Week 28

Your Pregnancy: Week 28~You may have given a passing thought to what the new member of the household will be like (and by "passing thought" we mean obsessive rumination). Will she be a good sleeper? Will he draw on the furniture with a Sharpie? Get an inside scoop by pumping your own parents for information on how you and your partner were as kids: how much you weighed at birth, your first words the first time you cut off all of Barbie's hair. ... Your parents will get misty at the memories and you may, too. Maybe out of hope for the future, maybe out of fear for your leather sofa.

Your Body~Woohoo! You have hit the third trimester mark, so add another notch to your belt (both figuratively and literally). If your early blood workup showed that you are Rh negative, you'll need to get a shot of RhoGAM, or Rh immunoglobulin, this week. The shot prevents potential complications in a future baby you may carry if that baby is Rh positive. Your Rh status doesn't matter when it comes to this baby, but you'll want to get the shot in case you're planning on having more bambinos. If your baby is born with Rh-positive blood (because Papa chipped in an Rh-positive gene), you'll be given another dose of RhoGAM after you deliver to make sure everything will be good to go for any future pregnancies. If your glucose screening test came back positive, your doc will probably want to give you a glucose tolerance test some time soon. The test—for gestational diabetes—involves some dietary changes in the days leading up to it (more carbs!) and a longer visit to the doc on the day of the test (it's a three-hour test instead of the one-hour one you took the first time). And it's another chance to load up on that yummy glucose cocktail—shaken, not stirred! If you do end up testing positive for gestational diabetes, your doctor will probably put you on a super-healthy diet for the remainder of your pregnancy.

Your Baby~As the Big Day nears, your baby is getting ready to go towards the light at the end of the tunnel (the tunnel being the birth canal, the light being the one the doctor is shining directly into it so she can see what the heck she's doing). Other highlights this week:Your baby's eyes are partially open now and can blink. Truly superior babies can actually wink. (OK, there is no way to prove that, but it's fun to imagine, no?) Your baby can also now become a shiny, happy person as she has begun having rapid eye movement (Get it? REM? Shiny, happy person?? We'll be here all week.)Her eyes have color now, too. It may not be the color she ultimately ends up with, especially if they're light gray or blue. The eyes typically don't settle on a final hue until nine months after baby is born. So when your mother-in-law says that the baby has her eyes, you can politely inform her that they'll most likely change soon. Sorry.Your babe is downright chubby compared to a few weeks ago. She is about 15 inches long, about the length of an amusement park cinnamon-sugar-coated churro (yum!), and weighs 2 to 3 pounds.

I don't wanna go!

