Monday, February 25, 2013

huge

This morning when I was getting ready for work, I had an overwhelming thought. It was whoa you look huge! I know I am going to get huge(r), but it was a bit of a shock to see it this morning. I am 27 weeks tomorrow, so I still have about 13 weeks to go- plus or minus a couple of weeks! The third trimester is just around the corner.

I guess I could have cropped out our toilet.


Chris and I are planning to go register this weekend. Do any veteran moms out there have tips on what to register for? I've been asking my friends and searching the internet for recommended registry lists. It's a bit overwhelming seeing how Chris and I have absolutely no idea how to take care of a baby. I welcome advice on items you got but never used, stuff you used all the time, and or stuff you wish you had. Make sure you mention specific brands or styles if you feel strongly about a specific item! I know we won't get everything on our list, but it would be great if we could get the things that are the most helpful!

Friday, February 15, 2013

dangerous combination & Valentine's Day

Having two boxes of girl scout cookies in your desk at work is a dangerous combination- especially when you are pregnant and craving sweets! Chris decided earlier this week to give up sweets for Lent, so I don't want to take them home to tempt him. Maybe I should just eat them all and get it over with!



I've been eating crappy all week! On Tuesday, after all the poking and prodding at the doctor's office, I felt like I deserved a double bacon cheeseburger with fries. The next day I forgot my breakfast at home and ended up getting a pack of mini chocolate covered donuts from of the vending machine at work! What a great way to start your day, right?

Last night, we went to Mariah's to celebrate Valentine's Day, and I pigged out on buffalo chicken tenders, a baked potato AND I added a side salad to my meal. Can someone say extra butter, sour cream and ranch dressing, please?! I didn't finish everything, but I got pretty close! It was all just so good. We haven't been eating out as much lately, so I think I appreciate it more now. Even when I finally got full, I still wanted to keep on eating.

I was expecting chocolates from Chris for Valentine's Day, which he didn't get me, but his parents sent some in the mail. Now there's an entire box at home waiting for me since he has given it all up! I guess I just need to pace myself or I'll be reporting a 10 pound weight gain soon!



My sweetie got me some wonderful gifts for Valentine's Day. He brought home some beautiful pink roses, the Tim Keller book I've been wanting to read and a very sweet card, which may or may not have included a fat joke. He says that it didn't. It was something about our love getting bigger AND BIGGER! Oh well. I love him anyway.












Thursday, February 14, 2013

bake baby, bake!

Tuesday marked 25 weeks for this pregnancy. I had a doctor's appointment that I had been anticipating for a few weeks scheduled. Last week I wrote that the pains I had been complaining about had gone away. I had been feeling really good for about four days. Then, the pain hit me again starting Friday night and didn't ease up until Monday. I was really glad that I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I was finally going to try to get to the bottom of this. Was it really just harmless round ligament pains? Was it Braxton Hicks this early on? Those aren't supposed to be painful. Could I have some kind of infection? Could it be real labor pains? My mind was cycling through these possibilities over and over. I tried to ignore it, but my mind just kept coming back to these concerns.

Lucky for me I have a really good doctor. After I waited and waited for my glucose screening to be over, (yay! I passed!), I got in to see the doctor. He wasn't all that concerned with my pains, which he said were most likely round ligament pains and totally normal. He even showed me where those round ligaments are exactly, and I agreed that is where the pain was mostly coming from. However, he was concerned with my pain in combination with some other symptoms that I shared with him. These symptoms had already come and gone, but they too were signs of preterm labor. I had previously called about each concern and was told by the nurses in his office that these symptoms could be completely normal and that they were things to watch for but not anything to worry about. Even the doctor said it was probably nothing, but he just wanted to be sure. That's exactly what I wanted him to say! I didn't ask him to do anything. I just wanted his opinion. He said wanted to check me out to make sure my cervix was closed. He did a test where they look for this certain protein that's only present if labor is near, he examined me, and he ordered an ultrasound to double check everything. I found out before I left the office that everything was still closed up tight! That's a really good sign! I did have to wait a couple of days to get the results of the test that had to be sent to the lab. I found out today that the result was negative! Praise the Lord! Another reminder that God is good! A negative result on that test means there's almost no chance that I will go into labor in the next two weeks! That is a relief. She needs more baking time! She's at a critical point in development, and she's not ready to be born yet!

