34w4d

I am so exhausted. I am dragging some serious ass these days. I know the majority of the exhaustion has to do with the fact that I am constantly doing something strenuous, but these last 5 weeks are going to be hard on me, I can just tell.

Norman and I were talking about the things we need to get done this month. They include meeting with the Pediatrician (the last one we went to visit was waaaayyy to far away from home and work), installing the base of the infant car seat and taking it to be inspected, packing my hospital bag, finishing up organizing the nursery closet, washing Nugget’s bedding and other things (this is a never ending job since I have and continue to receive an overabundance of things!!), sterilizing all bottles, nipples, binkies, attending our breastfeeding class on June 25 (assuming I have not given birth yet), reorganizing the bathroom and kitchen to make space for all of Nugget’s things, etc…

Plus we are still organizing the spare bedroom. We are having family over from Spain on June 14 – they’ll be with us for a week. This means we have to wait to assemble the Pack n Play and bouncer chair until after they leave.

I am having all kinds of symptoms. My BH contractions are turning vile; I actually “Owww” and “Ouch” out loud. Sometimes I even gasp or get a little breathless. I get really bad nausea, mostly in the evenings. I also get bad belly pain and menstrual cramp-like pain in my abdomen and lower back, but it goes away too quickly for me to be concerned about it. As I type I am having some mild cramping associated with BH contractions and it is not fun. I got a mild leg cramp that had me jumping out of bed early Saturday morning but thankfully I was able to ease it away quickly and relatively painlessly. If I get diarrhea for whatever reason, I worry it’s my body preparing for labor, even though I know it’s technically still too early for her to make her entrance.

Oh! And I am so excited to announce that my nephew, Ace Carter, will be born on Thursday, June 5th. My SIL is scheduled and my parents are driving up Wednesday to be there for the birth. I am so excited to be an Aunt! And I can’t wait to meet him and for Ace Carter to meet Sienna Sofia!

In other news, I finally wrote out all the Thank You cards for the wonderful baby shower gifts I received. I am going to be putting them in the mail today. Photos coming soon I PROMISE!

34w0d

OK Seriously, where has the time gone???

Our bambina will be here in 6 weeks!

I went to my OB appointment last week and had gained 4 pounds in 2 weeks (YIKES). My doctor wasn’t thrilled. He wants me to be more careful, his only concern being my pre-existing heart condition. I am working on it. Otherwise, the baby is doing really well. I found out that if I reach my due date and have not delivered yet the doctor will induce me ASAP, so I definitely will not be having Nugget anytime in late July which is a relief. Playing the waiting game is bad enough as it is! I will be having my first internal exam on either my 36th or 37th week, at which point I will have more details to share.

…In the meantime I sit and wait for her - but not idly! I have been working like crazy trying to get everything in order. Nesting is in full force and I am exhausted so it proves difficult, but I can’t stop myself. We spent all afternoon yesterday painting the spare bedroom and today we will finish up by cleaning the floor and painting the new closet doors and trim. As soon as that’s done I can finally start organizing the nursery and the spare bedroom the way I want it. We bought a new desk since I’ll be working from home for 4 months. Norman is planning on putting it together for me this weekend.

I know I still need to post baby shower pictures and as soon as I complete the nursery I will post those pictures as well.

As far as how I am feeling…it depends. I am physically worn out. My back, neck and shoulders are killing me. I feel really tired almost all day long. My heartburn and acid reflux is under control – thank God for Protonix. I have begun getting 3rd trimester nausea which really sucks so bad. It’s as bad as the nausea I had in the beginning. Norman helps me through it by rubbing my back while I lean over our bed and let gravity pull Nugget forward and off my esophagus or whatever it is that is being compressed to cause the nausea. Sometimes that helps, but sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the nausea won’t go away. The support hose I have been wearing has really helped me avoid leg cramps and I am so eternally thankful for that! I am getting up around 5 times a night to pee and it’s driving me crazy. I feel like I need a crane to lift my ass out of bed in the middle of the night.

