Product Whore: My favorite Mama-to-Be Products

When I first told people I was pregnant and that I was due 8/31, the been there done that moms said some variation of the following, "It's going to be a long hot summer." Then there was the time that my mom and I went fabric shopping for the nursery chair and the woman at the home interiors place and she were reminiscing about laying under ceiling fans, scantily clad, during the summer while pregnant.

I'm beginning to understand what they are talking about.

We do have air conditioning, but I have refused to turn it on before June 1. My husband rigged up this box fan in our window at night and that combined with the ceiling fan has done the trick. It's just the rest of the house that is H-O-T. My friend JT sent me a care package when I first told her I was preggo and it included a tube of Mama Bee Leg and Foot Cream. I "saved" it until the summer given that it has peppermint in it and BOY AM I GLAD I DID. I have slathered this on my legs and feet for two nights in a row and the peppermint combined with the cool air from the fans has been wonderful. Last night my husband even gave me a foot massage with the stuff - AHHHH. My feet have been so sore lately. I highly recommend this stuff - I'm sure any lotion with peppermint would suffice, however.


Since my feet have been uber sore, I have also opened the Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Feet Foat Soak that AH sent me. I also saved this for the end of pregnancy since I had read about the sore feet thing. I'm pretty sure I will be soaking my feet nightly. This stuff smells heavenly. If you didn't want to splurge on the foot soak, I reccomend epsom salts (which are like $2 for a huge bag at Walgreens) and a few drops of essential oils (peppermint again for cooling). I did this pre-pregnancy and loved it.

Finally, I have breezed through my Earth Mama Angel Baby natural stretch oil and the Mama Bee Belly Balm and am on to the Lusa Mama Belly Balm. I really liked all three of these products and haven't had much itching on my belly and no stretch marks yet (fingers crossed!). The oil and mama bee are definitely on the greasy side, which my dry skin loved, particuarly in the dry winter months. The Lusa stuff is much less greasy and perfect for this time of year in WI. Plus, it's made right here in WI!! My mom, nana and I are hooked on the Lusa Lotion bars so i thought I'd give the Mama line a try.

What I Know Now: Week 26

Yes - another four weeks have passed. I could not believe it myself - I had to look back in the archive to make sure that the last one of these "What I Know Now" posts was actually a month ago. Here are my comments on the pregnancy at 26 weeks.

1. I can't make a decision to save my life lately. What should we register for? What should we name the baby? We had the short list whittled down but now I am ADDING to it rather than subtracting. I think I am driving my husband crazy. What should I wear? What movie should we rent? ARGH. I don't know if this is a "pregnancy symptom" but it is something I have noticed.

2. My butt and thighs are getting bigger. Sigh. Many of my pre-pregnancy underwear aren't fitting anymore. Mostly in that they don't cover my full ass. I would say 3/4 at best. I was sitting staining a high chair at my mom's this past weekend. She took a picture of me and I had to double check that my ass crack was not hanging out. I went to Target to get bigger underwear (not maternity underwear). I bought a six pack of Hanes in a size bigger than I normally wear. They were too small. Guess we're going up two sizes in the ass dept, folks!

3. I am now taking the advice to borrow your husband's clothes from Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. His t-shirts and his boxers are my new PJ of choice. That is until I get so hot in the middle of the night and whip the boxers across the room.

4. IT'S HOT. My mom warned me it was going to be a miserable summer. I'm trying not to think negatively but after a few days of upper 80s-lower 90s temps here, I'm dying. On the plus side, it's making me drink more water, which I have been really bad at.

5. Although of course I still like cheese and eat a piece of string cheese every day, I don't have the same CRAVING for it that I have had up until recently. Lately I am craving more carbohydrates and sugar - exactly what I don't need! I also have been really loving food on the spicy side, which is uncharacteristic of me.

6. I really have baby fever. I have been commenting to Nate every time I see a baby that I want our baby here NOW. (I'm sure there will be days after the baby gets here that I will be like I want our baby to go back in the womb!)

7. I have not ran for five days. Mostly because of the unrelenting heat, but also because I'm nervous about it.

8. Speaking of nervous, when we first found out I was pregnant, I was not nervous about miscarrying or anything. Now, the tables are turned. I am more nervous now about something happening to the baby.

9. I have had no Braxton-Hicks contractions. I feel like my ribs must be expanding - I have had to put my bras on the middle hook instead of the tightest hook and my ribs constantly feel bruised. They are very tender to the touch. There is one spot, underneath my right breast, that is always really sore. Over the head arm stretches are becoming routine. I have no stretch marks yet.

10. I really love feeling the baby move. As I have said before, this totally saves pregnancy for me. Lately it has been really active which is a weird sensation to feel and now see. I find myself talking, in my head, to the baby a lot. This is reminiscent of having imaginary friends as a child...only the baby isn't really imaginary, ha ha ha.

Pregnancy Brain Episode of the Day

This one actually really annoys me.

I am in an investment club. We have to do monthly homework, basically tracking stocks. In order to do this, you have to download Value Lines, which require you to go to the library to access and print. I went to the library yesterday after work and searched for all of my stocks, printed the value lines and paid for them.

