The shrinking town

So I went home this past weekend and every single person I ran into has lost 30 pounds! Okay, so maybe they didn't. Surely an entire town of 5500 couldn't have all lost weight at the exact same time, which just so happens to be the same time that I'm pregnant. Alright, I know everyone didn't lose weight, but it sure felt like it. I've heard many of pregnant women talking about how when they are approaching their last few months of pregnancy, they feel like they balloon up and just get huge. Now, I know I've definitely gotten bigger but I just have never felt huge (not yet anyway). Everyone else just looks really really skinny. I just want to look at them and say "Come on now! Shouldn't you be eating more? Your just all skin and bones!" And then I tell myself "Jamie, these people, all these people, are not underweight anorexic's. They are all just fine. You were this size once. But, right now your carrying a child inside your belly. A growing human being that is relying on you for substance and health. Once you birth this child from your own body, you will be smaller too, and hopefully one day not too far away, you'll be their size again."
Yes, I have to give myself pep talks sometimes because while my mind messes with me every once in a while, I do have a bit of common sense left...plus it's cheaper than hiring a therapist. =)
So, if you haven't heard, I went in for my glucose test last week and failed! =/ Yep, so now I'm a big 'ol mess. I have to go in next Wednesday to take the 3hour test. I've hear so many bad things about this 3hour test. I'm just praying I can keep the icky glucose down and that the pricks of the needle from drawing my blood 4 TIMES doesn't hurt too bad. Did I mention I'm a mess. The nurse didn't tell me to do anything different until the next test, but if you know me I'm a planner. I'm already looking up what I can and can't eat for gestational diabetes. I mean, if I end up having this, I don't want to go a whole week and chance doing any harm to me or more importantly baby sug. But, most of the websites say to talk with your doctor for the best diet for you. So, I'm just doing my best to stay away from as much sugar and simple carbs as possible until I can hear some results. And yes, this means giving up my ice cream & oreos's. Oh, the horror! I'm looking on the bright side though. This is forcing me to be healthier and even if I don't end up with it, I might just stick to this healthier diet.......with a bowl of ice cream every now and then ;)

....thanks for reading.....

Update

So I have to admit that I stole this from someone else's blog but I liked it so I'm gonna use it.

How far along?: 27 weeks and 4 days. Almost to that 3rd trimester mark!

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure. I have an appointment tomorrow. Kind of scared. Too much ice cream and oreos I'm afraid. =)

Stretch marks?: None that I've found yet. Mom said she got hers around 8 months. Lets all cross our fingers together they don't show up.

Sleep: Crazy crazy dreams. They all seem to be bad too except for the one I had where baby sug (her nickname) was moving around in my tummy and stretched her hand out and grabbed my finger. Also, pee count is up to about three times in the middle of the night.

Best moment this week: After being scared to death for two days that I didn't feel her move that much, she started kicking up a storm. ahhh..sigh of relief.

Movement: She seems to move a lot...most days, and I can't get over it. I love the feeling!! Sometimes it feels like she's doing somersaults in my belly. As long as she land butt up, she can do it all she wants

Food cravings: Ice cream and oreos. I have a bowl at least once a day.

Labor Signs: None, thank goodness. Just lots of pressure in my lower abdomen. Doctor says that's normal though.

Belly button in or out?: In, but I really want it to poke out. =)

What I miss: Not having to pee 3 times an hour. And running. Other than that, I am loving this pregnancy thing.

What I am looking forward to: While I love being pregnant, the further I get, the more impatient I am with wanting to hold her in my arms and see her for the first time.

What I am NOT looking forward to: one word: labor

Weekly Wisdom: Take lots of pictures and write everything down. You'll want them later.

Milestones: None. But I go in for my glucose test in the morning. Lets cross those fingers again. I'm not ready to give up my ice cream just yet.