The bottom line is these are small inconveniences in the large scheme of things. I would do anything for our baby. I love her so much; I can’t wait to meet her!!!! She is so rambunctious in my belly I can only imagine what she’d be like once she is born…probably as hyper as her mama. Even Norman is amazed by her acrobatics. She has no space left in there but she sure is constantly squirming about trying to make herself cozy :)

20w0d

20 weeks today!

5 year wedding anniversary today!

I am officially halfway through my pregnancy, I cannot even believe it. On a day to day basis time really seems to drag, but looking back it’s amazing how time flies.

As you can all see I am getting bigger by the day. Yesterday I asked my mom how it is humanly possible for my stomach to get any bigger than what it already is. I have been slathering the cocoa butter on because I am really beginning to feel the pull.

I feel the baby so much more these days. She especially likes to kick at night. Last night in the middle of the night I could swear I felt her when I put my hand over my belly. I was this.close to waking Norman up but I was in a haze and poor Norm has been sick with a chronic ear infection so I didn’t want to bother him with a false alarm. He has yet to feel Nugget and I am desperate for the day when he can!

I have bad nausea at the end of the day. I remember reading that fatigue exacerbates nausea. Believe me when I tell you I am drained by 4PM. Plus I get thirstier than I’ve ever felt in my entire life at night for some odd reason. So there I am, chugging a ton of water very close to bedtime. Not good, but kinda funny since I also read somewhere that needing too pee a hundred times a night is just my body’s way of getting used to needing to get up two hundred times a night once the baby arrives.

I am also really plumping up. My face, arms and legs look so chubby to me. I look so much…softer. I’m taking it all in stride while trying to really watch what I eat. Yesterday I had a horrible craving for a Snickers Bar. I haven’t had any cravings during my pregnancy and decided to indulge myself. Mind you, six months ago I wouldn’t have been caught dead with a Snickers Bar. But there I was in Walgreens buying one. A king sized one no less. I ate it and it was good – but then I remembered why it is that I can’t eat chocolate while pregnant: I got the worst heartburn. To make things worse, I somehow ended up sleeping on my back for the majority of last night. When I got up to pee, I could hardly move the heartburn was so bad and my back was killing me.

Tomorrow we go in for the fetal echocardiogram. Since everything looked great during my Level 2, this is just extra precautionary. I am so excited to see the baby again. When I first heard that Tom Cruise bought Katie Holmes an ultrasound machine when she was pregnant with Suri I just about feel over. But to be completely honest, if I were given the chance to see Nugget every day I would take it in a heartbeat!

I will post tomorrow with results from the fetal echocardiogram.

16w6d

Tomorrow we have our next OB appointment. I am hoping to have an ultrasound done and maybe the Doctor can tell us Nugget’s sex. Right after that we are heading over to my Perinatologist’s office in order for them to draw some blood for part 2 of my prenatal screening. If I don’t have an ultrasound done tomorrow, we’ll have to wait until February 13 in order to find out. The anticipation is killing me!

I have flirted with the idea of getting back on the nausea medication but I’ve managed to somehow persevere through this morning, noon and night sickness. I feel a lot like I did when I first got pregnant; nothing too severe but a constant, nagging, low grade nausea at all times. But last night it got so bad I thought I would throw up…of course I didn’t. Most people would be thrilled to not have to throw up but in my case all I want is some relief!

I have been drinking a ton of water. I am so thirsty all the time. I try to stop by about 8PM otherwise I am in the bathroom all night. If I do wake up to go to the bathroom I usually need more water to get back to bed. I have thankfully been doing much better getting back to bed after waking up to pee.

Nugget’s kicks are getting stronger and I suspect that Norman will be able to feel them soon. Nugget likes to hang out on my left side, that’s always where I’ve been able to feel him/her. Now that Nugget is getting bigger it’s getting a bit uncomfortable at times, I guess depending on the position he/she is in. If you open your hand and stretch out your fingers you can see how big Nugget is now. About 5-7 inches long already (growth will continue at about an inch a week), Nugget weighs about 3-5 ounces.

