Toot Your Horn Tuesday Annoucement

Hi All! Tomorrow I am starting Toot Your Horn Tuesday.  Cheesy? Yes!  But since I have become a new mom I have realized that sometimes the mom gets forgotten in the whole mess of laundry, diapers, and babyness (new word right there).  I want all of us to be able to tell the world what we accomplished this week.  It can be something as small as cooking dinner for your family or something as big as reaching your breastfeeding goal.  It could be baby, family or the best you related, doesn't matter. Write a post with pictures and link it up tomorrow.  Then go visit everyone else's post and spread some love because you know we all need it.  

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today I found out I was pregnant.  Looking back I realized that I have never told the story here.  Dufda and I had taken our honeymoon, 8 months after we were married, to Jordan.  I had never met his family or knew where he came from.  We knew that this would be the month we would start trying to get pregnant.  The plan was that Dufda would stay in Jordan to be with his family, while I returned home to go back to work.  After an awful day of traveling by myself I made it home June 23, 2012.  That next day I went to the grocery store to pick up some essentials because I had not been home in so long.  I decided I would grab a pregnancy test while I was there.  They were buy one get one free, but I didn't realize until I was up at the register.  I figured I would test my luck and hope that I didn't need the free one.  When I got home it was 8pm.  You are suppose to wait till the morning to test, but I figured I would give it a go.  I was pregnant (obviously, or we wouldn't be here)!  Since it was 8 o'clock here, it was in the middle of the night in Jordan and I couldn't get a hold of Dufda.  I kept calling and leaving him messages but knew he wouldn't get them till morning.  When he finally woke up, he seemed so unsurprised.  I was very excited that although he could not be with me at that moment, that he was able to tell him family that morning.  Apparently his mother knew too.  It would be 4 more weeks before I would get to see Dufda.  I can't even describe the feeling waiting in the airport.  I wanted to hug and squeeze him so bad.  Mostly because I missed him terribly, but also because we never got to be excited together and partly because I wanted to inflict some pain on him missing the beginning of my morning sickness. It is amazing to think back just one year ago and how different things were.  

So what would I tell that girl in the picture...Most would think it would be to sleep because you are never going to again (I say that in the most sarcastic voice ever).  That wouldn't be it all.  I actually wouldn't tell her anything, well maybe that Nugget is a boy so she could have shopped earlier.  I think that being naive about the whole experience is the best way to be.  I believe that it was the reason I was able to survive day to day through the pains of pregnancy.  I believe it is the reason I was able to birth with fear.  I also believe it was the reason that this no longer exists:

If you missed the post on me giving up my closet for the sake of baby, you can read it here.  

One year ago today; I knew nothing about car seat safety, SIDS risks, cloth diapers, breastfeeding, or what this little being would do to my life.  I knew that it would all be wonderful, though.  This morning, as I am pumping before going work.  This  little man was just laughing with me the entire time.

Its hard to believe in just a year how much your life has changed.  How you don't' really miss your walk in closet and all your clothes, because your baby has the most awesome nursery there is.  How little sleep you are able to survive on, not because you can't sleep, but because when your baby sleeps you would just rather stare at how amazing they are.  How natural being a parent is.  How much this little man has changed your relationship with your husband.  And how we made it through the craziest year of our lives.  We have been to Jordan and back twice!  I have survived throwing up more than I ever hope to in my life.  There were 3 different trips to the emergency room, none of which to birth a baby.  There were plenty of wedding and luckily no funerals.  I have made wonderful new mom friends to share the whole experience with.

Today will be a normal day, no one outwardly celebrates the day they found out they were pregnant.  I will go to work and later meet Dufda for Nugget's 4 month appointment.  We will then go through our new routine as Nugget's parents. But for me, it is just as special as a birthday, because for Dufda and I that day was the moment our entire lives changed.

Pregnancy is...

Now that I have had a couple month to bask in the glories of new motherhood, I would like to tell you what I think about the whole pregnancy experience   The entire 9 months I made sure I showered and did my make up before I took my weekly pictures.   This is not real.  No one does this when they are pregnant, so let's get real and talk about all the things no one ever tells you and all the awful judgements you are now subjected to.

So you find out you are pregnant. Yay! This is such an exciting time!  Well if you left it up to the entire population of the world, they would like nothing but to trample on your parade.  Don't let them.  I think being pregnant gives you the right to do what ever the hell you want.  You are making a frickin' human for Christ's sake.  Newly pregnant women have this battle that they must face.  If you were like me, you wanted people to know you were pregnant...you know because I have the super power of making humans and I think it is really cool.  The problem is, you don't look pregnant.  You will have to go buy maternity clothes and everyone will look at you like you are crazy.  You will try to plan for this baby and buy what it needs and everyone will tell you you have so much time.  I take this as making a new life is not nearly as important to the population as say.... wedding planning, since people take a whole damn year and still struggle to put together a wedding.

Once everyone finds out your pregnant you are faced with this odd question that most ask:  "Was it planned?"  What the hell does it matter if it was planned?  Do I need to tell you if it wasn't?  Does it make it any less awesome that I am making a human being right freakin' now?  No, it doesn't, so shut your trap!

