face and the other hand was touching his feet for most of the ultrasound.  He was squiggling all over the place!  Dr. S had some problems getting a good picture of the spine because Baby Boy was laying on his back at the very bottom of my uterus, facing up.  Eventually, though, she could see and everything looked great there, too.

Before I knew it, the ultrasound was sadly over and The Hubby had hardly said anything the entire time.  I asked Dr. S about my bloodwork results and all of them were good--all decreased odds for Downs, Tris.omy 18, and all the other things the quad screen checked for.

What a great appointment.  The realism of having a boy sunk in a bit later that day and I wasn't *as* excited, but I'm still happy.  I'm happy that Baby Boy is growing properly, healthy, and will be loved by SO many people (as many people as if he were a girl--I'm not saying it's just because he's a boy).  And the fact that he's a boy could be fun, too :)

Maternity clothes?  All day every day.  I just went through my closet yesterday and moved all my "not going to wear until this baby is out of me" clothes to the back and made room for hanging up my maternity clothes.  I am going to make a trip to JCPenney and maybe Destination Maternity soon to look for some maternity jeans and black dress pants.  My jeans from last time just weren't comfortable and with some extra weight REALLY aren't going to work.  My black dress pants were a little snug on the thigh.  I found one other pair that I'm wearing today, but I don't love them, either.


Movement? I'm fairly confident that I'm feeling movement, but it's nothing like I remember with Baby Girl.  Just before I began this post, though, I felt my strongest movements yet, so I'm hopeful that they'll really start increasing from here. I'm anxious to be feeling this baby more and more!

Baby preparation?  Now that we know the gender, the first thing we're working on is a name!  We don't have a boy's name that we love.  We also need to discuss what we want to do in the nursery since the pink and brown decor won't really work so well.  Yes, I *could* keep it, but want to do something a bit more neutral or boyish.  I'm leaning toward animals--I saw an adorable duvet at Ikea that had a circus theme that could be cute.  We'll see!

Meal Plan 12/4-12/10

We had a big holiday party with our friends on Saturday night and have a lot of leftover turkey that we'll be using in recipes throughout the week, which means we'll be trying some new recipes.  If these are as good as I'm anticipating, maybe I'll roast a turkey more often!

I'm not going to commit to having any recipe any specific night because who knows what I'll be in the mood for at any given time!  We don't have any dinner plans this week, but I know there will be at least one night that I don't feel like cooking.  I've learned recently not to even bother planning for more than five meals in a week.

Turkey Tetrazzini
Creamed Turkey (will likely serve with leftover mashed potatoes and maybe some dressing)
Turkey Noodle Soup
Spinach & Chicken Tortilla Bake - When I saw this on my Google Reader, I knew I wanted to try it.  The ingredients were a bit more expensive than I'd like, but it should be good :)
Fajitas - To use up the remaining tortillas

Two Year Molars and other stuff

Because I'm sort of sucking at this blogging thing these days, I wanted to post a quick update.  I'm fairly confident that Baby Girl's first two year molar has broken through the gums on the lower right side.  I've seen it below the gum for a few weeks and then felt it today.  Hopefully the others come through fairly smoothly.

We had our anatomy scan this morning for #2.  I will reveal the sex later to save some surprise for some IRL friends :)

I've lost all motivation to cook.  I cook when I have to, but I just never feel like it and would rather eat out.  Might explain a 6 pound weight gain over the last 4 weeks.  Whoops.

18 Weeks

How am I feeling?  Generally, just fine.  I probably would have said on Saturday that the cold was gone...and then I started coughing more on Sunday.  Of course.  So who knows where that's going.  But pregnancy-related, I'm doing pretty good.  My hair is STILL falling out as much as pre-pregnancy and I'm still exhausted.  I'm experiencing a lot of acid reflux, but no heartburn for now, thank goodness.

Emotionally, I'm still looking at my belly and seeing fat.  I'm showing more than most because of my upper belly, which is still bigger than my lower belly.  You'd think just the lower belly would grow with baby, but it's not true at all and that's making me anxious.  Also on the emotional side, I've totally come to terms with the thought of having a boy, so I think I'll be able to be happy no matter what we find out on Friday in that regard.

Weight thoughts: Haven't weighed myself recently, but I have a feeling it isn't going to be good when I do.  I just haven't been watching what I eat much and have been eating out far too much.  I'm hoping that that will decrease for the next few weeks until we get into Christmas, but I'm not confident.  I'm just too tired to cook most of the time and The Hubby isn't ever going to say no to ordering out, even though we both know it's the responsible thing to do.

