The Best Invention EVER!

I've tried pretty hard to not be a super needy pregnant lady.  There are SO many things out there for ladies "with child" and I feel I've done a decent job of going without.  Honestly, half of the inventions are lame.  There are some things, like maternity cloths, that just weren't optional.  Hod also splurged once and bought me some of the best lotion ever.  Seriously, it's so smooth, and soft, and smells good, and isn't oily, and makes it so my ever growing body doesn't itch.  However, I learned that if you leave it in your car for 5 hours, and it gets hot, then it turns into putty and is no longer usable.  Luckily, the lady at the store likes us, so when I mentioned it, she offered to exchange it.  Yes!

Anyway, this post was not meant to be about my lotion.  (But it really is amazing.)  For the past month, I have found that by morning I am excited to get out of bed.  Not because I'm rested, but because my hips hurt so dang bad!  Most days I would limp around for about an hour and then it would stop hurting.  I tried to be positive about it, I mean, you're just supposed to be in a lot of pain when you're pregnant, right?  But it just got too bad.  When I spent an entire day limping, and wincing with every step I took, I decided it was time to do something.

Hod came home from work, and I told him, we were going to the store.  I had needs, and I was done sucking it up.  We came home with this:

Only mine is much cuter, cause it has a "reversible" pillow case.  (It's not really reversible, as they so willingly advertised.  The fabric on the front is different than the fabric on the back.  If that's really reversible, then I'm a monkey.)

I am amazed at the difference a body pillow can make!  Most maternity pillows are super expensive, but this wasn't.  And now I can sleep!  And some mornings I even wake up feeling rested!  It is the best invention ever!  I love it!  So, today is celebrate the greatness that is a body pillow.  Go ahead, party your own way, but just party.  Because this has changed my life!

I'm Roughly The Size Of A Barge!

Hod's two sisters are quite slim and trim.  I remember right before his sister K delivered her son, Hod commented on how large she was.  She was quite proud of her size.  It made me giggle.  For her, YES, she was very pregnant looking.  For my family, she looked like she was about 4 months along.  Hod said he couldn't wait to see me look like that.  I commented back that he, "ain't seen nothin yet."

I started out much larger than K.  And I have grown.  Despite the fact that I am not gaining weight, I am ginormous!  Let me show you how large I am.  (please ignore the out-of-proportion-ness of my hand.  I haven't yet figured out how to take a good self portrait.)

This is me almost a week ago.  Hod LOVES it.  And that's good, cause I'm not loving it so much.  Having struggled my entire life with being ok with my size... this is a little hard.  But at least I look pregnant.  No one would look at me now and think, "Wow, that lady is super squishy!"  Well, they wouldn't unless they are very uneducated on pregnancy.

Being short, I feel that I waddle like unto an Oompa Looma.  However, my skin is a much more delightful color.

The good news: I have less than 100 days left!  I am so excited to meet my dear sweet little girl!

That Was A Strange One

Last night, Hod and I were visiting some friends, and I started having an allergic reaction.  I discovered my first food allergy in 2003, and I'm quite aware of my body when it comes to food and possible reactions.  Did you know you can have an allergic reaction to something you ate 72 hours before?  After much contemplation, I realized that the only unusual thing (Or I can have a reaction when I eat a large quantity of a food... but I hadn't done that) that had entered my body were some crackers I got from a lady in my ward.  She is allergic to everything.  OK, not everything, just gluten, milk, and I think something else.

Apparently I'm allergic to crackers made for the highly allergic.  Strange.

Anyway, while at my friend's house, I broke out in hives.  My doctor has told me that once I see hives, I have one hour to get some sort of fast acting allergy medicine in me (think Benadryl or something like that) before my face starts swelling up and I stop breathing.  Luckily my friend runs a pharmacy out of her house (not for real life, she just has a little bit of everything) and she hooked me up.

Benadryl always gives me really strange dreams.  I hate having drug induced sleep.  It does crazy things.  Let me share this dream with you.

