Whew... Been awhile. Time for the BIG updates!

So, it has been a good while since I have had a chance to do a real post. Things have been so crazy busy around the Boren-Drugo household that I hope you will forgive me! For starters, last Thursday, Scott closed on our townhouse, as well as had the closing for the house in Bridgewater! We are now happy homeowners!!! It is nice to see his old house go to a young family that will really be able to enjoy it, but now the adventure of getting the townhouse ready for our move-in is upon us! Here is the link to the "before" pictures of the townhouse, when the other owners still lived there.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.997850831849.2511112.7817696&l=14569e59eb

 

Currently, we have gotten the entire first floor of the townhouse cleaned, and the laundry room painted. Chris and Katie (the previous owners, and new owners of the Bridgewater house) had 4 cats and a dog, and the litter boxes from the cats had been kept in the laundry room, so that room was the first priority in getting spic and span so that we could get the liter smell out before bringing the pets by (don't want anyone to be marking territory over other smells!). Today at 2 we have the estimator coming to price out new carpeting too. The carpeting there is a bit worn, and sometimes things just need to be refreshed for the new owners. :-) We are really excited though.

 

Scott's cousin Jesse came for a visit, and has been a god-send, priming the upstairs bedrooms for us so we can paint later this week. He truly has been a huge help, and it's been wonderful to have some family visit. I finally finished picking out colors for the bedrooms and kitchen, so it will be really fun to see the transformation as it happens. I will try and remember to take pictures through the various stages. We even cooked our first meal at the house last night. Granted, we ate our steaks off plastic-ware plates, but it was nice to comfortably have 4 people in the kitchen without anyone bumping into each other. Right now, we can't even fit Scott and I in our kitchen together without and elbow to the ribs. hahahaha

 

So, as I'm sure you can tell, things have been and will continue to be busy for a bit while getting ready for that. I will be sending out "change of address" cards to the family in the next week or two, but for those of you who want the new address sooner, we are moving to (effective now):

 

525 Pointe Drive

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

 

 

On to how things are going with our little Ellaina! Well, obviously, there has been lots of excitement, and, as I'm sure you can see from the pictures, I have definitely been putting on the belly weight. :-) I am up to 137.5 as of our last visit, with a starting weight of 117, so a healthy 20lbs weight gain so far. The mid-wife had said I should gain around 35 total, so I'm right on track with where I should be it seems. Ellaina is a very active little one, and we had our 24 week mid-wife appointment on Friday. They said that everything is looking good, her heart beat was around 150 bpm, and that my belly is measuring 25 centimeters (rule of thumb is 1 centimeter per week of pregnancy) so I'm a touch bigger than my actual weeks of progression, but nothing to be concerned about. Next visit I have to take a glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes (standard practice nowadays) and that will also mark when my appointments become every two weeks instead of once a month.

 

I am also coming to the conclusion that we will have quite the smarty pants on our hands... solely based on the brain cells Ellaina seems to be stealing from me. hahahaha As if it weren't bad enough that I'm blonde and ADHD to begin with, the "pregnancy brain" has made me feel like a total scatterbrained idiot as of late. For example, last Saturday (a week ago), I just couldn't seem to get anything right. I started out by leaving the car windows open during a thunder storm (DOH!), then washing Haileys new dog bed and subsequently melting the liner that held in all the foam, so it came pouring out of the dryer at me (Oye Vey!), and finished off the day losing my keys in the Ollie's store while getting Hailey a new bed to replace the one I had ruined (that one took the cake). Thankfully, the assocaite found my keys, but by the end of the day, I was ready to go home and sleep before I could do something else totally stupid!

 

I have to admit though that the time is flying. When this journey started, 9 months seemed like such a long time. Now, with only having a little more than 3 months to go, it is amazing to me to think that it will be over so soon, and that I'll be meeting our little girl in such a short amount of time. The next three months will fly by too, especially between moving, baby showers in PA with the Drugo and Uncapher families, and the housewarming party we are having in August (when I am on travel restriction and too big to be going anywhere, as well as us being settled into the house by then).

