Couple's Night Out

Chloe had the opportunity to go to a girl scout camporee from yesterday to today, which meant Chris and I had the night to ourselves (which is rare)! This being the case, I wanted so badly to have a night to ourselves and doing stuff that you can't normally do with a 7-year old (nice restaurant or R-rated movie for instance). Well, I ruined it!

I was in a super good mood becasue we haven't had a "date" in what feels like forever. I put on heels, did my hair, and just wanted to feel somewhat sexy again. On the way to Glastonbury, I had some heartburn so I popped in my new best friend...Tums. Now I should preface this by saying that I NEVER expereinced heartburn before I was developing a human life withing my body. But given the rapidly expanding size of my belly with my shrinking stomach that is nearing my asophogus, coupled with pregnancy hormes, I had the most horrendously painful heartburn of my life.

We decided to eat at Houlihan's...I figured that if 10 Tums, 5 tall glasses of water and some bread couldn't ease my heartburn, then the meal certainly would! Now that was a naive thought! Chris ran out to the car to grab my Tums and I downed about 10 more. After the fouth bite of rice I had tears starting to roll down my cheeks. The poor waitress not only felt bad but left a gigantic carafe on the table becasue she had to keep coming back to refill me! It's kinda funny now but I was agony. Chris said we should leave twice but I insisted on staying. I kept believeing it would go away and we could go on with our night. Staring at my awesome-looking meal was a tease and I resorted to a bit of ice cream while I insisted Chris ate. Then we took off. I couldn't handle it anymore and he said we were leaving. I lieterally ate half the bottle of Tums before I felt better, which was of course when we were at home and going to bed!

Oh well. Maybe we'll have one more shot at a nice evening out ourselves before our little package arrives-and this time w/o the heartburn!

Bedrest for a Day

I now have a newfound appreciation for all you women out there that have been on bedrest. I was put on it for a day and was ready to rip my snarled hair out my head! May the good Lord bless you for your patience because I was miserable! I couldn't even relax because I was thinking about how unproductive I was being. Tracey, and especially Cynthia, you two are remarkable! At one pont I told Chris how much it sucked and he reminded me of you two! Yeah, again, I have no right to complain so I totally sucked it up after that!

Oh, so you're probably wondering what happened. It wasn't anything severe, just precautionary. Wednesday I felt like total crap-nauseaus, headache, blood rush to the face, (I did ctually get sick)-so I left work early and slept for about two hours and felt better. Well, Friday morning I was feeling fine and on the way into work I got incredibly dizzy to the point where I didn't know where the road was so I could pull off! I waited there about 10 minutes and when it subsided a decent amount I called the doc. They had me come in right way to take my blood pressure and they blamed it on my allergies.

I saw the "mean" doctor again (who has been really awesome) and it turns out that my blood sugar was low (usually higher for pregnant women since many overeat) and my blood pressure was higher than normal (for me). I normally run almost dead at 90/140 so when I was about 100/145 it kind of alarmed her (even though it is still an excellent reading for some people). I was given three juice boxes and told I had to be picked up and stay in bed all day and that they would be calling to check on me. Great! She asked if I've been overdoing and I repsonded with "mentally or physically" with a slight giggle. She said it didn't matter and that in both regards I need to take a breather and relax...I'm almost there so it's okay to take more of break. Ha. She obviously doesn't know me! But I vowed to be better at taking it easy and she stressed I need more sleep.

Sigh. I should take the advice but it's hard because I'm a pretty independent person and like doing things on my own. Chris brought me dinner in bed and I had a wave of guilt. I'm weird. I know. Plus I don't like to admit failure or defeat, or the fact that I don't have the same abilities as before I became pregnant (lifting heavy things, climbing stairs, sleeping on my stomash hee hee) and I want to do everything I can to feel "normal". 7 1/2 weeks to go....

SHOPPING!!!

So thank you to all of you that were so generous in getting things that we need for our upcoming addition! You have NO idea how much you've all helped out!

Nicole called me up yesterday and asked if I wnated to use some of the gift cards we received to get some of the stuff I needed on our list and I was all over that! I don't think I've begun "nesting" (I'm sure you figure out what that means) because I've always been kind of a clean freak and I like having things in order. As Tracy put it, maybe I haven't started "nesting" because I do it all the time! VEry true Trace...well spoken! :) Anyway, (where are these tangents coming from?) so myself, Chloe, Kim and Nicole went to Babies R Us and stocked up on more things. Chloe was awesome...she was more than willing to help stock up and she found the best soothing machine for the crib as well...this adorable little aquarium thing that attached to the side.

It truly amazes how much stuff you need for a baby! 99% of everything we registered for was items that we need and I did my best to make sure I had a balance between cost and durability. For instance, I fell in love an Eddie Bauer stroller that was right smack dab in the middle of the price range for strollers. I checked the reviews and when 77 people have the same complaint about the seat latch and rate it a 2 out of 5, it makes you tihink twice about spending an extra $20 ya know?

So we have a good amount of the stuff we need (for now). Less diapers, formula, etc! It felt good getting some shopping out of the way! Everytime a little something gets done and out of the way, I feel more at ease with her arrival. I don't like being unprepared!