15w6d

I felt Nugget move for the first time Monday night!!!! I was lying on my left side in bed trying to get to sleep at about 10:30PM and it happened! I suddenly felt what I can only describe as large gas bubbles, the likes of which I’ve never felt before…but then I realized there was a rhythm to them and that it was the baby!!! The movement suddenly stopped and about 10 seconds later I felt intense butterflies and a tumbling in my belly. I felt as though I was on a roller coaster, it was intense! My reaction was to laugh because I couldn’t believe it. I felt Nugget again last night too. I thought the only time I could feel quickening was when I was lying in bed quietly, but I felt he baby at work this morning!

In other news, I am officially off my nausea medication. My last day was Saturday, January 19. I am really happy about this even though I am still feeling nauseated. Now my only problem is that the medication was also a sleep aid and now I can’t sleep to save my life. I toss and turn trying to get to bed and god forbid I wake up in the middle of the night to pee (which I do like 5 times a night) because I can’t get back to sleep. Early Tuesday morning I woke up at 3AM to potty and didn’t get back to sleep until well after 5AM. My tummy was grumbling and I was just trying to ignore it but finally got up and drank some OJ. I was able to go back to sleep after that so I am assuming the baby needed food? I can imagine what an infant feels like not being able to sleep without feeding.

The same thing happened to me last night; I woke up to use the bathroom and couldn’t get back to sleep. I finally got up and drank some more OJ and was able to fall asleep relatively quickly. I bought some light n’ fit smoothies and will have a sip or two of those when it happens again.

I am having dull headaches all day long as well as serious itchiness and pain in my boobies. I read that now is when my milk glands are starting production and that is what causes tenderness but OMG just like in my 2WW I can hardly lay on them…not that it matters because poor Nugget doesn’t like when I lay on my belly anyways.

12w5d

Happy New Year!

The only resolution I have this year is to be the best mommy I can be. This is going to be an amazing year for me and I am excited to see what I have in store.

I wish you all the very best this new year and always!

So I spent the entire day with intermittent, very mild, period-like cramping. Since it wasn't painful I didn't call the doctor (plus I'm seeing the perinatologist tomorrow and I'll be sure to mention it), but I did do some research: Round Ligament Pain.

I knew about this pain and have already experienced it, but it was more like an intense muscle pulling feeling in my lower abdomen. I was comforted to know that RLP can manifest itself as mild cramping. Before pregnancy, a woman's uterus is about the size of a lemon; at the beginning of the second trimester it's the size of a cantaloupe. Essentially, the uterus has a lot of growing to do and it is supported by 2 thin ligaments that stretch to accommodate the baby. That only means one thing: PAIN.

Morning sickness and breast tenderness are both still bad to the point where I wonder if I'll need my medication for the duration of my pregnancy. I am holding out hope.

I have also been having bad heartburn again. Heartburn was the first indication I had that I may be pregnant and I really haven't had it since my 2WW and a few weeks after that. But I guess it's back for now because I have had to take Tums and they are getting nasty, ewwww.

On that note, poor Norman is having sympathy pains but is in complete and total denial over it and will dent it every time I say it but I swear to you... he has acid reflux. He has never had acid reflux. We actually both reach for the giant Tums bottle at the same time. It's a race for the cherry flavored ones. I think it's cute lol

I should have new pictures of Nugget tomorrow. I can't wait to see him/her!

12w0d

12 weeks today!

I had a wretched night last night and was positive I would throw up. I spent the majority of the evening whining about how nugget would be an only child and hugging the toilet bowl. Just a lot of saliva and dry heaving but no vomiting after all. I took my medication a little too late because it took forever to start working for me. I think I will ride out the last week of this first trimester on the medication and see how I feel come week 13. My next OB appointment is on January 3rd so I’ll have to talk to him about it then.

