7 months - 28 weeks - 196 days

**Welcome to the third and final trimester**

Chinese cabbage?  I've never seen

one of these guys before...

Time Left: 12 weeks - 84 days

Size of Baby: weight = 2.25 lbs

                       length = 14.8 in.

Food comparison ------------------}

Harperville:  Well, Harper is blinking, has eyelashes, and is beginning to develop her eyesight.  She might even be able to see light coming through my skin and into her little sac.  I remember when my friend RH was pregnant.  I really wanted to see/feel him move and she told me that if we put a flashlight to her belly he might react to it.  She laid down on my couch and we tried it.  It worked!  Guess I know what I'll be trying in the next few weeks.

Movement: Maybe Harper is going to be a really smart little girl because she seems to only move around a lot when I'm at school.  I have only been back at work for four days now but I've noticed a difference between when I'm at home and when I'm at work.  I wonder what it is.  Could it be the captivating information? The argumentative talk amongst co-workers when something just doesn't work? The diligent cutting of paper?  The chatter of procrastination?  It's not like I sit more still than I do at home because, let's face it, when I'm at home I am nicely situated in the dent that I have created on my side of the couch.  Seriously.  I barely felt her yesterday and was starting to wonder if I should be concerned and now today it's like she's transformed into an alien plotting her escape through my belly button.  It's very weird.  It's like she's riding the waves in there.  Seriously.  It's to the point now where I can feel her rolling across the width of my stomach.  I haven't seen any extremities popping up yet, but I have a feeling that will be happening soon.  I bet Bryan will like that.  It's too weird not to.

I have also decided what it feels like when she's moving and only I can feel it.  It's like a muscle spasm, but one that lasts a little longer than quick movements.

Weight Gain: Starting weight = 140 lbs.  Current weight = 164 lbs.   Total weight gain = 24 lbs.

My Body: People at work (I just started a new job where I don't know anyone) were shocked to find out that I was 7 months pregnant and not 2-3 like some of them had thought.  That made happy and confident that I don't look like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Woman.

Well, I finally have a complaint about maternity pants.  You can't wear a belt with them!  I know that sounds freakish because there shouldn't need to be a belt due to the delicious elastic band that holds your pants up, but what happens if the elastic band wears out?  A friend of mine lent me some of her maternity clothes (thank God because I don't have ANY jeans) and a pair of jeans that fits perfectly has a worn elastic band.  End result: potential plumber's crack/Lil' Wayne "more underwear than jeans" look.  I've been at work now for a little over an hour and every time I have to get up I have to hike my jeans up to my boobs (don't get me started).  What sucks is that these pants fit SO GOOD!!  I'm going to have to find a solution to this problem because I will wear these pants again plumber crack or no.

11 Weeks

28 Weeks

For comparison

This morning I also discovered something that honestly disturbed me: grass stains on the INSIDE of my bra!  You read that correctly.  Grass stains on the INSIDE of my bra!  Here ya' go Jeff Foxworthy; You might have ginormous boobs when... you have grass stains on the INSIDE of your bra!  How did they get there you may ask?  No, not because Bryan and I had a romantic romp on the lawn.  They happened because I cut the stupid grass, debris got down my shirt (of course I didn't realize because of my ginormous boobs), and that debris proceeded to rub against the fabric on the inside of my bra causing grass stains. 

And now... you've heard it all...

Favorite Foods:

• waffles
• clam chowder
• I haven't had ANY watermelon this week (sad face)

The Nursery: Our crib came in today!  I will probably hold of on posting this week's update until we get it put together so I can include new nursery pictures.

This Week in the News:

Hurricane Irene:  She hit our area in the early morning of Saturday, August 27th.  Compared to Hurricane Isabel seven years ago this storm was nothing.  Category I with wind speeds up to 80 mph.  All that really happened was that it rained ALL day and into the night.  The winds came and went.  We could tell when we were entering a different band of the storm because the winds would die down out of no where and then suddenly gust up.  In the morning we woke up to clear, blue, sunny skies.

Damage:  None really.  We'll have to pick up some twigs and bark from the trees in our yard and reattach the part of the gutter that carries water from the roof to the ground, but other than that we were unscathed.  There is about 5 inches of water in the road in front of our house, but you can tell that it's already starting to recede.  The dogs had a great time playing in it.

-Beyonce' is pregnant.

-I started back to work after a long year of part-time work/unemployment.

Maternity Tour

Tonight Bryan and I got to tour the hospital's maternity ward.  What's really exciting about that is our hospital is only about two weeks old.  It literally JUST opened.  We started out in a classroom with about fifteen other couples.  While we were in there the woman giving our tour went over some basics:

• If you go into labor between the hours of 11pm-6am you have to go to the ER and they will let you up to labor and delivery.
• After delivery, Harper will be armed with an anti-theft leg band.
• Only Bryan and I have permission to be left alone with her while in the hospital.
• Vaginal delivery - 48 hour hospital stay; C-Section delivery - 72 hour hospital stay
• Bryan, Harper, and I will get digital hospital bracelets that can be scanned if we're going in or out of the maternity ward, which is locked at all times.
• Anyone who comes to visit us while we're in the hospital have to have their picture taken for a temporary hospital badge (it's a sticker with your face on it - pretty cool!)
• She also went over some vaccination options while we're in the hospital.

After our "classroom" session we were off on our tour.  First stop was the actual delivery room.  It was actually really nice and not typical to what you see on TV.  Color on the walls, nicely "decorated", very spacious room just for me to deliver the baby in.  If I deliver vaginally they'll take her over to the baby warmer (also in the room) to get her all cleaned up (they better not put sloppy, placenta-covered Harper on me.  Clean, shiney, baby-smelling Harper is more than welcome) and then we get to keep her in the room for the first hour.  After the hour is up, Bryan is allowed to go with her to the nursery to watch her get weighed, her first check up, and her first bath.  He's already been put in charge of photographing all of these events.  If for some reason I have to have a C-Section we'll only get to keep her in the room for 30 minutes and then she's off to the nursery.