Another doc appt today. Today is the day I have to drink a bunch of crap to get my blood tested for diabetes. I have to drink the stuff and then wait an hour before they take my blood. Last time, I got sick and almost passed out. I don't even remember them taking my blood. I just remember yelling for the nurse. The doc did give me a pill to take to help me not get sick. I hope it helps. I'm already a bit sick today, but it could just be my nerves. I have an upset stomach and horrible hot flashes.
Lilly and hubby finally got to carve one pumpkin yesterday. She picked out a monster looking thing. There will probably be something a bit more difficult for the next one. The only thing she would really do is take the stuff out of the pumpkin. I got a few pics but its on my camcorder. She would grab a handful, say EW, and then sling it in the trash. Once she slung it all over me. Lilly didn't finish, I think she did a little over half and was done. She's such a girly girl when she wants to be. We were gonna keep the seeds again this year and roast 'em but at the last minute we decided against it. I wasn't a big fan of the roasted pumpkin seeds, but hubby seemed to like them. I'm not a big fan of anything pumpkin. I don't like pumpkin pie.
I can't believe that October is almost over!! What is going on with time? Its just flying by and I can't seem to catch it.
I don't know what the doc considered high protein...she told me to eat a high protein breakfast for today and then not eat anything else until after my appt. It sucks cuz today is the employee pot luck lunch. Everyone is brining something and we are ordering pizza. I get to stay at my desk and be sad about it. My boss makes this awesome chocolate cake. All the food is always so yummy...and you know it just pains a pregnant chick to know that there is tasty food next door and she can't touch it. I can smell the pizza they ordered. [sad face] Oh, back to the protein....I only got in about 12 grams of protein today. I don't know if that's enough or not. I ate 2 6 oz things of yogurt and a banana. I was gonna drink some milk too, but I ran out of time. Between trying to get my morning work done, the weekly morning meeting, and trying to start other things that need done...I ran out of breakfast time. 2 hours to go..... I tried to get my mom to come with me, but she can't. The only other person I have is my grandma and I'm sorry, but I don't want her there. If I do get sick and/or pass out she will freak and I can't do that to her.
I feel like I want to pass out now. I've been dizzy a lot these past couple of days.
My energy level is zero today. I even went to bed a little early last night. Of course I woke up like every 10 mins cuz hubby wasn't in bed with me. He was still up watching tv. I have no idea what time he came to bed. Haven't been sleeping well lately. Hubby's been out on fire calls until the wee hours of the morning, been having horrible dreams, and the baby keeps me up. I've heard that if you exercise more and be more active, you will have more energy. Well...I've tried that these past couple of days, and all I got was an upset stomach and a less sound sleep at night. Trick-or-treat is tomorrow!! Lilly's Halloween party is Friday. I was kinda hoping her father wouldn't want to come since he has her for trick or treat this year. I would like to go to her party and have that with her by myself. He gets the fun of taking her out all night tomorrow. I think I deserve just half an hour with her. But he is who he is. She's dressing as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year. That's what I wanted her to be last year when I had her, but she wanted to be a vampire. So this year she tells her father that she wants to be Dorothy. She told me she wants to be that cuz that's what I wanted her to be last time. I told her that she needs to be whatever she wants to be not what other people want her to be, but she said that she really does want to be Dorothy. Hopefully I'll get a few good pics in. Oh, and the Wizard of Oz is both of our favorite movie. We can watch it over and over again. I'm so glad that she loves that movie. I have someone to pass all my WOZ stuff down to now.
Ok...I guess I must go prepare myself now.

Court and baby pics

Ok, well...court was today. He made his week on/week off argument and the judge basically laughed at him. She set the custody like this~
He gets her Thursdays after school and keeps her until Mondays, takes her to school...on the second and fourth weekend of each month. I get her every week and the first and third weekends...and when there's a fifth weekend. I didn't really get what I wanted. I mean, I did get more time with her, but I was trying to make it where he didn't take her to school at all. This way I know she is well rested and her school work gets done. I told him when we got out that if he would have just went with what I suggested he would have ended up with more time. I was trying to not make him an every other weekend father, but since he wanted to fight me, that's what he is. The judge didn't say anything about the child support. I don't know how we are going to end up doing the holidays, the judge said that was up to us, but if it was her she would just let the holidays be. Like if a holiday fell on his time, it was solely his time and I wouldn't see her at all. The only problem is, trick-or-treat and Christmas all fall on his time...every year. Until Christmas is on Tuesday or Wednesday..but its always on the fourth week. Trick or treat here is always the Thursday closest to Halloween. This year, its this Thursday. I hope he won't be a jerk when it comes to the holidays. If he wants I will sacrifice one of my weekends during the months of the problem holidays just to have that day split like we have now. We'll see I guess. I gotta give him time to calm down before I go badgering him about the holidays that are a month away. This schedule is not going into effect until Veteran's Day. I guess that's when he'll pick her up on Thursday and bring her back on Monday.
Doc appt on Friday went great. The baby got the hiccups while they were trying to do his echo, so it took longer than usual. His growth is great, he weighs 2.1 pounds right now. His heart is great, there was no shadow this time. That was about all they could tell me. I gotta wait 'til Wednesday for my doctor's appt to know more. Here's some pics......

