23 Week Update: Lots of New Symptoms and Growing Everywhere!

This is going to be a very TMI post. Well for some it could be normal stuff but for others it could be weird and icky- it’s just fair for you to be WARNED ;)

Anyway, let’s start with my weight. I just weighed myself and I am 141 even!! Woohoo! I have officially gained 1 pound to my pre-pregnancy weight, haha. Although I am not sure if I should count my total weight gain from 131 pounds or 140 pounds. Because I mean… technically I LOST 9 pounds but I have gained it back… I don’t know! Too much thinking into this! The point is I am gaining pregnancy weight and I AM PROUD! ;)

I just spent the last 10 minutes playing with my weight numbers. Not that is REALLY matters, just interesting to see the weekly changes and the rate at which I am losing or gaining.

10/25/12: 5w 140 lbs

11/5/12: 7 w 135 lbs(5 lbs loss)

11/12/12: 8 w 133.8 lbs(6.2 lbs total loss, 1.2 weekly loss)

11/26/12: 10 w 133 lbs( 7 lbs total loss, .8 bi-weekly loss)

12/17/12: 13 w 131 lbs( 9 lbs total loss, 2 pounds tri-weekly loss)

01/14/13: 17 w 133.5 lbs(6.5 lbs total loss, 2.5 lbs four-week gain)

01/28/13: 19 w 135.8 lbs(4.2lbs loss, 2.3lbs bi-weekly gain, 4.8lbs total gain)

02/04/13: 20 w 136.5 lbs (3.5 lbs loss, 1.3 lbs weekly gain, 5.5 lbs total gain)

02/11/13 :21 w 137.2 lbs ( 2.8 lbs loss, .7lbs weekly gain, 6.2 lbs total gain)

02/18/13: 22 w 139.4 lbs ( .6 lbs loss, 2.2 lbs weekly gain, 8.4 lbs total gain)

02/25/13: 23 w 141.0 lbs ( 1 lbs gain pre-pregnancy weight, 1.6 weekly gain, 10 lbs total gain)

One very unpleasant symptom that I am not sure if I bragged about it on here before of NOT having it… but I know I mentally bragged to myself about it and now the bragging has come to bite me in my butt because I have it now. Indigestion/ acid reflux/heartburn sensation. Don’t exactly know the difference between the three… but it is one of those & I HATE IT. I mean I have had the occasional heartburn. Where I would eat something too oily or greasy or too acidic and I would belch it up and it would feel like it is there… in the pit of your throat like this bitter piece of vomit hanging out in your throat. I’ve had that… very rarely… and actually don’t remember the last time I did have that… but this is different. It’s this hollow, heavy feeling between the very top of my stomach, like right under my chest (that’s where the center or core of this sensation is) up to my throat. It’ just this HEAVY unpleasant feeling, UGH. And it really isn’t anything specific that I eat. Everything I eat causes it. It’s getting worse and worse and hard to ignore. I started chewing on tums… I thought they helped but I don’t think they really are helping much anymore. I bought seltzer and ginger ale today; I heard the bubbles are supposed to help… I don’t know… sipping on some seltzer now (even though I am not a fan) but if it’ll help it is worth the try.  It sucks, I hate it. Because I just got a grip of this whole eating normally thing and now I have to pay for it with THIS after every time I eat. Grrrr.  It’s all going to be worth it soon, right? Just keep telling myself we will have a baby soon… we will have a baby soon and it will ALL be over!!!

The rest of the changes are really going to revolve around my boobs. Lots of boob talk to follow this, so if you don’t like to read about boobs don’t continue reading, this is where the tmi stuff kicks in.

Well, the one big thing is…I started… leaking basically. Don’t know if I can actually use the term “lactating” yet even though some sites refer to it as that… but I don’t know…it’s not official milk. But yes, I just randomly leak out of my boobs now. It’s usually just my left one… and I have heard this “Colostrum” stuff that is coming out is usually yellow or clear. Mine is totally clear so I guess not as gross looking. To be honest… haha… I think it is awesome and it makes me excited!! I actually told a friend this the other day, and poor woman was laughing so hard that I am excited over it. Well, I don’t know… this is all new to me! I’ve never had this happen to me before… and it’s not like puss is leaking out because it is an infection… it’s milk… or soon to be milk… it’s something with a cause and purpose! So awesome! But it has been getting a little weird. Thankfully I usually drip when I am at home during evening time or at night. It’s like the warmth stimulates it or something. And yes, if I squeeze it myself… more of it comes out. Weird, but cool. But the other night I woke up in the morning and I had this try crusty stain on my pj tshirt. And looked over at our bed saw a little dried up stain on our bed sheets. Wonderful! No big deal, just leakin’ out some colostrum!

Continuing on the subject of breasts. I know they grow and all and the stretch marks are obvious signs of that as well. I have always been small in that department. And I will admit I always wanted to be larger especially as a teenager I had absolutely nothing and saw other girls my age have bigger boobs- man do I ever regret wanting big boobs. They have just become SO heavy. I can’t even sit normally without them putting strain and extra weight on my tummy. And wearing a bra at home is completely out of the question! I can’t even handle wearing one in public!! Speaking of bras… I bought some stretchy ones to accommodate my new growing size, and they have officially gotten small for me now too. Let’s not even get into all my old bras… HA. Those are history! But anyway… I decided to walk into a maternity clothing store and maybe get sized although if they are going to get bigger I really don’t want to buy anything new right now and have it go to waste. So… I was always an A or a B… she measured me to be a C or D. WOW! I tried on some C’s and some D’s. C’s are perfect on me right now and are just a little snug- but still comfortable. D is a little loose. So I am a C going onto a D now… to me this is a big deal. So all you ladies with Double D’s or F’s or other extreme sizes might think what the heck is she making a big deal about… but being an A and a very small B your whole life… this is WOW.

Stretch marks are still there… and purple and possibly growing. Oh well. My infamous rash gets better, then worse. Basically every time I can avoid wearing a bra, I do and it helps. Cortisone has been helping with the itching as well.

