You Know You're Pregnant When...

...the thought of leaving your newborn to come back to work has you in a mess of tears....and you're only 5 mos pregnant. Ugh.

My boss has been asking me what my plans were & if I wanted to start maternity leave before my due date, or just work up until, etc etc. Obviously she has to plan a substitute in my place while I'm gone... She doesn't know the laws verbatim...she's the President of the company, not an HR Manager. That said, she had me look up some info online today & I was sad to find that VERY small businesses  (aka, my office) can only take 6 weeks off according to the Paid Family Leave Act in CA.  There are a couple of other options to get more time off, but both require you to have more employees. The only other option I have is to take some PTO, but I don't have a ton since I used it for my honeymoon/wedding back in September.

I'm not trying to be negative nelly, I'm certainly blessed to have my Mom & Dad very close by, as well as a husband who doesn't work the same exact schedule, so we'll make it work once I come back from mat leave, but the thought of leaving a 6-7 week old just kills me.  I have no idea how women do it...the ones that have no other choice than to put a newborn in childcare.  Sniff.

I'm pretty sure my boss will allow me to take a week or more extra off, as she's always been super accommodating, but until she says those words....Plus, we're super slow in Nov/Dec anyways.

*Update: I haven't even finished this post & she's already emailed me to say she thinks I can take 10 weeks.* We'll see....

On a positive note, I definitely popped these last two weeks. When I thought I was showing in the beginning, I wasn't. Well maybe I was just a bit, but to most people it looked like nothing. I have always had a super flat stomach, so any bit of pooch was showing to me.  Here are some belly shot comparisons. And I know, I'm only going to get bigger. EEEEEK!

13 - ish weeks

15 - ish weeks

20 weeks & 4 days, aka TODAY.

Hoping these will be fun to look back on.  Keep ya posted on the maternity leave.

XOXO J

Pregnancy: The Good & The WTF?!

Boy it's been awhile since I have posted over here.  I have had the urge to post about random pregnancy stuff, but somehow it felt criminal considering my last few posts (quite some time ago) were about alcohol & crass subjects. But hey, why change just because I'm pregnant. I wouldn't be the real me if I created a fluffy pregnancy blog, decorated with pretty birds & light-hearted posts, would I? Nah.

Today I'm 18 weeks & 4 days pregnant. According to BabyCenter.com, my little dude or dudette is the length of medium bell pepper. WOW. Even though I'm almost half way through, it's still hard to believe I'm pregnant.

I chose red, cause green bell peppers are not my thing these days.

I have wanted to be pregnant as far back as I can remember, & I always LOVED newborns.  I've always been fascinated with the whole process & felt the urge to be a Mom very early on. Clearly I wasn't dumb enough to get knocked up at 15, or 18....I knew/dreamed it would happen one day when I was happily married...which I am.  I've been with DG for 7.5 years. We just got married on 9/30/11 & pregnant the 1st week of January. Who knew it could happen on the first go round'. LOL. Well it did, and we feel extremely fortunate that it happened so fast. We may have been a bit in shock, but soon the shock turned to excitement.

That said, I think I will keep posting preggo stuff on this blog, mixed in with the normal random ramblings.  But to kick off the first preggo post, I thought I'd do one of those nifty surveys I have seen other Moms-to-be do:

How far along?  18 weeks, 4 days aka in my Fifth Month or 4.5 months...however you wanna figure it.
Total weight gain/loss?  Gain so far, I believe 6 lbs.
Maternity clothes?  Yes, the jeans have been a must since about 13 weeks.  I have wide hips, so I wasn't able to sling my regular jeans below my belly, because if I lowered them they didn't fit around my hip region...I have an hourglass figure..which is great, but doesn't work for slipping jeans lower.  I'm now realizing I may need to buy some tops since my regular ones are getting too stretched at the bottom.
Stretch marks? None, thank goodness.
Sleep?  Eh. I have always been a side sleeper, but inevitably roll to my back in the middle of the night.  I have been conscious of trying not to roll on my back...which wakes me up a lot, as does my need to pee. SO ANNOYING.
Best moment last week? THINKING I felt a kick. But haven't felt it again...some random flutters, but could have been gas. My Doc said probably closer to 20-22 weeks for first pregnancy.
Movement?  See last question.
Food cravings?  Tomato soup, tuna, spicy/salty foods. Also crave something sweet at night.
Gender? Our big ultrasound is this Thursday, but we aren't finding out. DG is really really wanting it to be a surprise. I alway swore I wanted to wait too, but man it's going to be hard!
Labor signs? None!
Belly button in/out? Still pretty deep. Always been a deep inny.
What I miss: Drinking wine after work.
What I am looking forward to: My Wed cervix check & my Thurs ultrasound...I'm a ball of nerves right now...Praying all is ok with baby.
Milestones: None this week. 

And a few other random things...

Annoying symptoms:

~Constantly growling, gurgling stomach. It doesn't stop after I eat because then it makes noise while it's digesting. So uncomfortable to always have that bottomless pit feeling. Ugh.

~I'm out of breath a lot...after talking, walking up stairs. 

~On a positive note, I have never thrown up, only had mild nausea for a few weeks in the beginning...and yucky food aversions.

Think I'll post some belly progression pics next time around...Until then ;)

XOXO J

I Am In Effing Love With This Chick.

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. This chick is hilare. The End.


;)

XOXO J

I Like Champagne.

