Anna's Pregnancy Journal

Well, it's been a week now and I still have this headache, sore throat, sinus congestion thingie - and it stinks. I'm hoping it's over before my friend comes to visit on Thursday (to throw the baby shower on Saturday!)

I figured I should update with pregnancy symptoms and such, for future reference. The heartburn has been way better lately, I remember it being a daily problem about a month ago. I'm still as tired as I ever was. My back has been feeling great, thanks to my PT and water aerobics (I strongly suggest *both*) Unfortunately, ever since 20 weeks I've had my share of stretch marks, which I'm trying to treat with cocoa butter - but little luck there. My belly has gotten more basketball shaped lately, which is kind of fun! I think I've finally come to terms with looking "pregnant" and not just "fat" I'm really hoping my weight didn't shoot up much, but we'll see next week. Need to make sure I get some exercise over the weekend with my buddy, and not just eat all the great food we got for the shower!

Today we went to a garden store to pick up a few things, and a lady with a shopping cart was about to cross paths with me. She looked at me and stopped, saying "Go ahead, I don't want to hit a pregnant lady!"

I guess it's official, even to total strangers! :)

I know I just wrote yesterday, but I just had to note that as of today - there are 100 days until my due date!! By my calculations, only 51 of those days will be spent at work - so that's 49 days to prepare for baby, enjoy my last weekends of relaxation, spend time with friends and family, and SLEEP! I can't express how excited this makes me!

There is so much left to do, so many decisions to make when it comes down to what we really need for this baby. We'll see, I'll make those decisions when I'm feeling better. Still feeling gross, hopefully this weekend will clear most of that up.

So it looks like I've gotten the cold that my husband has been dealing with for the last week. This stinks because I can't even take my ever-favorite Sudafed! I skipped water aerobics on Tuesday and took yesterday off work with the hope of feeling better, but I still feel icky. Oh well, I guess the weekend will have to be used for some serious resting!

Yesterday we went to our first childbirth preparation class, and I have some homework from it:

(1) Practice my slow breathing, deep breaths at about half the speed of normal. In through the nose, out through the mouth. (doesn't seem too tough, I'll work on it in times of stress so that it becomes second nature)

(2) Identify what my body does when I get tense. (I know that I tighten my shoulders and back muscles, we'll see what else I do...need to observe)

(3) Find a focal point to distract myself from pain during labor (I'm thinking of a photograph of my husband and I in college, it brings back a lot of different memories - might be a good idea? I'll keep thinking. I need to make a couple of CD's too for the delivery room.)

(4) Practice those Kegels! (Super important)

My hubby and I are going to work together to help keep me relaxed and help make him the great labor partner I know he will be! My plan is to just have him in the L&D room with me, no other family members or friends. I need my peace :) We'll see if I can manage without the epidural, I'm a little stressed about the complications and I think that if I just stay on top of the pain with good thoughts and techniques, and DON'T PANIC - then maybe I can do it? But I will not consider myself a failure if I need one, that's just not cool.

Anyway, the baby has been really active in the last couple of days, this morning I had my hand on my belly and I saw it move when he did some of his kicking exercises.

I. Can't. Wait.

I had a wonderful birthday, full of Italian food and chocolate cake! This was a much happier birthday than last year, and it has everything to do with being pregnant. A year ago, more than anything in the world, I wanted to be pregnant. But, it wasn't our time, and I was stuck in a job that I didn't enjoy, so life wasn't very exciting. Now I'm just the happiest person ever, and I can't wait to meet our little boy!

I've been loving the water aerobics and keeping up with my PT stretches and exercises, so I'm feeling great. I'm also feeling lots of movement from the little one, especially at night when I'm laying down for bed. David has just started getting to feel the movements too!

This weekend, we're heading off to a babies-r-us to complete our registry and scope out the ever important travel strollers, pack and plays, and gliders. So excited! My best friend is coming in just two short weeks and we're going to have a baby shower! Life is good.