More with my body… I can say I feel more and more pregnant every week… scratch that… every day. Even though weight wise I have weighed more than I do right now I can just feel this extra weight straining my body where my tummy is. I walk and I sometimes feel like I am literally growing that very second and it is kind of pulling me forward and down making it harder to walk. I’m not really complaining just describing how it feels, I’ve been waiting for a belly for forever just never thought  into how difficult it may be to suddenly have this extra weight to carry! :) So I am definitely starting to have the little penguin-pregnant lady wobble, and I walk slower. Today while subbing for the first time I was walking my kids through the hallway and even though they were power walking but still WALKING… I could not catch up with them- even with actually trying to!  This belly is slowing me down man!! :) But I still love it :)

So belly is definitely growing. Which means baby is too. I have been feeling more of his kicks above my belly button so he is slowly stretching my uterus out to larger proportions! His kicks are getting stronger and stronger! Today I made Zhenya put his hand on my belly again (he usually doesn’t have the patience to keep it on there long enough to catch our little boy moving around.) And with how sneaky our baby is most of the time I think baby knows when I am trying to get Papa to feel him squirm… or when I am trying to catch my jumping belly on video! But yes, today Zhenya felt him move again and I think now he understand a little better why I yell or gasp every time I get an unexpected kick. He felt him move really strongly and kept re-asking me “Was that you?!” Uhm, no honey… that was not me. He was very surprised how hard they were!

Aside from everything else, I am growing more and more frustrated. In a funny way I guess, more or less I can control myself and not flip out on people but just little things get to me! Like the lady at the pharmacy. Oh-my-GOODNESS! She has this very specific way of saying this one phrase, in a very annoying fake tone of voice that makes me SO ANNOYED. She says this after everything she does “Hold on, just a moment please…” It’s not even the phrase… it’s THE WAY she says it. Ask me in person I can imitate this for you but OMG. Zhenya went to the pharmacy with my yesterday and I pointed it out to him,  now he picks on me by imitating her voice. But, UGH…. & I know this sounds completely ridiculous but I just can’t tolerate it. A part of me finds it hysterical too!

But I get super sensitive at certain things too. I have always been sensitive and very emotional but now more than I ever. I mean, my pre-period days I think I have been more emotional than I am now, but I have just noticed some little things get to me and sometimes I just can’t stop thinking about them and they bring me down. I try not to but sometimes it is hard to do so.

Quick life update…

I got sick again last week :( A cold… felt miserable for 2 days then got better although I still have the mucus bothering me. I guess nothing really to complain about, just sucks that my body has a break for 2 weeks and I seem to catch something again.

I got accepted to substitute teach last week and since last week was winter break I started getting called for jobs today, and I love it so far! Totally reassured me that being a teacher for a living is great and definitely something for me to continue to strive for to get my degree in… one day!

I’ve mentioned possibly (maybe not) that we are planning on moving to another apartment at the end of May/beginning of June due to our oh-so-considerate neighbors. Why then? Oh you just because I will be 9 months pregnant already just to spice up our life a little bit. Or maybe it’s the fact that our lease ends and we want our security deposit back. Now we are thinking and looking that if we happen to find something awesome that ( and we have seen ads) is $200 less per month, it may be worth it to move now and save those $200 and basically not get our security deposit back, because we would win the money back in a matter of months. So we are looking, and if we find something we love we will move before hand. That way we can guarantee I won’t pop during or before the move and we can calmly without rush get baby’s room ready :) Which is super exciting and since we already have so much baby stuff that is just kind of piled in our extra room, I keep wanting to redecorate it and make it all babied up but then think to myself that it is useless since we are moving anyway and whatever I do will just be a waste.

There is no baby blanket update because… well there is nothing to sadly update anyone on. I’ve bummed out and didn’t do much… maybe like ONE row… I crocheted so much in that 1.5 weeks that my thumb bone started to ache :( But it is all better now so I will get on that. I’m also thinking of possibly learning more techniques and things to crochet after I am done with the blanket from my expert knitting/crochet friend. I am borrowing a book from her too, if my brain is able to wrap around it all, maybe I will learn to make other cool things that I can share pics of later on here too :)

I’m also not early or right on the dot with my posts because I started working again. So that is taking up my time, which I think is kind of good because it makes the time fly just a teensie weensie bit faster. I mean, next week I am going to be 24 weeks already! 6 months!!! :) Yay!

That is pretty much the update, lots of icky and new and weird symptoms. We shall see what next week will bring!

Belly Shot : 23 Weeks!

Yes, I am switching things up a bit! Usually I write my weekly update first and then post a photo… not this week.

Why? Well, because I am a lazy bum today and have not written up my weekly update yet although I have lots to say and instead of being boring and not posting anything at all I forced myself and Zhenya to do at least the weekly belly shot.

Then, I can possibly start writing my update today, if not then definitely tomorrow and hopefully that way it still keeps my blog going and lookin’ fresh.

Anyway, enough of my blabbing since that is what my weekly updates are for. Here’s the 23 week belly shot. Wearing one of my summer dresses again, and wishing it was summer already so I can wear it outside.

Belly Shot: 22 weeks!

I decided to go digging for some of my summer dresses. I have a lot of clothes for the summer and almost nothing for the cold weather... because I just hate the winter and I feel it is a very depressing and sad and cold and horrible time of the year. Therefore have dark depressing and very limited clothes for it. Always in hopes of having it pass much faster than it really does.

For summer on the other hand I have lots of happy and colorful clothing! And dresses! I love dresses during the summer. I have about 5 dresses, the same kind just in different colors.They are very light and comfortable and I bought them for about 5 bucks each in a store in the city. They would always give me a little bit of a pregnant feel because it would be super tight under the boobs but then free everywhere else. So I decided to dig up my suitcase packed away with summer clothes and try then on. Man do I look pregnant!