Doctor appointments?  Just the one this coming Friday for our anatomy scan.  Praying that baby is healthy and willing to show us the goods :) 

Maternity clothes?  I'm pretty much always wearing them at this point.  I can still wear a number of my non-maternity pants because they were always big in the waist and come up over both of my bellies.  I had forgotten about my sister-in-law's maternity shirts that were in a box in the garage that I pulled out before we left for the long weekend.  A lot of them fit really well, so I'm excited about that.  I'm actually wearing one of them right now :)  Maternity shirts just help me feel better about being pregnant and not just fat.


Movement? Maybe?  It's still SO faint.  I'll feel little bumps that I figure are the baby, but it could just as easily be gas.  I'm crossing my fingers that it picks up soon, but am not confident that it will, sadly.

Baby preparation?  We're heading down to IKEA on Thursday to hopefully get some things to finish up Baby Girl's room.  Like last time, I'm anticipating a bit more preparation once we know the gender.

Shutterfly Giveaway Winners

It's your lucky day!  Because there were only 7 entries to my giveaway AND I discovered that I actually had THREE codes to give out, almost half of you were able to win! I used the random number generator on Random.org and these are what it gave me:

#3 corresponds with Samantha, who also asked how I got involved in this.  I found a link on another blog site to apply to get free cards for other occasions and then they contacted me for this holiday season.  Very exciting for me!

#1 of the remaining 6 corresponds with Cassie

#3 of the remaining 5 corresponds with Sarah

I've contacted all of the winners and will be getting the codes out ASAP so you can get your holiday cards created, mailed to yourself, and then sent.  Congratulations to all the winners!  

To those of you who didn't win, I hope you'll still stick around and keep reading.  You never know when I'll say something interesting or have another giveaway!

Collecting Stars

It seems like every day Baby Girl is making up some new pretend thing to play.  Her favorite thing recently has been to collect the stars in the car.  She'll reach up into the air and gather as many stars as she can.  And then she'll share with The Hubby and me.  We have to protect our stars and not let them fly away.  But sometimes if they do fly away, she'll catch them for us and give them back.  And then sometimes she wants to collect ALL of the stars and then will let them free (only to be snagged again).

I feel like there's some sort of metaphor there.  I'm just not sure what it is.  But it's a beautiful thing.  I love her imagination.

If I could collect all the stars and give them to her, I would.  And if she let them go, I'd gather them again.

17 Weeks

How am I feeling?  I'm doing fairly well.  I am still having very slight bouts of nausea, but they're manageable.  I've been feeling stiff and really need to start doing some yoga or at least some regular stretching.  The Cold is still lingering a bit in the form of some snot and coughing in the mornings and evenings.  I'm still exhausted--I fell asleep at 7:30 on Friday night, woke up long enough to move upstairs, and slept until Baby Girl woke at 6:30.  And I was still tired.

Weight thoughts: I weighed myself the other morning and found I'd gained about 4 pounds in 2 weeks--up a total of 12 pounds.  I'm not happy, but it's not a huge deal and not hugely unsurprised.  Most healthy foods give me insane gas (which leads to major gas pains when you can't regularly release the gas....), so I've been avoiding them generally.  That leave me a lot of junk and junk doesn't tend to keep a person full for long, so I eat even more.

Doctor appointments?  Anxiously anticipating our big ultrasound in less than 2 weeks on Friday, December 2nd!

Maternity clothes?  Oh hell yes.  I have been wearing maternity pants full time for the last few days.  I just love the comfort of them and am happy to discover that my pants from last time still fit fairly well.  I still don't *need* them, but I'm wearing them.  Now I just need to get some more long-sleeved shirts.


Movement?  I think so.  It's really faint, but I think I'm feeling some bumps and bubbles in there.  It's comforting, but I don't feel it consistently enough to freak when I don't feel it.  Hoping to feel more soon, of course, but not holding my breath because of the anterior placenta.

Baby preparation?  Nothing major recently.  We got the bedding and a couple of accessories for Baby Girl's big girl room this weekend.  We'll kick into high gear once we know this baby's gender, I think.

Meal Plan 11/20-11/26

It's a light week for cooking.  I was up early enough this morning, though, that I had time to gather coupons for the grocery, so it might not be as cheap of a grocery trip as I'd like to think.

Sunday: Going to my parents' house, so my mom will likely cook chicken and noodles
Monday: Bow Ties with Spicy Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (will cook chicken while making Monday's meal)
Wednesday: Easy Skillet Pork Chops
Thurday-Saturday: Letting other people cook for us :)

Conversations my husband and I have when the kid isn't around

Once you've been together for ten years and have a kid, when you aren't around the kid, you sort of run out of meaningful things to talk about.  Sure, we talk about our day, but when that topic is exhausted, what do you talk about?

