It’s hot…

For the last three, four or five days now, it’s been a hot box in the great city of Green Bay, WI and I must say, this pregnant lady has not been enjoying the scorching weather one bit! It’s like being stuck inside a clothes dryer, not like that’s ever happened to me, but that’s what it feels like because even the breeze is hot. Like, when I stand outside, I sweat to begin with and then the breeze hits me, and makes me feel even hotter than I already am. It’s been pretty annoying, especially since I sweat when I’m not even really doing anything. I sweat when I’m standing, I sweat when I’m sitting, and now it’s so humid out that I sweat even inside where there’s air conditioning! It's actually pretty pathetic and I just feel like a pool of goop at times. I’m so glad that my due date is soon. I couldn’t imagine being pregnant for the whole summer.

So to combat the heat, I’ve come up with some creative ways to stay cool. Some I’ve tried, others I haven’t, and there are a few that I’m just throwing out there for shits and giggles.

• Stay in air conditioning, however, I’ve discovered that it needs to be on full blast at frigid temperatures in order for me to actually stay cool. 
• Ice packs.  

• 

  I like the cherry ones the best!

  Open the refrigerator and stand in front of it. 
• Open the freezer and stick your head inside of it. 
• Eat ice cream. Dilly Bars are the best!
• Drink root beer floats. 
• Sit in a kiddie pool with the hose running. 
• Go swimming at the lake. 
• Drive around in a car that has air conditioning. 
• Go to the beach.
• Drive to Two Rivers, WI and enjoy the 20 degree heat break. Then travel up HWY 42 that hugs Lake Michigan with the windows down. (Dave and I are doing this tomorrow along with a trip to Point Beach, should be fun).
• Drink other cool beverages like pink lemonade filled with a bunch of ice cubes using a bendy straw. 
• Wear as little clothing as possible. :O)
• Invite yourself over to a friend’s house that has a swimming pool and go swimming. 
• Watch movies set in cold climates.  
• Run, well in my case waddle, through a sprinkler on the lawn. 
• Take a cold shower.   
• Go to a movie.
• Stick your feet in cold water with ice. 
• Wrap a cold towel around your neck. 
• Spill cold water on yourself or have your husband nicely spill some on you by “accident." 

Those are about all the tips I was able to come up with. Like I said, I haven’t given them all a go just yet and since the weather is predicted to stay hot and humid, I’m sure at some point I just might! With the weekend upon us, I’m going to say farewell for today and until next time, which will hopefully be a post about Ryan being born, this is Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off! 

Okay, I'm ready!

I have to admit, I’m pretty much dunzo with being pregnant and I’m completely ready for Ryan to be born. I mean, like three weeks ago ready!

Although tremendously rewarding, this has been one of the most difficult experiences of my entire life and believe me, I have been through a lot like hurting my knee multiple times, dealing with stress fractures, and having to cope with other various ailments that have caused me a good amount of pain along with other life struggles that all of us go through. None of that compares to being pregnant, however, which has not been an easy process for me and I now have a new found respect for every woman on the planet who has been pregnant or will be pregnant. It's taxing to say the least and in my last few weeks here, things have grown increasingly harder. I’ve already talked about how breathing and talking at the same time has been an issue, however, now simply walking around can be tough and I have the worst time just sitting on my butt at work. I mean, seriously, it really is not fun at all since I sit at my desk, Ryan sits nice and tight in my stomach, and we both feel super, duper squished. Not to mention how my belly is just growing and growing, so, it both itches and hurts all at the same time. To help ease the discomfort, I take periodic walks around the office and just try to stretch whenever I can, but that doesn’t even seem to help anymore. I also pile on the lotion to help with the itching, but again, that doesn’t do much either.

Other than all the pain and discomfort, I’m assuming that my pregnancy has been a pretty normal and an uneventful one, so, I’m going to count my blessings that we haven’t had any major issues or problems up until this point. It’s something that I do think about on a regular basis given that I do realize that we’re very lucky that things are going good, especially lately due to the fact that I’ve been hearing about  other women who have been having problems and issues. My thoughts and prayers are with them and I hope that things turn out for the best.

