Belly Shot : 27 Weeks!

You know you are getting bigger when something that you tried on before was too big for you, now fits you!

This week I decided I would try to give a few of my maternity clothes a try. The ones that were too big for me when handed to me, and I happened to try this dress ( I think it's a dress, but it is too short. You can't really tell in this pic, but I probably wouldn't wear it in public without leggings or something) which ended fitting me perfectly.

I think the biggest thing with this dress was that it was too loose and too open in the chest area. Now that I have grown a little in that department,it seems to fit better. I also put on a tank top underneath and that covers any unnecessary  flashing if they happen to occur :)

But here is this week's belly shot!

Don't mind the hair up, I just got out of the shower. :)

27 Week Update: My 2 Hour Glucose Test, Doctor’s Appointment, Being Uncomfortable and Some Random Thoughts…

27 Weeks! This is the week most apps and calendars and what not claim that you are either in the first week of your third trimester or by the end of this week you will be in your third trimester. Either or- getting closer!

This week a lot of things got messed up as far as my doctor appointments and scheduled tests go and there was some drama in Herkimer at my scheduled Midwife appointment I was supposed to have. And yes, I am going to tell you ALL about it! Brace yourselves… the good and the bad. But of course I shall start with the bad! :)

So on Monday, I come into Bassett in Herkimer… typical lovely ladeeda day. I come up to check in and my name is not on the list. So the secretary looks up my info on the computer to tell me I have no appointment today. I’m trying to explain to her that I DO have an appointment. At this time I start second guessing maybe I got some day screwed up? So I ask her when my appointment IS. She tells me that I have no pending appointments at all. My last visit was a month ago and I have no upcoming appointments at all. Now I start getting a little nervous. Not only am I supposed to have an appointment today, but I also have my 2 hour glucose test scheduled for the following week and both of those appointments were scheduled a month prior to this date and hence should have been in the system. She directs me to some other secretary man to deal with me so she can take the next person in line. This guy does the same thing and I am trying to explain to him I DO in fact have an appointment today and should still be having my 2 hour glucose test next week too. He is looking at me as if I have 2 heads and just randomly came into the doctor’s office today and made up my own appointments or something. He legit was looking at me as if I was crazy or something and that started to get me even more upset. I try to explain to him they printed me a paper out that summarized my last visit from a month ago listing my both upcoming appointments. Of course I didn’t have the paper with me because I never had an issue like this before. Instead of trying to solve the issue he just kept looking at me and at the screen and telling me I have no appointment.

This guy finally decided to maybe do something about it instead of repeating the same thing over and over again to me. He asked me if I knew the nurse who printed out the paper for me/ scheduled the appointment. Oh, now I am supposed to remember names. This made me feel even more hopeless. He said he was going to talk to one of the nurses and let me know. I waited for a bit, very upset and shaky and on the verge of tears. I tried to control myself to not look like a crazy pregnant lady who was crying over an appointment but couldn’t help myself. The guy later came out and said they might make room for someone to see me but I have to wait. So I waited in the waiting room, then he called me to the check in desk again and I sat in the chair in front of him and waited for the nurse to come out and personally talk to me to let me know whether or not someone can see me.

I waited for about 30 minutes and started getting fidgety. I didn’t even know if I was going to be seen today and no one even wanted to dig into the situation as to WHY my appointments weren’t showing up in the system, nor even consider possibly maybe rescheduling them? It was as if no one even took into consideration that what I was telling them was anywhere close to the truth. If it’s not in their stupid computer then there is no appointment apparently. Several times I kept telling and asking the male secretary why my appointments weren’t in the system and even said the exact phrase “I am not crazy, she printed me a sheet out with the appointments.” All he kept responding to that “You can tell the nurse that once she comes out.” AHHH!

Anyway, the nurse came out and told me appointments are not in the system- yeah, tell me something I don’t know lady. But since I am due for my monthly check up they are going to try to see me anyway, just not with the midwife I was originally scheduled with, but with Dr. Gildenblatt- the doctor who was in that day. But before they can tell me for sure if he can see me they needed to find something out first. She also told me that I don’t have to worry about the Glucose test I can have that done in several weeks. I told her my glucose test was scheduled for next week and she didn’t even listen to me. I don’t even remember if I was crying before or after this, but I was beyond upset and did end up crying at one point already.

So, I waited some more… I don’t even remember what happened in what order but they finally gave me an OK for Dr. Gildenblatt to see me. I went back to the waiting room and got called- finally!!! They weighed me and did all the typical fun stuff. When I got into one of those rooms I was venting to the nurse how everyone was just looking at me as if I was crazy and didn’t even want to resolve the issue at all. She measured my blood pressure and said it was very HIGH! My blood pressure has never been measured high before… so this was slightly creepy. She said it’s probably because I am very upset and she won’t write this measurement in the computer and will measure it after I see Dr. Gildenblatt, assuring me he will calm me down :)

A note about Dr. Gildenblatt- If you remember my last post about my midwife visit… At first I was not really anticipating it because it was the same midwife that was very mean to me after I got out of the hospital with my kidney infection drama. I ended up giving her a chance and all worked out, but wanted to schedule my next appointment with Dr. Gildenblatt… for several reasons. For one I wanted to try out different doctors and perhaps end up seeing someone I like and prefer. Also, a lot of people recommended him to me. I wasn’t a fan of going to male doctors but thought I would give this guy a try anyway since so many people referred him to me. When I did ask to schedule an appointment with him, the lady who was doing the scheduling said there weren’t any near appointments, or any appointments fitting my schedule. So she scheduled me an appointment with the same midwife and I just decided- oh well I will try next time. It’s just funny that aside from all this drama I ended up seeing Dr. Gildenblatt anyway.

Anyway… back to the story. So Dr. Gildenblatt comes in. At this point I am trying to calm myself down, because being told I have high blood pressure made me concerned and wanted that to go back to normal. I liked Dr. G... he was very kind and nice and took the time to ask me everything he needed to know about me.  He legit had me give him a small autobiography about my life and health so he personally had a better understanding of it. We listened to the heartbeat, measured my belly and checked my blood pressure which ended up being okay later.

