The Real Deal-22 weeks

I think it's finally sunk in. I had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago and saw my little baby's face for the first time. I can feel movement. A lot of it. On Saturday I cramped for a good four hours. It scared me a lot and turns out, according to my follow-up ultrasound today, baby flipped a full 180 in that time. Holy Braxton-Hicks. I thought I was going pre-term. The ultrasound today confirmed we are having a little girl. She's a full pound, and I have gained about 10. She's big for her "age" and I'm right were I should be. Now I'm showing. A lot of people at work still can't tell, but I think that's because I wear scrubbs. You can definitely tell if I wear form fitting clothes. My heels hurt like crazy and I still have massive heartburn, but otherwise I feel okay now.
Today after the ultrasound I was showing some people a couple pictures with Billy. Two of my co-workers were oohing and awing over one of them, "How cute!" I looked to see which one they were looking at. Turns out they were a little confused because they thought the "confirmation she's a she" picture looked a lot like a face. Billy had his first moment of protective Dad syndrome. "That's not a face! Don't look at my daughter's [hoohoo] like that! It's not cute!" Thankfully those co-workers were both female. And they were both very embarrassed.

The truth about pregnancy...

This is NOT fun. In all the books I've read and all the websites I've consulted, they NEVER tell you how bad it really is. Pregnancy is a beautiful time of creation, blah blah. Some lower back and belly pain is normal. Recurrent UTI's are common among pregnant women. True...all of it...What they don't tell you is how much all of that actually hurts and actually sucks!!! They sort of gloss over the bad parts and make it sound so wonderful.
Lets stroll through my wonderful journey so far at 20 weeks pregnant...
-"Morning" sickness lasted all day long. There was no end to the sea-sick rocking feeling that I had to endure while at work. The only way to feel better was to eat, thus giving me more ammo to use when aiming for the toilet bowl. Even then I lost five pounds to start. The anti-nausea medication saved me from many, many sick days. Thankfully, I'm past that stage.
-Sensitivity to smell...quite an understatement. It's more like a super power. Or a curse. They didn't say that everytime I walk by the break room that I would feel like puking or actually puke. They also didn't say that I wouldn't be able to kiss my husband. I had to change lotion, soap and deodorant, laundry detergent, fabric softner and dishsoap. Most of my candles were thrown out. I can no longer eat garlic, onions or big macs. The smell of our basement apartment finally got so bad that we actually had to MOVE! I missed work a few times because I work in a medical clinic where it wasn't the patients that smelled horrible to me, but the doctors collogne.
-Heartburn. I feel like a firebreathing dragon if I don't take a pill twice a day. And man if I forget I'm sorry later. I can't stand the taste/texture of Tums. Not only was there the heartburn, but also the ULCER! The stress of being so sick, my living arrangements, responsibilities at work and church, and feeling terrible that Billy had to put up with me burnt a whole in my stomach. I was medicated for this one too, with two pills I had to take four times a day.
-UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). So this one was lots of fun. First of all, the first symptoms of a UTI are frequent urination and some low back pain...which are also normal symptoms of pregnancy. Soooo....until my urine had blood in it and I had severe cramping in my kidneys, I had NO idea I had one. So it got BAD...really bad. Then my doc put me on antibiotics three times a day for a week and I am praying I don't get a yeast infection, because that is also normal after being on antibiotics.
-Not normal, but still sucky...a common cold. Normally people handle a cold just fine with a decongestant or Nyquil. Well, you can't take those when you're pregnant, lucky me. I had Tylenol and whatever home remedy I could think of. Finally the sinus pressure got so bad and 9pm that I called the on-call MD crying and so stuffy I literally could not breath through my nose. She told me I could take benedryl so at least I could sleep through it and drink LOTS of water. AHHH!!! NOT ENOUGH!!! I missed two days of work for a cold that I'm still not quite over yet. I'd never been so grateful for the invention of sudafed and ibuprofen until I could have neither.
-Cravings and aversions to food. More just aversions, see sensitivity to smell. I can't stand ranch dressing or mayo. I only crave food itself. I'm hungry all the time. I think I crave potatoes, but I'm not sure. Fries, hashbrowns and mashed potatoes all sound really good to me, but it's not strong enough to drop everything and get some...yet.
-Oh the stretching!!! What is so benignly put as "round ligament pain" started out as feeling like I exercised my lower abdominal muscles a little too hard. It now feels like there is a little beasty trying to burst through at any moment...sort of like the alien in the diner on Space Balls. At least my little beasty will be cute. I lotion the heck out of my skin and so far, no stretch marks. But I can't lotion the muscles under the skin.
-Along with the stretching is the shifting. My pelvis is moving like the continental plates and when one hits wrong I've got an earthquake in my nether regions. It doesn't help the SI joint pain that I've had since I was fourteen anyway. My tailbone pops in and out of place when I sit down or stand up and is always sore. I cannot maintain one position for longer than 15 minutes. I'm almost to the point where I can't sit with my legs crossed either. But I can still touch my toes...the hard part is standing back up once I'm down there.
There is so many more little things I could vent about, but I'm only half way through my pregnancy and I'm sure there are many more surprises to be had. I just want to thank all of the ridiculous women out there that have no symptoms or that "just love being pregnant" or "felt the best in their life" when they were pregnant. For being so restricted on medications, I have never taken more medication in my LIFE. A totally of six so far, not including the massive amounts of Tylenol I took for my sinuses. I'm glad I'm pregnant but only because I'm looking forward to my little bundle of joy in April.

