Bare Belly

So I've been taking pictures of my belly once a week, every week since shortly after finding out I was pregnant so that I could see the change it my size as I go through this pregnancy. I haven't posted any of the bare belly photos yet, mostly because there is no need to see my pale white stomach unless there is some really noticable progress. Well there has been a break through and you can see the drastic change in my tummy from when I started taking the pics at 7 weeks to now at 14 weeks. I still can't believe it's been 2 months since I found out the great news. At first it seemed like everyday drug on and I thought I would never see any progress, but now the weeks are starting to fly by. I'll be 4 months along in a little under 2 weeks!! So anyway, here are two pictures of me. One at 7 weeks and one at 14 weeks. Warning...you may want to put your sunglasses on because my body hasn't seen a UV ray since about October. I plan on changing that once I build up the courage to get into my swimsuit.

Welcome to the 2nd trimester.

Well, me and the baby have officially made it to our second trimester. We're happy to say we're feeling much better and our energy level is way up from what it was a few weeks ago. The couch is no longer sucking us in and not releasing it's death grip it had on us for several weeks. (Notice how I'm using the term "we" instead of "I", must be a pregnant lady thing). Brett still likes to poke fun at me for how much I sleep nowadays, but that's only because I don't stay up until midnight with him every night. I am usually crashed on the couch at about 8:30 or 9 every night, but that's because I get up at 5:30 every morning. I managed to stay up until 11 last night, because I gave the dogs a bath at 9:30 and then realized I needed to wash their blankets so they wouldn't get stinky right away.

I did make the leap into maternity pants, and I must say I'm loving it!! Why can't all pants be this comfortable? I'm not sure I'll ever want to go back to normal jeans. Of course, it is strange having a waist band that goes up to my boobs!! I think that's just because my belly hasn't expanded enough to pus down the elastic band. I find that my bella band is working nicely to hold them up, because they're still a little big on me.

I got my first belly pat yesterday from Brett's sister. She commented on the fact that I was already showing. How lovely. I also got my first taste of what the heat does to a pregnant lady on Saturday. I was laying some weed fabric in our front flower bed when the neighbors came by to chat with me. I stood up and was talking to them for a couple of minutes when all of a sudden, my blood sugar must have dropped out. I started feeling really sick and wasn't sure if I was going to vomit or pass out. Of course, I didn't want to interrupt them and tell them I had to run inside to get some water before I did a face plant, so I just kept listening to them. Note, I didn't do much talking. I think the woman noticed how pale my face had become an she decided to let me go. I then rushed inside and crashed on the couch and begged Brett for some water. He obviously didn't seem to understand my urgency as he casually munched on his gourmet cinnamon roll that he'd gotten from the store. Once I started yelling, I think he got my point. I then chugged a glass of water and scarfed down a cinnamon roll myself. I'm not exactly sure why I got sick, because I had eaten breakfast and drank some water, but I guess when you're pregnant things are a little more intense than normal. But on a good note, I got all the weed fabric down and we planted a few plants yesterday and mulched our front flower beds. Our house looks pretty good now, if I do say so myself. It has a little curb appeal I guess you might say.

Anyhow, I'm going to make like a baby and head out. LOL!!! I know my humor is lame, but I can't help it.

What a headache

For the last several days I have had a non-stop headache, only to be shortly interrupted by Tylenol, but then returns a few hours later. My doctor told me the only pain reliever I'm allowed to take is Tylenol (which I think sucks), but I still don't feel comfortable pumping myself full of any medicine for several days while carrying a baby. Now in the past when I wasn't pregnant, I've been know to take such high doses of Advil that my blood pressure would drop out. That's because I get some pretty amazing cramps with my period that no amount of medicine could put an end to them. But headaches are not something I'm used to. I get them once in a while, but they usually don't linger on for several days like this. I'm thinking it must be the hormones or something. Whatever it is, I wish it would go away, because I refuse to take anymore Tylenol and really don't enjoy my head throbbing all day long.