He requested additional blood work to check my iron and my thyroid; he wanted to have those levels on his own file just in case and so he had exact amounts to look at. He told me that he thinks my endocrinologist who is dealing with my thyroid is being too cautious  in very slowly upping my dose of thyroid medication, and that in the Obstetrics field they tend to be more forceful when it comes to this and give a bigger dose, but before speaking too soon he wanted to check my levels.

I ended up asking him about my colostrum that a couple friends recommended me to start saving. Some people have expressed concern that with me collecting it I might start labor. He said that won’t happen. I need to do some extreme non-stop nipple stimulation in order to do that so what I was doing won’t do a thing. But- he also said that collecting my colostrum right now is pointless because it is not as full and nutritious as it needs to be for baby. It basically doesn’t have all the fatty and needy nutrients a baby will need right now. All the good stuff appears after labor. So I guess the 3 ounces of frozen colostrum I have is useless?? Anyone want some free colostrum? Hahaha!

Anyway, I went to the check out desk and this time told the lady I want her names on the piece of paper she is printing out with my appointments and I am holding on to that think like it’s my social security card so next time if there is an issue people won’t look at me like I am insane.

My glucose test obviously had to be rescheduled because the original date- the 29^th was already booked and therefore I couldn’t come in that day. The lady gave me 2 options to either do it the next day or to do it in a month which was apparently the closest morning available at this point. I knew I needed this test done before 27 or 28 weeks so I decided to do it the next day.

Oh, and my appointments being screwed up… I don’t know who screwed up what… but a month ago when I saw the midwife she told me my next appointment ( the one I had this past week) would be my last “monthly” appointment and that after that my appointments would start running every 2 weeks. Not anymore! I am going to have my next appointment in 5 weeks – I realized this only when I got home… but not even 4 weeks but 5 weeks! So I will be 31 weeks at my next appointment. I am assuming after this appointment, and then they will be every 2 weeks??? I don’t even know anymore… they are all crazy!!!!

The 2 hours glucose test! My main concern was not eating for so long. I eat every 5 minutes of my life and had no idea how I was going to go 2+ hours without eating.  But I did get lucky… I came in and they took me in right away. This was very impressive to me in comparison to the service they provided me with the day before. They took my blood the first time and called me immediately to drink the orange liquid. I was very sketchy about it since a lot of people have warned me that it is disgusting and they had a hard time drinking it and some even through up. I took a sip- and to me it was fine. It tasted like SUPER sweet orange un-carbonated soda. I drank it all within a minute, without feeling nauseous. The only thing was it burned my throat a little since it was uber sweet, but I was allowed to drink some water afterwards so it was fine.

So, the wait began. I took my blanket with me to crochet… but ended up crocheting for 30 minutes and then feeling very tired. This was 8 am after all, and we all know what a morning person I am. So, I laid down… and surprisingly on the super uncomfortable chair/bed they have there,  I fell asleep. I got woken up in half hour to get my blood drawn the second time and passed right out after the nurse left. I slept through the next hour like a baby, and even had dreams oddly enough. Before I knew it the 2^nd hour was up and they took my blood the 3^rd time. I had texted Zhenya to pick me up (since the roads were terrible both of us had no work due to a “snow day.”) This was already 10 am and I have been 3 hours without food and surprisingly doing well. I was slightly hungry- but not how I usually was. I think I was more tired than hungry and didn’t really feel the hunger.

Since we were already in town we decided to go to Wal-Mart to grab a few groceries, especially since I seemed to be feeling fine at the moment. We got a few things; it took about 30 minutes maybe. Once we got to register I started feeling extremely weak and lightheaded. I started shaking uncontrollably and had a hard time standing up- I legit felt like I was going to pass out right there. I told Zhenya he needed to cash out and that I was going to be sitting on the bench. I felt super woozy and thought I was going to drop dead right there in the middle of Wal-Mart. Zhenya took me by the arm and we slowly walked to the car. I opened up a package of chips and started munching on some of them to get some food in my system. Once we got home I still felt very woozy, weak and shaky and continued to stuff my face. I assumed this was a reaction to my body not eating all morning + having my blood drawn 3 times. Once I finally felt full, I still felt very weak, but was lying in bed already so all was well. Probably within an hour or two did I start to feel normal again. Now I know why I eat every 5 minutes of my life… because if I didn’t… this is what would happen to my body. Crazy.

That very same day, I get a call from Dr. Gildenblatt personally. He calls to tell me my sugar levels look fine and that my iron is good too. This is always a relief to hear. He says my thyroid levels don’t look good and thinks the 75 mg dose I am taking now should be doubled. He recommended me to start doubling it now and to tell the thyroid doctor at my next appointment this was recommended by him. Considering the fact I have changed from 3 different doses I have different extra pills of different doses laying around and therefore had no trouble doing that without running out short. My next thyroid appointment is April 4^th I believe, so it is not too far away. Another thing I like about Dr. G- he called me personally and right away! Usually a nurse calls you a day or 2 after or they just mail you your test results, but he took the time to actually call me himself after he got the results. I respect him even more for that much itself.

So that sums up my appointments and all the craziness with it. It used up some of my nerves and even made my blood pressure go up, lol but in the end I ended up seeing Dr. Gildenblatt which was probably a good thing.

As far as how the week has went… I have been feeling very tired again. Not as bad as it was in the beginning of pregnancy where I could literally sleep all day if given the opportunity and then sleep through the night as well… but still feeling that extra tiredness. I took naps about 3-4 days this week. Once I would get back from work, I would just feel so beat… even though I would get a full night of sleep the night before. I started randomly napping for an hour or two around 6-7pm, and having no trouble passing out at 10-11pm later on too. Very strange. On Saturday, I even slept in as opposed to waking up early to go to work and had a random power nap for 2 hours in the afternoon before I had to go to work. Very strange. A good welcome from the third trimester I suppose.

The big evil rash has returned this week, and even worse! You guys all know about my infamous boob rash that I complained about a few weeks ago. It ended up going away on its own, leaving a small trail of dry scabby skin between my boobs. Man, if I thought THAT rash was bad obviously I haven’t seen anything yet. This time my rash covered all my boobs completely, much larger, much redder, and itchier than before. Each day it got worse as well. I didn’t even know what to do anymore. I would use cocoa butter, I would use hydrocortisone… I would put rubbing alcohol to cleanse everything, I would wash myself several times a day to leave them sweat free and dry- nothing helped! The only true thing that helped with the itching was standing under a hot shower. The hot water really soothed the irritation and I could go a few hours without being scratchy.