In my dream, I was waking up at my Mom's house.  My sister L6 was there (which is funny, cause she's been staying with my Mom for almost 2 weeks now.)  I was kind of delirious in my half awake state (remember that in real life I was still dreaming) and realized that my stomach had shrunk and I couldn't feel anything inside of my anymore.  With panic I turned to my Mom and asked, "Where is my baby?!?!"  My Mom laughed at me and told me that I had delivered a few hours earlier.  I was so exhausted that as soon as the baby was out of me, I passed out.  Mom took me into her bedroom to meet my little child.  She was pretty darn cute!  I picked her up, excited to meet her, and she had the floppy-est head in the world.  Despite the fact that her neck looked a normal length for a newborn, her head moved like it was sitting on a 2 foot long piece of cooked spaghetti.  Upon further inspection, I also discovered that she had 5 piercings in each ear.  I had apparently given birth to a punk rocker.

As I looked at baby, I was considering all of the names that Hod and I are wondering about, and nothing felt right.  Even after meeting her, I still didn't have a clue what to name my baby.  Then I realized that Hod was missing.  I found him passed out on the floor of my Mom's family room.  L6 had been keeping an eye on him. I guess during my delivery the blood was too much, so he had passed out.  Then I got the story of how baby had come.

I had been sitting at the table, when I just kept moaning like something was wrong.  L6 finally realized that I was in labor (yeah, right... cause all I would be doing is moaning a little) and decided she should check my progress.  (Also strange, as L6 doesn't have medical training, and this is my first baby, so you'd think they'd just tell me to go to the hospital where I am planning on delivering.)  Turns out baby was already crowning, so L6 decided to play Dr and help get the baby here.  Everything went really fast, and baby came out looking great.  This is when I passed out.  Somehow, my unconscious body got everything else out of me, they cleaned up, and let me sleep.  The entire delivery lasted under 20 minutes.

I was kind of freaking out at this point, and I was sure I needed to go to the hospital.  Really, I had just delivered at 25 weeks, and baby was perfectly fine.  That didn't add up in my brain.  So, we threw some water on Hod to wake him up.  He was too shaken to drive, so he called a taxi service.  While waiting for the taxi, baby got hungry, so we decided to try nursing.  Of course, that worked perfectly on the first try, and even though I had delivered about an hour before, I had milk.  Also strange.  Hod wanted to burp baby, so I let him.  Oh, here's a random fact, Hod was sporting long hair that would put Fabio to shame.  It wasn't a good look for him.  Baby spit up in Hod's hair, and he FREAKED out.  Apparently he was very attached to his hair.

The taxi came, but the chick was in a hurry, and wouldn't let us put our car seat in her taxi.  I was trying to put it in anyway, but she just wouldn't let me.  I remember banging on the windows and shouting, "But the hospital won't let me take my baby home without a car seat!"  Halfway to our destination, Taxi Driver Lady had Hod sign some paperwork, where we discovered that this 4 mile trip was going to cost us $173.  I expressed some concern, and she decided to give us a deal, because she used to be one of my sister's (L7's) band students.  But her life had gone downhill.  She then played a song that told us her life story.  It was a pretty great song, that doesn't exist in real life.  It was all very dramatic.

Anyway, we got to the hospital, and no one would really talk to us, because everything looked fine.  When I cornered a Dr and explained that I had just delivered at 25 weeks, he just looked at me and said, "So, what's the big deal?"

In the end, Hod and I decided to just go home.  A car (with a car seat) magically appeared.  During the drive home, I woke up.  As in, back to real life, I'm awake now.

Baby is still inside of me, right where she belongs.  That was a really strange dream.  I'm not sure what to make of it.

I really don't like drug induced sleep.

Boring

I've discovered that I really am quite a boring person.  Seriously.  This is why you haven't heard from me for so long.  Life just keeps going.

I go to work, Hod goes to work, we come home.

Sometimes I'm a good wife and I make dinner.

There is a gremlin who is in my house stealing my undershirts.  I need to find him and kick him out, cause it's causing problems.

My sister L7 introduced Hod and I to a new restaurant. (Ok, she mentioned it, and we decided to go by ourselves, cause she's out of town.)  I'm obsessed.  I just need to be rich so I can go.

