truth

Here are some sad truths about my life right now:

 

1. If I wake up before 9 am I'm going to need a nap. Like turn into a walking zombie and Justin orders me to bed type of nap. 

2. The only section of Pinterest that I browse anymore is food. Seriously. I will take all of the desserts please?

3. I sit down to eat and it takes forever because there's no room. 

4. A lot of times when I burp, I'm pretty sure it's vomit. 

5. My stomach moves on its own accord. Obviously it's Ollie, but it's freaky looking. 

6. It's New Year's Eve. We were invited to two parties. I did my hair AND make up and now I'm laying in bed too exhausted to move. We might rent a movie. I can't wait for what we have coming in 2014, and I can't wait to not be pregnant. It's going to be so much more fun having this little guy on the outside than in. 

On that note I'm hungry, but nauseous and not really hungry. This is so confusing. 

Lady is loving bed rest. 

christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone, and it just got me more excited for next year when I have my little guy with whom we can enjoy the holiday.

Justin's family was here from Monday evening until Thursday morning and all we did was eat.  Seriously.  I'm fairly certain I gained back whatever weight I've lost in the last couple weeks and we have spinach and artichoke dip and mint brownies to thank for that.

Christmas eve was wonderful.  We ate all day and then everyone went to church [while I took a nap...] and then we ate some more and opened presents.  The little one is already spoiled.  He got the cutest rocking elephant to go with his elephant themed room.

And the whole family got t-shirts with our guy's name on them.  It's completely by accident that I fell in love with the name and it also happens to be the name of a brand of farm equipment that J's dad used to sell in their family farm equipment shop.  Needless to say, Grandpa is pretty excited.

I haven't worn real pants in days.  Don't judge...

30 weeks

We made it to 30 weeks!  Cross that off the list.  It feels so good to have another week under our belts.  Our midwife appointment was this morning, and she basically told us that as long as nothing changes we're good to go.  Good to go meaning I'm not really supposed to work for the next 6 weeks and I'm supposed to be waited on and not do too much.  But no real need to worry that Baby Boy will come before 36 weeks.  What a relief.  I was so nervous before the appointment that I was nauseated and had a stomach ache.  She put our minds at ease.  Plus the little guy measured good and was kicking around in my belly.

Although I feel a little useless not being able to go to work for the next 6 weeks, and fear that I'll be EXTREMELY bored, I'm relieved to have the time to just rest and cook this guy.  Not sure my co-workers see it that way, but seriously, who cares about work when your little human needs you?  The midwife said we can talk about my going to work after I hit 36 weeks, but that I don't necessarily have to.  We shall see... I'll either be bored or wanting to earn a little more money since I sure won't be making any during this leave!

And now I don't know what to do about grad school.  I have about two weeks to make a decision.  Goodness knows what I'll decide on that one.  For right now I'm just going to enjoy the lights on my tiny 2 foot tall Christmas tree.  And wish that I didn't scarf down two Christmas cookies...  The in-laws come in town tonight and I'm excited to get our modified Christmas off to a start!

Happy Christmas!

Lady believes that since we're supposed to be taking it easy, she's allowed on the couch again...  It's hard to say no when she just wants to snuggle.

My text from my own personal Scrooge at the grocery store.  Please note, I do not take offense to the phrase "calm your tits."  I started that one.  Should stop soon before the kid gets here.

no news

Is good news. Right? And I'm hoping the slight increase in contractions today doesn't trigger anything. Yesterday was a really good day, contractionwise. I don't know why today is worse. Maybe it's the 5-9 inches of snow we're about to get. According to the radar though, we might not get any of it? 

I've been doing nothing these last couple days. For one because being up and about triggers stronger contractions, and for two because I'm so absolutely exhausted. I woke up today at 8:30 and then took an hour and a half long nap later. I've done nothing all day, but could fall asleep in a second. 

Luckily for me, unluckily for my mom, we had a little ice storm on Thursday night that delayed her leaving until this morning. It was nice to have her here an extra day. She was so much help and made so much delicious food. We'll have left overs for at least another day or two. 

Tomorrow we were supposed to go to Justin's grandparents house for their big family Christmas celebration, but we have been strongly discouraged from traveling [the midwife said "I can't tell you not to go, but I recommend that you don't."] obviously we're taking the safe route. I hate missing out on the celebration. Then we were supposed to go to spend Christmas in his hometown and then travel to a cabin. No one wants me to give birth in the black hills however, so we changed our plans. Instead his family will come here on Monday night and we'll have our Christmas low key. I'm already working on the menu [that I'm not really allowed to help prepare according to J and his mom] and we decorated tonight. -Ahem- "decorated" being used loosely. 

I'm jumping out of my boots to see what the midwife tells us on Monday about everything. 

And now, the most pathetic pitbull. 

Lady did NOT want to pose in front of the tree. 

Helping wrap gifts. 

She thinks it's rough being pregnant too...

on my mind

There's 39 days until I hit 35 weeks pregnant. It's so bizarre after having my goal date be March 3rd to all of the sudden hoping we can make it to January 27th, and even better February 3rd. After yesterday, that seems like an eternity. I contracted fairly strong last night for quite a while but was able to fall asleep and then they calmed down. 

I used to be worried about bringing a teeny month old baby to my brother's wedding in April. Now I'm praying that he'll be only a month old. 

Justin put me on bedrest today... He said no getting up unless I need to eat or pee and my mom agreed with him. They don't care that I've read articles and studies that show bedrest doesn't necessarily work for prevention of preterm labor. Not going to lie, my contraction strength triples when I'm on my feet. 

Lady was cut out for bedrest. She's sleeping next to my knees [after a hearty attempt to share my pregnancy pillow]

And finally, I've been reading on how to avoid preterm labor naturally, so these are the steps I'm taking to try and help:

-Upping my protein intake

-drinking a crap ton of water. I think I had 108 oz yesterday. 

-continuing on my magnesium supplementation. I take 800-1200 mg daily anyways. 

-continuing with Epsom salt baths, since Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate and that's what they were threatening to give me at the hospital. 

-adding more vitamin C to my diet. Thank goodness it's citrus fruit season!

-taking 1000mg of calcium daily which I read can lessen contractions. 

-drinking kefir to improve my bacterial flora overall. This goes along with my daily probiotic. I read an article that said people with celiac disease have less probiotics in them so I'm trying to ramp that up. It's also been found that not having the proper vaginal flora can cause preterm labor so I'm not taking any risks. 

-upping my fish oil intake to 2 caps per day. Ew. But I read it can help prevent preterm labor. 

-and finally, relaxing. Trying not to stress or be anxious because that automatically makes the contractions worse. 

Hopefully this does the trick and I carry my little guy to March 10th if that's how long he feels like cooking!