November 5, 2015

Seeing Baby on the Ultrasound- 22 weeks.

Yesterday was a day of appointments! I started my day off with LA Fitness since nothing interesting has been showing up on my ClassPass lately. Monday and Fridays always have good classes, but apparently not the other three weekdays. Not sure why, but so many studios are on there that don’t have any available classes, including a lot of the studios I found that I liked. Turns out, I had to get in a quick workout anyway, so after 40 minutes at LA Fitness, I headed out to Whole Foods to grab some groceries before coming home to hop in the shower, eat, and go to my OB appointment.

I was super excited for yesterday’s appointment because it was our anatomy scan! We had our gender scan at 17 weeks (at an outside office), but I didn’t see Jackson moving a ton at that appointment. The ultrasound tech said he was active at that appointment, but since she kept moving the wand around, I never could tell that he was moving too.

My first appointment was with the doctor, where nothing exciting happens other than waiting an hour to see her. It’s a good thing I’m not working a regular full time job, because no way would I go see the doctor every month otherwise. Nothing happens there. I wait forever, hear the fetal heart tones, and leave. They did weigh me there and I was 114 or 115 (but I weigh myself at home a ton too), but the nurse wrote down 125 and my doctor about had a heart attack over my gaining 15lbs since my last visit. I was so confused. I was like, “I’ve only gained about 15lbs the whole pregnancy.” Finally when I said I weighed 114 or 115, she was like, “Oh good! They wrote down that you were 125 today!”

After that appointment, I had about 1 1/2 hours to kill before my ultrasound. I had to basically schedule them apart because of the doctor’s availability and Jon wanting to make it to the ultrasound in the afternoon. I Yelped a coffee shop to go to in my down time and headed over that way, to Mugs on Milton.

Guys. This biscuit. OMG. Bacon, cheddar, and maple. It was soft and delicious and sweet, but not too sweet, and savory too. It was so insanely good. I probably would have ordered some to go but I got the last one! I also enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte, but honestly, I think vanilla lattes still win out over pumpkin spice for me. Vanilla’s the best. The coffee shop itself was really cute, with lots of different rooms to go hang out in. Perfect for studying, except it’s only open till 4. Bummer. And it’s not that close to me.

Anyway, after my heavenly biscuit, I went back to the OB for my ultrasound. Jon met up with me there and I’m so glad he made that appointment!

That ultrasound was so awesome! Since I feel Jackson move all the time now (and can see his movements from the outside, too, which is super fun and I make Jon stare at my belly all the time now), the ultrasound was extra awesome. (Excuse my lack of words here- imagine how hard it is to write papers these days.) Jackson moved the whole time and he was yawning and sucking his thumb and stretching out his little arms and legs! Every time he would move an arm or a leg, I could feel it at the same time. I loved it! I could have sat there and looked at him all day long. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! It really does amaze me how much I love stuff like this because I just never expected to get this excited over things like watching a gray outline on a screen move! I also love how happy it makes Jon to see Jackson moving on the screen. He’s going to be such a good dad! Whenever we’re laying on the couch and Tom cuddles on Jon’s chest, Jon is always like, “This is going to be Jackson soon.” (Except, I hope Jon still cuddles with Tom too, because I hate it when people have babies and don’t love on their pets anymore.)

Now for his cute baby pictures. Oh, and she verified that he is for sure a boy, but the screen was turned away from me when she said that and I totally forgot to ask her to snap an “It’s a Boy” picture since we never had one done at our gender scan. Oh well. Guess we’ll have to survive without a picture of his developing penis.

This picture I was so confused about. I told Gina and Kassie last night that I had no idea what it was, “Maybe his balls or something. Who knows.” But it’s a frontal shot of his face, haha. His nose is on the right of the screen and you can see his lips. And then his little fingers are next to his face.

Most of our shots were similar to this top one. Some of them he was sucking his thumb, some he wasn’t. That darker spot in his body was his heart beating. He had all his arms and legs and I could see his fingers and toes, so hopefully he comes out like a normal baby! Ah, my precious baby boy! Seeing him on there makes me much more excited to meet him in 17 weeks! And I love that I can picture what he’s doing in my belly now when I feel him moving around all the time! The ultrasound tech said he is just over 1lb (he was 480 grams and 454 are in a pound) and although they can’t measure his length, he should be about 10-11 inches long.

