Skip The Listerine And Pass The Vino

When you're pregnant everyone has a story to tell you, a piece of advice to share and lots of well wishes to give. Some of it is pretty funny, some extremely helpful and some just a bit odd. Like my dental hygienist telling me to avoid Listerine but to go ahead and have a glass of wine when I feel like it. I have done the opposite by the way. People want to know when I'm due, what I'm having and how I'm feeling. All very happy and well intentioned questions that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It is sort of like my world has shrunk into a small community around my pregnancy. It's nice to know that neighbors, coworkers, friends and strangers at the gym always take a moment to stop and ask me how I'm doing and that they are excited for me and for this bun growing (rapidly I may add) in my belly.   

As I hit the home stretch of my pregnancy a switch flipped this week and physically I started to hit the 3rd trimester wall. I can't hide my waddle anymore and I truly appreciate just being able to sit down. My legs and feet are swelling and now trips to the bathroom are noticeably much more frequent. And I've discovered a new level of hunger this week that I didn't think could exist. Oh and my forehead looks like the before shot in a Proactiv commercial. Even though I haven't actually gained too much weight over the past couple of weeks my belly has popped out an inch further so as the head of my department said so enthusiastically to me in the bathroom the other day "oh wow looks like you're having a big baby!". Yeah...

Strapped In To Nitro

In one week I'll be entering my third trimester. That means three months to go and the baby will be here. I keep thinking how I didn't think about how this kid was coming out when I was thinking about putting it in. Labor and Delivery scare me to death and I wish I could wiggle my nose and just come home with a new baby one day. We just registered for a childbirth class which makes the whole thing begin to feel too real in my head. A short conversation with the coach had me sweating. She thinks my baby may come early since it will be summer and hot. Early is not what I want to hear. But that is just her non scientific opinion based on her experience with summer babies. I don't know if I can handle early and I don't know if late would drive me crazy with anxiety. It will just have to happen when it happens and when it does I'm just praying to God that I deal with the pain better than I think I will. I sometimes surprise myself when it comes to pain tolerance so I hope this will be one of those cases. 

We finally finished the registry last week. Took hours and I am so happy because I will never do that ever again :) Now we just have a laundry list of random things that need to get done before Dash arrives and it feels like this last three months will fly by. I'm so excited to meet my baby. I can't wait to see if Dash is a boy or a girl. 99% of the comments I get are boy because of the way I am carrying, so we'll see. 99% of the comments also mention something about me looking like I'm just about ready even though I have a whole trimester to go. So either there are 2 in here, Dash is a big baby, or I'm just a big mommy. The other day I had a thought that Dash is a girl because of something I thought was different about my face and I heard your face changes when you are having a girl. But I really have no clue. 

Physically I'm okay. The back pain is getting worse but I'm managing it with more stretching and creative sleeping positions. The ligament pains on my underbelly started this week and sometimes they are pretty uncomfortable. It feels like a pulled muscle so walking and getting up from sitting tends to be a little painful. But I am doing more yoga and reminding myself to slow down so it's okay. Mentally the stress is still a factor and it is mostly work related. And that's all I'm going to say about that...for now.
But my baby is doing well, kicking a lot and moving (quite visibly sometimes) from side to side. But I really just want Dash to stay put. In my belly I know where my baby is, I know my baby is warm and safe and I guess my world remains somewhat the same. I'm still going out, sleeping in, traveling and being normal. Just in bigger clothes. But the baby being out and in the world physically means I have to do more than just carry him or her around in a space where Dash is fed automatically and doesn't need a diaper. And that is the scary panicky part. That is what makes looking at the next three months feel like a never ending ascension on a roller coaster headed for the 1st big camel hump. You can't get off the ride at this point but you wish you could because you are scared to death of the 1st drop. But your excited for it which is why you got on in the first place. So there you are sitting strapped in climbing higher and higher waiting to reach the top so you can go screaming and down over the edge and through what you anticipate will be the best ride of your life. The next three months consider me strapped in to Nitro, waiting for the best ride of my life to start.