On a lighter note, I am really looking forward to the 3 day weekend!!! I wish I could say we're going to do nothing but relax, but that's just not true. Brett may have to work Saturday (which I hope he doesn't) and then he has to go over to the sex offender's house and cut up the tree branches that fell in their yard. At least he'll be able to get our ball from our Trac Ball set back that he sent flying over the fence about a week ago. I have a little yard work to do tomorrow, but I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum. Then I think on Sunday we'll go to my parents' house and help them out with some yard work. Now, I use the term "yard" very loosely; seeing as they do have 37 acres. Yard work at their place has a whole new meaning. But it's still usually pretty fun. They have 4 wheelers and a side-by-side (it's like a 4 wheeler with a bench seat, steering wheel, and a bed on the back for carrying stuff) and yard work instantly becomes more fun. Plus they're property bumps up to the Harpeth river, so I'm hoping to get a little fishing in. Also we forgot both of my dogs' birthdays this month along with one of my dad's dogs; so we're planning on having a joint b-day party for them. lol. I know what you're thinking, who throws a party for dogs? The answer is, we do! It'll be a small family gathering.

Anyway, I'm going to try and get rid of this headache, so I'll catch ya later! Have a great Memorial Day weekend!! Don't forget to support our troops.

Think Before You Blog

Okay, I have decided I should know what I'm talking about before I blog next time. My rant about the blood type was only about 25% correct. Okay, I obviously didn't know anything about blood types and what - or + meant, but now I feel a little more educated on the subject matter. Apparantely there are several blood types such as: A, B, ABO, and O (and probably some more in between). With every type you can either be + or -. It just so happens that O- is the very most rare blood type and only about 6% of people have this type. This type is also not compatible with other blood types...so if I ever need a blood transfusion, I can only receive O-. But I can donate to any type. Go figure.

So as far as the baby is concerned, it doesn't matter that I'm A, B, ABO, O; it matters that I'm Rh- or Rh+. Since I'm negative, this poses a threat to the baby, because if Brett is positive (most likely, but let's hope not) the Rh+ will automatically be dominate making the baby Rh+. The risk comes in if my blood and the baby's blood mixes (mostly likely at birth, but could happen if there is trauma to the baby or me during pregnancy). If the baby's blood gets into my blood stream, my blood with start creating anti-bodies and will fight the baby's blood or future babies that I have. Basically this would make for a very high risk future pregnancy if the blood was mixed at birth or a high risk pregnancy now if our blood mixed sometime during this pregnancy. Let's just say, it would be very hard for any future baby to survive in my womb if any anti-bodies formed in my blood.

Now, on the lighter side of things, they have a vaccine called Rho-GAM to prevent all this bad stuff from happening. There are risks involved with receiving it (especially since it is a human blood product), but the benefits far out way the risks. Or so they say. So if Brett's blood comes out + (and I'm praying for some freak chance it doesn't), I'll be receiving this shot at 28 weeks and then again 3 days after birth (I think). It's not the ideal situation and I wish it were different, but you gotta roll with the punches. I just hope I won't be needing a blood transfusion anytime soon (or ever for that matter), because I just might die. No, I'm just kidding....well maybe not. Anyway, that's all the scientific talk I've got for today. You can thank google and all the medical sites out there for my quick education. Later.

13 Weeks

I'm 13 weeks pregnant today and my baby is the size of a medium sized shrimp. I'd like to believe it's bigger than that since I've gained 5 lbs in my first tri-mester so far. Also, it was a lime last week, so I gotta think it's a little bigger than a medium sized shrimp now.

I went to the Dr.'s today (all by my lonesome) and had a quick checkup. She put the fetal doppler up to my belly and instantly heard the heart beat. That was pretty exciting. My baby is still thumping away in there. I still have 7 more weeks until the ultrasound!!! But, we'll find out the gender then too. It seems like I was just at my last appointment yesterday and it's actually been almost 4 weeks, so maybe the next 7 will race by.

I had a billion tests done last week and everything came back great, except for my blood type. Not that there is anything wrong with my blood type, I'm just O- and I guess only 25% of the population is that. What that means is that if Brett is O+, my baby will be O+ and that my placenta or something will try and fight it. Sooooooo...I'm not really sure if it's anything serious, but she said chances are Brett is O+ and I'll have to have some kind of shot at 28 weeks to correct the problem. I don't know. I just hope it's not a super big needle that goes into my belly, but I'm afraid it will be. I guess I should have asked that question. So next time Brett gets to go with me again and this time he gets to have blood work done!!