We ended the tour by seeing the mommy & baby rooms.  That's where I'll go after giving birth.  Those rooms are really nice too.  Flat screen TV that is compatible with Playstation and XBox.  Who do you think loved that idea?  There was also a couch-bed and private bathroom with shower.  The woman told us that at the other hospital (where I would have had to deliver if this one hadn't opened) some women had to share their rooms with other women.  No thanks.

So that was pretty much it.  On the way out we grabbed paperwork so that we could preregister at the hospital.  It will definitely save us time when it counts!

Vehicle Upgrade

How do you fit two grown humans, two large dogs (60lbs. and 80lbs.), a baby, and all of her things in a Volkswagen Jetta?  Oh that's right... you don't.  Now that I have a full time job again the hunt for our first family vehicle is on!

What I have now
2005 VW Jetta

What I REALLY wanted
2012 Mazda3

Unfortunately for me the Mazda3 is about the same size as my Jetta, which means that I will have to pass up on that dream.  What would be the purpose?  Any time we traveled with everyone we'd have to take two cars, which is what we want to avoid.  So, unless something changes... I have to kiss the Mazda3 good-bye.

What I'm going to do is use this blog entry to rate and comment on the cars that we test drive until we decide on what we want.  Since we are NOT and NEVER will be mini van people we have a few SUVs in our test drive queue:

Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring

Rating: A+

I call this my downgraded Lexus.  I love the look of the Lexus SUV, but that is WAY out of our price range.  Even the used ones.  So, I noticed the Mazda CX-7s and CX-9s and thought that they had a similar look.  This is my first choice for our first family car. 

The day I got my job we went out so that I could test drive it.  I once loved the new model Mitsubishi Eclipse, but once I drove it I hated it.  I went in skeptical.  I have always driven regular, small cars.  For seven years I drove a Honda Del Sol, which only has two seats!  What is it going to be like driving an SUV?  Well... I'll tell you... it was freakin' amazing! 

I first had my eye on the Mazda CX-7, but as soon as he opened the back hatch I knew that I didn't want to look any further.  The plan that I have in my head is for us to have the front seats (obviously), Harper and things will get the second row of seats, and the dogs will have a space in the back.  Well, the CX-7 barely had any space in the back.  NEXT!  

This is when I was introduced to the Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring.  Good, sweet Lord.  That car had everything.  Heated leather seats, back up camera, sun roof, in dash navigation, blind spot sensors, air bags at every door, 3rd row fold down seating, roof rack, hands free in cabin bluetooth, and other stuff that Bryan would care about.  All of that stuff is fine and great.  What it comes down to is how it drives so we took it out.  First off, I don't prefer leather seating so I was sketchy about that but sitting on leather seats is like lathering your ass in butter.  So good.  The CX-9 did not disappoint.  It had great pick up and felt like I was driving a normal sized car.  Fantastic.  The only issue about it is that a new CX-9 is out of our price range so if we want it we're going to have to try to find a used one.

Toyota Venza

Chevrolet Equinox

Kia Sorrento

Making Comparisons

After cutting the grass I realized that I was wearing the same "outfit" that I had on when I took my first naked belly.  I thought that I would take some new pictures so that I could compare the difference.  Here they are:

18 weeks                                                                 27 weeks, 3 days

                 
                                                                                                                                               

                                                                           

Yikes :)  I guess there IS a baby growing in there.

Major Work Adjustment

This morning I started my new job.  Since I'm working in a new city I'm going to really have to test the waters as far as what time is best to leave to get there on time and to avoid traffic at all costs.  When I interviewed for the job I was excited to find out that my school is on the "A" schedule, which means that school starts at 7:30am and ends at 2:05pm every day.  What I did not take into consideration was the time that I would have to wake up and then leave to get there on time.  Today I found out that teacher start time is 7am.  Yowza!  This means that I'm going to have to leave the house around 6:15am, which means that I'm going to have to get up around 5am.  Woo hoo hoo...

So, in order to optimize on my sleep I have decided that I'm going to have to make some changes in my daily routines:

• shower at night - I hate showering at night but that just takes too much time in the mornings.
• pick out my clothes the night before - I'm going to lay them out like when I was in Kindergarten
• pack my lunch the night before

This should get really interesting once Harper arrives.

27 weeks - 189 days

Have you tried mashed cauliflower?
Delicious.

**Last week of the 2nd trimester**

Time Left: 13 weeks - 91 days


Size of Baby:  She weighs almost 2lbs. and is about 14.5 inches long outstretched.  From what I've heard from friends, most babies are between 18-21 inches long at birth so she's getting close I guess.

• She's starting to be on a regular sleep schedule in there.  I hope it stays that way once she's born.  
• She opens and closes her eyes.
• Might be sucking her fingers/thumb.  If she's my child she's in there sucking her right thumb.
• I read that she is probably having hiccups (probably from swallowing that disgusting, pee tainted, amniotic fluid - yuck) and that I should feel them, but nothing has been noticeable up to this point. 

Harperland:  Little Miss Harper has a lot of clothes.  I picked up 20 hangers the other day so that I could start putting some hangy clothes in the closet and I thought that would be enough.  I was so wrong.  After I used all 20 of the hangers I got I had to go back and get 20 more.  Oh yeah, you know it... I used all of them too.  I have 40 outfits hanging in the closet alone!  All of her little onsies are in the dresser.  Didn't count those.  There are a lot.  They are so tiny!


Movement:  She has her moments, but she hasn't been kicking hard enough for anyone but me to feel her lately.  It seems like every time she does and I try to grab Bryan to feel it, she stops.  Stubborn.  I feel her a bunch of different times during the day but I would say she kicks less than 5-10 times when I do feel her.  Oh!  The other morning I got a slow movement from her.  It was like she was pushing at my stomach instead of just randomly kicking around and making contact with it.


Weight Gain: Starting weight = 140 lbs.  Current weight =  168 lbs.
Total weight gain = 28 lbs.