27 weeks

So lets just say that I've slowed down in the past couple of weeks. All that energy that I had just 3 weeks ago has pretty much disappeared. I'm not to the point of total exhaustion yet, but I'm so not going to the gym three times a week anymore. Walking up the stairs to my apartment makes me completely out of breath. I've pretty much relied on Jarrod for that mountain of a walk up the 13 stairs we have. It goes something like this: We stand at the bottom of the staircase and I just stare at it for like 2 minutes, preparing myself and body for the journey ahead me. And then we begin. Jarrod goes first and I follow behind. I normally grab the top of his pants while he walks me up, slowly, as I try desperately not to 'shuck' him in front of the entire apartment complex. Once at the top, there is normally another minute or two of pause while I catch my breath. It's all over in about 5 minutes, but let me tell you, that's a really long 5 minutes. On my good days I'll pick up my 5 pound weights and do a few upper body exercises but thats about the extent of my exercise. I was reading on the internet the other day about this woman who ran the Boston marathon at 26 weeks. I wanted to cry. Man, I wish I was that tough. I've always wanted to do marathons and never trained myself hard enough before I got pregnant and here she is doing it at the end of her second trimester.....show off!!!

I've also been somewhat obsessed about the movements I'm feeling from baby girl. I know you're not suppose to technically start doing "fetal kick counts" until 28 weeks, but I'm so worried she's not moving enough. Some days she'll kick up a storm and then other days I hardly feel her at all. Those days she doesn't move much scare me to death. Is this normal? I was having some stomach pain the other day and called the doctor just to make sure it was just stretching and she asked me if I had felt the baby move that day. "It all sounds normal" she says, "but if you have any of of these symptoms, or notice a decrease in movement we'll just have you come into labor and delivery to be put on a monitor." That's the last thing I needed to hear. If y'all have any advice on this, I would love to hear it. I'm 27 weeks tomorrow. What's normal? When should I call?
On a lighter note, while my belly is getting bigger each day, I see no stretch marks yet and I can still shave my legs =) It takes some special manuevering, but those legs are hair free!
...thanks for reading...

Quick update

This pregnancy is moving right along. It seems to be speeding up the further along I get. I don't know how that is, but people warned me it would happen. Saturday I will be 25 weeks and while that's just a little over half way, I have a crazy feeling the last three months go the fastest. I'm actually not doing too bad getting things together. We've pretty much got the nursery done. (That just sounds so weird to say. I have a nursery....in a few months, I'm gonna have a baby, I'm gonna be a mommy.) There is is still a few odds and ends that we need to do and then I'll post some pictures.
The purchase of the week was a breast pump. That's even crazier to me. I'll admit, this contraption kind of freaks me out. It had a dvd that came with it and you know I had to watch it. It's been said time and time again, but these women really did look like cows being pumped, having all these wires coming out and this battery pack plugged into the wall. Now I know it's natural and I've always said I was going to breastfeed, but I'm a bit nervous. I've heard horror stories of women who couldn't stand it and I've heard stories from moms who said it was the best bonding experience they've ever had. The one thing they've all said is, be patient. Guess we'll see. I'm hoping that when I hold my little girl in my arms for the first time, it will all just be a natural feeling.
I've officially felt her kick now. I think it started a few weeks ago. I absolutely love it. I could just lay there all day and feel her moving around. Jarrod felt her for the first time Sunday. Every time I would have him put his hand on my belly, she would stop moving. I secretly think she does this on purpose and is laughing her head off in there. But the other day we were laying down watching tv (I was behind him) and she kicked really hard and he felt it in his back. Hopefully the further along I get, the more he'll be able to feel her. There really is something special about being the woman, the mom, who gets to carry her child around with her for the 9 months and feel her move and kick. I can only imagine how I'll feel when I see her little face for the first time.
...thanks for reading...

It's a girl!

Yep, we're having a little girl. Jarrod's already talking about hows she's just going to have him wrapped around her little finger =) The sonogram was so amazing. She's not just a little peanut anymore. The doctor said everything looked perfectly normal. Her weight was a bit small (39 percentile of other babies) but that it was absolutely nothing to worry about. She kept her mouth open almost the entire time, which the nurse said was funny because normally they'll just yawn and that's it but not her, she's gonna be a talker =) There were a couple of other pictures that were cute. She had her hand up under her chin in one and then another scratching her head. Jarrod thinks this means that she is already contemplating the mysteries of life, even in the womb (takes after her dad.) Alright, enough talking here's the pictures:



Girl!