With all that said, I think I'll start donating blood once I'm done being pregnant. I was just thinking about the fact that if I was in an accident and needed blood and only 25% of the people out there are O-, I'm pretty much screwed. So, I better help the other people out there with the same issue. Anyway, my belly is at a stand still and they're is probably no point in posting a picture at this point. The lady that handles all the billing and stuff at the Dr.'s office even asked me when I was going to start looking pregnant. I was thinking to myself, "You should see me after I eat Mexican food." I swear I can bloat up to looking 6 months pregnant somedays and the next I'm back to normal. So bizarre.

So that's all my prego talk for now. I know it's probably getting old, so I'll do my hardest to find something more interesting to talk about. Hmmmm....babies, semi-trucks, maternity pants...what else could there be?

Son of a Beach!!

Oh the joys of home ownership...coming home from a long day at work to see this...

Trust me, it's worse than it looks. Most of the tree branches are in the neighbors yard. One huge branch almost took out his entire tree. Now we'll have to go over there and work something out to get it cleaned up, since it is our tree. Did I mention a convicted sex offender lives in that house? Oh yes! Can't wait. I was hoping to never have to speak with those people the entire time we lived in our house, but my dream was cut very short.

Feel The Burn!!

Sorry to disappoint, but I was not working out. I was referring to the horrible heart burn I've had all day. Of course, this is becoming a more normal occurrence due to my present state, but it doesn't help that I ate at Sonic for breakfast this morning. My dad would be scolding me right about now for eating crappy food while having a baby sucking down my leftovers. I don't know, I could have sworn I got the notion that the baby wanted a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast bistro this morning, but I could be wrong. I did make up for it by eating a turkey cobb salad for lunch and 4 Tums.

How many Tums is a pregnant lady allowed to eat in one day? The bottle says to eat 2 to 4 tablets as symptoms occur, but not to exceed 10 per day. So far I've had 8, but surely pregnant women are allowed more than the normal dose. At least that's what I'm hoping. I mean it is a good source of Calcium afterall!!

On another note, I don't like Bella Bands. I'm sorry, some women may love them, but I don't. It starts out nice, by allowing my pants to be unzipped without a soul knowing, but after a while it bunches up and feels constricting. I can still wear my low rise jeans without a belt, but I can't wear them everyday! Soooooooo...I'm really tempted to buy some maternity jeans but don't want to feel like a big fat idiot. Don't get me wrong...I have nothing against maternity wear...I just feel like I shouldn't be wearing it already. I'm still at the "fat" stage and I don't want my customers to think I'm just too fat to fit into normal jeans or that I'm being silly by wearing maternity pants so early on. Oh let's get real! My customers probably don't even know what maternity jeans are and they'll probably just assume I'm some frumpy lady that likes to wear elastic banded pants. Afterall, they are truck drivers. What do they know? I hope they don't know how to log onto the internet to read this. hehe.

Anyway...I'm leaving it up to you guys. Maternity pants or not? If you care to share, at what stage did you mothers start wearing the funny pants?

They Made A Break For It

This morning I went upstairs to look at something and when I came back downstairs I noticed that the garage door was wide open. Even worse, the big garage door was open and I just knew my dogs could not resist the temptation to escape so without even looking around for them I sprinted outside and started screaming their names. I mean they didn't even have their dog tags on!! So as I got out to the driveway I saw that they hadn't gone far yet and they were just in the neighbors yard right next to the street. Of course, Bentley never gives much of a fight and I was able to snatch him up right away. Patsy, on the other hand, is a complete different story. Just the other day I chased her around the front yard for 10 mins before I wore her out enough to grab her. I was not about to chase her down the street, so instead I got her to chase me. I acted like I was playing and I ran the opposite direction and she fell right into my trap and followed me right into the house. Good thing for that!!!!

