34, 35 & 36 Week Update: Leg Cramp from Hell, Baby Shower, Shingles, Moving, & Emotional

My goodness… how embarrassing…. 3 weeks behind. And it’s basically the end of my 36th week so it’s almost like I am late with this week’s post as well. Not my idea of being on top of things. But to cut me some slack there has definitely been a lot going on that has been keeping me from being able to post my weekly posts.



I probably don’t remember much that happened in my 34th week, but will do my best to kind of sum things up and give a life update in general.

One thing I remember I missed in my last post that probably happened in my 32nd or 33rd week, was my leg cramp that I had. I’ve mentioned the few leg cramps I have had here and there, and most of them would happen at night when I would be sleeping, but not something that would happen on a day to day basis or any more often than that, and hence never worried much about it. Although, the pain was very excruciating, and being the panicky person I am I was always paranoid of having a leg cramp at the wrong time…. Like when driving. Well, that finally happened, my biggest paranoia fear came true. But nonetheless, I have to say I was lucky and it could have been much worse that is for sure.



I had a leg cramp while pulling into our parking space behind our apartment complex. Luckily our car faces this uphill grassy foresty thing, so I didn’t crash into a person or car- THANK GOD! As I was pulling in it hit me, and of course not really having control over my leg or of anything for that matter, I tried to respond quickly by pressing the breaks as hard as I could with the pain going on in my leg. And instead of breaking as hard as I could I of course pressed the gas as hard as I can, and immediately removed my foot once I realized it was the gas. Anyway, that made the car go slightly uphill and into the forest kind of. Like I said, it’s uphill, so I don’t think I could have gone far if I continued to press the gas pedal. Nonetheless, there were trees and branches that I ran into. At first I just kind of sat there for a few seconds in panic mode trying to comprehend what the heck just happened. Then I backed up and put the car in the right position. I was very shaky and scared… I didn’t hurt myself, I was more scared than anything and concerned about the car really. I stepped out and looked at the car (mind you the front of the car is facing the forest so I couldn’t really see the complete front of the car) and looked around and seemed to just see a few white marks that weren’t really scratches from the branches, but just marks because I was able to remove them with my finger. I didn’t really run into anything other than a bush and a few branches so didn’t think anything of it- once again I was more scared than anything, I thought. In about an hour hubby and I had to go to church and when we go outside to the car, he pulls out and I see the true damage that was done to the car. Our front bumper was smashed. When I saw this I started balling my eyes. For several reasons… 1. How stupid was I to do something like that. 2. OMG, this is not some little thing it is going to cost a lot of money and we don’t have much to begin with! 3. Hubby is going to kill me. And to make things even more wonderful, the bumper was pushing into one of the wheels and when you would turn a certain way it would make a terrible screeching noise… so basically it was not safe to drive which meant I would not be able to work on top of losing money for fixing it. Great. Over a stupid leg cramp.



Anyway, not to mope in the past, but we asked around and were recommended this one guy who does really good body work on cars and for relatively cheap prices. We got everything fixed for $200. I mean… yeah it’s still a lot of money but it could have been a lot worse. A leg cramp that cost me $200- great!



As far as symptoms, I don’t really remember which ones where specific to each week so I will try to kind of just sum them up in general. Heartburn has been insane. Everything I eat and/or drink gives me horrible heartburn. Heartburn to the extent that if I am laying in bed and feel like I have to burp, I burp in hopes of getting some relief and actually throw up some of my food. Not a lot- a mouth full. Enough for me to hold my mouth closed, run to the bathroom and spit it out- ew, I know. And I am not even nauseous, just heart burn and acidy. Milk does not help me. I drink ginger ale- the fizziness seems to give me some relief and also tums. Tums help me every now and then as well.



My weight has been jumping… 2 weeks ago I was 173.6, last week I was 177.8, and yesterday I weighed myself being 174.6. So I am keeping the last weight to leave it at a happy medium. Scary how much heavier I am getting. I am getting to 180 pounds almost… and reaching an almost 40 pound gain not counting the 10 extra pounds I lost and gained back. Gah, scary.



Baby has been kicking like crazy. I have been feeling a lot of foot and knee and elbow movement. He is still head down, so that is good. He has been hiccupping a lot too. Definitely at least once a day, and more often about 3 times a day… such a silly feeling! He is definitely starting to have less and less room in there because sometime he just sticks out body parts and doesn’t even care anymore, lol. Like mom, sorry… but I just feel like sticking my butt out today. I am getting more and more impatient to meet this little person inside me :)



The heavier I get, the weirder it feels. Walking around feels very strange now. I feel like there is a bowling ball between my legs. Not even that, but kind of like a big poop down there weighing down on me, and with every step I take it pushes/presses down like a balloon filled with a lot of water weighing down and down…. As if it’s about to burst any moment. Very weird.



Anyway, back to life events. I had my baby shower about 1.5 weeks ago. It was nice, but have to say planning it was beyond stressful. And to make things even easier for us, the whole week before the forecast was wonderfully warm and sunny, and last minute they changed it to rain and it started to rain that morning. Yes, it was outside. And the tents we had in mind to borrow in case that happened were not in our reach that weekend. I panicked of course… fitting 40-60 people (that may have possibly come) in our friend’s house was not an option. So hubby and our friend Arseniy drove down to Wal-Mart and got a tarp thingy with ropes and other stuff for $240. Luckily we were able to return everything but the ropes… getting $220 back, so I was very relieved about that. But it was nice, and a part of me is glad it’s over :)



Before I get to the whole moving part, let me tell you about the best thing that has happened to me thus far (being highly sarcastic here!!!) I got the shingles! Between the baby shower and moving and stress about everything in general I guess it finally hit me. Honestly, I didn’t even know what the shingles were… so let me tell you how this even unraveled.