Sweet baby Jesus I gained 10 lbs. in the past FOUR weeks!  WHAT!!!!  I'm sorry but that is not normal.  So, Weight Watchers... here I come (back).  I asked the doctor to give me the Gestational Diabetes diet but she wouldn't (frowny face).  Oh yeah, I don't have Gestational Diabetes.  She even said that some of my numbers were abnormally low (yeah, because my body LOVES the sugar.  Where do you think those 10 lbs. came from?!).  I asked her what I could do and she told me to eat small meals, watch my portions, eat fruits/veggies, and drink lots of water.  Well, to me that translates into Weight Watchers.


Disclaimer:  I do not welcome any, "but you're pregnant" or "you're eating for two" or any other silly comments like that.  I do not feel "bad" that I've gained 28 lbs. overall and I don't look like I weigh almost 170 lbs. HOWEVER 10 lbs. in four weeks is too much and it's time to take back control the only way I know that works.

My Body:  I'm glad that I got a job because people are definitely able to tell that I'm pregnant now and are also not afraid to ask about it.  Not in a bad way but a shy, quiet kind of way.  I went to a math training session for my job last week and while I was talking with the woman giving the workshop she asked who I had with me.  I thought that was really cute.  I basically then introduced my belly to her.
"This is Harper.  She is coming around Thanksgiving." Yadda, yadda.

Rando question that I just thought of: why do you refer to your stomach as a stomach when you're not pregnant but automatically seem to call your stomach "your belly" when you are pregnant?  If you haven't noticed that, pay attention when you're talking to a preggy or about one.  Weird huh?  Makes me think of Santa and his "bowl full of jelly" tummy.

More about my "belly".  I noticed this week that when I'm sitting I'm now able to "lift up" my belly.  Kind of like you may lift up one of your boobs (ladies, you know you've done this).  Anyway, when I lift up on my belly I feel so much lighter, can breathe a little easier, and feel some relief.  Visually it doesn't seem like my stomach is that big, but it is definitely starting to weigh me down, literally.  Now I'm really glad that my friend is letting me borrow her maternity support band (kind of like a bra for your belly - lift and separate - hehe)

• My hands are swelling more often now.  I can't tell if they look swollen, but they feel like vienna sausages.  Nothing different in my feet as of yet.  
• It's official.  My wedding rings can only be worn around my neck now.  The vienna sausage fingers seem to be here to stay...  I take that back!!  I got them back on this morning. Woo hoo!
• More lower back pain

I had my monthly appointment this afternoon and had to meet with the nurse practitioner.  Sad thing about that was that she spent more time actually talking to me than the doctors do.  She also used the tape measurer to measure my belly, which no one had done before today.  She sounded surprised when I told her that.  I'm 27 weeks today and my belly measured 28 -- could it be?  Is Harper getting herself ready for a victorious 11/11/11 debut?

Favorite Foods:

• watermelon
• ice cream (no more nightly indulgence after tonight - so sad)
• oatmeal
• orange juice

Dresser in a million pieces

The Nursery:  It's really starting to come together in there!  We now have two out of the four pieces of essential furniture: dresser and storage shelving.  The sad thing is that as soon as Bryan put the dresser together and stuck it in the room, it shrunk.  The room not the dresser.  When it was empty in there we were thinking, "Wow.  This room is bigger than we were thinking!"  Yeah dum dums.  A room is pretty big when there isn't any furniture.  Sigh.  Well, she doesn't need a whole lot of space in there right now anyway.  I'm just starting to worry about where her toys will go and where she'll play with them once she's mobile.  That should be fun.  If you've been to our house you know what I mean.  

Dresser is complete!
We got special hardware for decoration.

After surveying the closet, we also decided to go ahead and paint the shelves white.  I'm sure they will stay in there and when we sell the house the new person will probably want some consistency.

As of Monday 8/22 the crib has been ordered and should arrive in 5-7 days!  I'm really excited to get the crib in there because we'll really be able to see the nursery start to come together.

Storage unit - six cubbies.

Haven't gotten the baskets to go inside of the cubbies yet

we're going to wait to see what colors we'd like to use

This week in the news
I thought this may be a neat snippet to add into my weekly updates.

• Wednesday, August 17th - I got a job as a Title I Math Interventionist in Hampton.
• Friday, August 19th - Our cousin Stacy got married!!
• Tuesday, August 23rd - A 5.9 earthquake hit Virginia.  I didn't feel anything and am a little disappointed.  I'm a curious cat and I'm not a worrier so I would have liked to have felt what it was like.
• Will and Jada Pinkett Smith split up!?  WTF?!  Maybe the world is ending... anyone remember when Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman split?  Little did we know then that Tom wore crazy pants (and stilt shoes!)
• Bryan and I signed up for our childbirth classes!  We'll be going once a week for five weeks starting on September 6th.
• I have graduated from monthly OB appointments to bi-monthly OB appointments.  Third trimester here we come!

Week in Workouts (8/21-8/28)

Sunday 8/21/11
What I'm thinking: 8 mile trail run
What I actually did: 8.98 mile trail run (2 hours, 5 minutes)

After not working out all week and indulging in fast food and wedding buffet this weekend I was a little skeptical about completing my run today.  I also had lingering worries about returning va-jay-jay pain in the back of my mind.  Doubts or no doubts I was out there at 8:30am.  It felt cooler but I'm pretty sure it was already pushing 80 degrees.  My plan for today was to try out the ratio that I have devised so that I can survive the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, which is two weeks from today.  I planned to run for 10 minutes/walk for two and repeat.  The only pain in the ass thing about that plan is that I have to stalk my watch since I don't have one of those fancy running watches that lets me set alarms for when I want to walk.
It was a tough warm-up phase.  My legs were burning from the weight that I'm now carrying up top.  Analiese thankfully let me borrow her maternity support belt so that my stomach weight was under a bit more control.  I was surprised at how much the 10min/2min ratio helped conserve my energy.  Could I have kept going and completed a half-marathon today?  I probably could have.  The only thing that would have stopped me would be that damn groin pain.  Yes, it came back.  This time I have figured out why I am getting pain in Ladytown.  Since I weigh almost 25lbs. more than I normally do, my body is compensating for that weight increase.  Instead of running with the focus on my quads and hamstrings, I am running by using my hip flexers to "push" my legs where I want them to go.  The result of hip flexer running?  Groin, butt, and hip pain.  I don't know if I can do it, but now that I'm aware of what is causing my discomfort I can make a conscious effort to force my legs to do more work.  Also, since I ran 9 miles today I have decided that I can complete the half-marathon and will not be running 10 miles next weekend.  Even if I had to walk the last four miles because of 'gina pain, I would still finish under the four hour time limit.  If today was the half-marathon I would have finished in just over 3 hours.