So here is my 22 weeks belly shot! Growingggggg!!! :) :) :)


My face looks weird, like I am sneaky or like I am up to something. Zhenya said it looks fine so I didn't retake the photo. At least it's a different face expression from the rest of the photos. Plus concentration is mainly supposed to be on the belly anyway, right?! ;)

I chose the blue dress to match the theme of having a boy! ;)

22 Week update: Midwife Appointment, Active Baby, Hormones, and General Life Update.

22 weeks!! And 18 weeks to go, baby!! Yay! It makes me excited… with each coming week it just gets less and less and we are getting closer to meeting baby!! :)

But anyway… what has been going on this week. It feels like I haven’t posted in a while… almost like this week took forever long to pass. Let’s start with my weight! I just weighed myself and I am 139.4! The numbers are growing and growing… like they should be!! I’m finally gaining back the weight I lost! Skimming through my post last week… 2 weeks ago I was 136.5… and last week I was 137.2!  So I gained basically 3 pounds in 2 weeks! Yay, yay!!! Is it weird I’m so excited about gaining weight, haha? This makes me almost half a pound from my pre- pregnancy weight! So even though I am eating like crazy and obviously growing I’m technically smaller I guess than I was pre-pregnancy… crazy. But yes, that is my good news in the weight department! I’m gaining basically a pound – 2 pounds a week like I should be, so I am happy!!

I had my midwife appointment on Friday. This is my second appointment with Bassett, and this time I had it with a midwife in Herkimer. But not just any midwife- this was the midwife that was giving me a hard time the day I came out of the hospital and my pain meds could not get filled because the doctor wrote the year 2012 instead of 2013 by accident. I am not sure if I gave you guys the full story of that, I think I did in one of my hospitalization posts or in one of the follow up posts after that.

Basically, long story short in the case I didn’t talk about it too much or to just refresh whoever’s memory… I couldn’t get the pain meds filled. When I called the hospital, midwife Michele Rhude was the midwife on shift the next morning. Instead of trying to help me out and get a new prescription- not knowing my history at all for the past 3 days and what I went through in the hospital, she gave me a 10 minute talk about just NOT taking the pills at all. That I won’t be able to take them throughout the rest of the pregnancy, and that pregnancy can be very uncomfortable at times and I can have pains every now and then and that labor itself will be much worse. I couldn’t believe it; she had the authority to help me out and completely just disregarded the point of my call and is instead giving me this 10 minute lecture of how not to take meds at all. And seriously… I don’t know what everyone’s deal is when it comes to Percocets and suddenly assuming everyone who takes them or is prescribed them is a drug addict… goodness. Because after all this drama with Michele Rhude,  another doctor ( still a mystery who and how) called in an emergency phone prescription of the pills and when I came the next day to fill a written prescription they said they couldn’t fill it because there were Percocets already waiting to be picked up. And I was like alright awesome then I don’t need the physical script I have. The lady working at the pharmacy is like “But this is only 21 pills… and it doesn’t have any refills…” Uhm… so was the prescription I was holding! And I am not going to need any more than 21 pills nor was I even planning to use them all up! It’s like if you are prescribed them suddenly people assume you’re a drug addict! Directions said to take them every 4 hours… I would take one maybe a second one before bed when I was at the hospital because I DIDN’T NEED ANY MORE THAN THAT! And it was just so frustrating to see this weird behavior from everyone in my direction about the stupid pills jumping to conclusions and making assumptions! Mehhh! Small venting session over!

Back to the midwife. After I got off the phone with her I just starting crying because at that point I still had really bad pains that Tylenol wouldn’t completely relieve and I was just very upset with her… with the fact she had the power and capability to help and she just didn’t. As the weeks passed, I remembered her name and knew she was the midwife I was going to have an appointment with… and with each day getting closer to my appointment I was dreading it. A couple days before I actually had this big plan and replayed the situation  about a thousand times in my head how I was going to tell her off and tell her how sincerely hurt and upset I was with her that she refused to help me. I was even going to bring in my Percocets and show her that I only used like 2 from the whole bottle. I was just filled with lots of hormonal- pregnancy anger and was very sure of the fact I was going to let it all out on her and probably just be angry with her forever and never want to schedule another appointment with her again. Yes, haha… I was THAT pissed!

I got to the appointment… I waited about 25 minutes in the waiting room to get called. I already at THAT point started getting a little fidgety and impatient and more irritated than I was when I got there. Then when I gave them my urine sample the nurse left me to wait in the little room. Usually the Dr or midwife is there within 10 minutes. I was there for another 40 minutes. I started getting even angrier with this midwife and felt like I was going to blow up on her. I start opening my door to see if I can catch someone in the hallway to see if maybe I was simply forgotten about since it’s already a little more than an hour passed my original appointment time!!! I open the door and suddenly see someone at the door about to open it the same time I opened it… it was the midwife. She came in just as I got up to see if anyone was going to come to see me anytime soon.

So, she comes in sits down and tries to be nice by asking me questions about how far along I am, if baby is a girl or boy, if I have a name picked out and that I should start working on that ASAP. I, at this point am trying very hard to not end up looking like a crazy hormonal pregnant girl and don’t say anything extra and just kind of answer with one word answers. I am trying my best to calm down and breathe and get back into a normal state of mind. Yes, you probably think I am crazy! :) She measures my blood pressure and all that fun stuff and then gets the Doppler out. Once she started looking for the baby’s heartbeat, I seemed to surprisingly calm down and not be so pissed at her anymore. And decided that if the situation doesn’t call for it I’m not going to flip out on her after all and give her a chance. I know, a 360 degree transformation, instantly out of nowhere. Do not ask for an explanation because frankly I won’t be able to give you one! :)

Finding the heartbeat this time was an obstacle- but in a good way. Baby was just going crazy and all over the place and she just could not catch him still to get a good hear of the heartbeat! It was pretty funny and silly. I think this was one of the factors that contributed to bringing my mood up.  The midwife literally for 15 minutes tried different angles and just could not get the heartbeat for more than 2 seconds. Not only did I feel most of his jumps in there but you could hear them and that was the most fun to hear! She kept saying “Well, he is DEFINITELY having a good time in there. He’s having a party!! He’s totally enjoying himself! He gets the award for being the most difficult baby of the day!” Regardless of the fact it took some time… it was fun hearing the little one move around in there!