This happened 2 weeks from today… I noticed I had a little itch on my back. Didn’t think anything of it, I remember lying in bed before going to sleep and asking hubby to scratch a specific part on my back, that he seemed to feel there was a bite or 2 on my back. The next day it itched even more and I felt about 7 bites, and I was like okayyyy, so some sort of bug had a good meal on my back- wonderful! Saturday that area started to ache. So I figured it wasn’t a mosquito, must have been an ant or spider or something, because it was giving off to my muscles in a way. Saturday onto Sunday night is when the pain started to get pretty bad. I woke up at night from the pain and had to take Tylenol. Sunday, the day of my baby shower the pain was awful. It was giving off to my shoulder and neck and underarm and boob. I started thinking what the heck bit me that it’s giving me such pain… nerve pain! As if they bit me in some nerve or it was some sort of allergic reaction. Nonetheless, the pain was really bad and that is when I started taking the percocets that I had left over from my kidney infection in order to function and get through preparing and the actual shower.



During the shower, I showed a few of my friends my “ bites” and was wondering if maybe anyone had anything useful to say. And one of them did… saying it was shingles. I started googling it , and of course that is never truly useful :) At that point I haven’t really looked at my back since Friday, and noticed that it was definitely no longer “ bites” it was looking more and more like a rash. That night after the shower the pain hit its peak… and sadly 2 weeks later it is still the same. :/ I went to convenient care in Herkimer Bassett on Monday… which was probably the worst idea ever. It’s like urgent care except it is supposed to be more convenient in the way it’s not walk in you have to schedule an appointment. Which I totally did but still ended up waiting 2.5 hours there when I showed up which was ridiculous! Anyway, pregnant, hungry, thirsty, and in pain me ( my Tylenol wore off) had an emotional breakdown right there, and I finally got seen and diagnosed with shingles. The woman who came to look at me spent maybe about 2 minutes in the room with me. Quickly looked at my back and said “Yup, It’s shingles!” Seriously? I waited 2.5 hours for her to just look at me for 5 seconds to say that??? And when I was explaining to her the extent of the pain and where it was reaching out to (my knee and my face) she told me it was not possible, as if I am making it up. The point is my experience wasn’t the best. They gave me antiviral meds and refused to give me any other pain meds or recommendations or advice on what to do next. At that point I was in so much pain and so upset that I went home and that was that.



The next day hubby had a checkup appointment with our primary care provider and I decided to tag along to see if he could take a look at me and see what he would say. He was such a help. He gave me 2 creams and pain meds and at least explained and took his time to look at me and give me advice on what to do. Anyway, not to turn this whole post about the shingles, but it’s been a little over 2 weeks now, and the rash is almost gone… but the pain is still there. I am trying to take less pain meds or try to take just the Tylenol instead of the Percocets and it’s been working lately. I’ve also been using Aveeno oatmeal bath. Pain is either getting less intense or I am more used to it… regardless it is still there but I am hoping it goes away soon.





Moving, I am not going to get super into that, but yes we moved. Maybe I will just save all the details for next week’s post since it technically happened this week for me to tell you about in the next post that I will try my best not to be late with. But yes, we moved on Memorial Day. I really like the new place but there is a lot of work to do! I am only interested in doing the baby room right now and nothing else. But I am glad I can finally do that at least as opposed to having all the baby stuff in our other room in our old apartment and not being able to do anything with it since we weren’t staying there.



As far as emotions, I feel like I started crying more. I am more sensitive and just things upset me more I guess. Which sucks, because I don’t want to be a downer. Lately I think what really has been making me even more upset is the shingles, because of the pain. I try so hard not to complain and deal with it, but this nonstop intense pain really gets to me. I don’t get a break at all, and I just break down and cry from the pain. Every time someone talks to me about their shingles or their experience with it and for how long they had the pain, I also start crying because I realize this thing is going to haunt me for life. I think just being in pain and miserable on top of everything else doesn’t really put you in the mood for things and just makes everything else seem worse around you making me even more upset. Which sucks, because I don’t like being like this. And knowing there is nothing I can really do about it makes me hopeless and even more upset.



But yeah, that is pretty much it. I am getting very exhausted but pushed myself to finish this update so I can post it tonight. So off to bed I go! Hopefully once the insanity of moving settles down I will get things under control again and be on time, because this is just ridiculous being late this much. Ugh. Anyway, goodnight y’all!

Belly Shot: 36 Weeks!

Lateeeee, but not forgotten!

To be technical this is a 36w 4 day belly shot.  So kinda  in the middle, but that's okay. My big long update for the past several weeks is in the process. Almost done, hoping to maybe post it up today. So I haven't completely forgotten about this blog... just a lot going on.


Anywho... here is the belly shot!

For some odd reason it looks like I have a black eye kinda. I don't know why... my eyes were itching earlier, maybe that's why?

And a bare belly shot as an extra ;) 

Belly Shot: 35 Weeks!

I know I have skipped a week of updating and seems like the way things are going I may not be able to get to this week either. But a lot has been going on, that I just haven't been able to keep up.

