CMS: Competitive Mom Syndrome.

I don’t know if this is an actual clinical term but it should be, since this is a very real "disorder" that every new mom has whether it is a mild or a full blown case.

As mom’s we have a tendency to want the best for our kids so we always want to make sure that they are progressing normally. Of course, this is definitely a new mom tendency as I’m sure after you have had a few you are confident that at some point your child will learn to walk and talk before they go to college.

I like to think I have a relatively mild case of CMS. I love to see other’s baby pictures, see statuses, and just love talking to other moms about everything babies and their experiences. I’m generally happy for and impressed by most new moms.  But of course, there is always the side of me that looks at another baby and I say to myself, “Wait, how many months is that baby??? Three months and he/she is already rolling over?? What the heck??” And then off I go grabbing my daughter for some tummy time that she absolutely hates so that she doesn’t fall behind.

I’ve gotten a lot better about it. Mainly because I see that Avery has many other strengths. First off, she was very early to smile. She was smiling pretty big even within a few weeks (no, not gassy smiles) but legitimate ear to ear, cheesetastic smiles. She was also great at grabbing at things. She would find your finger and wouldn’t let it go. And of course, the continuous rapid growth of her hair is a focal point when I bring her out in the world. Out of all of Avery’s great strengths, I think her ability to grow an immense amount of hair is one that gets her the most attention.

With that being said, she hates, hates, hates to be on her stomach and therefore has not started rolling over yet. Not back to front, front to back, nothing. I assume that she will at some point roll over so I’m not stressing just yet.

Some mom’s may think that this is no big deal that Avery hasn’t rolled yet, and they are right. But I'm a mom and I get to worry now no matter how big or small. And I'll probably still compare Avery and myself against other mom's and babies for a few more months. Which brings me to this.... here are the top 3 things that I think that most mom’s are the most competitive about during the first few months and the things that I'm finally realizing doesn't matter as much as it used to. What do you think?

1. Breastfeeding. Totally one of the most competitive topics I think surrounding motherhood. How much are you producing? How long will you be doing it for? How much do you have stored? I, of course, have failed miserably. Not producing, not doing it, nada stored. Oh well.
2. Post baby body. How much have you lost? How quickly did you lose it? Do you fit in your pre preggo pants? I’ve lost 24lbs, took me 3 months, still rocking my maternity jeans. Post baby body is totally not a priority of mine. Spending time with Avery has trumped going to the gym and obsessing about weight. I’ll get back to where I need to be, on my time.
3. Sleeping habits: How long does your baby sleep? Sleeping in nursery or your room? And of course the question of all time, Is your baby sleeping through the night? Avery sleeps only a few hours throughout the day (she literally doesn’t want to miss a thing), she still sleeps in our room, and NO, she is not sleeping through the night. Avery wakes up about once a night. I don’t mind her waking up in the middle of the night if it’s just once. It’s still tough stuff to do a 2am feeding but during my late nights I can create fun  and somewhat creepy gems like this…

Alright, so maybe it does get easier….

I really, really, really wanted to believe people when they said that once 12 weeks rolled around, things would get easier. I just didn’t believe a single one of them. Probably because those were the same people that told me that giving birth, “wasn’t that bad” or the ones that told me that “breastfeeding will get easier.” Despite being misled in the past, they were absolutely correct.

I knew things couldn’t get much worse. The first 6 weeks were pretty tough. Not because we had a bad baby but because I was trying so hard to breastfeed and beating myself up for supplementing with formula that I was driving myself crazy. I didn’t even leave the house for a month because if I did, I thought I was being a bad mom and should have been home breastfeeding or pumping. But finally, at 6 weeks when I came to terms that my boobs couldn’t even produce enough milk to feed a small ant, things started to get that much easier.

Sure we had our issues with Avery from weeks 6-8. Not because she was being bad or crying for no reason but because switching from breastfeeding to formula is tough on a babies tummy and she had some issues. Constipation, acid reflux, gas, you name it. And though we are still dealing with these from time to time. She has to be one of the happiest babies you ever did see and it just took 12 long weeks to see that.

I like to think I’m an open book and an honest person. I would never tell someone that things are going great when they aren’t. So believe me, the fact that I’m finally saying that things have gotten better, I’m telling you the truth. I’m not sitting here bragging that I have an amazing baby, that I’m a great mom, and everything is roses now. What I am saying is that not matter what or how good or “bad” your baby is, things do get easier. It may be at 12 weeks, it may be at 6 months. But regardless, every week is that much better.

