I'm allowed to complain ... I'm pregnant!

I feel like for the majority of this pregnancy I haven't done much complaining about my aches and pains ... of course I mean in person because on here (this blog) everything is exaggerated as I am pretty selective as to what I write about and when I want to write. But there are days when I just need to complain ... I would like to take this chance to use my free complain pass  :)

So a few appointments ago my doctor told me to start taking Pepsid AC for my heartburn. Up until a week or two ago it worked great ... and then it started losing its effectiveness and I ended up back where I started ... feeling like a fire breathing dragon every evening (at the same time, no matter what I ate that day) and through out the majority of the night, who's esophagus is filled with an acid slowly burning a whole near the entrance to my stomach. I spend my evening and night alternating between tums and glasses of milk.
So the next step was Prolisec OTC. It's a 14 day treatment that reduces the amount of acid in your stomach and repairs any damage caused by the acid that tries to make its way to your throat. This morning I took the first dose, though sadly it takes 1-4 days to take full effect and I am currently sitting here wishing I hadn't eaten at all today ... though I would probably still have acid indigestion.
Anyway, fingers crossed that it starts to take effect soon and that it fixes the problem ... because I cannot feel like this every evening for the next 2.5 months .... I will become one very very angry fire breathing dragon.

As you know, if you have seen me lately, I have gained quite a belly. Especially in the past few weeks. Though I am now starting to gain a little more weight in the breasts, buttocks, and face. So despite what we all say about the pregnant woman being beautiful, I have not been feeling very pretty lately.
Between the periodically swollen feet, the round face and the ever expanding waste line, I am looking more and more forward to getting back in shape after the pregnancy (when it's safe and in a timely manner).

It doesn't help that the other day a person who sees me every couple of weeks made a comment about my rounder face. She didn't mean it in a bad way ... I think she was trying to tell me that I look good because she threw in words like 'motherly', but never the less, I ended up feeling a little crappy. I expect to gain weight in my midriff etc, but I really don't need to know that you can see a double chin forming. Just tell me that I am glowing or something.

Anyway, my mom and dad are coming to visit this weekend and mom has offered to give me a pedicure to help me feel pretty. And even though there is no way in the whole wide world that I would wear flip flops right now, knowing that my toes are pretty will help me feel pretty. I think every pregnant woman should feel pretty ... heck, I think every woman should feel pretty ... And sometimes its the little things that help ... perhaps a face mask will help also  :)

Feeling Positive

Hello :)  Two exciting things this week ... Christmas of course, so quality time with the family and entering the 6th month of pregnancy. I don't know why, but the 6th month has always felt like a milestone of some kind. So I am almost there  :)

I went to urgent care at the end of last week to ask about my chronic fatigue and acid indigestion. The doctor told that I can take pepsid ac rather than tums and that we will only resort to prilosec if the pepsid doesn't work. Well, the pepsid works wonderfully! I take one with breakfast every morning and that one little pill lasts me the whole 24 hours with not a single acid burp  :)  It started working from the very first pill too. So I am very very happy with that. I can now finally eat more than just rice and veggies!
This also means that I am now sleeping through the whole night with the odd bathroom trip around 6am. So guess what ... the fatigue has also gone away. Now I just deal with the regular tiredness of pregnancy. It feels fantastic to be sleeping  :)  It puts me in a better mood for work and with people around me in general and has lessened the stress caused by exhaustion .... so I haven't cried in days!  :)

I am also sleeping better because it seems my body has gotten used to spending the whole night on my left side. I no longer wake up with numb legs and arms. I have also stopped stressing about sleeping on my back because the doctor told me that if its uncomfortable for James, it will also be uncomfortable for me and so I will either roll over or just wake up and change position.

I have a morning routine now that I quite enjoy. I don't really sleep in anymore, so when Josh wakes up around 630am or 7am for work I usually turn on the bedroom TV to watch GMA (Good Morning America) while I slowly wake up. Once I feel alert enough, I start doing my physical therapy stretches which are done lying down. I do those for about 15-20 minutes and then slowly sit up. Once that feels good I get out of bed and do a few rounds of pigeon pose (squat position pushing my hips outwards) and forward fold. All of these stretches are to loosen my hips and strengthen my pelvis floor for birth. By the time I am done with all of that I feel ready to start my day!

I am feeling ready and able to start a little workout routine too, so Josh and I are going to start going to our apartment complexes gym where he will probably jog and I will walk. It will be nice to get moving again ... heck, it feels nice just to have the energy and motivation to want to workout again!

Anyway, I am starting to ramble. I will try to remember to post my 6 months belly picture on here on Thursday so you can see the progress! Have a great day!

Some of the coaches at South Coast Gymnastics here in Irvine, CA on December 17th for the Christmas Party. Pam and I are sitting on the blue block front and center. Can you believe that we are both 6 months along?!?! Pam is just two weeks ahead of me and we are both having boys  :)

Oh how my heart BUUUUURNS!

It's been a few days since I last posted anything. The only reason for this is because the past few days have been pretty rough as far as nausea go, and I really didn't want to keep writing about the same thing. However, today has been much better ... not nausea free, but better :)  and so I am back.

You know, I thought I had experienced indigestion before ... but you know what ... I was wrong. Last night Josh and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. Suddenly I had one of those hick-up burps that I thought was going to result in a vomit covered couch, but much to my surprise was just stomach acid. (I know, right ... sorry for ruining dinner!). It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It came right up to my throat before my swallow reflex brought it back to it's rightful place. And wow did it burn! I spent the first 15 seconds just trying to catch my breath. It felt like I'd been winded or my water had gone down the wrong pipe. Once I sort of caught my breath I got up to get some water. Meanwhile, I couldn't stop coughing or swallowing, and sadly the saliva seemed to fuel the fire in my throat.

All I could think about was a glass of water, but for whatever reason, when I opened the fridge I reached for the Lactaid milk instead (I'm lactose intolerant). I poured it as quickly as I could before taking a big mouthful. As soon as that milk hit my throat the fire went out. It was such sweet relief! I ended up downing half a cup which thankfully settled my upset stomach. But my goodness ... I was very glad when that 5 minutes was over!

So I learned a lesson from all of that. Any time I eat something that I think might give me indigestion (or whatever THAT was) I simply drink a cup of milk afterwards. Since it's only been a day, I cannot really say if it works, but my esophagus and throat sure hope so! Would suck if that happened at work, where they don't have milk .... maybe 'Tums' and I shall have to put our differences aside ... just for the next 7.5 months.