My usual pre-run breakfast of a banana and PB/honey toast still seems to tide me over until I finish up, but I know for sure that I'm going to have to bring some sort of snack with me on race day.  Other race day revelations:

• No one should be running with me.  Sorry Steph.  You can start with me but there is no way in hell that I'm going to allow you to have a 3+ hour half-marathon time.  No way.
• Every time I hit a 2 minute walking interval I'm going to have to drink 8 oz. of liquid, which means frequent fill ups at the water stations.
• Must have a gel.  At least one.
• Tylenol.  I'm going to have to suck it up and take some.
• Stretching, stretching, stretching.  Before, possibly during, and definitely after.
• Do not bring blue Gatorade on race day - it turned my whole mouth blue today.

Monday 8/22/11

*3 months until Harper's debut*

What I'm thinking: Rest day, Zumba, 35 min. cross-trainer, spin

What I actually did: Took a rest day.  I don't have many days left where I can be a worthless human being :)


Tuesday 8/23/11
What I'm thinking: Zumba
What I actually did: I did a 60 minute Zumba class.  Freakin' love it.  I'm terrible at it, but it's really fun.  Definitely got my "white girl" on this morning.  I wonder if anyone was disgusted by the pregnant lady doing pelvic thrusts and hip shakes...

Wednesday 8/24/11
What I'm thinking: RPM spin and maybe some strength training
What I actually did:

Work/Gym/Baby?

I started my job today.  I can hardly call it that though really since I only went to a professional development training in math from 8am-noon.  Afterwards I went down to human resources to fill out my new hire paperwork and sign my contract.  So my workday started at 5:30am and I was home by about 2pm.  I was still pretty exhausted.  I hope it's only because I'm used to having an afternoon nap and that was taken away.  Please let my body adjust so that I can still function and get all of my activities in.

How do you work all day, have time to work out, spend time with your baby, and not die of exhaustion?

Hmmm...

26 Weeks - 182 Days

Time Left: 14 weeks -- 98 days

Wish I did a garden this year...

Size of Baby: 1 pound, 7 ounces
                       14 inches long

About the size of an English cucumber ----------------------}

What's new in Harper's life this week:

• She can open her eyes and look around now!
• She's able to move her head - I'm guessing that this means that she's able to move her head free of the rest of her body, neck muscles?
• Hair may be starting to grow on her head.  If she takes after me the poor thing won't have hair for at least a year.  Can you say pierced ears and headbands?  I think so!
• Her toenails have grown in
• Brain tissue and neurons are rapidly growing.  A tiny genius is in the works, folks!

Alien Nation head?  I think so!
Remember that show?

Movement: She's still moving around in there obviously, but I think that she must be facing my back because when she moves you can't feel it when you put your hand on my stomach.  She kind of feels like she's rolling around in there, which she might be.  I don't know, the movements aren't as powerful as they have been which makes me think that she's not facing my stomach.  I still feel her at my hips and my ribs at the same time so it seems like she's making herself right at home in there.  Nothing uncomfortable yet.


Weight Gain: Starting weight = 140lbs.  Current weight = 162lbs.  Total Weight Gain = 22lbs.


My Body: Still the same really.  Nothing weird is happening to me other than the vagina crease pain that I have been experiencing since my run on Saturday.  It's getting better day by day so I'm still insisting that it was a pulled muscle (groin?) and not round ligament pain.

I had my gestational diabetes test yesterday.  As long as I passed it no real changes will be made.  If I failed it I'm going to be put on a diet.  I've heard it's a low to no carb/sugar diet, which is probably not a bad thing since I have been overindulging in ice cream and bread products.  So good!

You know what I haven't noticed? Lush hair and awesome nails.  Where's that perk at?


Favorite Foods:

• clam chowder
• yoplait yogurt
• tapioca pudding

New blinds

The Nursery:  "Just trust me," was what I heard this weekend from Bryan.  He and his best friend, Tony, have gotten the design bug and have a vision for the nursery that they can't quite explain.  Sigh.  I feel like I'm grilling him but I really want to have a say in what the room looks like.  Don't get me wrong, I know what they're doing but I can't envision the final product like I could when we were just going with wall decals.  Today the pencil went to the wall and stencils started being traced.  The boys are going to paint on the walls instead of ordering pre-made wall decals.

Today we got a little bit done in the room.  Tony installed blinds on the windows and drew out some butterflies, Bryan stenciled and painted, and I unloaded the closet to make room for the new shelves and clothing bars that will go in this week.

I thought about possibly painting, measuring, and cutting the 10' board into the shelves for the closet, but that didn't happen.  I kind of thought Bryan may be a little irritated if I did so I opted against it.  Good plan.  I told him that I had thought about getting the shelves done while he was at work and my thoughts were confirmed.  I love that he wants to do the work in the nursery, but this is the first time where I don't feel like I can be of much help.

Lovely lady curtains

I also feel like having major beef with these pictures.  I have five pictures of the nursery that I've been trying to post for two days now and they are not cooperating.  I don't know what the deal is.  I place them here in the 'edit' section where I want them and then preview my post and they are jacked up all over the page.  I refuse to put a mediocre blog out for you guys.  Especially one that has a lot of pictures.  Hopefully I can get things under control.  If not, I'm going to be punching blogspot.com in the face.

