Three-And-A-Half Months

Congratulations to my friend Stephanie who found out yesterday that she is having a baby girl in June! She has two sons, ages 1 & 2, and is a doctor (as is her husband). . .I don't know how she does it!

Also, one of my husband's best friends from high school (also named Joe) and his wife Jeannie are due a month after us in August so that will be fun!

Finally, a former co-worker of Joe's and his wife are due just a week after us! It will be the summer for babies :-)

Joe has talked more to his current co-worker who is due the same day we are and his wife stopped taking the nausea medication because she is starting to feel better. During my worst week of this pregnancy I considered getting a prescription and then found out our insurance doesn't cover it and it's $200 per pill. No, I didn't forget a decimal -- it is TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS PER PILL! So it's a good thing my nausea never got as bad as last time because medication isn't an option for me after all!

He told Joe that she still spends the majority of the time on the couch. I feel bad for her but it made me feel better because when I have my bad days I get upset because I feel like, why me? :p

Like, yesterday I went to get my oil changed and read about John Travolta and Kelly Preston's new baby in People Magazine (sooo happy for them) but about threw the magazine across the room when Kelly talked about how easy pregnancy is and how she felt wonderful from the first day to the last. I felt like I was having de ja vu because I remember reading a similar article there when I was pregnant with Logan! Celebrities make the rest of us look bad when they can stay a size two during pregnancy and run marathons well into their ninth month (okay not literally but you know what I mean). Then again, I know plenty of "normal" people who do as well!

So, I prefer knowing that I'm not just some weak person because I admit that is my internal dialogue when I start feeling like my body can't handle being pregnant -- and if there is anything I don't want to be in life it is weak! But when I hear other people's tough stories I don't think of them as weak so then it's easier for me to feel I'm normal!

I remember last year a friend of mine out-of-state had a friend who was pregnant and even though my friend had already been pregnant, she didn't understand why her friend became a shell of her old self while pregnant. Every time we'd talk I'd ask how her friend was and she said it was hard to be around her because her friend who was usually positive and upbeat now just complained and wanted to lay around and be alone. I told her that I bet she would be her old self once she had the baby and sure enough that's what happened. But I know that sometimes pregnant women who didn't have that happen to them have a hard time understanding.

On the bright side, what I predicted with Logan was indeed the case with him. I had thought maybe this was how it needed to be for me in order to adjust easily to motherhood. I do better with external stress opposed to internal stress, and sure enough the hard days of motherhood were/are easier when I think of them alongside the hard days of pregnancy. So if that's the case this time, too, then I'd rather have it this way during pregnancy but very little stress year after year when it comes to my child!

Anyway, I went 7 days without any nausea (all day last Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon) and then this morning threw up. :( (#6 for this pregnancy.) It had been so nice last Fri we were able to go out to eat which we'd only done two other times since week 8 because I couldn't enjoy eating out for fear that at any time I was going to vomit! I carry a sack in my purse whenever I go anywhere in public because I never know when it could happen. But last Friday I felt so good, I could just relax and enjoy my food -- which was at Roja! We decided to give it another try after my birthday and it was back to being sooooooo good! So maybe they had other complaints and changed chefs or something! I hope so 'cuz I didn't want to find another special occasion restaurant!

Thankfully, my fatigue from last week still seems to be gone so I was able to finally go shopping for maternity clothes yesterday (since I was too tired to go last week). I can't believe how much I've already grown since my 14 week picture -- I'm still in my 14th week but I could take another pic because I now look like I did at five months pregnant with Logan! It concerns me that I'm two months ahead of last time since I'm wanting a smaller baby, but I know it's supposedly the uterus and not necessarily the baby that makes women show sooner in their subsequent pregnancies.

I've gained a total of 8 lbs which is one pound more than at this stage last time (was up 9 at 16 wks with Logan) despite eating only peas the other night for supper (although it was the entire sack) and still wanting a salad every day this week. But, I started back on the eliptical today so maybe that will help. I can't wait until it's nice weather and I can start being active outside with Logan!

I haven't had any heartburn or abdomen-pain since Sat night/Sun morn (but still palpitations). I read in my pregnancy book that the back pain that I experienced a couple of weeks ago was probably the relaxin hormone being released since it starts in the 12th week and peeks in the 14th week where it remains until 48 hours after birth! Heartburn at this stage is also caused by the hormone relaxin which relaxes the esphogous, causing the stomach acid to rise up (which burns). Relaxin is the hormone that makes the pelvis stretch for labor -- and with Logan I had no signs of relaxin during my 37 weeks of pregnancy. My lower back never hurt and, aside from one day in the third trimester, I never had heartburn (more than likely that heartburn was the result of my organs being pushed together/smashed up). So, signs of relaxin = good sign of easier pushing phase.

Baths have become my best friend, like they were when I was pregnant with Logan. I've been taking one almost every night and it is the one place where even if I've been feeling bad all day -- I feel better! I always hate to get out!

This Thursday is my next doctor's appointment, I can't wait! I hope Joe can go with me this time to hear the heartbeat and meet her.

He's having stress again at work. For those of you who stayed updated on my old blog with our family updates (our last one was Winter Update/Conclusion To Blog), I wrote that Joe received two promotions in December. Well he received a third this month! While this should help with income starting next month (which we need because his company switched to a HORRIBLE insurance last year -- we had to pay for pretty much all of Logan's doctor's visits when he was sick in November/December and all that went along with them, as well as a lot of my prenatal stuff with my OBGYN!), of course going from one position to now holding three different positions at the same time brings new pressure. I am going back to online freelance writing (web content) because that has been the best money that I've made as a stay at home mom so at least then I will feel I am helping out. When I have my bad pregnancy weeks I can't clean, cook, or help in the evenings with Logan so my husband needs a break!

Needless to say, I'm leaning toward the nanny idea that I wrote about in that same final family update (I had planned to start Logan in preschool next month rather than go to his at home daycare anymore, but am now thinking of waiting a year in place of getting a nanny for when we need an evening or wknd. [We can't afford both preschool and a nanny.] We've never hired a babysitter in Logan's 33 months of life! That way if I need an hour or two during the week when the baby is born I can get a break rather than wait until 11 months like I did with Logan when he started going to his at-home daycare 1-2 days a week. Now that Logan goes to his at-home daycare on Mon & Fri he's with two sweet little girls rather than a full house with those two brothers who are always being bad so I don't mind him continuing to go there for another year). Also, a nanny will give me someone to call to watch Logan if I go into labor in the middle of the night again! His at-home-day-care will take him between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm, and Joe's mom & my parents plan to leave Iowa as soon as we call them so they can pick up Logan wherever he is, but if it happens after 5 pm and before 7 am then I am currently at a loss of what to do with the poor little guy! Of course if I get to those last two weeks then I can have family stay with me, but as I said in my last post. . .I think I'm going before then :p