AND LEFT THEM AT THE LIBRARY.

I discovered this at about 3:00 this morning when I was going to do the homework. So now I have to go back to the library tonight and do my homework along with a zillion other things since we leave for vacation after work tomorrow.

GRRRRRR!!!

The Glucose Test

This morning I had a doctor appointment - it was the big Glucose Test appointment where you drink the sugar to find out if you have gestational diabetes. At my last appointment, they gave me the drink to take home so that I could drink it at home and not have to wait around in the waiting room for the hour. The nurse said I could eat/drink before I drank the glucose, but not after. However, MB suggested a total fast to increase the chances of passing so that's what I did.

I opened the bottle at 7:37 AM and it was gone by 7:38. I was thinking that it wasn't so bad - it tasted exactly like McDonald's Orange Drink, as several people told me. However, a couple minutes after finishing the drink, I felt really gross - my stomach was cramping and I felt nauseous. We're having a bit of a heat wave here so by the time I got up to my doctor's office at 8:30, i was totally sweaty and feeling sick. Lovely.

They drew my blood at 8:38. Of course I requested to lay down and so I had no problems with passing out. I did feel lightheaded but not down for the count. Then the weight & blood pressure. I am up 24.8 pounds. Yes. Love that I am already in the 25-35 pound range they suggest you gain for the ENTIRE pregnancy. Maybe I'll only gain 10.2 pounds over the next 14 weeks?? ha ha ha FAT chance. My blood pressure was on the low end still 96/52, probably b/c I was lightheaded. Then, I had to pee in the cup - all came back negative.

While waiting for the doctor, I laid down on the bed - I just felt totally sick still. He came in, found the heartbeat right away and then got out the paper tape measure - 25 cm. Baby S is right on track. I asked the doctor a lot of questions about the position of the baby, how much room he/she has, and when they tend to "assume the position" of head down. It was very interesting, but in the middle of it, I had to lay down again because I started feeling dizzy.

That's the 25 week, 6 day appointment for me. I made it back to my office and started eating some oatmeal and am feeling better. Let's hope that I pass the test!

Fun With Names: Family Ties

I've been thinking about names a lot lately. It started at yoga when the teacher asked us all to include the name of our future baby during the introduction. People, I had a panic attack. My thoughts were racing - oh my God, I don't want to tell these people my names. Nevermind that I will never see them again and I don't know any of them. So i just said, "We haven't decided on names yet". This is not a lie - we have a shortlist of names and it likely is going to stay that way until we meet Baby S.

For a while I was regularly posting Fun With Names. I haven't done one since March 21. Two months to the day. (No I did not plan this).

So let's get down to it with Family Names!

I LOVE the idea of using family names. In fact, our middle names are pretty much decided and both (meaning our boy middle name and our girl middle name) are family names (and are NOT on the list below, sorry!). I probably like this because I tend toward more old-fashioned sounding names. Unfortunately, my husband is not in the old-fashioned sounding names boat with me. BOO! So here we go -

Henry. LOVE THIS NAME. I love it. We probably will use this at some point still if we have boys boys boys. This is my maternal great grandfather's name. Grandpa T. He is still alive and kicking at 93. Witty and spry as ever. In fact, if you have ever seen my family pictures, you will notice him b/c my mom and my nana are obsessed with five generation pictures and they always pull him in on one.

William. LOVE THIS NAME TOO. This is my maternal grandfather, "Pa"'s, name. Unfortunately my cousin also has this name. And he definitely goes by Will or William, which is how I would want it - not "Bill, Billy or Mac or Buddy" (sheryl crow). Pa goes by Bill. So would I NOT name my kid this since my cousin has the name? Maybe. It definitely isn't on the shortlist for baby #1.

Thomas. My dad's name. I think it's a cute boy's name. Again, I run into this issue where I would want his name to be Thomas and not Tommy. I have another little cousin named Tommy and my cousin married a Tom. So a lot of Tom action in my fam. Still, I like the name. And oh my lord here's where I get picky - I don't like when the first name ends with the same letter as the start of the last name (e.g. Sam Miller). Yes - I am neurotic.

Douglas. My FIL's name. I don't like this as a first name but it would make a good middle name. However, then we run into the same issue about it running into our last name - same with Thomas.

Matthew. This is my GREAT GREAT grandfather's name. Yeah - that's going back far. But my middle name is after his wife, Elizabeth, so when I was younger I always thought I would have a boy and a girl and name them Matthew and Elizabeth. Because of COURSE you can plan having a boy and a girl, right?!?! ha ha ha. Anyway, I also have a cousin named Matt that we never see. Regardless this didn't make the short list. I toyed with varying the spelling to Mathieu after reading the french names section of our baby name book. :)

Carver. My husband and all of his brothers have this for their middle name. It is a blend of both of their grandfathers "Carl" and "Verlin". I thought this was a great idea on my MIL's part. For a very long time, I wanted our son, if we have one, to have this for his middle name. But then my husband and I sort of decided that they should have their own middle names.

I think that's it for the gentleman (well of course save for any names that we may be using....;) )

And now the ladies...

