Pregnancy Journal 12-11-13

It's been a while since I've written any updates about my pregnancy. I'm really just doing this so I can look back here and remember all the things I went through during pregnancy, so I can know what to expect next time.

The last couple weeks have been amazing (other than the fact that I look like a cow). I have a lot more energy, I haven't felt nauseous for a while and no more weird cravings. I feel pretty much back to normal other than the fact that my bladder has become the size of a pee apparently. I wake up about 4 times a night now to pee. It's annoying!

Apparently I have to sleep on my side now, because lying on my back can slow the blood flow to the baby. Fun fact. I've never been a side sleeper. I've always been a back sleeper. So that's gotten to be a pain. But I'll get used to it.

I can eat chicken again!!! Yay! It might sound weird, but that's a huge one for me. I LOVE chicken! So that's been great. I can also eat pretty much anything again. It's super nice not having to deal with cravings and nausea so I don't have to watch what I eat anymore.

Enough about my petty problems though, let's talk about the baby!! We found out it was a girl, at least 95% sure it is. She was in the worst position possible to be able to tell. She was curled up and hiding all the "goods" so our doctor wasn't 100% sure. He did, however, say that he was willing to bet his reputation on it, so I'm okay saying it's a girl haha. It definitely wasn't what we were expecting, but we are so thrilled!!! Blake is a little nervous, because he doesn't know what to do or how to handle girls. Let's just say, I haven't been the best "practice" as far as handling girls. I'm a little on the difficult side sometimes :)

We're both ecstatic though. She's going to be one tough little girl! We go in for our next check up next week, so we'll know for sure then.

I started feeling a couple kicks last week. She's a mover for sure! Ever since I could feel her she hasn't stopped! Luckily they're just little butterfly kicks right now, but when she gets big, I can only imagine how fun that's going to be when I can feel larger kicks constantly. Must. Not. Pee. My pants! haha

We're about 21 weeks along now, so just over halfway there! It's getting closer and closer and neither of us are even close to ready. But I don't think anyone is ever really ready for their first baby. I look forward to all the trial and error with her.

That's all the updates for now, but baby is healthy and strong and growing fast! If we find out anything new at the Dr. appointment I'll update here!

Pregnancy Journal 11-7-13

Today we find out the gender of the baby!!! I honestly think it's a girl. Not because of anything specific like if my belly is high or low or anything like that, but just 99% of my dreams I see a girl. I haven't told Blake much about my dreams because I don't want to make sway him either way or get his hopes up. Most of my dreams are about miscarrying anyway, so that's super fun. Today at the OBGYN appointment I'm just hoping for a super healthy, wiggly baby no matter what the gender. 

I always thought it was so vague when moms were like "as long as the baby is healthy I don't care what it is." And while I totally understood it at the time, I was like, seriously, I know you have a preference at this point. Now that I'm pregnant and I get to find out the gender and people ask me the same thing, I say we're hoping for a boy, but as long as it's healthy, we'll be just as excited either way. It's so stressful having to worry about someone else now! Blake can take care of himself. He takes care of his inhalers, he let's me know when he's injured or sick, he eats healthy and takes care of his body, so it's super weird for me to have to worry about someone's health other than my own. 

Blake thinks it's a boy. He would love a little football buddy. Either way, even if it's a girl, they're going to be into football. You can't be brought up in a football-obsessed house like ours and end up not liking it *knock on wood*. 

I can't wait to see the baby again. Even if they can't tell the gender I just can't wait to see how it's growing and developing. 

On a side note, my mom always keeps up on all the department store sales and she came into work today and said Sears is having a huge sale, so we're going today at lunch. She asked what time my OBGYN appointment was so we can shop for baby clothes but it was after work, later this evening. She was bummed about it, but her solution was "we'll just buy BOTH!!" haha I love my mom. 

Latest cravings: anything with hotdogs - pork & beans with hotdogs, chili dogs, plain hotdogs (without ketchup), steak, anything with pasta and jolly ranchers (luckily Halloween just passed, so I've got lots of hard candies to choose from). 

Honeymooning in Mexico

I realize I haven't written anything about our honeymoon we took this past May, so I figured I'd share a few thoughts regarding one of the greatest weeks of our lives!