It’s a good thing pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, cause I feel like I need every minute of it to get myself mentally prepared for bringing a baby home and to actually get excited about this whole thing. My feelings have definitely grown, and while I would be devastated if anything happened to Jackson at this point, I can’t quite say I’m there with loving him. I don’t know that I’ll be there the minute I see him either. I don’t have any expectations of when that will happen, but this is all definitely growing on me and I know I’ll get there eventually!

After that, I sat in Atlanta traffic to get down to Kassie’s. Gina and I decided we wanted another chill hangout time, which I am totally loving lately. I felt like I had gone so long without seeing them, and for awhile, I was only seeing them maybe once every other month or so. We’ve definitely increased our hangout time lately and nothing makes me happier than time with my best friends (well, and seeing my baby, apparently). We just sat on Kassie’s porch and talked. They got to see my belly move and feel some good kicks from Jackson. Next Tuesday, we’re going to go try food from a catering company for Gina’s wedding, so I’m excited about that! And we decided after Christmas that we’re going to go to my parent’s cabin for one or two nights since they’re both off work for that week! Can’t wait!

Jon snapped a cute picture last night of Tom cuddling on me. (By “Jon snapped,” I really mean that I had to beg him to take this picture because I think Tom is the cutest thing ever and despite taking a million selfies of Tom cuddling with me, it just never really looks as cute. And when Jon ignored me so that he could scroll through Facebook, I had to be like, “No, REALLY, take this dang photo of Tom being cute RIGHT NOW!”)

He’s such a ridiculous cat. He’s just a momma’s boy lately. Maybe he senses the baby in there cause he was never ever this snuggly with me before. Orange cats are the best. Except for Kitty. Cause she’s really my favorite out of the two cats, but still, Tom is awfully cute.

I’m off to go work on my paper. I skipped the gym first thing this morning since I wanted to get started on my paper. I ended up having to do two hours worth of discussion postings and then I was hungry, so I just ate and am about to work on my paper till about 3 and then hopefully head to the gym for a bit. I’m supposed to go to a stroke conference tomorrow, but I feel like I need to make more progress on my schoolwork so I don’t know yet! Can’t wait for this semester to be OVER! I also have to work this weekend and don’t know that I feel like waking up early three days in a row. I’m too tired and pregnant for that these days.

I’m sure I’ll check back in later! Have a great day!

July 27, 2015

More Pregnancy Woes

Well well, the pregnancy continues… Obviously, and I’m glad, but uuugghhh. I read that weeks 9-12 are the worst of the pregnancy and so far, right on! I worked on Thursday from 7a-3p and vomited for my first (and only so far!) time at work. I felt absolutely horrible, so Jon brought some ginger chews to work. They helped a little bit, but nothing magical. Enough to help me get by for the day though. Friday was a 12 hour shift and a bit better than Thursday, thankfully! I wasn’t anywhere near as nauseous as I was on Thursday!

Friday night, I went over to visit my friend Jim. I hadn’t seen him in almost two years, actually. It was great to catch up with him and we shared all the happenings in our lives and I stayed out till 11pm! Getting crazy!

Saturday was another tough morning, but Jon and I headed out to a little farmer’s market and walked around. Then we went to look at open houses for fun and we fell in love with a house! For $350,000, so we won’t be buying that house! Or any house for the next year or so, for that matter! But I am excited to buy a house eventually and really enjoy looking at the open houses!

I was so tired on Saturday afternoon, so when Jon left to hang out with his friend, I crashed on the couch for 2 hours and then spent my evening watching TV and going for a walk.

Sunday I worked 7a-3p, came home, napped, and went to my parent’s house for dinner. I went crazy and ate potatoes, broccoli, and chicken, and then I paid dearly and felt like death last night. I took Benadryl in hopes of helping, which I guess worked cause I crashed last night. Also, I dream of the day that I can sleep laying flat again. I get too nauseated when I lay flat, so I have to sleep propped up on a bunch of pillows!

Today was my first day of orientation at the new job! Thankfully I felt perfectly fine this morning! Hallelujah! Exhausted, but no nausea! We had a lunch with leadership, which I ate all of (chicken, potatoes, and green beans) and thankfully that was the end of our day, because the nausea kicked in after that and I felt completely horrible. So there went running any errands (I need my oil changed and I need to sign the papers for my life insurance).