With the serious stuff now talked about, I want to change the mood a bit and get back to having some fun, so, here’s my attempt at that. One thing that I’ve been wondering now for a bit is what it’s been like what like for Ryan being all stuck in my belly with no place to go! Dave and I were joking about it the other night, especially when Dave makes it a point to tease the little guy by pushing and poking my belly. We’ve been able to basically feel where his head and butt are most days and then once and a while, they’ll be a foot or an elbow protruding out. It’s funny because both of us can just picture him in there like, “What the hell, I’m just sitting here trying to get comfortable and I’m being all moved around and intruded on, ahhh!” Sometimes, he even pushes back with his foot after Dave pokes my stomach, it’s really, really cute. Needless to say, we have a good time with it and hopefully, we’re not tormenting Ryan too much!

My stuff for the hospital. Gotta love Accepted!

Now because I’m so ready for Ryan to be born, I have everything that I need all in one place when it’s time to go to the hospital and push the little guy out. Side note, I’m using the term little just to make myself feel better here, kind of trying to fool myself that giving birth won’t  hurt as bad as everyone tells me it’s going to hurt. I know, a bit on the silly side, but right now, I’m doing whatever I can to ignore what’s on the horizon and the pain I’m going to experience. It’s really not working though and I’m totally freaked out about it, yet I’m still going to try! It’s worth a shot, right? With that said, now back to having everything ready to go for heading to the hospital. I not only have my bag ready to go with clothes to wear before, during and after birth, but my IPod is also in there along with our camera, toiletries, DVD’s, and I’m even going to throw in a book, which I’m not going to read anyway, but that’s okay, it makes me feel better to just have the option of possibly reading it.The computer is going along for the ride and no, I don't plan on blogging from the delivery room. It's more to give Dave something to do, even though I'm still not going to let him beat my high score at Bejeweled Blitz. I will suffer through contractions to keep my bragging rights. And no, I'm not a competitive person at all! :)

Ryan's bag of goodies!

I have Ryan’s bag all packed too with his first few outfits along with a few receiving blankets and some diapers and junk.Since I'm so indecisive when it comes to what I want him to wear for his first ever baby photo, I do have a few different options and I even have a pair of shoes for him. Yes, I do realize they're not going to fit him, but they're super cool just the same and that is why they have to make they're way to the hospital. The bag itself also has room to take stuff home from the hospital so hopefully we get some good stuff that we can use for a bit from Aurora. I mean, this whole deal is going to cost us a bunch of money so we better get some freebies out of it. Just saying! ;)I'm sure the freebies will probably not be all that awesome, but you never know!

As you can probably tell, I’m not a patient person and that waiting for Ryan be born has pretty much been torture! I’m crossing fingers that his arrival is soon, not just because I’m uncomfortable though, but because I really, really want to meet and hold him! It’s going to be soooooooooo life changing and awesome!!!!!!!! Until next time, it's Carla the pregnant tomboy saying good-bye!

"Perfect"

My doctor said the word “Perfect” today when he described our baby’s heartbeat during our weekly check-up and I must say, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I have actually never heard a doctor, or anyone in the medical profession for that matter, use the word perfect before in any medical setting. So, when he said it, I was a bit taken aback by the comment and was speechless. Throughout my life, I’ve learned that nothing can ever really be perfect and that even practicing doesn’t result in perfection. (Side note, not going to say who taught me that one since it will bring back bad memories of playing high school basketball). Anyway, that’s why hearing our doctor say the word perfect to describe our son’s heartbeat was so shocking to me because I don’t really think it’s attainable. It’s an ideal that people strive for and are never, ever quite able to reach. Believe me, I've tried to be perfect, mostly in sports, and it's never happened. However, in this instance I’ve decided that I'm just not going to read too much into it, even though I have already, set my realistic nature aside, and enjoy the moment since it is pretty awesome! I mean, my son has a kick-ass, strong heartbeat, who could ask for anything more! 

The only other news that I have from our check-up this week is that our doctor thinks we’ll be having an averaged sized baby. We asked him the question after he did his routine measurement of my belly and said that from what he can see and feel, that Ryan will be between seven and eight pounds.  It’s just a guess mind you and personally, he feels way bigger than that since my back aches all the time from having to carry him around. Yes, I realize being in pain is just one of those fun things that goes along with being pregnant, the thing is, it’s still annoying and not much fun to deal with. One thing that both Dave and I have noticed is how hard my belly is because Ryan is pretty much taking up my entire abdomen. There really isn’t much more room for him to grow and the other night, we actually saw the entire outline of his body on my left side. It was quite random! I should have thought to take a picture of the event, but didn't because one, Dave and I were finally comfortable on our sitting room chair and two, taking a picture of it would have been a tad on the creepy side. Well, really creepy so it's pretty much best that we didn't. :)

With it being as hot as it is, I'm done with writing or doing anything productive for the day. Seriously, I'm sweating just sitting here and writing this blog is actually making me tired. Gotta love being preggo! So until next time, I'm going to do my best to stay cool and I hope you can do the same. Thank God for air conditioning, fans, and ice cream!

