Oh Baby!

10 days and counting till I get to see my little one again, hopefully on a 4d sonogram. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this baby wont be as stubborn as I am and give me a little peep show so we can find out the gender. I am sooo excited I've been counting down since my last appointment. I've come to realize the more I count down, the longer the wait is. What is helping is that I get to work now, so that means I am not at home bored all day and my mind is occupied. Everyone apparently says this baby is a girl... I say, "who knows". Perhaps it's time for another girl. I'm surrounded by boys... all the great grand children on my paternal side are boys except for Miah... and on my maternal side... Damn... there are too many grandchildren to count, forget counting the great grand children lol, I lost track years ago... but there are lots of boys. I honestly don't care, this baby is a gift, and boy or girl, I am grateful. All I can pray for is a healthy baby with ten fingers and ten little toes.

I've finally reached the half way mark... 21 weeks today and little by little I am starting to "feel" pregnant. Aside from the weight gain, I've managed to grow cankles... Oh Joy! As much as I have to run to the bathroom, I'm surprised there is enough fluid to stay in my legs and feet. Fortunately, blood pressure is good so no problems there. I hadn't had any swelling so I think the culprit was that half bag of pistachios I ate... which also gave me my first bout of pregnancy induced heartburn. Indigestion really sucks :-/

Work is going great. Since I still haven't mentioned I'm expecting, bathroom trips during ride alongs can get really tricky. Fortunately I've been with two nurses who pee just as much as I do. We literally make a potty break after every patient visit... yay for me! I don't know what their excuses are since they are roughly my age, but I blame mine on the tea... ;) Speaking of bathroom urgencies... Why is it that every time we go have family dinner and my step father drives, he ALWAYS makes a detour? AND I MEAN ALWAYS. I know the urgencies can come on rather quickly so I ask before we leave, "are we going straight home"? The answer is always yes and then he decides to take a scenic route when the baby decides my bladder is a trampoline. Men! I just about wet my pants and I was one more bump in the dirt road from asking him to stop so I could pop a squat.

Speaking of bouncing baby... This little body high-jacker is quite the "Ultimate Lightweight Championship kick boxer". I love to just feel him or her move inside of me. While it feels like an alien body snatcher has invaded my uterus, I can just sit or lay in awe while it karate chops away. How can something so small (about 10 inches head to toe and about 11 oz) be so strong? I can already feel some of the movements when I place my hand on my abdomen. I don't know about other babies but mine is probably gonna be the next super hero LOL ;)

As far as other pregnancy symptoms, I cant really complain. I can eat apples now and actually enjoy them (anyone who knows me, knows I HATED apples unless they were chamomanzanas- apples coated in chamoy candy). I cant say I "crave" them but I can see one, eat it, and enjoy it. My mom apparently has the munchies... She eats a lot of Cheetos LOL. Smells don't bother me so I can pretty much eat anything... but sometimes I'll pass on meat if it's in a soup or something. I am actually concerned about my weight gain, I suppose I should start exercising even though I say I am going to start every day, and I don't ;(. This next doctor's appointment will have elapsed a period of a month between visits. Usually my visits are every two weeks, I guess Doc thought I was doing well. So I've been dwelling on my weight gain. During one of our bathroom breaks today, I saw a scale... it said I lost twenty pounds. What a waste of a quarter. I knew it was impossible. I had to make a Wal-mart run today so I went to the scale isle and weigh myself. Bad news... I gained too much. Sheesh. It's impossible to only gain 15 pounds during 9 months when you're hungry all the time. I am seriously hoping I get a late case of "all day sickness" so I can lose a couple pounds lol. JK. I'm not a bulimic but it sounded good for a moment. OK, it really didn't but I guess I should really start exercising. Blah. If it's best for the baby, it shouldn't be that much to sacrifice.

I'm hoping the rest of this pregnancy goes well. Ive had minor complications and have a long road ahead of me still but with a few sacrifices, I hope for the best.

Oh How Beautiful!