If you're wondering why the door was left open; it's because my husband is challenged in the department of shutting doors properly. This is not the first time he has left the door open, but it is the first time the dogs escaped because of it. Yes, I called him right up and chewed him out thoroughly. But, there is a lesson to be learned here beside shutting the door all the way. I must start making my dogs wear their collars again!!! When we lived in the apartment I made them wear harnesses all the time because it was better for them when I took them out on walks. I took their tags off their collars and put them on their harnesses and they wore them all the time. But since we moved into the house and they go outside by themselves and we rarely take them out on walks (due to their breathing problems), I don't make them wear their harnesses, because I feel like they would be uncomfortable. So now I'm going to dig out their regular collars and put their tags back on those, so in case they do get away some day, they will have some I.D. I felt like a bad mom this morning. I'm just glad they didn't escape while I was in the shower! Can you imagine how far they would have gotten by the time I realized they were gone? They'd be starting in "The Great Adventures of Bentley and Patsy." Geeeessshh. Although on the days I come home to see that Patsy has chewed up my kitchen cabinets, I kinda wish she would run away. No not really. I'm sure my kids will be even worse.

Anyway, on a less unnerving note, I finally got the nursery painted the other night. The color is called "Honey Dew", but it's just a really light green. Supposedly, that's suppose to be neutral and I think it will go good with the Classic Pooh theme I've decided to go with. I was going to try and be very trendy and decorate the nursery in some kind of super modern theme, but let's face it, I'm just not that creative or coordinated. So I went with what's simple and has lots of matching pieces. I also reeeeeeaaaaaallly like the super soft stuffed animals that the Classic Pooh collection has to offer. Don't be surprised if I'm sleeping with Pooh instead of my baby.

Speaking of sleeping, I have to throw this random tidbit in here. Brett is beginning to dislike sleeping with me, because I mistreat him in the middle of the night. I have been guilty of waking up at 3 0r 4 in the morning and feeling like it was his fault I couldn't sleep, so I start kicking him. I really think it's similar to sleep walking, except it's sleep kicking. I don't mean to and in the morning I feel terrible, but for some reason I've done it a couple of times and he gets awaken to my karate kicks. Last night, I didn't kick him, but I stole his pillow. Yes that's right, I took it right out from underneath his head and wrapped it up in my arms and started cuddling with it. Then for some reason I was upset when he snatched it back. Could this be the pregnancy? Is this why my sleeping behavior has become so bizarre? Hmmmmm....strange, but still kind of funny.

I'm getting larger by the second

Soooooo...my belly is getting bigger with each and every second that passes. Okay, so some of you didn't think I was showing in my last photo, but if I had a camera with me right now and could show you what I look like, you may change your opinion. I bought a Bella Band the other day so that I could leave my pre-prego pants unzipped and I wouldn't look inappropriate. And it feels so good!! I also bought my first pair of maternity shorts. Not super stylish, but sooooo comfortable. Of course, with regular jeans you have a little bit of support holding back the "gut", but that's not the case with maternity pants. They let my belly be free and allow the baby to make him/herself very comfortable for the remaining 6 months. Brett was pretty amazed at my rapid growth and even had to pull up my shirt to get a close up look at this so called "baby bump". I won't mention the fact that he made some comment about me being 300 lbs pregnant and barefoot. Ooops...I mentioned it. Don't worry, my husband doesn't understand half of what he says and I'm not going to hold it against him.

My main concern about gaining the baby weight is not the fact that I will have extra belly fat, it's that I'll have extra face chub. Like, my face is already as chubby as I think it could possibly get, but I have this fear that by the time I'm 9 months pregnant I'll look like my cheeks got stung by 100 bees. God, please don't let this be the case.

Anyway, I'm still on my search for a "stylish" pair of maternity jeans and have had no luck at Target. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

Of No Interest To You, But It Makes Me Happy

This may be of no interest to any one out there, but it makes me happy and I wanted to share it. In the last few months that I've been a brand new Heavy Duty truck salesperson, these are the trucks that I have sold. From top to bottom, goes the order that I have sold them in. It seems as though I'm grasping the ability to sell these things a little better everyday. My sales are becoming more frequent and closer together. I know 6 trucks doesn't seem like much, but they're probably more difficult to sell than a house, if that puts things into perspective. I sold my latest (the red one) today and I hope to sell another before the end of the week. Whenever I start to get discouraged about this career, I think about the people that have been in it for years and years that may not be doing as well as I (due to the economy) and it puts a little smile in my heart. If I can do it in the hardest of times, I'm sure I'll be able to do even better in good times. As long as I keep asking God for his help, I'm sure I'll have all the success I want.