Sunday, January 30, 2011

32 Weeks


Here we are - 32 weeks along! I can't believe how fast it's going. I mean, one MONTH from today they would not stop labor if I went in. YIKES! I'm still at the "nervous and feeling good, so I'm not rushing this child out anytime soon if I can help it" phase. Thankfully, I have zero complaints about being pregnant - I've been so blessed to be healthy and comfortable throughout. Obviously I don't feel normal and there's always "something" new or different or even "less than optimal", but I've been overall very comfortable and even sleeping well with my 3-5 (last night 10) pee breaks.

What's new: As of lately I've started contracting during workouts. I'm actually doing a little experiment to test the waters, so to speak. I worked out 3/5 days of the week after working all day (I do walk and stand a lot during work) and then walked 30-70 minutes. I contracted during all of these, but I didn't realize they were contractions because it was just a constant "very tight tummy" and I forgot to pay attention to when it loosened back up (pregnancy brain, anyone?). My midwife confirmed it was indeed me contracting. Anyway, I skipped working out on Friday after the 3 days of contracting during workouts and then walked Saturday and Sunday for 45 minutes and felt fine. So at least I know I'm not out of the loop forever - I just have to be aware and have Ceej home when I go out walking (because, yes - my belly was so tight and uncomfortable on the third day that I squatted by Altoona Family Restaurant and had the dear boy come pick me up).

Fieldwork is going great - I love it! It is quite exhausting, which I don't really know if it's the learning all day in the professional setting OR being 2 months from birthing a human. All I know is that 2 nights last week I went to bed by 8pm and actually felt rested the next day. Either way, I'm tired. A lot.

In other events, Ceej and I had a very nice weekend! Friday we did nothing but relax and watch a movie. He made ravioli with sauteed shrimp and marinara for dinner and we went to bed early - sleeping for 11 hours (ahhh so wonderful). Saturday we went for a walk and I went grocery/stuff shopping. That night we went out for dinner with friends/sibling and out afterward. Sunday was church, a pancake breakfast at church, walking, dinner, and playing Scrabble. Hope you all were able to relax and enjoy the nice weather as well! Sunshine and non-bitter cold works for me.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Stillwater Shower

30 weeks pregnant! Baby is still super active, and I love feeling him or her move and move. He or she also gets hiccups at least once per day. I like feeling the little steady pound of hiccups (it's just so cute picturing the little tyke hiccuping), but I feel bad for the poor dear. I mean - hiccups every day? How annoying!

Yesterday I had my first baby shower ever! It was in Stillwater with my paternal aunts and sisters. I had a really fun day - tacos and cookies and games and just hanging out and chatting with family. I also got some very cute gifts for my very cute baby. I came home and sprawled them all out to show Ceej and washed all the clothes so I can organize them in baby's room. Nesting mode? YUP.


This weekend I also felt very sick. Turns out I have bronchitis. Super. I barely slept last night and this morning had no voice. I went to Urgent Care because this "cold" has been getting progressively worse since last weekend. What a treat that was. I had to wear a mask because I was coughing. Normally that is not a problem, but for a woman who is 30 weeks pregnant (AKA out of breath already) and has bronchitis - welp, we've got a wheezer on our hands. I was GASPING for air to the extent that the mask was sucking in my mouth. Pretty. When I was finally in the back room with just the nurse I asked if I could take it off (I was bright red and sweating and gasping at this point). She said no, because we "didn't want to spread anything, now do we?" LISTEN LADY. I told her okay, but I might end up passing out because I cannot breathe through this lead mask. I didn't actually say "lead" but it might as well have been lead. Are you trying to kill me people?! She let me poke my little (plugged up) nose out if I "needed to". YES I NEED TO THANKYOUVERYMUCH. Real helpful. Jerk. Anyway I now am on antibiotics and hoping this little peach passes on by right quick.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Oh Hey Blogging Friends!

I know - it's been a long time. Whoops! Here's a little recap of our life as of lately:

Finals week came and went. I went to Rochester 4 days early to focus and stay with some friends (other students) so we could plow through. It was a fun way to end and say goodbye. Because of that nasty snowfall, the 2 nights before my Neurorehabilitation final consisted of my friend and I shoveling out our cars (both covered to the windows). Night 1 = soft snow, took 1 hour for 2 cars. Night 2 = ice pile, took 2 hours with 3 people for 1 car. At least it was some heavy work to get us through finals... and a fun break! I passed, by the way :).

Graduation day was surreal. Met most of my family for breakfast and then a smaller group went to the cities for the Big Event. It still doesn't feel real, although I must admit I got used to not having to study all the time REAL quick.

Christmas - ahh the loveliness of it all! We had 6 Christmases in 8 days and they were splendid. Needless to say, my 2 weeks of break before starting fieldwork (my internship) went by very fast.


I met a group of my roommates from Madison in the Dells for a day of shopping and then staying at a hotel. It was so much fun to get to see everyone and catch up! I was extremely blessed to have been their roommates (7 girls living together and 0 fighting is a rare thing). They're wonderful women, and it's fun to see how different and changing all of our lives are now!


Bringin' in the New Year was a blast - Ceej and I agreed it was our favorite so far. We went to dinner with a group to Houligan's and then made our way to Playmaker's bar. We were there early so we had plenty of space. More friends came by and we ended up having a big group there. It's so exciting to think about what 2011 will bring! I don't really do "resolutions"... my goals for 2011 are to have a baby and get a job that I love.


Fieldwork is going well. I'm in my 2nd week in the Eau Claire school district and like it a lot so far! I am learning a ton, and it is much different than learning from reading books. To be honest, it's pretty exhausting, but I have great supervisors and know it's going to be a great experience. I feel like I've learned so much in just 2 weeks, and I am excited for all I'll learn after 3 months! I've started taking on kiddos (writing lesson plans/performing direct OT with them), and by the end I'll have the entire caseload! EEK! :)

For our nephew Alex's 3rd Birthday we took him to Blue's Clue's Live here in Eau Claire. It was super fun to see how in awe he was throughout the show! The world is so different through a child's eyes.

Pregnancy is also going well. I've gotten pretty big lately! 30 weeks have gone by too fast, and I cannot believe we could have a baby here in 10, 8, 6 weeks... YIKES! Ceej is getting really excited. I'm getting really SCARED (!!) plus really excited. Baby is moving up a storm, and I love love love feeling it roll and turn and punch and kick. It's amazing to actually know what it's doing in there and differentiating it's movements. Here I am at 28 weeks, but I think I look especially big because this was right after eating dinner at Tokyo. Ceej said I really look that big all the time, though ... hmm ... he's probably lying again.


At the moment I have a bad cold (thank you, week 1 of working with kiddos) and have broke down and taken meds to sleep (only those that are okay-ed for pregnancy ... but I still try to avoid them in general). I suck it up during the day, but before bed I steam my face to get the snot broken up and then take Tylenol and Mucinex. This was okay for the past week until last night when my sickness took a 180 in the nasty direction... leaving me up at 2 AM scrounging with our med box and looking up all of our medications online to see if I could take them. Turns out that of all of our nighttime meds, Benadryl was my only sanctuary. What a tease it was turning away from my Tylenol Cold PM, NyQuil, and like 3 others. They were like a Thanksgiving feast to a starving child. One little lick of that liquid gold was pretty tempting, but I resisted. Even though everything I took was okay-ed by my midwife, I still went to bed convinced I just gave my baby a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

I have my first baby shower tomorrow with my aunts and sisters in Stillwater. I can't wait! Hopefully a lazy Friday night and Saturday day/night will get me healthy enough to get through it without passing out ;).