A Hand Slap, Four More Days and The Boy Wizard

This month's appointment felt very forward moving. We talked about hospital tours, birthing classes, glucose tests and the 3rd trimester schedule. But most of it was actually spent with me getting lectured on not eating enough protein. Even before I was pregnant hot crowded subway rides were never my thing. If I didn't eat breakfast and had to stand the whole time I would always feel light headed and weak. But since I've been pregnant it doesn't matter if I eat I still get light headed. And lately sitting doesn't help either. This week I got faint and almost passed out twice on the train. The 1st time I was on the way to yoga class and the 2nd time on my way to work. Both times I was sitting down after having stood in a hot crowd for a bit of time. So at her office this week my midwife was not pleased when she asked me to go over my diet and give specifics on what I had to eat both days. The baby is fine and healthy and looks strong but she said that I didn't look so hot and needed to understand that Dash will take what Dash needs and leave me with nothing. So if I'm not taking care of myself I will pass out on a crowded subway train. It's not enough that the baby is doing fine I need to watch how I am feeling and take care of myself. So net-net I need to eat better, get more sleep and relax. Stress is another big no-no and I am full of it. 


One interesting thing we learned this week was our due date was modified. I had a feeling I was going to have this baby late and officially I am! Based on my last ultrasound they pushed our due date almost a week later then it was before. This is actually really awesome news because it means I may actually be able to see the last Harry Potter movie when it comes out. For anyone that really knows me this is great news. I am such a huge fan that when I first got pregnant and did the math in my head I actually paused for a moment and said "dammit I may miss Harry Potter". Granted it is for an unbelievably awesome reason... but still. So with my new due date the chances of seeing the very last Potter film have increased tremendously. Yes I know, priorities.

So here we are back to 25 weeks. Heartbeat is strong. Baby Dash moves around A LOT. I will get off my arse this week and finish my registry. So things are moving along. And speaking of moving along, as I type this I just saw something moving under my shirt. That makes me smile.
 

Sleep, I Used To Love You

I used to look forward to sleep. I loved my bed and comfy pillows. I equally enjoyed my soft couch on a Sunday afternoon for a nice nap. But now being horizontal is not comfortable for me and hasn't been for quite some time. During the 1st trimester it was, at first, only a problem at night. When you first get pregnant you pee a lot because of the hormones and the increased blood flow to your organs. It doesn't last too long and you go back to normal until much later on when you start to pee a lot again as a result of the baby pressing on your bladder. But my early pregnancy pee-fest was causing me to get up in the middle of the night, every night, for weeks to use the bathroom and I haven't had a decent nights sleep since.

Eventually this stopped and another nighttime inconvenience took over. Before I even hit 4 months I was starting to have back pain when I would lay down. If I would lay on my side the bottom leg would go numb and wake me up so I would toss and turn all night. I bought one of those pregnancy body pillows, used regular body pillows, got fancy with my regular pillows - but nothing really made it better.

As the second trimester came on and my stomach got bigger new sleepy time challenges arised. Laying on my back wasn't really wise anymore so I was forced to sleep on my side (enter the numbing leg and back pain problem again). This also took away couch napping options. And my growing tummy was now starting to get in the way of how comfortably I could actually position myself. Now at 24 weeks the weight of my belly actually pulls on the rest of my torso and so it's just kind of awkward and it takes me a while to settle in.

Oh yeah, forgot the mention the dreams. So the hour of uninterrupted sleep I do get between turning from left to right/right to left are filled with the craziest most bizarre dreams I have ever had in my entire life. I've never had dreams like this even when I've been "intoxicated". Some are scary some are disgusting some are just really weird and they wake me up out of my sleep.

I keep hearing from people to enjoy it now because once the baby comes I'll never sleep well again. Well frankly, I haven't slept well since November. I actually look forward to what sleep will be like when the baby comes because even if I will only be sleeping a few hours at a time, I will actually be sleeping and not tossing, aching, peeing or having effed up crazy nightmares of god knows what. I honestly can't wait.

Growing Attachment

I can't wait to meet and hold the baby. I wonder all the time what will he or she look like? Will it be a boy? Will he have my father's eyes and James' knack for computers? Will it be a girl? Will she look like my mother and love to dance like me? 4 more months to go and I feel like it is so far away and I want to speed up time. But while I have these excited anxious feelings I also want time to stand still. I don't want to let Dash go. The world is a crazy place. Right now my baby is safe and warm inside my womb. I can feel my baby move and grow. It's me and Dash every moment of the day so when I feel happy or sad I touch my belly and feel comforted by knowing Dash is there with me. And when I feel the baby moving it makes me so happy because I feel like we're communicating. It's so amazing and I'm so in love! 