Towards the end of the appointment I kind of decided that she was nice aside from the previous encounter I had with her and she probably just didn’t even look into my file to see why I was given the pain meds… and she PROBABLY meant well but just didn’t see the whole situation from the full perspective ( yes, this is me trying to calm myself down) and thought that if she is going to be as nice as she appeared to be at the appointment I can give her a second chance after all…

At this point I am going to have one more appt in a month, and after that all my appointments are going to start being every 2 weeks now! This makes me excited because that is kind of another milestone to reach, and I am getting closer to labor! I was also scheduled my 2 hour glucose test which I have heard very briefly from other mamas about how horrible it is but never looked into it. Thought I would cross that bridge when I would get to it. Mine is scheduled super early in the morning. I mean it IS a good thing I guess because of the way I am hungry all the time but it also means I am going to have to wake up early in the morning… which I don’t enjoy doing. But that won’t be for another 6 weeks.

As far as physical changes and symptoms for this week… I think I am growing. Well, I mean I know I am, but it seems to me with every week I am getting slightly bigger. I got asked the other day by another person if I am pregnant… so people can definitely tell now that I have a belly bump by just looking at me! Which makes me happy… don’t ask :)

My belly button. I described a few changes I have noticed with it a few weeks back. It’s not an outie yet and it isn’t sticking out, but I can definitely see it slowly changing to something different. My belly button used to be very thin and very deep. I would be very anal about cleaning it sometimes because I would notice old scabby and dry skin in there every once in a while (before pregnancy) and I would have to try to spread it out to see what is going on in there. I would even use tweezers sometimes to kind of spread it out and open it to see to the bottom of it… I know that probably sounds very weird… but that is what I would do. Now it is SO wide. I can easily stick my finger into it with my whole finger fitting without an issue.  It’s Not that this is what I do all day or anything, haha. And because it is so wide, it is all spread out and I can see inside ALL of my belly button for the first time in my life! So, now if I have dead skin or something I can just pick it out without an issue… ahahaha… such an accomplishment… right?! Sorry if I grossed you out once again!

Another thing is my fuzzy belly. I mentioned in one of my very early posts about my hair and nails growing like crazy. The nails part would be kind of cool the hair not so much when it came to shaving more often. My belly, I’ve noticed gradually got some fuzz. I mean, I am not like a man where I have a hairy belly LIKE THAT… but it definitely grew some fuzzy hair and it is definitely noticeable now. No big deal… just a fuzzy belly.

I also *think*… I am starting to get that dark line that goes vertically down on your belly. What is it called…? Linea Nigra? I was going to take a wild guess which was basically the correct name for it  just switched but didn’t want to make a fool of myself so I googled just in case and I ended up being right for the most part! But, yes… I am not SURE… because I can’t tell if it is slightly emerging or if it’s just a hairy trail leaving a little shadow like effect making it look like it is there. I don’t know… sometimes I can see it sometimes I don’t… only time will tell I suppose!

Other than that… a little follow up on some of the weird and not so wonderful physical changes… my rash on my chest is still there... I think it is in the process of disappearing though. I am putting an anti-itch lotion on it and trying very hard not to look creepy by itching every now and then there in public when it gets BAD… but it is getting a little dry now  so I think it is starting to heal. So hopefully no more itchy boob rashes for me.

Stretch marks on “the girls” (someone called their boobs that the other day and I was confused at first but thought it was a funny reference!) are still there. I don’t put the stretch mark cocoa butter cream on it as often as I should probably…because I forget… but I try to when I remember.

In addition to the midwife appointment and baby being wildly crazy, he is definitely doing some acrobatics in there that is for sure. He is getting more and more active each day I feel! Sometimes I feel him just basically using my bladder as a trampoline or something! The kicks are much stronger almost with each day I feel. I have a lot of fun with it though. I keep trying to catch a video of my belly bulging when baby is moving in there but every time  I turn on the camera he stops! Sneaky baby! But I will get him one of these days!!! :)

As far as emotions and hormones… As you can tell from reading this post already there are moments where I am just SO angry. Certain people, certain details and certain things just REALLY get to me. I try not to but just can’t help it! And I really don’t want to sound like a crazy person, so please don’t judge! :) Sometimes when something really gets to me, I just get uncontrollably annoyed or pissed, and even though at that moment a part of me can understand that I should not be getting upset SO much over such a thing, I just cannot control myself. Another bad thing about these pregnancy hormones, in addition to the person I am to begin with, is being honest. I am a very honest and open person. To some this may be a good thing to others a bad. Basically, if there is something about you that angers me, or annoys me, or I DO NOT like… most likely you are probably going to hear it bluntly- straight out from me. A lot of my friends know that already, and we have some head on collisions because of this. It’s just how I am… I rather openly come clean to you, then smile and be fake to your face and think and say otherwise behind your back.  With pregnancy this trait is even stronger. I cannot be as gentle and easy with saying some things anymore. Because at the moment, if something is obviously just over the top bothering me, I am sorry but you are going to hear it from me! Sometimes I go on a rant to my hubby about something and as I am saying it I am already apologizing for my behavior because I know it is irrational but there is just nothing I can do about it! I have tried to stop myself at times, and it HAS worked… but not all the time!

Like with my neighbors the other day. The main reason we want to move at the end of May (that’s a whole separate story I will have to go into detail some other day) is because our downstairs neighbors are inconsiderate (trying very hard to contain myself and use “nice” words to describe them) people who enjoy blasting their TV as late as 1:30 am and not give a single crap about it. Even though we have rung their doorbell several times…and have kindly asked them to turn it down. Even though we continue to KINDLY ring their doorbell and they just have gotten to the point of ignoring us because they just DON’T care. Even though we have CALLED the landlord…. Nothing works! The other night it happened again and I seriously got SO mad and fed up… more than I have ever before. Usually I calmly ask them and try to explain to them the walls are thin and all that jazz- as a NICE neighbor, even though I am not happy at all. I was literally sitting in bed and trying to calm myself down and was about to just run down and blow up on them.  After a few minutes of fidgeting and still the TV not getting any quieter I stormed down the stairs and rung their doorbell. I thought that was it- the neighbors were finally going to see the crazy- psycho pregnant side of me and there is just nothing I can do about it. Surprisingly once he opened the door- even though this guy was giving me attitude, I managed to be more or less nice to him about it. He basically said it’s a TV it makes noise what do you want. The closest thing to a rude remark I made to him was asking him in a somewhat sarcastic manner if he knew how loud it was in our bedroom and he arrogantly answered “No” to me… I don’t know how that didn’t spark off the anger flames in me. I remained calm until I went back to my apartment and just starting venting on and on to Zhenya about them.