 Good thing people don’t really visit us, because I think the only reason my rash is slowly starting to improve is because I let it breathe when I am home. Being in clothing made me hot and sweaty and would make the rash worse. Yes, even with being freezing outside, just the fact itself that I was confined in clothing made it worse. My goodness, I can’t even explain to you how bad the itching was. For the last 2 days, the redness went away and it is slowly starting to dry up and fade out. Very slowly. I can’t say it is completely getting better, but it is definitely not getting worse so that is good! In addition to all the beautiful stretch marks on there, my boobs are quite the view with this dried up rash and scratch marks all over! Oh, the joys of pregnancy!

I have been feeling very… heavy. Making certain movements are getting to be impossible. Going straight from a laying to even sitting position is getting very hard. I can’t just get up anymore, I have to slowly roll to one side and somehow fight my way with gravity. Almost every position is no longer comfortable. Not sitting, not standing, not laying. Not laying on my back, not laying on either side… nothing is comfortable! And yes, I know… there is still 3 months to go. 3 more months of growing and 3 more months of things getting more uncomfortable.

My back has been another issue. Oh boyyyy! It has been aching so much! Once again, no matter what position I try to get it, it just hurts. This extra weight it putting some major strain on my back for sure!

I really want a snoogle or body pillow. I sleep with 3 pillows to begin with, and have taken one pillow from under my head to use between my legs but it is just not enough. I have a snoogle on my baby shower list, but my shower isn’t until May… a month before my due date! So, that won’t be too useful! But I think a family member might be getting us one as an early baby shower gift, and that would be wonderful! For now I shall continue to toss and turn!

I know… I am just a big ol’ grumpy huffball. Huffing and puffing and nothing being right for me! June needs to get here sooner!

My weight. I am 152.4 pounds this week.

Total Weight Gain Summary

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 gain, 1.6 weekly gain, 10 lbs total gain)

03/04/13 : 24 w 147 lbs ( 7 lbs gain pre-pregnancy weight gain 6 lbs weekly gain, 16 lbs total gain)

03/11/13: 25 w  147.8 lbs ( 7.8 pre-pregnancy weight gain, .8 lbs weekly gain, 16.8 lbs total gain)

03/18/13: 26 w 150 lbs (10 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 2.2 lbs weekly gain, 19 lbs total gain)

03/25/13: 27 w 152.4 lbs (12.4 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 2.4 lbs weekly gain, 21.4 lbs total gain)

It’s crazy to see the numbers jumping so much. But I guess that is what pregnancy is all about!

You all know about this pregnancy anger and rage I have been having… well; there has been one specific thing that has been getting to me. I really don’t mind when people look at me… as in strangers. I have wanted a belly since day one of pregnancy and have wanted to LOOK pregnant! I personally don’t understand those people that hide their belly or don’t want anyone to see their belly. To me- it’s not fat- it’s a baby growing in there and you should show off your belly with pride! ;) Anyway… beside the point. I have been getting dirty, nasty, and rude looks from people! Legit, people walking and staring at my belly with either disgust or I can’t even explain it! HOW RUDE!!!!! Seriously! What is it a big zit? A tumor? Some sort of disease I have or something??? And even if I did have some disease how rude is it to stare at someone AT ALL- let alone a pregnant girl like that??  I totally posted a venting status about this on facebook the other day, but seriously… this is getting to me because it happened twice already! I don’t care what people are thinking! I don’t care if you think I look young and unmarried, and strangers are coming up with some crazy stories in their heads as to how I am pregnant or whatever other excuse people can come up with- I don’t have to explain anything to anyone! It is PLAIN RUDE to give looks like that. And I am saying this right now… if someone else gives me a look like this I WILL SPEAK UP! I am sorry but this is just one of those things I will not tolerate and the next person who does this will get a piece of my mind!!!

GRRRR!

Change of mood and subject. Some last thoughts I wanted to share. Sad ones. I had a friend this past week that ended up having a stillborn… As I even write this, I can’t even begin to express the pain and sadness that cover me… and can’t imagine a mother to go through such a thing at all. I was always afraid of miscarriages, and I think it is because all the books, all the info sites tend to emphasize more on miscarriages than stillbirths. Once you reach the 12-13 week of pregnancy everyone almost says how pretty much nothing can go wrong and your chances are so slim to anything happening. This obviously proves otherwise. Aside from feeling extremely sad, sympathetic and I can’t even describe all the emotions I am feeling for my friend… all I can really say is she is a true trooper and very strong woman to be able to get through this. I am not sure how or if I would be able to get through something like that. This kind of also stirred up paranoia in me.

Now, I know everyone have their own opinions about labor and birth, and I haven’t really shared much on here of my hypothetical “plans” ( I put that in “” because I feel that you can’t really plan a birth, it  happens on its own,) but giving a slight overview these are my thoughts. I think natural births are amazing, and respect all the women who do them. I, on the other hand am very scared of pain and don’t tolerate it very well. I am still not sure if I am going for an epidural for sure, but am leaning towards it now. I also don’t want to be the one who may really want one, and then it can be too late to have gone too far along in labor… but also want to scope it out during labor and see how much I can actually handle. But once again beside the point.

My views and thoughts about being induced and being overdue. I never really emphasized much thought into this. I am not ANTI being induced. I always thought that being VERY overdue was never good. My mother for instance was 2 weeks overdue with my brother and she got induced. He came out blue because the cord was around his neck. Fact is this… the longer baby is in there, the bigger he/she gets and therefore can cause problems. So as much as I may not want to get induced, if it comes down to it, I will. I know it is more painful, but that is not the point… if baby needs to come out- he needs to come out!!! Same with c-section. I am probably more against c-sections than being induced. Simply because I don’t want to be cut open and the recovery is much more difficult than vaginal birth. But once again- if I need to get one- I will get one! You never know what or how things will work out.

