Hi Jen -- have you heard about the work situation yet? I'm glad you've had some time off -- it sounds like you needed it.

Lifeguard -- how are you doing?

I'm doing ok except that I'm really HUGE and I have a horrible head cold. It won't go away and I don't want to take anything. I know there are a few medicines on the approved list, but cold medicine never really does anything worthwhile anyway except provide a tiny bit of relief, so I don't think it's worth taking. So I've pretty much been suffering for the last three days. I'm finally off work, so I had all these plans for cleaning out my closet and doing things around the house, but being sick I haven't been able to. Ugh...

The big news around here is my husband's fight this weekend. He's taken up muay thai kickboxing and his first official fight is Saturday. I'm pretty nervous about it, even though I know he's well trained and he's good at it. Still, crazy things can happen in those fights! And he's 39, which is about 20 years older than everyone else who will be fighting! Granted, he has the body of a 20 year old, but still. I'm trying not to be nervous, but it will be hard to watch.

Hi Lisa! No have not heard anything from work yet. I actually talked to the lady from the insurance company earlier this week but it was about something that had happened in February, my doctor's office had not faxed all the paperwork in so I had to call them about that. I told her that I was off sick right now and the referral should be going in (work puts in the referral to this insurance company and the doctor has to fill out forms) and she said then likely she'd be talking to me soon. I imagine I'll hear from her today or tomorrow. The last time it only took a couple of days for them to get in touch with me. But I'm not worried because I am going to fight it if they don't approve my sick time, I've got my doctor's okay and that is supposed to be the final word.

Okay for me now....2 words....SWOLLEN FEET!!!! I've had them swell up on and off for awhile now but it usually didn't last too long. They swelled up on Tuesday and didn't go down until this morning. So when I got up they were nice and normal and it is only 10am and they are starting to go puffy again. Any advice??? I can't sit around all day with my legs up and it is too hot to wear compression stockings. I'm going to try drinking more water and see if that helps.

I am heading back down to Costa Rica tomorrow. We've had a good vacation.

I am doing well. I am Finally able to feel the little guy moving on a regular basis - so that is exciting. But I am feeling a little panicked about my weight gain. It just feels like it is spiralling out of control. I had a private goal of 15lbs (which I knew I might exceed but I wanted to stay close) but I'm already at 20lbs & 20 weeks. I've put on most of that is the last 2.5 weeks. Sigh!

I know what you mean about the scary weight gain, Lifeguard, but I'm at 33 weeks and I've gained about 65, so I could say my gain is officially out of control!! I'm less hungry now than I was in my 2nd trimester, but I still am eating too much and often the wrong things. I haven't done well with this at all. And I haven't been able to stay active because of the excruciating pain in my pubic area. I actually CRAVE taking a walk, but I can't because of the pain. I'm getting pretty big and uncomfortable these days, but for the most part I'm doing fine and there are no problems besides that pain. I'm just trying to get my house in order before the baby comes. We really don't have anything ready yet, which is pretty scary at this point.

We went to a breastfeeding class last night, and I got depressed because I look nothing like the other pregnant women. No one can really tell I'm pregnant, because I just look like I've gained a lot of weight. My stomach doesn't look anything like a "baby bump." It's just rolls of fat, like it used to be. Sooooo depressing. I'm going to my hometown for a visit today, and I dread it because I know my family is expecting to see a baby bump and they'll be surprised by how I look. They were so proud of my weight loss, and now I just look like I've gained it all back. Sigh...

I know the whole fat tummy not baby bump feeling. I'm trying sooo hard to try to emphasis the pregnant look - lol! It's been hard to find shirts that fit right. NONE of the maternity tops fit me 'cause between my breasts being HUGE & the shirts not being long enough nothing works. I actually ended up mostly buying tops that are plus size so they're long or x-large shirts that hang off the breasts (so unflattering on the non-pregnant in my opinion - lol).

Home in Costa Rica now. Refocus on proper eating & exercise starts in the morning.

I had my 16 week checkup today. I gained 1 whole pound this month, that makes 5 pounds total so far. When they used the fetal monitor to listen to the heartbeat, the little one kept kicking it. When she was pressing down on my tummy with the monitor, I felt the baby kick for the first time! It was just a little flick, but I definitely felt it. :)

That's awesome Gale!

