30-31 Weeks

I'm feeling a bit like a failure in the picture and life department. The holidays really did a number on me, being in and out of town, traveling for Christmas to see family then back for a day before heading to Seattle for a wedding and New Year celebration with friends. All awesome, all exhausting, and all resulted in no "fruit/veg" pictures. Boo. I was super excited to have a weekly photo of myself to document, but somewhere around rutabaga (uhhh, apparently we don't have many of them around here!) I started having trouble finding the corresponding weekly fruit or veggie and it all went to hell. Luckily with Christmas and wedding festivities, I have plenty of belly shots sans fruit that will have to do.
Week 30 was chock full of traveling and was the official end of the horrible rash. Thank. God. And just in time to wear the cute wedding dress I found without having to cover all bare skin! Yay!
I also had an OB appointment that was fairly uneventful. Heartbeat, check. Measuring 30 cm, check. Rhogam and TDap shot, check. And OB's guess is that she's head down! Stay baby, stay! This week was also when I started feeling work "senioritis". You that feeling of being almost graduated, but still not and how mentally checked out you were? Yeah, that's how I feel about work. I couldn't care less about it and have officially started counting down the weeks until I'll be done! The baby lady is moving around a lot, and by moving I mean full body torsion. It no longer feels like kicks, it feels like an elephant doing somersaults. Crazy amazing.

Baby is the size of a cucumber! I'm guessing more like the length of a cucumber, but with more "meat" I hope :)

31 weeks and feeling HOT, HOT, HOT! Like SO HOT I can hardly stand it or stand myself. It is the dead of winter and I am wearing sleeveless dresses to work. Granted, it has been unseasonably warm, but I have still been getting weird looks from people because of my wardrobe choices. To get by I have been eating ice all day long, which kind of helps keep the heat at bay.
The other eventful part of the week was lots of braxton hicks contractions. They totally freaked me out. The advice nurse was not so freaked out and reassured me that they are normal unless they become painful or regular. I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the sensation and not worrying that I'm going into labor. I am really looking forward to seeing my OB again so I can talk with her about my worries.

Does this jersey make me look fat? According to the Hubs, playoffs are not the time to switch up the wardrobe, so I rocked it. It didn't help...

 Baby is the size of a squash...again. They really need to vary those veggies a little more!

Merry and Bright

29 weeks pregnant and soaking up another wonderful Christmas! Almost nothing can ruin Christmas magic for me, so even while "in the trenches" Christmas made everything better.
This year was no exception and we had a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends. The little one got a few fun gifts from the Grandparents, which was very fun and makes all of this a little more real.
I don't know if this "is this really happening?!" feeling happens to all pregnant chicks or mostly pregnant chicks with a history of infertility, but it definitely has not hit me yet that I am going to be a Mom in 11 weeks or less. Been there before? When did it sink in for you?

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Wishing for lots of babies in the new year!!!

Again, photos coming...

I'm a New Woman

All better! Okay, maybe not all better, but so, so much improved. And I'm back in the game!
Turns out I probably do not have PUPPP. Thank. God. Most likely I am having an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin that I was on for a weird face rash. Since I stopped taking it the rash is much improved, not quite as itchy, and my swelling has gone down almost completely. Phew. I have continued taking all my homeopathic remedies just in case it is PUPPP and it's just being controlled by everything I'm doing, but if it goes away completely I will start phasing out all the supplements.

I have noticed that I am having a hard time bending over all of the sudden due to the growing belly. It always takes me by surprise and almost takes my breath away when I bend down and realize I've gone too far.

The other kind of funny event this week happened at the hardware store. I have been hearing about overly protective Daddy instincts, but haven't really noticed it in my Hubby until this week.
While my sweet hubby was waiting in a giant line, I said I was going to check out the paint selection (trying to pick out nursery colors!) But then I had to pee...per the usual. I saw him still in Big Fat Line, so I sneaked off to go. When I came back, no Husband in sight. But then he was in sight and he was freaking out. I don't know if I've ever seen him so frantic. He was speeding around the store looking for me with pure panic in his eyes. When I found him he was not pleased. Not pleased in the way your parents are not pleased when you crash your first car and almost kill yourself but don't, so they yell instead of cry. This may have happened to me once. He was clearly relived that I was okay, but kind of pissed because I scared him, and also kind of tearing up.
You guys, I was kind of baffled and wanted to say, "what do you think could have happened to me in a span of 10 minutes?! Clearly no one's going to make away with your knocked up, rashy wife!" But I felt so guilty because he was so worried! Man, that Daddy instinct has kicked in in a big way! Sweet and strange.
 
I did take pictures this week, but am so behind on uploading that I thought I would get these posts out and update with pics later! The holiday season always does a number on me, but I feel like this year is particularly busy...anyone else? 

Welcome to the Third Trimester. F you.