Last night Bryan cut and installed two shelves in the closet.  I'm really excited about that because I can now start putting some things in there instead of having them hanging out in the dining room.  Not that we really use the dining room, but I have done an awesome job keeping the house clean and having rando toys/bins stacked up in the common space takes away from the cleanliness.  It is not going to be fun when her ish starts taking over our small house, but that time does not need to happen quite yet.

Outlining the butterfly

Filling in a wing

First butterfly completed!

Two new closet shelves and a crooked clothing bar.
How the heck do I get that thing straight!?
Still debating on whether to paint the shelves white or
just leave them.

Weekly Photo:

Glucose Testing

8:30am - I am at the doctor's office with my little area all set up for this two-hour endeavor and things are already not looking so good.  I have an interview at 11:50, luckily right down the street, and they still haven't taken me.

8:47am - I have gone back for my first blood draw.  While back there I also had to drink my glucose concoction, which tasted a lot like extra sugary Fanta.  They had two flavors; orange and fruit punch.  I opted for the orange.  I'm so glad now that I found out that I was Lactose Intolerant because this glucose test was NOTHING compared to that.  The drink for that was chalky, nasty, and all of the mix settled to the bottom (ever have a cement mixer shot?).  Anyway, I had 5 minutes to chug my sugar which wasn't too hard.  Got my "soda" fix in.  Now I have to wait an hour to have my blood taken again.  Before I came back out into the waiting room I asked:

• Can I drink water?  I can "sip" water while I wait.
• What will happen if I do have Gestational Diabetes?  Side effects from the drink?
• Get very sleepy
• Vomit
• What will the baby do?  She is going to wake up and most likely move around.  I'm guessing the opposite, sugar coma.

Wonderful!!  Let's just hope that I do not have Gestational Diabetes, ok?  I do not want to vomit up extra sugary Fanta this morning.  I'm sure that doesn't taste good on the way back up.

Oh, I completely bled through my little gauze band-aid thing that she put over where she took my blood. Very weird.  That has never happened before.  I'm a little disturbed...

9:11am -  Alrighty!  Now I get it.  Don't feel your kids donuts and crap full of sugar before they go to school.  Bryan claims that I have ADHD as it is, it's a good thing that he's not here with me right now.  The sugar has officially hit and my mind is racing!!  Not only that but I am feeling super jittery and my hands are a little shaky like I'm coming down from a caffeine rush.  This is not enjoyable, especially since I'm trying to prepare for an interview and can no longer focus.  On top of that I'm starting to get super paranoid.  I should have never asked her what would happen if I did have Gestational Diabetes because now I feel like I am manifesting the symptoms.  I am super tired, getting hot, and my stomach doesn't feel quite right.  Hypochondria?  I sure hope so. 

9:47am - 2nd blood draw done.  She had to take it from my other arm since I bled all over the place from the first one.  There should be a nice heroine bruise tomorrow... still shaky and not able to focus very well.  I do not like this.  I feel like I need to go out and run around the building or something.  Red Bull ain't got nothin' on this glucose shit.  I want to sleep but that's only so I can sleep off this cracked out feeling.

10:21am - Oh God.  I just realized something as I was staring out the window at three mother/daughter sets that got out of their cars and then ended up in the office with me.  I am going to have to take Harper to the lady doctor!  I'm going to have to make sure that she isn't on a future installment of 16 and Pregnant.  Ahhhhh!!  Sweet Lord when do you even take your daughter for her first lady violation?  Thirteen?  There is another pregnant lady near me eating what looks like Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I want to tackle her and steal her cereal.  Shouldn't be hard.  She's got a bigger belly than me.  I could easily get her off balance and knock her down, safely of course.  Twenty minutes to go and I'm outta here!  I think that the sugar high is starting to wear off...

10:47am - I made it!  Didn't vomit, didn't pass out so I am good to go.  Got my blood sucked one last time, which should leave both elbowpits looking heroine sheik.  The results won't be in until tomorrow but the nurse said that no new is good news.  Hopefully I won't hear from them tomorrow.

What did I do after this cracked out experience?  Ran home and ate a piece of pizza.  Stop judging.

Week in Workouts (8/14-8/20)

Last week's "playing it by ear" approach worked very nicely.  I am going to stand by the saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it," and go with that format again this week.


Sunday 8/14/11
What I'm thinking: Rest day or rest day
What I actually did: I'm resting today.  While my vagina area feels a little better today it, and the rest of my achy body, needs a day off.  I'm taking it!
I did play Fruit Ninja on the.  Does that count as a workout because my arms are screaming!  I did beat out the three boys at my house for the high score.  413 beat that biatches!

Monday 8/15/11
What I'm thinking: 30 min. cross-trainer or Zumba
What I actually did: Nothing.  I took another rest day.

1. I still have residual vag pain from Saturday.  Pretty sure that it's a pulled muscle so I wanted to give it one more day to get back to normal.
2. Sugar high eventually leads to a sugar low.  After I forced some food down I went into a two-hour sugar coma.  Haven't felt quite right since the sugar undertaking and haven't had too much to drink.  Most likely I am a little dehydrated, which wouldn't be smart for me to go hit an awesome workout.

Tuesday 8/16/11

What I'm thinking: 45 min. kettlebell class and 30 min. cross-trainer

What I actually did: 45 min. kettlebells

Wednesday 8/17/11
I completely sucked it up today.  First, I never made a plan for working out.  Instead I took the dogs to the beach this morning, ran errands with them, and went through a whirlwind of phone calls for interviews, and then the final phone call offering me a job!  After that, I couldn't even think about working out.  Oops.

Thursday 8/18/11
What I'm thinking: Get into the gym at any cost.  At least 30 mins. on the cross-trainer.
What I actually did: Nothing.

Disclaimer:  One thing about blogging is that you put your faults out there.  Not that my lack of exercise this week is a "fault" but it's still out there.  The only thing that I did do this week was my kettlebell class and sadly, I think that it will be my last one.  The beginning of my week was dedicated to groin recovery and the end of the week was dedicated to job hunting.  I forgot how hard it was to get in regular workouts when you are genuinely busy during the day.  Only thing to do now is plan better and make sure that I'm sleeping as well as I can at night.  The great thing about my week in workouts?  A new week always begins so that I can start fresh.

