Racrane- ugh, hope you feel better soon, food posioning is just nasty to deal with, eck.
MindiV- glad to see things are starting to come along ^.^ less to worry about.

Baby suddenly started moving really hard this morning. My laptop (that was resting on my belly) started to bounce for like half an hour. Dang, when did she get so strong? She went from little taps to making the belly jerk around overnight.

Sakai, I love it when my little one kicks my iPad on my belly!! But she will NEVER move when my husband is trying to feel!!

I just feel so run down today. Heartburn hit HARD last night and stuck around a while. Yuck. Just really need a day off!

Thanks Mindi and Sakai. :)

Some people are just so judgmental. It's driving me nuts. Everyone is asking how long I'm going to be off work when the baby comes, and if I'm going to "get" to stay home, like being a stay at home mom is the end all, be all, pinnacle of life that every woman should strive to achieve.

I have all the respect in the world for stay at home moms. I know they have a job that doesn't start at 8 or 9 am and doesn't end when they go home. It's 24/7, 365 days a year. It's as rewarding as it is hard and draining and takes a mental strength and ability that I just do not have...so it's not something I desire to do. People I've told are just appalled. I'm being judged a LOT for the fact that my baby will be left with a sitter or in daycare at 6 weeks old when I return to work.

When I tell people I'm for sure coming back to work, they just laugh at me like they don't believe I'll be able to tear myself away from the baby. And I may not be...never had a baby before! But I also know that I love my job and what I do. My co-workers not so much. The job itself yes, and I can't see myself doing anything else.

My co-workers said something to me the other day about wouldn't I rather just stay home and I told them no. That I wouldn't be bored, but I feel like I would get depressed without interaction with adults. I have NO friends around here, so the only adult interaction I get, outside of my husband, is at work with the people in the community I deal with. They laughed at that big time..."No you won't!" Like they know me better than I do.

The kicker is that my husband has a chance to get a job where he'd make more than enough money to support us if I stayed home. But there's a catch – he'd be gone 3-4 weeks at a time. I don't want him to do it, but he is bad about measuring success and happiness with money, and even though he has a good job now, he is thinking of giving it up for "more happiness" with more money.

I grew up with a dad who was an over-the-road truck driver to the extreme, and was gone a month or two at a time. I essentially grew up without my dad even though my parents were always married. Father-Daughter Girl Scout Banquets? His best friend went with us. Or we went dad-free. I don't want our little girl to do the same thing. I couldn't bear to have him come home after three weeks and have to get to know her all over again and miss all the first steps, first words, first real smiles, etc.


Oh, and I'm having other issues too that my husband just can't understand - he of the "Oh, you're tired? I am every day so how I feel is worse" mentality.

I totally miss my mom. She died very suddenly during my last semester of college back in 2004 and has been gone eight years. I just never envisioned having a baby without her. It just sucks...I can't ask her any questions and my dad doesn't know because he wasn't there when she was pregnant. I don't know if she tried to breastfeed and couldn't, or if she had any complications with labor. Or if she had a c-section or vaginal birth. How much weight she gained, if she had stretch marks. If she had post-partum depression. Anything.

I guess just more than anything I wish she would be able to be there when I have what would be her little granddaughter.

Mindi- sorry you're surrounded by inconsiderate people. Try and ignore them and not lot to let it get to you. What you want to do and choose to do is your choice and they should respect that. Choosing to put your child in daycare doesn't make you a bad parent. That's what's right for your situation. I hope dh makes a choice based on family and not just money for you and baby girls sake as well. Df has that mentality as well. I've learned to ignore him when he goes into those rants and he usually gets the point.

Get the keys to our duplex tomorrow night. Yippee!! I'm soo ready to put his nursery together!I just can't believe how close to the end its getting. Time is flying.

Spring break starts tomorrow at noon for two weeks. I'm so excited for this break. I'm so exhausted both physically and mentally. I can't sleep more than a couple hours a night due to his positioning.

A has been crazy active like usual. You can now see every distinct kick jab and roll on the outside. Df is easily amused by this and pokes around just to see him roll around. He's head down and really enjoys my ribs now. That's the only part I'm not enjoying.

Hope all is well for everyone!