Apparently, we talk about underwear.  Not just any underwear, but underwear that have some sort of a scent to them so that when you fart, you release a pleasant smell.  I had a few arguments about this: 1) at some point, even the pleasant scent will become related to the not-so-pleasant scent it's attempting to cover and 2) the underwear would need to be chemically designed to work WITH the foul odor to interact and create a new, pleasant scent.  And because everyone's...errrr...scent...is different, you would have to have personalized undies.

And then we discussed what pleasant scents we would like to create.  My choices revolved around light, airy scents--baby powder, roses, and the like.  The Hubby, however, decided that he wanted his to smell like a turkey.  Or a pumpkin pie.  And then he decided that we'd have to design different undies for different holidays, both in patterns and for scents.  You could have one that smells like pine trees!  Or chocolate!

And that, my friends, is what happens when my husband and I are in the car together after a long day of work, without a toddler asking us questions like "what's that?" and "why?" and "what's that do?".

Shutterfly Holiday Cards...and a Giveaway!!!

It's time to start thinking about holiday cards.  Ever since Baby Girl was born, we started sending out photo cards (and giving photo books as gifts as well) because I know people love to see her beautiful face.  Many times it's the only contact we make with people throughout the entire year, so they can see how quickly she's growing, too.

I think I've posted before about how much I love Shutterfly, but I wanted to make sure you really know it this year :)  I've tried other websites, but love the quality of Shutterfly.  I typically order holiday cards (and sometimes other cards throughout the rest of the year) through Shutterfly and I wanted to show you some of my favorite designs this year.  I won't tell you which ones I'll use, just in case you're on my Christmas card list!

I actually received a couple like this last year and I love it!  I love that you can include multiple photos as well as the classy, classic design

Of course, this year we just have one kid, so we'll likely just include one picture.  I like this and obviously am leaning toward the monogram designs!

This one is a little different and I love the way it looks with a black and white photo.  

I haven't taken our Christmas card photo yet, but I'm sure it will include a lot of joy.  I can't get Baby Girl to stop smiling most of the time.  This one is really fitting for our family--we laugh all the time together!

Don't you love these designs?  Go check out all of Shutterfly's awesome Christmas card designs!

And here are the details for the giveaway:

I have three codes for 25 free cards for my readers that Shutterfly provided me!  That means THREE of my readers can win codes for 25 free cards (codes expire 12/31/11).  Wow!

I'm going to make entering easy--just go to Shutterfly and come back and tell me which design is your favorite.  You can tell me why, too, but it's not required :)  Make sure I have a way to get into contact with you in case you win.

The giveaway entries will be cut off at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, November 22nd.  On Wednesday, November 23rd, I will announce the three winners both by emailing them individually and on the blog.

Baby's Gender

I was just coming to post that I have this gut feeling that this baby is a boy and the fact that the heartbeat (this past visit the h/b was in the 140s or 150s--I forget) and cravings (savory instead of sweet, even though I remember craving savory with Baby Girl sometimes, too) all suggest it just make me even more sure.

And then I was going back through old blog posts and found this.  Same doctor appointment around 16 weeks, same lower heartbeat, just like last time.  I suppose it is possible this could be a girl.  Only time will tell--just over 2 weeks until we find out (hopefully)!

I think I mentioned before that I wasn't enjoying the thought of having a boy.  Heck, saying I wasn't enjoying the thought is a gross understatement--I was scared and pissed and anxious about the idea of having a boy.  But I've actually started calling this baby a "he" and it really is growing on me.  Will I be sad not to use Baby Girl's clothes again?  Of course.  But whatever God's plan is for this child, it will join our family and it will be what is meant to be and I will embrace it.  I think I've convinced myself enough that it's a boy that I won't even cry if the doctor tells us it's a boy.  I even have moments where I *want* it to be a boy so The Hubby and his family will be extra happy.

But now it's just a waiting game.  We shall see!

Sickness, and the meltdown it caused

On Sunday, October 30th, I got a really sore throat on the right side, like I had some major drainage coming from my ears and down my throat.  Ouch.  When I got up the next morning, it had migrated to the left side of my throat.  Throughout the remainder of the week, I felt worse and worse.  The worst of it (for both Baby Girl and me) was Saturday and Sunday, November 5th and 6th.  I had a really runny nose, a cough, and was just plain exhausted.

I felt quite a bit better by Monday and went to work.  I felt like I was generally getting better throughout the week.  I was coughing less, my nose was drying up, and I'd assumed, while I'd been feeling rough for awhile, that I'd at least feel normal by this past weekend, two weeks after it all started.

That doesn't seem to be the case.  I don't know if I actually feel worse, but I sure don't feel better.  I think my nose is running more.  Both Baby Girl and I are still coughing, especially in the morning.  I would probably be worried about her or myself if we weren't both feeling the same way.