Week in Workouts (8/06-8/13)

I feel like I did some self-sabotaging last week with my workout plan.  While it was completely doable, I botched it.  Well, I am back and ready to try again but I'm going to go about it in a different way.  Instead of pre-planning my workouts, which ultimately led to my demise, I am just going to post what I do day to day.  I am hoping that I will be a little more successful that way.  It's also, hopefully, going to help that I'm not working anymore this summer since summer school ended last Thursday.  This should be ideal to give me time to clean, workout, and do whatever the hell I want during the day but it can also be a death trap for the lazy and unmotivated. 

Case in point, my Sunday:  Woke up at 9:30am, ate breakfast, napped from 1-3pm, watched TV, cooked dinner at 6:30pm, and will most likely end my night watching more TV.  Notice there was no mention of getting dressed and/or showering in that description.  I hate these kinds of days.  I feel like a, "Steaming pile of cow dung... figuratively speaking," for being a lazy waste of space.  I hope that on one chimes in with a, "But you're pregnant, you need your rest," because that is just stupid.  Probably as stupid as, "Remember, you're eating for two now," which is preposterous.  I liked what one of my friends posted on FB today, "Make your kids your reason for doing things instead of your excuse for not doing things."  I know that she's not actually out here yet, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to use her as an excuse for MY laziness.

I will be cutting the grass sometime tonight.  I promised Bryan I would since he's been in the baby's room all day de-popcorning, spackeling, and painting the ceiling.  He's done enough today.  Back to this week's workouts.

Monday 8/08/11
What I'm thinking:  interval cycle, 3 mile run outside, or 30-35 minutes on the cross-trainer.
What I actually did: 3.20 miles on the cross-trainer (35 minutes)

I am starting to doubt my status as a woman of steel.  The Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon is in LESS than 4 weeks and it's been so hot that I can't run outside.  All that really means is that I haven't been getting my long runs in on Saturday mornings.  Either we've been out of town or it's been hellatiously hot.  This week I'm going to have to go and give it a shot.  I figure I have 3 Saturdays left before the half.  If I can get a 6 miler this week, an 8 miler next week, and a 10 miler in the final week I will have a pretty good gauge on if I should go through with the half and/or how well I will do.  I can only hope that the heat breaks between now and then.  Hell, the heat can break for that day only and it'll be better.
Today's workout was good.  I was killing it on the cross-trainer.  I even got up to a 7/20, which is an improvement from 3/20.  Maybe I'm building my stamina back up?  No trouble with my heart racing or being short of breath.  I kept it at a good "pace" and resistance. 

Tuesday 8/09/11
What I'm thinking: 5:15am kettlebell, trying out a Zumba class, 40 min. on cross-trainer, or a combination of two of those kettlebell/Zumba, kettlebell/cross-trainer, Zumba/cross-trainer.
What I actually did: Zumba (60 min)


Word to the wise; don't go to sleep at 2am and expect to be awake at 4:50am to go to the gym.  Sigh.  I did not make it to kettlebells this morning.  The only good thing about that is today was group day.  I absolutely hate group kettlebell day because sometimes I can't keep up.  When we are doing stations we're all in groups of 2-3.  Every 2 minutes we switch activities.  It's nice because if I need to stop for a breather, I'm not throwing off the flow of the entire group.  I like to be in the front so that I can see so I feel like I can't stop if I get tired or need to change the size of my bell.  Oh well.  I guess now I'm going to go make an ass out of myself at Zumba.  Maybe I'll get lucky and the class will be full of old ladies and teachers since it's at 10:30am.

Zumba Breakdown: It was pretty great.  The room was PACKED.  I would guess that there were over 50 people in there easily.  I was surprised that so many people were in a 10:30am class, doesn't anyone work?  I hid in the back near the door in case I needed to make a quick escape.  I don't like awkward workouts so I positioned myself to make a mad dash if I felt like I wasn't getting my money's worth.  What's nice about the back of the room is that's where all of the new people hide.  I made a few newbie "friends" to be scared with before the class actually started.  All I have to say about Onelife Fitness is they get some jacked instructors.  I'm talkin' 0% body fat and they are damn good at the classes they teach.  This Zumba woman was amazing.  She had killer moves, but she also gave ques as to what was happening next so us losers in the back could attempt to keep up.   
Zumba lessons learned today:

• I am, in fact, white... very white.  I thought at some point in my life that I had rhythm and could dance but I must have been in some drunkin' college haze at the time because this girl is about 5% rhythm 95% semi-awkward.
• Not all black people can dance.  This lesson made me feel much better about myself.  There were awkward African-Americans in the crowd.  It was nice.  I thought that was just something they were blessed with.
• Men have NO rhythm and don't follow directions very well.  There were a few men there this morning.  It was painful to watch.  I give them kudos for showing up, but that's about it.
• The Latina women COULD all dance.  I watched them if I could see the instructor.  Amazing.

Sadly, this amazing instructor only teaches Tuesday mornings and every other Friday night.  If I'm not working I'm totally going to her class again.  I'm going to have to check out some others as well.  As for my plan to do a combo workout today.  I don't think I need to and I say that because of these two little words: butt sweat.
And that is all...

Wednesday 8/10/11
What I'm thinking: 40 min. cross-trainer (a.m.)  RPM Spin (p.m.)
What I actually did: 45 min. cross-trainer (4.2 miles)

Rocked it again on the elliptical.  My resistance was at a 5 when it used to be at an 8/9 but I feel like I'm still getting the same workout.  One thing I noticed about the gym today - it's very overstimulating.  Maybe that's why I hate running outside, there's nothing to look at.  While getting my elliptical on I was people watching, watching The Price is Right/Rachel Ray/The View, and listening to my iPod.  I will most likely not go back for spin tonight.  I really want to take the dogs to the beach and will try to talk Bryan into it.  I'm hoping that by 6:30pm it won't be 1800 degrees out so that I don't give Griffin heat stroke again.