Checkup/Update

I've gained a total of 23 pounds! Whoo hoo! Sounds weird though that I'm actually happy about it but hey, you HAVE to gain weight if you're pregnant and at least I haven't gained 50 pounds! Some of you may remember the doctor that really upset me by basically saying I was overweight...well, I think we were both just having a bad day. I had to see her today and she was sooo friendly and commnted numerous times about how I've keep my weight gain undercontrol and that I'm emasuring right where I should (they measure the belly in centimeters to tell what week you're in). I left completely pleased!

So in case any of you are wondering, we're heading into week 33. Crazy I tell ya. Time just flies. It's funny...I read in a magazine that you may feel slightly less movement because the baby is taking up less space. Ha! Whoever wrote that was probably never pregnant! Not only is she moving more than ever, she hurts! I was sitting in a astaff meeting the other day and everyone thought thre was something wrong with me the way I almost jumped out of my chair! A nice healthy karate kick to the ribs is all it takes!

I'm noticing that she's starting to develop somewhat of a sleep schedule...She is going to be night owl like her mother (BEFORE pregnancy) definitely! I feel her the most between 11PM (about when we go to bed) and 3AM. Then she calms down the last couple hours of the night. Hopefully, she'll be a good napper...she always calms down in the afternoon hours. I tell ya I honestly don't know what I would do if I didn't have a body pillow on one side of me and Chris on the other because rolling is inevitable! Keeping a balance laying in bed isn't even easy!

So we are pre-registering at the hospital this week (Middlesex). Makes sense so that I'm not signing paperwork in the middle of contractions! Plus, I know it sounds weird and cynical but I have this feling that I may go a couple weeks early. I just want to be redy (now that's a good one)!

Shower!

So apparently I though Chris, Chloe, Nicole and her family, Amanda, and I were all going apple picking yesterday. We were supposed to meet at Nicole's house and go from there. Well...surprise! It didn't even dawn on me when I saw the balloons! Nicole, Kim, and Amanda did a WONDERFUL job planning it. People I hadn't seen in so long were there and everyone was so generous!

It was kinda surreal...even now, I have the days where I don't think it has hit me that I am pregnant. Opening little girl outfits and everything else felt strange...not in bad way or anything but it almost felt like a dream. I can't explain it but as happy as I am I truly don't think it will hit me until I am holding our little girl in my arms! I can't wait!

Sick and Tired...Literally!

Just a bit of background...

I usually don't whine and complain (okay, a little sometimes) but I mean truly complaining fo revery little ach and pain. I haven't complained that even though I'm carrying smaller than EVERYONE I know, just going up a flight of stairs is a workout. And lots not even talk about bending over to pick something up, or the kicks all night long, or my sciatic nerve in my left leg that makes me limp nw and then, or the tiredness and nausea that has recently set in. Did I mention tired and nauseaous?

I have gotten sick EVERY night the last 4 nights and feel sick after every meal. I know I have to eat and all of you know how much I love food but last night I even turned down ice cream! Yep, the world has come to end when I stop eating ice cream. I've resorted to whole-grain Goldfish to make myself feel better. To add to it, I've been so tired that my body literally aches and there is getting comfortable at night. If this is nature's way of telling me to get ready I guess I should get used to it. The nice thing I can look forward to though is sleeping on my stomach again! Whoo hoo!

Really though, I still have no right to complain. I feel immediately guilty when I start to have pity on myself because at least she is still kicking (and flipping I mght add) inside me-active and healthy, and the both of us have absolutely no medical issues. I would go almost as far to say that I should be happy I feel like crap but for now, I'll just be happy and content that everything is going the way should and I will continue to hope and pray for those that need all the love and support they can get-for themselves and their babies-when they need it most.

Running Scared!

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm a baby when I think about the whole labor/delivery process. I can honestly say that I'm not scared of anything-heights, spiders, snakes, dogs, the dark (lol), skydiving, the ocean, even pain in general I generally do well. Now, I am scared. I don't really know why. The odds of something going drastically wrong and losing our little girl are not even the issue. I honestly don't know what it is. Maybe it's fear of the unknown. I've never even seen someone in labor or giving birth so maybe that's the difference. Do I talk t my doctor and ask questions? Yes. Do talk to other mothers? Yes. Do I read evey book and magazine to be well informed? Yes. Do I talk to Chris? Absolutely. The only thing left in my mind to help relax a bit is take some childbirth classes.

Now some people say it was beneficial for them and others say it's a waste of time but I can tell you that I felt better even after just attending one class. It wasn't really that I learned some huge peice of factual information or the commraderie that was there....I guess it was just everything. Maybe it was also that the instructor is also a yoga and massage professional so she brings a calmness to the room. It was also nice to hear some of the other women say they too were also scared or nervous so I didn't feel so abnormal!

All was going okay until near the end when I started feeling sick for some reason. We were just practicing some relaxation breathing when I couldn't get my breathing under control and literally ran from the room. So instead of breathing easy I was getting sick in a hospital bathroom. I went this whole 7 months w/o getting sick and now twice within a week! (I also got sick on the way home from the fair on Friday night for no apparent reason). Something tells me the last two months are going to make up for a relatively easy 7!

So anyway, I'm looking forward to the next 4 classes because they should get more in depth and information. The last is a tour of the birthing area and such (which I've unfortunately already seen!).

I guess I should get back to work now.... :)