Now… I don’t know… I am very scared of being overdue. I do not want to go overdue, and if the doctors offer to induce me close to my due date, I will not refuse. I rather have baby out than take the risk of keeping him longer in there and something happening. NO way! Judge me all you want, yes I know it’s not natural… but I would not be able to handle losing baby. After carrying your baby for 9 months… feeling him kick and move around, hearing the heartbeat, seeing sonogram pictures of him, getting everything ready for him at home, all the clothes, and car seat and nursery and everything and then reaching full term and baby not living…. As I speak I am trying not to let the tears fall. I am not strong enough to do that, especially with wanting a baby so much before pregnancy and it not exactly happening off the first try.

I love this baby so much already even though I haven’t seen him or held him yet. He is our little miracle that puts a smile on my face no matter what happens throughout the day. Every day I am getting closer to meeting him, and I cannot even begin to explain the joy I have that I will soon have a son. Our own little bundle of joy, truly… our MIRACLE. I’ve come this far… and wouldn’t want anything to happen.

Call me crazy, call me paranoid. But Zhenya and I both have decided that once we reach the due date, we don’t want to play the waiting game, if we can we want baby out ASAP.

That pretty much sums up 27 weeks. Don’t really like ending this post on such a sad note, I got a little too emotional maybe this time. If I have time tonight maybe I will post a belly shot that could make up for my sad thoughts. :) Thank you for reading, if anyone does read my long boring posts!

The Growing Baby Blanket

I finally have worked a good amount  on the blanket to dedicate a separate post to it. I have finished all the blue yarn! Yay! ( well, I had a little left over but not enough for a full row so I stopped where I could.) But the picture below shows the full size of the blanket! I have started working on the white border around it. You can't really tell from the picture... or maybe you can if you look close enough. But this is a big thing for me because all I have to do is add the border and finally baby's blanket is DONE! Next time you guys will see the complete finished product- I cannot wait!

Belly Shot : 26 Weeks!

Late again. And oh so very tired today, therefore I was a lazy bum and did not put much effort into putting on a dress today. I am wearing my new tank-top though!  Nothing special really, I just hate wearing bras with my boob rash issues and bras not fitting me anymore that I started wearing my one built in bra  tank-top without an actual bra underneath it. Usually, I would wear it and have a bra underneath it because I would feel like it would give the obvious- boob- sticking-out look that I am not wearing a bra and make me feel super self conscious about it. Now that I've grown in that department for some reason it looks okay. Either that or my vision of what looks okay and what doesn't look okay has changed. Either way, I'm happy with being able to technically walk around without an actual bra lately. So I decided to go off and get another life saving tank-top like that in walmart. So now I have 2! Yay me! End of not so interesting story.


Here is this week's Belly shot. Zhenya claims my tummy has grown since yesterday. I haven't paid attention much, but definitely have these weird random moments of my stomach stretching and growing. So it may be possible to grow overnight. I will have to make some comparison belly shots maybe next week.

Very tired... but happy and growing! :) 6.5 months! Getting there slowly... :)

26 Week Update: 3rd Trimester Debate, Belly Button Transformation, Baby Registries and Some New Symptoms.

26 weeks!!! Making me… 6.5 months pregnant! Yay! Now the big question… because I have read different things online and all my apps are giving me different answers as well. I looked this up online… and also different answers! When does one consider themselves to be in the third trimester? I have heard a variety of answers from 25-30 weeks! That’s quite a stretch if you ask me! If you do this the logical way there are approximately 40 weeks in pregnancy, right? Dividing 40 by 3 you get 13.333333… so approximately 13 weeks in each semester. So I should be considered to be in the third trimester at about 26.5 weeks?! Or some just say 27 weeks, some just say 28 weeks! I don’t know! The debate can go on endlessly…Regardless I am either STARTING the 3^rd trimester this week or will so in a week or 2… that is once again another proud milestone to achieve! :)

My weight this week is 150 pounds. I can officially say I have never in my life weighed 150; I have weighed 148 at one point in my life when we lived in Brooklyn and I ate lots of fatty Russian food like Pelmeni everyday :) So the weight keeps packing on every week. Not sure if I am going to continue to pack on about 2 pounds every week… if I do then I will end up gaining another 30 pounds which I don’t think is good! LOL Well, for now I think I am at a good place so that is all I have to worry about. I have never been too concerned about weight before… hopefully I can keep it at that! :) So I’ve basically went from 140 pre-pregnancy weight to losing weight down to 131, to gaining up to 150. Crazy number jumping! And I still have about 3 months to go! Oh boyyy!

This week I have been experiencing a couple new symptoms. One of the things I forgot to mention last week is my heavy breathing. Never really heard any pregnant women complain about this one too much, and this makes me wonder if I am starting to have trouble breathing now I can only imagine what problems I will have closer to the end of the pregnancy! It makes sense though, since baby is growing, my uterus is pushing on many different organs and everything just feels so heavy. Although a lot of people tend to say I have a very small belly for my size… I don’t know about that. I like my belly and think it is a very good size for how far along I am. Off topic… anyway back to me having a hard time breathing. I have noticed for about 2 weeks now if I talk and talk I tend to have to stop talking for a minute to catch my breath. I get the feeling as if I just ran up a flight of stairs or ran a marathon or something. It  happens to me more and more often. I kind of feel like an old lady breathing so heavily sometimes when I talk. I think I just need to learn to talk slower and breath more in between my sentences and possibly get the hang of this whole losing my breath thing. And I am fully aware baby is only going to get bigger now- taking up more space and pushing on more organs! Oi…. Don’t want to think about that yet :)

A new not-so-fun symptom I have encountered this week is leg cramps! Luckily I have had this happen to me only once- for now of course. But, MY GOODNESS… I have had muscle spasms, and aches and cramps before… but this pain is just DEADLY. This happened at night too. I’ve mentioned before that now that my belly is getting bigger I am having a hard time finding a comfortable position (at all!) but especially in bed. This includes the night as well. I toss and turn a lot, and luckily when I toss and turn it doesn’t wake me up completely (luckily- because usually I would since I am a light sleeper.) One night this week, I turned from one side to another and somehow in moving, moved my one leg a certain way or I don’t even know what I did… but I had my first leg cramp. Usually if I stretch out a muscle the pain lasts for a couple of seconds and my body’s immediate response is the muscle goes tense, but the minute I relax it, it goes away. This time it wasn’t quite like it. Once I relaxed the muscle the initial sharp and deep pain did not even decrease it stayed there for a while not letting go or releasing. I tried so hard not to scream or make any noise but I was very close to it because the pain was bad! I didn’t want to freak Zhenya out with him waking up to me screaming at night… worrying I am in labor or something! :)  I tried to relax as much as I could and tried to place my leg in a different position, and rubbed the muscle where it was cramping and in about a minute or two the pain finally released. That was probably one of the longest 1-2 minutes of my life!

