My assault on the world begins now.

bullshit!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:22:50 GMT

look, i'm ranting in my PERSONAL JOURNAL, instead of posting it in any/every pregnancy related community on LJ.

we got our crib today and part of the finish is like scratched.
AND the hardware pack (screws and such) are MISSING.

WAY TO RUIN MY NESTING.

i am calling first thing in the morning. jerks.

35 weeks.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:57:51 GMT

This is my last week without a doctors appointment for a while. And I'm gonna live it up! By going to jobs and family services to have them fix some stuff. FUN TIMES.

Last night was birth class, and it was pretty interesting. Just learned about stages of labor, how to tell real labor from false labor, and practiced some relaxation techniques. We used birth balls. When I took the hospital tour, they said they have them in every room and I'm like "Yeah whatever, good to have I guess. But after having sat on one for a majority of class last night and then sitting on one while we did fake contractions, it's safe to say I will be using one. =)

We did the relaxation stuff and the teacher suggested that you have your "birth partner" (aka Joey) squeeze your upper arms or your legs to simulate the pain of a contraction. i am pretty sure Joey and I were the only ones who actually did this. I didn't see the point in NOT doing it, I have to have something to relax through or I'm not going to know if my relaxation techniques work. And Joey's deathgrip on my arms was probably the equivalent of early contraction pain, just in the total wrong spot. Haha.
I've never had any worries about my body knowing what it's supposed to do when the time comes but these breathing techniques and whatnot seem like they will be helpful.

I'm getting really anxious about meeting my daughter. I wonder who she'll look like and act like. I can't believe we're only 33 days away from possibly meeting her. So incredibly close.
From what I can tell I haven't had any/many Braxton Hicks contractions, and I am hoping that this will mean NOTHING when it comes time for my body to have real contractions. Maybe my uterus is already super awesome? Maybe!

My baby shower is Saturday which is also pretty exciting, it doesn't appear that many people have shopped off of my registry though so I am hoping we don't end up with doubles or a bunch of stuff we just don't need.

34 weeks!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:52:50 GMT

I always forget to actually update. Oops.

My baby shower is all set up and ready to go. I made the invitations myself and i have to say I am quite proud of how they turned out. I forgot to put the time of day on them because my brain is currently liquid.
I even scanned one to show you all!

Joey's mom bought us a crib and mattress today! We're so excited. It could be here as early as Monday!!!

I’m 34 weeks and 2 days today. We’re down to 40 days until my due date.

Last night we attended the second birth class. it was all about nutrition during the third trimester and during breastfeeding. Pretty boring stuff. Everyone in there seems pretty cool. There’s a super crunchy couple and the woman was up stretching at one point, eating an apple and some cheese she was cutting with a pocket knife, and rubbing her exposed belly.
Another woman didn't get a joke I made and I think I really offended her.
Her husband mentioned they might be moving to Chicago because his office is closing down here, either that or be jobless. And I said "It's almost worth it to be jobless after seeing the way people drive in Chicago!" and she was like "or maybe not since we are having a baby." in a really snotty voice. Get a grip lady, I was kidding.

We missed the first week, last week, because I wrote down that it was at Christ Hospital and it most definitely was not there. So, last week I got home from Chicago, got in my car with Joey and drove down to Clifton to Christ only to find it wasn't there. The teacher and I contacted each other (after she had the wrong phone number for me!) and she told me where it really is and that I didn't really miss anything, so that's good. I'm excited and slightly nervous that Feets will want to show up before the last class, which is on December 8th... 6 days before I am due. Haha.

I had my H1N1 vaccine last Wednesday. I'm still alive. Holy crap, it's not government poison!

My friend Phil is coming over next week and him and Joey are going to finish the kitchen. I am so excited I could explode. I think Joey and I will finish the bedroom this week and get that out of the way. So the only room unfinished will be the livingroom but that doesn't need a lot of work really. Repair part of a wall and pant, and that will be done.
The bathroom is a completely different story but we'll get to that when we have money for a total remodel of that stupid room.

I think there was probably other stuff I wanted to write about but Feets is having a dance party right now and she makes it really hard to type!

i has been innoculated.