*waves* Hi everyone, your favorite lurker here ;-)

Mindi, don't worry about those crazy people. Sure it's your first baby, and sure you don't know what to expect. HOWEVER, YOU (not those never-been-pregnant or kids-are-in-college people!) are the one who gets to decide how to tackle life post pregnancy. If you want to return to work when the baby's 6 weeks old, more power to ya! Just like you get to choose your doc, your hospital, and your baby's name :) You like what you like, just stick to your guns! Nothing wrong with listening to other people's experience, but you don't have to like it. Heck, you can cut people off if you hate it! (And if you prefer to be proper, say you have to potty and blame it on the baby LOL)

Ultrasound time is coming up. I get a lot of interesting reactions to telling people that we don't want to know the gender of the baby before delivery. My doctor (who is hilarious) said, "Obstetricians LOVE it. It makes us feel worthwhile when we get to yell 'it's a girl!' and the parents don't say 'we already know'!" I have to start going to the hospital for my visits because my BP has gone from 100/80 to 150/110 .... ugh. Hopefully it will come back down. Time to curb the sweets. Sakai, didn't you say some women use pregnancy as an excuse for eating whatever they want? That kicked in for me about 4 weeks ago. Probably why the BP is up, I gained 7 lbs in 4 weeks too, where I'd been losing about 1 lb per week previously.

Seems like just yesterday I was making my first post... and now I'm halfway there! WHOOO! :) It's so neat to "see" other people progressing in pregnancy like I am (just slightly ahead or behind me)

Biancasmom...we weren't going to find out either. Rather, I didn't want to know, but my husband really did! He won out in the end. I can see how doctors love it because they get to be the first to know and can give up the surprise!! :)

Biancasimone- I didn't want to be one of those people. But I turned into one this week. >.<

I feel so stupid for ranting about eating right so as to not feed my baby this crap and yet I eat it anyway. I caved in this week and had sooo much ice cream(even though dairy gives me tummy issues) I've been craving it hard, and gave in. Even after the Dr. told me to not gain anymore weight I wanted to be strict and put in an effort with the workouts. I've been swimming 7 days in the past 10. But I just can't lay off the sugar, or the salt for that matter. >.< *sigh* it's like my willpower went right out the window.

Sakai, I understand about the food. If it helps, I remember many babies have been born before in far worse circumstances than mine and they were healthy.

(In my case, I'm worried because I'm nauseous all the time and can't eat much but bland foods. But I want to eat sooo bad.)

Personally, I am very excited. I'm pretty sure I'm felt the baby move last night. I was reading a book at 2AM and I felt all this popping and bubble-y movements. It was definitely not me. I am very happy. :)

Sounds like movement to me, Racrane!!! Wait 'til you start getting jabbed and head-butted. :)

lol or wait until hicups...I think I felt the her with the hicups last week. She kept bopping me in the same spot over and over for about 2 minutes. And I think that was hicups...not too sure though...

Lol. My mom said I hiccuped all the time. That's cute you're feeling it. I'm pretty excited. :)

I'm still having nausea, mostly in the mornings. I wish it would just go away!

How is everyone else doing?

Something weird that's been happening for about 2 months, but this past 5 days have been getting prettty bad. Every morning I wake up feeling fine, I eat and kick back for half a hour before I get ready for work. But halfway though getting ready for work I always feel lightheaded, dizzy and very, very sick to my stomach. But now it's to the point I have to lay down on the couch a moment to let it pass.
DF wonders if my morning sickness is back. I haven't a clue, I was never this dizzy. And I didn't really have any nausea...my morning sickness was more like not having any urge to eat anything.

Sakai - I still am dizzy and nauseous but I don't think it's "morning sickness" in the way it was before. Bodies go through a lot of changes, but if it's getting worse you should ask your doctor about it. I"m light headed and dizzy and though I'm okay, the doctor still wanted to know about it.

I know "morning sickness" returns for a LOT of women in the third trimester! I'd be sure and tell your doctor, though, like racrane said!

Had a a good weekend. Went on a little overnight trip with my husband. Didn't do anything spectacular - saw a movie and ate at Texas Roadhouse.

That was always my favorite place, but it's something that was almost entirely cut out once I lost weight. For me, it's the first time I've eaten there and had my "usual" since before I lost weight - fried chicken strips. I figured if pregnancy wasn't the one time in my life to splurge, I'd never do it. So I got the strips and a salad and veggies on the side - which would never have happened before. Previously it would have been the strips, fries, gravy and about four of the place's TO DIE FOR rolls with cinnamon sugar butter. Oh, and an appetizer. But anyway...

They were....ok. It was a good meal, but to be honest, I realize now that it won't be worth the calories any longer once I'm trying to lose the baby weight and back on my weight loss and maintenance plan. It was something I totally missed until now.