I ended up falling back asleep but could feel I was still sore where the cramp happened but didn’t think anything of it. Later on, when I ended up getting up in the morning, I couldn’t step normally on that leg! Where the leg cramp happened, even after a few hours it was still VERY sore. As if I legit pulled a muscle or something. I seriously limped! With more walking and stretching I was able to “walk it off.” The pain didn’t really end up going away, it just lessened to the point here it was tolerable to walk normally and not limp, but the sore pain continued to stay there for a few days after. Boy do I wish I never have a leg cramp again! I know some women say they have these every night! I would not be happy with that at all and not sure how I would handle that! Someone told me she had them so often and frequently, she kept a needle by her bedside. Apparently if you have a leg cramp, sticking a needle in the muscle where it is cramping can help make it go away? That doesn’t sound too pleasant… but if it helps… I guess it is better to tolerate a poke than a continuing cramping pain. If I do end up having more of these in the near future, I will have to try it out.

My belly button! I’ve mentioned a few changes with it here and there… but I think I can no longer call my belly button an innie. It is something between an outie and an innie…. With half of it sometimes seeming to still possess some innie features but definitely the other half of it protruding out. It also depends what position I am in. If I am laying flat on my back, I think all the baby weight tends to push on my back and hence my belly button looks more or less normal. When I am sitting or standing- it looks like a complete outie. Soon enough it will probably be sticking out and poking through my shirts! That should be fun. :)

My cravings this week… and not even this week… but in general. I like sweets, but not crazily. I would have these moments before I was pregnant where I would really want ice cream or something and feel like I could eat a whole gallon or something and end up having a tiny portion and being satisfied. I am always so shocked how my hubby can eat SO much sweets! It’s just too much for me. But I can definitely say with being pregnant that has changed, and I am starting to be more and more convinced this baby is going to be a mini-version of Papa… because I have been craving sweets like crazy! For me this is crazy since I don’t eat them a lot… I probably STILL eat less than Zhenya does! And I have to admit… I have been eating the not so healthy sweets… but I can’t help it! I really want them! I have been really into fruity things… like Blow Pop, fruit roll ups… stuff like that. Yum!

Another strange craving I have been having (don’t worry guys- I’ve just been craving, I haven’t fulfilled it!!) is BEER. I told Zhenya about it yesterday and poor guy looked at me like I am insane. LOL!! He thinks our son is already an alcoholic! LOL I’ve had this small craving for weeks now… and it has been growing and growing. If it gets uncontrollable we will have to go on a hunt for non-alcoholic beer or something. That would be awesome! I remember my mom drinking some non-alcoholic beer when she was pregnant. So at least I know I am not the only insane one.

Speaking of cravings, I still am going insane about spaghetti. Maybe not as bad as I was in the beginning- but I still love my pasta! A friend of mine posted this photo on facebook the other day, and this instantly reminded me of myself at 5 am eating spaghetti. Funny thing is I probably had the same exact suspicious face when Zhenya would wake up to work and find me sitting in the kitchen eating spaghetti at 5-6 am.

Hubby and I have been doing a lot of planning and preparing for our baby shower. I may have shared some brainstorming thoughts before but they weren’t certain, so here is the update for now. It is obviously a little early… but we have decided that it is going to be on May 19^th. And our friend Arseniy has a house and very big backyard that he is being ever so kind in letting us use. Which is awesome, because then there is a lot of space, and hopefully it will be warm out and I don’t have to worry about limiting who I want to invite with having everything outside.

With that said, we have been working on our registries for the past 2-3 weeks. This weekend I can officially say we finished up our registries and I am super psyched about it. I wasn’t going to do invites, but will probably do a few. In addition I am creating a facebook event- I think that is the best way to do it and we did that and only that for our wedding that we planned in 4 weeks. With having a lot of prep time for the shower, and not everyone having facebook, and giving out a lot of info with where and when the shower is happening in addition to all the different registry places, that should probably be written down. Or else people will forget and all. So I will hand out invitations to those who I know never go on their facebook or don’t have one so they have all the info handy. I am thinking of probably start inviting people in the beginning of April, hopefully enough time but not too far in advance… and see where it goes from there. I’m excited!!

A thought I shared on facebook is that it is baby season!! Seriously! I know about 10 (possibly little more) pregnant women right now! And it has come to the point where this month there were 3 that I know were due. One has already had her baby and the other 2 girls I know are about to any day. Next month I know 2, and in May I believe there is one. In June, including myself is 3, in July there are 2, and in August there are 2. I am telling you- baby season!!! I am so excited for all these mamas and their babies- making me more and more anxious to have our baby come out!

That really sums up this week. Baby continues to go crazy in my belly. I still can’t get a good video of it, but will soon enough! I have my midwife appt tomorrow… this appointment was not scheduled 4 weeks as it was supposed to, it was schedule 5 almost 6 weeks since my last one since I needed something at the end of the day and this was the only one available- so it feels as if I haven’t seen her in ages!! After tomorrow’s appointment I think I will start having my appointments every 2 weeks- unless they screw up the timing again somehow! But yes, that is all… Belly shot will be up hopefully tomorrow and I will see you all again at next week’s update! Thank you for reading me blab on ;)

My Latest Crochet Projects

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, my dear friend Katharine has been ever so kind to try to expand my knowledge in the crocheting realm.

With some work I think I may be getting somewhere and am slightly excited about it!

Last time I shared with you a baby hat I made with ear flaps... now I look at it and see so many flaws in it, not just the fact that it is big, but also the fact it seems a very awkward shape. It will have to do regardless, and I am still proud I made it. But with that thought I decided to make another hat with different yarn.

This time I used much thinner yarn made out of wool, cotton and a little bit of nylon.