 

In some ways, I am already thinking about how much I will miss feeling her kicking inside me. I know having her in my arms and all that comes with her being here will be another adventure, but I'm also trying to enjoy the time I have when her and I are part of one body, and I realize that it won't be for that much longer. There's a certain magic to feeling her kick, her movements, her hiccups... Watching her change my body, and me becoming this totally different human being with a added sense of purpose. I think I will miss that to some extent. Granted, I still have 3 very hot months of pregnancy in front of me, so I may be feeling a bit less "magical" in a month or two, but I think I will revel in it for the time being. :-)

 

A couple of notes about registry items... Though we are registered at Target for ease of access and having one central registry, I have realized a number of items on the registry are "internet only" items, as well as that some things, such as the crib bedding set, can be found for a good bit less elsewhere online. I have tried to add some clothing and smaller items also to the registry, and continually update it with items. As I have said before, this is the "pie in the sky" list. We appreciate all of the interest from our family and friends, and can't say thank you enough to those that have been helping us with preparing for our daughter's arrival. The support and encouragement has truly been overwhelming. :-)

 

Well, time to get to some other stuff for the day. I will make a big effort to get on here more often with updates. I hope all of you are doing well. :-)

 

Love you all, Nic & Ellaina

Registry updated and made public!

Hey everyone! Quick update (will post a full update tomorrow after our midwife appt of all the goings-ons)... I have made our registry where you can search for it at Target stores using our last name(s) now. Thank you everyone who has shown an interest in helping provide for our little Ellaina! I am so happy she is coming into the world surrounded with such love and happiness!

I have also added some cute clothes to the registry that would be for summertime next year. We are pretty much set up to 9 months for clothing. :-) I in addition added some cloth diapers. We don't plan on using cloth full time, but liked the idea of having a back-up in case we were to run low one night, etc and the g diapers came highly recommended. :-)

Time for work, then packing tonight because we are MOVING! Yay!!! I will post a full update tomorrow though. :-) Thank you all again for your love and support! It truly means the world to both Scott and I.

All our love! Nicolle & Ellaina

24 week bump picture (will post an update tomorrow after midwife appt)

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

Well, life has been unbelievably crazy the past few weeks, but thankfully I would say it's all good!

For starters, I spent 5 days in Baltimore for the ABA conference for work. It went wonderfully, but man was I exhausted when it was all done!! And you would think that having a nice king sized bed all to myself without Scott hogging the covers, pushing me off the bed, or Hailey waking me up in the middle of the night, or licking my ear like she's going to eat my brains at 8 am would mean that I would sleep like a baby, right? Guess again. I slept like total crap. I must be a glutten for punishment. Though, I have a feeling Scott wasn't too lonely in bed:

And man had Hailey put on some weight when I got home! Then again, Scott said I got bigger too. Hahaha. Amazing what happens when you leave for a few days!

While I was there, I started to feel our little one move A LOT more though, and even during the day when I'm acitve, not just when I was sitting down or laying in bed. And by the activity level, I would have to think baby is training for the Olympics!

Once I got back, I was home for about 48 hours before getting back on the road to spend a "Girls Weekend" with Scott's mom Mary-Lou and her family. Everyone was so wonderful, and I finally had everyone's names down by the end of the weekend! I did have some beginners luck too at winning a few games of Nickels with the ladies, but the group Wii activities really kicked my butt, or more like my arms! I was still hurting 3 days later! hahaha. The pictures were totally worth it though!

Scott and I also want to thank Mary-Lou from the bottom of our hearts for buying us our travel system so our little one has a comfy and safe way to travel. It is a beautiful and very well made set that I am sure will last us not only through this baby, but any future ones we have! Thank you Mary-Lou!!!

So other things going on include that Scott (being the amazing man and baby daddy he is!) put a contract down on a townhouse for us! It will be a welcome upgrade with 3 stories, 3 bedrooms, a nice garage for Scott, a big kitchen for me, and a nice sized yard for the Hailey and Dolce, and of course baby! :-) I am so over the moon happy that we will have a dedicated nursery for the baby as well as a good guest room for family and friends that want to come visit. We should be able to close on the house quickly, and be in by the time our lease here is up on July 1st. The only major thing the house will need right away is for us to fence in the back yard, and a couple coats of paint to help make it ours. :-) We have some ideas for upgrades later, but it is pretty much move-in ready which will be a huge blessing for us as I get bigger! I will try and post more pictures soon!