Jane. Love this name. Love the simplicity and classic-ness (is that a word?!) of it. My aunt is named Jane. We see her a lot, but that wouldn't deter me from using this at some point. Again, not Baby #1.

Patricia. My nana's name. I like this one too, although I don't like the nickname variants. The husband does not like this name. Not even for a middle name. So it's off the list.

Elizabeth. My own middle name and my great great grandmother's name. Once upon a time I wanted to name my girl Claire Elizabeth. Then my aunt Jackie had a daughter and named her Elizabeth Claire. I KID YOU NOT. This girl is my god daughter so I don't want my daughter sharing her name. :) Nate really likes this name as a middle name, as do I for myself, but I'm not so keen on it for my daughter. *See Carver above

Esther. Ok. stick with me here. I know this is like the epitome of old-fashioned but I like it. This is my husband's grandmother's name. He doesn't like the name so much so we're not using it this go round. I may still try to fight for this as a middle name though for future babies.

Catherine. My great grandmother's name and Nate's great grandmother's name. EVERYBODY WINS! I would want to spell it Kathryn though. He doesn't like that spelling. And I don't know that I want her called Katie. I like Cat. He doesn't. Plus my BIL is seriously dating a Kathryn. That's not a dealbreaker for me. Put it in the future use file.

Ida. I would want this for a middle name. My paternal grandmother's name. She died a day before my 12th birthday. It was traumatic.

Viola. HOW ADORABLE IS THIS? My great-grandmother's name (married to Henry). She had the most BEAUTIFUL silver hair that my sister and I are really hoping we inherit some day.

Cecilia. My "I don't know how she's related to me but she was always at family functions" relative. She was at our wedding too (which is a big deal b/c only a small fraction of my family were invited). Goes by Ceil. I really like this name but then Jim & Pam on The Office named their baby that. Then I didn't really want people assuming I named her that because of that show - like how everyone named their daughter Emma after Rachel on Friends did.

Germaine. JUST KIDDING. This is my husband's other grandma's name. It is the family joke that her name would work for a boy or a girl (Jermaine/Germaine). She has a good sense of humor about it.

Ann/a. My mom's middle name is Ann. I like Anna. My husband does not.

I think that's it.

My future names post will feature "Names I Love But My Husband Hates". And there are a lot of them. Sniff, Ramona.

RXN

I am very excited - tonight is my prenatal massage appointment that my hubby gave me for mother's day!! 6:45 PM can't come fast enough.

I have started to notice wackadoo things upon waking up in the morning. Yesterday morning I had two big scratched welts on my hip right where my underwear was and this morning i had the same thing on my ankle where my sock was. Am I scratching myself in my sleep? Or are my socks and underwear getting too tight that they cut off circulation at night?!? I also have noticed that tags on things have been driving me crazy lately, particularly on maternity pants. The location of tags on all of my pants is right on the small of my back and is constantly rubbing. I much prefer tagless clothes. I have been too lazy to get the seam ripper and rid the pants of tags.

Last night I also converted a denim skirt to a maternity skirt. It was way easier than I thought it would be. This morning I went to wear it and realized that i made the pouch a bit too high - The pouch part goes up past my boobs and therefore looks like I am wearing a knit tube top sewn into a denim skirt. Definitely NOT fashion forward, ha ha ha. I wanted it a bit longer so that I could double up the pouch but it makes it too bulky under all shirts so I'm going to have to fix it tonight. I was just glad to know that it worked and all with only about 10 minutes of work!!

I'm definitely confined to my maternity clothes now, which means that I have about 6 shirts, 3 pants, and 4 dresses that I rotate. I might already be getting sick of these items so one more round of shopping might be in the cards. I now have moved into my husband's t-shirts at night. All of my t-shirts might cut off the circulation in my torso if left on for more than 30 seconds. I think my husband is getting a kick out of this though - I was complaining about my t-shirts and he went through his drawer and found a smaller t-shirt of his to loan me. I have been rocking that thing for about 4 nights so last night he says to me, "Honey, I probably can find another t-shirt so you don't have to keep wearing that one." ha ha ha. Am I starting to smell!?

The end in sight?

This is my 102nd post. I can't believe that I have waxed poetically whined about pregnancy that much! I can't believe there are still people reading this crap!

Proof positive that one can surely talk about pregnancy all day long if you let her.

So what am I going to talk about today? RUNNING.

I don't know how much longer I will be able to run pregnant. This week I have started to have a lot of discomfort, bordering on pain, while doing so. It now feels like my belly is moving up and down so that after a while, the ligaments, muscles around it hurt. Not to mention that my back isn't feeling the best lately. Yesterday I ran for 10 minutes, walked 5 minutes and ran 7 minutes and called it a day. Today my back is really hurting.

I'm not giving up yet - it could just be a bad week, but it also could mean that I'm hanging up the running shoes. I feel pretty lucky that I was able to go 25 weeks (and counting). I have toyed around with the idea of getting a "sports bra for the belly" so that i could continue running. At the beginning of this trip, I said that once I had to get one of those, I would be done. Now that the time might be here, I don't know that I'm ready to stop running! I also don't know if those belly support bands even work, or if they are made for running. Surprisingly, I haven't had any hip, knee or shin pain from carrying around extra weight, which I thought might start to happen.