I am at work today even though my offices are closed. I just have so much work to do that I decided to come in and get it done. I could have worked from home but sometimes you just need to be in the office, you know?

In other news, I got a new pair of retainers yesterday and my teeth are killing me. Probably not the best idea seeing as how I am generally not feeling well and the sensation that my teeth are going to fall out of my head because of the pain is not a fun one. But I needed to start wearing them – the sooner the better.

I’ll check in soon, definitely before my next appointment with the perinatologist on January 2.

Jackie, we are hoping to close on our new house in late February *fingers crossed*

11w1d

Every time I say I am feeling better I jinx myself so I’m not doing it anymore. I ended up having to take my medication Tuesday night only so far this week which is really great, but Tuesday night I was completely non-functional and now this morning I am feeling very ill. Ill, weepy and exhausted.

I woke up at 2AM last night to use the bathroom and was unable to get back to sleep until 5AM. I was tossing and turning as much as my little baby belly would allow. I decided I was thirsty so I got up and drank a lot of water, went back to bed, tossed and turned some more, got up to eat something, watched a Wolfgang Puck cooking show on Food Network, went back to bed, went to the bathroom then finally fell back asleep only to be awoken at 7AM.

I have my Holiday Party tonight at Samba Room on Las Olas Boulevard. I am hoping to get some sleep before then because when I am well rested I start getting sleepy close to 8PM and the party starts at 7:30PM.

Here’s how I feel – you know when you’ve been crying really hard for longer than 5 minutes? You know that exhaustion? That stuttered breath when you breathe in? That’s how I feel except I haven’t been crying. At least not a lot or for very long. I did cry twice in 2 hours yesterday, once was when I heard Frosty the Snowman playing on the radio lol Norman was trying to cheer me up by singing along to the song and I burst into tears because I was reminded of my childhood and how wonderful it was and then I started thinking about how the man who was singing sounded old and it was an old song and how he was probably dead now. I feel so hormonal. I’ve never felt this way before and it is weird.

I read somewhere that mood swings should ease by the second trimester but never really go away. I’ll take that.

10w5d

I was feeling so good last night that I decided to skip the Unisom all together…and guess what? I feel fine! Yay! Could it be I have kissed my morning sickness goodbye??? I hope so! My breasts are still very sore but I can live with that!

This morning I had quite an experience. (warning TMI) I normally have no issues moving my bowels. Even while pregnant I have never been constipated and have stayed very regular. I go once a day, sometimes even more. I think I can attribute this to my awesome prenatal vitamin that contains a stool softener. So anyhow, this morning I was unable to go at home which sucks because I knew I’d end up having to go at work. Sure enough that’s exactly what happened. Well, to make a long story short, I had a lot of blood when I wiped and in my stool. I freaked out. I am already so stressed out at work trying to wrap up the year by this Friday that the last thing I needed to see was blood. I was in complete hysterics when I called the doctor. This is no exaggeration: I was sure I had cancer. My doctor’s wife works with him in the office and is the kindest lady. She is the person who will sometimes answer the phone. She was so very patient with me and reassuring. After establishing that the blood was coming from the back region, she assured me that even though I felt no pain back there that it was most likely a hemorrhoid and that this is very common in pregnancy and that the doctor would get back to me and prescribe something for it.

No sooner than we hung up the phone did my butt catch fire. I have been super uncomfortable ever since. I have been going back to the bathroom frequently and checking for blood but there has been no more. Thankfully.

It’s just another day in the life, I suppose. Corny as it may sound, it is all very worth it in the end.

10w4d

I must be having a girl. I have never craved sweets the way I am craving them now. In fact, I have never had much of a sweet tooth. Norman and I went to Dadeland Mall for lunch today because we were in the area. I ate Johnny Rockets and had to exercise serious self control to not order an extra large chocolate milk shake. I am getting tons of Christmas gifts consisting of Godiva chocolates and all types of sweet goodies. Evil. I think I am going to give them out here at work.