Regardless, without me continuing to ramble… my emotions… especially ANGER this week has just been out of control! So, I apologize in advance to anyone if I am ever mean or just crazy to you. Please note, I probably am or will be aware of how crazy I am, I just can’t control it and can’t explain why but my lucky guess is these funky hormones in me!

Lastly, I just wanted to give a little quick life update for this week, kind of straying off to the side from pregnancy a bit. Even though this is a pregnancy blog, I have gotten really close and attached to this blog where a lot of the things I share really just sum up my life in general, since most of the stuff happening to me are pregnancy related and kind of affect everything else in life.

I haven’t worked for 3 weeks because I was sick. I believe I did mention this maybe… slightly… in my previous post. But this really hit us hard financially. With Zhenya taking days off and me being at home pre-hospitalization, then being hospitalized, then getting back to normal after the hospital and then having the stomach flu, it’s just been crazy. That is why this past week I was all ready to get back to work and start makin’ some money already! It’s just going to be a tight month or two right now before we get back into the whole cycle of bringing in money, so no eating out ( although we did have to make a small exception this week) and keeping the budget really tight!

In addition to work, I got an approval letter in the mail a couple days ago saying I have been approved to substitute teach elementary level! So I am super excited about that. Since this current week is winter break, I am hoping I will start getting calls and getting some jobs! It will be fun… aside from the waking up super early part, haha. Yes, I love my sleep, and as a future mama I know I won’t have a lot of sleep when baby comes… it’s just… baby isn’t here yet, that’s why I want to rack up on those hours of sleep while I can. I’ll just have to go to bed much earlier and get into the schedule… it’s all for a good cause. The other thing is if I start subbing (God willing) in a week, I will probably be on a 2 week delay schedule as far as getting paid. This will really suck since we have hit rock bottom right now. But once again, going to keep a low and very tight budget and we will just have to manage! ;)

On another good note… we celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past week! Yay! Married for 2 years and with a baby on the way! Couldn't be any more happier with my best friend ( aka hubby) and with how wonderful life has gotten with each year!

That pretty much sums up 22 weeks for me. I will maybe post a belly shot today or tomorrow… not sure yet. Surprisingly I am making a post “on time” today with being exactly 22 weeks… not early OR late! ;) But yes, belly shot will be up soon! So until next week!  :)

Quick Blanket Update

I've been working here and there on the blanket, trying to get at least 2 rows done a night. Although I feel as though I have not worked on it as much as I would have wanted to because I started working again this week, I  am proud to say it is definitely progressing!

(don't mind the random cocoa butter container on the floor next to me, haha. Zhenya was too busy to take another shot after I realized it was in the photo and I am too lazy to photoshop it out... but yes, it makes the photo a little weird and awkward.  :P)

Looking at it I think I am about halfway done with it... maybe? The original "width" of what I started it as, is obviously the length, haha or else it will be too huge. I think if I crochet about the same amount more then it will be a nice rectangular-blanket shape and then I can start on the border :)

But..... I'm running low on yarn :(

Sooo... I'm probably going to have to make a run to Walmart tomorrow and get more. And since the last time I was there this was the only one left of this color... I am hoping they got more in stock ever since my last visit to the yarn department or else I will be a very angry pregnant girl and probably will have to order it online and wait forever long for it to come!!



Regardless, here is the quick update. I am pretty happy with how fast things are moving along. I mean this took me a little more than a week, so this is pretty good! :) I'll definitely be done before I give birth which is what I was aiming for since I am a procrastinator when it comes to crocheting. I started a blanket for me and my hubby and still haven't gotten far with that. But I think since this is for OUR baby and I know I am crunched on time here it is giving me a little motivation. And I am actually enjoying making this so I will have to think of more baby things to make once I am done with this!

But yes.... this concludes my update... and hopefully mu next blanket update will be the full length of the blanket! :)

Belly Shot: 21 Weeks!

Yes, I am a day late... I was super tired yesterday and did not have the time. So here is a 21 week and 1 day Belly shot! :)

21 Weeks Belly Shot!

Don't mind the dark circles under my eyes and fluffy hair everywhere. I look ugh, but at least I have a belly! :D

21 Weeks Update : Weight Change, Stronger Kicks, and a Bunch of TMI Stuff!

I didn’t realize how TMI this post would be until I finished typing it, haha. So if you don’t like to hear TMI things you probably shouldn’t read it. If you do, read on and enjoy the wonderful wonders of pregnancy, but consider yourself warned, haha. Although, at this point you should probably be used to me already! :P

21 Weeks… I have officially crossed the halfway point and from this point on I will be more weeks pregnant than there is weeks left of the pregnancy! Yay!

So what has been happening this week? Aside from finding out the long awaited gender ( yay!) and being sick with the stomach flu ( boo!) I’ve had some new interesting symptoms/changes.

Let’s start with my weight. Last week I was 136.5 according to last week’s update. I just weighed myself now and I am 137.2. So I guess I am kind of on the right track with gaining a pound a week as I should be according to all these pregnancy apps. And this is surprisingly good especially since I had the stomach flu this week and that screwed things up a bit. But my weight has been funky this week. I don’t know if it was really me, or just the different scales or the amount of clothing I was wearing, although I do try to keep that at the same amount to be fair but the weight still has been jumping.

Last Saturday I was 136.5. Then I weighed myself Monday and I think I weighed 136.8 or 137, I don’t remember. On Tuesday I had an appointment with my primary care provider, he just likes to see me every now and then, and I saw this as a good “check up” after being hospitalized and was having paranoia about another UTI. Which ended up being negative, but now these “urgencies” I have going to the bathroom I take them more seriously. Because if it is a sign of a UTI I want to find out about it right away and treat it so it doesn’t get to a kidney infection again. Anyway, when they weighed me there, although I did take off my boots and all extra layers, I weighed 140.8. I was like WOAH; I gained 3 pounds in a day?! Wednesday was my ultrasound and the day I got the stomach flu, and Thursday I had an appointment with my thyroid doctor (yes I had a lot of appointments this week.) On their scale I weighed 136.5. So I am telling you I have NO idea what has been going on with my weight.