I DO, however, still miss Olive Garden. :) May have to hit that one too while pregnant, just to get it out of my system.

Hi all! Been so busy, and it's only going to get worse, but wanted to check in and say hello!

Sakai - this has happened to me. I figured out that I got WAY more sensitive to my prenatals. If I take them on an empty stomach? Forget it, I'll be sick until I eat something substantial and lay down a bit.

Wife took me on a wonderful babymoon this weekend. Went out to a fabulous steakhouse on Friday night, then drove out to the wine country and stayed at a hotel with a lovely jetted tub, big fluffy sheets, and lots of pillows. The next day, we got up and headed to a spa, where we got super decadent mani/pedis. Had a lovely lunch, then headed to a cooking class at a neat little cooking school in Sonoma - it was St. Patrick's day, so we cooked an Irish feast...so good! Finished off that day by seeing a movie (Friends with Kids...sort of depressing, but hilarious). Next day, got up, went to breakfast, and drove into SF for a great prenatal massage...ahhhhh. Then we drove home...I'm not ready to go back into the real world! We did most of this on gift certificates that we know we won't be able to use once the little guy is born. The steak dinner, both spas, the cooking class, and the hotel were partially covered with gift cards. I am a bit sore from the masseuse working on my shoulder injury, but I know it'll be worth it tomorrow. Man, that massage made baby boy kick and wiggle...I think he liked it.

Now starts a couple of crazy weekends in a row. First, my in laws are coming this weekend with their two dogs and twin 6 month olds....as of now, they are renting an RV to sleep in, since one of them is allergic to cats and we have two of them. Weekend after that, my sister is flying in to stay with my parents for a week, so she is sleeping here on Friday, then my dad is sleeping here on Saturday for a shooting match. On Sunday, Sarah's best friend, her 5 year old little sister, and their mom are all coming in and staying for a week, which leads up to the shower on the 7th (and in-laws, dogs, and twins are coming back up and staying again in the RV starting on the 6th, so they can attend the shower as well). I guess it's a good thing I did my relaxing this weekend, huh?

Wow, you're busy Mandalinn! I feel boring, I just go to school day in and day out.

And Mindi, I know what you mean about food. I have splurged a little bit while pregnant and it just didn't taste as good as I hoped. I mean, I enjoyed it but it wasn't like it was in my memory. (Especially the mint chocolate chip ice cream I loved so much.) Olive Garden is great, though. :)

Potatoes are my one main craving, though. I mean, I could eat mashed potatoes every day, every meal if I could. I've had this craving since January. Is that normal? One craving, that's it?

I could really use a pedicure and massage soon.

Moving is so stressful. My new landlord is annoying and I Want to choke him. Ugh.

Nursery hasn't even been touched nor has half the stuff we have. So frustrating not to gave stuff together after 5 days now. Our laundry room had to be completely repiped so I'm backed up on that to.

Hopefully I can get all caught up on laundry and get all of baby boys stuff washed as well.

Found out yesterday that the bedding I REALLY wanted, and that was totally affordable and on my registry, is no longer available. It took me WEEKS to find bedding I liked. :(

Mindi. That really sucks. Hopefully you can find another set you like. We couldn't find one either so we bought each piece separately with the same colors. Maybe that's an option as well.

Nursery furniture is set up but that's about it. Soo much to do. Plenty of time with spring break. But I have swollen feet and no energy along with the pain and a constant backache now. Blah!

My sister has a stethoscope from her medical assistant classes so i took a chance at finding his heartbeat a bit ago. It was easy to find and even got some thumps from him kicking/hitting. Def made my night! Doctor appt on Friday. Hoping to talk about still possibly inducing in a few weeks.

Mandalinn-It might be the prenatals, but I normally take them a little after breakfast. I think I might need to drink more water in the morning. But my next appointment is next week so I'm going to bring it up then.

took a 4 day weekend at work to go to the Ren Fair, which we do every year. used two of my 10 days of vacation for it, but it was so worth it.
Alas...I ate like a cow for the whole 4 days. we ate out all four days and i had a ton of sugar. I think I just wanted to stop caring about my diet for just a little while. I know I'll hate myself for it later (kinda already do) But at least I had my "I'm pregnant and I'm gonna eat what I want when I want." time and now it's behind me.

Shower Drama Update: The planners held a meeting yesterday at 5 pm, and my friend called me afterward. My co-workers, the overall planner (who I do not really know) and my friend were the only one of the about 8 people who "want to help" who showed up.