Next up for discussion...your whoha...yep whoha.  Grey's Anatomy says va jay jay...I say Va-Giant,that's right chickas forget your Victoria's Secret Pink Yoga Hipster 6 for $25 underwear.  Let me introduce to a new secret...Hane's Her Way Granny Style.  Get to love them because after you give birth you and your va-giant will be wearing the biggest maxi pad/diaper your have ever seen.  Never in my life did I think at 27 I would be standing in Target with Dufda trying to pick out the right adult diaper for my needs...never....kids change things is all I'm saying.

Now that you have kissed goodbye to your whoha, let's talk about something else you will kiss goodbye to very soon...SLEEP.  There is nothing more irritating than when people tell pregnant women they should sleep because they never will again.  You can't store sleep nor is sleep very comfortable when you have a human the size of watermelon resting on your bladder.  You will try everything to sleep comfortably.  Your hubs...he will soon realize that your bed that your once shared and snuggled in, is now occupied by two people:  His crazy hormonal pregnant wife and his new arch nemisis...Snoogle.  You gave up your whole body to make this human for him, he is now going to give up his bed and get real acquainted on the couch while you have an affair with this magical "S" shaped pillow.  

Poor Dufda, I am almost positive he didn't know the half of what he was getting himself into when he got me pregnant.  Yes! This is all his fault I had to go through this : ).  Us, crazy pregnant women and later on crazy new moms expect our husbands to know all this random stuff that the world throws at you while we are pregnant.   You made me a turkey sandwhich?  Do you want your baby to die from listeria?  You want me to paint the baby's room?  Did the baby sign up to inhale toxins today?  What's that you say?  You won't give me a back/ foot/ whole body massage because I should just go in the hot tub.  Sure, 104 degrees sounds just about right for a fetus.  Your telling me that you did not know that this week the baby could see light/ developed eyes/ found his fingers/ some other obscure piece of knowledge you acquired from What to Expect When Your Expecting Volume 452, Iphone edition.   Your husband doesn't know this crap and frankly he doesn't and wont care.  Remember that you are growing this baby every second of everyday...he isn't and won't have the same attachment just yet.   It doesn't get any better when the baby comes.  Mother's are just made to care about things like rear-facing car seat requirements and when to feed baby solids.  I have recently found out that Dufda was researching proper handling of thawed breast milk, though.

Then you get to be about 5-6 months pregnant.  This is where shit starts to get real.  You are going to bring a baby into this world very shortly, or as I thought of it as bringing a stranger home who has to live with us from 18 years...really, you don't even know this person.  Once again the whole world will try to degrade the magnitude of this situation.  Three more months of pregnancy will turn into a lifetime for everyone else.  You will be too big or too small depending on who you talk to.  You are never just right or beautiful.  P.S  This is what you should say to every pregnant women.  You look beautiful!  That is it, end conversation.  This is about the time you can pull out the tape recorder, press record and repeat after me.  Yes, I am pregnant.  I am (insert weeks, then convert to months for the ignorant questioner), We are having a (insert gender), I am feeling very pregnant, thanks for asking.  Yes, we picked out a name (You will then need to spell it and justify it right now, because random person here thinks they now have a say in the naming of your children.), Then finish by asking the most stupid question ever.  Yes, of course I am excited.  You will be asked this every time you see people, so get use to it.

As if being pregnant isn't annoying enough, the most bothersome is how small your bladder has now become.  Let's jump to a lovely day I was having at work.  I decided I would wear demi-panel maternity pants when I was like 6 months pregnant.  As soon as you get a belly, demi panels should be retired because they are wildly uncomfortable.  Well I sat down at work and what do you know...I peed myself.  Awesome, right?  So I walk my pregnant ass down to the only store near my work...Rue 21.  No one should shop at Rue 21, specially not a 27 year old pregnant lady.  Well I had to purchase this stylin' pair of sweat pants with a raised velour heart on the leg (I guess it is better than being on my butt).  They were purple and I had to wear them the rest of the day at work.  Moral of the story:  You will pee yourself at some point, always have spare pants in your car.  Flash forward to the birth of my son...I wore those bad boys home from the birth center.

So after reading this you are probably thinking I never want to be pregnant again..totally wrong.  Being pregnant sucks, but you get this really awesome prize at the end...

39 Weeks

How many weeks? 39 weeks, I never thought that I would still be able to walk around at 39 weeks pregnant.  This week it is also torture.  You are so close, but could be so far away.

How much weight Gain?  44lbs

How big is Nugget?  To big for my torso.

Best moment of the week?  My boss approved me to start working from home 2 days a week!  This is a life saver.  I was super nervous that I was going to have to start my leave earlier and cut into time with Nugget, but now I don't have to.

Early Labor signs?  I am having contractions, but it is about 5-10/day and not doing anything.

Awesome Pregnancy symptom of the week?  My joints are so flexible that I feel like I throw out my knee just by sitting on the toilet.

Miss Anything?  I want to be able to sleep in my bed again.  This won't happen till baby comes though, because the pillow fort I have to create makes it very hard to get out of bed to accommodate for the 10+ bathroom trips that happen during the night.