We started out going to Six Flags the Saturday before our cruise departed. We met up with some of our best friends out there and it was a blast! I think I forget how terrified I am of heights every time I go to that park. It's super fun, but basically that's as terrified as I get. Blake made me brave enough to ride everything though, so it wasn't so bad with my sweetheart was holding my hand the entire time. 

We had driven straight from Mesa to Six Flags, so we were pretty exhausted. We only stayed in the park until 5pm. We're getting so old!

This is me riding Goliath, my nemesis...

Then we spent all day Sunday just lounging on the beach - and by lounging I mean playing football :)

We ate at my all-time favorite restaurant - Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant - best. chicken. ever.

Then Monday we packed everything up, made some last minute purchases, and hung out by the pier where they dock the boats. We decided to book the Carnival Inspiration because it was super inexpensive, the perfect length and was one of the only ones traveling when and where we wanted. 

We were able to drop everything off at our state room and explore the boat while everyone was boarding. It was so fun! It was pretty chilly as we waited on the deck for the boat to leave the dock, which took over an hour past when they were supposed to leave, but it wasn't too bad with Blake keeping me warm. 

Tuesday we went on our first excursion - snorkeling in Catalina. The water was beyond freezing, but we had ways of warming up our suits haha, (Blake told me too!). We saw some super cool fish and the instructor had feeding time, where she would throw a handful of food and there would be thousands of fish swarming in that area. It was creepy at first but super cool. I'm not sure what any of the fish were because my face was in the water most of the time she was explaining all the different species, and I'm SUPER bummed I didn't have an underwater camera. Oh well. 

Wednesday morning we went kayaking at the bufadora (blow hole) - again, super bummed I didn't have a water proof camera, because the blow hole was amazing! While kayaking, we saw some sealions, jellyfish and super huge fish, that I'm convinced were sharks, but Blake assured me they weren't. I'm also convinced that the kayaking adventure was meant for experts, because I'm in shape and it was freaking hard! I started to become concerned that the little teenage girls weren't going to make it! They definitely gave up about halfway in. 

Dining was awesome. We both ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts every night (per person). I only ate maybe a quarter of each, but since we're paying for it, we might as well! Lobster and steak for dinner? Yes please! Creme brulee and a brownie sundae for dessert? I'll never say no to that! Our waiter was awesome of course. He was hilarious. We definitely enjoyed our dinners with him. 

Some of my favorite moments on our honeymoon:

• Blake held me super close on his lap one night while we were alone on the deck and sang the Beatles "8 Days a Week" in my ear. It was so sweet!
• A guy played our first dance song by Journey "Faithfully" at the piano bar and dedicated it to us.
• The waiters started playing "That's Amore" at dinner and asked people to get up and dance - Blake asked me to dance and we danced around the table.
• We rented tandem bikes to cruise around Catalina. You definitely need to work up to that ride, because that was freaking hard! But super fun exploring the island with my man.
• Playing chess and getting worked by Blake was not so much a highlight for me, but it was for him so I figured I'd give him a shout out :)
• They had game shows every afternoon and one of them was "The Newlywed Game" where you are asked personal questions and have to answer for your spouse. Blake and I tried to get on stage, but were unsuccessful. I guess that was lucky, because when we answered the questions ourselves in the audience, we got every single one wrong. Haha they were super silly questions, so it didn't bother me. 
• We rented quads and explored Mexico together. It was kind of scary, but I felt safe with Blake there. We had tacos and wrote messages in the sand on the beach. It was so fun!
• They set up a mini golf tournament in the middle of the ship. Blake and I of course had to enter. Not only did I end up beating Blake, but I came in 3rd overall! Go me!
• Formal night was amazing. Not only was it fun to dress up, but my man looks so fine in his suit. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of him the whole night!
• We fell asleep one afternoon on the deck holding hands in our beach chairs. It was the best nap I've ever had. 
• Blake is definitely not the dancing type, but he danced the night away with me salsa style during the dance party on the deck. It was so romantic!

It was one of the greatest weeks of our marriage and I can't wait to make more memorable moments with the love of my life!