 We had our latest midwife appointment this last friday. (Yes, I am intentionally keeping you all in suspense!) I have gained about 10 lbs already and they are happy with the weight gain saying it's right on track with where they want me to be. Here is the latest belly pictures:

Hmmm... from the front I still look pretty darn skinny!

From the side, definitely Preggers looking!!

And, Drumroll (I know, I am mean making you read this whole blog post just to find out if it's a girl or boy...)

As the Ultrasound Tech said... There's the LIPS!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I am pleased to introduce everyone to the little miss Ellaina Nicolle Drugo! The midwife said she is developing beautifully and is perfectly healthy. She is about 12oz right now, right on target, and we got to see all the chambers of her little heart beating, and the hemispheres of her growing brain. She still looks a bit like an alien, which they said is normal until they get more body fat which develops the facial features, but she is beautiful to us! She is soooo very active and was such a good girl during the ultrasound letting us get to see all of her little parts.

And to celebrate, I had to get her a little outfit. :-)

We know our little girl is going to be surrounded by sooo much love, and I'm sure she will have her daddy wrapped around her little fingers in no time! :-) Halfway to getting to meet her in person! Till then, I will have to settle for her pounding on me from the inside. She is getting strong enough that I think Scott should be able to feel her soon also. Thank you all so so very much for all of your support and love. It means so very much to Scott and I to know the world of love our little Ellaina will be coming into!!

We hope all is well with all of you! Love you!

Nic

A Grown Man Cries & Lastest Check Up

I feel better that I'm not the only one getting the "weepies" with this pregnancy, and that small things can trigger the weepies for a grown man as much as it can for me. Last week while Scott and I were at Ollie's, I came across a little board-book called "I'll love you no matter what" and decided to grab it for the baby. Upon giving it to my big strong man, I hear "uh, I need to go check something." Thinking that maybe he forgot something in a different aisle, etc. I asked him what he forgot, and when I look up at him, I see the glassy eyes filling with tears. :-) Yes, my grown man "just thought about the fact that I will have a child to read books to" and became a bit overcome with emotion. It was absolutely one of the sweetest things I have ever seen, and it was so wonderful to know that this is something that makes him so happy also. :-D

Friday was our most recent midwife appointment, and so far we have seen 3 of the 6 midwives at the office. 2 of the three I have really liked, but one I thought could jump out a window. Hahaha. Baby had a good strong heartbeat, and we were able to find it right away with the doppler. We discussed induction and my strong resistance to the use of potocin if at all possible. The midwife said that everything sounded great with the baby and that we are able to have our next ultrasound right at 20 weeks, which is just under 3 weeks from now, and that will be when we can find out gender. Our next appointment is Friday the 22nd, and hopefully we will be able to find out if we will be having a little boy or a little girl then!!! :-)

Other than that, Hailey is almost completely house trained! YAY! Scott was at drill this weekend, so I relaxed since the next couple of weeks are going to be kind of nuts for me. Next week I have the final prep for a big conference at work, and then from Saturday through Wednesday I will be in Baltimore to work the booth for the conference. I will definitely be good and tuckered out by the time I get back!

Hope all is well for all of you!

Nic

It's starting to feel like a nursery!

I want to start off by saying Thank You a million times to Scott's dad Joe, and his step-mom Denise. They came to visit with us this weekend and while they were here we went crib shopping. Baby now has a crib in the nursery thanks to Joe and Denise, and Scott and I cannot say thank you enough for them generously buying us a safe and beautiful place for our baby to rest it's head at night.

They also brought us the first baby clothes. :-) Of course, they had to get the little munchkin Steelers gear, and also got us a nice pack of bibs and a sweet little romper set and some socks. Their visit was so wonderful. They got to meet Hailey as well as Stray, and Dolce and Bit got plenty of loving too. We had a fantastic dinner at Dave's and brunch at Clementines before they had to head back home.