I have been a little cranky lately, though...like I'm getting way too emotional about television shows I've been watching. I was literally cursing at Izzy Stevens on Grey's Anatomy last night. She's such a homewrecker. Anyway, I guess I'll put that up to pregnancy hormones. I've also been tired - nothing new for this pregnancy, but it's still annoying. Been busy with classes and David's softball and friend stuff, and I just want to sleep! I'm starting to feel the pull toward home, but as I figure it - I've got 3 more months of work. I'll make it happen, I'm sure. That's enough complaining, I'm enjoying being pregnant more than I ever thought possible! I like being all chubby for a reason :)

This week has been crazy busy, and driving 25 minutes each way to get to an evening water aerobics class hasn't helped...or has it? Aside from the drive, I LOVE WATER AEROBICS. It's so relaxing, the water is so warm, it's like a nice 60 minute conversation with 10 new friends - all with the same main interest at the moment - BABY! Very well worth the drive and $35/mo...I hope to continue this throughout the pregnancy.

I checked in with my physical therapy guy and he was very pleased that my pain has been better managed through exercise and stretching. Again, I'll keep this up and hopefully stave off any other back pain trauma.

I had another doctor appointment on Monday, with my actual OB again. I like her a lot, she is very thorough and to the point with my questions, and I feel like I can trust her. This is SO important! We heard the heartbeat again, nice and strong! She looked over the ultrasound photos again and said "this is just what we want to see, he looks great! She also said that I'm doing great with my weight gain (14 pounds so far) and should keep up the good work. My father-in-law, the OB, also says that I'm doing a good job with being healthy. This has motivated me to not purchase any more ice cream this week and to stick with fresh strawberries for dessert. If it means that I only gain 25 pounds during the pregnancy, then giving up the ice cream is well worth it! That's my goal, we'll see how close I get.

Another goal I have is to complete my pre-pregnancy scrapbook before my bestest friend Andrea comes over for the baby shower over Memorial Day. This will let me clear out the nursery of crafty stuff, and start getting set up! So I'll have most of June and half of July to work on the nursery, I want to be completely done and ready by my Week 34 trip to North Carolina (I am Insane).

Anywho, I am so excited and so happy, but just SO TIRED. I wonder if I'll ever get what I determine to be "enough sleep" ever...again.

Well, almost as soon as I hit 20 weeks, I got my most unhappy of pregnancy side-effects yet - back pain. Luckily I had spoke with my doctor beforehand, and she already put in a referral for me to get some PT. As soon as the pain started, I called to make an appointment. For about 5 days, I dealt with the worst back pain I had ever felt...so I guess it would be at about a 6-7 on that pain scale. I would wake up at night in pain, it would happen sporadically while sitting at my desk, lying on the couch - everything seemed to trigger it.

Then, I went to PT! My guy was really nice, he was honest and said that he hadn't worked with both pregnancy and scoliosis before (just one or the other) and was asking lots of people for tips and tricks. He gave me 5 stretches/exercises that I've been doing faithfully ever since - and I feel GREAT! I LOVE PHYSICAL THERAPY!

Ahem. Anyway, so I've been feeling good since that's been sorted out. They opened a Motherhood Maternity store at my mall recently and I went on a bit of a shopping spree this weekend. It was awesome :) I'm starting to love my little belly, and strangers are starting to give me the once over when I pass by. I think that means I officially look pregnant!

Ok, lots and lots has happened since the last update, so let's get crackin'

First of all, we had the ultrasound at 18w 5d and learned that we're having a baby boy! We're very excited and very happy! All seems well with the little one *knocks on wood* Since then we've bought a few cute blue clothing items, along with some child sized hangers so everything is up in the closet.

We went to visit the in-laws for Easter and had a great time. We went to Babies-r-us and seriously spent 3 hours looking at the assortment of cribs and bedding sets and strollers and carseats, oh my! Child raising is expensive, as we suspected.

I bought a few books from friends hosting parties, so we've begun the educational training. I've already read a few to the lil boy! Also David's parents bought us a baby swing that we already set up! It was quite the adventure. We are getting really excited!!

I've been feeling ok with some on and off back problems, so hopefully I'll go see a physical therapist soon. Otherwise I'm growing ever so slowly, and noticed some new war paint on my belly after Easter. I guess that comes with the territory.

Every day that passes, we get more and more thrilled. We rock the baby swing, and pat the belly. Some day soon our family will grow, but it feels like it already has :-)

I've been pretty busy lately! I've had a bit of what I think is ligament stretching pain in my abdomen, but otherwise all is good. I'm wearing maternity clothes about half time now, thanks to my church friends and their generous donations! Friday is the big ultrasound day and we are so excited we can't sit still!

