32 Weeks!

Of course this update is a day late…. that goes without saying.

Everything from the last post is still going strong.  I’ve taken my rings off, even though my hands aren’t swollen all the time.  I’ve had to pry them off 2-3 times now and I’m terrified that they are going to get stuck.  I can tell my feet are starting to swell too.  Just a little bit, but the toes turn white when I bend them and they just feel swollen.  Just standing in the shower makes my feet ache.

I have another “problem” starting.  I use quotation marks because although it is a problem, it’s fantastic.  My sweet tooth is taking on a life of it’s own.  Yesterday I ate a little bit of everything in the house that would be considered a dessert.  It was amazing.  I’m sure I’ll get “the look” when I step on the scale tomorrow at my OB appointment, but oh well.  This girl obviously wants sweets and she can have whatever she wants…. in moderation? 😉

I am absolutely ready to be out of this apartment and in to our new house!  Even though I’ll still have to walk the dogs for a little bit until our fence is built, it will be nice to not have to bend over to pick up the poo in a little baggy.  Ever bend over with 24lbs of  belly in front of you?  Not easy, or fun, or cute.  2.5 more weeks! I can do it!

Here is my belly!  

9 more weeks at most! Woo!

That Game

I’m not sure how many of your infertile ladies out there have had this problem, but I thought I’d share my experience.

My family doesn’t know about the infertility and the fertility treatments.  There are a lot of reasons why, but it boils down to two big ones.  1. My family is insane and would call me constantly telling me things I already know.  2. It would worry them, and they have millions of other things to be worried about.  I suppose this means I am both selfish AND concerned.  I can live with that.

So, not knowing our circumstances, I can excuse my sister for doing THAT game during my baby shower.  I think you all know the one.  The one where after you’re done opening your gifts someone stands up and repeats back all of the comments you made, saying that these were comments made on the night your baby was conceived.  Usually it’s things like “Oh, look how cute and tiny it is!” or “I’ve never seen one so small!”  Sure, it’s amusing, but to the closeted infertile, it’s awkward.  Made even more awkward by the fact that my friends DO know what I’ve been through.  I’ve never heard a room so quiet.  I was appreciative of them not finding this amusing.

It made me wonder how many other people have had to go through something like this.  How many of you have had your friends decide to play this game without your knowledge? I understand my situation is a little backwards in that my family doesn’t know and my friends do, so I assume that if anyone has this problem, it would be a friend thinking it was a good idea and the entire family secretly thinking “eh, yikes.”

I wasn’t offended, because there was no way she could know, but I do think the game isn’t amusing.  Is it because of my struggles?  Maybe.  I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that this is a party for a baby.  Who wants to think about how that baby was made while at a party featuring rubber duckies, onsies, and colorful cupcakes?  I understand it being amusing to do during a bridal shower (depending on how many old-fashioned grandmas are hanging out), but not a baby shower.

I hope that none of you have had to experience this awkward game during your showers.  If you have, I hope your friends and family who know your struggles haven’t giggled and forgotten everything you’ve been through.

31 Weeks! (Late Again…)

I shouldn’t even post that these updates are late.  It should just be a given.  I did take a belly picture this week though, so I’ve got that going for me.

So, the pregnancy insomnia is back.  It is possibly the meanest of all pregnancy symptoms. You are already exhausted even when you sleep well.  Although “well” usually means up every 2 hours to pee or change positions because your back and legs ache so badly.  I’m not complaining, mind you, but I am simply stating that you’d think your brain would let you shut down for a couple hours to let you rest from the overall insanity that is having less than nine weeks left. WHOA!

The swelling has also started.  Everything below the belly is swelling.  The YOU KNOW area, as well as the new hemorrhoids, and the feet (slightly, if I’ve been on them for a while).  I’ve had a hemorrhoid since high school.  It comes and goes.  I’ve even been to a Proctologist and everything.  Now, along with a bit of constipation, it’s getting a bit…. irritated down there.  I’ve started back on prunes to at least alleviate the going pain.  I have a feeling this problem will only be getting worse though.

Other than all of those things above, which are super normal, I am feeling pretty good.  Everyone keeps telling me I look small still. Woo!  I certainly don’t feel it when trying to get off the couch or roll out of bed. haha

Here is the belly!  My shirt is actually green, but my phone needs to be put out of it’s misery….