I can’t talk and breathe at the same time…

Over the course of the last week, I’ve noticed that I can’t talk and breathe at the same time! Can you say, EMBARRASING!

It happens mostly when I’m on the phone at work, trying to explain things to the clients and customers that I work with. I’ll be talking and in mid sentence, I’ll just run out of breath. It makes me sound completely unprofessional and a bit on the stupid side. In the back of my mind, I’m just thinking that these people are judging me and are wondering what the hell is wrong with the person that they’re talking to? Like, how can she be so out of breath, is she that out of shape that she can’t even carry on a conversation? It really is embarrassing and I do have confirmation that it’s noticeable. That confirmation came when my supervisor asked how I was feeling this week. I said okay, referred to the lovely Braxton Hicks contractions I was getting, and also talked about how I couldn’t breathe sometimes. He said that he noticed my shortness of breath from time to time when we were discussing things on the phone! We both had a good chuckle about it, yet my chuckle was more of an awkward one due to the fact that I just feel stupid about it. I mean, I’ve been working out throughout my pregnancy and everything, yet there’s just not much I can do about the shortness of breath since it’s because of how big Ryan is getting and the type of chair I sit on at work. Both result in a lot of pressure on my lungs. I have a feeling that it’s only going to get worse as Ryan and my belly keep expanding. If you really want something to laugh at, you should watch me going up and down steps. It’s complete riot because I have to wait for like 30 seconds after I get up or down them to rest and then get going again! I guess shortness of breath is just the price you pay when you’re having a little one, hopefully, after Ryan is born, I’ll be able to breathe normal again! I’m definitely looking forward to that!

Speaking of Ryan being born, we’re just about three weeks out now from our due date and I couldn’t be more excited for his arrival. His room is about 90% done. We have all of his fun little clothes washed, his crib all nice and set up, and basically all we have to do is put the curtains up that my mom’s going to make along with some other various wall decorations. Little boy stuff is so darn cute! I'll make sure to post pictures of his room soon!

Well, the weekend is upon us and my plans are to get my bag packed and ready for the hospital, buy a few more things for Ryan, and just sit around and not doing anything. Not quite sure if that’s going to happen, but we’ll see. I hope you get to enjoy your weekend and until I post again, this is Carla the pregnant tomboy boy signing off!

 

Not the best of ideas, but still a lot of fun!

Us in front of the dugout at the Brewer game. My jersey still kinda fits!

Being a person who thinks she can do it all, this past weekend I decided to go big and double booked the weekend with a birthing class on at Aurora in Green Bay on Saturday and a Brewer game in Milwaukee on Sunday. Let’s just say, it wasn’t the best of ideas because now that I’m nine months pregnant, my stamina and energy levels aren’t quite where they used to be. In fact, they’re about 1/8^th of where they used to be and boy did I find that out the hard way.

It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized my mistake since the weekend itself went pretty well. The birthing class was a bit on the awkward side, which was to be expected I guess. The first thing that got me was the visual aids that were used during the class. Like, she kept busting out this skeletal pelvis and small baby to demonstrate different things. One demonstration was how the baby would twist around to get into position then another was to actually show us the baby passing through the birth canal. Each time, she would comment about how it was a brand new pelvis and that the baby didn’t quite fit through it. So, then she would struggle with her demonstration and almost drop the whole deal on the floor. It was kind of comical to say the least. Another thing that was strange was the videos that were shown. Not only outdated, the people on them were totally on the scary side and at one point one of the chic on the video was eating chips and salsa while she was going through the early stages of labor at home. That didn’t seem like the best thing to be doing. After all the classroom direction for the instructor, we then went on a tour of the birthing suites and they were actually pretty nice. I have to hand it to Aurora, they do go all out. However, things did get a little strange when our instructor turned on the bright, shiny overhead lights that come on just as you’re about to push your new kid out. I just rolled my eyes and though, hell, we’re not on American Idol! Overall though, the class was very informative and I’m glad that we went. Well, kind of glad because knowledge is a double edge sword in this case. I’m happy that I have some idea that I know what’s going to happen, but I’m also freaked out that I have some idea about what’s going to happen. Ya know?

