H20

I've started drinking more water lately, thanks to my recent purchase of this:

I got it at Target and it has that cool thing in the middle that you freeze and it keeps your water cold.  It holds 56oz and I've been able to drink A LOT more water than usual with it.

We had some good friends over last night.  They are from Canada (I grew up with the husband, then he married a Canadian and moved away) and it was a blast.  But, I totally overdid it.  Josh was out of town for work so it was just me left to clean up the house and get dinner ready.  I didn't even do THAT much, but sweeping and vacuuming apparently are no bueno for my back.  I woke up all night long cuz my back hurt so bad.  Luckily I have PT tonight so she can re-adjust my back/pelvis.

In other news, baby girl is ACTIVE!!  And low.  She is constantly jumping around on my bladder, LOL.  I looked up what a 21 week old fetus looks like, and it's so cool.  They already look pretty perfect; like a tiny little person. I'm getting excited because I'm going to paint/decorate Kate's room (which the baby will be sharing once she moves out of our room) and that is super fun for me. Pinterest to the rescue! TONS of good ideas there.

My mom, sister and I are headed to the coast for the weekend!!!  I am so excited. I can't wait to lounge around and shop and read.

I hope you're all doing well! I'll check in next week.

Special

Lately my favorite thing in the whole world to eat is Special K with Red Berries.  It's so so so good!  I have to limit myself though, because too much milk makes me very sick.  No bueno.

Not too much else going on around here.  I think we finally found a name! It'll be the first time we're going with a "proper" name but calling her by a nickname.  However, when I started thinking about her as the nickname, it totally clicked.  We don't tell until they are born so... only about 133 day until the big reveal. :-P

In other news, I'm going away this coming weekend with my sister and mom! We're going to a lakehouse at the beach and I positively can't wait!  There is a big outlet chain there and I plan to get my shopping on for Baby Girl.  I have coupons to Carters and Motherhood.  I found some adorable outfits at Target last night, but resisted the urge to buy them yet because I want to see what the outlets have to offer, and Target will ALWAYS go on clearance at some point.

I am LOVING the tiny, pink, girly stuff!

 

I did find some things for me while at Target.  2 thin, long sleeve shirts, a cute sweatshirt, some new undies and a new water bottle.  Hopefully that'll encourage me to drink more water; I still struggle with that. 

I have been craving salads lately so I've had some delicious ones with rotisserie chicken, carrots, cucumbers, feta cheese, tomatoes and avocadoes on them.  Actually, I'm gonna go make one now. :-D

What's new with you guys?

Pain

Hi guys!
How are you all? We're doing very well.  Christian is pretty much 100% recovered.  No crying blood or hamburger eyes to be seen! It looks like he has a burst blood vessel on the outside corner of his eyes, but otherwise is completely normal.  He's going back to school today. :-D

I, on the other hand, am having some issues.  I started pool therapy on Wednesday, and although I didn't feel like I overdid it, by that evening I couldn't walk.  I went to my other physical therapy appt last night and it turns out my hips/pelvis were crooked 3 different ways! No wonder I was in pain! So she fixed it, but I woke up this morning and felt like my pelvis was going to crack in half. It usually hurts the day after it's adjusted, but it is just getting worse.

And I still have 20 weeks to go. :-O  Not really sure what to do about that.  Hopefully the pool therapy, physical therapy and maybe some chiropractic care will help. I'm a tiny bit worried about the last weeks, and making sure my pelvis is aligned correctly so the baby can get through the birth canal, but I'll figure that out when I get there.

In other news, I think we've narrowed it down to 2 names.  Although they didn't jump out at us as THE ONE, they are growing on me. We'll probably go to the hospital with both names and then choose when she's here.  That'll be a first for us, usually we have the name picked out long beforehand.

Well, I have a long weekend ahead of me... all the men in our church are having a retreat this weekend, which means all the moms are left with all the kids. ;-)  I'm trying to conserve my energy so I can make it through the weekend without getting sick.

Hope you're doing well and have a fabulous Friday!

Christian's Eye Surgery

Christian's surgery was today, and it went very well!