Putting together the crib for me is such a surreal thing, and is just one more thing that makes the amazing fact that we are having a baby sink in. The room is looking less like a office/general purpose/junk room, and more like it really has a purpose. Yup, you guessed it, I teared up once I stepped back and took it all in. :-) The cats have been curious (naturally!) of the new digs in "their" room, but seem to be more interested in hiding underneath it and watching it from thier spots on the futon than they are in getting into it. We will see how long that last though.

We have our next appt with the midwife on Friday, and are hoping we can schedule an ultrasound soon to find out the baby's gender once and for all. I still really believe we have a little boy coming, as do a number of the family, and have been leaning that way a bit with purchases, but have really been trying to hold off on getting anything till we know for sure. While Denise was visiting though, we did finally look through Target's baby bedding collections, and I picked out my favorites for both a boy and girl and added them to the baby registry. For a boy I think we are going to go with jungle animals, and for a girl, something a bit more luxurious and princess-ish, without being crazy over the top. No crowns, etc. but pink and chocolate colors and silky fabrics.

I know some of it is hormones, but I have been tearing up at least once daily over various things, but mostly all at the wonderment of it all, and how lucky I am. Work is fantastic. I love the people I work with and they have all been so supportive. I recieved a thank-you eCard from a co-worker on Friday for helping him with a SharePoint site for his reports, and lost it finally when one of my bosses, Jodi, said I was doing a great job. I feel so fortunate to have so much support from all around. Scott is amazing, and loving and caring, and my mom and his family have all been so supportive and excited for us. There is so much that is wonderful in our life that somedays it's overwhelming. I can honestly say I have never felt this much love and caring from all those around me, and so much support at work ever in my life.

Ok, I'll stop with the mushy stuff now. I just hope everyone knows just how appreciative I am for everything. :-)

On other notes... we got 2 inches of snow this weekend which melted the same day, and Hailey has learned how to climb on the bed. Hahaha. As much as we said "no Hailey on the bed", once she was up there and snuggling between us, it was really really hard to make her get down. She's growing like a weed but is such a personable dog who you can tell absolutely adores her family. We love her and all of our "furry children" so much. They certainly keep us on our toes!

I hope all is well for you all and I'll update again after our mid-wife appointment!

Nic

16 week belly pic!

Early nesting, memories, and random crying

Well, we are 15.5 weeks along and feeling great! Laying on my stomach is just starting to get uncomfortable, but other than that, baby and I have been doing well. We have a couple more weeks before our next check up, but I feel like I'm getting bigger every day, and have had a good amount more energy lately as I have hit my second trimester. I also have gotten my appetite for meat back (yay!) which is good as supposedly, from here on out I should be gaining about a pound a week. 

Of course, every one tells you to be ready for the random weepies when you are pregnant. Well, they have started. Hahaha. I look over at Scott and just get so happy I start to tear up. I rub the baby's new blanket I got him/her, and go figure, I start crying. All good tears, but still, for not being a crier, I seem to be crying an awful lot lately!

The "nesting" urge is already starting to hit me. The hard part is that Scott and I still haven't fully decided if we are going to stay put where we are when our lease is up in July, or try to get into a bit larger of a townhouse, with a yard and a third room. I finally decided though that either way, getting all of baby's stuff into one room wouldn't be a bad idea. If we stay, well, it's already there. If we move, well it's all together, and since we would be moving in my 3rd trimester, the easier I can make a move at that time, the better we would be.

It is driving me nuts not knowing if baby is a girl or boy yet, though, I personally have the feeling that we will be having a little boy. I know that wive's tales are only just that, tales, but the number of them that fit just make me think we will be having a little boy. Not having any morning sickness (my mom said she was sick with all 4 of us girls, but not sick at all with my brother), showing very front heavy, etc. all make me think we have a little boy on the way. We still have to wait a month though to find out, so here I sit impatiently waiting. Until then, I have tried to put "buying" mostly on hold, not wanting to get something and have it be the wrong gender. This though also hasn't kept me from picking up a few gender neutral items that were just too cute to pass up.

I came across this monkey fuzzy-blanket at TJ Maxx the other day and simply couldn't pass it up. :-) I have to pass my obsession with fuzzy blankies onto the baby early!! It is soooo soft. The "nesting" urge also got me to start pulling out what I already had for the baby. My niece Sophia visited with my mom last September, so I had gotten some items then for her to play with, such as board-books and a high chair that attaches to the kitchen chairs, knowing that I wanted kids sooner than later, and figuring that the items wouldn't go to waste, even if they sat for a couple years.