Our apartment is on the second floor.  Luckily, this is too far up for big bugs to come join us.  I think they are too lazy.  But the little bugs seem to love our house.  No matter how clean I keep it, I find at least one little bug a day.  It's really annoying.

Hod and I are both growing.  I'm looking more pregnant every day, and Hod is getting taller.  Seriously.  My handsome hubby is going through a growth spurt.  Good thing I like tall men. :)

The Dr thinks I may be ... I don't remember what it's called, or how to spell it.  Basically I'm burning too many calories, so I have to eat more often.  All I do it eat!

I've gained 5 whole pounds this pregnancy!

Hod bought me flowers the other day.  Just cause they were pretty.

We still aren't unpacked.  I should work on that.

I got a lot of my favorite ice cream for super cheap yesterday, cause the machine at work exploded.  So happy.

I had a dream the other night that I had a pet unicorn that could talk to me.  I was sad when I woke up and it wasn't real.

And... that's about all.  Thanks for coming!

Logic... It's a Great Thing

Ok, so I've admitted that I have pregnancy brain.  As a result, I sometimes do stupid things.  Hey, I'm pregnant. What's your excuse?

Let me explain.  At my job, I work Tues and Thurs, and the other secretary (who is a dear friend) works the other 3 days.  She has one of the CUTEST little girls, and she is allowed to bring her to work.  Many of the customers enjoy seeing this sweet little girl.  I can't blame them.  I mean, really, her smile and giggle make your entire day better.

However, she is not my child.  As a result, I don't bring her to work.  To me this is logical.  And yet, at least once a week a customer asks me where the baby is.  I don't really look much like my friend, so people should be able to tell us apart.  It's like they think the baby comes with the job.  Along with being a secretary, we also have a baby-sitting business! Or something like that.  But they just keep asking.  My response is normally, "Well, she's with her mom."  And, I kid you not, I've had people ask me, "Why?"  WHAT?  Are you really asking me why the baby is with her mom?  Yes, I think she's cute, but I'm not going to bring some other lady's daughter to work.  Maybe I'm a mean person, but... I think I'd rather work without the cute little girl.  (Ok, I actually always bring my baby to work too, and she is also a cute little girl.  However, she doesn't really interfere with my job much.  She's pretty low maintenance.)

It's special.

Oh, and in other news, this week, I have found two places that I can no longer eat at, for at least the duration of my pregnancy.  It is a bummer.

Losing Brain Cells

I can't even tell you how glad I am that Hod got a new job.  Because I NEED him!

Pregnancy brain is such a real thing in my life.  Because Hod has been working at least 60 hours a week, I have been taking care of everything in our apartment.  And that's fine, because I've only been working around 10 hours a week.

However, it seems I have given all of my current brain cells to baby girl.  Let me give you some examples.

I did a load of whites, and they came out smelling gross.  I had been a little slow getting them from the washer to the dryer, so I blamed it on that.  But it really wasn't that long!  However, we have one of those high efficiency washers, so maybe I just needed to clean it?  I don't know.  Because we have a top loader, it's not supposed to get gross very fast, like I was told I should clean it 3-4 times a year.  And we only have had our washer for a month.

We couldn't figure out what it was.  Then, while Hod was changing cloths, he realized that his shirt smelled like a mix of Jolly Ranchers (remember this?) and of him.  But I was no where to be found.  Do you see where this is going?  I forgot to put laundry soap in the washer!  I have been doing my own laundry for SEVENTEEN years, and I have never forgot soap!  Who does that?  Pregnant ladies.

I've been demoted, so now it's Hod's job to wash and dry the laundry and I just put it away.

Along with this... I tried to burn down the apartment.  Ok... not on purpose, but still.  Here's that story.

I have this super fancy hair straightener, that I got from a friend in TX.  But the power button is crazy sensitive.  I've had this straightener for 3 years, and I just learned early on to always put the power button towards the counter.  Then I couldn't accidentally turn it on.  For 3 years I've been doing this.  And yet, on Sunday, I forgot.  Monday, when I went to go get in the shower I tossed my clean cloths on the counter.  After my shower, I reached for my cloths, and they were all hot!  My pants (and I only have 2 pairs of maternity pants) were burned.  It's not horrible, the average person probably wouldn't notice, but still, I burned my pants!  If I had taken a longer shower, I would have started a fire and burned down my apartment!