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:37:56 GMT

woke up this morning extra early for some reason.
got a call from the doctor saying they got their H1N1 vaccines in, and if i wanted mine i needed to get there before 5pm or they would give it to someone else! and this prevents me from having to get up tomorrow to go to the clinic and stand in line to MAYBE get the vaccine.

so joey and i got ready to leave.
i checked my bank account to find out that it had overdrafted from some bullshit thing that i didn't want to sign up for but the lady who opened my account sweet talked me. i knew i would forget that the payment was coming out, i just KNEW it. so it came out before 4 other charges (that i had accounted for and put in my ledger and everything, i was doing SO good with my money) and charged me 4 overdraft fees. so there goes $100 of my $156 from unemployment for the week.
i went into the bank to try to see if they could do anything about any of the overdraft fees. they can refund one as a courtesy and two more if i pay two bills online through the banks website (because that gives them revenue and if they are making money off of me they can give me more back? i guess.)

then we went to Aurgroup to see about what to do for the car payment. they basically gave me the month of october off, which was nice but i had to go in to figure out when and how much they were gonna want from me now. we asked about refinancing because frankly the $100 a week bullshit they pulled on us before was just not working out anymore.
we couldn't refinance with Joey's name still on the car because he's currently unemployed with no income. so they ran mine and found that it would work. our interest rate went from an awesome 7% to a not so awesome 12% but my payments now are only $218 a month. which is way more manageable than the $400 sometimes $500 they were getting before. and now i can pay that bill online through my bank, so that will help get some of those overdraft fees refunded. yay!

finally i went and got my H1N1 vaccine. took about 45 seconds, then i had to wait for 15 minutes after to make sure i wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything crazy before i could leave. i feel fine and i'm not dead yet so that's pretty good. haha. i have no worries about this vaccine. and now Feets is vaccinated too, so no sick baby! i'm gonna have a hard enough time just figuring out what i am doing, let alone if she had gotten the flu (of any kind!)

we went out to dinner with my family, it's like a ritual on my mom's payday. and i never turn down free food. Rib City USA in fairfield, by Jungle Jim's... that place is SO GOOD. om nom nom nom.

in other (sad) news, Babe (our kittens mama) is down to under 3 pounds, isn't breathing very well, and isn't eating. they took her to the vet and she's full of tumors, so my guess is that she has feline leukemia. she is almost 17 in human years, so she's had quite a full life. and if you live in the area and have a cat they are most likely related to Babe... she got around, if you know what i mean. i hope that we get to see her again before she is gone, but we won't be able to til friday and it's not likely that she will make it that long. =(
*edit* she passed away today.

oh man...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:38:22 GMT

this week is going to be nuts.

today i am in Chicago.
tomorrow i am in the car all day and then at the hospital for birth class.
wednesday i'm free! but i have to finish my halloween costume and mail out the baby shower invites.
thursday is swine flu vaccine clinic and then Rent at night.
friday is free during the day and then halloween party at night.
if i'm not dead on saturday morning, i will hand out candy to little kids that night.

oh and, i'm 33 weeks pregnant today! 49 days until my due date.
holy shit, 49 days?

maybe i should update every once in a while?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:22:01 GMT

right now i am in chicago with my sister. she's here on business and i tagged along.

we're actually southwest of the city and i'm not familiar with the public transportation (plus i'm trying to avoid getting sick at all costs) so tomorrow i will just be hanging out here while she's at work. then we're gonna go out to dinner.

tonight we went to Portillo's Hot Dogs and holy crap it was delicious! all beef hot dog with mustard, relish, tomatoes, a dill pickle, and "sport peppers" on a poppy seed bun. it was seriously good and serious business.

now we're back at the hotel, christina basically passed out as soon as we got back and i'm just sitting here online. but i am getting sleepy too. stinking car rides make me so tired.

that's pretty much it for now i guess.