My personal guess is this. I mean, my weight generally would jump  a couple pounds every now and then, that makes sense. And as disgusting as this may sound it would usually depend on my bowel movements. Sometimes I would weigh myself and think I am gaining weight and then go to the bathroom have a big bowel movement and bam I am suddenly down those pounds. I’ve actually mentioned this to my thyroid doctor a couple months back and  as I was telling her this I am thinking she probably thinks I am crazy and it is not possible, but she told me big bowels can definitely have a big impact on the weight change. So I am guessing me weighing 137 roughly and jumping to 140 could be me eating a lot and not going to the bathroom, I don’t know, haha. And then the stomach flu hit me so everything obviously came out of me via diarrhea and I didn’t eat for 2 full days basically, so that brought my weight down 5 pounds I guess.  I don’t know, my body is crazy.

I mentioned last week I believe about my crazy pasta mania, and that definitely has not stopped yet. I tried incorporating some meatballs into this so I am eating at least some meat, which I ended up enjoying actually. But this week, I have started eating like crazy; I think it was this week, not the week before. I have been hungry all the time and just eating and eating. I have been having about 6-7 full meals a day with snacks in between.  Just crazy eating. And like I mentioned last week, I have no shame! My doctor actually told me to eat as much as possible because I need to gain at least 25 pounds, and so far I am “under” my pre-pregnancy weight. But up until Wednesday I have been going crazy about food. Of course the minute I actually start eating and I am on SOME potential road to gaining some weight, the wonderful stomach flu hit me. Wednesday and Thursday I had literally nothing but bananas to eat. Thursday evening I probably had my first meal. Even on Friday and Saturday, I still wasn’t back to my normal eating self. I was eating food, but it was very small amounts and just very blah. I guess after not eating for two days my stomach was just taking its time to get back to normal. Today, on the other hand I can freely say I am back to my crazy eating self again. Well, my crazy eating PREGNANT self.

Although I was obsessed with food before pregnancy, the way I eat now was not as much as I did before. For example, I used to never be hungry the minute I wake up. It would usually take me a few hours to “wake up” before I can have a meal which would be this awkward in-between breakfast and lunch time. This didn’t really matter to me since I would need a big filling meal anyway. But regardless, now the MINUTE I wake up, I’m like “Omg, I am hungry-I need food!” The problem with that is, I take my thyroid medicine first thing in the morning. The reason for that is because it needs to be taken on an empty stomach. That is, an hour before food or 3  hours after a meal. And the way I eat during the day, I would never be able to find a 3 hour slot for me to take the thyroid pill and then wait an additional hour to eat again. Absolutely not! So if I wake up at night or early morning to pee or something and can remember to take the pill, I do so, go back to sleep, and then I can eat when I wake up. Anyway, so I battle with this every morning. Waking up starving, and taking the pill immediately to wait an hour to eat. Ha, seriously the longest hour of my life! :) So that’s the story with food.

Sweat. I started sweating! And originally I didn’t think anything of it because this started when I was in the hospital and I just thought it was fever related. I mean, technically it was…because the amounts I sweated at the hospital were insane and that is not how I am sweating now, but I just remember it starting then. I have always been a cold person. Not in a mean way, in a literal way, haha.  As in, I love the heat… I love 80 degree weather, burning sun. If it gets just a little chilly outside as it can feel for other people, for me it is freezing and I wear 2 pairs of socks, one of which are fuzzy and tons of layers. Let’s not even talk about me tolerating winter… because I don’t. At night, even though the heat is on comfortably, and my hubby can actually be hot at times, I wear 2 pairs of socks, one of them being fuzzy again, fuzzy warm pj pants, a t-shirt, and a long sleeve shirt on top of that and of course I am under the blankets. That for me would be normal. Now, I started sweating! Not just at night, but even during the day. I don’t wear my long sleeve shirt on top as often as I used to now. Now, sometimes if I am just sitting on my bed the rest of my body could feel like it is at a comfortable temperature I feel this little trickle between my boobs down my belly. Just a random sweat. And that is basically the only place it really bothers me. At night I have been waking up sweating in the same spot and behind my neck. I would wake up to take off my layers and still sweat. It’s so strange. I know I am gaining weight, not by the scale but physically, obviously. I know I have more blood in my body and hence a lot of people claim to be warmer, but this sweating thing is just too much. Hey, at least it’s not the stinky kind of sweat! ;-) But I’ve actually developed a small rash between my boobs because of it :( And I have been very anal about it too. I wash that area about a thousand times a day, I even wipe it with rubbing alcohol, and recently started putting an anti-itch cream on it because it just won’t stop itching. It’s horrible.

Another thing about my boob area is… I got some stretch marks. Small ones, but they are there. Weird, because I never really thought about stretch marks, let alone having them on my boobs! I thought like normal people if I get them they would be on my belly (that might be yet to come, of course.) I guess this is proof that they have obviously grown some, which I already knew since I wasn’t that large to begin with. I actually bought 2 new bras in the beginning of the pregnancy to accommodate my new size and I read bras with the wire were not good for you. I thought I bought bras that still gave me room to “grow” a little, but obviously I was wrong and will probably have to get new ones soon, especially since I am expected to grow even more in the third trimester and when baby comes.

But the stretch marks, I actually bought Palmer’s tummy butter cocoa butter formula cream. I’ve been applying it, but obviously no changes yet. I’ve asked some mamas about it, some say it is used to prevent, some say it is used to make the marks go away, some say there is nothing you can do about it! Great. Well, we shall see, but I don’t like this thing at all. And not to mention they are still super veiny. It’s crazy, it’s like someone drew with permanent marker on me or something. My boobs are just getting the best of it this week.