I told hubby that if he is still wanting to give him any family name, I must insist on it being his middle name, not his first. He said that Alexander doesn't sound right as a first name, I asked him to clarify what he meant cuz to me it sounds ok...but he couldn't. I think I got him thinking about his name for the middle name now. I had first told him absolutely no on his name...cuz its his name, his dad's name, one of his uncle's names, and a cousin... but now that I told him it can be the middle name, I think he is considering it. I told him it was my compromise. Make it the middle name instead of just saying NO since I didn't want to name the baby after anyone in either one of our families. I want him to have his own name...but I compromised.

Movin' baby

Went home early yesterday due to my cold, or sinuses. My head was stuffy and all, but I also had cold chills, so it could have been a cold. I didn't take my temp to see if I had a fever. I went home and tried to sleep, but I was just so uncomfortable.
Last night, I put on one of those breathe right strips and it didn't really do anything for a while. I did manage to slip into a light sleep. I kept getting woken up by hubby's snoring. Most nights I find his snoring cute and soothing, but last night it was kinda getting on my nerves. I was just so tired. About 2am something made a weird popping sound in my nose and it was like a river. I rushed to grab a tissue thinking my nose was bleeding, but it wasn't. I guess my sinuses were clearing up all at once. After the river, I could breathe again....a little too well. It was at the point where it was hurting to breathe. Like I could feel the air go up through my nose and touch my brain. I know that sounds odd...but that's what it felt like.
The baby has been making some weird movements during the night. They are like short, constant, rapid movements. I was wondering if unborn babies can have seizures or something. That's what his movements remind me of. Its not his regular kicking and rolling and its not hiccups, its like he is 'thrashing' around or shivering something. I'm worried about it. I'm definitely going to ask the doc about this. I don't know if the ultrasound technicians will know, but I'll ask them today.
He is awake more often these days. I don't really get a lot of down time. He is a very active baby. I'm curious to find out which way he is laying. My belly hurts a lot today...the stretching sensation. It sucks. I think he is just laying whichever way he can to be laying on my bladder.
He recognizes voices. He jumps and kicks when hubby or Lilly talk. Lilly likes to sing to him. She thinks if she sings into my belly button that he can hear her better. Hubby is just a loud talker, especially if he's talking about something he is excited about. He also bumps around when I play Metallica. No other music makes him move. I've tried just about everything. I've tried some orchestra music, all kinds of country, all kinds of pop, a little rap, heavy metal...but the only thing he responds to is Metallica. The baby's gonna come out with a tattoo on his upper arm. lol
I took a video yesterday of him bumping around. He was moving a lot...until I took out my camera, but isn't that how it always works out? I tried sending the video to my computer so I can post it on here, but my phone is being complicated. I guess the only videos I can send anywhere have to be 15 seconds or shorter. I've sent a 15 second video before. I can send longer ones via bluetooth, but I can't bluetooth it to my computer.
I'm going to have to experiment posting on here with my phone so I can update while on maternity leave.
Ultrasound in an hour!!!!!

I feel miserable

My head is swimming. I can't breathe. I ache when I move. My throat is sore. My eyes are droopy. I can't think straight. I can't stop sneezing. I wanna go home and get some rest...and every time I blow my nose, it wakes the baby up.
My tummy hurts so bad lately. I can feel it stretching and I swear its like he is ripping me apart from the inside out. No amount of lotion/cocoa butter eases the pain. My stomach is even starting to look weird...well... more weird. Its like he is all sprawled out above my belly button and that part is bulging out, but from my belly button down, its ...well...empty. I can feel movement below my belly button, too...so I don't know what's going on. I don't know how he's laying that's making my stomach look like this. I guess I will find out Friday during my ultrasound. My back and hips are starting to hurt. I can't stand for more than 5 minutes without being in pain. My feet are in constant pain and my ankles are always swollen. I try to prop my feet up, but I just don't have any time to do so.
I just feel miserable today. If I go home now, I won't have any overtime for this week cuz I have to leave early for my ultrasound tomorrow. I need the over time. I have a huge medical bill that needs paid off. I have Christmas I need to save for. I have winter clothes for Lilly I need to buy. I have food I need to buy for the house. I have a new baby coming that I need to prepare for. I can't afford to go home, but I am so incredibly miserable.
I don't mean to complain........well..........ok........ yeah I do.
My back...kinda the area near my right kidney, hurts so bad today. I don't know if I slept funny or pulled a muscle or if it has something to do with the pregnancy. I just know that it hurts. There is no sitting or standing position that I have found so far to ease the pain.
Maybe if I go get something to eat, I will feel a little better.