Avery doesn’t have a pediatrician’s appointment until January for her fourth month so we had to make an attempt to weigh and measure her ourselves. She is currently 11lbs, woohoo!! And measuring 23 inches in length and about 15 inches for her head. I’m pretty sure I didn’t measure her head correctly so if her head grows 5 inches within the next month, it’s my bad.

As for me, I’ve lost 3 more pounds and less than 5lbs away from seeing the 130’s again. I have definitely come a long way and even though I’m rocking the maternity pants still, I’m proud that I’m still trying despite my rough start. I’m not posting a picture because I literally look exactly the same as last month but I’ll post one for her 4^th month when hopefully I look a little bit different via awkward mirror photo.

To conclude, here are some highlights of Avery’s 3^rd month.

1. She is now giggling!!! It is absolutely amazing and adorable.
2. She is letting me shower, cook and do something’s around the house while she entertains herself and doesn’t cry.
3. She has found her thumb and hates her pacifier, yup, we’re screwed.
4. She is only getting up once a night usually. This is HUGE for us.

Lastly..

5. Her upper body strength is getting so much better that she almost threw herself off the couch ( I caught her, thank the lord) while I was taking these 3 month pictures. J

One month, one pound…

How hard is it to lose baby weight? I mean seriously girls.  I lost 20lbs in less than 2 weeks. I totally got this!! Yeah, RIGHT!

I did sincerely lose 20lbs in less than 2 weeks. I lost so much weight that our pediatrician told me that this was the cause of my lack of milk supply and that I would need to start eating 3000 to 3500 calories a day!!!! Are you kidding?? So as a first time panicked mom I went home and ate as many oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (oatmeal is supposed to increase milk supply) as my doughy tummy could possibly handle. After doing this for another week while continuing to breast feed I actually went up a couple of pounds. Of course, I never even came close to consuming 3000 let alone 3500 calories but I ate a lot more than I normally would.

So now here I am, 2 months post partum and lost only a single pound this month so I’m currently 147. Basically the same weight I was last month before I gained weight due to some terrible advice. And as a side note, the excessive eating did not help and I dried up like “Tan Mom’s” face. So after 6 weeks of breastfeeding I ran dry which also put my weight lose at a screeching halt. The good news is, my midwife approved me to start exercising so hopefully moving my body a bit may help with the slim down process.

With all this being said. I GET IT. It’s tough to be a new mom and attempt to shrink down to your pre-preggo size when you have a newborn crying, you are exhausted and dinner consists of either frozen foods or take out. And it’s fall so bring on the fatty pumpkin lattes, delicious pumpkin beers and of course all the baked goods that this time has to offer.  

Bottom line, don’t be so quick to criticize a mom for not losing all her pre-preggo weight within the first year. Most of us are not wealthy actresses and models that have someone to care for our babies while we go exercise and have a cook prepare the meals. However,  I haven’t given up on my attempts and I hope now with the exercise blessing from my midwife I can get a move on but I’m going to stop beating myself up and enjoy my beautiful baby, our new life and my flabby belly that made it all happen.

Stay tuned for Avery’s status on Tuesday after we visit the pediatrician. J

Before: 9 Months

After: 8 weeks postpartum

“You don’t understand since you don’t have kids…”

When people used to say this to me it made me absolutely cringe. That and the other variations, “just wait until you have kids” “You don’t have kids yet so you dot get it” and any other way people like to phrase it to get the same message across. I think it got under my skin because when people say this to others, it almost seems like they know better than you, you are too immature to understand and that you are beneath them in some way. That’s kind of how a lot of pregnant women take it. I found it even more annoying because I did know a lot about kids already and felt that just the fact that I knew how to change diapers, burp a baby, quiet a baby, and feed a baby that I already had a leg up on a lot of moms. So, because of how I felt when people said this to me, I’ve sworn never to say it to any pregnant or non-pregnant women. HOWEVER, with that being said, there are some things that have happened that I truly would not have understood until I became a mom and experienced it for myself. Here are some things that have happened to me and how I now see things differently.