After the birthing class, we hit the road and made our way to Milwaukee to stay overnight to rest up to go to the Brewer game on Sunday. When we got to our hotel, both of us were pretty tired so we went out, got a pizza, and went to bed early. Like 8:30 pm early, that’s how tired we were. The next day, we headed to the Brewer game, tailgated, and watched a pretty awesome game that saw the Brewers hang on to squeak out a 6-5 win. To combat the heat, both of us drank a whole bunch of water, Gatorade, and lemonade. We were even smart and brought in our own water to Miller Park so we didn’t have to overpay to stay hydrated. Dave didn’t even drink because it wasn’t going to be worth it. There were a whole slew of people who weren’t that smart and chugged the beer, yet you could see how overheated and uncomfortable they were. On top of that, the heat made people cranky so that was a joy to be around. Let’s just say, when we made our way out to the car, I was happy we got to watch the game, but I was also happy that we were headed home.

On our way home is when I realized double booking the weekend wasn’t the best of ideas due to the fact I pretty much hit a wall and was overly, overly, overly tired. When we got home, things only got worse and I started to get those annoying Braxton Hicks contractions not to mention the fact that I had a tummy ache too. I ended up having to take a sick day of work on Monday just to rest and try to get back to normal. Now it’s Tuesday, and I’m still not feeling all that great. Hopefully tomorrow, I will get back to totally normal, especially if I’m able to get a bunch of sleep tonight. 

Despite not feeling the best though, I still had a great weekend with Dave. We learned about child birth, got to see an entertaining Brewer game, came home with a fun bobble head, and got to spend some quality time together. It was cool! Thanks love for the good time! And, like I said at the beginning of this post, I learned that I can’t do it all at nine months pregnant and will be scaling things back a bit from here on out! No reason to make myself sick! With all of that said, I bid you farewell and until next time, this is Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off!

Kegels, get ready to laugh!

I was watching that Pregnant in Heels show that’s on Bravo a few weeks back and the chic on the show, I believe her name is Rosie, told one of her rich mom to be clients that she needed to start doing kegel exercises, or kegels for short, to help prevent incontinence after the mom gave birth to her kid. The mom looked at her like she was nuts and I busted out laughing myself because the whole topic makes me giggle to no end.

Take the word kegels for one, it sounds so silly! Like, tremendously silly! Dr. Arnold Kegel developed the exercises and that’s why they have the name they have. His parents must be so proud! Kegels is a word that sounds more like a disease than what it actually refers to, which is pelvic floor exercises. Not quite sure what I’m talking about? Well, kegels are exercises that a woman does to strengthen her pelvic floor muscles. To do them, a woman basically flexes her “special” muscles, so to speak, in five to ten second increments to strengthen them to help with incontinence, birth, and other female problems that woman have. And yes, using the word “special” in this instance is totally making me laugh again. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

On the show, Rosie suggested to her mom to be client to do up to 200 a day. To me, that sounds a tad excessive and her argument was that you could pretty much do them anywhere, so, she thought the number was attainable. From what I’ve ready online, 50 to 100 is good or doing them for five minutes at a crack three times a day is also an option. Basically, just doing something is better than doing nothing at all and I’ve become pretty dedicated to getting my kegels in (yes, still laughing about the name and now about my dedication) due to the fact that I’ve heard horror stories about what birth does to your body and I want to be able to recover as fast as possible afterwards. So, I’m hoping the more kegels I do (another giggle), the better off I’ll be. I’ll guess we’ll just have to see if that thinking holds true!

Okay, I think that’s enough talking about kegels for now since if I continue, I’m going to be rolling on the floor laughing my butt off. I just wish the guy would have just used a different name, seriously Arthur, why couldn’t you have been more humble and come up with something else?  Geez man, you’re killing me!

Okay, now I’m really done with talking about kegels and the only other thing I want to mention today is how filling out thank you cards can be overwhelming. And I don’t know why? It’s not something that is hard to do, but I’m thinking what makes it overwhelming for me is due to the fact I have horrible handwriting. I write so bad and am so self-conscience about it that it takes me forever just to write one thank you note. However, it needs to get done because I want everyone to know how appreciative I am for coming to the baby shower and the presents that they gave! You rock and thank you!

Until next time, it’s Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off!  

Okay, I'm tired...

This is me at night!

Like I said in my last post, this mama to be is tired and I have to be honest, I’m a bit concerned that I’m this tired even before Ryan is born. Seriously, everyone has told me that I’m going to be tired from taking care of him when he makes his way into this world because he’ll need to be fed every two hours and will require constant attention, which is fine and what I signed up for. However, I’m exhausted right now before even having to do any of that, so, I’m a bit worried if I’ll be able to keep up with all of it and keep my sanity at the same time.