To make matters worse, on Saturday afternoon, I started feeling nauseous.  I couldn't decide if I should eat or not and am glad now that I ate dinner because it at least made me feel better at the time.  I was afflicted with the nausea all day on Sunday as well and only felt better when I was actually eating.  I've tried all my normal fixes--drinking more water, eating smaller meals with more protein--nothing is working.  Ugh.  I don't know if it's pregnancy nausea or related to being sick.  I even fell asleep very early in the recliner and took a nap on Sunday.  All I know is that I'm tired of being sick.  I'm tired not feeling good.  I'm tired of being tired. 

It all came to a head yesterday.  I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, laid down on my bed, and just cried.  I didn't want Baby Girl to see me so upset.  I sobbed.  At some point, Baby Girl and The Hubby came upstairs and we all hung out in our bed for about 45 minutes, playing in the "tunnel" (under the sheets).  It was fun.  Soon they left, though, and I fell asleep.  I hadn't intended to, but when I woke up, I was in a bit better spirits. 

I wish I could say I feel better today, but I just don't.  My nose feels stuffy, my head is cloudy, I can't regulate my temperature (a typical pregnancy symptom for me), I'm still coughing some, and I'm exhausted.  I just want to feel more normal, even if it's a pregnant normal.

/whine

Meal Plan 11/13-11/19

We've failed miserably at cooking as much as planned each week, so this week we're only planning for 5 meals and one of those is using leftovers from another meal.  I've also had a resurgence of nausea and exhaustion, as well as STILL fighting the same cold that I've had for two solid weeks now, so I'm anticipating a lack of energy to cook, too.  Look for a blog post entirely devoted to whining about this very soon.

Sunday: Mexican Chicken and Rice--I think I found this on Pinterest and it was great.  It was a lot like a family favorite, Salsafied Chicken and Rice, but with a bit more veggies.  Baby Girl ate her entire plateful, eagerly, and The Hubby and I agreed that we need to have it on a regular basis. 

Monday: Swiss Casserole Chicken--If you look back at my last few weeks of meal plans, this has been on it.  For some reason, we really fail at crockpot meals some weeks.  I'm going to try really hard to get this made this week, especially since the cheese is already sliced (I was getting ready to make it one morning when I discovered my chicken had gone bad, even though it was the day of the Sell By date).

Tuesday: Sweet Pork Tacos with Cilantro Ranch Dressing--As soon as this came up on my Google Reader on Cassie's blog, I knew I had to make it.  I'm hoping it'll turn out okay with Caffeine Free Diet Coke.  I could go buy a 2L of Caffeine Free regular Coke...hmmm...  Either way, I'm really excited to try this.  I also hope that we can ration the meat--the pork loin we had in the freezer was a little smaller than the recipe calls for and I'm hoping to use it for quesadillas later in the week.

Wednesday: Chicken nuggets and tater tots.  I saw this (sort of) on Cassie's blog when I read her meal plan for this week.  I bought some pretzels and might try crusting the chicken in it.  We'll see :)

Thursday: Quesadillas with the leftover pork

Friday: No plans, but we'll likely eat out at least once during the week, so we can cook a leftover meal this night.

Saturday: We have a tradition of having Chipotle on Football Saturdays.  I'd thought it wouldn't happen every week again this year, but since I got pregnant at the beginning of football season, I figured, why not?  Maybe this kid will come out loving Mexican (authentic, Americanized--we don't discriminate) as much as its big sister does!

14 and 15....and might as well do 16 weeks

In all the excitement of making our official announcement, I stopped writing updated blog posts about my pregnancy, so I've missed the last few weeks.  I think it's okay, though, as nothing particularly exciting has happened.


How am I feeling?  Just fine, except for this cold.  I started getting a sore throat (not just scratchy) October 30th and am still blowing my nose and coughing some.  Baby Girl has it, too, and is still doing the same.  I think we both generally feel okay and are sleeping fine, but the cough is hanging on for a long time.  But as far as pregnancy goes, I'm doing good.  No more nausea!  I'm still exhausted every day, but I don't really remember that letting up much last time, either.  I have crazy dreams at least every other night when I typically dream only once or twice a month.  I'm also still having shortness of breath unrelated to the sickness.  All typical pregnancy stuff that doesn't bother me too much.  I still don't have to pee any more than I did pre-pregnancy.  I hope I'm blessed to escape that symptom again this pregnancy.

Weight thoughts: Up about 8 pounds.  Not horrible, but not great.  I know it will only go up from here, but I'm hoping to curb it a bit.  Some veggies, especially peas, don't sound great to me, so I've been eating less veggies than I normally do with dinner.  But I have found that I love a raw bell pepper and/or a salad, so I've been trying to have those on a regular basis.