This week I failed. There is no fruit or veggie photo, just a Christmas photo taken just before my life became a living hell. I remember people saying that the first and third trimesters were hard, but I kind of felt like I paid my dues in the first trimester with the all day nausea, so I would skate through the third. I don't know why I thought this. It's kind of like that time when I thought I would get pregnant as soon as we "pulled the goalie". Ha. Ha. Ha. Joke is on me my friends.

I am insanely excited to be in these shoes of mine, and until this week I was a blissful person. Like sickeningly blissfully pregnant. Then I got out of the shower and noticed that my belly was red and kind of itchy. Then the next day my whole body was itchy. Then the next day my whole body was covered in a bright red, horrific rash from chest to ankles that makes me want to literally scratch my skin off. Then my legs swelled up like an elephant and I ended up in OB for a few hours (all was fine, my doctor was just equally horrified and shocked by my rash and insta-swelling and wanted a little baby monitoring and blood pressure check). 

So to say it was a bad week is an understatement. I am incredibly down in the dumps at the prospect of this being the rest of my pregnancy. I am upset to be feeling itchy and puffed up like a balloon, yes, of course I am. But mostly I'm upset because I feel like I'm not going to enjoy the rest of this baby-growing journey to the fullest. And I feel like a bloated, gross red, bumpy blob of yuckiness. Sorry for the whining and self-pity. I think this is part of my "I love being pregnant!" grieving process.

While in OB I got a maybe diagnosis of PUPPP (otherwise known as the worst thing ever that won't go away until baby has exited my vagina). The "maybe" part comes because most women don't get the rash until much later in pregnancy. I am relieved that there is no harm to me or to the little one, but not relieved because there is no good way to get rid of it. I have researched and researched and contacted my old acupuncturist for some recommendations and along with the OB and Dermatology recommendations I am armed with a plan to make this tolerable:

1. Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap: I ordered a couple bars from Amazon and the should be here within a day or so. Not sure how this stuff works, but a lot of people swear by it.

2. Benadryl nightly: The verdict is out on whether or not this helps the actual rash or if it just helps you sleep so you aren't scratching your body off.  Either way, I'm giving it a go.

3. Dandelion Root: 2 capsules 3 times a day. PUPPP is sometimes attributed to a sluggish liver. Dandelion root is supposed to help and is also a natural diuretic. I am going to increase my water intake to counteract the diuretic properties, but hoping this might help the swelling too? Started this already and of everything that is rumored to help, the most people tout this one as a miracle. Bring it.

4. Prescribed Topical Steroids: Obviously the most Western of the treatments, the consulting dermatologist told my OB this should help and is not to be worried about in pregnancy. Hallelujah.

5. Omega 3s: This was a recommendation from the acupuncturist. So flax oil it is. 

Hopefully next week I will have some good news to report! I do NOT know how I will sustain this for more 13 weeks if not!

Prior to all of this sad news, we took photos for our holiday cards. Here's to hoping this isn't the last picture of my unblemished skin!

Going, Going, Going

Brace yourselves for some TMI. 

I have heard pregnancy horror stories of constipation and hemorrhoids and blockages and many poop-related dilemmas. 

I made it 26 weeks without talking about poop, but the time has arrived.

I am pooping. Like all the time. 

Better than constipation, yes. But very strange and slightly inconvenient none the less because when I have to go, I have to go NOW. And several time a day bathroom stops is fine, but...weird.

Anyhoo...

I have failed in the picture realm and did not capture a photo of the bump this week :( I must have been spending too much time in the bathroom.
Baby Girl is the size of a head of lettuce if that helps the visualization?
I totally stole this photo from my friend's facebook page. Slacker.

 

Viability

I am 24 weeks and now to the point where the little one is considered "viable". As a NICU nurse, the idea of delivering anytime in the near future makes me sick to my stomach. The next few weeks are going to be a bit rough for me, mostly because while 24 weeks is in most cases viable, it is not always pretty. It has given me an interesting perspective on these Mommies that deliver RIGHT NOW. I cannot even fathom how it would feel to go into labor right now, so, so early with nothing prepared and be faced with so many hard decisions. Ugh. So, yeah, it's a scary time. 

This week everything started getting a bit real. We ordered our stroller and are so excited to have our first real baby item! I am also in full throws of nursery planning. I'm hoping to keep it pretty neutral, but also get some fun girly stuff mixed in. 

The belly definitely "popped" again this week!

Thankful

Wow am I behind on posts. It is officially the holidays and hence there is no time for anything but eating. We had a pretty darn wonderful Thanksgiving which has been historically a hard holiday for me for obvious reasons. This year I was bursting with thankfulness for everything that has transpired in the last 25 weeks and for the feisty little life that is growing inside of me. 

And feisty one is the size of a bunch of cauliflower!

This week I started feeling full much faster than before, so I had a built-in Thanksgiving over-eating preventive!