30 Week Checkup!

All was well!  Strong heartbeat from my little one, and I gained exactly the right amount of weight! Woo!  First time in months I haven’t been given the “well, maybe you should watch what you eat a little more….”  I call that a win!

I also went to the chiropractor.  I’ve been going once a month to coincide with my OB appointments.  I told him about how the only time I don’t have horrendous leg pain at night is when I get an adjustment.  I’m good for about 3-4 days and then the pain is back… with a vengeance.  The diagnosis?  Being put back on active care, meaning that I will go twice a week and insurance will cover part of it.  If I can start sleeping better I will be all like.. WOOOO!!!  I’ll keep you all updated.

That’s all for now!

30 Weeks!

I’m actually posting this ON my 30 week turnover! Woo! First time in a few weeks I’ve been on the ball.  I even have a belly picture this week!

We moved into the apartment yesterday.  We still have a few things at the house to pick up, but we should be done by tonight.  The apartment is a disaster.  It was great putting apartment stuff into a house, but vice versa is not so pretty.  I’m just hoping we have enough space to hold the in-laws this weekend for baby shower #1.  As long as we have a clear path to the bed, we should be fine I think.

The nausea over the past week has been less than fun.  It kicks in around 3-4PM and lasts until I wake up the next morning.  I’m going to be more vigilant on drinking water.  I barely had two glasses yesterday.  Yes, I know, it’s bad.  I’m also starting on prunes.  My ‘wake up and HAVE to go’ thing I’ve had the entire rest of the pregnancy is beginning to slack off.  I think this might be another reason I’m getting nauseous.  I’m still eating, but there isn’t room for the food!  Good thing I don’t mind the taste of prunes!

The leg pain is out of control.  It used to wake me up every 2-3 hours.  Now it’s about every hour.  Chiropractor is this week though! Woo!  That should help for a few days.  I also have my 30 week appointment this week.  Appointments every two weeks is going to be awesome.  I’m so impatient!

I can’t believe I’m 3/4 of the way through the pregnancy.  It feels like it got here fast AND super slow all at the same time.  How is that possible?  I’m sitting here thinking “wow, only 10 weeks!” AND “wow, still 10 weeks?!” — Strange. 😉

Here is my belly!  Looks pretty normal to me, but maybe it looks bigger to you?  Same size?

So This Is What It Feels Like…

…to be in the third trimester.

It hit me hard today.  I couldn’t sleep past 8:00 this morning, so I’ve been exhausted from the moment I rolled myself out of bed.  I also have a soreness in my side.  It feels like my skin is stretched so far that it might tear if I move too suddenly.  I don’t think it’s actually my skin, but a muscle under my skin.  All normal from what the internets say, but it really does put a damper on doing anything useful when it’s difficult to stand up straight.

I’ve also been a bit nauseous today.  I had a sandwich with turkey on it, and apparently I’m back to my first trimester hatred of turkey.  We had a good run in the second trimester, turkey, but I think you are going to be a husband only lunch meat for the next little while.

Also, bending over? Yeesh.  I feel like I’m going to pass out or vomit as soon as I tip my head even slightly past my stomach.

Is it worth it? Absolutely!  I just hope all my nausea inducers from the first trimester don’t come back.  What would I do without ice cream for the next 11 weeks?! Ah!

29 Weeks — So So Late On Update…

29 weeks this past Monday (4/8)!  To say that this week has been busy would be putting it mildly.  My family came into town and helped a lot with packing though!  That was great to have so much help getting all of the little stupid nic-naks into boxes.  We also moved just a few things into the apartment.  Ah, apartment living.  Not looking forward to that with two pooches to walk, multiple times a day…  I guess it will keep me active though.

I know I’m supposed to be more tired, but I think being so busy has kept me from passing out every day.  My legs still ache when I sleep.  Being active during the day, soaking in a hot bath (only my legs), or doing the stretches the chiropractor gave me is just not helping at all.  I give up.  I will just say that if this is the worst pregnancy thing I have, I am a lucky girl.

