Its getting a little cramped in there!

I am now 33.5 weeks along in my pregnancy. I have started growing quite rapidly ... to the point where if someone doesn't see me for a few days they notice a difference in the size of my belly. While I have started growing rapidly, my weight gain has slowed down. I was gaining 2+ pounds a week for a little while --- I am assuming it was while James was going through his growth spurt --- but I am back to gaining just a pound or so per week. I believe my total weight gain is now around 26 pounds  :)   I will post a picture on Thursday.

So I don't know if James has just been more active lately or if I am just feeling it more because he is bigger and stronger. Watching my stomach move and be deformed at times can be a little freaky, but entertaining for sure. Though a lot of his movements are uncomfortable and sometimes painful where before they were barely noticeable or just a tickle. He spends a lot of time kicking or pushing against my ribs and also pushing on and punching my bladder. There is nothing like walking out of the bathroom only to feel like I need to go back in.

When he is at his most active, it seriously looks like he is trying to get out. If he continues to get stronger, I'm afraid he will push out through my skin just to get more space. Josh doesnt think that he will wait until April because my body will only allow for so much growing and James will get fed up of trying to fit in there. He will, after all, be full term in 2.5 weeks (36 weeks), so being born any time after that is fair game. And to be completely honest, I will be okay if he wants to come out a little before his due date because I am becoming tired of the continious discomfort (lower pelvis, ribs, upper back, lower back, hips etc etc etc). Our friend Heather thinks he will be here on March 17th because he is Irish after all, but our friend Shelly wants him to wait until his due date of April 16th because that's her birthday  :)   So we shall see.

If I had to pick a date, I would pick March 21st because that is my grandfather's birthday  <3   But as we know ... he will come out whenever he is ready to. I just really hope that it is on or before April 16th!

Baby Shower.

Can you believe that it has been a week and a day since our baby shower and this is the first time that I've had a chance to sit and write about that awesome day! It was a lot of fun and thank you again to my parents for putting the whole thing together and inviting everyone into their home. Josh and I very much appreciated their generosity, love and support.

Josh and I couldn't believe how much we got at the shower! We weren't expecting so many wonderful gifts. We were really feeling the love that day. It took me a week to organize and put the gifts away into their new homes. I think it also made everything seem a little more real. And can you believe that we received over 1400 diapers?!?!?!?! Oh my gosh! And they are split pretty evenly between the 'newborn' size and sized 1 and 2. So we are pretty set for a little while. I couldn't believe it when I organized and counted them. That is a ridiculous number of diapers and I love it!

Thank you everyone for your kindness, generocity, love and support. James is going to be one lucky little duckie! <3

Seeing everyone that was able to make it to the party was awesome. There were people that I hadnt seen in a very long time. I tried to catch up with everyone at some point through-out the afternoon/evening, but there were about 40 people there at one point, making it difficult to to get to everyone. So I do apologize to anyone that I didnt get a chance to sit down with. Again, I was blown away by the amount of people that came to celebrate with us  :) 

 
 

The food from Silvergreens was delicious! And by the looks of it at the end of the night, everyone agreed with me  :)  Silvergreens is one of my favourite places to eat in Santa Barbara. The cake was also amazing. I love carrot cake and again, everyone agreed with me :)  It was very pretty and also very delcious! I do believe the whole entire cake was eaten in the week following the shower.

I was completely exhausted for about 3-4 days following the shower. I slept a lot and took naps. I was much like Brutus after all the excitement hahaha. Now the next milestone in this journey is the birth of our son. I can't believe it and I cant wait!  <3  Bring on parenthood!

Feeling Under the Weather

In just a few days I will be 8 months along in my pregnancy ... and this morning I woke with my first cold of the pregnancy (and hopefully the last). I think I am very lucky to have gone this whole time without a single cold because when you're pregnant, your immune system is down and so it is a lot easier to catch illnesses. The reason I feel lucky is because I am around people all day every day ... all kinds of people at the restaurant and then children in the afternoon and I have come in contact with a lot of sick people. So my immune system deserves a standing ovation  :)

However, it still sucks that I have a cold. At 4am I got up to use the restroom, and that was when I realized that it wasn't allergies I was dealing with yesterday evening when I was sniffling and sneezing. So when Josh got up at 6:30am he brought me 2 tylenol. I took those before even getting up because I knew getting rid of the headache and some of the aches and pains would help me get up, eat breakfast and get ready for work in a timely manner and that all of that would hopefully make me feel better. It made me feel well enough to get myself to work.
Unfortunatly it was downhill from there. Moving around, communicating with guests and standing made me feel quite a bit worse and so I spent my shift counting down to 2pm. Thankfully though, I managed to get my 2 gymnastics classes covered, so that I could spend the rest of the day resting. And I honestly dont think it wouldnt have been fair to my girls for me to try teaching them while feeling as bad as I did.