30 weeks!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:22:40 GMT

i'm 30 weeks 2 days pregnant today, just under 10 weeks left. crazy.

went to the doctor for my normal appointment. talked to him about my birth plan, that went well. sounds like everyone is going to go pretty smoothly as far as that is concerned. i don't really even need a birth plan because Bethesda North/my doctor are really good listeners. plus, he agreed with me that birth plans are kind of insulting to a doctor depending on what you put in it. i mean, he's been delivering babies since i was a child, so i have confidence that he knows what he's doing without me giving him a plan. haha.

he confirmed that i have symphasis pubis dysfunction. he said there's really not much they can do for it anyhow. just take tylenol when i need it, be careful doing the things that really irritate it, and it'll go away after the baby is born. or it won't but that's a bridge we'll cross if we get there.
so the pain sucks, but i will push through it. glad to know i'm not crazy for thinking i have SPD, that is for sure. haha.
i've discovered i have a limit on how much walking i can do before being in excruciating pain though, and today i broke that limit because i am dying right about now. and i think my pelvis/legs hate me.

also, we've decided not to cloth diaper. we're just not in a laundry situation that is really going to work out for us the way we'd like it to. but we are going for all natural/hypoallergenic disposables so hopefully we won't have any problems with them.

WORDS to yo motha.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:54:51 GMT

Reply to this meme by yelling "words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then you will make an entry explaining what those words mean to you.

These words were a gift from freaky_eggplant!

natural birth: OH HELLS YEAH. imma pop this baby out with NO drugs. i hope. at least that is the plan. and i'm glad i have freaky_eggplant to share my fears with, because she doesn't think i'm crazy. (because she's just as crazy.) and i have sickofyourbs to tell me the true facts about how possible it is. =)

New Jersey: Represent! I spent the first 15 years of my life in New Jersey and it will always be "home." to me. I miss the ocean, as dirty and gross the beach can be. Haha.

Miley Cyrus: I'm not even gonna lie, Miley Cyrus is my home girl. I want to get her new album pretty bad. And I still rock out to Breakout. If you don't think you like Miley Cyrus, I suggest you listen to "Full Circle" thats my favorite song by her.

farts: Farts seem to be the only thing coming out my butt lately. Pregnancy constipation has kicked in full force and the farts that build up when you're not pooping for days on end... well they smell like rotting vegetables.

tattoos: *sigh* One of the hardest part of being pregnant is that I have gotten so many awesome tattoo ideas that I can't get done until after the baby is born! First will be her name on my wrist, finishing my chest piece, and both of my half sleeves (one commemorating New Jersey and the other for the first video game I ever beat on my own... shut up, I'm a nerd.)
I went with omgitssammie to hold her hand last week while she was getting tattooed and Feets was going crazy all night. I told her to get used to the sound of the tattoo needle because she'll be with mommy a lot when she's getting tattoos. Haha.

Doctor today at 3! And then I think I start seeing him every 2 weeks. HOLY COW.

do what?

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:13:49 GMT

went to the dentist last week to get fillings in two of my teeth. they scheduled me to come back today, for what i thought was going to be a cleaning.
but they marched me past all the cleaning rooms back to the room i was in last week.
BECAUSE I HAD MORE CAVITIES. hi yeah, that would have been nice to know before i showed up. so i hadn't eaten anything since 10am and here we were at 2 in the afternoon shooting up my gums with novocaine as to make sure the rest of what i do eat today falls out of my mouth and is barely enjoyable.

so the guy goes to give me the novocaine and tells me not to look. to which i reply "i've donated two gallons of blood, i'm not really afraid of your needle."
does my fillings and tells me to see the receptionist on my way out.
i see her and she says "alright, we'll send you a postcard when it's time for your check-up!"

WHAT THE FUCK? the biggest reason i wanted to see the dentist was to get my teeth CLEANED and these people just cause me all sorts of pain (one of my fillings from last week is extremely sensitive to cold, wasn't even aware of the cavity, but the filling hurts!) and neglect to clean my teeth. it's bull crap.
i should have known though because this dentist is seriously in the ghetto.

Really awkward dish washing...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:34:10 GMT

Since we've moved in we've been "working" on the kitchen. And I use "working" in the loosest sense of the word.

There was basically nothing in the kitchen when we moved in.
Two wall cabinets and a sink.That was all. We bought a brand new stove and fridge, then we bought new cabinets and flooring. We have yet to get around to installing any of our new cabinetry or the flooring partially because of the pre-existing sink.

It was a cast iron sink sitting on top of an old metal cabinet. We dreaded how heavy it would be so we just kept putting off remodeling the kitchen. Well I decided that it was something we needed to hurry up and get done since in about 73 days we aren't gonna have a whole lot of spare time.

