Seriously, I admit it, I suck at keeping a blog! Lol!
At first I was like, yes! I'm going to update this every day! Which turned into every week and then every two weeks...now I'm lucky if I get an udpate in once a month which is SO sad!
I can tell you though that through all of this I have gained a TREMENDOUS amount of respect for moms who work full-time...or single moms?! Don't even get me started! I honestly don't know how you do it. I'm so exhausted when I get home that I just want to crawl in bed...and I haven't even popped out the kid yet!
So here's my update...
I'M HUGE!
That about covers it.
But seriously, I am getting mighty big for being 7 mths preggers...or at least that's what people keep telling me. You don't even know how many times I hear, "Wow, when I was pregnant I wasn't your size until I was 9 mths along" I'm like "well, isn't that great for you. Didn't you know? I'm giving birth to a grizzly bear." At least I feel like it, between how big my belly is and how much the baby kicks the crap out of my organs I feel like there must be some sort of crazy beast brewing inside. The worst was yesterday I went to get a mani/pedi and this cute little pregnant asian girl came into the salon and sat down next to me. Her belly looked like she took a basketball and stuck it right under her shirt...perfectly round, high and plump...almost the same size as mine. So I asked her, when is your baby due? (thinking we'd have due dates right next to eachother) To which she said, "oh! I'm 38 weeks and am being enduced on Thursday...when's yours due?" Ugh. I smiled and quietly said, "ohhh I'm only 29 weeks, not due till August" Very awkward after that, she just kind of smiled and didn't know what to say...
Ah well, at least I know the munchkin will be nice & chubby! I love fat babies.
Take a look at the pics below, I had Kane take them a few minutes ago...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding...well, not MY big fat greek wedding but one of dear friends had their own version over this past weekend. It was C-R-AZY to say the least, but in the best possible way. The ceremony was really beautiful, although I didn't understand a word of it since it was in Greek, only not so fun part is it was about an hour long and since I was a bridesmaid I had to stand in the front the whole time. Me, as well as the other bridesmaids too, were definitely doing the switching of standing on one foot, doing little circle stretches with your ankles, but honestly, the bride looked soooo beautiful that watching her completely took your mind off of the fact that you very well could topple over any minute.
The reception on the other hand was QUITE the party, Greeks do it right is all I'm gonna say. There was great food, flowing champagne (Sprite for me, yay.) and lot's of money being thrown around! Apparently it's a greek tradition to throw dollar bills at people when they're dancing, there was money EVERYWHERE! I'm assuming it goes to the bride and groom which made me just keep thinking, "MAN, I WISH I WAS GREEK!"
Here are some pics from the night, and as you can see my dear husband & friends had no problem partaking in the adult beverages even though I couldn't. PS, I know I look a big, pink cupcake...I don't want to talk about it. (;
WARNING: UNATTRACTIVE PREGNANCY SYMPTOMS BELOW, MEN WITH IDEAS OF WOMEN BEING PRISTINE AND PERFECT NATURALLY BEWARE.
Oh the joys of pregnancy...feeling that new life inside you kick for the first time, having people notice you have the special glow, unwanted random hair popping up in unexpected places! WHAT?!
Yep! Every week I get a new little surprise and this week the pregnancy fairy brought me a fuzzy belly. Yes, you heard me right, a fuzzy belly. Now normally random unwanted hair is something I'd be quite shy about sharing but I vowed when I started this blog that I would share all the horrible details no matter how embarrasing they might be, I wanted other preggers to have someone they could relate to so when odd little hairs starting popping up in places hairs should not grow I knew I had to share it.
This past weekend I was lying in bed in my new favorite pj's, sports bra and Kane's boxers, when my dear husband looked at my belly and pointed. "What?" I said, "Yeah, it's getting big alright, thanks for pointing it out...again" that's when he said, "NO, IT'S GETTING HAIRY!" Sure enough, I looked down to see little black hairs popping up on my belly. Seriously. So I tried plucking (I can't believe I'm actually posting this, you guys better appreciate the honesty here) but they're stubborn little effers and just break when you pull them. I certainly wasn't going to shave my stomach so off I went to Target in search of some hair removal relief. After all, not only do you have to show your tummy to the nurses and doctor every few weeks but my friends ask to see my belly a lot, normally I love to show it off but not now, now I had belly shame.
