Twenty Weeks
Twenty weeks was a big one. After a summer of camp wonderfulness and cool weather and getting to see the hubs every day, I boarded my plane(s) back to Texas. It's always kind of bittersweet leaving Colorado because I know I'll miss Colorado (and Kyle) like crazy, but it's nice to return 'home' to a place where I can watch endless episodes of old TV on my couch in my jammies and no one can tell me different.
The first few days back weren't so restful, though. I got back home on Wednesday night. On Thursday at 6:30am I had to be back at work ready to measure the height and weight of 300 children for our Universal Screening Day. At lunch on Thursday I had to hop over to get our 20 week ultrasound (woo hoo!). Dinner with friends on Thursday night, then Friday we had Universal Screening Day number two with only about 200 kiddos. Let's just say lounging around the house would have been a good idea on Saturday...
But that 20 Week Ultrasound was pretty neat. I will say that our ultrasound in Colorado at 18 Weeks was my favorite, but I do understand that the folks down here have more than one patient a day and have to speed things up a bit. My "one hour" ultrasound here lasted about 15 minutes, but I know they were just checking things, not trying to entertain me. Either way I Skyped Kyle in on my phone and I still loved to get to see our sweet baby girl. Funny thing is, I think she looks like me. That profile. Really. The woman genes in my family are pretty strong from my mom's mom to my mom to me (and now many to little baby Hess)... we all are spitting image of one another.
Although, the "3D" image creeps me out just a bit, I am wondering if anyone else got 'shocked' when they took the 3D scan. All of a sudden I felt like I got shocked by the ultrasound machine and I jumped and told the technician. She said, "oh that's normal, I was taking a 3D image." That one made me a little nervous, I'm wondering what that large thing is that the baby's laying her head on, but I guess that's just me... here it is...
After the baby appointment and the two-day screening at work, I got back into my normal 'Back to Texas" routine. When I get back to Texas I really do get so excited about going to the grocery store and getting to buy any fruit I want. And so this trip back, being pregnant and without maternity pants for work on Monday I started a little shopping spree...
It started with the search for Maternity pants which, by the way, no one, really no one other than Motherhood Maternity and Macy's carry that aren't just blue jeans in the month of August in Tyler. Sad day. I spent way too long at multiple stores and finally ended up with two pair from Macy's that oddly enough were Motherhood Maternity brand (but weren't in the Motherhood Maternity store in the mall...).
And the 'bump' picture for the week. Well I'm not proud of this one. I took it at my friend's house when I went over for dinner. Didn't realize that there was a bright light right over my head, that the top of my hair was really flat, and that the top halves of my arms hadn't seen the sun all summer... Lead to an over exposure of my top half so much that I couldn't quite recover it... But it was hot and I wanted to wear a sleeveless shirt, and well, I do at least have a picture from the week, lol. And baby was the size of a banana, so we gotta take a pic...
Don't worry, I made sure the next week's picture was much better...
Twenty One Weeks
Crazy that we were more than halfway through this pregnancy. It's flying by super fast I think. And with it flying by and being home from Texas I was ready to start working out. (I got good exercise in Colorado, but knew the combination of my desk job and the extreme outdoor heat called for some changes.) My Denise Austin DVD came in the mail and I laced up my tennis shoes and got to work. Denise Austin is not for everyone, she's the cheesiest most positive person I've ever seen on a workout DVD but she's genuine and I love her and we used to workout together (via Lifetime TV) every morning when I was in high school. We even get to clap for ourselves at the end of the video...
August 13, 2013
21 Weeks, 0 Days
It's already August, I'm not sure where the time went. We're already 21 weeks pregnant, past the halfway mark. It's kind of hard to believe. We could be a family of three in less than 5 months. Although 5 months seems like a long time, I know with the football games and the back to school and Thanksgiving and Christmas, it will fly by.
It's fun being back in Texas though. Mollie, our summer roommate moved out this week and so it's been pretty quiet around the house. It's just me... me and by baby girl. It's like she's a little confused about all the quiet compared to camp life, so she's having her own little dance party in there trying to get the party started. IF that's true, she definatley gets it from her dad.
I've been reading about babies and looking at pictures of nurseries and researching cribs and carseats and strollers. I haven't made the move yet to the Baby Registry though because I remember how excited Kyle was to register for our wedding and I want to make sure he's apart. ...even thought it may just kill me to wait 2 more weeks to register for anything. I've been thinking about painting the guest room while he's gone, but then I think I should wait on him to pick the color. Can't wait for him to be home.