This also got me to getting out my childhood items that I had kept, such as my baby blankets and childhood stuffed animals. Obviously, there I was tearing up again as I was pulling them all out, knowing that soon our baby would be able to enjoy and play with the things that had meant the most to me growing up.

The baby blanket my mom made for me, along with blue bear which has a rattle in his butt :-), and Lion. I had to brush out Lion's mane a bit as it was matting from being in storage for so long. It's amazing to me that these are all in such good condition for being almost 30 years old!

The baby afghan that my Grandma Jan made for me and one of the dolls that my Grandma Joan had given me as a little girl. I wish they could be here to meet their first great-grandchild, but I'm sure they will be watching over us in spirit!

I also decided to start personalizing the room a bit. The second room was our office/my craft room, so I started packing up that stuff today to put it up in the attic and make room for baby. I did leave behind some cork-board and decided to use it as a canvas for the baby.

Pictures of Baby on the cork-boards as you walk into the room. The little banner over the left panel says "Baby's Room"

I also did one for me and the pregnancy and our belly pictures.

Well, back to some more packing up for me. Scott has been working a ton lately, and is on his way home, so it will be nice to spend a little time with him. I think Hailey needs a walk again too. Thank goodness babies poop in diapers! Hahaha. I hope all is well for all of you!

~Nic

14 weeks, Puppy, and Ultrasound

First off, I want to say sorry for not posting recently. There has been a lot going on. Most of it good, some of it not so good, but I think I'll stick with the good on here. All is good with Scott and I and the baby, so no worries there, just some other stuff going on that I won't get into right now.

So, for the good stuff:

1) We got a puppy. :-) Meet Hailey.

This is our Hailey-bug as I like to call her!

We got our yellow lab puppy Hailey almost 2 weeks ago now. She'll be 3 months old on the 12th. She is our latest addition, and I have to say, is great parenting practice. Hahahaha.

Potty-training has it's good days and bad days at the moment, but we are making progress. She loves her toys, and will get to be about 70lbs when all is said and done. We might be masochists, but we thought the timing was actually really good with getting her, because we wanted a dog that would grow up with the baby, and figure we have 6 months to train her before our little one comes. She is a really good dog, and we wanted a bigger dog, seeing as how we know Dolce, my chihuahua would not be nearly as tolerant of a toddler "petting" her aggressively.

Labs are known for their loyalty and gentleness, as well as their intelligence and trainability. Hailey has already learned to "sit" and we are having less and less accidents in the house. As with a child though, we know it will take time. She is a great exercise in learning patience! Overall though, she has been a wonderful and welcome addition to the family!

2) Doctors Appointments and Ultrasound:

We had our first mid-wife appointment last Monday. My bloodwork came back that I am B-Neg bloodtype, which means that I will have to get a shot of Rohgam at about 27 weeks to prevent my blood potentially mistaking the baby's blood (if the baby has positive blood) as an intruder. As usual (and to the surprise of few) I am one of the few "weird" ones, with only about 2% of the population being B-Neg. Nothing with me can be normal, can it!? hahaha

Everything is going well with the baby (despite it's weird mother and her rare blood type), and we got to hear the heart-beat during the visit. Little one has a strong ticker! Low and behold, only 1 heart beat! (whew, dodged a bullet with that one!) The Midwife also confirmed that I was measuring tight on track for only having one in there, so that was a big worry lifted.

We then asked about ultrasounds, because, ultimately, I'm impatient and don't want to wait another 2 months to see our baby. hahaha. The way to get the ultrasounds, and also get insurance to cover it, was through genetic testing, which would test for Down's Syndrome risk level. Completely non-invasive, just needing blood work from me and 2 ultrasounds where they measure the fluid between the baby's spine and skin. Though we hadn't planned on doing the testing, knowing we will love this baby no matter what, if it got me to get to see our little one sooner, I figured, why not! :-) We made an appointment for last Friday to have the ultrasound.