So I'm at the beauty section in Target examining my options...Nair? No, too scary to put on my belly, unknown chemicals...it seemed like my only other option was the Sally Hansen waxes and bleaches so I picked up both. When I got home I kicked Kane out of the bathroom and went to work, first the wax strips...I opened the box and to my surprise my wax strips had been ganked! Someone actually opened up the box and stole all the wax strips just leaving the tiny bottle of wax residue remover. Seriously, who steals wax strips???? So I was left with one option, body hair bleach. At first I was nervous about using it on my belly but the instructions said nothing about not using if you're pregnant and I know my doctor said it was ok to highlight my hair on my head soooo I went to work and dyed the little suckers blonde.
Being a latina woman having dark unsightly hair is nothing new to me, in fact one trick my mom taught me was to put hydrogen peroxide on your arms, back, wherever you wanted to lighten your peach fuzz, when you're laying out in a bikini. The sun will do the work, but until I'm out in a bikini (which certainly isn't going to be anytime too soon) this will have to do.
OH! And another funny thing is you know how I get those weekly pregnancy updates? Well look at what the one today said...made me feel a little better that I might not be alone in this!
"Hair everywhere why it's growing and safe ways to remove it
Your baby's not the only one with more hair your locks may look more full and lustrous than ever. It's not that you're growing more hair, but the hair you'd normally shed is sticking around longer than usual. You may also notice darker or thicker body hair, and it's not uncommon to sprout new hair growth on your chin, upper lip, jaw, cheeks, breasts, or belly, thanks to an increase in sex hormones known as androgens. All will return to normal in the weeks after you give birth."
I am a huge fan of the show and check Natasha's blog for updates daily so I've been concerned for quite a while that she has not updated it in a very long time. It used to be weekly so I hope all is okay. I know being pregnant is a lot to put her body through and she may just be tired and not feeling like updating or sharing what she's going through and of course I totally understand that. I just want to make sure nothing is wrong..."
Kane got this email last night and I felt SO bad, I keep meaning to post a blog but now I haven't updated my belly blog in two and a half weeks.
It's been a rough couple of weeks...
Remember when I blogged a month or so ago about having such horrible migraines that my doctor had me go to the ER? Well, they keep happening, and a lot more often, now I definitely think they're stress related because over the last two weeks I've had to travel for work, travel to see my family and work has been pretty stressful on top of it. Which the weird part is I've always been the type of person who thrives in a stressful work enviroment, it's like it gives me that extra push to be a superstar and go above and beyond to do a kick-ass job but now...now I just keep ending up in bed, miserable, and having to take these pain killers which my doctor, ER doctor & books all say are safe in low-moderation but I just feel awful about taking them while preggers with little Sam. So last week after having 2 migraines which each lasted 2+days I went to see my OB and he said, enough! Time to stop commuting and go on bedrest 3 days a week. (and do the same on the weekends) Normally I go into the office 4 days a week and commute an hour each way and work a 9 hour day.
Monday I met with my boss and HR director to discuss and they were SO wonderful, I was really nervous to tell them...I guess sometimes I kind of feel bad at work for the inconveniences pregnancy causes, which is ridiculous because obviously my baby comes first but sometimes I just want to reassure work that they're not losing an employee already and I'm completely capable of doing the same job I did before getting pregnant. But I guess now I need to listen to my body and realize that things are different and I can't keep trudging along and pushing myself to be the same person I was before. My body is so tired!
Sooo, I'm REALLY REALLY sorry for not updating you guys and letting you know that everything was ok, I'll definitely be back to my weekly updates now that I've got a new schedule, am resting up and getting myself back on track.
I have so much to fill you guys in on! I had my shower in Tampa and was asked if I'm having twins ohhh, about 10 times. Fun!Fun!
My mom is throwing me a shower in two weeks in Tampa and I'm so excited! We registered on a few baby sites and I got our first gift this week!! Of course it's from my mom who is always wayyy ahead of the game, (she starts shopping for Christmas in May) it's a beautiful espresso stained wooden cradle and as you can see...perfect for any baby. Sorry mom, I couldn't resist the photo op!!!
.: 20 Weeks and the Super Pet Expo...what a weekend!