Week 27

Your Pregnancy: Week 27~The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter for both you and your baby. With only 13 weeks left (give or take a couple of days), it's time to enjoy the ride because it's getting shorter. (This is the point on the roller coaster where you throw your arms in the air and wail like there's no tomorrow. Wee!)

Your Body~As anxious as you are to evict your tenant so you can snuggle with the little bugger, he or she still needs a few more months in the protection of your womb. Pay careful attention to your body and watch for the symptoms of labor. Premature babies have a much higher risk of illness and even death due to low birth weight and underdevelopment, so if you see signs, contact your doctor. If you think you might be in premature labor, try drinking several glasses of water and lying down on your left side. While doing this, feel your stomach for contractions, which will make your uterus hard like your forehead. Doing simple things like cutting out caffeine and eating right can prevent premature labor.

Your Baby~Baby's lungs and immune system are maturing this week as baby prepares for his grand entrance. If he were born today he would have an 85 percent chance of surviving as his lungs are capable of breathing air (with medical assistance, of course). Other exciting developments: Baby's done a lot of growing over the past few months. His length has more than doubled in the past 15 weeks! And that's not the only thing growing—baby's brain tissue and neurons are all developing at a rapid pace. His brain waves are now firing away just like those of a newborn baby. If baby is a he, his testes will have completely descended at this point. Your baby now weighs in at approximately 14½ inches and just over 2 pounds, or about the size of that roast you made last time your in-laws were in town. (OK, the baby is the size of that roast you meant to cook before you decided that ordering Chinese was a much better idea.)

...........

Lilly's father called me last night. Ten minutes before Lilly's bedtime, he calls....to fight. We have court on Monday and he decided last night was a good time to bring things up and piss me off. He is still saying things about having equal time with her. I understand that, but when its messing up her school work and her sleep, we have a problem. With what I am wanting, he isn't losing that much time with her anyway. I've tried to be nice and put him into consideration. Its not like I'm suggesting he only get her every other weekend. This is what I typed up this morning.... I'm debating on taking it to court with me so I can stay focused. My brain doesn't work like it should lately and I dont' wanna miss any key points.

Lilly cannot get the stability she needs even in the schedule we have now. She is thrown around in the middle of the week and her routine is interrupted. The ride she takes when he takes her to and from school is not good for her either. She is always so tired on Fridays and there have been at least one time she didn’t finish her school work because she was so tired. In one instance, he dressed her very inappropriate for the day. From what the teachers from school and the YMCA both have told me, she was wearing clothes that were fitted for a blizzard. She had gym that day and had to keep stopping because she was overheating.
He keeps suggesting a week on/week off schedule. I don’t see how that would benefit Lilly at all. He keeps saying things about trying to keep the times equal between us, but that is not fair to Lilly. Her health and school come first. This is why I requested for him to pick her up on Fridays instead of Thursdays and bring her back to me on Sundays just an hour and a half earlier. He can still get her on Thursdays when there is no school on Fridays. He can keep her later on Sundays when there is no school on Mondays. During the summer we can go back to the schedule we are on now. There isn’t much of a time difference there, but it helps Lilly stay in a routine. I think this way will cause less frustration and less confusion for Lilly every week.
If he wants to talk about time, we can talk about time. As it is set right now, he gets Thursday evening, Friday morning and evening, Saturday all day and night and Sunday all day with Lilly. She only gets one or two hours on Sunday with me, half an hour before school and 3 hours before bed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Those short hours are spent doing homework, cooking, eating dinner and her taking a shower. There isn’t much time for anything else. All I requested for this is one weekend a month. One weekend so I can finally take her to carnivals, to fairs, to birthday parties, to visit my family, to hang out with her friends outside of school, to do things more than cook dinner and send her to bed.