Suffice to say, I'll keep you posted (pun intended).

Pregnancy Brain Episode of the Day

I have been laughing for the better part of two minutes now.

While I was visiting friends in the ATL at the beginning of the month, one of them asked me if I felt like I was having pregnancy brain yet. I said that I really didn't feel like I was experiencing it yet. Well, I don't know if this is just coincidence, but since I returned from that trip, I have had multiple episodes of pregnancy brain occur (see yesterday's "HOLY SH**" message). One funny one JUST occurred that I will share:

My father is an avid fisherman. Every year, he invites my husband to do a fishing tournament with him for "bonding" time. My husband generally has a good time at this, even though he's not about to take up fishing as a lifestyle, like my father. So Friday night after work, we are headed to my dad's house since the big tournament is Saturday.

My father emailed my husband to ask him what time we would arrive on Friday. My husband replied to him, and CC'ed me, that it would depend on what time I was leaving Friday after work. I replied to both of them saying:

"I will probably leave work at 4:30/5:00 on Friday which would put us to your house by 6:30ish Sunday"

Click Send.

My father emails me back - "What the hell, will be you be walking to my house or why will it take you a day and a half to get to my house?!?"

OOPS! Pregnancy brain. Obviously I meant to say that we would be at his house by 6:30 FRIDAY not SUNDAY. I am still laughing about this one. DUH!

L&D

Another part of our weekend was spent at a surprise 50th birthday party for my husband's aunt and uncle and meeting one of our friend's new baby. One of the things that starts to happen when women know you are pregnant is the telling of their own personal labor and delivery story, particularly if the women are a good ten years+older than you. At first, this totally freaked me out and sort of annoyed me. Now, I sort of like it and actually ask a lot of questions. At the party, I seriously said, "I'm sort of excited to go through the whole labor and delivery process". And it's true. Yes, I'm still freaked out by it but more and more, I find myself truly excited. Maybe it's because it means that pregnancy will be over and we'll have our little baby.

Still, there are those women who love to tell you that they only gained 20 lbs with their pregnancies or that labor did not hurt one bit. Really? No pain at all?! I don't buy it. This same woman told me "Don't even bother getting an epidural - it doesn't hurt at all." Really?! I don't think I did a good job of hiding my skepticism. Given the MANY stories that I have read and heard over the past 25 weeks (yes! 25 weeks today!), the one thing I have learned is that every woman's story is different and I'm sure mine will be no different. One question that I am starting to get is, "Are you going to have a natural childbirth or get an epidural?" My answer is, "we'll have to see". My plan is to have no plan - that is see how the whole thing goes and if I want an epidural, I'll take it; if not, I won't. One thing that I am pretty against right now is being induced. Of course, I may change my tune if it gets to be mid-September and I'm still pregnant!

Classic example of what never to say to a pregnant woman

HOLY SH**. This is the danger of having a public and private blog - what if you mess up and post to the wrong blog?! I totally posted this to my public blog two seconds ago and think my armpits are still soaking wet with anxiety. PHEW.

On to the post...

Ok, we all know things never to say to a pregnant woman. We probably have said a few of them ourselves, myself included, and even though I have now been down this road called pregnancy, I'm sure I will still put my foot in my mouth in the future. Part of the problem is that one just never knows what is going to push a hormonally-wacked out pregnant woman's buttons (myself TOTALLY included). However, I will share with you a classic example of what NOT to say to a pregnant woman.

This past weekend, my brother-in-law graduated from college on Saturday. We of course went to the graduation ceremony. I wore my now-standard dress up maternity dress- a magenta knit number that I got at Gap for $9.97. The dress is comfy and I feel small in it. My bro-in-law's school had a recognition breakfast that he invited us to go to before the ceremony. Upon our arrival, my MIL saw me and exclaimed to my brother-in-law, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!" (emphasis was really on huge). Now, eight years of knowing my MIL, I am finally starting to understand how she works. A little. I KNEW that she didn't really mean that I was a whale, but that she was really excited that I was starting to show. So I didn't even get annoyed in my head at this comment. I just smiled and let it go.

HOWEVER. When the comment was REPEATED (word for word) before graduation when we met up with some other family members, I coulnd't help it. "D-, I think that is definitely in the list of things to never say to a pregnant woman." My bro-in-law's GF was cracking up because her eyes got really big when she heard the comment. My MIL started laughing and explaining, "That's not what I meant...". We had a good laugh about it.

Lesson for the day - Instead of saying, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!", try, "Oh you're getting a baby bump! Cute!" or something to that effect.

Or, try this, said to me by the mother of one of my bro-in-law's friends: "You don't look like you're due in August. You look beautiful". That, my friends, will always work ;)

Are you pregnant?!

Beginning last weekend, people are starting to directly ask me, "Are you pregnant" in some way shape or form. Apparently I am starting to really look obviously pregnant! Someone at work recently asked me when I would start wearing maternity clothes - I totally took that as a complement since I have been rocking the M-clothes pretty constantly for about 8 weeks now. I think I might get more compliments on my maternity clothes than my regular clothes! (Ok, that's stretching it a bit). Then again, maybe people just know that you can tend to feel sort of ick when you are pregnant so they lay the compliments on to boost your self esteem!