It's gotten nice and warm around here, we've done a bit of gardening and are taking walks when we can. Plus we've been good about staying on top of the house cleaning. Seems like everything is going well *knocks on wood*

Updates on Friday!

Well, basically the only thing that has changed is that I'm still feeling heavier. It's nuts, and I'm pretty self-conscious about it. I told everyone at work that I'm pregnant and they were all so happy for me! I always thought that I'd be a SAHM and maybe a little tutoring on the side - but I may be able to do some part time work. That would be great because, benefits! Plus David would be able to be with the baby while I'm at work, so that would be great daddy time for him.

We were trying to figure this out with him the other day and I literally started crying from the prospect of the two of us just trading off to care for our child. It just felt so beautiful! It wouldn't be so bad, because I'd just work 4 hours a day, and David would go into work at about noon through 7:30, but it would have to be 6 days a week in order to fit in all the necessary time. I figure that Saturday could kind of be a special day where David goes to work and maybe we take the time to meet up at lunch and have a little middle-of-day baby time and walk around the engineering quad. It sounds so great!

The ultrasound is coming up in a few weeks and we *can't* wait!

Spring has sprung in my neck of the woods, so I finally got the chance to take a walk. Man, I am out of shape. I'm going to start walking every day at lunch, so hopefully I can get these lungs working again.

Most of my babynews came from the last appointment, I thought I felt some "quickening" this morning as I woke up - but I'm thinking it may have been my own heartbeat :) We'll see soon enough!

I had cupcakes today for dessert, which was a bad idea since I've been laying off the sugar lately - my stomach is less than pleased right now. Back to healthier eating tomorrow!

Not much else new...

Today we got to meet the doctor, and I was so very happy - because I really liked her! After all that trauma about deciding over different doctors, I wish I hadn't asked anyone in the first place. Anywho, she was great and very to-the-point and informative, which is exactly my kind of style.

Turns out I'm a big NO on the gestational diabetes. I couldn't be happier about that!! My weight gain was a little high - I'm up like 7 pounds since the last visit about a month ago, not good. But thankfully my doctor didn't talk about that. We discussed getting me some physical therapy for my scoliosis issues. Then also I got to hear the heartbeat again...we're down at 140 bpm instead of 160 bpm like last time, guess it's growing! Next time is the SONOGRAM! So happy!

Anyway, just a little update to say that both the baby and my uterus are growing well!

There have been times lately, where I've been really scared that I'm pregnant.

I watch my body grow, and think of how long it will take to not only lose this weight but also the weight I should have lost before getting pregnant in the first place. I realize how difficult it will be to go back to school. I wake up every day tired, and know that this will be the most sleep I'll ever get once the baby arrives.

But the other day, I read a comment on an article. A mother mentioned that her daughter stays in her bed when she isn't feeling well. Simple, one of those off the cuff remarks that a mother makes when referring to a part of her daily life. And I felt it - the pang of motherhood that I felt so many times in the last year and a half, and haven't felt since becoming pregnant. The pang that was always followed by sadness and longing, and wonder if I'd ever have that bond with another human being.

But this time was different.

The pang was followed by joy, and excitement! That will be me - someday really soon! Looking up in bed to see a scrawny child in cotton pajamas, wiping her eyes - saying "mommy, I don't feel well." And I'll pick her up, and place her in bed between David and myself. David will brush her hair out of her face and place his palm on her forehead - saying "you're not too warm, let's just see if we can get some sleep." And we'll fall asleep, as a family. Mother, father, and our very loved and wanted child.

Lots of stuff has happened in the last week.

I hit the Second Trimester!!!

I've begun to "show"...so I decided to tell my boss. She was really happy, so that was a weight off my shoulders! I do hope to work as long as possible.

Also, I bought my first maternity shirt! It's super cute, but I'm going to wait until after my next appointment (March 8th!) to wear it.

No other movement feelings - so I think that confirms that last time was just gas.

I had my blood testing a couple of days ago. Nine vials of blood!! They tested for all kinds of things...in my state it's required to test for HIV, otherwise they won't let you breastfeed your baby in the hospital! Kind of nuts, but I went for it. Also they did the normal OB screen, cystic fibrosis, and the ever-important Gestational Diabetes. I did the whole orange soda thing beforehand, which actually tasted pretty good - so I don't know what all the warning was about.

Anyway, not much else new - but that's enough for now!