1. I took Avery to a tailor because I had to get my dress fitted for my sister’s wedding since I’m an idiot and decided to get one that I could fit into 9 months pregnant. That’s how much confidence I had in my weight losing abilities. Avery was sound a sleep and it was the perfect time to go in. When I went in, there was an old man and his granddaughter in there. He was SCREAMING at the top of his lungs a story. I thought for sure that when he saw there was a sleeping baby in the car seat that he’d take it down a couple of notches. Not even a little bit. He kept yapping away about I don’t know what as I was too busy cringing and staring at Avery praying that she wouldn’t wake up because I still had to get into the dress to have it sized. Thank god, she didn’t flinch. This made me think to myself, “I wonder if I ever lowered my voice when a women with a newborn was near me” and I think the answer is “probably not.” So this is one of those times that unless you are a parent, you really don’t realize the window of opportunity you have to get things done is so small and by people screaming near you and waking up your baby can really throw off your entire day!
2. Another eye opening experience was my magical adventure to Target. Yes, I was one of those people that heard a crying baby and would shoot a glare over to the mom and thought to myself “can’t you keep your child quiet.” I mean how hard could it be to keep a baby quiet if they are fed and changed. Whelp, it can be real hard. I learned this first hand. I got up in the morning, showered; got Avery bathed, put on an adorable outfit and headed out the door to go to Target! This wasn’t our first adventure out in the world. Every other time she would just sleep through our trips to Kohls and Hannaford so no big deal that we drove 30 minutes over to Target. I’m sure she will just sleep soundly like normal. Um, nope. After having to fight through a windstorm getting into the store I look down and see Avery starting to wake up so I grabbed the pacifier just in case (side note: Avery doesn’t love her pacifier but sometimes it comes in handy) and was prepared for her to scream. Like I had anticipated, she was off screaming. Of course, today was the day that she was not having the pacifier. I swooshed, I rocked, and I jiggled. I did everything in my power to get her to stop crying. She had just eaten and was just changed so what could possibly be wrong!? As the screams got louder, I spun around to head to the car but not before I got to see the ugly stares from fellow patrons as I exited the building. Once in the car, I fed her which calmed her down a bit and I probably could have gone back in, but I chickened out. I took my daughter the 30 minutes back home without anything to show for except a Starbucks coffee I grabbed on the way back since I didn’t need to leave the car to get it. I felt completely defeated and has made me very cautious going back out into the world.

So despite the fact that these kinds of things happen to every mom one time or another, it doesn’t make it any easier when you go through it yourself. And yes, you are right, I probably wouldn’t have understood how something like that would suck until I experienced it myself even if I was told that it would happen. So, I’m not going to tell the first time mom’s out there that you don’t understand, because you probably do understand exactly how something like that would be super embarrassing. All I’m going to say is enjoy your time of just getting up and going to stores and looking around with no care in the world because at one point, this will absolutely happen to you. Don’t be embarrassed and give the dirty looks right back to those cocky girls without babies, because one day they will have a Target meltdown with their newborns as well.

In all seriousness..how can I ever really bad mad at this face...

Our First Month!

Today was Avery’s one month appointment. I love going to the pediatrician. Yes, getting a newborn ready and out the door is a pain in the butt sometimes because you really need to plan eating and changing at just the right time so that when you do arrive your baby doesn’t have a meltdown for one reason or another. Despite that, I love to see them because it’s nice to be constantly reassured that your baby is fine and not to worry so much. I am worrier and google is my best and worst friend. Even during pregnancy I was  huge worrier so of course now that she is outside my body I’m going to worry even more.  

Avery’s issues so far have been, losing too much weight, yeast under the arm pits, diaper rash, mass amounts of spit up and now recently constipation. These are all SO not a big deal. But when it happens, it really screws up your baby’s and as a result, your day pretty nicely.  We’ve been lucky that it has all been minor issues and most of them have gone away. So when I went to the pediatrician today they said she looked awesome and gave us Avery’s stats for the first month...

Basically she is a peanut for her age...

She weights 7lbs 9oz and is the 15^th percentile (meaning only 15% of babies are smaller than her)

Her height is 20 inches and is in the 20^th percentile

Her head is 13 3/4in and is in the 12^th percentile.

So there you have it. Our baby is still a very small baby so I’m working overtime to get her as chunky as possible so that she can fit into some of these adorable outfits. And let’s face it, everyone loves a chunky baby.

To end the entry, I wanted to share some things I have learned about being a mom this past month and what I’ve learned about myself. Hopefully some mamas out there can relate.