Being that I am finally in my second trimester and the worries are slowly discipating, I finally decided to pick up a camera and snap a shot of my 16 week belly (and I wonder why that cow insulted me by asking if I was having triplets? Sorry, I just cant let it go... wait till I catch that Bia on the street) So I wasn't a svelte super model pre-preggo, even though I thought I was hotter than hell. I like to think I had the opposite or the better version of body dysmorphic disorder. LOL. My body wasn't perfect and I rarely had self esteem issues... those only came when I would actually start to work on my fitness and obsess over losing weight, AND THAT DEFINITELY WAS NOT FUN. I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny, obsessed and have more self esteem issues than when I wasn't trying. Anyways... I've totally veered off topic. So yes, my baby bump is larger than most 16 week-ers and I probably look like I've got multiples in there (but it's actually just a few too many tamales and doughnuts). Either way, I'm starting to feel comfortable in my skin again. I still hide behind the sweaters a little, but I'm working on it. I thought I'd take the picture since I wanted to record my pregnancy as best as possible... speaking of record, I mentioned how I started that baby journal to help me cope with certain issues/worries. I slacked off when I moved to the ranch, I guess talking about the pregnancy was just as therapeutic. After about 5 weeks of no entries, I decided to pick up the slack and catch up... and back to the picture. I didn't get all dolled up, I just wanted to capture the moment. Since I haven't seen my brother in over a month I decided to send him my baby bump picture, I had also sent him a picture of a super, duper loaded rib we had for dinner and since I knew my brother was at work,I figured I'd make him jealous since he is such a carnivorous cave man and those ribs are one of his favorites. (And again, I wonder why my belly is huge lol... I only had one for the record... and I didn't even finish it). So I sent him the pictures... around midnight I get a text message back, "Oh how Beautiful!!!) For just a moment there I thought he was talking about my baby bump... then I realized I sent him the picture of the rib. I asked him to clarify which picture he was talking about... he has yet to respond. Knowing my brother, I know for certain he was talking about the rib :-/ LOL, I guess that's what I get for teasing him. (it doesn't look that big in the photo, but trust me... IT WAS BIG!... and I mean the rib lol)

Baby Bumps and Badonkydonks

After three long weeks of waiting to see my new doctor the time has finally come... well almost. I have my appointment on Thursday and I couldn't be more excited! Too bad I couldn't get seen sooner for that horrendous poison oak (I can only assume) rash I had all over my abdomen for two and a half weeks... THAT WAS HORRIBLE! All the nurses could recommend was Benadryl and hydrocortizone cream. After two days of practically feeling knocked out by the Benadryl, I pretty much stopped since the rash wasn't going away and I pretty much figured out it wasn't an allergic reaction. I treated myself with every possible cream in the first aid section but what worked the best was Caladryl and Sarna lotion. But fortunately the rash has cleared and all I have left is a patch of dry skin where the rash was, no biggie compared to the intense itching. Time is flying by so fast and although I still worry, I am not as apprehensive as I was before. I'm now in my second trimester and hoping the baby's sex can be determined. I keep getting asked if I want a boy or a girl... truth of the matter is, I just want a healthy baby. It still feels surreal, like an out of body experience... I know it's happening but it doesn't feel like it's happening to me. Guess I'm still in denial but ready or not, here this baby comes.


There are so many old wives's tales that determine the sex of the baby... I tried the Chinese gender calendar, two actually... one where you input some information and another that's an actual calendar... one said boy one said girl... Uh OK. My BFFs friend did some numerology thing and she said I was having a boy. My grandma said I'm probably having a girl since my cousin's little boy practically has a love/hate relationship with me. He's only two and wants me around but when I'm there, he kicks and hits me. My mom says it's a girl also since apparently I have a big ass now and have gained so much weight :-/ I don't over eat and stick to my diet 98% of the time... I give in to my mom's yummy cornbread... What? Don't judge! lol. Either way I'll be happy with whatever God gives me. So as much as I try to hide behind loose clothes and my rapid weight gain, I must admit I have a baby bump... although you really cant tell cause I'm extra fluffy these days. I'm sure the Dr. is gonna have me on some serious fridge lock down and exercise but that's OK since Doc knows what's best for my sweet pea. And did I mention... this ignorant Mexican lady totally pissed me off. She said I got super duper fat and asked if I was having triplets. WTF! I know she wasn't serious about me having three but she just wanted to put me down. My Spanish isn't so well that I can defend myself but if you could only imagine the English words that ran through my mind.

Aside from all that I feel good, I don't even feel pregnant yet... OK so I have to pee all the time, especially at night which is REALLY annoying, I get out of breath easily which only means I need to start exercising more, and I've gained weight in places I never thought I would... like my ass. So having a bigger butt has it's perks but not when you're still trying to fit in the last two pair of jeans you have left. I've out grown all my pants except for two pair of jeans that fit me big before I found out I was pregnant and my sweats which is very depressing. I think when we go to town for my doctor's appointment on Thursday (which is an hour away) I'm gonna hit up some stores and buy some maternity clothes. I swore up and down that I would never wear them... Oh well, I want some jeans and at this point I don't really care. Just taking this one day at a time. I sometimes think I can feel the baby move, which makes this feel more real... but then I think... maybe it's just gas... And while that is a little TMI, it's totally natural even when you're not pregnant... Besides, I'm also now the Queen of Belching. Yup... it's pretty gross and I really don't care... unless I'm in public. Oh yeah... So I was saying I had no symptoms and here I am listing them all lol, I guess I meant the major ones. Sleep has become my best friend these days... That's all I wanna do. I wake up at 8 or 9 to have a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast and I'm still sleepy so all I wanna do is crawl back into bed. Lunch time comes around and I get sleepy... at 4 I'm ready for another nap. Most days, I avoid the naps but I seriously need them... Just call me Sleeping Beauty. ;)