Looking Forward to?  Being able to wear my clothes again.  My maternity clothes really don't even fit anymore.

Food Cravings?  They are out of control.  Cereal, cheesecake, dessert...anything that is high calorie.  I hope that I can stop this after I give birth.

Midwife Appointment:  Met with the new midwife this week who started out her appointment with reminding me that I will most likely be 41 weeks before I go into labor.  Thanks.  Blood pressure was raised a tad, but nothing concerning.  Heart beat and growth are all good.


 

38 Weeks!

How many Weeks? 38 Weeks, it feels like just yesterday I was peeing on stick and freaking out because Dufda was in Jordan not answering his phone.

How much weight gain? 40 lbs, I am not sure where it is, but I hope it all comes out with this baby.

How Big is Nugget? About the size of a pumpkin, and lord knows I couldn't find a pumpkin in the middle of winter.  He won't get much bigger from now on, but his brain is said to still be growing.

Best moment of the week? Finishing the nursery!  You can check it out here.

What about those rings?  My carpel tunnel is so bad that I feel like I don't have any fingers.  I really miss my diamonds, though.

Early Labor Signs?  Definitely felt one contraction yesterday.  Just one so no big deal, but at least my body is practicing.  I have a ton of pressure and definitely some pain, I hope it means he is trying to break through.

Awesome Pregnancy symptom of the week?  Seriously with the night sweats!  I sleep on the couch under a window because I am so hot and still wake up as if someone poured a bucket of water on me.  I will not be sad to see these go.

Miss Anything?  Control, at this point you have no control over anything.  You are just in it for the ride.  You make this nursery that you don't know when you will use it, you install a car seat as part of the waiting game and you have bags packed for an event that has no time scheduled.

Food Cravings?  Ice Cream! I should stop, I have gained about 4lbs in a week, but oh well, me, Ben and Jerry are enjoying it too much.

Looking Forward to?  My little man.  I wanna know what he will look like and most importantly, if he will fit in his cute coming home outfit. 

Dufda Quote of the week?  Anytime I look like I in pain he asks, "Are you having birth?"  Not giving birth, having and I think it is hilarious although sometimes annoying because every second you are in pain at this point.

Pregnant woman rant of the week?  So I am very pregnant and I see a lot of people throughout the day. These people are separated into categories. 

The closet OB/GYN:  You are 37 weeks pregnant, don't babies come at 36 weeks?  You haven't dropped yet, you probably won't give birth for another couple of weeks?.  You don't look big enough to be 37 weeks pregnant are you sure the doctor gave you the right date. You look like you can go into labor right now.

Then there are the people who have no sensor:  I couldn't see you from the front, but by your waddle could totally tell you where pregnant.  (From same women when she saw my face)  You look like you are over this whole pregnant thing. (a.k.a you look like shit)  You look comfy today. (a.k.a you look like shit)

Then there are the idiots:  37 weeks...that's the first trimester right?  Have you felt the baby kick yet?

And not to mention the small talker:  Are you pregnant?  What are you having?  How far along are you?  When are you due?  Do you have a name?  Well when I gave birth I wasn't left with a butt hole, was in labor for 57 hours, had to have a C-section because the baby couldn't fit, nearly died of blood loss, gave birth in the elevator of a jail, was given the wrong baby from the nursery, oh the list goes on at the ridiculous stories that people tell you.

Last but not least, there are the people I freak out by not giving birth in a hospital: I work right around the corner from Magee Women's hospital.  Basically, if you are giving birth most likely you will end up on their conveyor belt of laboring mama's.  Every time someone walks into my job, they remind that it is just around the corner.  1.  If I go into labor, I have plenty of time as a first time mom to get to my care provider,  I will actually be driving home most likely to labor at home for awhile before even thinking about or being permitted to come back to the city.  2.  I am not giving birth at Magee.  I started to tell this to people, but have gotten such a bad reaction that I have given up and just nod and agree.  I was trying to explain to a women that I was giving birth in a birth center.  It was down the strip and is staffed by a slew of wonderful midwives.  Her response:  Well I am sure nothing too bad will happen.  Seriously?  Too bad.  I wanna smack some people.

Midwife Appointment:  So, my appointment this week did not turn out the way it usually does.  I go there and they had not scheduled the current appointment that I was there for, nor my following appointments for the month of February. I was kind of pissed because at this point in my pregnancy, I think I know how the system works.  When we get into the appointment, the midwife has to go over all the things that can cause a transfer.  I want nothing more that to avoid the hospital so I am trying to ignore all of these bad things, because I believe that fear hinders progress in labor.  She then takes my blood pressure and it is very high for me.  She does the exam and retakes the pressure and it is still high.  I then have to do a urine sample to check for protein.  She does find trace amounts of protein in my urine but says that is typically normal.  She rechecks the blood pressure and it has not gone down.  I have to schedule a blood pressure recheck for Friday to make sure I have kept it down.  She does send me home with a list of things to call her for that could be pre-eclampsia related.  On a positive note, I was GBS negative, so there would be no need for an IV during labor.  This was super important to me because delivering at the birth center I wanted to be connected to nothing.