So I put the sink up on Craigslist in hopes that someone would want it. I had two people call but they called the day we realized we couldn't shut the water off without turning off water to the entire house, thanks to the awesome plumbing in this 109 year old house. Well a guy called yesterday who also does some plumbing on the side, he said he would like to come take a look for us. He came by and told us exactly what to do to get it out and install shut off valves so no one else has the same issue... then he asks if we want him to take it right then!
He actually paid for the valves too, so we got rid of the sink and cabinet and got free plumbing done.

So now we're sinkless in the kitchen until we finish painting the walls and get the new flooring down.
As I am sure you can imagine this leaves us with limited options for washing dishes. We decided we'll just wash them in the tub until we can get the new sink in. I did some yesterday, sitting outside of the tub and leaning in to wash them, but the belly was seriously in the way.
Joey washed them last night basically while he was in the shower, so tonight it was my turn.

First of all, I rinsed them with the detachable showerhead like you wouldn't believe. I just couldn't fathom taking a shower with little bits of food that might have been left on the dishes. And I don't know if it was the combination of heat/bending/being 7 months pregnant/tired or what but I seriously thought I was going to pass out.
As soon as I got out I told Joey we need to get this stinkin' kitchen done soooooon!

I'm probably too tired to make any sense right now. I just have to say publicly that washing dishes in the tub is one of the most awkward things I've ever had to do.

you have got to be fucking kidding me.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:48:42 GMT

so tonight i was sitting at 5-points in hamilton at a red light.
and the next thing i know my car moves forward a foot without my doing.
some guy in a chevy astro van rear-ended me!

i pull over into the pizza place that is there (you know, the one that looks like a prime place to contract a deadly disease?) and my sister gets out to check the damage. i get out too and notice that the light turned green and we watched the guy speed off into the night!
i notice the color of his vehicle (grey), the plates were temporary and started with either "O2" or "02", and he was hispanic.

so we verify that my car is okay, get back in, and follow him. we follow him up tylersville road all the way to the bypass where he turns right on red but the guy in front of me is going straight and the traffic on the bypass has the green light now so he's gone. long gone.

so frustrating. i can't even explain it to you.
so far everyone is okay. just shaken up. and pissed off.

i don't think i am ready...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:24:27 GMT

to make a decision on a name. haha.

we found out yesterday that we are having a girl! while i was mildly bummed that our first will not be a boy, i'm more nervous that we can't seem to really settle on a name!
for now we're just making a huge list and slowly narrowing it down. girl names are so hard to pick from.

i've been trying really hard not to add everything pink i can find to our registry. poor joey's eyes would fall out of his head. =) i'm also practicing restraint on buying Hello Kitty things, and if you know me, you know this is a very difficult thing.
come december joey will be outnumbered 4 to 1. Zelda, Velma, me and the baby! bwahahaha.

at yesterdays ultrasound she was measuring at 27 weeks 6 days, and i was 28 weeks 2 days. so we're doing very well. she was moving around a lot! she's even head down, which explains my ridiculous and random pelvic/hip pains. i am hoping she enjoys the position she's in and stays that way for another 11 and a half weeks or so.
below are some pictures! they didn't give us a picture of her girl parts, but she showed us and it was pretty obvious. haha.

also, we took a tour of the maternity ward. and i am most certain i have made the right choice in hospitals. their policies coincide with all of our wishes for labor and childbirth. the birthing suites are HUGE and gorgeous! the recovery rooms are a little small, but i'm not supposed to have many visitors while "recovering" anyhow.
i'm so excited about the birth of this little girl!

here you can see her head, an eye socket and her hand by her mouth. i'm not sure if she was trying to suck her thumb or pick her nose. =)

here we have some crossed leg action. she kept crossing and uncrossing them the whole time. which explains the odd feelings i feel just above my belly button all day.

and last but not least a head and body shot. you can also see a shoulder, her spine, and some ribs!

i could watch the cats watch birds all day...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:14:11 GMT

this weekend joey, my sister, and myself went to the Preble County Pork Festival and it was awesome. lots of local farmers and vendors selling stuff and making delicious food.
the whole town smelled like a pork chop, and i did not complain.

all photo credit goes to Joey!