What is really bothersome is that I know the reason why I’m so tired and what sucks, is that nothing I do seems to correct the problem. You see, I can’t sleep at night. Like, at all, I sleep for maybe an hour or two and that’s it. What’s worse is that it all comes in bits and pieces. I fall asleep, then I wake up due to the fact that I’m either uncomfortable or I have to pee or I feel sick and so on and so forth. Then, when I try to go back to sleep, I can’t and just sit there all annoyed that I can’t sleep, starring at the clock watching the minutes tick away before I have to get up. And if by some miracle I do happen to fall back asleep, I just wake up again a bit later to go through the whole thing all over again. Needless to say, it’s taken its toll and my nerves are starting to wear thin. By the end of the day I’m dragging and I’m sure that I’m really not all that pleasant to be around. Sorry Dave and anyone else who has to come in contact with me! Not to mention how I know I'm keeping Dave up at night too. Sorry again.

At this point, I’m not really sure what’s going to solve my sleeping issues. We’ve talked to the doctor about them and he suggested that I take Benadryal or Tylenol PM right before bedtime to help me sleep. He said that both won’t harm the baby. I’ve tried both, they actually make me very anxious and jittery. He said if that doesn’t work, then I should give him a call and he would prescribe Ambien to help me sleep, which he said also won’t harm the baby. My thing is, I don’t really want to go on Ambien and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on things to do to help me sleep. I’ve tried using body pillows to get comfortable, drinking milk before bed to soothe my nerves, (and then not drinking milk or anything before bed to keep me from waking up to go to the bathroom, which hasn’t worked since I still have to go), and different relaxation techniques. I even resorted to counting sheep. At first, a few of them helped, now, I’m just at a loss.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions out there on how I can sleep better, I would appreciate the advice because at this point, I’m just baffled and don’t know what to do! I want to be well rested before Ryan comes because if I’m not, I'm going to be behind the eight ball before he even gets here and then how am I supposed to take care of the little guy??? Ahhh!

My feet are growing...

Yes, you read that right, my feet are growing. There is no if’s, an’s or but’s about it. They’re growing and there’s nothing that I can do about it.

I realize that this is completely common with pregnant women, yet it’s still completely annoying and I’ve actually had to go out and purchase new shoes because of it. And yes, I love buying new shoes, don’t get me wrong on this one. Getting new shoes is awesome. However, I only enjoy getting new shoes when it’s on my terms and having to get new shoes because my feet are growing out of control just isn’t fun at all. The Adidas sandals I even had were becoming too small so last Monday, Dave and I made the trip to Rogans so I could get new sandals. I found a new pair in two minutes and went up a full size from what I was wearing before. Super crazy! I even wore them out of the store and I must say, they felt amazing and being able to wear them put me in a much better mood! 

What my new sandals look like, oh so exciting. :)

Other than growing and becoming increasingly uncomfortable with every passing day, there’s not much new going on right now. We did have a baby check-up this week and as of right now, everything is looking pretty good. Our OB said that Ryan is about 4-5 pounds and I can definitely feel all 4 or 5 pounds of him. He is as active as ever and it’s super strange to feel all of him bouncing around inside of me. It’s a good weird though and occasionally, his head or butt, we can’t determine which, sticks out further on one side than the other like an alien! :) The other day I swore I saw his foot, but that could have been my mind playing tricks on me, either way, something was sticking out and it wasn’t his head or butt! Now that I can see him more and more, it must mean that he’s growing a bunch. Let’s just hope he doesn’t grow too much and make pushing him out tremendously difficult. I mean, it’s not like it isn’t going to be difficult, I realize that, but it would be nice if it was easier rather than super duper hard! We’ll just have to wait and see on that one I guess. Bring on the epidural. LOL. We’re about six weeks away from meeting Ryan at this point and I can’t wait! Due date is July 12^th! Hmm, maybe with a little luck, he’ll be ready to come out sooner! Ahh, that would be nice, yet if he needs to bake a little longer, I’ll do my best to cope! Either way, I can’t wait to meet him! :) 

And with that, the last thing I want to say is that I give mad props to every woman out there who has been pregnant, or is pregnant, because this whole deal is hard work and I just want to say, you rock for getting through it. This mama to be is tired beyond words right now, hopefully, a lot of napping this weekend will get me re-energized. Until next time, it’s Carla the sleepy pregnant tomboy saying farewell!