I go home that night, obviously shaken.  I am trying to calm myself down and make sure that I am able to lower my blood pressure.  I fall asleep and am woken up by a very consistent pain in my right side.  The same pain that she described that I would need to call for.  Instead I stayed awake from 2:30-5:30 with this pain, who knows why.  When I woke up in the morning I decided that I should call just in case.  By the way, today is Valentine's Day.  The midwife on-call was the same one that checked me the day before.  She told me that she would meet me at the hospital immediately and be prepared to have a baby today.  We have no car seat in the car and nothing packed, even though she told me to complete this during the first appointment, I still didn't listen.  So we set off to the hospital.  When we get there, I realize why this place is my worse nightmare.  They immediately hook up an IV and strap you to fetal monitors.  I can tell the baby hates this because he keeps kicking the monitors.  Luckily when I got there I was able to see my blood pressure on the screen and calm myself down.  I think that everything had gotten me so worked up that I just needed reassurance that I in fact didn't' have high blood pressure and the reason why it was so high was me thinking about being stripped of the birth I wanted.  We had to wait for the blood work to come back to in sure that my liver was functioning properly.  We then had a wildly romantic meal at Mcdonald's and went to pick up Coco's ashes.  Yes, that was my Valentine's Day, be jealous.

 

37 Weeks

How many weeks? 37 weeks

Weight Gain? No idea, I have had no desire to get a scale out this week.

How big is Nugget?  All the fruit are way off in the end, so I think my fruit segment is over.  He is big and he is getting way stronger.

Best moment this week?  My baby shower of course!!  It was a monster theme...I bet you could have guessed that.  I was so surprised by the turn out and the generosity of my guest.  Baby Jad is already spoiled.  Here is a little montage of the shower.

I will go into more details in a separate post.

Wedding rings still on?  Oh heck no!  I have sausages as fingers and my rings are a size 3, there ain't anyway I can get those on without requiring the jaws of life to get me out.

Early Labor signs?  I don't think any.  There is lots of pressure though, like the baby feels like he may just fall out, which I would be o.k with.

Miss Anything?  Sleeping on my stomach, being able to tie my shoes and put on socks, walking not waddling.... the list goes on and on.

Food Cravings?  I want pancakes and I want them now.  I also need lots of ice cream.

Looking Forward to?  Actually, going into labor.  I want to see what all this hype is about.

Midwife Appointment:  Everything looks good and baby is still head down.  Baby shower day was the first day that I am able to go into labor and avoid going to the hospital.  She went over briefly when to call and what to do if that would happen.

35 Weeks

How many weeks?  35 weeks 

Weight Gain? I'm actually starting to lose weight.  This little being inside of me takes up so much room that I can't eat a lot.  I am down to a total weight gain of 31 lbs.

How big is Nugget?  There is no picture this week because they say he is a cantelope.  How can he be a cantelope, if last week he was a pineapple.  So here is a bonus picture:

 

Best moment this week? Definitely Dufda being excited to go to birth class.  He is like a sponge, he remembered everything. Now he site's random birth facts around the house and I love it!

Pregnancy Symptom of the week?  My armpits hurt!  Is this a pregnancy symptom, or a personal problem that I have.

Miss Anything?  I would pay good money to lay on my stomach...like real good money.

Food Cravings?  I really wanted stuffed cabbage this week and I was kind of counting on my mom having some frozen, but she didn't.  I hear that is maybe on the menu for wednesday.

Looking forward to?  Nothing specific, but I am very scared to see what clothes will fit after I am done being pregnant.  You know I am in three weddings in the summer after the baby arrives, I have three more to attend as a guest.  Ordering a bridesmaid dress while pregnant has been super challenging.  Why would this theory make sense:  You are 8-9 months pregnant.  I want you to measure your "waist" and then we will order you one size up from that and it should work.  You know because you won't probably lose all of your baby weight.  Well, what about that big event called birth?  You know the one where a baby appears, the same baby that is making your waist the size that it is.  Yeah I am going to lose some weight.  Ugh, so we will see how those alterations go. 

33 Weeks

How many weeks? 33!!

Weight Gain?  34lbs, the weight gain has definitely slowed down and I am not sure how, because I feel like I am getting bigger by the moment.

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is a pineapple!  I couldn't wait to cut that this open and dip it in chocolate.

Best moment this week?  This week was pretty boring and draining I wouldn't say there was really a "best".

Wedding rings still on?  They are off completely until I deliver.  I swelled up at birth class and freaked out and have no intention of putting them back on for fear of having them get cut off.

Early Labor Signs?  None, baby is head down and ready to go through!

Pregnancy Sympton of the week?  Feet are my symptom, JAD GET YOUR FEET OUT OF MY RIBS!  My torso is so short and the baby is so long that I cannot breath.  I know it is just going to get worse, but I am only comfortable standing.

Miss Anything?  My energy has been the big one the whole time.  I am so tired, I just want to clean my house.

Food Cravings?  Chocolate...which I was told this weekend that if you eat chocolate everyday of your pregnancy you will have a happier baby...this is a true study done in Finland.