I've felt good and relatively pain free again for the last couple of days, and again, I am hoping and praying that continues. The doctor says the round ligament pains will ease up a lot in the third trimester, so I am holding on to hope that it's true! He did warn that I will have a whole different list of complaints by then though.

Here are the stats from my appointment:

Weight- up .2 pounds (almost no change since my last appointment 3 weeks ago, 11.4 pounds total)
Baby's heartrate- 163 BPM
Blood Pressure- 100/74
Belly measurement- 26 cm (I am not sure what that means, but he said that it was good.)


I'm so glad I passed the glucose screening! I won't have to do the three hour test. One hour was long enough!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

24 weeks and growing!

The idea of having a little girl has really started to sink in over the last couple of weeks. I love her so much already!

I've started to feel tons better yesterday and today, but the last week and a half has been rough. I was in pain. My lower abdomen and lower back were killing me. I am not going to lie. I got really nervous since those types of pains can be signs of preterm labor, and at 22 and 23 weeks, a baby's chances of surviving if they are born premature are slim. Plus, a surviving baby born that early would be in bad shape health wise for a while, possibly forever. My mind always goes to the most extreme possibility. I cried a couple times when the pain didn't go away because I got overwhelmed with fear. When I got upset, my sweet husband was there to listen to my concerns and assure me that it was probably normal, not to worry, and that whatever was going on, God had it under control. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't doubled over in pain. It was just a fairly consistent dull ache that seemed to progressively get worse as each day went on. I would start off the morning with minimal discomfort and progress to extreme discomfort by the evening. I could feel her moving around every day, so that was reassuring. The fact that the pain wasn't letting up after a couple of days concerned me enough to call my doctor's office a couple of times for clarification on what was serious and what would most likely just be some extreme stretching and growing pains. They calmed my fears by giving me a checklist of symptoms to watch for should it become serious. Their answer was that it was most likely just growing pains. They said pregnancy can be hard on some people. They also reminded me that I have a baby inside me, which is not always going to feel very good. Good point.

And so I started to pray. I asked my friends to pray. Chris and I prayed together. We asked God to take care of her, that she would stay in there until it was time for her to be born, and that He would allow my pain to ease up. We told Him that we wanted to keep her, and we asked him if He would let us. I think most of my fear wasn't that I was hurting. I never felt like I was in labor or anything. Then again, I don't have a clue about what it feels like to be in labor, but friends tell me I would know if I was experiencing it! I think my fear was really just the unknown, the uncertainty and the fact that I didn't feel in control. I was also scared that if I was that uncomfortable at this point, how would I ever make it 17 more weeks? The third trimester of pregnancy is supposed to be way more uncomfortable than the second. The Lord in his kindness has since given me a few days of relief. Praise God! I hope the pain doesn't return, but I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if it did. I still have a lot of growing to do in the next 16 weeks. Pray that I am able to push through whatever pain comes my way over the next few months, that I am able to decipher if it's serious or not, that I would give up trying to feel in control, and that I wouldn't be such a weenie!

Chris and I have decided that her name will be Bridgette. We haven't made a final decision on the spelling yet. We might spell it Bridget. Chris likes the ette at the end. He thinks it's prettier that way. I like the et because I think it will be easier to spell and not as confusing to pronounce since a lot of names that end in ette have a different pronunciation. I don't hate either spelling, so we will just have to make a decision. What do you think? Should we go with the spelling Bridgette or Bridget?