Yesterday I had my first appointment with the midwife & little one did the same thing. Twice he kicked right at the fetal monitor. I swear you could see it - but I think it was just that she could feel/hear it at the same time as me so it was really obvious where he kicked.

I LOVE feeling the baby move!

Lisa - I know what you mean about not feeling like you look like you are pregnant. I still feel like I just look like I am fat, I don't have that nice baby bump look. Oh well, not much I can do about it!

I had my gestational diabetes test last week and my sugar was a little high so I am doing the next test on Monday, this is the 2 hour one, the first one was only 1 hour. I am seeing the dietician on Thursday, not like she is going to tell me anything I don't know, I am a nurse for crying out loud, I know what I am supposed to eat, it is just a matter of actually eating it! I know my eating hasn't been fantastic but I don't think it has been that bad either.

Looks like work is going to be okay after all. I got a call from the insurance company on Friday and it seems that they are going to give me the short term disability for the rest of my pregnancy but I'm not gonna believe it until I see the official letter!

Okay yes those first kicks are great but I'm getting some soccer kicks here that actually kind of hurt a bit. It is still nice to feel but the wonder of it has sort of worn off but I remember those first few that were so amazing.

Not much else going on, still plodding along trying to do stuff around the house. We are waiting for someone to wire up our basement so we can move the computers down there and the office will be the baby's room. I'm getting a bit antsy because we only have a little over 2 months and a lot to do. I've got a crib so really we can set that up in our bedroom if we have to but it would be nice to get the room already and done!

Jen, that's great that you're getting your short-term disability! And I know what you mean about the painful kicks. I'm 34 weeks along, so I guess the baby is getting big enough to give me some strong kicks. I can tell he's running out of room in there, though.

I was out of town at my mom's house all last week and I got no sleep at all. It's hard enough to sleep at home now, but it was impossible there. I'm just having a really hard time resting now and I'm getting so big I can't move around! Other than that and the pubic bone pain, I'm ok. Everything still looked good at the OB appointment. I have an ultrasound next week and then a weekly appointment after that until the end. Unfortunately she'll start checking my cervix on the July 11 appointment, so I really dread the pain of those internal exams.

I had a shower at home and got lots of stuff, but I have more onesies than I need! I should probably leave the tags on some stuff and return it, because I doubt I'll use all the newborn stuff. My niece had a baby last year, so she gave me some secondhand stuff that I really needed, like a bassinet (I don't have a crib yet), a swing, and a pack-and-play. I finally feel like I'm getting the stuff I need, but the house is definitely not ready and I don't have the energy to do anything about it!

Lisa, I can definately understand about not having the energy to do anything but seeing a million and one things that need to be done! Nice that you have gotten so many things from your shower and your niece. I got a ton of stuff back from my 2 SILs, stuff that I gave them after my first baby and also stuff that they have accumulated. I sorted though all the clothes and put them into boxes by age. Here's hoping that I have a boy because I have practically no girly looking clothes. We only have 1 girl in the family right now and I don't know what happened to all her little stuff, really it doesn't matter for babies what colour they are wearing and really she is such a tiny thing she is probably still wearing a lot of her 24 month stuff even though she is 3 years old now. Still the issue is the baby's room but we may have someone coming in today to do the electrical in the basement and then my husband will get his rear in gear and move all this stuff out of this room. I wanted him to sort through it but as usual he has left everything til the last minute and it will just end up in boxes in the basement, like I didn't see that one coming! Oh well at this point I don't care because I want to be able to do some stuff while I still have a bit of energy even though it'll have to be done 30 minutes at a time with lots of rests in between. I still need curtains for this room and it needs to be painted and of course move all the furniture in. I still need to get some diapers, I haven't decided on cloth or disposible. I am leaning towards cloth. My dh doesn't like the idea but we need to save the money. He remembers from when his little sister was born (there is 10 years between them) and his mom had cloth diapers and only washed them once a week, well he still remembers the stink but I have assured him that I will be doing the laundry more often than once a week! GAG! I wouldn't want that stench either. I imagine once I get stuff moved in here and arranged I'll find other stuff I need to buy.