I have to commend my husband who really has been my go-to person with the maternity clothes thing. He usually will tag along if I go in-store shopping and he will let me do a "maternity fashion show" if I get a shipment of stuff from online. He knows my criteria and will be honest when something just isn't working (aka long maxi dress from old navy). Normally one to sort of eye roll at buying new clothes (because let's face it - I am certainly NOT lacking in that department!) he hasn't even complained about me getting new stuff!

Last night we headed back to my hometown to watch my niece and cousins in their spring music concert. Lots of belly rubbing going on! My husband taught my niece to hold her ear to my belly to listen for the baby and we tried to make the baby kick so she could feel it. No such luck :( I think she probably thinks we are crazy saying there's a baby in there! Oh well - it made for some pretty cute pictures.

New Developments

"For someone who hates being pregnant, you sure are in love with your belly." {Direct quote from my husband last night.}

Totally true. I am obsessed with watching my belly at night. If we are home and I am on the couch, my shirt is up and I'm staring at the belly. One of my weekly emails said that your partner could try listening to your belly for the heartbeat starting at 25 weeks. I told my husband this and so now he is all about putting his head on belly and listening, particularly during periods of high movement. He said it's pretty cool. I commented that I was sad I couldn't listen and he said, "Well, you get to feel it". Touche.

Last night I think the baby had some major hiccups. The same e-newsletter said that periods of rhythmic movement are probably hiccups. It was crazy how rhthmic and long they lasted last night! Complete with a visual ripple across the stomach. I am also curious as to how much room the baby has to move around. I always still picture this bitty baby swimming around and doing flips in there.

Yesterday also started some rib pain, which is pretty common. I don't really understand why I already have rib pain - I highly doubt my uterus is pushing up that high already but there it is. It especially hurts when I laugh so last night was not a good night to catch up on two episodes of the Office and the Betty White SNL episode! I feel like my next doctor appointment is going to have a lot of questions!

I did have a regular yoga class last night which helped with some stretching. This was not the yoga/pilates variety and actually was quite relaxing. We did a lot of leg work to make our legs strong for birth. I have always liked my legs and appreciated their strength - all that running - so last night's yoga was a confidence booster.

More Reading Material

The minute I got pregnant (ok, well 2 days after I found out I was pregnant) I signed up for all sorts of e-newslettters and magazines. At 24 weeks, 1 day I am ready to give you the evaluation of them.

Websites - E-newsletters
Baby Center
This is my favorite one, again because it give you an update on baby's development. I love reading about what is happening! This is also the one that the hubster gets. I sent him one at 5 weeks and he was like, "Oh! Keep sending me these!". I actually really like this website too. If I am ever looking for more information beyond my Mayo Clinic book, i go here. Sign Up for "My Baby This Week" here.

Mothering
Another weekly email. This one is always a week ahead of things - like I am 24 weeks and 1 day today and I got the 25 week email. Maybe so you can read ahead? I also like this email. It is a bit more "crunchy" and has a lot of natural things to do. They have some good recipes and some nice stretches. It is pretty well rounded too - like there is usually a poem or a story about being pregnant at the end of it. I think I get both the your pregnancy week by week one and the Peggy's Kitchen one. Sign up here. This is also a parenting magazine, which I have never read.

Fit Pregnancy
This newsletter is terrible. Useless and repetitive info. I get this magazine free from my doctor's office and this is the corresponding enewsletter. Save your time. They also do a lot of celebrity pregnancies, of which I am not a fan. If interested, you can sign up here.

The Bump
If you used The Knot or The Nest at all, you will be familar with this as the interface is the same. The enewsletter is ok. Personally, I think I get more info from the Baby Center and Mothering ones so this one is only so so. Sign up here.

Those are the four that I subscribe too. Of course I also get about three cord blood banking emails per day with this too. I would definitely subscribe to the first two and not the last if I were picking today. I also don't use any of the sites above for message boards, etc. Some people really like these features but because I don't use them, I can't comment on that aspect of the websites. My use is primarily confined to the e-newsletter.

Magazines
Ah, so you all know that I am a freak about magazines. I can't say that any of the pregnancy magazines that I read are amazing or must sees. They're good for a quick read and that's about it.

Pregnancy
I of course took advantage of one of Amazon's $5 subscriptions and signed up to get Pregnancy magazine. The magazine is ok. It is worth 10-15 minutes of entertainment. Every issue so far has had a BumGenius cloth diaper coupon in it so for that, I think it was worth it. I can't say that I learn a whole lot from this magazine.

American Baby
You sign up and get this magazine for free. For free, it's decent. I woulnd't pay for it though.

Fit Pregnancy
I get this magazine free from my doctor's office. It's not bad but again, I'm not sure I would subscribe to it.

All magazines are heavily geared towards celebrity pregnancies and the accumulation of "stuff". Still, a nice form of entertainment while your husband watches sports on television and you are too lazy to get off the couch.

Back That A** Up

Is it possible to double in size overnight?