Here is the result :

It came out much smaller than the other hat I made- which is good!!! So I am hoping it may fit a newborn's head... maybe? The good thing is it is stretchy so hopefully he won't grow out of it too soon either and it will accommodate our growing baby to be able to be worn longer! :)

The other thing I have been working on is socks. Now with this I had more trouble and personal issues with! The sock on the right is what I consider to be the perfect sock because, even though I started the bottom and finished the top part- Katharine did the heel.

Let me tell you I have attempted to duplicate this sock 3 maybe even 4 times! I started getting very frustrated and almost gave up. But didn't. I have no idea what I am doing different, don't even ask. But this is the closest I could get! Socks are not identical, but they will have to do

Nonetheless- these are my official fist socks ever! And if you squint your eyes and use your imagination good enough they can even be called cute! They just aren't perfect and I still need a lot of work with socks and may refrain myself from making anymore  any time soon. I got the whole hat thing very well, so I may continue to experiment with that and make different kinds of those.


As far as my blanket- I have been way too excited about making all these other new things that it has been slightly abandoned! I'm guilty I know. I need to finish it up ASAP so it can be an official done project and then I can continue making other things!

Regardless, these are my newest creations... although far from perfect I am already slightly a bit more smarter than I was several weeks ago about crocheting! SO I am happy!!!

Hopefully I can finish that blanket up soon already... and can show that off too!  Eventually...

Belly Shot: 25 Weeks!

2 days late... But I am hoping I will be forgiven. :)

And yes, for the record... and for all people who say so as well... my belly is more real and free when I wear dresses. If you see me in person I am usually wearing a tank top underneath whatever shirt I am wearing for that day and that already confines my belly into making it look smaller. Plus dresses or shirts that are tight under the chest and free everywhere else are honestly the best shirts! Because belly is just free and therefore gives it the more realistic "bigger" view.

I once again just cannot WAIT for warm weather! So I can wear my pretty warm weather dresses outside.

And I am getting frustrated with myself and hubby now with these photos. I want something new and interesting... the boring old photo  in the same spot is aggravating me. Once again- warm weather please come visit us soon!!! Arggg. Don't mind me.


Anywho...here is this week's belly shot:

25 Week Update: Thyroid Appt, Saving milk, and Stomach Movement!

25 Weeks… and counting! With only 15 weeks to go. Not really ‘only’ but maybe if I say ‘only’ it will seem like there is less time than there really is! :D

Let’s start with my weight. I’ve weighed myself for the past 3 days, and me weight has been jumping! But as of today I am 147.8. So I’ve gained a little less than a pound from last week… which is good because with me gaining 6 pounds last week alone I started getting a teensy bit nervous that by the 40^th week I was going to explode. I mean, that could still totally happen… I have 15 more weeks to go and stuff but hopefully I won’t! :)

This past week I had my monthly thyroid appointment. I haven’t really talked about them too much because nothing was really happening and such, but I am going to update you as to where I stand now. Originally (if you’ve been following along my health journey) you’d know that I have been taking thyroid medicine from the very beginning of my pregnancy. Every month I basically need to get my blood drawn and then I meet up with the doctor who checks my thyroid level to see if the dose of thyroid hormone they are giving me is keeping me at an elevated level. They started me out on the smallest dose. The first month I showed improvement, but the second month the hormone I was taking was still not enough to have my thyroid keep up with the amount of thyroid baby and I need. So they bumped up my dose a from 50 mg to 62.5 mg. Same thing happened now with the 2^nd dose. First it seemed to bump me up, now it is going down again, so they now bumped me up to 75 mg.

I really wasn’t concerned at first, now I kinda am. Well, I was concerned in the very beginning in general, especially when 10 different health issues seemed to pop out at me at once. Once I understood the whole thyroid situation I was calmer about it. Because there really isn’t any negative effect to the baby unless I don’t have ENOUGH of the thyroid… it could cause a lower IQ. And I also read somewhere the other day that how does a baby adjust from warm uterus temperature of 98.6 to the rapid cold temperature of the hospital…. Thyroid! Anyway, having the right amount of thyroid… especially when pregnant is very important.

What the thyroid specialist told me a few months ago and mentioned it again at this week’s appointment is that they also found an elevated thyroid antibody or something like that ( I still don’t fully understand this part.) Anyway, she says that may indicate I may have some auto-immune thyroid problem. I asked her, the fact that my dose keeps getting raised, that is not a good sign and does this mean I have to take thyroid medicine for the rest of my life?  She told me that there could be different causes for why my body is not producing the right amount of thyroid and such, and everything can also change once I give birth. But right now, there is no point to even try to figure out what the exact problem is because there isn’t much that can be done while I am pregnant. The most important thing right now she said is to keep the thyroid at a good level for the baby. After baby is born then they could look into doing more blood work or an ultrasound on the thyroid and see if they can see any growths or other abnormalities that may lead to the underlying reason for why my body isn’t producing enough thyroid hormone and go from there. Just sucks… and makes me a little sad that there is some sort of imbalance and issue going on with my body :(

I also remembered that I was recommended to take the natural iodide supplement by a friend and that should stabilize my thyroid. I started to take them, and then when I got sick with the kidney infection I didn’t take the pills with me to the hospital, and then I got the stomach flu and forgot about them altogether. I just randomly thought about that today and will start taking them tomorrow and stick to it this time… maybe it will help.

Saving milk… what the heck am I talking about you might think? Well, as you all know… I’ve mentioned that I have been leaking colostrum for the past 3 weeks already. And yes, with this week it is even more than last! I mentioned this to my friend the other day and she told me I can start saving and freezing it already now for the baby. Which I thought was weird at first, but then thought about it, and spoke to another friend and decided I would give it a try. Don’t worry… I am not pumping! Because we all know that could make me go into labor. I noticed now that I wear the bra pads during the day, I usually don’t have any leakage at all. It’s the moment I come home and strip down and enjoy the freedom of no clothing restraining my body- and usually in my warm bedroom do I begin to pour! I have a few milk freezer bag samples that I have gotten from various places, so I thought I would give this a try. I can definitely tell you this; I never predicted or saw myself saving colostrum at 24- 25 weeks pregnant! It is just crazy, and definitely not comfortable or easy to do so when it comes out in drops. But I can say as a matter of 3-4 days, I have probably 1.5 ounces already frozen. Weird. But then also I am thinking, this stuff is coming out of me and I am just wiping it and throwing it away? Why the heck is my body making this if it is not going to be used. And I know mamas consider this colostrum stuff GOLD… so… I am not sure if I will end up actually giving this old frozen colostrum to our baby, because if I have this now… I can only imagine how much I will have at birth! I am just simply collected this boob leakage from now and see where and how it goes.