Friday was AMAZING. There is nothing quite like seeing your baby for the first time. Baby was very active, and very healthy! We got to see the baby have hiccups, all 5 fingers on both hands, the face, etc... You can see also below! Ultimately, everything is perfectly normal and healthy, and they assess the risk for Down's syndrome a very very low 1 in 7,600. As much as we didn't plan on knowing if anything was wrong, it was also nice to hear that everything was normal and healthy.

A number of you have probably already gotten text messages of the ultrasound pictures, but here are all of them. :-)

Meet our Baby!! We still won't know the gender for a month or two, but it was wonderful seeing an active, healthy little one in there. I can't wait till I can feel the movements of him or her! :-)

3) 14 Weeks:

Well, as of today, I am 14 weeks. I finally broke down last weekend and picked up maternity clothes. I never knew maternity pants could be so comfortable!!! Ross had a great selection for really reasonable prices. I have been feeling great lately. Some of the back pain I have been experiencing has lessened, at least a bit. Work has been great, and as usual, Scott has been soooo supporting. I don't know what I would do without him. He's my rock!

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to get on here more often, and hopefully the "other things" that are going on will be resolved soon. I hope all is well for all of you!

~Nic

Uh huh, sure it's all in my imagination... or NOT!

So, I keep getting from those around me that aren't here to see me on a daily basis the "Oh, I'm sure you aren't really showing yet. You just THINK you are." I have decided to include the pictures for all to decide. Bump or imagination?

Belly at 7/8 weeks (so about a month ago)

Belly tonight (11.5 weeks)

So... Is it my imagination? I personally think not. :-) Gas? That could be possible, but then I must be gassy all the time... (Not a peep out of you Scott!)

How about some updates! Well, my big accomplishment for the day is getting to finally smell tuna without wanting to hurl. The canned chicken Scott likes at 4am when he gets home though still is plenty cringe-worthy. Then again, the idea of chicken in a can makes my stomach turn even when I'm not pregnant!

Other things going on. Migraines. Really really bad headaches. You know the ice pick in "Basic Instinct"? Yeah, it has lodged it self between my temples... though thinking about it, that is still less painful than watching the bad acting of that movie, including the Sharon Stone crotch shot. Ah, soft porn classics. Gotta love them.

Speaking of porn... Oh wait, family members read this blog. Almost forgot. Guess we will leave the really fun parts out of the public domain... ;-)

On a cleaner note, we have our first sonogram in a week. I am praying for there just being 1 kid in there, and that the rest is just that I'm eating too many BigMac's and orders of french fries. Yes, I will still be happy even if there are 2 little miscreants in there, but logistically, and well, financially, it would be a bit of a nightmare. I've already had dreams of the "double trouble" the kids would get into. Boys, that's double the frogs under the covers and them egging each other on to do more and more stupid things that would give me a heart attack. Girls, that's double the fights over hoochie skirts, double the ridiculous teenage crushes, and every boy's fantasy, 2 cute blonde twins. Either way, totally doomed.

Other than that, not a whole heck of a lot going on. I have been starting some prenatal yoga to try and help with my back and migraines, though it's still too early to tell if it really is making much of a difference. The only other big news (at least to me it's big news) is that I got an iPhone this weekend. :-D Sooo happy! As I told Scott, my other one was pretty much dead, and the iPhone is like 20-million devices in one. It's the swiss army knife of phones. Totally awesome!!! :-) My Verizon upgrade-credit also made it a reasonable price, so it doesn't get much better than that! It will be great to take pictures and video of the baby with too, without having to lug around a ton of electronics everywhere. Yay!

Ok, time to go try and get some cuddle time with Scott. Love you all, and those of you braving snow, stay warm!!

10 Weeks... Some updates & thoughts...

First off, I saw this article, and I really had to put it in here. It made me tear up a touch, mostly to think of how that moment might feel for Scott. Tissue please?

So, as of yesterday or so, I am at 10 weeks. I have to admit, so far, time has been flying by. Between Dr's appointments, physical therapy appointments, work, growing boobs, etc... it has just been hard to believe that I've known I've been pregnant already for a month. Things are good, other than the bit of low back pain, but that's the noodle part of me that I'll just have to deal with I suppose.