The least I can do is still maintain my belly shots. With preparation for the shower, the actual shower, me sick with the SHINGLES- yes, very awful and us moving this coming weekend I just haven't been able to keep up with life in general.

Anyway, whenever this update will happen, because at this point I am not even sure myself, everything will be explained and updated unless pregnancy brain hits me and I forget absolutely everything.

But for now here is fat, sick me at 35 weeks.

5 weeks to go... in hopes of possibly happening sooner! Probably won't happen, but I can hope right?
( soon as in after we move, we move then baby can come!)

Belly Shot: 34 Weeks!

I'm on time today!!! With my belly shot at least :)

This dress is slightly small on me in the chest area but that is okay ;)

Anyway, here I am with 6 weeks to go!!!

Gahhhhhhh getting so impatient!!!!!

32 & 33 Week Update: My Health, Baby is Head Down, Thoughts and Feelings, and Baby Shower Preparations

Very long overdue post needed. I know, this has been the most I have ever been late.  And calling this a 32 and 33 week post is probably inaccurate since I don’t remember anything from 32 weeks, although remember having the feeling of having so much to share. So much for pregnancy brain, that has definitely been kicking in and doing lots.

So what the heck has been going on in the past 2 weeks?  A lot!  My appointments have now started to be every two weeks. My next one is this Friday actually, making me remember that at my last appointment I saw Dr. Gildenblatt and I asked him to feel baby and tell me if he can tell what position he is in- and baby is head down! So that was one of the exciting things from 32 weeks I could probably remember. So that was nice to know, and gave a piece of mind. Although I heard baby can still change position if you have enough fluid in there and there is still room. So just to be safe I will ask again on Friday when I have my next appointment.

The past 2 weeks have been a little tough. Overall, the last 6 weeks my body has just not had a break at all. You guys all know how often I get sick with me complaining about it every time. And every time I say “I’m sick” it sounds like old news now because it happens so much. Especially in the last 6-7 weeks I have been sick 3 times already and am on my 3^rd course of antibiotics right now- which I HATE!

I mean, I am not a big natural person, I believe it is the best thing, but I don’t avoid medicine if I can have it. But I HATE having to take antibiotics so much! Especially being pregnant. I know they tell me it is safe and what not but still does not make me happy. The first (recent) time I got sick it started with the typical double ear infection and sinus infection. I always try to wait it out for a little, hoping it is just congestion or a cold that will go away, but it never is and only gets worse. So after several days of getting worse I ended up going to the doctor’s, got amoxicillin, and that did not help. I actually didn’t see my primary care provider because he was not in the Ilion office that day and I remember feeling extremely miserable and not wanting to make a trip to New Hartford and they said I would be able to see someone here otherwise. This was some nurse practitioner lady who obviously knew nothing about me. She gives me these antibiotics and I ask her  ( knowing from previous experience of them upsetting my tummy, giving me yeast infections and sometimes just not being strong enough to kill the infection) if there is any other antibiotic she can give me and she  just said “ Amoxicillin is the ONLY antibiotic safe during pregnancy”- which is total BS. But I was sick and miserable and was not in the mood to argue with her. Whatever, I took them, they started to make me feel *slightly* better but not completely and the day after I finished them I started to feel worse- not to mention I got that nasty yeast infection, that I believe I mentioned in my previous posts.

After JUST finishing antibiotics I was not planning on running to the doctor’s right away, that was beyond ridiculous to me. I ended up having a midwife appointment mid week and asked her opinion and she told me if I don’t get better I should go see my primary care provider again. I waited a week, and on top of my ears and sinuses getting worse, I developed bronchitis. It was SO painful, and non bearable. I couldn’t breathe and sounded like a man. I had pneumonia once and it was pretty much feeling the same and I was terrified of getting pneumonia while pregnant. So we went to urgent care and I got Azithromycin. That cleared everything up in a matter of days and I was feeling great. But of course that can’t last long, can it? About 3 weeks later I get sick again! This happened last week; I developed the typical sinus and double ear infection again. I am seriously so over this already. Once again I waited it out and that didn’t help and headed to my doctor on Monday.  I made the trip to New Hartford this time because I wanted to see my doctor and wanted to ask him for advice. I mean, this whole season I have had these infections 8 times at least for sure if not more. It’s ridiculous- nonstop! This is not normal! I asked him if there were any procedures that could be done to avoid getting them so much (like sinus surgery or getting your ears cleaned with tubes or whatever.) He says to get the ears cleaned you have to have a middle ear infection? I don’t remember if it was inner or middle, but either way I don’t have middle I have inner which that procedure is not meant for. As far as a sinus procedure he thinks that may be something to consider but there are other steps to take first.

He explained to me he thinks the reason that I have both of these infections so often is because I have really bad allergies. Which, I do… I mean they haven’t been as bad as I remember them being in general, but I do have allergies. (Although being sick so much I haven’t been able to even observe my own allergies since I am sick all the time.) He says right now I am pregnant and there isn’t much to do. But he truly believes the causes of my infections are these allergies. So, what do I have to do?  Right now kill the infections with antibiotics AGAIN (which I am working on.) And to try to keep my allergies under control. Right now since I am pregnant, I can’t really do that, other than do nasal/saline rinses. After I have the baby he is recommending me to get weekly allergy shots. As awful as that sounds, this is actually a 2^nd time a doctor is recommending this to me.