Pregnancy Journal 10-7-13

Not much had changed for the last couple of weeks in my pregnancy. I'm still sick as a dog, I can't eat much and I'm exhausted ALL THE TIME! 

A couple more things have happened though, I've got a pooch now - the pregnant belly that doesn't look quite pregnant yet, it just looks like a food baby, or a horrible period bloating. No one can tell I'm pregnant, I just look like I've gained some weight. Which is very weird for me being as I've been a health freak since high school. I'm not bummed about it or anything, it's just different. Just something new I'll have to get used to for a couple more months :)

Also, we went to the doctor and saw the baby for the first time. I'm a firm believer that technology is a huge blessing, instead of a curse as some believe. This was one of the reasons why. We could see our little baby perfectly. It's little hands and feet, it's big eyes and rapid heartbeat. No genitalia yet, so nothing on the gender reveal, but we'll find that out at our next appointment. The doctor was able to measure everything to check for signs of down syndrome and other possible diseases. The baby is about 5.5cm long right now. Just a little guy. 

The doctor also showed me that my blatter was completely full, which was weird, because I literally just came from the bathroom. Yet another fun pregnancy symptom I've been enjoying haha. 

Blake was there the whole time (except when he ditched me when I had to give blood - worst. moment. ever.) It was so incredible getting to experience that with him. He was in the chair next to the table and he immediately reached over to grab my hand and couldn't stop squeezing it. This would be another moment where Blake was overcome by emotion. Once on our wedding day when he saw me in my dress, the day I told him I was pregnant, and the day we saw the baby for the first time on the ultra sound. I almost wanted to stare at Blake instead of the baby the whole time because I just couldn't help falling more and more in love with him. 

After seeing the baby, it gave me new perspective on things. I had been praying that my sickness would go away, that I would have more energy, that I would be able to eat normal food again and that I could get through an entire day without hanging over the toilet. My prayers have since changed. I pray for one simple thing, that our baby will be healthy and strong. I no longer care about how I feel or what it's doing to my body. All my worries and complaints were put to rest. I didn't think I could love something so much that I've never even met. I didn't realize how much love could be transmitted through an ultra sound screen. But I love him (or her). I love him more than I've ever loved anything besides Blake. I don't mind throwing up daily, or waking up with a throbbing headache, or not being able to sleep because I have to pee every 5 minutes, or not being able to eat whatever I want. I will go through that and a million other symptoms if it meant that he was healthy.

I am so grateful for this wonderful miracle in my life and I am even more grateful that I've got the best husband in the world to help me through it. PS I came home from a 14 hour day at work to a spotless house and fresh flowers on the dinner table. It doesn't get much cuter than him. 

Meet our newest addition for the first time... :)

Pregnancy Journal 9-19-13

I'm about 9 weeks along (according to my latest missed "time of the month"), and I'm feeling much better. The nausea is still there, very much so, but after last week, I don't think I could get much worse (as I cross my fingers and knock on wood). I at least have a little bit of energy.

I went to the gym last night. I just did some machines and walked on the treadmill. The whole time I was there I thought I was going to puke, so I had to take it super easy. I promised myself though that I'd try my best to stay active through my pregnancy, so that's what I'm doing. Blake has been nothing but supportive and encouraging this whole time. He's so incredible. 

A big reason I wanted to wait as long as possible to tell people we were expecting is because as soon as you say you're pregnant around young moms, they HAVE to give you their two cents about everything. I hadn't had any experiences like that yet because, well, no one knows I'm pregnant, until last week. I had been coaching gymnastics again for a couple weeks and I just couldn't do it anymore. Some of my gymnasts were as big as me if not bigger and I was expected to fully spot them in a back handspring or tuck. A couple times while spotting, I honestly thought I was going to throw up on them as they were tumbling. Images of that were playing over in my head and I just couldn't take it anymore. Plus, I don't think it's good for me to be lifting that much weight like that while I'm pregnant. 

I told the owner I had to stop. I felt bad because she really needed me, but what else was I supposed to do? She understood perfectly and just said if I started feeling better, I'm more than welcome to come back. My last day there, one of the girls who had been coaching there for years started talking to me about it and it came up that she had 3 children. Apparently with her 3rd child, she actually started having contractions while spotting. She ended up finishing out her day of 4 more hours of coaching and went straight to the hospital. 