1. Eating and sleeping are no longer necessary. But if you had to choose, sleeping will always win.
2. Speaking of sleeping, if you get 3-4 hours in a row, then congratulations, you have officially received a full night’s sleep. You are one of the lucky ones.
3. Eating is officially a game. You either need to eat as fast as you can before the little one wakes up, or learn how to eat one handed real quick.
4. People care more about how you are feeding your child then how your child is actually doing. Even though I’m pumping, formula and breastfeeding, I will still be judged. And if you are solely formula feeding, get ready for some undeserved scrutiny. This usually comes from the most unlikely people ever, those that never had an issue with breastfeeding and men.
5. I checked to make sure Avery was breathing at least 20 times a night during the first week. She was.
6. You never thought you could get so excited about poop in your babies diaper.
7. Boobs are no longer a private body part and you don’t even care.
8. Sleeping when the baby sleeps is good in theory
9. Spit up or drool on your shirt is no big deal. If it dries quick or is not that much then the shirt is still good to wear
10. You truly forget about your life before the baby. Everything is now about them. Being selfish is no longer an option and you end up being OK with that. J

 Also, check out the new pages I’ve added to track how both Avery and I are doing.

Happy one month Ms. Avery!!

Boobs, Boobs Boobs...

From the beginning I said that I wanted to breastfeed Avery. Simple as that. I did all the right things. I went to classes, bought my breast pump with all the bells and whistles, got the books, got the milk promoting tea, literally everything to make sure that I could breastfeed Avery. I thought that with all this preparation that nothing could go wrong.

The first two weeks of Avery’s existence I breastfed exclusively. We went to the pediatrician the first week and found out she was losing weight. This is typical for a newborn baby so we weren’t too worried but we had to go back. At our second visit we found out she lost even more weight. Considering my little peanut was only 6lbs 15.5oz upon arrival, it was very scary to find out that she lost almost a pound! I had no idea what was going on.

Our pediatrician sent us over to a lactation consultant to find out what was up. Turns out my little diva was pretending to swallow milk but wasn’t actually doing it. They called it a transfer issue and she was actually only getting a ½ oz when by this point she should be eating over 1.5oz-2oz. I felt terrible!! The lactation consultant told me to pump like a mad woman and supplement with formula.

Of course, formula was a bad word in my book. People drive into your head “breast is best” and anything else will ruin my child forever. Of course, I was nervous about giving it to her but again, didn’t want her starving to death. So, we tried it out and I’ve never seen Avery happier. Phew! And after our last pediatrician appointment she has almost gained that entire pound back. We are thrilled.

Now, my entire life revolves around my boobs. I breastfeed and pump almost all day and then supplement with formula. . More poor friends MK and Caler were victims to my day of boobs and had the pleasure of sitting there in my living room while I pumped in front of them for a good 30 minutes. Absolutely no modesty in this house. I’m fairly certain everyone in the neighborhood has seen my boobs as a shirt is really unnecessary at this point since I have it up for most of the day. I'm sure your all itching to come visit now, huh?

Despite my best efforts, my milk supply is extremely low. Of course, let’s add another obstacle in the mix. So I’ve been doing anything and everything in my power to get it up. I’ve eaten Oatmeal, taken vitamins, tea, relaxing, new pump, beer, hummus, pumping every two hours, every freaking thing you can read online. I’m hoping at some point it will kick in before my nipples fall off from the excessive pumping.

Bottom line, breast feeding has been the biggest bummer for me ever. I’m still trying but again, can understand why people switch to formula and would never pass judgment on anyone for doing so. Even with all the amazing advice and support, there is not much more I can do at this point besides sleeping with my pump or start leaving the house with my pump attached to my boobs. If it was possible and not illegal, I’d probably try it. 

If it were only that easy...

She has arrived!!!

For those of you unaware, the reason for my hiatus is due to the fact that our daughter Avery was born!! She was born on August 26^th at 9:50pm weighing 6lbs 15ozs and 19inches long.

This is the first time since she was born where I have received more than 4 hours of sleep and had enough energy to dust off the computer and start typing again.

I figured I’d bore you all with my long and drawn out birth story. Mainly because labor/delivery and everything about it is not what you see on TV AT ALL. Labor doesn’t come on instantly right when your water breaks and you usually don’t start pushing right when you get to the hospital. I know, it’s a bummer. So let me break down my experience for you.

