Little Life Update

I've been starting to get a little too post happy on Instagram and Facebook, so I need to direct some energy to this blog so people don't start freaking out on me.

// Vince has torn some ligaments in his ankle and was ordered to be on complete bed rest for 5 days, then slowly become more weight bearing over the next six weeks with crutches. I've been tending to his every need, being sure to throw in a, 'Yes, your prince,' or 'Yes, my king,' when he's being a little extra demanding. (I don't like my coffee ground like that, can you do it a little finer? This meal definitely needs a little more salt. My toes are cold, can you put the blanket over it a little better?) All in all he's very appreciative of everything and is trying to be more mobile with his crutches and help out, but then I just yell at him to go lay back down because something will get dropped or spilled and I'll have to pick it up anyways. BUT, it's the thought that counts so it is nice that he is trying. Plus, he took care of me in way worse condition for many months so I can't really complain. (He wanted me to point out that I am neglecting rubbing arnica cream on his ankle in order to write this, so I'm doing a terrible job.)

It has honestly been a little blessing in disguise though because I get to spend SO MUCH TIME with my husband before school starts in a week. He was supposed to go on a ski trip to Colorado for six days (!!!) which was making me anxious, but I of course wasn't going to tell him he couldn't go because our big trip to Jackson Hole for skiing was canceled, the snow has been terrible here, and he's only been able to ski three days this year. Needless to say, I am sad he is so upset about missing his skiing, but way happy he was here! Before school started last week we were snuggling on the couch and I had the realization that it was one of the last 'real' times to spend together because then my time would be filled with nursing school and clinicals and his would be filled with work, and then very very soon a new baby! Luckily school has been slow to start, he's still not allowed to work, and we've been able to have plenty of time together. Maybe too much time.

32w5d
It's also been helpful at kicking my butt into gear. The nesting has fully kicked in and the dishes have been done after every use, our house has been very clean, fresh meals have been made multiple times a day, and I got prepared for the school year with freezer meals, meal planning, and snack lists. Everything seems to be situated for the baby (at some point I'll talk about how things are set up because we're staying in our <400 and="" any="" are="" basically="" bedroom="" carseat="" debut.="" even="" foot="" for="" her="" house="" installed="" is="" make="" one="" p="" ready="" she="" square="" the="" time="" to="" wants="" we="">

He starts physical therapy on the 30th so we'll hopefully know more about when he can start walking and what the estimated healing time will be. It would have been easier if he just fractured his ankle, it heals so much faster!

// On that note, it finally snowed about a foot here! I didn't let it deter me from my daily walk even when it was below freezing and snowing. It melted within a couple days, though, and it's back to being sunny. Today was incredibly cold though, but sadly no snow in the forecast.

And this is from our walk the day before in the woods when it was warm enough to take off my jacket and sweater.

// So much food has been eaten and I am now 166 pounds. I've never been over 150 pounds (I don't think I've ever even been 150 pounds) so it is really strange to think, 'I'm almost 170 pounds!' My arms and legs are still way skinny from the 30 pounds I lost at the beginning of my pregnancy so it's weird to look at myself and wonder where all the weight is. This puts me at 19 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, so I'm hoping my doctor will be a little more happy with me at my next appointment now that I'm getting closer to my 'goal' weight gain. It has surprisingly taken a lot of effort to eat so much, and if I skip even one meal of the day from sleeping in or being lazy, I can see a difference on the scale the next day, so it's been like a full-time job to eat healthy, filling meals! I realize I may sound like an asshole complaining about how hard it is to gain weight, but it really is stressful in it's own way, so no judgy judgy.

// Roxi has continued to be all sorts of cute and needy and knowing something is up. Her world is going to come crashing down when the baby girl arrives!

// Christmas was spent in Utah with family, and it was so great! We stopped in Vegas for a night on our way up there and ate In-N-Out (multiple double-doubles protein style and chocolate shakes) and PF Chang's, which was amazing as always, and took a short walk around. We pulled into town at sunset and it was beautiful!

30w3d
Then we were in condos with family for the next four days! There was close to 40 of us split between four condos, with the condo I was staying in being the 'main hub' for people to hangout at through the day, eat, etc. It was so great to be able to hangout with so many aunts, uncles, and cousins, even if over half of us had a cold of some sort.