Speaking of having a girl, my dad is so sure I’m carrying a bambina that he has already bought me adorable girlie onesies and other girlie clothes. So sweet.

In other news, I think my morning sickness is subsiding (fingers crossed). I haven’t felt nauseous today or yesterday. I have been having bad acid reflux but no nausea. I am trying not to get too excited because I had 2 nausea-fee days right before week 9, but I am hoping that this is it. I have read that HCG levels peak at 10 weeks so this is the time when most women begin to feel some relief. We shall see. In the meantime, I am afraid to stop taking the Unisom/B6 just yet. Though I have been able to lessen the B6 dosage and am only taking 50mg at night. I think I will wait until Thursday. If I feel this good on Thursday I will quit the Unisom.

16 days until our next ultrasound. We will be seeing the perinatologist on January 2 and having the nuchal translucency screening test (NT) done. It feels as though the days are dragging by. I guess it’s because of the 4 weeks in between ultrasounds! I wish I could see the Nugget every day.

9w5d

Last night I felt horrendous. When I got home from work all I wanted to do was go straight to bed. My mom was dying to go to Ross because she had gone during lunch and found some really cute maternity clothes at decent prices and insisted on taking me there. So since I’m always up for shopping being the fashionista that I am, my mom, my dad and I headed over and got busy. No sooner than I parked it in the car I started feeling like I may need a large brown paper bag.

Believe me when I tell you that nausea without vomiting is one of the most horrible experiences ever. I almost feel as though if I could only throw up then maybe, just maybe, I’d feel some relief. I have vomited once in the 9w5d I’ve been pregnant and it wasn’t even food so I doubt you could technically even call it vomiting - it was stomach acid and it made me feel even worse than before.

Another ailment that has suddenly materialized is motion sickness. The minute I get into a car I feel awful. Riding in the back seat aggravates it. Driving doesn’t help much either even though it’s suggested in order to minimize it. I bought those motion sickness relievers called Sea Bands at CVS and ooohhhh the irony of those black bands around my wrists as I hug the toilet bowl. I wear them in desperation when I think I have no choice but to try anything, anything for some salvation.

So back to Ross…I looked as pale as a ghost once we finally got there. My dad gave me a mint and some gum and that really helped. I was able to shop for tops and found 4 or 5 really cute ones, success!

Tomorrow is Norman’s holiday party and I worry that I’ll feel awful because the Unisom/B6 starts to wear off in the late afternoon and once I take the medicine I am passed out within the hour. I am hoping the nausea pattern holds true; I usually have a few really bad days then some decent ones. So far today I have been feeling much better than yesterday which is great. The days I feel good I don’t need to eat nearly as much. Having to eat every minute of the day to get some relief is so annoying, not to mention fattening!

9w4d

I still need to scan the ultrasound of our precious Nugget; I keep forgetting to ask Norman to do it.

I have been doing well, albeit very, very nauseous. I am taking my Unisom & B6 every night and am looking forward to the day when I can stop. I don’t dare stop yet because even though I still occasionally feel awful I am feeling much better than when I wasn’t on the medication. The only thing that helps a little is eating. Crazy, isn’t it? I have heard that some women can lose up to 10 lbs in their first trimester. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that that hasn’t been the case for me.

I outgrew my pants weeks ago. Thankfully my tops still fit but I have to tell you, they’re getting snug around the bust area. My bras are beginning to leave marks so I think I will need to bra shop soon. I already bought a handful of pants and tops which I am hoping will get me through the next few months.

My cramps have all but disappeared. I occasionally get a random poking and pinching feeling in my abdomen but nothing painful or uncomfortable. I am an emotional rollercoaster most of the time; the silliest things can reduce me to a mess of tears…and baby commercials, forget it!

My next post will be the ultrasound photo. I’ll also post my 2ww symptoms which I took great pains to document accurately because I was positive I was pregnant right after conception even though Norman thought I was crazy :)