Baby this week has been moving like crazy. Yes, I said the same exact thing last week, but this week even more. Especially since Wednesday, he has been jumping and kicking and I don’t know what else he is doing in there but he is having a blast that is for sure. And the movement has been more frequent, and since Wednesday I have to say it feels like it is constant! Which is great, I love it! On the day of the ultrasound, I was lying in bed feeling deadly, but beside it all baby was just moving around like crazy and made me smile anyway. It felt like he was kicking my hip bones, it was literally so close to it, but knew probably that was just what it felt like. Once we got to the ultrasound place, the technician actually said that he was positioned head down and his feet were right next to my hip bone. So in order for her to get certain pics of him she had to position the camera-thingy right next to my bone! Which explained why I felt the kicks the way I did before hand! He’s a silly baby! The lady also told me he was measuring at 13 ounces and 4 days ahead of my due date of June 24^th. Which made me happy. I know usually if the difference isn’t a 2 week difference than it doesn’t really matter that baby could just be bigger in size and growing at a different rate. But they have changed my due date from June 30, to the 28, to June 24 and now saying baby is measuring 4 days ahead. Hey, I don’t mind, if baby comes earlier I am ALL for it! The sooner- the better and the more summer time fun we will get to spend together! So I am not going to assume I am 21 weeks and 4 days or something today, I am still going to continue with my current countdown. That way, if I do have baby earlier it will be a nice surprise :)

So more about baby moving more this week. Aside from feeling it more frequently and almost constantly, they have gotten to be stronger. I have felt them with my hands several times already which is awesome! Zhenya hasn’t really had the patience to sit and wait for the kick. He’s tried a couple times and baby would stop moving the moment he would put his hand, silly boy. But Zhenya finally caught baby in action! Baby was moving like crazy and I grabbed his hand and placed it on my belly, and Papa felt baby give him a high five. It made both of us very happy! Not to mention, I can also SEE the movements on my belly now too. Maybe once they become more visible I will record a video and post it on here or something. That would be fun! :) But, yeah… baby is very active, and I just adore it! Best feeling in the world!

Other than that, that has been me this week. I am growing more, and I guess you can tell I am pregnant now by just looking at me if I am not wearing poofy clothing to cover it up. My friend Arseniy today told me “Woah, you got a Puza (belly in Russian)!”  And my neighbor today peaked her head out of her balcony as I was walking outside to our laundry room and commented on the fact she noticed  I had a small belly was wondering  if I was pregnant, haha. See, I’m the weird person that gets flattered when people ask me and just get excited because that means I am showing and growing! Other people on the other hand probably would have taken offense to that, especially since the belly isn’t obviously huge and could be just extra weight, haha. But that made me happy that people now look at me and think “She’s pregnant!” Yay for being fat!

But this basically sums up 21 weeks, I will stop blabbing now. I will probably post a 21 week belly shot tomorrow and continue to working on baby’s blanket, and if there is enough done this week to show off and brag about I will post another blanket update post. But if not, thank you all for reading and I will be back with next week’s update! :)

Working on Baby's Blanket

Thought I would add a new sequence of posts to my blog: baby blanket progress!

Let me just give you a little intro and background info about me and crocheting :)

Yes, crocheting. I don’t know how to knit. My mom taught me how to crochet, at about 13 years old. My mom is a big fan of crocheting! Actually, the first year we moved to Upstate New York, Jordanville, she held a crocheting class for the girls at Russian school. At that time, most of the Russian school kids were a lot older so it worked out nicely. Once a week we would get together in our living room and my mom would teach about 5-6 girls how to crochet. We then used our crocheting skills to make little neat things like Christmas tree ornaments (balls and snowflakes) and would sell them to people in our church during Christmas time to raise a little money for our school. It was very nice.

But anyway, back to the point. I am not a professional, ha. I only know so much about crocheting so my abilities are limited :) I know how to do a double stitch (I think that’s what it is called :)) and have an idea on how to do a hat. Most of the things my mom taught me were little things, like the Christmas tree ornaments, whose designs she would make up on her own. And also, occasional border designs she came up with for blankets.

So, I can’t read those patterns in that crochet language or whatever it’s called. That is like Chinese to me. Just because the way I was taught is my mom would show me- I would repeat and I would learn. And most of the patterns and designs my mom kind of made up as she went with it, which kind of gave me perspective to do the same. It’s kind of like cooking I guess. You start out and just add a little bit of this, take out a little bit of that and see how it comes out... It’s hard to explain I guess. Which kind of explains what I mean by I have “an idea” of how to do a hat.

About a year ago I made my first baby blanket and baby hat, with the same yarn I am actually using to make our little one’s blanket. I worked for this family back in the city, in Staten Island… a 3 year old girl and the mother was expecting a boy. A random thought came to mind, and I had a random inspiration to crochet at the time, to make a blanket. It came out very nice, I wish I had a picture of it, but basically how I made that one is how I am planning to replicate the one I am making now. I also made the baby a hat, which didn’t take long, and I think was easy because his head was very small so I didn’t have to be too concerned about how many stitches to make less or more when making the round shape.

Another thing I wanted to mention is the yarn I picked out. I posted a picture of it today on facebook sharing also the fact that I could not find this yarn originally, and had already started the blanket yesterday and was very upset at first. But then I got lucky and found the very last one!

Anyway, the story behind the yarn is… well firstly I wanted to get something cotton for baby. A lot of the yarns are either acrylic or polyester and I don’t know… I wanted something cotton. Also, my mom used the same exact yarn as this for a blanket she made for my sister Sasha way back when, except it was a dark pink, light pink, white combination. It turned out very pretty, and I liked the feel of it. So, when I was picking out yarn a year ago for the baby I made it for, and I saw this yarn it just sparked up old memories and I wanted to use it for the blanket. And I just really like it.

But yes, that is just some info about me and crocheting and the yarn. I really am not that good at it and wish I was more educated within the crocheting realm of knowledge, haha… but I want to make something for baby from myself, from scratch. A silly thought… but when my mom made my sister Sasha her blanket, and then later made one for all of my other siblings, I was very jealous, even at the age of 15 -16 I remember being jealous that she made one for all of them and didn’t make one for me. I know, silly… but I don’t know… I just want to make one for our baby. And hopefully make something special for all our God willing future babies as well. It would be cool, and hopefully when they grow up they will appreciate it and will be touched that their mama made them a blanket with love in every stitch :)

But back to the original point of this post… I started working on the blanket yesterday and got a little bit done. So here are some photos to share.

Don't mind me in my pj's and taylor swift shirt :)

An up close view of the blanket so far.