From the drive home.

// Going back to school - I started last week! My plan is to just keep going until I have her, take about two weeks off classes, then keep going! I'm not allowed to miss many clinical days and have to make them up anyways, so I really don't have any choice but to continue because I don't want to take a semester off. Luckily I'll be able to pump at clinicals and even have the option to have Vince bring the baby to me to feed! Our plan is for him to do that once per clinical day so we can see each other, and then he'll just give her a bottle of pumped milk the rest of the time. One clinical is a ten hour day, the other is an 8 hour day, and class is four hours a week with a simulation lab being four hours every few weeks, so it's not really that much time away when you compare it to moms that work full-time, but it'll still be difficult! Fortunately we won't have to do daycare either because Vince will be with her both of my clinical days, and my grandparents will be with her on my class/lab day. That will definitely make it easier knowing she'll be with people who love her and will take amazing care of her! Spring break is also the middle of March so we'll just have to survive a couple weeks at most to make it to a little break.

31 weeks and all fancy for family pictures

// Other than starting school and Vince being injured, there hasn't been much happening! I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow (update coming!) so baths are a daily routine to prevent my back from tightening especially with 8 and 10 hour clinical days coming up, Hypnobabies sessions happen most days to prepare me for a natural birth, plenty of coconut oil has been rubbed on the belly, calming essential oils have been diffused, homework is being turned in early...relaxing in its own way!

34w4d

30 weeks. With (some) pictures that aren't from Instagram!

29w6d

How far along: 30 weeks 

27w6d     2lb 10oz and a week ahead in growth

Weight: 157 pounds. I am now 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, so after losing 30 pounds that means I've gained 40 pounds! It's funny to explain that to people who didn't know I was so sick because they look at me like, 'Uh, there is not 40 pounds of extra weight on you.'

27w1d

Emotions: This past week I have been really emotional about getting closer to the end of pregnancy (I still have 10-ish weeks to go, so in reality I still have quite a while) and have really enjoyed being pregnant. It is still all sorts of uncomfortable, but I've been loving the routine I feel with baby girl's wild kicks right before going to bed and first thing when I wake up, seeing my belly grow and contort and be different every day as I rub oil on it, and having Vince look at me and my belly with a totally different kind of love than before. I know it'll be a whole new world of amazing when she is finally here, but I'm also loving these moments so much!

Nesting: I had my baby shower this past weekend and was hoping it would give me a bit more energy to get everything done, but it hasn't! I still have some of the motivation I mentioned at 27 weeks but I've been pretty tired the past few days and have wanted to do nothing but lay on the couch, which is what I've done. I'm mentally ready to get shit done, but not physically.

28w2d

Sleep: Still waking up frequently to go pee, but getting back to sleep right away. Luckily this is something that has not suffered very much! To update from 27 weeks, my iron levels are great but my thyroid level were off and I was taking too much of my medication so I had gone hypothyroid, which was making me exhausted. That's actually a good thing because I was able to reduce my medication! So since reducing that, I have been feeling much more awake and alert. But still lazy.

29w

Cravings: Chocolate still. I now have a chocolate milkshake or two a day with vanilla ice cream, milk, and cocoa powder and it's just what I need calorie-wise and chocolate-wise!

 Not pregnant...

Pregnant! 29w1d

29w2d

Movement: I was starting to notice a routine with her, but now that's all changed! On Monday I had an appointment with my massage/craniosacral therapist and mentioned that she was still breach. She did a couple things to encourage baby girl to move and to help her realize that she has a lot of space to move within my belly. Up until now, she has been firmly nuzzled into my left hip and has not wanted to move. She'd occasionally meander over to my right hip, but within hours would be back to my left. After seeing the therapist, though, she is not in either hip and is very much in my belly! The evening after the session and in the days that followed I've felt more movement than ever and they've been BIG movements, so I'm hoping she'll be closer to birthing position at my next ultrasound. It was really crazy to wake up Tuesday morning after the session, stand up, and feel my center of gravity had shifted drastically and they I was very front-heavy. It's been incredibly uncomfortable for me because I'm not used to carrying her this way and my stomach is really tight now, but I'm hoping it helps in the end!