On the house thing…. we got an offer accepted today!  If all goes to plan, we will move in at the end of May.  This gives us a month to get acclimated to a new city.  Ah!  I could switch OB’s once we get out there (with four weeks left in the pregnancy) and go to the newest birthing center in our area, or I can stick with what I know.  We will be 25 minutes from our current doctor/hospital if I don’t switch.  It seems like a long time, but my family lives in the country and they all made it to the hospital for their births.  Although, looking at the newer one makes me really considering switching.  How hard to you guys think it would be to switch OB’s at 36 weeks pregnant?  Would it be worth it to be in a more updated hospital with a higher level neonatal unit?  I’m thinking yes.

I have no picture this week.  I could get up and take one right now, but I’m exhausted.  I’m not even going to proof read this entry, so I hope it’s readable.  🙂

Reader Appreciation Award

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Millie of the blog Millieonherworld.  She has nominated me for a Reader Appreciate Award.  Even though I am super late with responding back to this, I am truly grateful for the nomination.  So, let me get down to the nitty gritty of this nomination…

Rules

1. Link back to the person who nominated you.
2.  Attach the icon to your site.
3.  Answer the attached questions.
4. Nominate six bloggers who you feel deserve this award and notify them about their nominations.

Questions

1. What is your favorite color?

Blues and Greens.  Even better, mix them together and make a nice teal or turquoise!

2. What is your favorite animal? 

I guess I would have to say dogs.  Elephants and Giraffes are pretty cute, but only if they are on something involving babies and appear in bright, unnatural colors.

3. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?

Sweet Tea…. I could drink this all day, every day.

4. What is your favorite number?

I don’t really have one, but my husband’s is 27, so I tag onto that number usually.

5. What is your favorite day of the week?

Saturday.  A full day with my husband with no need to go to bed early!

6. What is your favorite flower?

I love them all.  I love the smell of Lillies and Roses best though.  They are all so pretty I just can’t decide.  When my husband buys me flowers, the bouquet always features tons of different flowers.  He knows me so well.

7. What is your passion?

Still trying to figure that out….

8. Do you watch television?

I could start a blog about nothing but television.  Maybe TV is my passion? Hmm….

My husband and I watch the following shows:  Community, Parks and Rec., The Office, The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, The Middle, Modern Family, Downton Abbey, Bones, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Kitchen Nightmares, New Girl, Weeds……

Then by myself I watch everything else…. Friends, The New Adventures of Old Christine, River Monsters (watching this as I type), Say Yes to the Dress, What Not to Wear, Sex and the City, Property Brothers, Income Property, Holmes on Homes, anything shown on the ID channel…. this is just scratching the surface people.  I LOVE TV!  hehe  Don’t judge me.

9. Who is your favorite author?

I’m not big on having one author that I love to follow, but if I had to pick one, it would be Nathaniel Hawthorne.  I know, OLD SCHOOL!  I can’t help it though.  Ever since I was assigned Young Goodman Brown in college, I was in love with his writing, his view on society, and the way he truly makes you think.

I also enjoy a mix of tons of other writers, some old and some new.  I don’t typically like the books that are all the hype, such as Twilight and The Hunger Games.  I’ve read them, but I wouldn’t re-read them.  I’m not sure if it’s because they are popular and I rebel against that type of thing, or because I just don’t care for them.  I do, however, love Harry Potter. 🙂

10. Do you like 80s movies?

Of course!

11. How do you like your eggs?

Fertilized! haha!  Couldn’t resist…. this is an infertility blog after all!  In all seriousness though, scrambled. Yum!

12. When did you discover blogging?

I’ve read blogs for a number of years, but I didn’t personally start blogging until June of last year.  It has been an amazing experience though!

13. Why do you like to blog?

It helps to get your problems written down and sent out into the world where you can hear from others who have been in similar situations or can offer helpful advice.  I’m sure I would have lost my mind during the IVF process if I had not had so many kind people helping me through.  Thank you!

 

—This is the part where I am supposed to pick a few people to honor with a nomination.  If you’ve read my previous post with a liebster nomination, you will know that I don’t follow rules very well.  I love every single blog that I follow, so picking a few would never work for me.  Plus, I know that some people are constantly nominated and have trouble keeping up with the demands.  So, like I did last time, I nominate everyone who follows me.  If you’d like to answer these questions, and have a good time letting us in on some of your thoughts, we’d all enjoy it!  I hope you all enjoyed my answers!