Things that are wierd to me: Not liking meat, being able to smell EVERYTHING, the porn-star that seems to attached itself to my now ample chest, being tired and ready for bed by 9pm. I did get to eat a steak the other night, which was pretty yummy, but overall, most meat still isn't very appealing. Grocery shopping is exhausting, between having to hold my breath going down certain aisles to save myself from nausea-inducing smells and just walking around that long, last night I didn't move from the couch except to make myself some mac & cheese after getting back.

Then, when Scott came to bed last night after working till 4 am, all I could say is "you ate tuna." Yup, at 5:30 am, that's all I could say. Then "I love you, but can you please go use some listerine, because that smells absolutely awful." Thank you nose for ruining my cuddling.

And of course, there are the boobs of epic proportions. If I hadn't seen them grow before my very own eyes, I would swear I got a boob job from a Dr. who has done jobs for Pamela Anderson or Jenna James. They are HUGE. My mom laughing that they will get bigger isn't helping either. For some reason she thought I said B instead of D... "oh, I'm sure youll get up to a full C when you are nursing..." I had to kindly inform her that we are looking more at DD or DDD territory. For the girl that was flat as a board in high school, these are a whole new level. Maybe the part that scares me most is the old addage "What goes up, must come down." Yay, saggy sacks of skin.

Oh well, it's all part of the process. My little parasite and I are gonna get some cookies now. Oh, and parasite is approximately the size of a prune (appropriate) and has foot prints. :-) At least these gigantic "fun bags" will get good use when my little gremlin is hungry in 7 months... Till then... Hello Porn Star.

Being a Noodle...

So, I went into see my maternity Physical Therapist for the first time today. Her name's Val, and she's really sweet. She and my normal physical therapist (Jeremy) talked for a few and he filled her in on my last years worth of physical therpay progress, etc. Then... we got to work...

I am a "noodle" (granted, I have been called worse!) and it seems to be causing me issues and will cause me even more issues in my pregnancy. All the freaky flexibility I got thanks to cheerleading and gymnastics in high school is collectively screwing my body. So, at 28 and 10 weeks pregnant, I am fitted with an SI belt to try and keep my wiggly jiggly pelvis into alignment. My pelvis had slipped out of alignment back when I was just starting with Jeremy about a year ago. We got it back into place, and hadn't had a problem since... till Monday when I saw him. There was my pelvis out of alignment again. So, we get it back into place. Over, done with for another year again, right? WRONG.

I go in for my initial consult with Val, and it gets out of alignment 3 times during the hour with her. GLORIOUS. She said that with pregnancy, our ligaments and joints soften to accomodate our changing bodies. This makes total sense and is all fine and good, except that when your pelvis is out of alignment, it puts massive pressure and pinches all those fun nerves in your lower back, AKA Sciatic Nerve area. So here I am with jiggly joints and lower back pain... knowing it's only gonna get worse. I guess being able to put my ankles behind my head is coming back to bite me in the ass.

THAT is why I have 2 physical therapists working with me to try and get my poor broken body through this pregnancy though... because if I'm this much of a physical wreck at 10 weeks, I can only imagine how I will be when I'm as big as a house. On top of my normal PT appts with Jeremy, that we have bumped up to every other week again, I will also be seeing Val every 2 weeks, or more. I get to see her again in the morning. And next Tuesday. Thank God for good insurance!!!!

First Visit with OB/Midwife Office

Baby and I had our first appointment at the BO/Midwife's office this morning. Scott wasn't able to join us unfortunately because of some training, but he doens't have to go to EVERY appt anyways. :-) The next one will be more important.

Today I met with one of the delivery nurses for my educational appointment, and decided to go with a midwife instead of a OB-GYN for my care. I got to see little models of the baby's size, and had my basic bloodwork and blood pressure taken. The nurse said my blood pressure was a bit low, but that is common in the first trimester. We talked about the differences between the OB's and the Midwives, and I set up an appointment for Tuesday the 28th with a Midwife. The nurse said the office has the best of both worlds, in that even though a midwife will be my primary person, that the OB's are right there in case I were to go high-risk, etc. That was definitely comforting.