29w3d The night of my session.

29w5d Two days after. I'm sure it's hard for people who aren't me to notice a difference, 

but she is now so much higher and sticking out! 

Wedding Ring On or Off: It's back on, bitchez!

Best Moment of the Week: My baby shower last Saturday! I'm surrounded by such awesome and amazing ladies and it was fun to hangout with all of them, and see friends throughout the week who weren't able to make it to the shower. So much love.

Looking Forward To: Christmas! We changed our big trip due to money and the realization that I don't want to sit in the car for long periods of time, so we'll be going to Vegas to eat a bunch of good food and see the Bodies Exhibit before heading to southern Utah for Christmas at some condos with my extended family.

29w5d

Panicking About: Keeping up with laundry once we have a baby. We haven't had a washer and dryer our entire almost six years of living here (aside from the 8 months we moved away and then moved back) so you'd think we have a system down, but nope! We let it pile up until we are out of stuff to wear. I've already noticed a huge change in my insistence to have a clean house and just do things as they need to be done (what a concept!) so I'm hoping that translates over to laundry as well and I just do it. 

29w5d Juicing!

What I Miss: Not spending a fortune on toilet paper. Ok, so it's not a fortune, but we almost go through a 12 pack a week now! Just because I pee tiny amounts each time doesn't mean I can use a tiny amount of toilet paper. 

Milestones: Appointments are now every two weeks since I'm in my last trimester! I'm not actually stoked about that because my appointments consist of my doctor asking how things are, me saying fine, them trying to tell me info I already know and them realizing I already know it, then me leaving. I know the belly checks and heart rate are important, but it still seems like such a waste of time!

We drove in a storm way early in the morning on Thursday just so my doctor 

could tell me to gain more weight. Productive use of our time!

27 weeks

Every week seems to just fly by so fast, it's getting a little crazy. This week was a very busy one, so I'm hoping for a more calm one coming up!

Monday night some of my family had an early Thanksgiving since a lot of us were seeing our spouse's families on Thursday. It was a great time as always. On Tuesday I drove about 2 hours to Phoenix for my step-grandpa's funeral (beautiful Catholic mass) and had to come straight back home afterwards because I had to work Wednesday morning. I woke up early to get to work, then right after work headed back down to Phoenix for Thanksgiving! We were luckily there for two nights, but ended up doing a lot of driving on Thanksgiving traveling between families, so although it was fun, it was still a bit tiring. We came home today and traffic was just insane so our 2ish our drive ended up being 3 1/2 hours. No fun at all! 

Slow traffic was an understatement. We were completely stopped! Luckily it wasn't a fatal accident and just looked like 6 cars had fender benders and were blocking the road.

I was able to enjoy In-N-Out, PF Chang's, and a Thanksgiving feast, though, so it was all worth it. Plus, I got to celebrate my mother-in-laws birthday and spend a lot of time with great family.

Double-double protein style (w/ allergy to the bun!), fries, and a chocolate shake. I could have easily eaten a second cheeseburger.

On to the baby update.

How far along: 27 weeks (last week of the second trimester!)

Weight: 155 pounds (-30 total/+8)

Nesting: I have definitely been nesting for a few weeks now, but I've also been really tired, so it's kind of difficult to deal with. My brain keeps telling me I must clean super random things like under the couch and shower walls (which I've never cleaned, ever, because it's never accumulated scum/mold or appeared dirty), but my body is like, "I'm going to just completely fall apart on you if you don't take a nap right this second. Oh, oh look! Your eyes are closing! Better sit down before you just fall over!" Luckily I'll find moment where I can get some stuff done and still have time for a nap. 