I cannot believe it's been (2) months since my last post?!? Ok...I can believe it. You know how it is, the holidays hit and you're thrown into a whirlwind of social engagements, shopping, present wrapping, courtesy nods to fellow commuters, burning shit baking & overall insanity. Well that was me, minus the social engagements.  I work for a very small company, literally just me & my lovely boss K. So needless to say, we didn't have a company X-Mas party...which kinda bummed me out....but she did buy me an iPhone, so I'm willing to overlook it. SWEEEEET.  My HUSBAND (I don't think I'll ever get use to saying that, let alone typing it...so we'll just stick to calling him DG as per usual)  had no desire to attend his company X-Mas party, so that was out too. And let's face it, I don't have TONS of friends, so we didn't get invited to any parties. But all in all, this is ok with me. We're super close to our immediate family & were able to spend lots of time with them and close family friends. Plus there was plenty of champagne, which is always a goody thing, cause I like champagne.....ALOT.

Like me, minus the pug nose & black hair.

I don't just drink champagne during special occasions, I drink it whenever I feel like it...which is usually once a week?!  Seriously, champagne makes any occasion feel special. Feeling crappy cause it's Monday? Have a glass of champagne. Bummed it's only Wednesday, have a glass of champagne. Spending Friday night doing laundry & cleaning the litter box? Have a glass of champagne. I swear, it's a celebration in a glass.  In makes pretty much any situation feel FABULOUS.

I'm not picky either. It doesn't have to be real champagne from the "Champagne" region of France....it can be sparkling wine...as long as it's dry & not too ridiculously sweet.  But even then, I'll probably drink it. Funny really, considering I don't like white wine. Wait, let me rephrase that. I like white wine.....WITH BUBBLES!

How about you? Do you like the bubbly stuff ;) ?

XOXO J

Constipation + PMS + Too Much Food & Alcohol =

.........A Very Unhappy Jen.

Yup that's right, I'm bloated as all get out. Christ, I feel like I ate 5lbs of beans. 

OR 

Turned into Violet.........

 Truthfully, the bloat stems from PMS, lack of poo-ing and too much food & alcohol......at an all inclusive resort. Yes that's right folks, I got married & posted about it HERE.

It was truly an amazing weekend. Our families are from two different worlds....Minnesota & California ;) yet they get along fabulously.  Both of our families are very down to earth, warm & loving people. I grew up here in San Diego with a very small family & DG has a huge family from MN.  I had no idea I'd feel so lucky to have gained a boat load of new relatives.  But I do!

It's funny that now the wedding is over, I feel a hundred times more relaxed.  It's like I have nothing to stress about, nothing to think about....except for that pesky bloat issue of course.

And yes, I'm eating prunes & taking psyllium husk.  Usually that combo works fab, but right now it's taking it's slow ass time, no pun intended.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd update a bit.

Before I go, a friendly reminder that:

Feel Your Bewbs!

XOXO J

I Would Pay Him To Speak Swedish To Me.

I kid you not, I would.

*Fans self*

This is like my own personal porn.



Hope you enjoyed. I sure did.

XOXO J

OUCH!

Earlier this week, Wednesday to be exact, I went in to my Doctor for a physical. Now, I'm one of those people that only goes to the Doctor if I have an "issue"...a bad cough that just won't go away, a bout of eczema, an injury.... Don't get me wrong, I see my gynecologist every year, but I haven't gone for an overall physical since around 2004. So needless to say, I figured it was about time. 

I did the standard blood work the week before & was a little nervous...it's in my nature to be a nervous nelly.  Anyways, it turns out all my levels were fine....EXCEPT my cholesterol!  It was a "bit" high.  The my good fat (HDL) was good, but my bad fat (LDL) was a little higher than she'd like to see. I was sort of floored. Now if any of you know me, I'm not an unhealthy person...in that I eat pretty well & exercise.  I asked the Doc what it could be and she asked me the following questions:

1. Do you eat a lot of red meat? No, maybe once or twice a month.
2. Do you eat a lot of fried food? Definitely not.
3. Do you eat a lot of high fat dairy? Um...I drink non fat milk...
4. Ok...do you eat lots of cheese? YES!

She laughed and said she used to come home from work and eat almost a block of cheddar cheese & crackers while she watched her Soaps. I laughed too & said that cheese is my biggest vice.  I eat it multiple times a day if I can. 

She said mayo and sour cream are also  huge cholesterol culprits...and I love both. It's not that I wasn't aware that cheese, mayo & sour cream aren't good for you, but I think I just didn't realize exactly how much I was consuming. She said if my good fat had been low, she'd be more worried, but basically just said I should cut down on those products a bit.  SIGH............

After our talk about my blood work, she looked at all my moles [I hate that word with a passion] and freckles and said they all looked fine, phew!  Then it was time to tell me that I needed a whooping cough vaccine. I knew it would come up, seeing as my Sister just had one.  She mentioned since I was 6 yrs out on my tetanus, that she'd include that too. Soooo, I got a TDAP, which is a Tetanus/Whooping Cough/Diphtheria combo. Fabulous. I know tetanus shots tend to hurt, and ES ended up being really sore and running a fever from her TDAP shot....I wasn't thrilled.

If only this bitch knew how bad her arm is going to hurt...

So yes, the shot stung. And yes it was a bit sore all day yesterday. But by the evening, it was killing me. When I went to get in to bed I had a split second memory lapse and went to lay on my left side as per usual...

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!

That hurt like a bitch! Holy sh*t it was bad.  I ended up crying for about 2 minutes. I literally spent the whole evening trying not to roll over into my favorite sleeping position. Even this morning it feels as though someone treated my left should like a punching bad.

FML.

Apparently they are making most people get them these day...Good luck!

XO J