About 5 years ago I think, I was really sick. Kind of the way I am sick this year. My mom would never take me to the doctor. The 4-5 years we lived here (at that time)  she never once took me to see a doctor here. She finally took me to a doctor after me having a sinus and double ear infection for 8 weeks. And this was the first time I saw my pediatrician at the time. I took the opportunity and told him about EVERYTHING that was bothering me, not knowing when I will see a doctor again, lol. When I lived with my parents my allergies were the worst they have ever been. All year round. After explaining everything to him in detail he offered the shots too. Which my mom without thought said no. I think one of the big reasons (as most of her reasons were to not even take me to the doctor’s in the first place) was money. Money for the visits, money for the shots, money for the meds. Also I think the idea of getting a weekly shot just was bizarre to her.

Anyway, going back to now time. My doctor- Dr. Syed strongly recommends them to me. I mean, I think I can say I have had allergies really badly now for about 10 years. And he says because I have allergies all the time, they irritate my sinuses and clog everything up creating constant ear and sinus infections. So if we can get that under control that should help with the infection issue. He says that is the first thing to try. If for whatever reason that does not help, that is when they would refer me to an ENT specialist who would do further analysis on my sinuses and do all the needed scans and what not to see if there is something else causing the issue. And I guess in that case if they do end up finding some growth or something else that is when a sinus surgery would be something to consider. Regardless, right now I just have to rinse, after I have the baby I guess the experimentation will start. So this kind of explains why I am so sick all the time on top of my immune system just sucking to begin with.

Now, that the health part is covered let me tell you about what has been going on in the past 2 weeks in general. Well, as you all know we are moving May 27 which is in about 2.5 weeks. Wonderful. Since our house is barely packed. We have a few boxes of books but that is it! Nothing else is done. Oh boy. Also it was our Easter this past weekend. A lot of preparation was put into that preparing the Kulichi, Cheese Pascha, eggs and what not.

I have to say this year’s Easter service was probably one of the most difficult ones I had in a very long time. I feel like such a baby and like I am complaining too much… but I can’t help it… I feel very weak saying all this. I tried to sleep before the service but that was a fail. And not only because I am pregnant and heavy and can’t stand for long periods of time, but I also was SO miserably sick. People thought I was crying I think at one point because I looked so out of it. But I cheated… I was at the service for 1.5 hours, and was literally just passing out and feeling like death. I told hubby I was going to rest in the car and to get me when it was Veruyu, and closer to Communion. That gave me about 1.5 hours of rest in the cold car, lol. We came home around 5 am and passed out, and the  next day  I continued to feel like death.  The weather was so nice and I felt horrible –feeling horrible. I didn’t want my stupid sickness getting in the way of enjoying Pascha!

Anyway, I look at other pregnant girls and feel so weak. They are able to stand for long periods of time; they don’t seem to have a hard time carrying the extra weight, moving around like they don’t even have a belly- staying up all night is a breeze. And then there is me who seems to complain about everything. I really don’t like complaining, I love the fact that I am pregnant, I love the fact that there is a baby inside me growing, our little miracle that we waited for and wanted so much. And when I talk about the things that bother me, I am in no way trying to put down pregnancy or try make it seem like this horrible thing. I love it, I love feeling baby move. I love hearing the heartbeat, I love seeing ultrasounds, and knowing every day we are getting closer to meeting him. It just can be… difficult sometimes. And I don’t know if I am just weak to begin with, that it is harder for me… I don’t want people thinking I am just trying to make a big deal out of nothing and I am just trying to be a drama queen or whatever. I don’t know… just looking at other pregnant girls makes me seem not strong at all and like it really isn’t a big deal and I am just making it out to be.

I try to calm myself down by trying to tell myself that pregnancy is different for every person, and everyone handles it differently. I sometimes even feel slightly ashamed to honestly answer the question of how I am when people ask. I feel like they are just so quick to judge my answer or brush it off or look at me as if I am overreacting.  So I apologize to anyone I have annoyed with my constant complains, I guess. I really don’t enjoy being sick and miserable all the time. I wish I could be full of energy and jumpy and for everything to be smooth, to enjoy pregnancy to the fullest- that is truly what I want, I hope people know that. And as far as for my own sake and sanity, I just have to keep telling myself that other women are stronger and can just handle certain things (like pregnancy) better and I just have to do the best I can and leave it at that.

Alright enough of this sad emotional stuff… moving on to happy thoughts! BABY SHOWER! That was next on the list of things happening. Easter, Baby Shower, Moving, DUEDATE!  First one down, 3 more to go ;) 10 days left and I am probably annoying the HECK out of everyone on facebook but trying to get a guest count is getting a little bit difficult. I feel like we are just going to have to wing it, and hopefully have enough food and drinks for everyone who does show! I mean, we’ll see! But I’ve been prepping for that by hunting everyone down handing out invites, stalking everyone :) All the fun stuff! And we were trying to figure out a sitting issue but luckily our church is letting us borrow some of their long benches! So that is a big weight off our shoulders and we won’t have to worry about that. I just hope it doesn’t rain, but I think the Monastery has those tent things too in case the forecast decides to be fun that day. And hopefully they won’t mind us borrowing that too! After this weekend I am really hoping to get a better understanding of how many people are coming to then go shopping for utensils and food and drinks and stuff. Exciting stuff going on!

I still haven’t shared my maternity photos on here but that is on the to-do list as well as this week’s belly shot! Which I already posted:)  Late and behind but with so much happening I think it is understandable!

Oh, I of course I didn’t weigh myself last week, but I weighed myself yesterday and I am  167.6 pounds!

Here is the infamous chart of weight gain!

