24 Weeks

I feel really pregnant this week. I constantly have this full feeling, even when I am hungry. It's taking some getting used to, but I feel great!

Cravings: Cottage cheese and fruit. Pizza! Tijuana Flats Refried Bean Chimichanga. I've also been using their hot sauce Georgia Peach daily. It's really cheap so whenever I go there I buy a bottle. I love putting it on eggs. Last night I made homemade fried chicken, it was delicious! I've got a craving right now for split pea soup... once I get my food stamps on the 3rd I'll be getting the ingredients for that ;)

Sad Things: Money. Gosh, money is so tight right now, we're trying to save like mad so we're not going out at all. This weekend we will be going to see a comedy show at McCurdy's. I got the tickets for free but while you're there you have to buy at least two items on their menu, which will be about $30 for the both of us. It's going to be a big treat jsut to go out. Another negative that's going on right now is my Dad isn't feeling too good, and I have such a tendency to worry about him. I have to start being careful about my anxiety levels cause they've been running high lately and I really don't want high blood pressure and Preeclampsia.
Happy Things: I love my boy Max! He kicks me like crazy all the time now, I love it. I know one day soon I'll get tired of it and it will start to hurt, but for now I'm really enjoying it. Also, I've been kicking ass at applying for government assistance. We qualify for a lot, and with Woody being a veteran who is in school on the GI bill, we really need it. I have an appointment with WIC on Monday, and since I plan on breastfeeding I'm going to get a lot of nutritional support in the form of eggs, milk, cheese, bread, and fish. LOTS of it! It's pretty awesome. Another thing that I feel so positive about is my relationship with Woody. We grow stronger every day. Even when we fight, which is so rare, there is no fear in this not working out. We just mesh so well together, I don't know how the universe lined up for us like this, but I like it. He is so loving and supportive of everything that I do. He is just everything that I would want in a man and a father to my child. At night when we go to sleep, after our routine of oiling up my belly(haha), we go to sleep and most of the time he has his hand on my belly feeling Max kick. It just makes me so happy that even though our pregnancy was unplanned, he's excited and preparing for the responsibility of being a father. I am so so very lucky!
Weight Gain: I am up to 10lbs. gained now. I feel great, and I feel like I'm carrying it well. In the past week, according to Baby Center, the baby has gained 4 ounces. That's a lot for one week! So I wasn't surprised to have gained a few lbs. and a great appetite.
Aches & Pains: Feeling pretty good! The only issues I have are heartburn and a little bit of neck pain. For the heartburn, last night I bought some Zantac 75 so we'll see how that works out for me today. As far as the neck pain, I've been spoiled with some back rubs from Woody, last night he nearly put me to sleep on the couch rubbing my back.
Movement: Like I said before, Max has been moving around a lot. And the bigger he gets, the easier it is to identify his position in the womb. I love laying on my back and seeing where his head or butt is. It's very clear to see by the lumps on my belly. Next time I'll take a picture and post it.
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty great. As long as I'm surrounded by pillows and not cramped up by the edge of the bed because Woody is trying to snuggles in his sleep, then I'm happy. I have however been having some pretty awful nightmares. I got into a big argument with my Dad a few days ago, and with my raised emotions my dreams were pretty intense and terrifying. I went to bed early one night while Woody was hanging out in the living room with a friend, and I had to come out and have him lay with me for a little bit. It sounds silly, but I kept waking up completely out of touch with reality. Once he was in there the dreams weren't as terrifying once I woke up.

And that's about it! I've made a lot of progress in the house cleaning and organizing. Haven't had the garage sale yet, I'm going to try for next weekend. When I get the chance later, I'll post some pictures :)