She told me that she coached with all 3 pregnancies and felt perfectly fine. At this point I already wanted to either punch her in the face or sarcastically give her a blue ribbon for being awesome. Then she proceeds to inform me that as long as I stay active the whole time, then the nausea will go away. I wanted to laugh out loud. I am the most active person I know and I've been to the gym several times at the beginning of the pregnancy. You want to know what it did for my nausea? Made it worse. I love that people think staying active has anything to do with your pregnancy hormones. I've taken every anatomy class available at ASU and no where does it say that those are at all related. Staying active might help you swell less later on, it might help you sleep better, it may even make you happier, but it has NOTHING to do with lessening nausea. 

That is the exact reason why I don't want to tell people I'm pregnant. Once someone becomes pregnant or has a child or two, they become experts on the subject. I've heard the way my closest friends talk about their pregnancies and labor experiences and raising their children. They are pros now apparently. I had one friend who actually gave a cloth diaper kit to a new mom at her shower. Then she proceeded to say "You HAVE to cloth diaper. It's the best thing you can do for your baby." Well, it looks like I'm already going to be a horrible mom, because I am NOT cloth diapering. No thank you. That's great for some moms, but to push that kind of "advice" on someone in the middle of their shower, so inappropriate. 

So call me crazy, but I am not equipped to deal with that kind of "advice" just yet. I'm so looking forward to the future judgment of all my parenting mistakes. I guess I just thought that kind of stuff stopped after high school. Guess not. 

Pregnancy Journal 9-9-13

We ended up caving and telling our parents this weekend. It wasn't what we wanted to do, but I work with my mom, and she sees me hunched over a trash can for 8 hours a day. Eventually, she's going to ask questions. We haven't told anyone else yet, but we won't do that for a while. At least now I don't have to explain myself every time I sit at the dinner table and just move my food around with a fork. 

I can't eat anything!! I had a handful of Honeynut Cheerios this morning and a bite of chocolate ice cream. It's the only thing that tasted good. Both ended up making me more nauseous. I am so freaking hungry! I can't keep anything down though. Absolutely nothing sounds good anymore, and if it doesn't sound good to begin with, it's definitely not going to stay down. 

This pregnancy thing sucks!!! I'm stoked out of my mind to have a baby, but come on! Are you kidding me with this? Blake of course is as sweet and patient as ever. He is always so worried about me. I definitely couldn't do this without him. He's been so helpful. 

Goals for this week: Eat SOMETHING! Anything, really. I know that baby will be fine either way, but I don't know how much longer I can go without any energy. Today I'll try more smoothies. That shouldn't be too nauseating. You gotta love the miracle of pregnancy! haha 

Pregnancy Journal 9-3-13

With all the excitement of finding out we're pregnant, it's been hard to read any pregnancy signs from my body. Until now. Man, when that "morning" sickness hits, it hits hard. And whoever came up with the term "morning sickness", wasn't pregnant. Starting about a week ago, I've felt nauseous 24 hours a day!

As if that isn't annoying enough, I can't eat anything. Everything either makes my stomach even worse, or my stomach is already too bad to eat anything at all. The only thing that's been good on my stomach so far is fruit, so I guess there are worse things.

I'm so exhausted. That could either be from being pregnant, working 3 jobs or both. I'm sure it's the latter. I work 16 hour days on some days and I can barely keep my eyes open. Now that I say that, I'm going to chalk that one up to the fact that I work 3 jobs. Not the pregnancy.

I haven't gained any weight yet, so that's good. I can tell my stomach isn't as flat as it normally was, but I'm already mentally prepared for that, so I don't mind that one. I'm still trying to work out as much as possible and two of my jobs (coaching cheer and gymnastics) keep me active, so I should be able to keep on top of my weight gain.

I'm trying to be energetic and upbeat for my incredible husband, but I can definitely tell I'm not doing the best job at that. He is getting kind of sad that I'm not myself lately. He's definitely supportive, he just misses my energy. He's been so great through everything so far. I don't know how some people go through these experiences alone. I couldn't do it without him.