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)

04/01/13: 28 w 156.2 lbs (16.2 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.8 lbs weekly gain, 25.2 lbs total gain)

04/08/13: 29 w 159.4 lbs (19.4 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.2 lbs weekly gain, 28.4 lbs total gain)

04/15/13: 30 w 159.6 lbs (19.6 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, .2 lbs weekly gain, 28.6 lbs total gain)

04/22/13: 31 w 163.5 lbs ( 23.5 lbs pre-pregnancy weight gain, 3.9 lbs weekly gain, 32.5 lbs total gain)

05/05/13: 33 w 167.6 lbs ( 27.6 lbs pre-pregnancy weigh gain, 4.1 lbs bi-weekly gain,  36.6 lbs total gain)

Anyway, that sums up this post. Until next time! At this point I shall not make any promises when that will be since life is going to be hectic for the next few weeks!

Belly Shot: 33 Weeks!

33 weeks!

Messy hair- don't care.  Since we didn't take any pictures from Easter in my Easter dress, I decided to wear it for my 33 week shot!

That is all.

My blog post is done, just needs to be edited, and right now I am just tired and not in the mood to do that. So it will be super duper late tomorrow I guess.

Belly Shot : 32 Weeks!

32 weeks!!! 8 more to go!! 2 more months! Ahhh! :)


I finally had my maternity shot photos done this past weekend. After getting my hair done and the weather being perfect it worked out great! I shared them on facebook, but not on here, I will make a separate post for that to share some of my favorite ones. The photo below is not one of them... it's the typical weekly shot we do in front of our infamous balcony curtains! :)

31 Weeks: Super Late Again, Baby Hiccups, Braxton Hicks, & Pending Life Events...

Yeah, I know I’m practically 32 weeks already… almost… and was even considering combining these 2 weeks but decided to make them shorter and separate posts. Frankly, it is because there has been a lot going on, and it would be better to split them up!

I didn’t really weigh myself until today, so this week may not be as accurate :/ But from my appointment on Wednesday I was 163.5 on the scale I was weighed on at the doctor’s, so that is what we will go with. I am super lazy to look up my weight gain chart and copy and paste it but will do it with next week’s post. But if I remember correctly, I barely gained anything at all last week, and I was about 159 and something… so I must have gained about 4 pounds. Not to get into my 32 week, but the doctor did say I should be gaining about a pound a week now… which seems to be more, lol! Even considering the fact I didn’t gain anything last week, 4 pounds divided by 2 is still doubled the weight I should be gaining! Oh well, at this point I am not going to stress about this, I will gain how much I will gain… everything else I will deal with after birth.

Physical changes pertaining to me have been pretty much the same. I feel heavier than ever and people still tell me I am small. Man, I would like to see you guys carry around an extra 25 pounds on your belly- it aint easy!!! Super heavy, super uncomfortable. Although I have to say the body pillow my hubby’s cousin got us has been working wonderfully for me! At first I couldn’t seem to find a good position with it, but now boppy and I are very good friends :)

My boobs continue to leak, they still have stretch marks…. None on my belly yet. I am  not bragging! A friend of mine told me she didn’t have ANY stretch marks on her belly until her last 3 weeks. Great! I could totally see that happening to me. I kind just accepted my tiger-like stripes on my boobs. I mean, on the bright side when I will wear a bikini, that part of the body is never really exposed to the public other than at home to hubby and what not. So it’s no big deal. I’ve seen some pictures of women’s bellies with a ton of stretch marks. I guess I should be thankful that aint me. Although, I still have 9 weeks for that to change!

I still tend to sweat a lot between my boobs, specifically at night, causing my heat rash between my boobs to not go away. Airing them out and just keeping them super clean and dry seem to work the best. I even stopped moisturizing the stretch mark cream on my boobs because that seemed to warm them up even more, causing me to sweat more and increase the rash. It still itches every now and then, but it is manageable. That or I just got used to it. It is actually very dry right now and it’s kind of scabby. As if I had a sunburn or something and I have some dry, burnt skin coming off… it’s weird.

As far as baby, he is as active as can be! Jumping and kicking and moving like crazy! I have been taping him like crazy the past 2 weeks and started to get lucky! I posted some videos on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL if you haven’t seen them yet. Check them out if you haven’t! Especially the one video where you can legit see his footsie running across my belly! It’s insane.

I’ve also been feeling him hiccup. I think I have felt him do that for a while but never paid attention enough to realize they were hiccups. I just thought they were one of his weird movements. But it basically feels like rhythm- like kicks/twitches. And it isn’t him kicking me in one place, it legit feels like is jumping or twitching. I thought it was his heartbeat at first, but his heartbeat isn’t that slow, so hiccups it is. I have been feeling them more and more often. Silly, baby!