Because there was no real harm in this, I can laugh a bit about it, but it is still a bummer!

Our Goings On

Oh life.  How you keep trucking on.  Because I think that I'm interesting enough that you all want to know the every day stuff in my life, I thought I'd fill you all in. :)

I am working part time at an Ice Cream manufacturing plant.  I work 2 days a week, for the most part.  The other secretary is a long time friend, and I pick up shifts for her when she needs a day off for one reason or another.  And it's a blessing.  My job ends around Labor Day, but if/when my friend needs a day off she'll still call me!  So that's cool.  For the next year I am quite likely going to have some random income at random times. Oh, and even after baby girl is born they will let me take her to work.  Pretty much the perfect situation?  I think so!

Hod is a working machine!  Because we don't want me to work after baby is born... well except for a random day here and there, Hod has been working 2 jobs to make enough money to support us.  Between the 2 jobs, he is at work for around 70 hours a week.  Yeah, sure, he's clocked out for breaks for part of that, but he's not home.  It's been rough.  I miss my hubby!  But then, something exciting happened!

Hod applied for a manager job with a different company a few months ago.  This would be a training job, where they teach you how to be a head manager, train you for a year, and then move you to some random part of the country where you are in charge of your own store.  During his first interview he was told that he would be given a call for a second interview in about a week.  After a week, we heard nothing.  This company e-mails you to give you the bad news, and we didn't get the e-mail either.  We waited, and waited, and Hod applied for other jobs, and we waited a bit more.  Then almost 2 weeks ago, Hod was called in for a second interview.  We were shocked!  We had given up on this job.  He went to the interview, felt it went well, and was told that he should hear back by Wednesday if he got the job.

During all of this, he has been miserable working his full time job.  It is not a good job.  It is lousy, and they are not nice people.  He had given up hope of ever getting out of there.  While I am so grateful that he is willing to work a lousy job to support us, it has been hard watching him be so miserable.

Wednesday came and went.  No call, no e-mail.  Then Thursday, while we were on our way to go see Hod's sister he got a call!  He was offered a job.  Not quite the job he had applied for.  We are a little bit nervous.  This current job is a little bit special.  It doesn't make quite enough to support us.  However, it is kind of a 30 day audition.  Because Hod has never worked for this company (which has some commission type stuff, which Hod has never done) they want to make sure he's the right fit for the manager training job.  Hod is pretty amazing, so we're not super stressed about him not passing the audition.  But if he doesn't, then life is going to be really hard once I stop working in September.  But when he does, he'll be salaried!  SALARIED!  We don't have to stress every time he needs a day off because that includes a pay cut.  AND he'll be back to working only 40 hours a week.  I get my husband back!

Baby is doing great!  She is measuring right on schedule.  Both ultrasounds she has been super active, but then again... I drank some juice so she was probably on a sugar high.  Everything with my pregnancy is looking good.  I have this random infection that you are either born with or not, so I'm on an antibiotic.  It's not a big deal, but if it is left untreated it can cause pre-term labor.  I take a pill twice a day, and it's all good!  I have an anterior placenta, meaning it will still be a while before I can feel regular movement.  This is also not a big deal at all, unless I need a c-section.  Then it can cause complications, but not really, because you're already in surgery, so any complications would be somewhat expected and they will be able to fix them all.

Hod and I are very excited to have Baby here!  And now it's fun that we can start getting the nursery ready.

Overall, life is going great!  We are happy and life is only getting better!

Did You Notice The Change?

Hey, friends!  Just a quick update.

Did you notice my ticker change?  It has multiple changes.  We are now comparing baby to various food items.  Also, my due date has been moved forward!  Yep, I gained almost a week.  I feel really good about that option.  And the last change is... IT'S PINK!  As in, Hod and I are having a little girl.

I'm pretty happy!  I originally wanted a boy first, but when we found out that she is a girl, I wasn't disappointed at all.  This is going to be great!