Looking Forward to?  My baby shower!! It is getting so close I can't wait to see everyone!

Dufda quote of the week?  From Birth class:  How long do you think your wife will be in Labor?  Dufda's answer....4 hours.

We started our birth classes this week.  First was breastfeeding class. I insisted that Dufda go because it looked like I was the only one without a registered partner.  Well I was wrong and there were lots of women their without their hubs.  My hubs did not enjoy the class and threatened to leave before it was over.  The next day we went to childbirth class.  Dufda actually really enjoyed this one.  He has this great knack for learning and absorbing information.  Way better than I do.  When we got home he was able to remember almost everything the instructor said, which is super beneficial because all I can remember is eat chocolate everyday and you will have a happy baby....On that note, we found a new Arab store while on our lunch break and I got myself some Kinder chocolate.  This was one of the things that I really liked over in Jordan.  They also had all these great drinks that we don't have here.  Dufda and I had fun eating and shopping there.  Then the car broke down.  Ugh, my week!

32 Weeks!

How far along? 32 weeks!

Weight Gain? 33lbs

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is a Jicama.... yeah I don't know either, so we went with a loaf of bread, they looked similar.

Best moment this week?  I discovered the wonders of prenatal yoga!  Where has this been my entire pregnancy.  I was to a point of discomfort that it was yoga or a chiropractor and since I can't really deal with people touching my neck, I went for yoga and man was it a win!  I will be attending Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until this little boy makes his appearance.

Wedding rings still on?  Half on, Half off

Early Labor Signs?  I started to feel some Braxton Hicks contractions this week.

Odd Pregnancy Sympton of the week?  This section may turn into pregnant women rant of the week.  Alright, listen up people of the world.  I am pregnant, I am uncomfortable and if you intend to carry on small talk about my pregnancy here are some tips:  1.  I am 32 weeks pregnant, if you wanna listen to the doctors, I am more like 33 weeks pregnant, but who needs them anyway.  This gives me 8 weeks till that magic 40 number we are looking for, it gives me just 5 weeks till I am full term.  This means I could have a baby next month.  Stop telling me that I have so much time, one, because I need to sew curtains and I will put it off because of all this time I have and two because I don't!  People take a year to plan their damn weddings!  They take a year to plan an event that does not involve the creation of a human.  Then everyone is like, "OMG I have 176.5 days left" and people think that this is right around the corner.  You create life and 55 days is a small eternity to the entire population of America.  This is the appropriate answer:  "You are going to be holding that sweet little spawn before you know it :) hugs and kisses"  This does not leave room for you to attach on to that: "And you will never sleep again"  This bring me to #2:  If I used everyone's theory of sleep, I should walk around telling unmarried, unwilling to conceive people that they should start this amazing sleep bank that everyone speaks of that you should start while you are pregnant.  Here is my gripe... I have a human, you know the same thing that we are just smaller, inside of me.  You may not use them much, but most likely you have muscles that give you some kind of streghth.  Those muscles are attached to bones, that are pretty rigid.  That is growing under my skin, in a uterus that isn't made of steel.  Now that we have factored that in, let's think about how much you move, for those of you who are lacking in the muscle department...this may not be very much, but you still move.  Combine all of that good information with the fact that an unborn fetus only sleeps for short amounts of time and you get that PREGNANT WOMEN CAN'T SLEEP!  Stop telling them to sleep, it only reminds them that they didnt' sleep last night or the night before.  Sleep to a pregnant women is like going to bathroom (I don't mean peeing because we do that all the time) you can't remember the last time you enjoyed it.  End rant.

Miss Anything?  Not really this week, but I had a real moment where I got real nervous about not being pregnant anymore.  It's easy to be pregnant comapred to having a baby...right?  I am just guessing but I have no idea.

Food cravings?  Give me more pancakes!  Oh, this brings me to another problem I have.  When you are pregnant you automatically become the picker of all things food.  They think because pregnant women have cravings that on a dime you can choose a restaurant.  This is what it is really like:  You say, "Well you are the pregnant one, where would you like to eat?"  My mind goes like this...well I want ice cream and then maybe some tomatoes...with vinegar...But how about steak...maybe reese cups...but just two, no more...actually I think I want kale...no that isn't it....S'GHETTI STRAWS.  Do you see where I am going?  Is this what you want me to tell you 'cause then I am going to be like, "Find me a steakhouse candy shop and then we can talk, or just tell me where we are going and I will eat, because I am hungry and pregnant."

Looking forward to?  Finishing up the final touches on the nursery.  We got some book shelves this weekend and they look great.  There are just a couple more things that need to be done.

Midwife Appointment this week?  This started my every two week appointments.  Baby is head down and measuring well.  Heart rate looks good, too.  I told her I felt like I would have a baby with me at my shower and she said I would, but it would be in belly...so much for ending this a tad early.

31 weeks!

Sorry no bump pictures this week because we were in Ohio.

How far along? 31 weeks!  It is getting real serious now...

Weight Gain?  30lbs

How big is Nugget?  No picture this week, but he was the size of 4 navel oranges.