Braxton Hicks… don’t get too excited… I am not sure about this one :) I posted a status on my facebook recently sharing that I thought I felt them. I know it probably sounds silly to say “I think”… contractions seem to be one of those things you should be totally aware of right? Haha, nope! Not for me! I have felt my belly get really tight and hard a couple times. It wouldn’t hurt though. It would just get super rock hard and feel funny to touch, and then it would release and get all wobbly and normal again. I’ve also read and heard that different women experience different kinds of symptoms or pain with them. It can sometimes just be pressure, it can be super painful and dreadful, it can just be lower back pain… it’s different! When I heard all this it got me thinking and looking back at some symptoms I have felt before and would think they are just normal – typical pregnancy symptoms. Like the pressure… I’ve mentioned it before, and now I feel it more often. It just feels like baby crawls on the very bottom of my uterus and is just chilling there. Not painful, but not very comfortable and unpleasant. It is just this very heavy pressure and pushing down weight feeling down there- that apparently can be BH.  Also the lower back pain, I have felt that too, but just figured that was the belly weight straining on my back and just me being on my feet or walking around too much, but that also could be BH. So, who the heck knows anymore! Someone told me they thought BH were worse than actual labor pains! The conclusion I come up with is every woman is different, and it is what it is! :)

Update on some life events going on. The next 2 months are going to be crazy. We found an apartment! I don’t think I mentioned that here yet, one of the things I was antsy about sharing! We gave our deposit last week I believe? I don’t even remember… the sucky thing about being late with my posts I get so confused what happened what freakin week! Ugh!

Anyway the story with the apartment and moving, in case I haven’t explained the situation yet, although I feel like I have and am repeating myself, but just in case I will explain again. When we moved from the city last year we didn't really have the opportunity to look at different apartments. We looked at a few, and picked one. It's $675 a month for a 2 bedroom with a balcony and dishwasher, but we figured out we could probably find cheaper. Although after living in a studio for $875 this was amazing for us! We also encountered some neighbor issues. The walls are thin as is, I could hear the neighbors on the left farting all the time, the others one pee, and the ones below us enjoy playing their TV super loud until 1:30 in the morning. We would ring their doorbell and tell them to turn it down. At first they did, but after the 5th time they just stopped opening the door. Even though they were clearly home and the TV was obnoxiously loud. The last time we rang their bell they just gave us attitude saying " What? It's a TV it makes noise!" We spoke to the landlord about it and he said " I'll talk to them but that is all I can really do!" So we decided we are going to move once our lease is up to not lose our security deposit and use it towards our next apartment. We found a really nice one about 10 mins from where we are now. It's much larger than what we have now. It's half a house so the only neighbors we would have would be downstairs and right now no one lives there. And it's through a real estate company they do background and credit checks on you. A porch, backyard, parking, a dishwasher, and a WASHER AND DRYER in the actual apartment! For $75 less than what we pay now!! With a baby having your own laundry is perfect!! So, we are super excited! We are signing the lease once I read through it and we are moving May 27.

Aside from the obvious, what I meant when I said the next two months are going to be crazy for us… well let me just put it this way… in countdown form. There is one week before our Easter- Pascha!!! 2 Weeks after that is our baby shower, and a week after that is when we move! Then we have about 3-4 weeks before my duedate. Craziness and stress that I don’t want to think about right now. Especially the moving part… we have collected some boxes and will have to start packing stuff together slowly in our spare time now. Sad part is I can’t even help hubby much :/ Luckily, our friend arseniy is helping us, still a lot of work but at least something.

I was planning on posting this last night, on Friday but it got too late and I was too exhausted. Sad since I only had a little bit to add on. Oh well. I’m almost a week late with this post. Hopefully I won’t be as late with my 32 week post. We are tentatively thinking of possibly doing some outside maternity shots tomorrow since it will be nice out and I got my hair done ;) If that does happen, that will be shared as well!

Until next week then….! ;)

Videos!

I've mentioned me starting my youtube channel. For now there isn't anything too extravagant on there, but it is getting somewhere!

I've been putting up some old videos from our wedding and honeymoon, if you've never seen them on my facebook and such.

I've also been working on slideshows with my photos... but most importantly I have been making videos of baby kicking!!! I've finally caught some baby action on video!!!!


Here are the links to the videos, check them out if you like :)


Honeymoon/ Wedding Videos:

BABY MOVEMENT VIDEOS!

Pregnancy VideoVideos

Belly Shot: 31 Weeks!

 31 weeks..... bam bam bam..... one week from 32 weeks which means 8 MONTHS!!! The end is slowly coming!!!

I'm obviously getting bigger and fatter and my butt has taken some weird shape where it has an indent. Bleh, I don't like it at all. But figured out a pose to hide it ;)


Lots has happened for me to share with you guys this week, which will be up soon enough, but for now here is this week's belly shot!

Just to mix things up here are some silly shots :)

Belly is getting BIG! 

Baby Blanket : Is it done yet?

 

No, it's not.... I am awful, I know. Just wanted to write a quick post explaining that I haven't forgotten about the blanket and I actually think of finishing it every day, especially since there isn't much left to do.

I think the reason I am procrastinating is because I am not really happy with how the border is coming out. I actually attempted 3 different kinds already and finally decided to make this one. Remember, I don't read patterns so I made this up as I went.

Anyway, I posted a youtube video earlier today showing all the fun crochet things I have made, kinda  like the pictures I have been sharing with you guys on here periodically. There is a shot of the updated version of the blanket in the video below if you'd like to see... and get an idea of what the border looks like so far. I have 2 months left... I will get the blanket done before then... I better at least! Man, I am a lazy bum.

I am also pretty excited that this time it worked for me to post the actual video on here as opposed to a link. Anyway, check it out! ;)

30 Week Update: 75 % Done Cooking, Miserably Sick, Return of Some Lovely Symptoms and Life Update in General.

Alrighty… finally got my butt down to write this update. I feel somewhat accomplished if this gets posted before Friday! 

The funniest thing is I thought I would be on time these two weeks since it was Spring Break and I didn’t work but life happened with me getting miserably sick and just running around getting stuff done.