Before becoming pregnant I loved to medicate my colds because I dont like to slow down. Some of my favorite cold meds were decongestants, anticeptic throat spray, excerdrine, and niquil ... all of which are off limits. So I had to find a whole new way to get better. I dont think I have been doing too badly. While I probably could have eaten a lot healthier, I did drink a ton of water and am still downing it. I also took some extra vitamin C along with my prenatals - Don't worry, I had asked my doctor about extra vitamin C a while ago because it's my 'go to' when I think I may be getting sick - and took those two tylenol pills. I took a nap before work this morning and again this afternoon when I got home. Despite feeling pretty warm I have kept myself covered up but have also been getting plenty of fresh air. I have spent the majority of my afternoon/evening lying down and just resting ... all chores may wait.  And of course Brutus has been keeping me company and has been my couch and nap buddy.

I plan on getting to bed at a decent time tonight after I drink some tea with lemon and honey, and I dont have to be up in the morning. So I am really hoping that all of this rest will help me feel better as soon as possible. Especially before this weekend, because I want to be able to fully enjoy the baby shower :)  I think the excitement for that will help me recover sooner too.

In the mean time I am going to keep resting. I will take 2 more tylenol and a vitamin C before bed and use vick's vapor rub if breathing becomes a problem. --- Watch out Josh, you thought being pregnant made me snore more ... let's see what level fog horn I can be tonight  ;)

If it's not within reach ... I don't need it.

I am starting to feel the pregnancy exhaustion for real now. Yeah, I got tired before ... but oh my goodness, now I just feel like the most unfit person in the world. I shall give you a few examples ... and feel free to giggle cause I cant help but laugh at myself on most days.

Just a few minutes ago, I realised that I was getting uncomfortable and could really use a cushion behind my back (I am sitting on the couch). However, the cushion is waaaay over there - on the other side of the couch - and so I decided to see if I would just suddenly become comfortable by sitting here long enough. The thought of having to use my stomach muscles to sit up, swing my legs around and reach is just too much work. Keeping in mind that I said the thought alone was too much work.

There are days when I am coaching and am just exhausted for no other reason than I am carrying an extra 24 pounds on my midriff, and so when the girls are warming up I'll pop a squat on the floor. On more than one occasion, I have accepted help from my 10 year olds to pull me up off the floor (I really need to not sit on the floor anymore!) which is a little embarrassing, but I am also very proud that they would offer  :)
There are other days when I try to think of what we can work on in that particular area of the gym so that I don't have to get up ... yeah, it can be a little pathetic.

Running errands has become my least favorite chore. Simply because it can involve so much walking and standing. There was one afternoon where my last stop was Walgreen's and I got to the point where I was literally shuffling around with squinty eyes. I am pretty sure I could have stood still, closed my eyes and gone to sleep right there in the middle of Walgreen's.
Those days are the toughest, because the exhaustion can become so overwhelming. Those are the days where I usually take 1-2 hour naps. I used to limit my naps to before 5pm, but now I could nap from 8pm-9pm and go to bed without any trouble at 10pm. I guess this is a good thing because I really need to be taking advantage of naps and bed time etc ... which I am :)

The last example I have of my growing laziness is when I need to turn over in bed at night. As you may well imagine the position of laying on my back is very uncomfortable (and not allowed in pregnancy). So I spend a lot of time on my right and left sides. Even though turning over requires just seconds on my back, it takes such an effort and puts a ton of pressure on my bladder that I really have to think about whether or not the turning will be worth it.
Dr. Samawi gave me a new technique to ease that pressure and that would be to turn onto my hands and knees and then to the other side ... and boy does that sound even more exhausting at 3am!
So there are nights when I gladly take a dead arm or leg over the inconvenience of turning over. Lazy right? But I'm pregnant, so I'm allowed to be lazy.