Ok, not really, but "it is funny how I am starting to fill out maternity clothes". {Direct quote from my husband this morning.}

"Funny" might not be the word I would select. "Weird" "Crazy" or my favorite word "Alien" might be some of my word choices.

Yesterday I didn't feel that big and then today - SHAZAAM. There is the belly - out front and out proud.

Strange.

Last night I cut my hair all off. "WOW. It's short." There's that husband again with his great word choices. I think I might have lost five pounds of hair. I guess I am not growing my hair out now.

After the haircut we went to my sister's place. My sister offered to cook some comfort food for mother's day. Cute girl also got me a card and a little gift for Baby S. She made him/her a Christpher O'Reilley CD. Christopher O'Reilley does Radiohead on piano. It is very soothing to listen to. I thought it was just so cute that she did that. Baby S loved it and responded by kicking her. Another weird thing that we noticed last night is that you can now see what side of my uterus the baby is on. When I was lying on her couch with my dress pulled up around my boobs, I said, "Woah! My uterus is lopsided!"

We are full of weird moments!

Top 10 Names of 2009

We are not going to be telling our names either. I have certainly made comments about names I like but so far, we haven't told our top contenders. The social security administration just released the top ten boy and girl names for 2009. My "hint" is that none of our names (boy or girl) are on these lists. Stay tuned!

Top 10 Boy Names of 2009
1. Jacob
2. Michael
3. Joshua
4. Matthew
5. Daniel
6. Christopher
7. Ethan
8. Andrew
9. William
10. Joseph

Top 10 Girl Names of 2009
1. Emily
2. Madison
3. Abigail
4. Olivia
5. Hannah
6. Emma
7. Samantha
8. Isabella
9. Ashley
10. Ava

Baby Boy

Ok - WE DID NOT FIND OUT THE GENDER OF OUR CHILD. Everytime I refer to the baby as a "he" or a "she" people ask me if I've slipped.

My husband went on record last night and announced that he for sure thinks it's a boy. I am willing to commit to saying that I will be surprised if it's a girl. I was telling someone over the weekend that at first I really thought it was a girl but now I think it is a boy more often that I think it is a girl. I don't know if that is because most people around me have been saying that they think it is a boy, or if it's because my husband thinks it's a boy and so that has been put in my mind. I still don't have a strong sense that it is one gender or the other like some moms-to-be have.

Twenty four weeks today!! Only 16 weeks left! I had not really thought about the x # of weeks left aspect until my friend MB said that she only had 12 weeks left. Holy cats. When you think about it that way, it doesn't seem too long before Baby S will be here!

I'm starting to freak out at work a bit because there just seems to be so much to get done by August...which is why I'm blogging instead ;)

Mother's Day & Airplanes

First, I will talk about airplanes. I flew to ATL over the weekend. This is my second flight taken while pregnant - the first was to and from Orlando when I was 5 weeks preggers and totally sick. That flight was not fun. I was also helping my husband who suffers severe anxiety attacks from flights. My flight over the weekend was uneventful but back aches are not a nice side effect. On the way there i was lucky to have no one sitting next to me so I could move around and contort my body in weird ways to alleviate pain. On the way home, our flight was packed. I ended up sleeping with one arm behind my back balled up in a fist on the area that was tense. Strangely enough I always get tense/pain in this same area throughout pregnancy. It is on my right side, and just next to my spine at the midpoitn of my back. Yes, my arm did fall asleep while doing this, but I would rather have an asleep arm than this back pain. I am still dealing with it today and hoping our yoga/pilates class tonight helps some.

Speaking of airplanes, I know it is a bit early for one of my 'what i know now' posts, but I did learn something over the weekend about flying - wear the TIGHTEST shirt possible while pregnant so people help you out. I was wearing a baggier shirt and not obviously pregnant. There was a man in my row, two other women and myself. He bent over backwards to help them with their luggage while i was huffing to try to get my suitcase out of the overhead compartment. Then, when I got on the shuttle to take me to my car, the driver helped every other person with thier bag to their car EXCEPT me. No i am not kidding. I was like, REALLY?! You helped the marine out with his bag and not the preggo lady? That is when I realized I made a huge mistake in the wardrobe department. The ironic thing is that all weekend, my friends' husbands were being so nice to me - lifting things, pulling out chairs, etc and I was all like, "Guys, I can do this myself. I'm pregnant, not handicapped". Then when I was tired, with a sore back and wanting help, none was available. Go figure!

So Mother's Day. I'm not really sure that I qualify as a mother yet. Oh I probably do, but do I feel like a "mother"? No. So my husband asked me earlier this week, "Am I suppossed to get you a mother's day present?". How was I suppossed to respond to this?! So I was honest - i said, "Well, if you had just gotten me one without asking, that would be really sweet but I kind of feel like I'm asking you for a present, and I don't really feel like a mother so don't get me one." So i got home yesterday and called both my mother and my mother-in-law. My MIL asked me what I got for mother's day (she and my FIL had sent me a cute Mother-to-be mother's day card). I replied "Nothing". She sounded surprised. After we hung up the phone, I told my husband that she had asked and I said Nothing. He said, "Well you didn't even look in the right spot". I was totally confused and said, "Huh?". He said, "Well you're not my mother - so where would a baby hide a present if he/she could?". I still was not getting it. He said - "The crib". I was like, "Are you kidding?!". I went upstairs and sure enough in the crib was a card.