Saturday August 25^th Jon and I ran a bunch of errands and made an insane Whole Foods trip (I say insane because we dropped more money than what I made in a week working three jobs in Keene, though that’s not saying much) in order to prepare for Avery’s arrival as her due date of 9/4 was drawing near. That evening we had dinner with his parent’s as Jon and his dad set up Avery’s crib.

The entire night I was feeling pretty well but my stomach just felt heavy and I had a lot of pressure in the bottom of my pelvis. I just assumed it’s because of the immense amount of weight I had gained during the pregnancy and my non existent stomach muscles could no longer bare that weight.

As Jon and I laid in bed that night I told him my lower back was hurting (assuming this was also due to my ever growing body mass) and if he could massage it for a bit. At this point in the pregnancy I had not asked for much. I think I squeezed one foot massage and this lower back massage out of my husband. Looking back I would have maybe asked for a few more. This pregnancy was way too easy on him. Next time around I’ll remember that. After my massage I passed out pretty much instantly.

Next morning around 6am I woke up suddenly with the worst Charlie Horse in the entire world. I jumped around like an idiot in the bedroom, managing not to wake up my husband, and ran to the living room to lie on the couch. Not sure if this started up my labor but at this point, I felt some cramps in my lower stomach. I thought that there is no way these are contractions because this is my first pregnancy and I’d be a week early which normally doesn’t happen. Well, thank you Red Raspberry Leaf Tea as this is exactly what they were. The best way to describe a contraction is a period cramp. At first they are just fun and games as you smile and breathe a little bit through each one. They gradually become the feeling of someone cutting your stomach open with a dull butter knife and pulling out your insides but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I called my mom and let her know what was happening and she was awesome enough to drop everything, and come up to Maine. I went to the bedroom to let Jon know what was happening at around 8am  and to tell him that my contractions were about 20 minutes apart. We laid in bed for a bit talking and getting excited for what was happening.

I’m going to fast forward as from about 6am until almost 12pm was just a bunch of contractions and walking around breathing and attempting to smile through all of them. Yes, I did manage to shower, shave and put on makeup as that's how neurotic I am and labor wasn't going to screw up my morning routine. At around noon my mom was in Maine and we sat down out on the patio to have a nice lunch that Jon made for us. At this point I started to get back contractions. I have heard about this but HOLY SHIT. I never thought they would actually hurt as bad as they did. I just kept walking around deeply breathing hoping that I wouldn’t pass out from the pain. Yes, normal people would probably go to the hospital at this point but I’ve heard horror stories of people going to the hospital early and being sent home and since our hospital is about 45 minutes away I said no flipping way we are making two trips. I’d rather birth Avery in the car on the way there then have to play the back and forth game and gas is way too expensive at the moment... So, my awesome husband just kept calling the midwife to let her know of my status. She said that it was probably false labor and to hang tight. Whelp, at around 2pm my water broke.  Jon didn’t believe me since I told him it was just a trickle. He just assumed it was me peeing my pants as that was a daily incident in the Levesque house hold. I knew that since it wasn’t accompanied by a sneeze that it was definitely my water breaking.

At this point, we called the midwife and decided to head in to the hospital. The way to the hospital sucked. My contractions were getting more intense and all I could do was grab the “Oh Shit Handle” and pray that she stay put until we made it. Once we got to the hospital I hobbled my butt up in to the triage room where they checked to see how far I was. They said I was 5cm dilated. I thought, “Sweet, half way there.” As most of you may know, 10 cm is fully dilated and when they tell you to push. But I knew that 8cm was when you started to feel the most pain and I was truly hoping that I had already passed that hurdle. Not so much.

We were escorted to our room where I changed into my bathing suit so that I could jump in the shower to see if that would help my labor pains. Well, I’m going to be honest, for me, nothing really “helped” my labor pains. I wanted to literally die. I just kept breathing and holding on to whatever was near me for dear life. I’m going to throw out there that I suck at dealing with pain, so maybe this isn’t too bad for most people but for me, this was my own personal hell.

When my midwife came in she checked me and told me that I was dilated 6cm. Are you flipping kidding me!? I made it only 1 cm and felt that much pain. I seriously wanted to just lay down and forfeit. Side note, everyone in that room was told not to mention or even utter the word “epidural” in my presence. Everyone received the birth plan which was for me to give birth in the tub naturally. If I received an epidural, I would have not been able to move and that scared me more than anything so I didn’t even think about asking, at least at this moment.