He came out of the anesthesia just fine, no screaming or being violent or anything like that.  But then he was in so much pain. :,(  He kept saying, "It hurts!!!" and squeezing his eyes shut.  He couldn't open them because it was too painful.  There was a little bit of blood around his eyes, but nothing horrific.  We got him some Tylenol and once that kicked in he felt a lot better.

Here he is, drugged up watching cartoons and waiting to go the OR:

And here we are, before surgery:

 

Once we got home we both crashed.  We'd been up since 6 and were TIRED.  I had to get up and go to my first pool therapy session.  It was really nice, and I look forward to continuing my therapy there.  They gave me some exercises to do in the water to strengthen my core.  

When I got home, Christian was up and feeling much better.  He had his eyes open and was eating.  I tried to snap a good picture, but he just looks goofy. :-P

His eyes are still a little swollen, but only bloodshot on the outer corners, so far.  Nothing like what I was expecting.  We'll see if it gets worse tomorrow, but so far I'm very pleasantly surprised. And so SO glad it's done and over with!!!

Tereza's Wise Words

My good friend Tereza left me this comment after my post yesterday, and I think what she said is really, really good. So I'm posting it here for everyone to read. I'm glad she persevered and kept trying to comment even when she lost it the first 2 times!

Thank you, Tereza.  It was just exactly what I needed to hear.

Third time typing this cause I keep loosing the comment!!!!! But I really wanted to tell you this so here we go..hopefully third time is the charm:)
Dearest Ruth!!!
The surgery sounds so scary but I'm happy to hear that he is in the care of really good doctors who know what they are doing!
About the weight gain....everyones situation and body is so different and frankly I am so tired of the way one type of feminine body is the only acceptable look!! Seriously...God made everyone unique and gave the unique beauty to go with it!!!
I hereby release you of all depressed feelings about how you look, all comparing, all wishing and wanting and even THINKING that you are supposed to be something other than what you are right at this moment...January 2012!! You are where you are supposed to be in life...you are growing a brand new LIFE and you situation renders you somewhat imobile!! Therefore you are not even supposed to be thinner and you are supposed to gain weight!!!! Think of it that way...total acceptance of your new beautiful body...all its rolls of extra fat storage...doing their job...getting you ready for months of nursing baby and rushed days where you wont have time to sit and munch!!! It's storing up reserves. Learn to appreciate this wonderful survival mechanism!!!!! LOVE your body!!
THEN with this new mind...cut down white foods to just half if you wish...dont deprive yourself but think of it as feeding your beautiful, wonderful, functioning body (its not broken for being chubby and gaining!!!! its doing what its supposed to do...hell with what society thinks!!)....the half of whites you don't eat...replace with good nourishing foods such as crunchy veggies of all color, fruit of many kinds, and healthy grains made into delicious...low sugar breads and treats. Treat yourself with utmost care...your body is a QUEEN right now!!!
Also...why not go shopping and dress this lovely, life giving body in beautiful clothes!! Dont wait to be smaller before you treat yourself to well fitting, stylish clothes that make you feel happy and give you that boost! You'll see how much easier it is then to eat healthy and appreciate yourself when you feel pretty and have plenty to choose from in your closet for any occasion!

thats my advice...to sum it up
1. shut off your mind to how you think you are supposed to look cause you already look it!
2. reverse your thoughts to think of yourself as a beautiful unique woman with and awesome life giving body!!! Think of your rolls as something your body is doing for you to help you in the future...think of your rolls and bumps as lovely round, full curves instead!!
3. Eat healthy..NOURISH your body for you and your baby...but dont deprive yourself of treats...slowly crowd out the unnourishing foods with colorful, nourishing ones!!
4. Buy yourself LOTS of clothes...make your closet sing!!!So you can sing when you open it:):) You deserve it...your body deserves it for being so awesome and doing its job so well taking care of you and housing your spirit!!

Sorry this was so long:) I just had to!!
PS: spelling sucks...I'm in hurry...kids everywhere!!

Brutal Honesty

Hi All!
I had a super duper busy weekend. It basically started at 6:30a.m. on Saturday and didn't stop until 8:30pm Sunday night.