We're having a BABY!

I've just finished by 5th week of pregnancy! Physically I feel pretty good. Aside from having no period, which is amazing, and some tenderness in various regions, I've had no major symptoms yet. I'm always very tired in the morning, after lunch, and after work, so it's hard to tell if it's pregnancy related yet. It's still pretty early so I'm sure all the "fun" will start in a week or two.
Mentally, I don't know what I feel. Of course I'm super excited about starting a family. We have SOOO much to do to prepare ourselves for this! Plus we were thinking about getting our own place. So Billy and I are a little bit stressed out. I am enjoying the advice so far, whether I need it all or not. Plus the attention is nice. Right now my mind is at a "where do we begin?" feeling.
So where do we begin?

Seven Months Already?

I guess I've been busy! We've been married for just over seven months! Crazy! It feels like forever and not that long. I'm not going to do one of those boring updates...cuz I don't feel like it. Just starting with now, Billy just finished his first quarter back at school and got pretty good grades. I'm so proud of my man. I'm still working and I still like it, most days. We're just going with the flow, no plans for anything special for now. Not until we get out of debt. We're working really hard to pay off our credit cards and my student loans and so far it's going really well. We might actually be out of debt in less than a year! We originally thought it would be closer to 5 years so we're really excited. Other than that we are just generally happy.

T Minus 6 Days and Counting

6 days from today I will be married. Planning and preparations are coming together smoothly and I am not freaking out. I've never been so calm about anything. Maybe that means it's all meant to be. My soon-to-be mother-in-law is in charge of decorations and my aunt is in charge of food and centerpieces. We have a cake and a DJ and an MC. Wedding is taken care of.
Yesterday I went through the temple for the first time and received my endowment. I was so nervous sitting in the lobby, but when I got dressed in white and all the ladies were there smiling at me I felt so at peace. Billy got to be there with me and he was just so handsome. Being there together just made me realize how much I really love him and how lucky I am to have him in my life.
I'm so excited. I know it doesn't always show on my face, because I'm just not that expressive, but I am about the happiest I have ever been. Wednesday all my friends and family start coming in to town. It still doesn't seem quite real. I think it will by then. Thursday is the bridal shower. Saturday is the wedding. Yay!

Roomies...

Holy cow, I miss you all. I've been so busy with work and wedding planning that I haven't seen you since I moved out. I miss the piano playing in the background and dinner nights and crazy stories about crazy people. And all the people over all the time and game nights. Yikes!

Everything Great

I'm starting over on my blog. I've gotten rid of most of my older posts except for some of the few favorites I have. I've just realized that it was mostly a means of venting my problems. I'm done with all the negativity. Why? Cuz my life is pretty darn good.

I'M GETTING MARRIED IN FOUR WEEKS!!

Saturday, November 13th 2010 I'm getting married to Billy and I am so excited to spend eternity with him! I love him SOOO much and the great thing is: he loves me sooo much too! Everything about him is so sweet and kind and thoughtful and he makes me want to be a better person.

WE'RE GOING TO CALI!!

For our honeymoon, Billy and I are going to So. Cal. This will be his first time and it is my absolute favorite place to be ever. We got inexpensive tickets through my work to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios too. It will be perfect timing to get out of the cold into the nice warm sunshine of CA. We also get to visit my Grandparents whom I haven't seen in a long time so that will be great too. I don't know who is more excited, Billy or me?

I CAN FINALLY EAT FRUIT AGAIN!!

Okay, I know it sounds weird, but I'm highly allergic to fruit. After years of just avoiding fruit because of an annoying allergy, I have found a non-drowsy 24-hour allergy medicine that actually works! I can eat them all. I think I have missed mangos and canteloupe the most. From the words of Captain Barbosa, "I could eat a whole bushel of apples."