I found some new bedding that was ok, and put it on my registry. My friend told me she bought the new bedding I chose, and I mentioned it to my co-workers yesterday afternoon. Well. When it came up at the meeting, my friend told them again, and one of my co-workers got mad. SHE had also bought the bedding at probably the exact same time yesterday, even though I told her the friend was buying the bedding, and was mad that my friend hadn't "taken it off the registry."

Then my friend suggested that all the ladies helping pool the costs and split it at the end so nobody has to pay a ton...for example, she's in charge of punch, which may cost $30 max, but another lady is going to have to buy a HUGE cake which will cost more ($100 minimum). Really the only fair way to do it. The same co-worker got mad since she is getting the invitations for free and thought she was off the hook with money.

Oh and I might mention that the angry co-worker was taking Xanax and muscle relaxers AT WORK all day, and the second co-worker was on morphine. Fun place, where I work.

If I live through this it will be a miracle.

Mindi - that exact same thing happened with our curtains. Found a set, fell in love, ordered them...bam, on backorder, no date. Then the order was cancelled. It took forever to find another set that we were even moderately OK with.

In-laws are coming up this weekend. It is going to be hectic. Our cat is also really sick and taking a lot of care at the moment, and it's a little overwhelming when put all together.

We have a baby care class (last class in our childbirth series) tonight. Nothing like not getting home until 9pm to make the preggo miserable. I'll just have to pack a LOT of snacks.

My neck/shoulder is just MISERABLE, too. It got seriously aggravated somehow, and so I can't turn my head all the way to the side.

So to summarize - I am exhausted, in pain, and overwhelmed today!

I'm SO jealous of your classes, Amanda!! I wish we had some around here. We'll be winging it. Kinda scary.

Still two more weeks 'til my next appointment. But I can't wait for the sonogram he said we'll be doing!! :) This little one is still flipping and flopping all around. Hiccups down low yesterday, and waaaaaay up high this morning. Guess she still has plenty of room!

Mindi - Are you sure there aren't ANY classes near you? Not even within a 45-minute-or-less drive? There usually are quite a few in big cities (and the counties they are in).

Amanda - Glad you got your babymoon ;-) That sounds like it was fun!

I was supposed to have my ultrasound Tuesday. SURPRISE it was actually an appointment with a nurse to SCHEDULE the ultrasound (I was transferred to the university hospital because I'm overweight and have high BP). They told me June 25th and I looked at them like they were crazy. Apparently somewhere in the paperwork someone had written my LMP was in January (that's just when my first appointment was). So, the nurse went to bat for me and told the ultrasound scheduling peoples that I needed one ASAP... so we get to see the baby on April 2nd. Her approval rating quickly went from 10 to 0 because forced a prescription for BP meds on me. My BP at my first dr appointment was very good (100/80 or somewhere in there) but NO ONE WROTE IT DOWN IN MY FILE. So when I told the nurse it has only been high lately, she thought I was lying. I told her I have been eating healthy and exercising since before I became pregnant (lost about 20 lb before approximate conception date) but haven't been working out or eating as healthy for the past month. THEN she said "You won't be able to lose enough weight to be healthy before the baby comes." If I would have been anyone else I swear I would have spent the night in jail! THEN she told me if I didn't take the BP medication that I had to sign a consent form that said I knew the risks and refused anyway. I didn't want to do ANYTHING she said to me because she just pissed me off!!! UGH!

I really hope I don't get her when I go back to the ultrasound :P

So much for that natural childbirth. I will probably be forced to have a cesarian too!!!!! :P Makes my BP go up just thinking about it.

Also: people who have had/will have baby showers, when is the best time to have one? One of my friends just had hers at 33ish weeks, another friend recommended having one at about 30 weeks.

EDIT: On the bright side, DH and I are buying a (new) king sized bed soon! Our current bed is queen and it's only the mattress and we pretty much lay all over each other because we roll around like two boulders. Last night he woke me up because his head was under my pillow (and he talks in his sleep).

There's a hospital 45 minutes from here that does classes, but only for women giving birth there. :( There's another larger hospital only 30 minutes from here and it doesn't offer classes at all.

My husband is so frustrating! In his mind, there's nothing to being pregnant at all. It's no burden on the body, to him, and I should just "quit whining" and deal with it.