So this weekend was actually a really good weekend but when people at work ask me what I did this weekend I can tell they don't find it nearly as thrilling as I do. We were going to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival but Peter's parents are in town next weekend so we decided to go see the trees next weekend with them instead of fighting the crowds now. So instead we went to the Super Pet Expo!!! Woo hoo, right?! Lol, ok, it was actually really fun and I always look forward to going places where we can take the mutts. We met a ton of fans of the show too so if any of you are reading "HIII!!!", people are so cool too, they come up to Kane and are just like "Hello little hoooooker!" Too funny.
"We're ready to go Mom!!!" "Wow." "Can we go home now?"
"Dog Greetings" "Doggie Pool Olympics"
"It's a Sheltie Convention!"
"Baby panther from the wild cat rescue"
"My 1st baby."
.:Yayy!!! It's been a good week.
Holy Cow.
I can't believe I'm 19 weeks preggers already!? Seriously, this second trimester is going by SO much faster than the first one. I guess that's what happens when you stop vomiting everyday. Heehee.
So this week has been a HUGE week for the parents of baby Sam. (By the way if you didn't know already we're naming the baby either Sam or Samantha...not only do we love the name but it's Kane's Dad's name and my Grandpa's name) First big news is I started feeling kicks, I've been feeling little flutters for several weeks now and I'm pretty sure from all the reading I've been doing that it's what they call "quickening" but it's hard to relate that to being the baby...I feel like it could be gas and who wants to get sentimental about gas?! But late last week and early this week I started feeling legitimate kicks! It's the absolute best feeling in the world! I don't even know how to put it into words but it's kind of like you've been spending months knowing you're pregnant and seeing what looks like a little baby on the ultrasound but not quite being able to really make the connection that there is a baby living inside of you at this very moment! At least for me I have had the toughest time getting my brain to wrap around that. But now when there's what feels like a little knock knock coming from inside it's all of sudden become so real to me. It's like a special way of communicating between me and the baby that only I get to know about!
Absolutely puts a giant smile on my face every single time.
The second neat thing is last night Kane got to feel the baby kick too! Since I started feeling the fluttering I've put his hands on my belly once in awhile to see if he could feel it too but it's been a whole lot of nothing. So I stopped doing that for the last week or so but now that I'm feeling real kicks (and read online that others can usually start feeling kicks around 19-22 weeks) we decided to try again last night. The baby always moves the most when I go from sitting up to lying down on my side so I put both his hands where I think the baby's feet are (the last two ultrasounds have been head down feet in the air!) and kept them there while I laid down...sure enough within a few seconds he was like "Gasp! I felt something!!!" He said it felt like someone trying to poke out from under the covers. I think some of my favorite moments are going to be when we can share in experiencing the baby together, which speaking of...
We found out the sex at our last ultrasound!!! I wish SO bad that I could share it with you but the station is going to be doing a contest where you guess the sex and date/time of the birth so I have to keep my mouth shut. ):
I will say this though, even though we both had preconceived guesses...he thought boy, I thought girl...finding out what and who our baby really is was one of the best moments of my life. At least so far! I'm sure those moments just get better and better but something about when they say, "It's a ____" is so overwhelmingly joyful. We both cried a little!
Alright, I was just rereading my blog and realized I must have an extra surge of estrogen this week, it's so sappy! LOL!
Well let me finish on a non-sappy note that will bring my back to my usual complaining self...my back is now killing me! I had read that in the 2nd and especially 3rd trimester your back will start to ache and mine has definitely started acting up. Sitting in my chair at work all day probably isn't the best thing either. One lady here who has 6 kids had warned me a few weeks ago that I should get a little stool to prop my feet up on. At the time my back felt fine so I didn't take the advice but today I rummaged through our office supply area and stuck this Staples box under my desk. Looks a little silly but is definitely helping!
Also one last thing!! You can see a bit of my pink dress in the picture above...I found two maternity sites that I love! That pink dress is from one of them (see pic below) and it's the most comfortable thing EVER. And it has pockets...who doesn't love a dress with pockets?! Mad compliments on it today too which is always nice to hear. The site is http://www.laurenkiyomi.com/
One other site I really like is http://www.unbuttonedmaternity.com/ I bought a super cute tye-dye tunic, it's really cute and comfy over leggings.(Which they sell maternity leggings too!) And this AWESOME dress called the Cowl Turtle T Maternity Dress by a brand call Pure T, I highly recommend it...it actually made me feel sexy and gave me a cute bump at the same time. They won't let me save their pictures otherwise I'd post it for you.