Oh baby…. Baby has been having a party in my stomach every day! For the past 4 days visible movement has drastically increased! Even Zhenya got a look at this and was amazed and slightly creeped out that my stomach is moving on its own! It is weird, that is for sure! But also amazing and beyond cool at the same time. I have recorded a couple videos but they don’t capture his strongest movements. Most of the time when he IS moving crazily I just stare at my belly with awe and am too busy to take a video! :) I will get a good video recorded one of these days and share it with you guys! But yes, baby is SO strong! He legit has so much energy, that for such a small baby I have no idea where he gets it! Papa keeps saying that it’s because he is a boy! ;) We  have definitely been having a lot of fun with that this week as well.

There probably won’t be any blanket update this week, because I don’t think I have worked on it enough to have any “update” really. I have been excited and distracted with crocheting other things… and working of course. As I mentioned in last week’s post ( I think) my friend Katharine is going to expand my knowledge in the crochet realm, and hopefully by the time I give birth I will have learned how to make not only blankets and hats… but possibly socks, pants and sweaters too! I have so much enthusiasm for this now, and while I do… and have someone teach me I am using every moment I can! :)  Next on the list is to learn little socks! If I have something to show off , only then maybe will there be a small post about that! :)

That pretty much sums up my week! A week from today I have my midwife appointment and the following week I have my 2 hour Glucose test. From that point on my appointments are going to be every 2 weeks! Another milestone (kind of) in pregnancy to be looking forward to!

I did not do my belly shot today; I will make Zhenya take my picture tomorrow! I also can’t wait for the weather to get warmer out so we can start doing some artistic outside pictures as opposed to the boring old picture of me in front of our balcony curtains :) And just in general, once the weather gets warmer and my belly gets bigger I want hubby to do some very nice pregnancy photos of me. So a lot to look forward to! :)

24 Week Update: 6 Month Milestone, Round Ligament Pain and Baby Shower Brainstorming.

I am soo not on time with this, but this week I have been working everyday- substitute teaching and just busy with life in general and I have actually been cooking dinner and ( trying) to clean so by the time I get into bed I am just beat and ready to pass out. But here is Wednesday and I am going to try to write this weekly post up in a matter of 30 minutes before I pass out. I promised myself I would go to bed by 10 today because I am just way too tired during the day with waking up so early for work that I just NEED to be going to bed earlier. It’s Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday already…

Anyway, back to what this week has been like. Well, I am now in my 6 month of pregnancy reaching a new month is just WOW and kind of crazy I have been pregnant for half a year already! But I am happy and have a feeling like I have achieved something here… and makes the pregnancy seem like it is passing by just a teeny bit faster.

I weighed myself today, yes I am 2 days passed being 24 weeks, but that is quite fine with me but I weigh 147 pounds! I weighed 141 last week, and this week I gained 6 pounds! In a week! Woahhh…. I am supposed to be gaining like 2-3 pounds a week I think. I am not sure, going to look that up later. But the weight is catching up to me… which is still good… I think… I am not concerned yet… this is just the most weight I have gained in a week thus far!

Although some people say my belly is not that big- and maybe it isn’t compared to some other pregnant ladies in the same week as me but I am GROWING that is for sure! I have been very wobbly… squatting, getting up; making fast sudden movements is getting difficult. I actually fell in the shower yesterday. Just randomly lost my balance. I didn’t hurt myself… maybe a small bruise on my leg somewhere but nothing serious. But I think I need to try to be more careful and aware of my movements because making movements and shifting this extra weight is very new to me and is making me even clumsier than I am.

I also believe I started having round ligament pain. Which is strange because I have read about it happening earlier in the pregnancy. I actually remember thinking I had a little bit of it, but now that I have it I think I know for sure whatever ache I had at the time was NOT round ligament pain. My muscles are definitely stretching. Right above my hip bones on both sides, you can see this almost- sculpted bulge of where you can tell it is not fat it is my uterus- a place that definitely grew! And that same area kind of a little higher and to the sides is where I have been feeling this pain. And this usually happens if I am laying and quickly turn over to my other side or get up to fast or sometimes I am not even sure what movement I can possibly be doing but if I turn or do something too quickly that could cause it too. Also sneezing and coughing and laughing even sometimes bring on the pain too. It’s nothing HORRID. I’ve heard women complain like something is broken in their body or they think they are in labor… it’s nothing like that. It is kind of like a sharp, sudden muscle pain and strain that last for a few seconds and once I am still and relaxed it slowly goes away.  The strongest pain I had so far was when I sneezed or blew my nose the other day. I literally had to sit still for a minute until the pain went away- it was almost like a very bad muscle spasm! I have been trying very hard to just be careful and slow with my movements. The only problem I have with that is at night… I toss and turn and sometimes wake myself up because of my sudden turning which causes the pain. During the night I can’t really control myself so that is the only thing that sucks. But it is ok, from what I have heard and read the pain could be much worse, so I will take it!

My indigestion got a little better this week. I have been trying different foods and the more greasy foods tend to bring the indigestion back to life. So I started eating spaghetti with sauce and cheese again (without the meatballs- the meatballs instantly gave me the horrid indigestion.) The spaghetti seems to be fine, so I am eating and happy! 

My boobs… ugh….the rash between them seems to be dry and almost gone, but now this heat rash or whatever else this is has spread to  my boobs in general. Which really sucks because they get SO itchy. I do everything I can, I wash myself there 1000 times a day, wipe them down with rubbing alcohol, hydrocortisone, everything you can think of!  The past couple days have been a little more tolerable so I am hoping it will stay that way.

More on the topic of my boob leakage I mentioned last week. At this point I don’t even know if there is a point to mention my posts being TMI because all this stuff is just normal to me now, and you are following a pregnancy blog and reading it ( especially if you have been reading my posts) you should know by now I talk about this stuff.