Last night I got up at 2:30 am to let the dogs out and couldn't go back to sleep. I'd try to get comfortable and the baby would start rolling and kicking in there, so I'd move, and she'd roll again. I never could go back to sleep at ALL. Then his alarm starts going off, and goes off for an HOUR. Every 10 minutes for an HOUR it's buzzing and he's hitting snooze. He finally gets up and I'm wide awake there. I tell him I've been up since 2:30, and he didn't believe me. I have ZERO problem falling asleep at night for the first time, but when I wake up sometimes I can't go back to sleep. He literally said he had no sympathy for me since I don't "struggle to go to sleep" like he does.

HE doesn't have a child rolling around on his internal organs all night. I wanted to hit him.

Mindi: Guys have no clue. My boyfriend told me yesterday he's glad he's not the one pregnant. I was like "...Thanks?"

And sorry Bianca for the bad nurse. :(

Hey, at least your BF admits he couldn't handle it, in a way. My husband says he could be pregnant and never miss a step.

Just got a call from my son from the hospital, been there since 7PM last night, granddaughter should be here soon.

Mindi - here's an online class. That'll help you to not go in blind!

http://www.babycenter.com/childbirth-class

I think I get a lot more sympathy from my wife because eventually, she's planning to do this, too. We both thing it's going to be a LOT harder on her (I am more physically fit and more used to physical discomfort with my shoulder and all), so she's mostly in awe of how well I'm handling it.

Also, I think it can be hard for men (who are very oriented to "fix" problems as they come up) to see that the woman they love is in pain/uncomfortable, and they really can't DO anything about it. It's an unhappy place for them to be! So some (unfairly to their spouses) will minimize the problem, so they feel less bad about the fact that their wife has to be miserable. Apparently a LOT of them do this during labor.

Bargoo - is your family local? If so, we might end up in the same hospital!

Unfortunately they are over 100 miles a way, wish they were here. PS I am within walking distance of Sutter Hosspital in Davis. What hospital are you going to go to ?

I'd love to believe my husband is one of the "minimizers" you're talking about...but I think he just literally believes it's no big deal. Even though his mother nearly died giving birth to his younger brother (he was 8 and remembers it all very clearly). So maybe, then, he's just in denial or something. He's also one of those guys who believes everything is worse for him than me. If I'm tired, he's been tired every day of his adult life and my tiredness is no big thing. If my back hurts, his back has hurt for years due to a bulging disc. You name it, he can top it. I get ZERO sympathy. Not even so much as a BACK RUB in 8 months now, no matter how much I ask.

But we were watching one of those Discovery Health or TLC childbirth shows last weekend, and the women were in labor without an epidural. His only comment was that it couldn't be THAT bad when they were crying and yelling, and if they were "such wimps" why didn't they get an epidural.

I wanted to smack him! "Wimps" during childbirth? Really? Almost makes me want to go natural just to show him what's up.

Thanks for the link!! I'm looking into it right now!!

MindiV, there is an old saying that if every husband had to give birth to the second child there would never be more than 2 children in a family.
Not saying that any of you will do this but it is not uncommon for women in labor to royally cuss their DH/SO.....goes something like this"You SOB don't ever touch me again".
Sorry your husband is not more understanding he may change his mind when he sees what childbirth is really like.
We all know women are tougher than men.

Oh, I know I'm far tougher than he is. He just thinks I'm a wimp.

He'd DIE if I cussed him. He hasn't ever to this day heard me curse at all. Nobody has. I'm weird...I'll do it when I'm alone, but never around another person. Literally may have to administer CPR to him in the delivery room if I called him anything or said any sort of derogatory word....might be worth it.

Not saying you would but childbirth is stressful but at the same time exciting and exhilarating, a wonderful experience.

I'm having the world's worst baby shower. Or maybe I'm having it.

Invitations went out yesterday, and today my co-worker, who did the invites, gets a call from someone very confused. You see, she put the wrong date on all of the invitations. Instead of April 14, she put down May 14. I may have a baby by then, or be in labor.

So they've gotta be reprinted and re-sent next week. This whole thing is a nightmare.

Baby grandaughter Faith arrived last night by C Section, 6 pounds 14 ounces, everybody is doing fine.

Congrats Bargoo.

Madalinn - Your babymoon sounds lovely!

Mindi - sorry your DH is being unsympathetic :(

Had my 28 week (actually I was 28w3d) apt on Friday with my back up midwife and all was well. I was measuring 2 weeks ahead but I have been since they have been measuring me. She said the baby didn't feel overly big though. Also said the HB sounded girlish :) Baby was very active last week and earlier this week but the last few days has been lazy, still moving around but just not too many big kicks.

Not much more to update. Hope everyone has a great week!