Doctor appointments?  Just had one on Monday, November 7th.  We were scheduled to see a different doctor since my regular OB was on GYN rotation in the hospital, but were pleasantly surprised when my regular OB popped in and did my appointment!  The nurse had had me disrobe from the waist down and that confused and concerned the OB.  She immediately asked, "Are you doing okay?  Any bleeding?"  I told her I was fine...just following orders.  She laughed.  :)

She found baby's heartbeat--147 bpm.  I'm leaning toward boy, but of course we'll see.  She asked if we'll want to find out the sex of the baby and we told her yes.  She said, "Let's see if we can find out today..." and started moving around the ultrasound wand.  She said everything was a little small so she couldn't tell anything, but she did print out a picture of our little one for us to take home.  Love her.  She sent us down for the bloodwork for our quad screen and told us she'd see us on December 2nd--for our anatomy scan and (hopefully) gender determination!

Maternity clothes?  I've worn maternity pants twice in the last couple of weeks, but mostly because I didn't feel like wearing regular pants or didn't have anything clean.  I'm still wearing all of my normal clothes if I want.


Movement?  I've wondered if I've been feeling movement some in the last few days, but have told myself that I'm probably not since my doctor told me I have an anterior placenta.  From my understanding, that's the only problem with the anterior placenta--muffled or no feeling of movement.  Plus whenever I'm pregnant, I have an awful amount of gas, so I'm sure that's what I'm feeling.  I'm still holding out hope that I'll feel my baby move soon, though!

Baby preparation?  The Hubby continues to clear out Baby Girl's room and she continues to anticipate her big move there.  I'm anxiously awaiting the gender determination so I can start planning the nursery and determine if we'll need new clothes and other items.  I've also been loosely shopping for a double stroller and trying to decide what kind to get, especially since Baby Girl is older and more independent, but much better behaved when she's strapped into a stroller.

Meltdown

Written 10/27/2011

I just walked to a different floor in my office, sat down on the toilet in the last stall, and cried like a little baby.

I am so exhausted.

I went out last night.  No, not to a club or a bar--to book club.  There were four of us there and I really enjoyed myself and the company.  I got home, however, around 11:30 and was asleep around midnight.

Then, this morning, Baby Girl decided to wake up early.  She started moaning (her normal "I'm awake" noises) around 5:30, which is over an hour prior to the time The Hubby typically has to wake her up.  I went in and got her around 6:10, which was twenty precious minutes prior to the time The Hubby typically wakes me up.

Add on top of that the fact that I'm 13 1/2 weeks pregnant, stressed about work stuff and my inability to concentrate, stressed about the state of my house, stressed about getting Baby Girl's Halloween costume made, and trying my damnedest not to get a cold....and I'm just done.  I've felt like I could fall asleep at any moment for weeks now.

Today I just realized how incredibly worn out I am and just broke down and cried.  I don't have any idea how I'm going to find the energy to cook dinner, to deal with Baby Girl (toddlers are SO EXHAUSTING), to clean my house, to do laundry, to make Baby Girl's costume...to do anything but sleep.  And that's why I cried.  I cried from stress and from exhaustion.

13 Weeks

Written 10/23/2011 @ 13w1d

How am I feeling?  If you would have asked me at 12w6d, I would have told you that the nausea had returned and I felt pretty awful.  But today I'm doing pretty well.  I even overate last night without too many negative consequences.  The predominant symptoms that I experienced very early (morning diarrhea and headaches) have returned, but I'm hoping they don't stick around for long.  I'm also experiencing quite a bit of pregnancy-related congestion that I keep thinking will turn into a cold.  Imagine feeling like you're going to get a cold for over a week.  That's where I am right now.  Just relieved to be officially in the 2nd trimester and hoping the energy and feelings of normalcy return soon.

Weight thoughts: As of Saturday morning, I'm up 1.8 lbs from the day we found out we were pregnant, which I think is pretty darn good since I'm not watching what I'm eating nearly as closely as before.  I'm sure the aforementioned symptom doesn't hurt, of course. Of course, I participated in a clinical study today (Monday) and it made it look like I'd gained even more.  Crazy doctor office scales.

Doctor appointments?  Not until November 7th.  I'll be seeing one of my doctor's colleagues, which I'm actually looking forward to.  If this baby cooperates, I'd like to deliver vaginally, which means I'd be more likely to have one of the other doctors in the practice deliver the baby.  With a scheduled C-section, I wasn't terribly concerned about that.