There's more that I will probably add within the week. I've been keeping a journal with all the times he's messed up real bad these past couple days. Like her getting a splinter and him leaving it in all weekend and bringing her to me with it all infected...yeah...that's in my little journal. I'm not playing nice anymore. I've tried that and all its gotten me is stepped on and pushed around by him. Well, not anymore. I will not cave. Lilly comes first and if I have to pound that into his head to get him to understand, I will.

The baby had hiccups or something last night around 2 am. He was moving in weird rapid motions and I couldn't sleep. I woke him up at 7 this morning. I'm trying to get him on a good schedule where everyone wins.
I'm so incredibly proud of hubby. He had every chance to go to a strip club Saturday with the bachelor party, but he didn't go. Granted he was a little sick, but he still didn't go..
Gotta peek at Lilly's grades today. They post them online where I can go look at them. Math-100% Reading- 97% Science-100% Social Studies-100%. So proud of her. We're gonna work on her weak spots to try to improve her reading before report cards go out. Her grades are great and I am so proud.
I feel great today. I remembered to take my vitamins last night after forgetting for about a week. Didn't sleep well, but I still feel great. I'm not really all that tired.
Lilly's school is having family night book fair tonight. They are even having dinner. We won't stay for dinner, but I'm gonna go get her some books. I'm not spending more than $50 on books there. The prices are outrageous! We'll probably only be able to get like 3 books. I was looking last Monday at some of the books and there was this one book that was wanting to get her, but then I looked at the price....$17 for like 10 pages with only a few words on each page. I'm gonna let her take $10 of her own money if she wants, and get a book or anything that she really wants. I've already told her that I'm not buying any books that have to do with tv, like iCarly, because she's already seen the episode that the book is about.... but with her $10 she can get anything, even if its something I said no to. I'm pretty sure she'll end up getting one of those books. The tv books are only $4 though.
The Y does this thing where if the kids are good they get "character bucks." Well...Lilly was racking them up, but when I went and looked today, her name was almost empty. She said they took 50 bucks away because she didn't do a project. I feel bad for her, but she's gotta learn. They use the character bucks for a store at the end of each month that the school age teachers put together. The kids can use their money to buy stuff. I have no idea what she got last month. She's got some time left to build up some more bucks.
Sometimes I wonder if people can see the baby kick and move around while I'm standing there talking to them. The kicks are good enough where I can see them, and I just wonder if other people can see them or are paying attention. I think it'll be funny to see. A girl just standing there trying to have a conversation with co-workers...and then out of the corner of your eye, her stomach jumps at you. You try not to stare at her stomach, but you can tell that its moving. HA
Oh...and Lilly's foot from her ice cream truck accident is much better. Its not even bruised.