It was a nice mother-to-be card and also contained a letter from Baby Schlotty. It was SO CUTE. I totally started crying and in it was also a gift certificate for a one hour prenatal massage! PERFECT! My husband also gave me a massage last night :) So maybe I do feel a bit like a mother now :)

Holy Annoying

I have found that people are often surprised that I am staying somewhat physically active throughout my pregnancy. I think it is pretty common to get asked, in some form, "You can run while you're pregnant?!". "Yep - totally. The doctor okayed it and everything." is my general response. For most people, it ends there. "Cool" or "Good for you" or "That's awesome" are common responses.

For some people, they feel like there is no way in hell that I should be running and that I MUST be causing the baby harm. First of all, I don't really think that I seem like the type of person to directly go against doctor's advice and put my baby in harm's way. If I in any way think something is going to harm the baby, I avoid it. I was worried for 3 days after the one time I ate deli meat, for crying out loud. And it's not like I'm training for a marathon here folks. I probably average 15 miles a week. Definitely not craziness. (I recently read in Runner's World that Carrie Tolefson cut her mileage in half from 80 miles/week to 40 while preggers. I love reading about pregnant runners!!)

I recently had a conversation of this sort that annoyed me to the core. My husband's grandmother wanted to know why I was still running. "The baby probably doesn't like that". I responded that I think the baby actually DOES like it. (And interestingly enough, the email of the week that I get from Babycenter said that baby does like movement.) "Well, I'm not sure you're suppossed to be doing that." I assured her that the doctor actually encouraged me to exercise. "Exercise, yes, but probably not running" was her reply. By this point, i was getting pretty pissy. I responded, "Well, I specifically asked him about running before I continued doing it and he said to go for it. The baby is doing fine and I'm not having any complications so it is perfectly safe I'm also on the high end of the weight gain curve so clearly it isn't interfering with that." I still don't think she believed me as she made a few more grumbling comments. I told my husband about this and he apologized saying that he slipped and mentioned my 5K to her. ARGH.

I thought of lots of mean stuff I could say in my head, but I kept my cool. Thanks for letting me vent.

Good Days Vs. Bad Days

I have been having some pretty good days of pregnancy lately, which has been nice. I still haven't kicked the insomnia completely, but will have a few good nights of sleep per week, which makes the bad nights easier to handle. It's all a case of good days and bad days. Example:

Yesterday was a "good day". I volunteered to drive my FIL to his chemo appointment 4hours away. I wasn't really sure how it was going to go since I haven't ever spent a day exclusively with him only. Well CHATTY CATHY. We talked the entire drive there, save for 30 minutes when I took a nap. And now I know who to call if I ever NEED to talk about being pregnant - the man is SO EXCITED about the baby he was more than happy to ask me questions and talk about it. Which is fun because a lot of times I feel like I should rein it in on the baby talk. The appointment lasted about 5 hours during which I got a lot of work done and then I had to drive back home, due to the fact that he is pretty out of it and sleeps a lot when it is all done. Again, back to baby talk on the way home! It was really funny. It is easy to have a good day when people share in your excitement about being pregnant. This is probably not going to sound right, but we decided that he and I share a lot of the same symptoms - he has a bit of an extended stomach because of a swollen spleen, he doesn't sleep well, he is tired all of the time, and people are always nice to both of us. I think I have the good end of that deal though - I at least get a baby at the end of all of this! All in all I was thankful for the fun, albeit tiring, day we had and I sort of feel a lot closer to my FIL now. I was a little disappointed that he couldn't feel the baby kick. The one time that the baby was kicking while he was awake, he rushed to put his hand on my belly just in time for Baby S to STOP kicking. Go figure!

Now today so far has been more on the bad day side. Nothing terrible - just tired and crabby. I had to drive to an appt for work that didn't show up which annoyed me, I desperately need a haircut becuase now my hair IS growing like a weed so it is in about 1000 bobby pins and looking like something Helena Bonham Carter would rock, and I have (WARNING - APPROACHING TMI TERRITORY. ABORT MISSION IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR REALLY PERSONAL INFO) what I like to call Rainy Vag syndrome which has left evidence on my pants. Thank God maternity polyester pants dry quickly. My friend HC and I were just whining about the fluids that your body produces while pregnant. Where does that all come from? UGH. HC's twin sister just gave birth and warned us that it only gets worse. People, I have gotten CHAFE marks on my inner thigh from pantiliners. So I stopped wearing them for a day (today) and bam. Immediately regretting that decision. This is definitely something no one ever brought to my attention pre-pregnancy.