But yeah, I think I’ve been complaining about me being sick for 3 weeks already… well because I’ve been sick for 3 weeeks. It started with a double ear infection and sinus infection. I took amoxicillin for that, that gave me a yeast infection- oh joy! I seemed to start feeling slightly better but the very next day after finishing my antibiotics I seemed to be getting sick all over again! My ears didn’t even have time to fully clear up and my sinuses were awful again. Then the chest congestion started in the middle of the week. By Friday I was so miserable, I couldn’t breathe, very heavy ad painful chest congestion that made me sound like a man.

On Saturday I didn’t seem to be getting better and made an arrangement with my boss to come into work a little earlier to do the money/bookkeeping stuff  (so I don’t screw him over because for some reason I always seem to get sick on the 1 or 2 days I work for him!) so then I can get done earlier and head to urgent care. Since this was Saturday, doctor’s offices were closed. Usually I wait it out til Monday but I had trouble breathing and was beyond miserable.

There was a little “issue” with whom I should be seen by. My primary care provider- Slocum Dickson was telling me to go to my OB, and Cooperstown was telling me to go to Slocum Dickson because it is not pregnancy related. We ended up going to Slocum Dickson and they said they usually don’t see pregnant women but will do an exception this time, some BS!!!! I just needed antibiotics!

Anyway, they gave me Azithromycin, and Guafenesin with Codeine. I double checked with Cooperstown if those meds were okay, and they said they were. The cough medicine which everyone warned would make me sleepy did nothing for me. I legit took it only 2 times before bed hoping it would help me breathe and stay asleep as opposed to the every 6 hour directions on the bottle.  I still sound like a man, but thankfully I think I am getting better and hope I won’t be sick anymore.

So, 30 weeks means there are only 10 more weeks to go!!! This is pretty amazing…! 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2…1… blast off! Or blast out for that matter!! :)

I am ¾ of the way done with this pregnancy so baby is 75% done cooking! ;)

I weighed myself in the beginning of the week and I was 159.6 pounds. Which means I basically gained .2 of a pound?? Maybe it’s me being sick? Or my body balancing out with me gaining 6 pounds that one week. Regardless, surprisingly no change really in that department that week. Although my belly is GROWING… as you all saw in my 30 WEEK BELLY SHOT. Which I was able to shoot outside due to the nice weather. A maternity shoot with my hubby is still in order… I am thinking sometime soon, since weather is warm now and we can just go take some pics together  of my belly. That would be fun!

As far as symptoms, I had 3 leg cramp episodes this week again! :( I had one really bad one on the way home from NJ ( we visited my grandfather there since he is staying with my aunt currently.) We stopped for a bathroom break and as I tried to get out of the car it hit me. And this leg cramp was super long!! Usually they don’t last long, but this was lasting a minute long! And I couldn’t walk on it for a while too! Ugh, they are the worst. Some friends told me bananas and magnesium should do the trick. I have been eating bananas, how I can at least… I should try the magnesium… But let me tell you… those are not fun!

Heartburn has really been getting to me too. It’s been here and there, but this week it’s been bad. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but baby has been chilling a lot right under my boobs. Kicking me in the pit of my stomach, sometimes it feels like he hits my boobs, my ribs… he has been  all up in there! And hence maybe more heartburn? Who knows… but not fun… especially the way I eat… and everything I eat gives me heartburn but I can’t NOT eat either. Trying to drink fizzy things like ginger ale helps. Also tums when it gets REALLY bad…

And now a quick life update! I have mentioned several times that we were planning on moving due to the neighbors downstairs. We have been apartment hunting and even considering buying a house, and finally found something. It’s not a house unfortunately, we decided not to rush into it and figure how the heck it even works when  the end of the pregnancy is nearing… so we decided to look for something to rent. We looked at a few places and were debating between 2.

Right now we pay $675 a month for a pretty nice sized 2 bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and balcony. When we moved out of the city after paying $875 for a studio, plus traveling so far we didn’t look at many apartments, so we saw this one and grabbed it! What we were trying to decide between were the following apartments. The first one was in Ilion as well $525 a month plus utilities ( which is basically what we pay now and super cheap.) A good investment to save money, but it is super small and crowded and dark and has a funky smell. And it doesn’t have a dishwasher.

Now, the thing about dishwashers… Call me picky an prissy and lazy or whatever you want to call me but I hate washing dishes. I can do laundry, I can vacuum, I can clean the bathroom but dishes are my weakness. I don’t know if I just did way too many of them in my life that I have a negative reaction to them now… but living in an apartment for almost a year with a  dishwasher you learn how necessary it is.  And being lazy how I am now, I can’t imagine being able to tackle the dishes on my own with a baby. Call me horrible, I know… not a very good wife/mom quality to have… but that is how I am. And the kitchen in the cheap apartment is so small we couldn’t even get a portable one if we wanted to, so that would suck.

Now the other apartments we looked at. This is through a real estate company, renting out a house with 2 apartments basically. Both are 2 bedroom, first floor one is $650, 2^nd is $600. This is in Herkimer, so not far. They both have dishwashers and washer and dryer machines IN the apartment!!! They are both beautiful and large and in wonderful condition. The one on the second floor is HUGE and roomy, larger than what we have now. So that is the one we decided to go with. We have a porch, 2 parking spots and a small backyard. In a nice, pretty, calm, family oriented neighborhood. The thing is utilities are separate. And it is through national grid which isn’t the cheap stuff we have been paying in Ilion. I think during the summer we should be fine, but when winter hits we may have some obstacles. We’ll see… we got Heap about a month ago for the small utility bill we had as is, so if it gets hard maybe we will get heap again to assist us. But it is beautiful!!!!!! We gave the lady the security deposit today and plan to move at the end of May when our lease is up to get our security deposit back. I spoke to our current landlord yesterday and asked him what our options are on moving now and getting our deposit back, and he said we would lose it if we did that. He said if we stay til the end of May, he will speak to the Owner and thinks that we can just not pay rent for the month of May, and they use our security deposit. That would be awesome! Because then the security deposit we just gave for our new apartment is basically our rent that we would pay in 2 weeks, so it’s like we are still staying in the same cycle. 