Playroom Dilemma

Ok, so the porch that I plan turning into a playroom is a bit of an issue. It is enclosed but not insulated, so it gets very hot during the summer and I'm not going to be able to keep it cool with A/C unless we get new windows and insulate the ceiling and bottom walls. It'll be pricey but Woody and Bobby's Mom Retta, who owns the house, might pay for it if it increases home value.
Regardless on if I do that, I'm making it into a playroom. I'm having a garage sale in a few weeks so a lot of the junk that's in it is going, and there are trunks full of Woody's ARMY supplies and clothes that we can put up. I'm having the carpets cleaned in the house as soon as I get a little extra cash, and I'll probably put down a really nice plush rug so the baby can crawl around a bit. I'm just really excite to be able to nest, because for awhile I didn't think we would be living here. We had a roommate living on the couch for way too long, and I didn't think he would ever leave therefore making it an awkward situation for having a baby. Since he has left I've cleaned up the house a lot and organized it. Bobby is going to be switching rooms with us, giving us that master suite which is HUGE. Plenty of room for a crib area where I can set up a room divider. There is also a huge walk-in closet, I seriously never thought I'd have a closet this big in my life. And the bathroom is alright. Bobby's ex-girlfriend went nuts one day and broke his bathroom mirror, so that needs to be replaced, but other than that it's decent. The carpet is ugly as sin. It's 80's green shag. Ugh. But I figure once I get it cleaned and lay down a few rugs, we'll invest in new carpet a year or two down the road. I just cannot describe how relieving it is to be able to nest. I'm going to post pictures of the progress in the rooms as I go along...

This is the future playroom. You can see in the last two pictures the crib set and changing table that will eventually be in our room. In the first picture there is an old changing table of Carolyn's(Woody's ex) that we will be selling at the garage sale. There is also two chairs and a bar that we will probably keep in the playroom, they are really nice and comfortable so I'll set them up where I want them to be once I get the furniture in our room. We got our crib set for free from my friend Taylor, which was awesome. Unfortunately she lost all the hardware, but still not a bad deal. It'll be like $10 to replace it all.

Today my project is cleaning out our dining room. I'll take pictures of that, too. Woody and Bobby have a bunch of shit stacked up in the dining cabinet and I've been dying to get it organized. My goal is to get the liquor bottle graveyard the hell out of there, but I doubt they'll let me throw it all away, haha.

23 Weeks Tomorrow!

Maximus George Weidner

That is our baby's name for now. We call him Max for short, and probably until he develops opinions it will be just Max. He may end up liking Maxim or Maximus so we'll see. We both love it and so do our families, So this might be it!

Cravings: I've always loved cold spaghetti, but I love it even more now. Sweet baby gherkins are delicious. And I'm craving watermelon like mad, good thing it's almost summertime and they'll be cheap. As soon as I finish up this blog post I'm going to the produce stand across the street! ;) My future bro in-law Bobby has a deep fryer at our house(we're roomies) and I bought some canola oil and filled it so I've been deep frying things every few days. It's not a problem for me because I'm allowed to have the extra calories, they're going right to the baby, but Woody and Bobby hate it because they're convinced they're going to gain weight with me. It's hilarious. 

Sad Things: Holy Pregnancy dreams. I hate them! I used to think it was bullshit that women had them, but my dreams have in fact increased, both in that I remember them and they are very vivid. Usually they are unsettling, not very happy dreams. The worst one to date was a few days ago. I dreamt that I gave birth to a kitten and I was devastated. I was hoping it would turn into a real baby but it never did. I tried to nurse it and it wouldn't latch or grow. Apparently dreams about kittens and puppies are among the most common ones during pregnancy. We don't know what to picture of our baby, so we create an image of a cute, innocent animal in its place. Basically my dream was about my fears of being a mother, not being able to provide and failing. It was awful. I've also been yelling out loud a lot, it cracks Woody up. This happens especially in dreams where I am angry. Last night I yelled on two separate occasions, but I woke myself up doing it. Woody tries to get me to talk and explain and hopes I'll be still asleep, but that didn't happen last night so it just annoyed me he was asking questions. I told him today since it has happened a half dozen times now that it's just going to be something I'll probably be doing for the rest of the pregnancy. We were in Missouri last week visiting his Mom and Step-Dad and our room was connected to theirs. I had a similar night but instead of just yelling nothing, I was yelling curse words. The first time it was "I can't hear anything goddamnit!" and the second time it was just the F word. So humiliating! but funny too.

Weight Gain: I've only gained 6lbs. and I'm so happy about it. The Dr says I'm doing great and have a typical pregnancy, exactly what it should be as far as weight and health go. Hearing things like that is very encouraging because worrying is a big problem of mine. It's nice to hear I'm doing something right. I already feel huge and the belly is ridiculous at only 23 weeks but at least I'm not a whale. I've just been very concerned about weight gain and eating relatively healthy. I also have no stretch marks still, which makes me very happy. I'm quite pleased with my pregnancy genetics, thank you Mom! Hopefully the stretch marks stay away, as long as I don't gain weight too fast in a particular week and keep putting on bio-oil( a miracle oil! I will never stop using it even when not pregnant!) they should keep away. Rubbing the oil in every night has because Woody and I's routine, he rubs it in for me and it's a few minutes that we can talk about the baby and how I'm feeling. He usually gets down by my belly and talks to Max, it's super cute and gives me butterflies thinking of him being such a good Daddy.