we were welcomed by this sweet sign:

the first "booth" we came across was selling John Deere farm equipment/tractors, that's how you know you live in farm country:

then we found this booth selling native american handmade knitted/woven sweaters and hats, and these awesome bracelets and necklaces. my sister bought us matching braclets:

this is a whole barbecue pit full of these trays of pork chops. hundreds of chops. the smell was absolute heaven.:

this is me, petting a baby pig, right after i had eaten one of it's relatives in the form of a pulled pork sandwich. i feel no remorse:

here is me and my sister, check out the belly! and my sticker says "i petted a baby pig today! at the preble county pork festival" yeah, petted, thought it was weird but it's actually proper english:

tomorrow is the (probably last) ultrasound i will be having. i'm really excited and hopeful that Feets wants us to know what sex s/he is!

i'm 83 days away from my due date and i'm getting anxious! we still have so much preparing to do. not just buying/setting stuff up but we still haven't finished painting the bedroom! the kitchen is still basically untouched. oh no! we need to get our asses moving.

i got the last spot in an unmedicated birthing class and that starts every Tuesday from October 7th until December 8th. so lets just hope i don't go into labor before then. =)

92 days and counting!

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:09:32 GMT

i'm sitting here 1 day from the third trimester, it's so surreal! 92 days until my due date, it's just crazy to think about.
we're getting more and more excited about meeting this little person who seems to enjoy kicking the crap out of me. =) which just so happens to be one of the coolest feelings in the world.

Joey got a job back at Lens Crafters, only up in Dayton. so of course that is just awesome.

i had my gestational diabetes test wednesday, they said they'd have results within 24 hours. but i called thursday and they didn't have them yet, so the nurse told me maybe friday. but no call on friday. so hopefully monday. haha. i'm nervous!

i have no appointments this week.
ultrasound the 23rd.
dentist the 20th.
back to Pranikoff on the 7th.
and then i am pretty sure i start seeing him every 2 weeks. HOLY CRAP!

i signed up to do a Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's association. Heather, Nicole and Jenny all joined my team. Jenny had a bunch of homework this weekend though so it was just Heather, Nicole, and myself walking.
so we get to where this walk is supposed to be, it's in this GATED COMMUNITY. (wetherington in west chester) and everyone around us is in like Adidas and Nike jogging suits and wearing headbands and shit. and driving Range Rovers and BMW's. and we felt incredibly out of place.
so we didn't walk.
but we raised $100! so that is something.
Joey's grandma has a pretty serious case of Alzheimer's so i felt compelled to do something if i could.

also, when we got our kitchen cabinets from Ikea we ordered everything except 2 cabinets that go by the fridge, for money reasons.
and the doors that go on our sink cabinet were out of stock. well now they have DISCONTINUED our doors. so we'll have 3 pieces of cabinetry that have different doors. we're currently trying to figure out how to deal with this. there are other white doors that are different textures. but i'm thinking of just getting totally different doors and using them as accent pieces or something.

today, watching football. and hoping for some kind of miracle for the Bengals. i'm sorry Chad, i can't take your made up last name seriously. Ochocinco isn't even a real number.

Toxicity

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:05:51 GMT

That's the name of the place where I got a job today taking tickets. It's a Halloween attraction right up the road from my old house. This was from the email my new boss...

"A little more about Toxicity, it was a laboratory that did research with radiation in the 1950s, without knowing the ultimate effects. Their hope was to use it to cure disease and end hunger by creating larger crop yields, but what they found was more horrific than anyone could have ever imagined. In 1959 a tragic accident in the labs reactor trapped everyone..and everything inside the lab. Now after having laid in a state of decay for fifty years, the lab was recently re-discovered... and some of the experiments still remain."

So that is on Friday and Saturday nights. Then some nights are camp out nights and you can spend the night at the place and it's going to be AWESOME. And some nights are "Patient Zero" nights and they're zombie themed.
I'm totally stoked.

It's only like 14 nights of work and I'll still be getting some unemployment because I won't be making enough to take over all of it.
It should be fun! I even get to dress up!

sex of the baby suspicions...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:20:26 GMT

it's no secret that we would like to have a boy first. it's just been our dream since the beginning. we're happy either way of course, but i think if we have a girl we'll just call it quits. and if we have a boy we might try for another in a few years and see if we can have a girl too. growing up in a family full of women i have learned that Harrison women are not the easiest to get along with.
it's always been my grandma, my mom, my 3 aunts, my sister and myself. so we're rich with women... but we're severely lacking in the boy department. joey's family is pretty much a mixed bag (and the sperm determines the sex, so who knows!)