Maternity clothes? Not yet.  I want to, but don't really have a need to.  The only type of clothes that aren't fitting well are my jeans and they work okay with a hair band on the button.  My maternity jeans were never that comfortable, so I'm not in a hurry to wear those.  I did try on a new-to-me pair of maternity khakis, though, and am really tempted to wear those.  I definitely didn't look pregnant whatsoever in those, though.

Baby preparation?  For me, it's mostly been mental.  I'm still getting used to this.  Every single day I think about how things will be different once we have another human to be in charge of.  We did tell our good friends last Sunday, which was really fun.  They were genuinely excited for us, which was a great feeling.  We also told The Hubby's parents on Saturday (10/22) and they were really, really excited.  I asked Baby Girl, "Isn't there something you wanted to talk to Grandma and Pops about?"  She said, "Baby Boomer".  The Hubby asked her where "Baby Boomer" is and she said, "In Mommy's tummy".  It didn't take long for them to figure it out from there.

The Hubby has started working on cleaning out the room that will be Baby Girl's, much to my dismay.  I'm not really that excited about moving her to a new room with a big girl bed.  She, however, is incredibly excited about it.  She asked me tonight about her bed and told me that she wants Boomer to sleep in her bed after I told her that her crib is her bed for awhile longer.  She also decided she wants to paint her new room purple, so we'll be working on that soon.

12 Weeks

Written 10/17/2011

This weekend we hit 12 weeks, which, even though 13 weeks is technically the beginning of the 2nd trimester, felt like a big milestone.  We got to hear baby's heartbeat again on Wednesday and feel a lot more comfortable with being happy now.

I'm feeling pretty good.  I was prepared on Saturday to write that the nausea was gone, but then got hit with another bout on Sunday.  I think I just get off on my eating schedule during the weekends and that's what causes me to get nauseous.  I was fearful that dinner would make me feel worse (last time I was feeling nauseous before having Chipotle, I felt worse afterward), but I ate my full bowl and felt great afterwards.

We got to share the good news with one of our closest couple friends yesterday and it felt great.  We were a little nervous about telling them because they've had a rough year of their own, but they really seemed genuinely happy for us, which was a relief.  We're hoping to tell The Hubby's parents this weekend (if they aren't available for us to visit, we might have to Skype with them--keeping this secret is killing me!) and then we'll be able to tell the world.

I'm still not really showing, but notice the swelling myself.  I could probably keep wearing my normal clothes for the next couple of months, but am not sure I want to do that.  Once we tell people, I like looking more pregnant than fat!  So I'll probably switch to maternity clothes in the next month.

As I was writing this post, I realized I hadn't scheduled our 16 week appointment (the computer system was down when we were there before), so I called.  Our next appointment will be November 7th (we'll be 15w2d) with one of my doctor's associates since my doctor will be on hospital duty that week (she warned us at our last appointment).  Since I was on the phone, I asked to schedule our subsequent appointment, hoping to get a better time slot than late afternoon.  The scheduler said we could come on Friday, December 2nd at 8:30 a.m.  MUCH better time slot AND we'll only be 18w6d.  That will be our anatomy scan (the scheduler says they do them between 18 weeks and 22 weeks--so glad to be on the early end of that this time!  Last time we were over 21 weeks!).  I can't wait to find out what we're having.

Doctor Appointment

Written 10/13/2011

Yesterday we went back to the doctor for our 12-ish week appointment (will be 12 weeks on Saturday 10/15).  

I should start the story a little earlier, though, where I'm at work.  The appointment was at 2:45 and at 2:06 I realized I HAD to pee and I wasn't going to make it to pee in a cup.  So I went to the bathroom and proceeded to chug 16 ounces of water so I could pee again at 2:45.  We get to the appointment and I am successful at peeing in the cup (so much so that I could have overflowed it).  Woo!

We waited for a LONG time in the exam room.  There were a few signs asking patients to be patient, which made us laugh because we'd never had to wait for too long.  Until that day.  We didn't get to see the doctor until about 3:30.  Wow.

From there, the appointment was pretty standard.  I unbuttoned my pants and she stuck a paper towel around the edge of my pants and panties so she didn't get any goop on them.  She pulled out the ultrasound and we waited.  And waited.  I began to panic (I found out later from The Hubby that I clenched my fists).  She must have realized how scared I was because she said, "I can *see* it, but we just can't hear it".  Thank goodness. Then she tells me that my bladder was extremely full.  Seriously?  I didn't even feel like I needed to pee.  In fact, I didn't end up peeing until about 6:00 that evening!

Anyway, she moved the wand around my bladder enough that we were finally able to hear that beautiful whoosh whoosh whoosh.  The doctor said it was in the 160s (was 168 at the first appointment).

And that was it.  It was a really short appointment once we saw the doctor.  We declined the ultra screen, but indicated that we'll do the quad screen when the time comes (at the next appointment, I think).  And then she was gone!