Aches & Pains: I have been feeling great physically the past week. Unfortunately the week before last I had tons of nausea and vomiting. Not sure why but it went away eventually. Also I was experiencing a lot of tail bone pain while sitting down. My pelvis is shifting and it's also not used to the extra weight, but now it seems to have adjusted and is taking it better. For awhile there the only comfortable position for me to be in was laying down, and that was miserable.

Movement: Whoa! Max moves around a lot in the afternoon and night. It's his awake time and he gets his exercise in. I'm starting to see him moving physically if I have my shirt up. When I lay on my back I can tell where either his head or butt is, because usually there will be a spot in the left or right side of my belly button that is rounded up and much bigger than the other side. Usually it's his butt. We love to watch it and see the bump cause it make it more real to see the baby clearly like that. You can definitely tell there's a baby in there and not just fat. It was really cute last week, Woody felt him move without meaning to. We were snuggled up going to sleep and Woody yelled "Was that you?!" I had no idea what he was talking about, so I said no. Then he explained he had felt the baby moving and kicking against his back. I'm so used to feeling the movement that sometimes I don't even realize it when he is.

Sleep: Sleep has been great. No problems whatsoever. Sometimes I do wake up in the middle of the night hungry, but it doesn't bother me. It's just nice to wake up and have an excuse to be a midnight snacker. I get excited when it happens, haha.  

That's pretty much it for an update. My next post which hopefully I'll remember later I wanna talk about how things are coming along for our playroom and nursery. We have a closed in side porch/florida room that I'm trying to make into a playroom. I'm so excited about it. I finally got Woody's ex to come by and get all her shit out of the room because she had a bunch of clothes and furniture that's been sitting in there for well over a year. She's trying so hard to be my friend and I feel bad but it's just weird. She's screwed a lot of friends over and lost them so I think it should be a hint not to be her friend, but she's desperate and being really sweet. Anyway, more on that later. I need Watermelon. 

16 Weeks

16 Weeks so far!

Cravings: Pickles, frozen coffee drinks, Chinese food

Aversions: So many! Cigarette smoke and the scent of alcohol makes me want to vomit. So does morning breath. I won't let Woody kiss me until we've both brushed our teeth, because there have been several times I've had to run to the bathroom to puke. >:(

Happy Things: Getting really excited about moving out into our own place. Looked at a house near my parents for rent on Terra Ceia. It is beautiful and is on a canal with a dock. The house is on stilts and has a nice front porch, and is 2 bedrooms, 11/2 bathrooms. Fingers are crossed. 

Sad Things: Really anxious and ready to get a new job. I am signed up on several websites advertising nanny services, and a few of the positions I have applied for sound very promising! Nannying is good money, especially for the larger families. More kids = more money!! I just get very impatient waiting for replies. Hopefully I'll be hearing back soon.

Weight Gain: None so far! I am at the same weight that I was at when I found out I was pregnant at 8 weeks. I  had lost 10lbs due to morning sickness, but that is slowly creeping away and the weight has come back. The OB would like me to gain 25-30lbs before having the baby, so I have awhile to go. As of now, I am supposed to gain 1-2lbs per week. Also, no stretch marks as of yet! But I do have a little belly coming in so we'll see how long that lasts...

Aches & Pains: My lower back has been killing me this week, which is expected! My fundus(top of the uterus) is sitting about 1-2 inches below my belly button, so my pelvis and lower back are starting to bear more weight than they are used to. Heating pads and bubble baths help!

Movement: Felt the baby move this evening! Was unusual, felt like it sounds but was still unexpected and like nothing I've ever felt. Looking forward to the next time it happens so I can describe it better.

Sleep: Like a log! I feel tired all of the time. But I have the random days where my energy is through the roof. Tonight I had my Mom give me a Vitamin B12 injection so hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling more energetic.

Gender: We find out the sex on April 26! My intuition still tells me it's a boy. Woody is hoping for a boy, and my parents think and hope it's a girl.