We made our first appointment with the OBGYN for the beginning of October so we're not positive, but according to my monthly cycle, I think I'm 7 weeks pregnant. I'm excited for the fact that by the time I start showing, it'll be boots and long pants season. That way I can hide my bump a little better.

We still haven't told anyone yet. My mom had 7 miscarriages during her baby carrying years and my OBGYN confirmed that it was hereditary. We decided we wouldn't tell anyone until we had our first appointment, which is at the beginning of October. I'll start taking pregnancy pictures to track my belly growth at that point as well.

Something that really helps me feel better is knowing that almost every pregnant woman out there has gone through the exhaustion, nausea and my favorite, breast soreness, so I'm definitely not alone. Awe, the joys of pregnancy! :)

Bun is in the Oven!

Yesterday I found out that I am with child. I've never had so many butterflies before! It's not like we weren't trying, but it just came very quickly. I had taken out my IUD at the beginning of July so we could start trying. We figured we'd get pregnant about 2 months after that. Apparently it happened right away. I took my first pregnancy test on August 19th and sure enough, it came back positive!

I had been instant messaging Blake wondering how he'd feel if we got pregnant right away, knowing full well that I already was, and he was very content with it. So I decided to make it a surprise for him. When I got home, I had an ASU onesie, a pregnancy test and a note that read "our little rookie is about to make his or her debut!"

The only other time I've seen his face like that is when he saw me for the first time on our wedding day. Tears filled both of our eyes and we were both shaking like crazy. It's not that we aren't ready to have children, because we are definitely excited about it, it's just so HUGE!!

We haven't told anyone yet of course. We're going to wait a couple weeks, take another test to make sure, and then tell everyone. It just seems that as soon as you say you're pregnant, everyone and their dog has some kind of advice that you HAVE to take or you're an abusive mother. Those are my favorite people haha. For example, "you have to use cloth diapers or your baby will have diaper rash every single day and you wouldn't want that, would you?" haha, my mom didn't touch cloth diapers and we all turned out just fine.

I also don't want to tell anyone the name because everyone has an opinion about it. Can I just stay in my house all day and only talk about this stuff with my hubby and OBGYN? Haha I'm just kidding, I love all the help, but honestly, it's already overwhelming me enough having a human growing inside of me, let alone you telling me that if I drink caffeine my baby could die.

Anyway, I wanted to keep track of my thoughts and feelings of my pregnancy in a journal, but this is good enough because NO ONE reads this :)

I'm not sure how far along I am. I can only assume I'm no longer than about 5 weeks. My last period was July 17th, so that's the earliest I could be I guess. My body hasn't done anything too overwhelming at this point. I decided to take a pregnancy test after missing my period and my boobs hurt like heck! I figured, that wasn't normal, so sure enough, it's a huge sign of pregnancy. No nausea yet. A couple headaches, but nothing severe. No fatigue yet either. And I haven't gained anything yet as of yesterday when I weighed myself at the gym. I'm hoping I don't jinx all those things soon though! I'm just trying to eat an excess of protein and staying healthy.

I've got a great workout regimen, a very healthy diet and a super supportive husband, so I should have a smooth sailing 9 months (fingers crossed).

FEARS: I'm going to get fat, I'll be sick the next 8 months, my DDD will flare up again and my back or knee will give, I'll get fat or I'll wet my pants at some point in the next 8 months.

JOY: I'm pregnant. I couldn't be happier about that. I'm scared to death, but I am so overwhelmed with joy about the next 8 months. I'm having a baby with my best friend. And he's super hot, so hopefully we make cute babies :) I can't wait to find out what it is!! Crossing our fingers for a little football player, but of course we just want a healthy, happy, cute baby!

Sisterhood Diaries

I've never been the type of girl to have all girl outings. Even as a little girl, I understood and got along with boys so much better than their counterparts. I never understood why someone wouldn't play kickball because they might mess up their hair, or why on earth they would wear a dress to school in the first place so they didn't have to play. I'm not saying I was a tomboy, but I never really understood girls and why they are the way they are. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my girlfriends. I've had 3 girlfriends since grade school whom I spend every Christmas and birthday with and they'll always be there for me. I guess I just didn't know how to make new girlfriends. Once out of high school, I guess things get complicated and people get stuck in their lives and don't have time for new friends. I definitely fell in this category. 