One thing to note.  At home, my scale is telling me that I've gained two pounds since finding out we were pregnant almost two months ago.  That's great compared to gaining 10 pounds prior to my first appointment at 9 weeks with Baby Girl ;)  But the office scale is saying I gained 2.5 pounds since our last appointment four weeks ago.  I know it's not a big deal, but I'm hoping not to gain as much with Baby #2 than I did with Baby Girl.  I'm not stressing about it, but I just want the record to note that my home scale says I haven't gained that much!  :)

11 Weeks

Written 10/11/2011

Eleven weeks.  I'm actually amazed that we're here.  I don't really know what I expected to happen, but it's astonishing to me that we're less than two weeks from the 2nd trimester.  I go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon where we're hoping to hear that beautiful heartbeat again.  Once we do, I'll breathe a big sigh of relief.

I'm actually feeling a lot less anxiety right now about the pregnancy.  I FEEL pregnant.  I feel off and on nausea (still related to when and what I eat).  My stomach is definitely protruding, especially by the end of the day.  I'm getting out of breath when I go up the stairs.  I'm hitting a wall mid-afternoon and then again early evening where I just want to sleep.  I haven't fallen asleep just hanging out at the house like I did when I was pregnant with Baby Girl, though.  The combination of these symptoms have given me a sense of calm.  I hope the calm is warranted.

I think this is the longest I've ever kept a secret, too.  We aren't telling many people for many reasons.  It's gotten complicated keeping the secret, but we'll be sharing soon enough, I think.  My mom asked if she could tell after our appointment tomorrow and looked shocked when I said no.  This is on *our* timeline, not hers.  I think we still want to get even closer to twelve or thirteen weeks before we share with the world.  And there are some very important people we need to tell before we start screaming it from the rooftops.  All in good time.

I need to get some bloodwork done.  I was supposed to do it between my last appointment and this one, I think, but forgot to walk down and do it.  Maybe I'll do it right before (or after, since we'll have some time, and to save some pain in case the bloodwork isn't necessary) the appointment tomorrow.

9 & 10 Weeks

written 10/3/11

I didn't really post much at nine weeks because nothing was really happening.  I was feeling better in general and just coasting along, waiting for our next doctor appointment.

Now we're at 10w2d and things have taken a turn for the worse.  My nausea has ramped back up and I'm feeling worse than I was earlier in the pregnancy.  I don't know whether I can blame my horrible food choices on Saturday (which sat just fine right after eating, but I found myself feeling horrible after eating dinner and couldn't even finish it) or if it's just baby nausea.  I ate better on Sunday and was able to go out for dinner and enjoy my food, thank goodness.  But I'm finding myself feeling pretty awful again today.  Nothing like Sunday morning or Saturday night, but I just don't feel well.  And that sucks.  Hoping that it passes once I get back into a routine of eating normal again.

And now we're counting the days until our next appointment.  9 days, in case you were wondering.

We told my parents on Saturday that we're expecting and they were appropriately surprised and excited for us.  I think they're far more excited for Baby Girl to be a big sister than anything, actually.  I'm convinced she's going to be a great big sister.  She's great with the babies at the sitter and loves babies in general.

Another recent development is that I feel like I've really popped.  It's happened far earlier this time around.  I'm having a hard time hiding my pregnancy (since we still haven't told many people) but, thanks to having clothes that are too big, don't need to move to maternity clothes just yet.  You'd better bet, though, that once we start making the pregnancy public, I'll be wearing maternity clothes just for the comfort factor!

8 Weeks

Written 9/21/11 - 8w4d

How am I feeling?  I actually feel great.  I've had some bouts with exhaustion, but nothing horrible.  Last time I was falling asleep on the couch before dinner, but now I can at least make it until Baby Girl is in bed.

The nausea hasn't been bad at all.  It's definitely tapering off and I only get it when I get really hungry or really full.  For instance, yesterday I had TWO large pitas with tabbouleh, feta, and tzatziki in the middle of the afternoon.  I felt fine for the first hour after eating it, but then by the time we got home, I was feeling pretty rough and just needed to lay on the couch for awhile.

I still get surprised by a shooting pain in my left bo.ob sometimes, but it's nothing severe.  Just surprising.

I feel like the bloat is really on now.  I notice it by the end of the day, but I'm pretty confident that most people just think I'm looking fat.  Still no sign of needing to move to maternity clothes--I'm in the same place I was last time in that I have some clothes that were getting too big on me when I got pregnant, so now I can just wear them for awhile.  Once we've told people about the pregnancy, I'll start wearing some cuter maternity shirts, just because I can.  That, and to make people realize it's baby and not fat.