Annoying Symptom: Dry, dry, DRY skin. Like so incredibly dry that certain parts of my body look sunburned because they are so red, irritated, and painful. I've been using fractionated coconut oil, but it's time to break out the really greasy balms because after an hour it doesn't help anymore. I made a belly butter with shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, beeswax, etc a few months ago that I've been using and it is really soothing for my belly but it stays greasy for a long time, so it's inconvenient to use unless it's night time. So I'm going to try and either make something less greasy for the rest of my body (my hips are somehow the driest which is weird, and it doesn't help to pull down/up my pants all the time to pee) or I'm just going to buy some heavy duty lotion and save the oil for my belly. I've just grown to love non-toxic things and lotions have so many bad ingredients! But, the itchiness just kills me. I of course fell in love with the Paul Mitchell lemon sage lotion at the hotel, and of course it's crazy expensive. So any lotion recommendations would be great!

Sleep: I'm not quite sure if I'm sleeping poorly, or I'm just extra tired, but I'm so tired all the time now. I feel like aside from waking up to pee constantly or having terrible dreams, I sleep pretty solidly. I'm thinking I could be anemic so I've started taking my desiccated liver pills again for the iron, and hopefully that helps! I have blood work getting done next week so I'm going to ask my doc to tack on an iron levels test. I don't take prenatals anymore (I know, I'm so terrible) but I do take individual vitamins tailored to what I need, but I haven't been taking iron because CONSTIPATION. The desiccated liver pills have more bioavailable iron (uh, I sound like a hippy) so it shouldn't affect my bowels like other iron pills! So I feel like it's probably that, and the fact that I'm so much closer to the third trimester. 

Cravings: Chocolate. 

26w5d

Movement: She's been more relaxed the past few days which is a little odd, but I'm still feeling her punch and kick! I think she finally changed positions and is no longer breech, so I think I'm just feeling things differently now. I have an ultrasound next week so I'll be able to see her position and know for sure.

Wedding Ring On or Off: Still off.

Best Moment of the Week: Duh, so much good food.

Vince brought me leftover PF Chang's in bed at the hotel, and my pillow fell over flinging a fork full of food everywhere! Yes, I did clean it up but I wanted to cry about a forkful wasted. 

Looking Forward To: This school semester being over. I have a standardized Kaplan exam, two final simulations, and my final, and then I'm home free! So close, yet so so far. 

Panicking About: Time going so quickly! I missed out on my entire first trimester and part of my second, and now that I'm almost to the third, I feel like pregnancy is going to be over soon. The other day I was thinking about how some babies start eating solids round 4-6 months old and I was like, "OH MY GOD, THAT'S SO SOON! My baby won't be a baby for long!" I of course had to remind myself that I haven't even had a baby yet and that I needed to chill the hell out.

What I Miss: Easily putting on shoes. I'm not going to lie, I thought it was one of those things pregnant people just exaggerated about, but it's true! Oh, so true! I don't feel like I'm even big enough yet to feel like i should have a problem with bending over, but I definitely can't bend. So I always have to sit down and angle my body to the side or lift my leg onto something, like the trash can. My balance is getting a little wonky though, so I'm not sure I'll be able to do that for long. 

Milestones: Swimming! A couple days after finding out I was pregnant I had a crazy strong desire to swim, but we all now what happened soon after that. I have a membership to the NAU gym and olympic sized pool but it's full of intimidating college students and I wasn't even sure if I could swim now that all my muscle is gone, so I was going to get a membership to a local gym that has a lot of old people. They decided to up their prices though and I didn't want to pay for it, so I just haven't gone swimming but I think about it all the time. I was able to hangout in the pool at our hotel, though, and I am definitely capable of swimming so now I'm more determined to just go to the pool at the college. They have a lot of lanes open for open swim so hopefully I can figure out their slow times so I can go and not worry about being embarrassed/slowing people down with my snail pace!

26w5d

26 weeks

26w1d - the lazy shot. And no stretch marks yet, luckily! Just the indentation from my shirt.

25w2d

Weight: 152 pounds (-30 total/+ 6)

Sleep: Has drastically changed this past week. I am definitely up about every hour, whether it's to change positions or go pee. I was able to do a partially on my belly, partially on my side sleep for a while that was great because I'm normally a stomach sleeper, but that's now gone. So the side it is. That leads to things like major neck aches and my arm falling asleep! And I feel like I use my other hand to support myself somehow so my wrists get really sore. I was never told about this part of pregnancy. ;) I sleep with a body pillow on both sides which is way helpful, and I'm thinking it's time to add a second one under my head!