Half way there

So, everything they say about the second trimester is true. I've had so much more energy. I've actually been able to keep up my workout routine at the gym, with some minor alterations. I tried jogging, but I got out of breath way to fast and it just felt "wrong," so I went with my gut and I've starting walking on an incline instead. Still lifting weights, I've just lowered the pounds and upped the reps. I've also tried cycling on the stationary bikes. Jarrod has picked up this new exercise, and by the time he's done he has sweat all the way through his shirt, so it's gotta be burning some calories right? I'm doing all this, not to lose weight of course, so far I'm right on track with the amount of weight I'm suppose to gain. But, I know if I stick with the program now, it should help me to shed the baby weight once I have him/her. Plus, I've done this routine for so long now, I can't just sit idle for 9 months (and it helps me to feel better about eating that Snickers bar after lunch =)
Another great thing about the second trimester is that I haven't touched a saltine cracker in about 6 weeks now. No more morning sickness. I didn't even have it that bad, but it was bad enough to remember. And the migraines I use to get once a week has cut back to like once a month.
But with the beauty of the second trimester, comes some pain. My lower back has been hurting pretty bad lately. I think part of it is because I sit at a desk all day at work and that seems to put more pressure on it. I don't know if it's my uterus trying to grow and stretch or if the baby is laying on it. My mom said that when she was pregnant with my sister, she had back pain because my sister wouldn't move from her back. I tried the exercise everyone kept suggesting. The yoga pose where you get on your knees and arch and lower your back. That really seemed to help a bit. I've never had a problem with charlie horses but oh my goodness, did I get one the other day. One in each calf. They hurt so bad. Someone told me it's a sign of potassium deficiency. Guess I need to get some bananas. Jarrod has been the best husband I could possibly need. He rubs my back when its hurting, and the other night when I was screaming out of pain from my calves he came in and rubbed the muscle until it loosened. He's gonna be a great daddy =)
I'm 22 weeks today, and it seems like I still have so much longer to go in my pregnancy. My sister asked me yesterday when I could come home for a baby shower. "I gotta get planning." she said. A baby shower? Isn't that something you do later on? And then it hit me. I'm over half way there. There is so much that has to be done. We've bought the baby bed, but have no idea what we are going to do with the nursery. People keep asking me about daycare. "Have you thought about what daycare you're gonna use?" "Have you started pricing daycare's around you?" "You really should start early." Daycare? I'm just trying to get to my next ultrasound! My next ultrasound: I go Wednesday for the "big one." I'm so excited and so incredibly nervous. As long as the baby cooperates we'll be able to tell if we're having a boy or girl =) But this is also the ultrasound that they look for problems/issues and see if they can notice any obvious deformities (we decided against the genetic tests.) I'm sure it will be fine, but I'm just waiting for Wednesday and waiting to hear those words "everything looks great!" Needless to say, my head has been spinning the past few weeks. But you know what? I wouldn't change it for anything.
...thanks for reading.....

"March of the Penquins"

So, I've noticed that I've started doing the "pregnant walk." Not constantly, but there will be times when I catch myself doing it. You've seen it. The woman you see across the store, that if you blink too slowly you might think was a penguin dressed in woman's clothes. So, maybe walk is the wrong word. I believe the correct rhetoric would be waddle. Now, the first time I noticed myself doing it I was suprised. First, because I was actually waddling and second, because it was so dang comfortable. It made me wonder why pregnancy does this to you. And I've narrowed it down to a few things. One, I've noticed that if I sit for too long my lower abdomen almost cramps up so the waddling is mixed with a kind of limp from the pain of putting one foot in front of another. Two, maybe the waddling is almost a natural walk but only looks like a waddle because you have all this weight out front in your stomach that is moving side to side with the motion of your legs. And three, its a well known fact that as you get bigger, you tend to stick you belly out a little more due to the extra weight and plus you want people to know you really are pregnant, not just putting on pounds. This jut of the belly paired with the arch it creates in your lower back also makes you more apt to waddle. So, whether is one or all three, something is starting to make me walk less like a human and more like a penguin. And to top it off, if you know me very well you know I've always walked with my feet slightly pointed out anyway. Maybe I just need to buy the black and white tux and "go with it." Hey, penguins are cute right?? I mean people actually paid money to go to the movies and watch them 'march'....or waddle =)
In other news, my friend Diane tagged my to list "7 things" about myself. I haven't forgotten, I'm just trying to come up with some ideas.

...thanks for reading...