Best Moment this week?  This week was pretty awesome.  We had Christmas at the beginning.  This made for a short work week which was much needed.  

Love that dress!  It is non-maternity from Kohl's and it fit just like I like them.  Then at the end of the week, we made a trip to Athens, Ohio where I was throwing my friend a bridal shower.  It was snowy and made for some great pictures.

Of the seven year I lived in Athens, it never really snowed, so I was very excited to have that much snow for our visit.  I also finally found myself a coat that fits...that was on sale!  I just went for a cape because I can't grow out of it.

Odd Pregnancy Symptom of the week?  This week I got way more pregnant.  Is that a symptom?  I took clothes with me to Ohio and by the time I left they really didn't fit me.

Miss Anything?  I want to be able to clean my house, or I would love to be able to lay down and have someone else do it but that just isn't possible.

Food Cravings?  This being the first time we travel while I was very pregnant, I stocked up on some major snacks.  My favorites right now are Cheerios, donuts and pancakes.  Yum!

Looking forward to?  Getting through the month of January.  It is going to be a crazy one.

30 Weeks!

How far along? 30 Weeks!  Can someone tell me how I have been pregnant for 30 weeks!!  That means that I have right around 10 weeks left of this, "How are you feeling?" "Are you excited?" "You don't even look pregnant!" "You will probably need a c-section." fun time of my life left!  Wa- freakin-who!  Some people say that ten weeks is forever, oh that is another one!  Although I am 7 months pregnant, people seem to think I have all the time in the world.  Tip to the bystander talking to the pregnant lady who clearly looks a mess and will pee/vomit on you at any moment:  Tell her 10 weeks is nothing, not that you still have so much time left.  Yes, it is great that we are this wonderful vessel for this new human being, but if someone tells you that this is fun they are: 1. Lying to you and need to be smack by every pregnant women who has their face in a toilet or 2. They do not have to go to work, the have a maid to clean their house, and their husband has tons of money...actually that sounds like Kate Middleton and you know what? I bet she has joined the I hate being pregnant club as well, so revert back to number 1.  Anyway I am 30 weeks pregnant!!  

Weight Gain? About 29lbs

How big is Nugget?  Nugget is a cabbage this week.

 

Best moment this week?  We had a really good week but the weekend with my hubs was the best.  Apparently when you are 30 weeks pregnant your husband all of the sudden becomes super husband, well at least mine did.  He let me nap while he cleaned.  He cleaned while I went and sat in my mom's hot tub, don't worry all you pregnant nazi's the temperature was set to a nice warm, below body temperature of 97 degrees.  He then let me nap when I got back because I was so tired from sitting in the hot tub.  THEN!  I woke up and he had dinner ready for me in bed, with juice in wine glass...you know just so I can feel fancy.  At night we had dinner and went to go get coffee, as well as play with our new camera.  I even made him go bra shopping with me and he only complained for about 5 minutes.  We ended the night with an awful movie...Don't rent Ted, it will make you more dumb by the moment.  It was a nice, little we are having a baby in 10 weeks!!, weekend.  

Odd Pregnancy Symptom of the week:  Well not really odd, but I am a true emotional mess.  There should be rule that your puppy must stay alive through the whole term of your pregnancy.  I miss her so much and I cry every time Dufda brings her up.  He just tries to make me smile by telling me stories about what Tasha is up to...He has a killer imagination and I cannot wait for him to have his little buddy to share it with.   When I put my dog, Nala down I do not remember it being this hard.  She was also visibly sick and I knew she wouldn't last.  Tasha was full of energy until the day she fell off the bed ; (.

Miss Anything?  When I woke up this weekend, the additional weight of Nugget is definitely making his prescence known.  I am totally unable to complete the tasks that I want to do a.k.a if you would like to gift Nugget anything I heard he would like to have a maid come and help out his mommy.

Food cravings?  Man, they are getting so bizarre.  I will be laying in bed and need Doritos..the cheesy kind...like now.  Then I will get up and need tomatoes followed by ice cream.  It is amazing how you can have no energy, but then all of the sudden at midnight you can get up making your self an exact replica of a #4 of the Mcdonalds Breakfast Menu.

Looking forward to?  Christmas!! We celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas day with different people.  All the presents are wrapped, which wasn't very hard because we went with gift cards for most people this year, and by that I mean the 4 people we have to buy for.

We got to go out for a Christmas concert this week.  Go check out the post here!

2nd Trimester Recap - Everyone is a liar...

When I did my recap on the first trimester you might remember that I was really hoping for some relief from this awful pregnancy that I had got myself into.  Check out my thoughts here.  I am sad to say that this has not happened.  I am just one of those people who do not get to enjoy pregnancy.  I am still on Zofran daily and even with that, the nausea never stops.  I have heard enough people tell me, "Shouldn't morning sickness be over by now?"  That the next one who says it to me might get vom-ed on.

I did finally get my bump that I wanted!  It is incredible to look at those pictures over time.  I don't even remember how it feels to be that small anymore.  I love this bump!  I love dressing my bump up, and I love looking pregnant.  Dufda loves this bump and he looks at me daily and gets excited about how pregnant I am.