Haven't heard back about the 2nd sugar test, I hope it was okay and that my blood sugar level isn't going to be a big concern. I don't really mind checking my blood sugar and possibly giving myself insulin, it's just one more hassle I'd like to avoid if I could. Going for another ultrasound on Monday, we are bringing our 6 year old to see, I hope he will think it is interesting. I don't see the OB until the 16th.

Know what you mean about not sleeping well. Every night I wake up around 1am and my back is sore so I go downstairs and sleep on the couch. It has better support for my back. No matter what I try with the pillows I can't get enough back support.

Anyway hope ya'll are doing well, take care!

I've been sleeping terribly. It seems at night my brain decides it's time to start obsessing about things. I dream about unpaid bills & our parents doing weird things. Toss & turn all night.

Then when dh gets up at 5:30 I'm up for at least an hour. The last two mornings I've been abruptly woken by the doorbell (followed by two dogs barking). Who the **** shows up at someone's house unannounced at 8:00am?!!! Don't get me wrong, I love answering the door with my hair a mess, morning breath, in my pj's with no bra on. Really, it's my best look.

Today I seem to be a little off. My asthma is kicked up, I've got a headache & my bowels are running away from me. And of course the darn toilet clogged. Ugh!!!

Thanks for letting me complain.

Hey all. I had another ultrasound today. Baby is weighing about 3 lbs 11 oz which is about normal so I'm happy that I am not growing a monster baby this time. Still I have 10 weeks to go, who knows what will happen? Got the results of my second sugar test, I don't have gestational diabetes right now but I have glucose intolerance. I am testing my sugar about 4 times a day and I am going to start journaling my food. I saw the dietician last week and have to go back in a couple of weeks. My sugars are not super high, I'm not really overly concerned. I'm not monitoring what I am eating all that much any more than what I was before anyway. If my sugar starts going sky high then I'll really crack down on my diet.

The really good news is that we finally got the electrical done in the basement and the computers are down here now. My husband has to go through a ton of stuff and there is still lots of organizing to do but I have hope now that the baby's room will be done in the next 2 months. I'm trying to find some curtains that are not super babyish but not overly grown up either and it is hard because I can't get anything really girly either! Oh well. I need something because that room gets a ton of light in the morning and even with blinds it is still pretty bright.

Baby was just stomping on me the other day, not just the oh the baby is kicking how sweet sort of kicks but OW that hurt kind of kicks.

Anything else new going on with anyone else???

Lifeguard and Jen -- how are things going?

I've had very little energy lately, and I have lots to do. I can do about 30 minutes of work around the house each day before I completely poop out and have to lie down. It's pretty sad. I have lots of crampy little pains in my pelvis, along with that pubic bone pain that won't go away. All in all, however, it's not that bad, considering I'm 36 weeks along. I really shouldn't complain, because I haven't had any serious problems or complications throughout the whole pregnancy. I did have a weird episode last Saturday, which may or may not have been my first migraine -- my hands and mouth were suddenly numb and I experienced some dysphasia. I couldn't put words together for about an hour. It was really scary, but it passed. I read that you can have your first migraine during pregnancy, and that the "aura" many people experience as bright lights can manifest as speech dysphasia instead. It was so bizarre, and I still don't know if it was related to being pregnant or not. I just hope it doesn't happen again!

I had my 36-week ultrasound Wednesday, and it was really great. We could see the baby's little face a bit, and I could see that his little cheeks have gotten chubby! They estimated him at 5 lb, 15 oz, which is slightly larger than average at this stage. They said everything looks perfect, though, in terms of my placenta and the amount of amniotic fluid, etc. I was thrilled to see that everything is still going well. He's in the right position, head down and all that, so now I'm just waiting out the last few weeks.

How are you guys??

Things have been going pretty well. I've had a frustrating week 'cause there have been workers here all week meaning I've been trapped at home with the dogs on short leashes (darn people afraid of dogs!).

I've been kind of slacking on my workouts but we're going to remedy that today. I've gained 22lbs so far - ugh!