so i've asked people to predict the sex of the baby most people seem to say boy, but a lot of them knew we want a boy so i am not sure if that sways their vote.

monday my sister and i were leaving the hospital after seeing our friend who had her baby. and we held the elevator for this guy with a cart. an older man. and christina and i were talking about what my baby might be, and the guy acted like he was reading the vibes or something from my belly and said it's a boy. then he asked if i was giving birth there and i said yes, and he told me that it's scientifically proven that babies born at Bethesda North are 35% better looking than other babies. (both of these would be awesome.)

so we have until September 23rd to wait to possibly find out the sex. i am really hoping Feets decides to show off the goods because this whole "pick out gender neutral stuff" is getting really freakin' old!

i have my Glucose Tolerance Test at my next appointment two weeks from today (September 9th) i was told today by the nurse practitioner that i don't have to fast! this is good news because drinking that crap on an empty stomach causes some serious stomach cramping for me. i hope i don't get stuck with lemon lime flavor and i hope it's kept in a fridge. haha.

Self appreciation, finally.

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:41:20 GMT

(Cross-posted all over the internet.)

Pregnancy can make you feel like your body is no longer your own. It can ruin your self-esteem and make you hate the shell you're living in. But for some people pregnancy can finally make you feel like your body is WORTH something. This is my story...

I've always been a bigger girl. I've hated my body my entire adult life. I have had stretch marks everywhere since I was 14. I went from a size 11 to a size 22 in about 4 years. It was devastating and I never thought I'd be able to love myself.
My fiance and I started trying to conceive in December of 2006. I knew that it would be a long hard road. (I have PCOS and it took a while to find out I wasn't actually ovulating despite having normal periods thanks to Metformin.) I worked on my diet and I tried to exercise, knowing that losing weight would help my fertility and boost my confidence. I fluctuated between losing and gaining the same 10 pounds the entire time we tried to make this happen.
I am 5'4" and weighed 247 pounds the day we got our positive pregnancy test. Surprisingly I've lost 11 pounds since then and I feel better about my body than I ever have in my entire life. I haven't changed pants sizes or shirt sizes. I've gotten rounder and now that I finally look pregnant at 23 weeks I feel fabulous.
I may be overweight (according to most weight charts--morbidly obese) but god damn, I can make a human life, and that is what this is all about. My body can do what a size 6 body can do, what a size 11 body can do, what most women can do... and in the process make me happier than I have been in my life.

And for good measure, a NSFW pre-pregnancy picture, from about November 2006. And a belly picture from yesterday at 23 weeks 3 days pregnant.

school!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:28:52 GMT

so i have decided that i should probably go to school while this baby finishes bakin'.
i think it'll be a lot easier now than when we have a baby around. plus i'll be a lot less distracted now.

i filled out my FAFSA online on Saturday. i am meeting with the school i want to go to tomorrow. if all goes well my first class will be on August 25th. i'll go tuesdays and thursdays from 6-10pm and my last class will be on December 10th. (just 4 days before my due date!)

i also have a doctors appointment wednesday. i am really hoping he schedules another ultrasound. so we'll see!

21 week ultrasound!

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:20:53 GMT

and our little one decided to hide the goods from us!
i think i may have been slightly obsessed with finding out and baby just knew it, so s/he decided to be a little crafty.
because baby was facing my back though the ultrasound tech couldn't get pictures of the heart that are up to the doctors specifications so hopefully they will want me in for another ultrasound in about 5 weeks. (i should find out Wednesday at my next appointment) i'd be 26 weeks then and baby wouldn't have anywhere to hide!
she showed us both halves of the brain, the bladder (and my bladder!), the stomach, the placenta, and we could see the little heart beating away but she just couldn't get the pictures of all four chambers.
she was really digging down in my hip trying to get baby to move up some so maybe we could see something but every time she put pressure on the baby it would just kick it's little legs harder and harder into my bladder. haha.

i labeled this picture as best i could. it's hard to make sense of it really unless you're with me and i can point to where everything is on my body. so hopefully this makes some kind of sense.

my body parts are in blue.
baby's parts are in green.
and the placenta is labeled in teal.

basically the baby is facing my back, head up with the head right behind my belly button.
it's lower body (legs) are hiding behind my left hip bone.
when it kicks it kicks me directly in the bladder. and the placenta is on the front, basically between baby and the front of my tummy.

and this is me at 21 weeks! (excuse me looking like a hot mess.)

where the heck are my awesome dreams?