Anyway, now both the ladies are leaking. Which is fine, I really don’t care… I just think it is strange that this is happening so early… I thought this was supposed to happen closer to labor time. My but I have been leaking more and more. I wake up in the morning and have dried up stains on our bed sheets and on my pjs. I went to Babies R Us on Saturday and got myself some medela bra pads. At home I don’t care if I have a random wet boob stain, but in public- no thank you! I would definitely like to avoid that!

So I have been walking around with bra pads now. Strange feeling…. Especially since I am still pregnant and don’t have a baby yet. But yes, I have been leaking more and more! I’ve also noticed that my boobs are much hotter when you feel them. I could be all cold and they are just burning up ( which could be one cause of the rash I suppose.) Funniest part is, I could walk around all day at work with my bra pads in to protect me from leakage… then I come home and do the most amazing thing that day- strip down and take my bra off- and there comes the colostrum! Woooo! Waterfall! Literally… this is how it’s been. I squeeze it out so I don’t sit there and keep leaking, so it just comes out and it is done and over with. Today, I literally had half a palm full in my hands. I seriously feel like I could start pumping already and I will have something. I don’t plan to… don’t worry. I know they say pumping can actually stimulate labor- and no thank you! Baby still has some baking to do! But it is just INSANE!  This much?! I don’t get it!!! I am going to mention this to my midwife next time I have an appointment with her which is the 18^th of this month and see what she says. I mean I don’t think it’s a bad thing… a lot of people are saying it is a good thing I am just confused and mind blown that it is happening so early! And so much of it!

Baby continues to move and jump and have a party in there. I think he has fun with my bladder a lot too. I seriously think he uses it as a trampoline or something, because it literally feels like he is jumping on it or aiming to kick me there. So far I haven’t had any accidents, but if this keeps up I might have one soon!! :)  I’ve also felt little bulges in certain spots and can tell where he is chilling sometimes. On Sunday for instance he just decided to chill on the very bottom of my stomach as if he was hugging my bladder or something. I just had this awkward heavy pressure feeling down below, as if I had a rock there or something. At some points of the day I would rub my belly there and can literally feel a bump right there!! Of course once I would poke him the bump wouldn’t be as distinct but he just wouldn’t budge and move anywhere else! Silly boy!

I’ve also felt either his leg or arm bone the other day. Totally some small skinny bone and not something round which is what I usually feel. It was kind of cool. And today I think I felt either a footsie or a hand kick me or high five me. So baby is getting more active and interesting with each day, it is so fun…  I just can’t wait for him to come out already so I can play with him outside the womb! :)

Last thing I want to mention, but not too much about it, is I have been thinking about my baby shower a lot. Yes, we are throwing it ourselves. I can talk about why and all that stuff later, but right now (I know it is too far in advance) we are thinking of having it May 19^th. So far all we know is where it is going to be! But I registered online for 2 stores the other day. Zhenya and I skimmed through babys r us the other day when we got my bra pad thingies and both of us got super excited about all this baby stuff and decided we are going to fully register in babys r us this weekend. Take some time specifically to look at some stuff and scan away in the store. I actually think Zhenya is JUST as excited about this as me! Making ME even more excited to see my hubby so into it! But yes, we are going to slowly register for some stores, and probably in a month be done and finalize that and start inviting people! I am excited!!

Other than that, that is pretty much my week! I will try to keep the posts on time and not late but sometimes life catches up with me and I just don’t have the time! :)

I have lied to myself again... it is 10:15 and I am not in bed. So this is coming up and I am passing out! Good night!

Belly Shot : 24 Weeks!

Drum roll please......


I 
  am
       24
           Weeks
                     pregnant!!!

    6 MONTHS!

If you can't tell already... I am super excited to have reached a new month and hence a milestone for me!

This week I am wearing one of my 5 dresses that I mentioned 2 posts ago that I have. For my 22 week belly shot I am wearing the same dress but blue... today I am pink. :)

6 months and growing!!!

24 weeks down...16 weeks to go!

I have a series of bare belly shots that I have been taking weekly too. I personally would not mind sharing them but Zhenya has been against me doing that. But they have been coming out pretty cool and I made a collage the other day of them  to see the weekly changes. Maybe I can get him to OK that at one point or another. I could make it all pretty and black and white and share some of them with you. Or not... regardless for now it is just these clothed belly shots, haha! Sorry! ;)

Blanket Update and a New Crochet Project

Yes, it is Monday.Yes I am 24 weeks today. And yes there has not been a belly shot or a weekly update posted. Shame on me, I know. But this quick post and pictures in it will make you understand why. Kinda.. maybe...

Anyway, I have not crocheted for 2 weeks because I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, my thumb became sore so I couldn't crochet. This week I started again. A little, nothing too crazy. So the blanket may seem just a little bigger than last time's. But here is the still working progress :

As far as why no posts are posted...well because I have been very excitedly busy today!!!  :) My friend Katharine who is an amazing knitter/crocheter... yarn person in general is going to  be generous enough to try to expand my knowledge in the crochet world. So today was attempt one, and I am proud to say it has been somewhat of a success! :)

Today she showed me how to do a baby hat with ear flaps. The pattern we used was obviously so off, even though it said it was for a 6 month old, which I was going to do and depending on the size just make another smaller one  later. This hat- and we adjusted it as we went literally fit half my head. It was wide enough, just had  to make it a little longer and it would be for me. I actually regret not taking a picture of it before I took it apart. :) I was actually going to finish it and have it be Zhenya's and then making a matching one for baby but he said he did not like the color on him nor the earflaps, haha.

Regardless, I got the hang of it and it gave me a very good idea of how to make hats and I feel a little more secure and sure of myself to make hats now. So I came home, took apart the hat and tried to guess how to make a hat the same way but a smaller size. Here is the finishing product:

This may be for a 6 month old... I don't know I guess it depends on the head. But might fit our 1 yr old future son. Regardless this hat will be made to use!!! :)

Pretty pretty! I'm so excited!!! :)

My pretty chain thingy I made on the sides of the ear laps.

Basically, this is what I did all day after work, and just wanted to share with you all because I am super excited!!! But tomorrow I will get to my belly shot and weekly post. :) Good night all! ;)