What I do not love about this bump is the pain and in convenience it brings.  The second trimester is a great time of change.  It is when you first experience the joys of sneezing and peeing yourself at the same time...or laughing, or throwing up, everything causes you to pee.  It also when you realize, as well as your husband realizes that you now own the bed.  He is best to find other arrangements if you would like to ever get comfortable again.  Dufda knows that he best not be crossing the snoogle barrier in bed and disrupt my fortress of pillows that keeps me sane.

I have also learned through the second trimester that everyone has this incredible opinion on your pregnancy, but when you share your opinion you will be wrong.  You are not allowed to have a say in anything that is different than what your mother, sister, great grandma's aunt did.  I am not one to keep quiet though, so I share my strong opinion almost just to erk people because guess what all pregnant women are smug.

 As well as you do not have the right to feel pregnant until you are about to have a baby descend the birth canal.  It is like you are not pregnant enough to be tired or sore or have awful heartburn yet.  And that brings me to the next wonderful thing that happens during the second trimester.

What is with the heart burn?!  I am hungry, I am finally sort of eating for two people that need food, but I cannot get anything to feel good in my stomach because I feel like I am a fire breathing dragon.  Peanut butter sandwiches and white rice are what make me feel good.  Pair this with the fact that the second trimester ran right through Thanksgiving and it made for one very unhappy pregnant lady.

Next up: Nesting.  You hear about this great phenomenon that happens when you get pregnant.  You will want to clean you house and never stop.  This is totally true.  What no one tells you is that you will clean and want to clean and organize the crap out everything in your home but your body will feel like that of a 90 year old lady so you won't be able to.  This will then cause this extreme hate for your husband who does not have this nesting need, but does have the ability to complete these tasks, but will not do them.  The second trimester is when we started our nursery too.  This paired with my total lack of energy has made this a huge chore.  My nesting has created this insane need to sew...EVERYTHING!  This is also cruel because I can't sit for very long, but I have this whole plan in my head how I am going to make custom monster curtains for Jad, that he will probably never care about, but I can't get comfortable enough to make them.

Near the end of the second trimester you have gained enough weight and have a big enough bump that you are unable to breath like you used to and you get so tired walking anywhere.   Shopping isn't very fun, grocery shopping is a huge chore and laundry will be the death of me.  How much longer do I have again?

No one sugar coats the third trimester.  This is because you are so pregnant that you are going to pop at any moment.  You have developed 8 chins from you 30-40 new best friends, and by friends I mean all those extra pounds you put on.   I have seen numbers on that scale that I was never even close to pre-pregnancy.  I told this to my wonderful dad to which his come back was, can you even see the scale anymore...haha your so funny. You are getting kicked to the point of taking your breath away because this little baby is running out of room.  And your belly button...don't even get me started on that.  

My third trimester is going to full of midwife appointments every two weeks, childbirth class, breastfeeding class, newborn class, baby shower, maternity pictures, finishing up the nursery, getting the house ready for the baby, and trying not to go completely insane.  I am hoping for an end of February baby, so everyone keep their fingers crossed.

29 weeks!

How far along? 29 weeks!

Weight Gain? I am back down to a total of 24 lbs.

How big is Nugget? Nugget is a Butternut squash this week.

Best moment this week?  This week was equally as hard as last.  From my last post you know that my little poodle was very sick.  We tried to take her back to the vet at the beginning of the week and ended up having to put her down on Friday.  She is my little buddy and she loved laying on my baby belly this entire pregnancy. 

We both really thought that she was going to be the baby's dog since she is so small.  We couldn't drag it out any longer and had to pull the plug and take her in.  We opted to bury her in our yard, which I have never done so I was unaware of how I would react.  To say the least, it was very tough watching a hole be dug and then putting her in that hole.  Our other two dogs were going nuts while this was going on and I know that they knew Tasha wasn't coming back.  This is bad, but what is good from this situation, I realized what a great husband Dufda is.  He has a love/hate relationship with the dogs, but when push comes to shove he loves those animals.  He was the one that made sure she had a nice place to be laid to rest and took care of burying her.  He also kept telling the other dogs that Tasha just went away to college and that they would go visit her later, I thought this was really cute.

Odd Pregnancy Symptom of the week:  What are these night sweats?  I wake up and I don't know whether I peed myself or I just turned into a fat kid on a hot summer day on the play ground.  Of course I am pregnant and far too lazy to wash the sheets everyday so I will just keep my nasty side of the bed to myself.

Miss Anything?  The ability to hold my pee.  This went away for a little and now is back in full swing.  I had to switch sides of the bed to have easier access to the bathroom, which I visit about 4 times a night.  How annoying!

Food Cravings?  Ehhh, I am just not very hungry lately.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  This is really sad and depressing but sleeping in makes me queasy.  I have to follow this very strict medicine and breakfast routine or I am thrown off the entire day and it is just miserable.

Looking forward to?  I have a trip scheduled to Athens at the end of the month for my friend Ally's bridal shower.  I miss that place so much and I cannot wait to go back!