Ice cream boo boo

Today has just been dragging on. Its raining, I'm sleepy, I wanna go home and I have a foot lodged in my ribs.
Wednesday Lilly heard the ice cream truck and ran outside to see it go up the hill. She then decided to ask if she could have some money to get some ice cream. I said yes this time and grabbed a few bucks out of my purse. We went down into our yard to wait for the truck to come back down. When she heard the music, we got ready to go down a small grassy hill to the road where he would be. Well...I don't know if it was the excitement of the ice cream truck (she was really excited about it), or if the fire stations siren scared her (it went off at the exact same time she was coming down the hill), but she tumbled and scratched up her right foot pretty good. I helped her up and saw the blood pouring out of her foot, but she wanted ice cream from the truck. She was standing there waiting for him to pull up, with her hands over her ears, standing on one leg, crying, wanting to sit down, and yelling at me to give her the money. Nothing was going to stop her first experience at an ice cream truck. She was determined. I tried so hard not to giggle at her. I know she was in pain, but she was cracking me up. The siren finally stopped (Oh..we live literally right beside the fire station), and she went around the truck to pick her ice cream. She got the most expensive one. I paid $3 for Spongebob on a stick. She limped back to the house and I had her go into the bathroom so I could doctor her up all the while she was eating. I got her cleaned and bandaged up and she wanted to go back out on the porch to watch the ice cream truck some more. He had went back up the hill. She was walking fine all night and the next morning until I dropped her off at the Y. As soon as I told her that I was leaving, she started dragging her foot behind her. She doesn't really limp, she drags her foot. I told the teacher what happened. (the picture does not make it look as bad as it really was.)
I get another weekend to myself. Hubby's leaving today to go hunting with his dad. He's coming back late tomorrow just in time to go to a bachelor's party and I don't really expect to see him until Sunday sometime. He swears he'll be back Saturday night, just really late...but I doubt it. I was going to go to the book festival to see Nicholas Sparks, but I don't really wanna go by myself. I don't wanna have to deal with the traffic and its the only day of the week I won't have to drive back into the city.
I really wanna go home, but I wanna make sure I get 47 hours this week. I'm trying to make that my 'norm' hours. If I leave right now I would only have 45 hours for this week...which isn't bad...but I need the extra hours. I called the collection agency that's dealing with my big ER bill that is past due to see if I can get some kind of discount if I send in a big amount, like a settlement or something. She said that she has to send my request to the hospital and it might take a week before we hear anything back. I'm hoping they will take it down. I can give them $1,100 maybe even $1,200. I still owe them $2,093, but of course its only $1,908 that really means anything. Crossing my fingers!! If they will take it down by that much, then saving for Christmas isn't gonna be too difficult.
My next ultrasound is the 22nd.

Week 26

Your Pregnancy: Week 26~ If it feels like time is speeding by while simultaneously dragging on, you're not crazy, you're just pregnant. One minute you feel totally unprepared for the changes having a baby will bring, the next minute the anticipation of meeting the Mini that's been swinging from your ribs makes you cry. Such is the roller coaster of pregnancy (and strangely enough, of being a parent, too).

Your Body~There are a multitude of icky things that happen during pregnancy (skin eruptions, gas you can't possibly control, etc.) but increased vaginal discharge might top the list. Other fun stuff going on:If you find yourself leaking a small amount of urine when you cough, laugh or sneeze, don't worry. Temporary incontinence is common in pregnancy. That's just great, you think. You knew you had to get diapers, but you thought they'd be for the baby, not for you. To head off that problem at the pass, try working out your hoo-hoo by doing Kegels.If your discharge is thick or itchy, you might have a yeast infection. Even if you've had a hundred of them, this isn't a time for over-the-counter treatments without consulting your doctor first, so get on the phone
If you're finding yourself having to urinate much more frequently than normal (that would be urinating like every 10 minutes instead of every 15 thanks to a certain someone sitting on your bladder), you might have a urinary tract infection. Again, see your doctor. Usually a simple "pee in this cup" can tell you for sure.

Your Baby~Deep breath! Air sacks are developing in your baby's lungs, which means it just might be possible for your baby to take a breath at the end of this week. The air sacks (technically called alveoli) will continue to grow for the next nine years. The membrane that keeps the alveoli separate from the blood vessels is now thin enough to allow for that oxygen–carbon dioxide exchange we call breathing. Other highlights this week:The retina completes the development of its normal layers this week—all the better to see you with. Well not you, per se, because her eyes are still sealed shut and it's really dark in there, but your baby's eyes are now fully developed. Brainwaves for the auditory and visual systems are detectable in baby's noggin this week. That means baby's brain is registering things like sound and light. She can't understand what any of it means yet, but she's on track to comprehend an entire episode of Blue's Clues in no time!As hearing continues to develop, your baby will start to recognize your voice. One hint that your karaoke rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" is not the best would be when the baby starts banging on your gut. Your bambino will also start to recognize your partner's voice. He may feel silly talking to your stomach, but assure him that somebody other than you is definitely listening. Research has shown that newborns actually recognize familiar sounds after birth. Proof that your baby has been paying attention all along.Break out the sparkling apple juice—baby has now completed two-thirds of her stay in Hotel Womb. Your baby is about 1 2/3 pounds and is 14 inches long head-to-heel, or about the length of a burp cloth (otherwise known as your primary wardrobe accessory for the next several months).