I originally started it measuring it to be the width, but I think I am little off and the blanket will come out too big and will take me forever if I base it off the width, I think this size will do good for the  length.  We’ll see I’ll officially decide once it grows more. I am not doing any special design on it. Just a simple blanket, I plan to make it with a simple, pretty, nice white border of the same type of yarn.  I’ll put up a post every now and then showing the blanket’s progress leading to the finishing product. Hopefully it won’t take me too long. After all, I have about only 19 weeks left… right? :)

Baby Poznyak's Internet Premier: Ultrasound Pictures!!!

I am way too excited to be sharing pictures of our little one!!!





Here is the first picture we got of baby, I was about 6 or 7 weeks here, I don't remember.

The next shot we had of baby I think I was about 10 weeks along, look at the growth change ALREADY!

And... today's 20 week scan pics! I am going to start with the 2D ones first!

Profile shot :)

Another profile shot :)

Little baby footsies!!!

Open mouth! Baby was actually opening & closing his mouth at this time like a little fishy, and we got this shot :)

And now the 3D shots... :)

Baby just has a copy of papa's nose! literally my hubby's twin!

Look at that little angelic face! Ahh, I just can't!!! <3

Another shot where you can obviously tell he has papa's nose!!!

My little cutie! :D

You can see a little smirk here in action. & of course papa's nose again!

These are all the shots we have of baby now! I am just in awe and in love. It's so amazing that technology nowadays has the function to see your baby before it's born... especially in 3D. This makes the pregnancy just so much more real, and so much more to look forward to! :)

Boy or Girl? Time to Reveal the Gender!!!

Today we had our long awaited ultrasound! And yes, we now know who our little one is! Instead of just shouting out the answer let me unravel the story of how our day went. Believe me it’ll be worth it, and I can also assure you there will be pictures to follow too!

Today didn’t exactly start out as the magical day I expected it to be. Since I was extremely impatient, my plan was to sleep in all day and wake up just in time to leave our apartment and head out for the 45 minute drive to Cooperstown where our ultrasound would be, that way the day seemed to go by faster by waking up around noon. :) I, on the other hand, ended up waking up at 4 am this morning because I was feeling extremely nauseous. At first I was confused since morning sickness really did seem to be gone at this point. I tossed and turned and it only got worse. Around 5:30, I ended up making a run to the bathroom and puking up lots of yucky bile. Lots of it. And to make matters worse, I had to do a quick switch to accommodate liquids coming out the other end at the same time too- diarrhea. Yes, really nasty I know, but it brings out how horrible the situation was. After I was done, I sat on the living room floor trying to sip some ginger ale and basically thinking and realizing the infamous stomach flu everyone has been getting and talking about has finally made its way to me. Wonderful. I ended up going back to bed, and stomach pains then came, up until  it was time to leave for the ultrasound, it’s really a blur because I would be half asleep, and running to the bathroom a few times puking up all the sips of liquid, including water and ginger ale, that just would not stay down.

I called Bassett, since we were heading there anyway, and asked if there was anything I needed to be concerned about. The midwife I spoke to basically said that if by evening I would not be keeping down liquids then to make my way to the emergency room because I could be severely dehydrated. Great, I was only there a week ago. One thing I knew- I was NOT cancelling my ultrasound! I bundled up, took my little bucket of puke and we headed to Cooperstown. Trip there was ok, not comfortable but puke free, trip back not so much. But you don’t need any more vomiting details.

Another concern I had, was I needed to drink 16 ounces of fluid before my ultrasound. Didn’t know how that was going to work since I couldn’t even keep sips down. I had Zhenya run to the pharmacy and get me children’s pedialyte- an electrolyte solution, because I don’t trust Gatorade. That seemed to stay in for a bit.  Regardless, there was SOMETHING in my bladder, so all was good and we were able to see baby! :)

So the BIG question… is baby a boy or a girl?

Let me rephrase that question… am I going to need PINK yarn or BLUE yarn for my baby blanket?

(Don’t mind how ugh I look since I’m feeling sickish with the stomach flu)

Before, I once again scream out the answer ( yes, I am having way too much fun with this),  let me just share a few thoughts that I don’t remember  but I may have or may have not shared before. Almost EVERYONE has been telling me it’s a girl. I had no feeling really; therefore it has been killing me to know. And I don’t really believe those old wives tales, but the Chinese calendar and the strong nausea were also hypothetical signs of baby being a girl. And the heartbeat- heartbeat was slightly faster which also an indicator that was a girl. These obviously are not accurate, but just for kicks and giggles it was fun to see and keep in mind.

Once again, A LOT of people kept saying it was a girl. I had one lady at work basically tell me she has a “gift” and always knows before the ultrasound, and that I am having a girl and that is a FACT! So with everyone saying, girl… I started thinking it’s a girl too, only because EVERYONE said it.

Also, my hubby had a dream that is was a girl, and he very often has dreams as  he says that later on end up coming true. I, on the other hand, had 2 dreams where baby was a boy! One very recently, how we had this entire girl stuff and he looked silly being placed in a pink-ish swing or something.  Anyway…. So who was right? And who was wrong?

Turns out, we are going to need the BLUE yarn after all!! YES, IT’S A BOY!!!!!

I posted a teasing status on facebook today asking what people think baby is, and for the first time I actually got some boy guesses on there. So for all who guessed boy – you were right!  A few people also mentioned everyone is having boys, so I must be having a girl!  Haha, well I guess I am like everyone else and having a boy!  Although in my CHURCH, there were a lot of girls born last year!

Zhenya is super excited! He proudly drove all the way home after the ultrasound with a big grin on his face that we are going to have a son! I am excited too, I did not have a preference to who baby was going to be, as long as baby is healthy! But I am kind of excited we are having a boy first, that way he is going to be a big brother, to who hopefully will be his little sister later on :)

So, the cat is out of the bag! It’s a boy! Despite the fact I’ve been feeling horrible (and still am, but slightly better) all day, I’ve also been super excited at the same time. Now the hard part begins… thinking of a name. We have no ideas yet, but now we know it’s a boy we can at least eliminate the female names and really get our thinking caps on.

On a brighter note, my hubby approved me putting up ultrasound pics!! Yay!!! I am going to do a separate post for that, so stick around to check out our little one’s internet premier! Lol And I have to say- baby has a COPY of papa’s nose, it’s crazy!!!