Then I got married. And while spending the days with the love of my life and my very best friend is extremely satisfying, sometimes you just need some femininity in your life. I'm sure it's very draining for Blake to have to listen to my summary of this weeks' episode of Downton Abbey, or having to look at me try on thousands of different outfits at the mall only to walk away empty handed, or being begged to do yoga with me every week. By the way, he does these things very willingly for me whenever I ask him, but I'm sure he's not jumping for joy inside when I say I need new shoes :).

The simple fact of the matter is, girls need to be with girls sometimes. They need to talk about stupid girl things. They need to do silly girl things together. And while we love our men more than anything in this world, it's nice to have a girly moment every now and then. 

As I've gotten older and am approaching my dreaded age (cough**27**cough), I realized I have hardly any girlfriends that I could call up on a whim to hang out. This is what inspired the idea of my sisterhood diaries. These entries will contain all the adventures I have while rekindling old friendships and making new ones. 

I decided to start simple and set a goal of having lunch with a different girl once a week. This week was my first lunch. I picked up some sweet pork salads from Costa Vida and brought them over to her house so she wouldn't have to travel with her 2-month old daughter. I've known Krystal since at least kindergarten, maybe earlier. We grew up in the same ward together and had most of the same teachers in elementary school. She's been one of my dearest friends for as long as I can remember. 

Lunch was delicious, her little girl was absolutely adorable and well-behaved and we had great conversation. She mentioned she's been having trouble unpacking the boxes in their new home because she has to constantly hold her baby girl and her husband is at medical school almost every second of the day. This inspired me to take this lunch date idea to the next level. I've decided that after each lunch, I'd find a way to help this particular friend in one way or another. I want to gain friendships, but I also want to provide service, because let's face it, no one is ever truly happy unless they're helping someone else. 

My revised goal is to have lunch with a new girl every week and before the next lunch, I have to help that girl in someway. I'm going over on Saturday afternoon to take care of Krystal's baby girl so she can get some unpacking done and get her house set up. 

I'm so excited about my new plan! I love helping other people, especially people that I care about. First week of the sisterhood diaries = SUCCESS!

Being Sick isn't so bad...

When you've got a husband like mine!

I've been having back problems lately and just today, I realized why they were getting worse. I came down with the dreaded flu. Blah! This was actually great news for me. I was happy to know my back wasn't getting worse. I can handle a little flu, but being a hunchback, no thank you!

I messaged my man and told him the "good" news and he of course was very sympathetic as a sweet husband ought to be. I usually attend open gyms for cheer on Wednesday nights but tonight I thought I better take a rain check because who knows what germs those disgusting blue mats hold that could only make it worse.

Blake was super sensitive and tried to be overly compassionate on the phone and through text. I told him I'd just stay home tonight and clean and get things done around the house. Well apparently, that wasn't allowed to happen when I'm sick.

He rushed home after work, cleaned the entire house, stopped by the store to get me soup, and then... it gets better.

I walk in and he's scrubbing the counter. He stops for a second to give me a very distant hug (so as not to catch my bug). Then I look around and the house is spotless. Like better than it's ever been. Then I look in the bedroom and he had this whole little setup. He had soup, water, a Jamba Juice and a large bowl (for projectile vomiting :) ) on my nightstand, a large crate of DVDs at the foot of the bed, a clean towel (which doesn't sound like much, but we keep them on the top shelf in the laundry room and he got it down so I wouldn't have to climb), my laptop and iPad, fully charged, were on the bed, and the best part... a burrito blanket! If you don't know what a burrito blanket is, it's the way he wraps me up in the blankets. He had the blankets very strategically placed to where I would be fully wrapped, yet still have the complete use of my arms. He made me climb in bed right away and he wrapped me up before he left.

It might not sound like much to some, but after the day I had today, I almost started crying once I saw all he had done. I'm so blessed to have such an incredible, caring husband. He can drive me crazy sometimes (superhero crazy I mean), but my gosh, he is an angel! Thanks babe!