I came home and napped for two hours instead of being productive. I woke up from my nap feeling miserable, so today makes the 5th day in a row of skipping the gym. I’m really hoping to make it tomorrow, but I have orientation from 7:30-3:30 and then have to go to my new floor for a meeting. I never feel that good in the afternoons, so I have a feeling it’ll be another rough afternoon. And my body is just literally so drained still. My body still feels like it weighs 1,000lbs and the thought of even lifting a weight or doing a pushup seems nearly impossible. But I’m really missing being active!

And now you can all see why I haven’t been blogging! My life consists of sleeping, feeling nauseous, skipping the gym, and sitting on the couch. I am trying to vary my diet a little more and my food aversions are oddly not as strong this week, but definitely still present. And then I almost always feel sick after eating. And my house is a disaster because I put almost no energy into picking up the house anymore, and Jon somehow hurt his ankle so I feel bad making him stand up to unload the dishwasher or pick stuff up!

Ah, life. These are some fun times. Not. But we’re now one week away from our first appointment, so hopefully that’ll make this all feel worth it!

January 19, 2015

Blairsville Cabin Weekend

It’s a beautiful day in Georgia today! I am loving this weather! I also enjoyed a wonderful weekend too! Jon’s sister and brother-in-law (Brad and Rebecca) came with our niece and nephew for the weekend for a trip to my parent’s cabin! We headed out on Friday afternoon.

Our first stop was in Dahlonega, just to show them the town. (My college town.)

We went to an antique shop and then headed north to Vogel State Park to see Trahlyta Falls. We had a picnic outside but it was really windy and really cold! Not nearly as enjoyable as we had hoped! But the falls were still neat to see and at least blocked us from the wind a bit!

Brad, Rebecca, Zoe, and Slade

We headed to the cabin after to drop things off and then went to buy groceries and eat at an all you can eat pizza buffet where I killed some dessert pizza. And then regretted it. Once the kids were in bed, we played some Scrabble and enjoyed the adult time.

Saturday morning we headed out to the highest point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald. I hadn’t been there in awhile but remember that the walk up is pretty steep. It’s only 6/10 of a mile (paved- it’s touristy), but typically it takes a few stops for people to make it to the top. It’s the first time I’ve noticed what wonders walking inclines at the gym has done for me! I gave Zoe a piggyback ride and still was barely short of breath climbing up the hill. It was insanely windy at the top and I’m pretty sure kids don’t really enjoy the beauty of nature at that age, but I was glad to see the top again!

After our climb, we went to a boutique in Young Harris and then went to Fatz for dinner. Not many options up in Blairsville for good places to eat! The kids went to bed shortly after getting back so we played Scrabble and Rummy and it was a great time! I really love spending time with them (we stay with them when we go to Florida) and it was nice to just have some grown up time for a few hours!

We ended up heading back home on Sunday morning, which was a day earlier than we planned. Since Brad and Rebecca had afternoon plans, I was able to make it to Whole Foods and the gym! I’ve been following people on Instagram for workout ideas. My new favorite is tishajonesy. It helps with ideas for what I can do with my hip while I can’t squat and she just has some great moves otherwise. I was so happy to get in the gym though and I spent the entire hour there with my heart rate above 170- just walking inclines for 25 full minutes and then moving onto a few leg exercises. I went for a little drive and enjoyed the beautiful weather before heading home again.

We had some sushi and then hung out around the house. I caught up on laundry and Tom decided to just steal my little heart with his cuteness.

This morning, I hung out with the kids and everybody just packed up to go a few minutes ago. I’m planning on getting some cooking done this morning for the week (my butternut squash/sweet potato casserole, eggplant parmesan, and a chicken/veggie soup) and then heading to the gym this afternoon. I’d really like to get some outside time in since it’s going to be 63 and sunny today! I need to renew my Stone Mountain annual pass too at some point so I can start hiking it with my pack.

I think later tonight I’m going to have girl time with Kassie and hopefully Gina, and I hope to catch up on the Bachelor too. Jon left me at home the other night for a few hours and I decided to turn on the TV (I never watch TV anymore other than my one hour of Parenthood a week) and somehow got hooked on the Bachelor.

Alright, everybody have a good day!