Cravings: Hard boiled egg sandwiches are still all the rage (rave?) and healthy foods in general like salads. 

I've been thinking a lot about BBQ chips as well, but haven't eaten them. I bought some the other day and thought I'd bought them before so assumed they were gluten free. I sat on the couch to eat one and as I was bringing a chip to my mouth, I realized I hadn't checked the bag yet. So I read the ingredients quickly and look at the little area that says 'Contains:' and it didn't say anything about wheat. So I put the chip to my lips and thought, 'Hmm, I should probably read the ingredients one more time, just to be safe.' Sure enough, there was malted barley syrup which is not gluten free! I was so bummed, but so happy I caught it before I ate it or I would have been one sorry pregnant lady. (But at least I would have pooped!)

Movement: Never ending it seems, which I love! Even though it is really uncomfortable at times, especially after I've had a big meal, it's quite an amazing feeling. There have been some really big movements happening so it's been fun to watch it beneath my skin. She'll sometime do multiple punches like a punching bag, so my stomach will just look like it's seizing or something. 

Wedding Ring On or Off: Still off.

Best Moment of the Week: Having my nursing clinicals for school end for the semester. They'll be quite rough next semester since we have two days instead of one and I'll be way bigger, but I'm happy for the break.

My clinical carpool ladies!

Looking Forward To: Taking our baby moon in a few weeks! We'll be heading up to Jackson Hole so Vince can ski and I can cozy up in a luxury hotel, then visiting a friend who is a few weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy (our belly's are going to be so cute together), then heading to a condo in southern Utah for a family reunion of sorts for Christmas. 

Incredibly flattering, I know. ;) This was after a simlab day for school, and this is what I wear under my scrubs! My 'slimmer' belly band, compression socks, and a long sleeve shirt. Vince kept telling me I looked huge and wanted a picture. 25w5d

What I Miss: Getting out of bed normally. I feel like a bug stuck on it's back sometimes because I have to put my arms and legs in the air for momentum to make it over my body pillow and sit up!

Milestones: Not fitting in my bras, except a nursing bra I bought. I've been wearing sports bras for a bit but they were getting too snug so I reached for a 'real' bra. It was quite hilarious when I put it on because my boobs literally squished out the top, bottom and sides and I couldn't breath. While not a milestones for already big chested ladies, it's a little fun for me not to be an A-cup any more! Except now I am down to one comfortable bra...

(Read about week 14 weeks and 25 weeks.)

Into the woods we went.

NO GENDER! That's right, we are having a garden snail and it doesn't have a gender.

Ok, really the baby just didn't spread its fat legs so we couldn't see anything. Just an incredibly active baby who was moving every other part of its body! I had a strong feeling leading up to it that we wouldn't find out, so I wasn't really disappointed. I'm definitely starting to want to know though, especially because I've been (finally) starting my baby registry because I'm about to have a baby shower at work. That definitely made me realize I'm having a baby! And it made me realize how few gender neutral things there are.

So instead of a cute gender announcement, you get some pictures from about two weeks ago (I was exactly 20 weeks). After seeing a million pictures of the fall leaves on Facebook from my bike riding friends, Vince and I decided to go walk in the woods instead. It was beautiful! Roxi also had a blast chasing squirrels and got one trapped in a downed tree. It was squealing and squealing while Roxi barked at it - I felt so bad for it.

Someone had a fire going as they were chopping wood. 

^ Vince can't seem to take a focused picture of me, ever. I asked him to take a few pictures of my belly tonight on my phone and 3/3 were blurry. 

^ But this blurriness was my fault. I was trying to focus on my belly, didn't get it at first shot, and was too cold to get another since we were leaving.

^ Can you see Roxanne in this picture?

 

^ Driving with the windows down and the heater on.
After walking around we went and hungout with a friend who works at the nature conservatory. The conservatory is a bunch of cabins far from anything at the base of the mountain with a large expanse of open prairies and trees. The sun was setting as we drove out there and it was just stunning and everything was engulfed in bright red. No photo editing here!

^ Seriously, REAL LIFE!