Pregnancy seems different this last few weeks. No nausea, not really even as tired as I once was. I don't even have to get up to pee in the middle of the night anymore, and from 5-7 times per night in the last few weeks it's an improvement I'm very grateful for. They say it's the magic of the second trimester. For me it's been the magic of the 20 Week mark which is well into the second trimester... but who's counting.
I love knowing our baby's a girl. I talk to her a lot. Especially when she's kicking up a storm. Last week she kicked a few times a day that I could feel, and now it's almost hours a day. Such a neat feeling that there's a little human in there just doing her own thing. I sing to her sometimes along with the radio, I like to think she likes it, but who knows. Maybe she's kicking me to stop, lol. Can't wait until Kyle can feel it from the outside.
Twenty One Weeks
How far along? 21 Weeks
Maternity Clothes? Maternity pants for sure. Rocking an elastic waist pair of jeans I've been wearing almost all summer and two pair of full panel work jeans I got just this weekend. Shirts still fit and it's barely noticeable I'm pregnant when I wear a 'blouse' but super obvious with I wear something more form-fitting. So no maternity shirts yet.
Stretch Marks? Nothing new.
Sleep? Although it's hard to find a comfortable position sometimes, I'm sleeping through the night! My friend Katie gave me her maternity pillow and although it looks like a giant snake, I love it.
Best Moment This Week: Feeling the baby kick. It happens often now, but it's just so neat. I like to think she likes me already...
Miss Anything?: Kyle. Is that a decent answer? I do miss my husband.
Movement? Yep. Usually kicking most between the hours of 9am and 3pm when I'm at work. Not a night owl...
Food Cravings?: Mostly just cold fruit, but that a usual after camp is over. And it's 100 plus degrees outside so anything cold and juicy is wonderful.
Boy or Girl? They say she's a girl :)
Labor signs? Nope.
Belly Button In or Out? In.
Wedding Rings On or Off? On
Showing? Depends on what I'm wearing. Then I noticed a ton of 'pregnant' women in Walmart the other day... then I realized they may not have been pregnant, maybe just a gut. So it probably looks like I have a gut too...
Looking forward to: Kyle getting to feel the baby kick. Seeing my parents in a few weeks and having them probably look at me like I'm crazy because I have a belly now and I'm 'their little girl.' And then painting the nursery and getting it ready for the baby. And then making the headboard for our bed... although it's not baby related at all...
August 14, 2013
21 Weeks, 1 Day
So in the movies you see the pregnant ladies all hot and sweaty, right? Like in Father of the Bride Part II (love that movie!) the husband/dad is dressed in a huge coat while the pregnant ladies sweat even with extra A/C units in the house. So I kind of got a little worried when I was leaving 54 degree Colorado for 105 degree Texas. Sure I thought I was going to die when we walked off the plane, but because I'm inside most of the time it's not that hot.
Then I got to work. I work in an office with two other ladies, nice and wonderful as can be. But, like my husband, they like it to be 65 degrees in the room. When they've seen me shivering before they kindly turn it up. But I will put on a jacket before I make them sweat...
So I thought, "oh this will be great! I'll be like a pregnant heater and I'll love being in a cold office!" Turns out, not pregnant heater. Still cold. The new A/C thermostat at work gets set on 71 degrees. I bring a jacket.
So much for the hot pregnancy lady syndrome... although maybe that will change as we get further along. Luckily as I get more pregnant, the winter gets closer :)
So for the 22 Week 'bump' pictures I returned to my tried and true lighting, AKA late afternoon in my living room with no overhead lighting just natural light. And I reminded myself to wear sleeves. I really do like how they came out. And if you're wondering why there's lumber in the picture, I wasn't just too lazy to move it. I figured it was a good marker of the week... the time I thought it was a good idea to purchase lots of lumber while pregnant and fit it into my tiny car...
It's funny to, to compare these 21 Week pics to the Four Weeks (which we at the time thought was Five Weeks) picture when I was wearing the very same shirt, lol. Baby went from apple seed at 4 Weeks to pomegranate at 21 Weeks... although compared to my belly a pomegranate seems pretty small to me. Four Weeks is obviously on the left, and 21 weeks on the right...