Midwife Appointment:  I had my 28 week appointment on Monday.  I found out that I passed my glucose tolerance test with a 75!  This was very exciting, I really thought that I was going to fail for some reason.   I met a new midwife this week and she was great.  I start my appointments every two weeks now, which I feel came super crazy fast.

In other news I had my second gathering with the Pittsburgh Bump Club this weekend for our Christmas party.  Check out how that went here!

We also got to do out 3d/4d ultrasound this weekend which you can see here!

Jad's Picture Day!

If you did not know, we found out the sex of our little baby boy through an elective ultrasound.  You can check out the post here.  When we went for our 2d sex determination ultrasound, we purchased a package that allowed us to come back and get a 3d/4d ultrasound.  The second I left I could not wait to return to Insight Imaging.  I was so excited to see what Jad looked like and to just watch my little baby playing in my belly.  The people at Insight Imaging are pretty fantastic as well.  And as always, I had my trusty paparazzi taking picture every step of the way.

We get into the ultrasound room and you lay on this uber comfy bed, the opposite of hospital like.  They then start fishing around to get the baby to show us his goods.

Haha, I looked scared for some reason.  So we tried for awhile to get Jad to show his face, but he was really more interested in playing hide and go seek.

You can see his hand there totally blocking our view.  So after my stubborn baby would not cooperate, we tried to drink some cold water and move around to wake up baby.

Now back on the table!  This time Jad was getting mad, but he finally showed us his face.  At one point he even started to lick his arm and we got to watch.  I promised Dufda I would not post it, because he really wants our baby to be a surprise.  I will show you his cute little feetsies, though.

For our 3d/4d ultrasound we got pictures on a disc that we can print, pictures printed out for us and a 30 min DVD of the whole ultrasound.  I totally recommend this for a fun ultrasound.  It is so much nicer to have people who are excited to see your baby, instead of people who just want to measure the baby.  Jad has one final message for you today, "Peace out!"

 

Pittsburgh Bump Club Christmas Party

I had my second gathering with the Pittsburgh Bump Club this weekend.  We had our Christmas party at one of the girl's clubhouse and it was perfect.  The party consisted of a pot luck and white elephant gift exchange. 

For the pot luck I chose to make my crescent roll  Christmas tree shaped veggie pizza.  I think I make this once every holiday season because it is just so cute.  Here is what you need to make this wonderful creation:

• 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 8 oz. of Philadelphia cream cheese, soften
• 1 tsp of dried dill
• 1/8 of tsp of garlic powder
• yellow pepper
• green pepper
• red pepper
• carrots
• broccoli

 First you need to unwrap the Pillsbury crescent rolls and keep them in roll form.  You are going to cut these to make little pinwheels.  Typically I cut about 7-10 per roll depending on what kind of tree I am wanting to make.  You want to place them on a non-stick cookie sheet, cut side down.  After you bake them as the package directs you to, you will get something that looks like this:

This now needs to cool completely.  You now prepare the spread by combining the sour cream, cream cheese, dill and garlic.  I used an electric mixer because I like it to be really smooth.  I set that aside, because usually I do not wait long enough for the cream cheese to soften. 

While I wait I get to chopping and carving the vegetables.  The yellow pepper I always use to make a star at the top of the Christmas tree.  Find the flat side and then just carve away.  The rest of the pepper I chop into little squares that will look like lights.  The red pepper is sliced into long pieces to be made into the garland on the tree.  Carrots just chopped to make round ornaments.  Broccoli chopped to make the evergreen.

You will then spread your cream cheese mixture over the whole tree.  I start by placing the star at the top and then making the red garland.  You can then use all other vegetables to fill in the holes.  Then you are done and have super cute and simple holiday treat!

Now onto clean up....Dufda always gets mad because I make a ton of dishes.  How can you get mad at this pregnant lady?!

 

Next up was to get together presents for the white elephant gift exchange.  I had two gifts left from my wedding that were awful and thought they would be perfect so I wrapped them up and that was done. 

I bought a purple dress on Amazon that really was to big to wear as a dress on its own, so I decided to use this for my outfit tonight.  We both got ready and headed off because it was quite the drive for us.

A lot more people showed up than I had originally thought which was great.  We had so much food and yummies and of course non-alcoholic wine and my new favorite, non-alcoholic beer.

During the white elephant gift exchange, I pulled first to go and Dufda picked #2.  The first gift I opened up was awesome: Yankee Candle!

Who knows why I am making that face.  Dufda was up next!  He got a dancing Christmas decoration thingamajig.

It was actually very funny. Well, my gift got stolen from me by an unnamed pregnant lady and I had to pick another.  This was what I got next:

That would be Always pads, Witch Hazel and two adorable baby hats.  I thought this was a great gift, if you have read anything about being pregnant before you know why.  And because of this, it was also stolen!  But that pregnant lady wasn't going to get to keep it for long because as the white elephant gift exchange goes, I get one last chance to steal.  After I had my wonderful gift stolen, I opened a bottle of Narcisi wine.  Yes, a very nice gift of which I have no use for.  So I stole my pads, witch hazel and baby hats back.  Within this stealing mess, someone also stole Dufda's gift and we had to end up with one of the same gifts that we bought.  All in all it was great night!