Here are some more baby bump pics. As you can see Dash is growing and I couldn't be more proud!

16 Weeks

17 Weeks

20 Weeks

 

22 Weeks

Workout Beef

It is not easy to workout while pregnant because it can be physically and mentally challenging. If you weren't working out before then the exercises you start doing will be limiting. Your body feels and behaves differently and your range of motion and balance are not the same. You may also have reservations about exercising because of safety concerns. You have to change the way you breathe, they way you lift, the way you move... But if you had a routine pre-pregnancy then generally you should be able to continue whatever that was once pregnant - with some simple modifications of course.

Before my pregnancy I went to the gym about once a week to work on my back problems and do some cardio and then kind of went to yoga class on Saturdays. I also walked everywhere and would do stretching at home at night so I figured I was moderately fit pre Dash. Now my routine consists of pre-natal yoga once a week, trainer at the gym for weight training once a week and an attempt to hit the gym myself one more day to do cardio since walking everywhere has been difficult with my sinuses this winter. This exercise regimen was going swimmingly for about a month. I had gotten over my apprehension with working out and was in a groove with my trainer. I was loving my yoga class and even made it to the gym on my own twice to walk the treadmill. I felt good and started to think that maybe I could make it through this pregnancy with a good weight and look all belly. But chance and happen-stance pumped the breaks on that.

My trainer left the gym and I couldn't find a replacement for three weeks thanks to the aweful mishandling of the trainer management team. And because of Valentines Day, President's Day and work craziness I didn't go to yoga for weeks either. So in this short period of time my pregnancy went from feel good bouncing around all belly looking happiness to body aching stiff jointed heavy poundage feeling suckiness. I was not feeling good and really began to understand how important it is to keep it moving when you're pregnant.

So after some not so nice and pretty direct conversations with the gym I started with a new trainer tonight. I hate him of course because he is not my old trainer. I'm not entirely convinced he has as much pre-natal experience as he or his manager says he does but he is the only one certified at my gym. He didn't remind me to breathe once and seemed kind of disinterested in training me. He also had me doing a lot more during our time then I'm used to and I was exhausted by the end. And he seemed more concerned with fitting in other clients than accommodating my schedule. To be fair, before we started he told me that he had just injured himself and was on pain killers. So I've decided that if I don't get some good vibes from him and feel better about my workout next week I may look to transfer my sessions to another location or ask for my money back. I'm not working out with someone I'm not comfortable with.

Anyways I'm at least happy to be back on a schedule and back to feeling somewhat physically normal. Well as normal as one can feel with a basketball for a stomach. A basketball that moves a lot now these days (tee hee). So for now it's off to bed for me with a pack of ice on my back. Nighty night.

Look At That Face!

Last week we did our 2nd trimester scan AKA the Anatomy Scan. The tech checked all the organs to make sure they were there and functioning. I was nervous all week leading up to the appointment because I was worried that his left lung may be in her thigh or something. But everything was fine. We saw 10 little fingers, 10 little toes, two kidneys, a liver, a heart, a spleen, a brain and all of his little organs all in the right place and seemingly functioning properly. At first Dash was hiding her face with his little hands. So the tech shook my belly and she moved his arms out of the way and opened her mouth as if to say "What??". And that is when we saw his little face. Everyone who has seen the picture thinks the baby looks like a boy. See and judge for yourself. My girlfriend told me that if we all turn out to be wrong and Dash is a She then we need to make sure we never tell her we all thought she looked like a boy. 

During the scan the tech told us a lot parents aren't finding out the sex these days. I think it's awesome to be surprised. There are so few real surprises left in life and this is a big one. The hubby of course brought up that he did in fact want to know so right there we had that conversation again. And again I won. When it was time to check under the hood we looked away and I made sure to cover his face so there would be no peaking. There is no way that he can know and I don't. We have to be in this together. And I know that if he knew I would somehow find out. There would be some tell, some smirk or slip. He swears he wouldn't but I know it would happen and I would be really upset if I found out by accident. Anyways for now it is still a secret. 19 more weeks to go!