And now to conclude good day, bad day, a funny story. AS I have whined about plenty of times on this blog, my breasts are growing by the minute right along with my belly. I bought new bras (in new sizes) again over the weekend. Yesterday my MIL and my husband met us for a very late dinner towards the end of the drive to save me some driving b/c they knew I was getting pooped. My MIL has been more and more comfortable around me but doesn't really talk too much about "women" things to me. Over burgers and fries she suddenly blurted out, "wow - your boobs really are getting big". I just started laughing. "Totally - they're monstrous". She just shook her head and laughed. I thought about telling her my fears of squashing my baby with them while breastfeeding but just left it at that. :)

Prenatal Yoga

My friend HC asked me if I was interested in checking out the free prenatal yoga classes offered by the nearby Destination Maternity store. Never one to pass up free things, I agreed to sign us up. Last night was our first class.

We got to the store and the instructor greeted us and took us to the studio off the store. It was a legit, although small, studio! I don't know what I was expecting but it already was nicer than that. The first thing we did is go around and introduce ourselves and say how far along we were. There were six of us total. It was sort of fun seeing all the bellies and hearing how far they had left to go. The class was an hour long and a combo of yoga and pilates. It kicked my A**. I was expecting more Shiva Rae but it was tough. I am really sore today. They have roughly two to three classes offered per day FOR FREE and there is no limit to how many you can sign up for! We immediately signed up for the rest of the month.

Alien living in Mommy's Funhouse

Sometimes I refer to Baby S as an alien. I do this lovingly. My sister also does this. I think because we often say that new babies look like aliens. Cute aliens, but aliens.

Being pregnant, I often feel alien. I don't know that I'll every fully comprehend the fact that there is something living and moving around inside of me. This weekend marked another alien moment - you can now SEE Baby S move by watching my stomach. There are ripples that physcially move. It is incredible. I scream every time it happens and easily get distracted by watching my belly move in waves.

I can sort of get the baby to do it on demand too using a little move I like to call Mommy's Funhouse. (OH MY GOD - Yes, I am this weird). If I use both of my hands to gently bounce on my stomach while I am lying on my back, usually the baby will start to move pretty soon after. I like to think that Baby S is bouncing around in one of those moonwalk funhouse things that were really fun as a kid (but probably really dangerous).

Baby's First 5K

My preggo 5K occurred on Saturday. It was a great experience, but the 12 hours previous had me nervous. Friday night I hung out at home and crafted while my husband went over to a friend's house for video gaming. It was storming something fierce and I was thinking, "Oh great. I don't really want to run in the rain tomorrow." I went to bed hoping it would clear by morning.

3:30 AM arrives and I get up to go to the bathroom. And toss. And turn. Sigh. I'm starving. I go eat a piece of string cheese (my go-to midnight snack). It does nothing to curb my hunger. So I get up and go make this breakfast quinoa recipe I read about in Martha Stewart. In my underwear. At some point in the tossing and turning I realized I was really hot so I took off my pants. Thus, I was in my kitchen at 4:30 in the morning, in an ill-fitting t-shirt and underwear making quinoa. Never one to focus on a single task, I read my book while it cooked. EXPLODE. Quinoa and milk all over the stove. The quinoa finally got done and I WOLFED it down. It was divine. At about 5:30 I went back to bed and probably fell asleep around 6.

At 8:15 my alarm went off. UGH. I was exhausted and my head hurt. "I don't want to run" I told my husband. He asked me what I was doing early this morning that was causing some banging. "Oh, cooking quinoa", I replied nonchalantly. He just shook his head. I guess he is getting used to my early morning escapades! He confessed that he thought it was a dumb idea, me running this 5K. "WHAT?!", I exclaimed. He said that he knew how competitive I get and that he was worried that I would be in a bad mood all day because my time would suck. I told him that this was a very valid concern, and I was really trying to make it fun and I was going to try very hard to not let my time bother me. Of course, I had to have a goal. Given that the majority of my runs are around 30 minutes long, I told him that my goal was to finish in under 30 minutes.

We headed off to the run, with the new camera. My husband was going to try to capture some action shots. We got to the race, got my packet and I had to pee. Ten minutes later, I had to pee again. The 5K was a great 5K to pick for my preggo run - it was very relaxed and on the smaller side. We lined up and I had to pee. CRAP! I thought it was nerves and that it would go away when the gun went off. The race started at 9:30. It was a beautiful sunny day and I just started plugging along. I felt really really really good...well besides the fact that I had to pee the ENTIRE TIME. Probably the best I have felt while running this whole pregnancy. There were no mile markers along the course, no clocks, just me and my watch. (Which of course I was glancing at, trying to estimate how much of the course we had completed and when I could get to a bathroom). I knew we were making a huge circle and when we were coming up on the finish, I saw the clock working it's way towards 24 minutes. That is when the competitive juices kicked in (pun intended) and I desperately wanted to finish under 24 minutes. I crossed the finish in 23:52. And i felt great. I ran straight from the finish to the bathroom. That's a pregnant runner for you!

WTF. 4 full months of major suckage running all made up for in one 5K. I celebrated by eating one of the hot dogs at the finish. (Yes, I ate a hot dog. I was not about to care about the pregnancy rules.)

Sure it's not a PR and if I got that time non-pregnant, I wouldn't be happy. But I was actually pretty proud of myself on Saturday and was in a great mood for the rest of the weekend, much to my husband's delight. Now...do I do another one?!? :)