Thursday 8/11/11
What I'm thinking: rest day or RPM spin
What I actually did:  I took a rest day.  I spent all morning outside, which was a nice change.  Finally it wasn't 800 degrees out.  Woke up early, took the dogs swimming at the beach, and then went to the pool with RH and AH for the rest of the morning.  I ended up sun-sucked.  Napped for 2 1/2 - 3 hours after lunch.  It felt good!  Then I hit up the grocery store to make dinner.  No room in there for an hour long spin class and that's okay by me.

Friday 8/12/11
What I'm thinking: 3 miles cross-trainer and weights (arms)
What I actually did: 3.2 miles on the elliptical (35 min)


In accordance with one of my previous posts: the gym is overstimulating.  Today I jumped on the elliptical in the Cardio Cinema room.  They were playing Blue Crush 2.  Why did anyone even make Blue Crush 2 is beyond me.  I came in at the end of the movie where all of the "drama" unfolds and there was very little surfing footage shown.  Seemed like a lame movie to me.  I was just happy to be hiding in a dark room while I worked out.  As the belly grows, my workout clothes shrink.  Today I wore some Nike compression shorts (super comfy) but when I went to try a shirt on, I was unpleasantly surprised.

Most of my go to running shirts are slowly creeping up my midsection.  Argh!!  I tried on a few and modeled them for Bryan because it was funny.  My little "beer gut" hanging out the bottom of my shirts. And then I went to my maternity workout shirts from For Two Fitness and headed out.  I liked hiding in the dark because I am starting to get a LITTLE self-conscious.  Do I look pregnant or do I look fat?  I'm not exactly sure.  Everyone says pregnant, but my belly isn't rounded out all the way yet and does appear, to me, a little squishy.  So there I am in the gym with a regular body (arms, back, legs, butt... all the same as they always are) with giant boobs and a beer gut.  Don't judge me.  Isn't it obvious that I have body issues?  I am the one that admitted a few short weeks ago that I never realized that I was skinny until I saw myself pregnant.  I have a complex, what can I say?  Now, when I'm all rounded out and still in the gym I will feel more awesome because I'm working out for two people while everyone else is sweating their asses off for just themselves.  Accomplished and entitled, yes.


Saturday 8/13/11
What I'm thinking: 6 mile trail run
What I actually did: 6.25 mile trail run

Pre-run Breakfast: A piece of toast w/peanut butter and honey and a banana
Liquid Consumed: 32 oz. water/Gatorade during run; 24 oz. water post-run
Bathroom breaks: two

First actual run in about a month.  Finally the weather wasn't completely heinous.  It was about 80 degrees but oddly enough that felt cool compared to what it's been.  It was nice to get back out on the trail especially since I got to run with a "new" running buddy today.  After five years I was able to get a run in with the one who started it all, my friend Analiese.  She was the one who talked me into running my first half marathon, which basically began my running career.  I found out today that she is also an awesome running buddy.  She ran with me when I could keep up and then went off on her own once she got warmed up.  I'm running a 12:30-13 minute mile.  I don't expect ANYONE to stay and shuffle with me.  I'm just happy that I have great friends who are willing to at least run at the same time as me, makes me feel better just in case something were to happen.
I felt good running today.  Slow, yes, but definitely not out of shape or tired.  Carrying around the extra weight is what is starting to take a toll.  I notice my knees getting sore and I'm having to push with my hips more.  I have no idea what the hell I did, but I feel like I pulled my vagina.  Yeah, yeah... you're laughing but I'm dead serious!  I started feeling it on the way back so, about 4 miles in maybe.  It's a consistent vagina pain where my legs connect to my body.  No, I'm not having contractions so shush.  Once I got going the pain subsided, but when I got home after sitting in the car for 20 minutes I could barely walk.  No fun.  Again, once I started moving and took a shower I started to feel better.  Lesson learned: stretch!!  What else happened?  Oh yes.  This morning I wore my tank from For Two Fitness, Nike compression shorts, and my green Old Navy running shorts over-top.  On my drive home my shorts were cutting into my lower stomach so bad that I had to take them off at a stoplight.  Thank God I'm talented like that.
I have decided that after the Rock and Roll VB Half Marathon I'm most likely done with outdoor running until after Harper comes.  I'll still go to the gym and all that, but my Saturday morning long runs will probably be put on hold until the new year.

25 Weeks - 175 Days

Time Left: 15 weeks - 105 Days

Size of Baby: 13 1/2 inches
                       1 1/2 pounds
She is about the size of an average rutabaga.      ---------------}

Right now she is starting to fill out and start to look more like she will when she is born, just very tiny.  Her skin is still wrinkly because she doesn't have much "baby fat" but she is starting gain some gradually.  I also read that she should start making the flip from being breech (feet down) to being head down in order to prepare for delivery.  She better not prepare too well because we are in no way ready for her yet.  She'll be sleeping in the dresser drawer.  What is good is if she was born now she would have a shot at surviving because her lungs are now capable of breathing air.  At this point in time I kind of feel like she's a little diagonal.  I'll feel her moving at my left hip and at my right lung at the same time.  She must be spread eagle like I am when I have the bed to myself.  I can't wait until her feet are away from Ladytown though.  I'm telling you, when she's kicking or doing whatever she does down there, it doesn't feel all that pleasant.
According to my reading, I'm not going to have much to update you on as far as changes go.  Until she's born she'll just be putting on weight and her nervous system is fine tuning itself.

Movement:  Bryan can finally feel her move from the outside, which is really cool.  He randomly puts his hand on my stomach more often or watches it to see if it will jump.  I have to catch it at the right time for him to feel her because she'll get in a few good movements (that can actually be felt) and then she'll swim back down into the middle and squirm around where she's only detectable by me.  I can also hear her move on the heart rate monitor that RH let me borrow.  Still can't hear her damn heartbeat but I can hear when she's doing flips.
I have a new comparison for her movements.  They feel like spasms.  You know, like when your eye will twitch or when a muscle in your arm will jump.  It's like that but stronger.  Her movements are also pretty rhythmic and well timed out.