My weight seems to be holding fairly steady.  In the first couple of weeks I gained about 5 pounds, even though I was actually eating less.  I lost 3 of those and am back to up around 2.  I'm allowing myself to eat junk again, though, so I'm guessing the pounds will creep on sooner than later.

What's new?  We got to see our little gummy bear last Wednesday.  I was having major anxiety about not feeling pregnant, so they set me up with an ultrasound at 7 1/2 weeks instead of having to wait until 9w6d.  Thank goodness!  We also met our new OB and we both love her.  We didn't think there was any way we'd like her as much as our old OB (who is going to be focusing on surgeries instead of delivering babies), but we really, really do.  Baby's heartbeat was 168 bpm and we got to see the spine, umbilical cord, and the rest of the blob of baby that was in there.  How cool.  Our next appointment is at 11 1/2 weeks.  I think after that appointment we'll start telling the world, but will want to tell a few close friends before then...just need to figure out how and when :)

Fun facts?  I love that The Hubby is so into this pregnancy.  Since he has an iPhone he has a pregnancy app that's giving him updates about the baby, so sometimes he'll randomly tell me what size the baby is now.  For instance, last night he told me the baby is the size of an olive.  How exciting and absolutely adorable :)

Let It Begin

Written 9/6/2011

The eating has begun.  The first few weeks I wasn't any hungrier (or maybe even less hungry) than I was pre-positive test.  But today I'm eating like crazy.  I'm eating to stave off nausea and I'm eating to relieve stress.  I'm craving all sort of random things and just want to eat and eat and eat.  Pinterest is not my friend, as I'm pinning all sorts of delicious-looking treats that I don't have the energy to make.  But they sure look good.

7 Weeks

(written September 12th)

How am I feeling? 


Too damned normal.  It's actually scaring the shit out of me.  I don't feel nauseous anymore.  I still haven't hit the exhaustion.  I feel pretty much like myself and I'm scared.  The only lingering symptoms are my inability to breathe well and my inability to regulate my body temperature--I'm always either too hot or too cold and sometimes both, depending on the part of my body.

What's new?


I told our sitter on Friday so she could plan for next year and hopefully not pick up any infants after awhile.  I just told my boss today because we're having a lot of discussions about the future and projects that will be upcoming and I wanted her to be able to plan accordingly.  My boss, ever the realist (after having two miscarriages and a decade-long struggle with infertility and failed adoptions), advised me not to tell anyone until I have my first appointment (still 2 1/2 weeks away), which made me even more nervous about my lack of symptoms.  She acknowledged the very real possibility of me having a miscarriage (her first one was discovered at her 10 week appointment) and now I'm completely anxious.

What's Baby Girl think?


We haven't really told her.  We're not planning on telling her until at least after the first appointment and then we won't really talk about it much until I start to show so she has some tangible evidence that there's a baby in there.  But we've talked with her every few days about what she would think about having a baby in the house.  As of right now, she's said she'd rock "her" to sleep, feed her, change her diapers, share her toys, etc.  I have no doubt she's going to be a great big sister.

6 Weeks

Written 9/5/2011

I'm feeling much the same as last week, with bated breath.  The fact that I don't feel horrible could mean one of three things: 1) this pregnancy is going to fail, 2) this is going to be a great pregnancy or 3) the nasty nausea and exhaustion will hit sooner.  It really depends on the day which I believe to be true, but it's never #2.

I've had some bouts of nausea off and on, but nothing unmanageable.  I've still got off and on tender boobs as well and some small cramping that feels like stretchy.  My digestive system seems to have calmed down and I'm not waking to go to the bathroom much anymore.  I'm not as hungry as I was when I was sticking to counting points, which is sort of weird, but I'm committed to listening to my body.  My body temperature is impossible to maintain--I'm either too hot or too cold, without fail.

Also, my hair is still falling out in clumps.  It started in June or so, which I assume is my normal summer shed plus some since I nursed until late April.  But it's still going and it is GROSS.  Waiting for the hair retention to kick in.

I'm noticing a definite expansion of my waist, but no real bloating yet--which is another reason I'm fearing for this pregnancy, although I have no record of how early the exhaustion, nausea, or bloating hit last time.

I feel like I should just relax and be grateful for feeling so relatively good.  I've had a lot of stuff going on at work and also have been really active recently and if I were feeling worse, I don't know how I could've managed.

Update (just 5 hours later):  I'm an asshole.  The nausea has really kicked in and I can't tell for sure, but think it's taking the form of a meat aversion again.  I got a huge wave while cutting up chicken for dinner tonight and had a hard time composing myself.  Ugh.  I should be happy--nausea is a sign of a healthy pregnancy.  But damn...this is a bad week at work for me to be feeling like shit.  Praying for no actual puking again this time.