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:45:04 GMT

at the beginning of pregnancy i had cool dreams about hanging out with Anderson Cooper and Keith Olbermann in cool exotic places doing awesome news stories... but now...

my dream last night was that i was hanging out with Anthony Bourdain and we were in some foreign country, not sure where, and the country was being bombed.
i was hiding in the closet in the hotel room and he was sitting at a little round table laughing maniacally. i kept yelling at him "This is not funny, Tony!" but he just kept laughing.

i had to force myself to wake up because it was so scary. =(

20 weeks pregnant

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:25:39 GMT

today i am 20 weeks pregnant and i really can't believe this baby is halfway cooked!
i am so excited to meet our little one and i hope the next 20 weeks go by as fast as the first 20 did.
i hardly look pregnant at all, i guess it's from being "fluffy." oh well, i am sure i will expand quickly here pretty soon.

hopefully in about 9 days (august 5th) baby will not be shy about showing us the goods. we're dying to know the sex! it's surprisingly hard to find gender neutral things that aren't just flat out ugly.

so far we literally have nothing for the baby and i know i still have 20 weeks but that makes me feel incredibly antsy. i would really like to start my cloth diaper stash soon. i found a pattern online and made one and it turned out marvelous though so i think i am going to make some more and see how they hold up. in addition to the ones we plan on buying.

other than that there's not a whole lot going on over here. Karolyn comes home wednesday and i am going to the airport with her mom to pick her up. totally excited about that!

19 weeks 2 days. =)

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:26:09 GMT

today's appointment went well.
just the standard pee in the cup, get weighed, get blood pressure taken and listen to the heartbeat kinda thing.

i gained 2 pounds. my first gain since becoming pregnant.
my blood pressure was 107/77 the best it's ever been in my entire life!
and she found the heartbeat right away. just thump thumping along. it's my favorite sound in the entire world.

she scheduled my ultrasound for August 5th which is just two weeks from today and i can't wait!!!
i can't wait to see all the little organs and bones. and hopefully find out the sex! yes!!

oops.

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:31:14 GMT

we were running crazy late for our tour of the birthing center today. so we decided against going. we would have gotten there at least 20 minutes late, so i figured the group would have already left. we'll have to reschedule.

at&t canceled our cell phone plan because our phones have been off for so long. so who knows what will happen there. if i have to change my phone number because they gave it away i don't know what i will do. i know it sounds really stupid but i have had the same cell phone number since 2001. =(

next wednesday i meet the only doctor in the practice i haven't met yet. i am hoping she will schedule my ultrasound for me instead of waiting to see what Pranikoff says or something. that would suuuuuuck.

i think that's pretty much all for now?

my belly is kind of starting to look pregnant instead of just fat. starting next monday i'll be taking weekly pictures. woo!

i love so you think you can dance...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:30:32 GMT

it's probably one of like... 3 "reality" shows i can actually watch without wanting to stab someone. haha.

today we went and got all but two of the cabinets for the kitchen. i can not tell you how excited i am!!
this weekend we have to take down the two crappy old cabinets that are up and paint the walls. then we must lay the new floor. then we have to rip out the old sink and then we can put our cabinets up. i can't wait!

we still don't have our carpet. and that is just annoying as hell. we can't bring ANYTHING upstairs because we'll have to move it when the carpet people finally come and we're not trying to move everything twice.

in other news i am 17 weeks and 3 days pregnant. the baby is a little over 5 inches long and that's just from it's head to it's bum! so with it's tiny legs it's about 8-9 inches, awesome! it can now suck, swallow, and blink. and on a few occasions i believe i have felt it move. nothing for sure yet. i can't wait for that!
and every day is a reminder that i really can't fit into my jeans anymore despite having not gained a pound yet. haha, terrific! maternity pants are the most comfy things ever anyhow.

my mom is strange...

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:19:05 GMT

so i thought that choosing the g-diapers was my way of compromising with the rest of my family because i thought for sure they'd like for me to use disposables...
well upon discussing this with my mom yesterday i found out that she's not at all against me using cloth diapers, she just really doesn't like the g-diapers.

this is super awesome news and i am totally stoked.