At our next appointment, we should be able to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time, so Yay for that! :-) Other than that, not too much going on. Still no morning sickness. I've gained some weight and am up to 121 lbs. The nurse said I should gain 30 for my pregnancy because I'm so small, and she wants to make sure I get enough for the baby. She said the Gummi-Vitamins I'm taking are just fine and that I am "Ridiculously healthy". Yay! Good Check-up!

Now to go home and continue to do reading. They gave me a bag of stuff to go through. Next big decision is whether or not to get the progressive test for downs syndrome done or not... Right now, I'm leaning towards not doing it. It won't change anything, and would probably just worry me. We will see what Scott thinks though!

Sinus Infections Stink

Sinus infections suck, but being sick sucks even more when you are pregnant. The modern comfort of the n-y-Big-F'ing-Q is not allowed. So, the common little cold of sniffles, decides to turn into aliens invading my sinuses that feel the need to be exorcised from my body at 4 in the morning after I wake up unable to breathe.

Baby, you better appreciate how much I love you!

That said, I finally got some common sense and went to the Dr. I have dealt with this before, and unfortunately, my sinus infections tend to have a nasty habit of turning into Bronchitis after draining down into my lungs. Thus, I felt it wiser to hit up the doctor now at the sinus stage instead of waiting for the bronchitis stage. Ahhhh... amoxicilin.

I will admit though, it is no where near as fun taking amoxicilin as an adult as it is as a child. I think pregnant women should be allowed to have the kids kind. To this day, I still think it's some of the best tasting medicine on the planet. I have that fond of memories of the days of the big bottle of pink antibiotics that I practically begged my mom to give me because it tasted so good. Hahhaha

Either way, thankfully, the doctor took pity and I should be feeling better sooner than later... or at least I can hope. It's never a good thing when your boss basically tells you that you look like crap because you are so tired and "night of the living dead" looking.

Oh, and please don't say I better get used to lack of sleep for when the baby comes, because being awake not able to breathe, feeling like someone beat your face in with a baseball bat is very very different than waking up to feed the young one. :-) That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

New Search: Mocktails

So, all who know me know my love of wine and cocktails. I mean, who wouldn't love these things, right? But, alas, being pregnant, while my Dr. has said I can have the occasional very small glass of wine, I am mostly limited in partaking in my favorite vice.

Also, I love my friends dearly, and sometimes, let's be honest, it's just less noticeable if you have a fun fizzy drink in a pretty glass. It brings a fun sense of life, a touch of "Sex in the City" to any occasion. Sometimes, you just get that kick of confidence when you have a nice crystal flute or wine glass in your hand during a social function. Thus, I am now on the hunt for the time-honored replacement for drinking... Mocktails!

There are plenty of obvious options. Shirley Temples, Sparkling Cider, etc... but what about when I want to pull out my favorite martini glass? I have found some awesome recipes, but I am definitely open to any suggestions. I will admit, Kool-aid and sprite is a nice combination to hold me over for the time being. :-) Please though, any suggestions would be cherished by this former lush mommy-to-be!!

We're Pregnant!!!

Well, we found out about a week and a half ago that I'm Pregnant! I figured a baby-blog might be a good idea for the family so they can follow our progress.

So far: Had our first Dr's appointment. My estimated due date is around September 10th, 2011. So far, baby let's me eat pretty well. I get a little woozy, but at 7 weeks, I still really haven't had much morning sickness (except for taking those terrible pre-natal vitamins!). I will admit, I do have a whole new appreciation for food, especially watermelon (OMG! Best food on the planet!!!) and french-fries (yum!). The Dr. said I should start looking for an OBGYN or a Mid-Wife. I'm still trying to decide which we would prefer. OBGYN's definitely have the medical experience, but will they be as attentive to my wishes as a Mid-wife would? Ah, questions questions! He said I should make an appointment for when I'm about 10 weeks though, so I do still have some time.


Scott has been amazing. Between rubbing me down with shea and cocoa butter to prevent stretch marks, to willingly taking me in the middle of a snowstorm to go get ham and watermelon before he went to work, I really couldn't ask for a better father-to-be. He is very attentive and understanding, and has the good nature to laugh it off when I'm being a little whiny or cranky. :-)

I will try and post once a week, and will start posting belly pics once there is something to actually see. Thanks everyone for the support & well-wishes!

Nicolle