So the next few weeks are going to look like this…. This weekend my older siblings are coming up to visit me because they decided instead of coming up for the shower they rather spend some alone time with us, which is probably the best. Then 2 weeks from this weekend we have our Easter- PASCHA!! Woo!  And two weeks from Easter it’s our baby shower, and then in a week we plan to move. From there one I will have one month left – or sooner (I can hope right?) til baby is here! Crazy stuff going on!!

Honestly, once we move in… once June hits this mama plans to walk, drink raspberry tea, and do all sorts of things to get this baby coming out! I am terribly afraid of being overdue…

One more thing about what has been going on lately, which I briefly mentioned in one of my random posts this week and you probably have noticed with my other posts. YouTube. I started my YouTube channel. Like I mentioned in my other post, hubby has been doing this and if you truly get enough subscribers, and viewers and such this could be a good opportunity to get some money. Having a baby on the way, it is a perfect opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just about the money. I think having a video blog is cool; I follow a mom on YouTube and think it is amazing. I’m just shy. That’s why right now I am kind of trying to get the feel of all this. Posting some old videos, making slideshows, things that don’t require me to talk or show my face… yet.  I have plans to make it a useful blog kind of how I express myself here but need to get the feel of it first. Post life events on there and maybe we will have some vlogs of labor and delivery who knows… we are trying it out and we could have lots of fun with it right now.

Like I also mentioned before, I still plan to write here, so that doesn’t change yet. I might incorporate both like I have been sharing links to videos on here for now. Regardless, we shall see how this works. So if you follow me here and read my blog here, stay tuned to see what my YouTube blog may turn into… it will get interesting, I promise :)

That pretty much sums it up for 30 weeks! Thank you for reading! ;) I wasn’t super late this week… you guys should be proud ;)

Ultrasound Videos!

I shared the ultrasound pictures way back when but wanted to share with you guys a slideshow I made of them as well.


Ultrasound Slideshow



Also, a couple old ones I never shared. This was from my first  GYN appointment.


First Ultrasound- Heartbeat

First Ultrasound - 9 Weeks!

Baby Stuff: What We Already Have

I mentioned that people have been giving us bags of clothes and lots of other baby stuff including our stroller and cosleeper and lots of other fun stuff.


Here is a quick overview of what we have so far. Once we move into our new apartment there will be a more thorough update on that with everything actually in its place as opposed to on top of each other and compacted.


Check out the video here:

BABY STUFF

Quick Little Thought on Youtube and Vlogging...

No, this isn't my 30 week update, I'm sorry. But it is coming I promise.

I will mention one thing... one of the things I was going to discuss in my 30 week update.

I'm thinking of starting a youtube channel. Well, it was thoughts... now I am starting to slowly do so.

Why? For several reasons! I actually randomly found this one girl on youtube who is vlogger and her videos are pretty amazing. I found her when I was looking up a 14 week belly shot and found that she was vlogging about her pregnancy. She had her son back in September or October I believe... but she has so many interesting videos up, that I still watch her old weekly pregnancy videos with the same week I am as well as her current ones too.

Anyway, to be completely honest, she was probably the one who inspired me to do this blog.

I think having a video blog is amazing, but  I am too shy to do so. If I can go past the whole video/ camera thing I would totally do it! And for some reason I tend to express myself better in writing.

Anyway, I started thinking a lot lately... Hubby has a youtube channel where he posts  videos and such and has actually starting making a little extra on the side because of it, due to ads and commercials. We started spreading the news to friends and relatives to get into it themselves. We even told my little cousins to do it! And they just started posting random videos of them playing videos games and of their pets and already made $7  in just a matter of days.

I mean, I don't want to sound like money is the most important thing here, but got me thinking with baby on the way and me being limited to working as much and making money, if I get into the rhythm of things and get a few viewers it could be a nice stay at home extra very part time job, lol.

Now, the question is what the heck to post? Like I said I am kind of self conscious about filming myself talking... and figured once baby would be born I would have lots of video opportunities then.

Then today hit me... why wait til June? Why not start now?

I am not sure how the heck this will work, or what the heck I am going to post, but I still slowly start and give this a try. I in no way plan to forget about this blog though, I have come this far and still have lots to write about in the coming weeks :)


Anyway, so those are my thoughts... and to start off my " channel" I posted a video on it today about baby kicking me. You can't see THAT much movement, I actually posted this video on facebook today. Seriously, this video doesn't do our baby boy justice as to what he actually does in there.

But yes, if you read my blog here and follow me here, please follow my youtube channel. Right now there is of course only  one video but it is a growing process and there will be more to come. So subscribe, watch, like and support us! Also, any ads you see- click on them ;) For those who will, I thank you in advance!

I plan to do my 30 week update today or tomorrow ;)

The link to my video is below! :)

Baby Movement Video CLICK HERE