I had a small issue come up this week. It was a pain in my right upper quadrant for all you other nerds out there. For the others, that means pain in my tummy above where the baby is. They say pain much lower is usually round ligament pain and nothing to be concerned about. Being a first time preggo and after the pain lasted through the night, I called the doctor. They told me to come in, and no matter how many times I said, "it's probably not a big deal, like it doesn't even hurt enough that I would take Tylenol if I wasn't pregnant..." they still said to come in.
Apparently pregnant ladies are more susceptible to gallbladder issues and I was pointing to pain right where my gallbladder is located. They drew some labs and told me to get an ultrasound of the gallbladder. Which, I kind of thought they could do at the office with their fancy ultrasound machine and all, but they had to send me somewhere else. Turns out all is clear, the pain went away and only comes back on occasion. Honestly it just feels like my ab muscles are stretching a lot... which they are. Clean bill or health, but made me realize how lucky I am that I don't have any complications or major illnesses. It was just a couple of extra doctor's visit and I was already grateful.
This week our baby girl was kicking more than ever before. I think she kicked more when I talked to her daddy on the phone, but maybe that was just a coincidence. Or maybe not... I was gaining weight nice and steady and loving anything cold and fruity or anything cold really like water with lots of ice thanks to the Texas heat.
August 26, 2013
22 Weeks, 6 Days
So we partied pretty hard down in Lake Charles this weekend, AKA there were brownies and lots of pool time. My brother and I were particularly excited about a Saturday spent by the pool. I don't think we realized when we lived at home, how wonderful it is to have a pool right in your backyard. I even took the plunge and went to target to buy a maternity swimsuit for the occasion. I think it turned out to be pretty cute (Yay Target!) and because it was so late in the season it was on sale (Yay Procrastinating!).
The weekend really was great. I got to spend some much needed time with the fam after a summer away. I got to spend some much needed time doing nothing at all after my first week back at work. And my mom had the coolest, most comfortable pool float-chair thing that I've ever been in. It must have been invented for a pregnant woman who wanted to relax and stay cool while trying to still sit up and talk to her family and also not get her hair wet. I even made my brother take a picture of me in it...
But it was this chair that may have been the cause of so much of my pain afterwards. Can we say sunburn? So you'll notice I was all sun smart in my hat and shades and I even had sunscreen on. But since it was the end of a summer of camp I usually have spent a good bit of time in the sun. I forgot that this summer my legs barely saw the sun because I had no maternity shorts. Only jeans...
So let's just say that my legs went from ghostly white to lobster red in no time. Like I think this may be the worst sunburn I've ever had. Really I'm like the SPF queen. I wear sunscreen on my face and hands every day no matter what... and then this. And if I'm every sensing a burn coming on, although I never take medicine, I usually pop an ibuprofen real quick to keep any swelling/redness/inflammation down and drink lots of water. I usually wake up the next day without a stitch of redness.
But I'm pregnant... remember. And while some medicines are okay to take during pregnancy, I'm trying to avoid any unnecessary medicines anyway. Dumb stayed in the sun too long mistake, not an emergency...
Well, until it's 3 days later and my legs may be more red, a little purple-ish, and it still hurts to bend my knees...
So I'm toughing it out. Now 2-3 times a day I'm lathering on a 50/50 mix of aloe vera gel and my 24-hour moisture lotion, wearing pants everywhere to block the sun (and hide my lobster legs), and drinking as much water as I can. I'm not sure if it's any less red yet... but I'm still hopeful. And I would say it's not peeling or blistering yet, but I don't want to jinks anything...
Wondering if this is a pregnancy-related thing? They say you can blame almost everything on pregnancy. Or maybe I just got a little too comfortable in that pool chair...
But luckily, before I got all burnt I got my brother to take our 'bump' picture of the week. Sure, I'd never thought I'd post a picture of me online in a swimsuit, much less when I'm 22 weeks pregnant I weigh closer to 180 lbs that I'd like to mention... but in the spirit of 'look at me, I'm huge and pregnant and I'm going to love these pictures later' here goes nothing...
Plan is to post weekly updates each week (duh) but I'm still trying to decide if they get posted on Mondays or Wednesdays... That also means the blog won't be all about my belly every post now. Now we can get on to non-baby stuff like registering for gifts, researching car seats, and painting the nursery, right?
But really, now that Kyle's headed back to Texas and I'm all 'nesting' we're about to make this little house of ours look great...
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