Though the only time I am not lazy at night or during the day is when it comes to going to the bathroom. If I get the urge to go, I go! I have not had an accident yet and don't plan to!!! Apparently it's very common for women to pee their pants while pregnant ... I understand why, because when James makes a sudden movement I sometimes get that feeling of when you are just about to pee. Even Dr. Samawi warned me about that at my last appointment so that I don't confuse my amniotic fluid leaking with my urine ... um eeuw! And even though Josh has so kindly offered to go out and buy me some (on multiple occasions), I will not being wearing Depends any time in the near future ... or ever!  :)

Updates :)

I am 31 weeks today and I had my 4 week prenatal check-up.

Dr. Samawi said that I am right on track. We listened to James's heartbeat which is at 145 bpm ... perfect! I also had Dr. Samawi feel to see if James is already head down because any time he gets the hick-ups now I can feel it really low down and he has been kicking my ribs. And sure enough, he is head down. Because I am only 31 weeks, there is a possibility that he will turn again and again, but if he is comfortable he will just stay where he is.

With the size of my uterus thus far, Dr. Samawi is predicting a 6-7 pound baby which would be awesome. But due to my small stature, he said that if it looks like James will be any bigger than that, that they will offer me the option of a c-section, which I am open to. I will do whatever it takes to ensure my health and the health of my baby  :)

As far as my own weight gain goes, I have gained a total of 24 pounds. Dr. Samawi said that I am right on track and that because I gained the weight at a steady rate and haven't over done it so far that the weight will fall off me in the first month after birth. Can you believe that during birth I will drop around 10 pounds?! Between the baby and the fluids etc. And then with breast feeding etc I will drop another 10 pounds within a week of that first 10. So he said I'll be back to myself in no time.
Because I have been feeling so uncomfortable lately - between the swelling, the heavy tummy and the hardship of moving around etc - I very much look forward to getting back to myself :)

We are in the home stretch now ... 9 weeks and counting! I can't wait to meet our little guy :)

Surviving the Third Trimester.

I cannot believe that we are in the 3rd trimester! Today I am 30 weeks and 1 day pregnant ... when you break that down, it means that I have 10 weeks - give or take a few weeks - to go before birth, and just 6 weeks before I could start my maternity leave. I cannot believe how fast this has all been going! It seems like only yesterday that I crawled into the bed next to Josh at 730am to tell him we were pregnant and now we are starting our sprint for the finish line.

I started the third trimester 2 weeks ago (28 weeks) and believe it or not, a whole new set of symptoms started around that time ... maybe even a little bit before. I have started growing at a significantly faster rate, and with that have come feelings of physical heaviness, some lower and middle back discomfort, sore, tired and swollen feet, physical tiredness and a growing sense of anxious excitement.
I am incredibly excited to finally meet my son, though am increasingly nervous about the whole giving birth part! hahaha! For the most part I am just taking the aches and pains as they come because I knew I would hit this point. Also, I know that it will be very much worth it  :)

So I have put together (in my mind) a new set of survival skills to help me finish out this pregnancy as comfortably as possible. Here are some of the ones that I follow on a daily basis:

1. I start each day with a big breakfast ... a bowl of cereal (usually a mix of a healthy and sweet sweet cereal) with my lactose free milk. And I also have a side of 2 slices of whole grain toast and a nice big glass of water to wash that and my prenatals down.
2. I drink plenty of fluids through out the day ... mostly water, but sometimes juice and tea also.
3. If I am working all day, I make sure to take sit down and snack breaks whenever possible to take the pressure off legs and feet and lower back. And of course to stop me from turning into a bear when my blood sugar levels drop.
4. When I get home, the first thing I do is sit down and put my feet up.
5. I do my best to get a decent amount of relaxation time every evening and get to bed at a good time to ensure a full night's rest.

So I am doing what I can to take care of myself. I have also taken to just accepting my emotions. If there is a time (when I'm alone) where I feel I just need to cry, then I do it. I almost always feel tons better afterwards. And I havent been depriving myself of any foods except the foods that are dangerous while pregnant. I am just doing what I need to do to feel good.
I do try to get some exercise in when I can. It's usually walking, prenatal pilates or prenatal yoga. But I no longer push the exercise ... if I am feeling up to it then I do it, but if I am too tired then I feel that resting is much more important.

Before I sign off there is a cool fact that I learned recently that made me feel good. Did you know that once you are in the third trimester, should the baby be born as a pre-me, the survival rate goes up to 90%  :)   Not that I want him to be born early, but it puts the whole preterm labor fear more in the back of my mind rather than right up front any time I feel a cramp or a new sensation. I cant wait to meet my baby :)