My brother got married and it was wonderful and fantastic.  I did well all day, and so did the kids, for the most part.  Josh did end up taking them home early, but I got to stay til the end.

I had my follow-up appt with the OB today, and he said the ultrasound report looked great! The baby is completely healthy and whole, and is 100% girl. :-D  I can't even put into words how relieved and thankful I am.  I have been on Zoloft this pregnancy, which is a first for me, so I was always afraid there would be some kind of deformation.  Cleft lip, heart abnormality, brain cysts, something.  But everything looks just as it should, and she is measuring right on track!

I have so much to be thankful for that I feel kind of dumb airing my grievances, but they are very real too.

The thing is, it's really hard to gain weight.  When you've worked hard to lose it, it's hard to see the scale go up again.  I've gained about 12 or 13 pounds and it's killing me.  This is definitely the most I've gained so soon with any of my pregnancies.  My first two I only gained 12 pounds TOTAL!! My last I gained 20.  Of course, a healthy baby is the absolute most important thing.  Weight is inconsequential compared to that.

But that doesn't mean it's not hard to see the scale go up, and see my butt/thighs getting bigger.  My stomach isn't all that big.

This is me today, at one day shy of 20 weeks:

Ha, after saying that Kate looks at the picture and says, "WHOAH! YOUR STOMACH IS BIG!!!" :-P

Anyway, my butt and thighs... yeah, they are expanding.  And the cellulite is out of control. And it makes me want to cry. Because here's the kicker. I can't exercise.  Not even walk!

I have issues with my pelvis and back and SI joint.  I'm in physical therapy for it, and every week I go and she readjusts my pelvis to be back in alignment.  I also am starting pool therapy. Woo hoo. Not. Now is like, the worst time EVER to be in a bathing suit.  But I'll do it because my back pain is excruciating. So even walking aggravates it.  So, no walking videos, or even taking walks outside.  I'm hoping I can do SOMETHING in the pool, but I'm not sure when I'll even be able to go!

So basically, I'm kind of ballooning up like a heifer, and then in June/summertime I"m going to look like a deflated ballooned up heifer. ARGH!!! I really want to find some arm exercises and maybe some leg exercises that I can do.  Not sure about the leg thing, since it will affect my back.  But I guess what I'm saying is I kind of feel hopeless.  I feel like I'm destined to be fat and I know how hard it is to get the weight off. 

Does anyone have any tips or exercises I can try?  I've thought about cutting out carbs; at least all the white stuff.  Bread, rice, etc...  And I probably could do that, but I honestly don't feel like I eat all THAT much.  And I'm also TERRIFIED of having a big baby. Owen was my biggest baby and he was only 7 pounds and 4 ounces.  But I was literally dying in pain at the end.  So I feel like if I'm already gaining weight then I'm gonna have a big baby and I just can't handle that.  I'm not even sure if I can physically carry a big baby!

I have a short torso and my stomach doesn't stick out super far. So my babies are all under my rib cage, crushing my lungs and other organs. 

Also, Christian has eye surgery on Wednesday.  And although we have the best surgeon in the state who has been the ONLY one recommended to us by the pediatrician and eye therapist, I'm still nervous. I talked to a lady in the waiting room today and her son had the surgery last year.  She said to not be freaked if he cries BLOOD afterward, and the whites of his eyes will look like raw hamburger and be swollen over his irises. *cue light-headedness and vomiting*

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind lately.  Any tips/suggestions/encouragement/suck-it-up-girl-you're-pregnant peptalks are welcome!

We're having a...

Healthy!!!

Baby Girl!!

I am so over the moon right now.  I was really worried/had this deep-seated feeling that something was going to be wrong.  But everything looks good and baby is measuring right on track!

I will get the official report from the doctor on Tuesday, but the ultrasound tech said everything looks great! She had to try for a long time to get all the views of the heart, because Baby Girl is down really low and was facing down, not up.  So she was pushing the ultrasound wand really far into my belly, and had me get up and jump around a little to see if she would move. Nope, nada!  I think baby was sleeping though because the heart rate was only 120, which is fairly low. 

In any case, I am so excited that we're getting another girl and that Kate will have a sister!!  Hooray!