24 weeks

I can't believe it's 6 months! Wasn't it just January when I was holding my positive pregnancy pee stick?

My belly is starting to lead the way...it's nearly impossible to get up and off the floor without assistance from nearby furniture or other people. It's not easy to get out of bed or off the couch, but it's much easier than the floor. I look in the mirror daily and can't believe how huge my stomach is. Ugh. Although it's odd because quite often people tell me I don't look 6 months pregnant. For me I feel like I'm huge, but I guess not to other people. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday so we'll see how much weight I've gained. Ummph.

My hunger level is the same. I've been walking laps around the building at work on my lunch break 2 - 3 days a week. I've been drinking Smart Water so I can stay hydrated. And I've been eating much healthier. Hopefully the doc notices how hard I'm working because I could really go for a Dairy Queen Blizzard with Reese's Peanut Butter cups right now!

My stress level has been high. Work is just insanity...I'm now doing the equivalent to two jobs (when I was hired the upper level stuff was supposed to stay with my boss, but now he's covering for another department while their manager is on a project), so I'm swamped with work, responsibility and expectations. There's good days, but there's really bad days too. With us being thinned on employees they're pretty worried about what to do when I'm out on maternity leave. I'm not taking as much time as I could because I know they need me and I have this expectation to live up to. I think for the first time on Friday I actually felt really appreciated like I was making a difference, so that makes me feel better.

Jeff felt the baby kick for the first time this past week. Since she always sits breech, he hardly ever gets the opportunity, but every once in a while she turns a bit so you can feel her. It's hard to gauge how active she is because of where she's sitting. It worries me some days because I don't know when I'm suppose to start feeling her every ten minutes or whatever it is that they say.

Someone asked me while I was on vacation what my "birth plan" was and they were highly offended when I told them "to go to the hospital." I mean, do I really need a birth plan? All I want is drugs. I don't have any special blankets or pillows or food I have to have with me and knowing Kaiser they'd screw it up anyways. I dunno, maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm not prepared, I have no idea. I just want a healthy baby and I want to be healthy too.

Registering was interesting. It was fun, but it was insanely overwhelming. I have no idea if I over-registered for some things and under-registered for others. I knew we had to have a lot of stuff, but to see it all on paper like that freaks me out. 95% of it is stuff we NEED (not just want because it's cute) and we don't expect everyone to buy it all for us, so I'm trying to budget and figure out how much it will cost us to pick up everything on the registry we don't get. How overwhelming! Did get our bedding set though! Which is great because now we can pick out a crib, glider and pick out paint colors. The room will either be a pale pink or a pale mint green (colors in the bedding). I just haven't decided yet. I picked up some paint chips today and I need to take them with the bedding up into the room and look at them in the natural light.

Well that's it for now. Hopefully my checkup goes well on Monday and I'll have nothing interesting to blog about. :-)

22 weeks, 5 days…

What a crazy two weeks! It’s been a good two weeks though. My parents came to visit over Mother’s Day and the baby got LOTS of clothes from her Grandma and Grandpa. There’s so many things hanging in her closet that at this point, she has a bigger wardrobe than I do! I got a few mother-to-be Mother’s Day cards which was really sweet and made me feel good.

The baby also took her first trip on a plane when we flew up to Seattle for one last vacation before the insanity of parenthood starts. The trip went well. I don’t think I could have handled flying a lot further or traveling during our stay a lot more. It was just the right amount of walking, sleeping, eating, etc. Well I could have done less eating, but what else can I say about that? It was a nice getaway before she is born and we had a fun time.

My 20 week appointment went okay. I gained nearly 11 pounds in 1 month which was horrible for me to digest. Guess those little splurges added up after all, huh? I had a hard time eating well over vacation and felt horrible about it after I digested the yummy goodness of food in the Pacific Northwest, but I’m back on the pregnancy “diet” of fruits, veggies, healthy dinners and low fat sweets. In fact as I type this now I eat my cottage cheese/tomato/cucumber salad and fat free chips with water. Anyways, I hadn’t drank enough water before my last appointment either, so they chastised me for that. However, the good news is, is that my AFP screenings all came back negative. The NP also went over the results of my big ultra sound. Half of her is measuring for a due date of 9/18 and the other half at 9/20. So they’re keeping me at 9/18. Her feet are HUGE. 2 weeks ago they were 1.5 inches long, so who knows what they are now that she weighs over a pound. So she has long legs and big feet according to the docs. She’s still sitting breeched, but that’s okay for now because she’ll probably turn later in the pregnancy. Though I tell you, those big foot kicks to my crotch and bladder are NO FUN. I’m ready for her to turn and start kicking other things. Jeff still hasn’t been able to feel her because she’s breeched, so her feet hang down so low that it’s hard to have someone feel it.

I have noticed my tummy getting harder – mainly above my belly button – but overall harder depending on the day. What a weird feeling! My weight is also shifting to my thighs, so I can’t fit in a lot of pants I try on because they won’t go over my thighs. Surprise, surprise, that’s typical for me! My face is also getting rounder, which is harder to hide from others. After losing so much weight a few years ago, I tell you this mentally makes me feel like I’m ugly and fat and my self confidence is WAY low. I wish I could just be okay with it, but it’s hard.

We’re going to register this weekend! Exciting, but I know it will be tiring. I still haven’t made a decision on the bedding. The pattern I like is online only so I have to pay an extra $50 for shipping and then if I don’t like it I have to ship it back. Guess I should start focusing on the bedding I want since the entire nursery theme goes around that and I want to work on the nursery in June.

Well that’s about it…going to take a quick stroll on my break…

20 weeks, 4 days...it's a Girl!

Yesterday was the big 20 week ultra sound! After five or so minutes of measuring and clicking the tech had Jeff come in the room so we could get a good look at the little bean. It's a girl! I didn't believe the tech at first and made her look between the legs at least 3 times to confirm. The lady seemed to know what she was doing though and I'm sure was horribly annoyed by my questioning. She said she's "perfect" and growing great. She's right on schedule for mid-September and already has long legs. The pictures of her spine were sent up to the doctor for analysis, so hopefully we'll get those results on Friday at my routine checkup. Still no word on the AFP screening - it's been 4 weeks and I have no idea if they're just slow or if that's good or bad news.

The past week and a half has been interesting. She sits pretty low most of the time, sometimes making it hard to stand after sitting or sleeping. Sometimes it's hard to stand up after peeing, my sides cramp up so tight that I can't stand straight. I'm also feeling lots of kicks really low on my cervix. It's such a bizarre feeling and startles me, especially if I'm at work.

It's been harder to be good about eating. I must have ate a pound of potato salad and 20 cookies over this past weekend! I crave a lot more soda that I used to which isn't so good for me. But no new cravings to report.

I finally took out my belly button ring - it's still weird seeing myself without it. But for some reason (to me) it makes me feel and look more pregnant. I'm still carrying in the front and really low (hence why everyone thought it was a boy) which is fine with me. When it starts spreading that means I've gained too much weight!

Lots of maternity clothes and baby shopping coming up this weekend. My parents are coming for Mother's Day and are just thrilled with the news of it being a girl.

Work is insanely busy, which is why it's been so long since my last post. Next week we leave for vacation in Seattle, so it'll be interesting experiencing traveling while pregnant!

That's it for now!