Everything Is Driving Me CRAZY!!!

Okay, let’s just say that MAYBE this all has to do with pregnancy hormones…. but once you hear the things going on in my life, you may think it’s everyone else who is to blame.

1.  My sister is a gun loving, pro-choice hating, liberal-bashing conservative.  Actually, that describes about 99.9% of my family.  Not that I’m pleased with it, especially the parts of my family who don’t believe that two loving adults who happen to share the same undercarriage can’t get married, but I put up with it because I KNOW that changing peoples minds on politics is impossible.  They can’t change mine, so I don’t even attempt to change theirs.  That being said, my sister keeps tagging me in posts on Facebook that are completely wrong and sick.  For instance, two days ago she tagged me in a post that had two pictures, one said “conservative rape kit” and showed a gun and a pamphlet that said “castration made easy.”  The other pictures showed a pamphlet entitled “understanding your rapist” and a Planned Parenthood parking pass.  I asked her to delete me from the post because it was in such poor taste.  She refused.  She tagged me in another today about guns.  It wasn’t as horrible, but it’s just more and more weight pushing on my crazy button.  I (think) I now have it set up so that I have to approve anything I’m tagged in, but I guess I won’t know for sure until someone tries.  So… there is thing one.

2.  We are looking for a new house.  Our closing date on this house is the 17th.  It’s pretty clear that we are going into an apartment for a couple months, and we are fine with that.  This is a big step to buy our next house.  We want everything to be perfect for baby girl to grow up in.  My mom keeps sending me houses to look at online.  Now, don’t you think that I have seen every house online in the areas we are looking in?  If you think this, you are correct.  She also knows what we are looking for.  So, she keeps sending me houses that are not in the right areas AND don’t fit our criteria at all.  I know she means well, but she literally sent me 10 houses today and all of them were wrong.  Why does she continue to think there are houses out there that I haven’t seen yet??  Why is everyone DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!

3.  Moving SUCKS!  Especially at 28 weeks pregnant when all you want to do is sleep, eat, and watch Sex and the City.  There are boxes just sitting here collecting dust… waiting to be filled.  I don’t want to move.  I want to stay here and nest and forget about all this craziness.

Ugh…. I think I’m starting to feel all this stress at once….. I wish I had some chocolate pie.

28 Weeks! (A Day Late… Again)

Time is zooming.  It’s nice in one way (we get to meet baby girl quicker) but it’s also bad because we still haven’t found “that house” yet.  We found one that was pretty close yesterday, but it’s an area that we are a little unfamiliar with and we don’t want to rush into it until we really know what we are getting in to.  Actually, that’s probably more me.  I don’t do well with change and I’m pretty certain that baby girl is going to change EVERYTHING anyway!  Can I handle a new baby AND a whole new city? Eep! Help!

Anyway, other than the super horrific leg pain at night (chiropractor helps for about two-three days and then it’s back to the way it was), I am also having the extreme fatigue creep back in…. slowly.  I’m basically a zombie during the day, get pumped to go look at houses, and then go zombie again by 7:00.  I haven’t had time to nap because I am so preoccupied with looking at houses online.  Usually the same houses over and over and OVER again.  Will they change and be better on the tenth look?  No.  Ah! I think I’m stressed out!

I actually took a belly shot today! Yay! I’m on the ball a little bit!  Baby girl is finally starting to kick higher than my belly button.  Not often, but every now and then.  I’m wondering if she’s starting to go heads down now.  She’s still got 12 weeks to go so she can do whatever she likes as long as she’s happy.  She does LOVE to drum on my bladder.

Whoa, that belly is much bigger than I imagine when I picture myself in my head.  Makes sense that I waddle when I walk now though. 😉

 

My goal is to start writing entries about things other than my weekly turnovers, but I’m just not sure my brain has the room for other thoughts right now.  I’d like to get back to my blogging roots soon.  I get lots of hits on my entries that are informative, and I’d like to keep helping others however I can.  It may just take a while for me to get the energy back for it.  I promise, they’ll come one day!