My Body:  I forgot to weigh myself again.  Funny how when you're gaining weight you conveniently forget to weigh yourself, but when you're losing weight it's the first thing on your mind.  I was 159lbs. last week so I'm going to just assume that I am now at 160lbs.  At this rate I'll be 175lbs. before this whole baby thing is over with.  It's still hard to breathe at times because of my giant casaba melons.  I have to adjust from time to time.  Other than that, I don't really have much to report.

Favorite Foods:

• watermelon
• clam chowder
• chips and queso
• peanuts
• yogurt
• pudding

The Nursery:  My dad, grandma, and brother came down to visit this past Saturday afternoon.  How they can manage a day trip from Maryland is beyond me (that trip can be anywhere from 3.5-6 hours depending on traffic).  We went out to lunch and hung out around the house for a little bit before they headed back home that evening.  The point to that part of my story was that they got to see the "nursery".  I use quotations because all it really is right now is an empty room with sea green walls.  No furniture, no decorations, and when they saw it, it was sporting a drywall ceiling because Bryan was in the middle of de-popcorning.  They also contributed to our first official furniture purchase: her dresser.  After they left to head home we ran out to Babies-R-Us to, we thought, get the dresser.  We think it will start to feel more real once furniture and items start going in there.  But our excitement was quickly defused when we found out that they barely keep any furniture in the actual store and we had to order it from whatever furniture warehouse it's in right now.  Bummer.  Maybe by next week's post I will have a picture to share.  Until then you just get Bryan getting ready to paint the ceiling.

We're going to paint these some color - haven't decided what

25 weeks

24 weeks (picture)

6 months - 24 weeks

I'm glad that the blogger's blog that I had last week is long gone.  We had a busy family weekend and chose her name, finally!  Bryan is now preparing to de-popcorn the ceiling in the nursery, which I'm sure he's super excited about.  I offered to start de-popcorning while he was at work since I am home by 11:30 but he told me not to worry about it.  So instead I'm on the couch watching last night's DVR'd shows: The Secret Life, Switched at Birth, and Design Star.  Oh, and blogging.  In a few minutes I'm going to fold my first load of tiny clothes!  Let me be excited about it now because I'm sure that when she's here I'm not going to be singing the same tune.  I hate folding laundry.  I think I have decided that laundry is the WORST household chore.  Not the doing of the laundry, but the folding and putting away of it.  Anyway, on with this week's statistics:


Time Left: 16 weeks or 112 days



Baby's Name: Harper Grace  :)


Size of Baby:  She is the size of corn on the cob (about a foot long - again, I have to ask is corn on the cob 12 inches? I guess it depends).  I still have no desire to eat corn on the cob even though it's one of my summertime favorites.  My baby ticker above says that she's the size of a papaya, which is a delicious alternative to corn.  She should be about 1.5 lbs at this point.  At least some of those pounds are going to her and not to my ass.  Her lungs are beginning to develop branches and she's still breathing in her own pee (ack).  She also still has very thin, see-through skin which should start to change soon.  


My Body: I know that you're sick of hearing this but... the boobs have got to go.  I thought that I was having trouble breathing because she is starting to grow up into my lung area but I was wrong.  I discovered this weekend that the weight of my boobs is crushing my chest therefore making it hard for me to breathe in certain positions.  Bryan wants me to weigh them on my scale.  I'm going to do it because I'm that damn curious.  I'll post my findings later on.  Other than that, nothing unusual is going on with me.  I go for a glucose test on the 15th to make sure that I don't have gestational diabetes.  When I asked about the test my nurse said that it was like drinking Jungle Juice.  I love the fact that everyone in my doctor's office is younger.  I'm sure that the glucose test cannot be as miserable as the Lactose Tolerance test that I had to take a few years ago.  Misery.


Total Weight Gain: Of course I forgot to weigh myself this morning.  I'm not going to do it now because I just ate lunch and had a glass of milk.  Don't plan on adding extra poundage to the count.  I'm going to guess that I'm up 19 lbs. bringing me to a grand total of 159lbs. with a starting weight of 140lbs.  Hopefully I'll remember to weigh myself tomorrow morning.
While on the subject of weight gain someone at work, who I don't know, asked when I was due today.  I guess you really CAN tell that I'm pregnant and not just a fatty.  She took me off guard by asking.  I kind of thought that I may have still been in the, "Is she pregnant or just fat?" stage.  I'm glad that I'm not.


Movement: All the time now.  Not to where she keeps me up at night or distracts me, but I definitely feel her a lot more.  Bryan finally felt her moving from the outside last night!  He was so excited!!  He then wanted to know what it was like to be pregnant.  I didn't really know what to say since I haven't had the stereotypical pregnancy.  I just told him what I've been saying all along.  I feel her moving, which is weird, I have gained a bunch of weight, my clothes don't fit, my boobs are huge, and I have trouble breathing sometimes.  Other than that, I feel completely like I always do.



Favorite Foods:

• Watermelon - I need to go get another one actually.
• Yoplait Whips (frozen)
• Pudding
• Ice cream 

Life in General:
I can't believe that she will be here in just 3 months.  Where the hell does the time go?  I guess it goes where it always does when you're a teacher in the summertime.  I seriously need to hit the beach more in August.  I have only gone a handful of times, but it's just been so damn hot!  It's so hot that the glue that holds the rubber seal around the trunk in Bryan's car is melting!  He's had that car for four years... nothing has ever melted.
Bryan has also started de-popcorning the ceiling in the nursery.  I know I mentioned that earlier in the post, but it's now actually started.  It's going to be nice when we get some furniture in there to start making it look more like a room.  I am being a major cheap-o and going to AC Moore every day this week to buy letters to make Harper's name on the wall.  I have a 50% off coupon but can only use it on one item.  I got the H today.  Such a loser, I know, but I'll be saving $6 in the end. 


Eh, I did a lot of blogging this week so I think it's okay to cut this shorter than normal.  I feel rambling coming on if I don't just end this.

**Both photo attempts came back with blurry results.  Will try again tomorrow**