Finally they told me that I could get into the birthing tub. While in the tub I went through the transition period which is literally the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. Not only did I have contractions in my stomach but back contractions at the same time. I hung on to the back of that tub and wanted to throw myself over it, hoping to break something in order to not feel this pain. At this point, I asked my midwife if she could give me a sterile water injection in the back to help with the back contractions. This is a midwifery holistic hippie kind of practice so I thought, why not? If it’s going to help the back pain then maybe I should try it. WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE!!! Two nurses have to do the injections as apparently it is that painful that if they did it one at a time the patient wouldn’t be able to handle it since they have to give four. GOOD TO KNOW AFTER THE FACT! I literally screamed the most horrific scream there ever was and probably scared the shit out of every pregnant woman in that hospital. I would not recommend anyone do that ever. Not only did it not take away my pain but it was ]as painful as labor itself.

Fast forward. After telling the entire room that I couldn’t do it any longer and staring my poor husband in the eyes, begging him to make it stop, my midwife gave me an insane pep talk and told me that I’m way too far along to do anything and that it was time to push.

Pushing is an entirely different kind of pain. Many people told me its more “pressure” than “pain.” Well, I don’t know what they are smoking but it’s just as much pain if not more in just a different area of the body. I actively pushed for about an hour. Not so bad for a first time mom. I think the main thing I was scared about, besides having a human life come out of me, was having a bowel movement in the tub while 5 people watched it float around. This did not happen and I’m completely shocked as that’s just something that would normally happen to me. But before I knew it, she was out before anything else could come out of me. She was the littlest, cutest, hairiest baby you ever did see. I was so happy. As she laid on my chest I just counted all her fingers and toes and was ecstatic that they were all accounted for.

I had to get out of the tub quickly as I had to birth the placenta which is something you can’t do in the water... So, not at all disgusting and awkward, had to get out of the tub, waddle my butt to the near by bed to take care of that. This wasn’t as bad as I thought, but then again after giving birth naturally, nothing is that bad anymore.

All in all, she is beautiful, healthy, has an insane amount of hair and we are so thankful. The hospital was awesome, my mom and husband were amazing. And I’m just so happy that I was able to do it the way I wanted even though after going through it I will pass no judgment on anyone that gets an epidural, narcotics, whatever it is they need to do to get through it. I was lucky enough as a first time mom to labor and deliver in less than 24 hours (red raspberry tea, I’m telling you!!) and with absolutely no complications.  Just heed my warning, DO NOT get sterile water injections. You will live to regret it…

Here is our little nugget. We couldn’t be happier.

So, I cant have a cheeseburger!?

Last night was our last official centering class. We have one more next week but it’s a pot luck kind of a thing on the farm of our midwife (of course our hippie mid wife lives on a farm with horses) so last night was our last class at the hospital.

We rounded out the night with our midwife telling us a labor horror story. This story scared the living crap out of me, not just because of what happened to the woman but the actions in which she took throughout the evening.

Apparently this 300lb woman was at home and her baby’s leg fell out of her vagina. Yes, that actually happens. This is a big deal and an emergency and after the women called the hospital she was instructed to call 911 to get her there ASAP. As the hospital awaits her arrival they get as many doctor’s, midwives, surgeons available to help in this scary situation.

All of them are waiting in the emergency room for an ambulance to pull up with this woman and her baby leg to come in. Well, instead they see this women come in the emergency room with a Big Mac hanging out of her mouth and a McDonald’s bag in her hand. Obviously the ambulance didn’t take her through the drive through so she apparently drove herself, with a baby leg hanging out to McDonald’s and in to the hospital which was apparently very low on her “To-Do” list that evening.  

The staff rushed her in and attempted to prep her for surgery but since she was so large they couldn’t find a vein to put in the pain medication and because she had just consumed a mass quantity of very hard digestible food she was basically a ticking time bomb. If anyone has ever had a C-section, you know they don’t like you eating anything before it, let alone a big Mac, large fry and a shake to boot!!  Any who, long story short, they ended up doing the surgery regardless of her full stomach and both her and baby are now fine. Well, I’m sure that baby is not fine psychologically but I’ll digress.

After this horrific story, since now I keep looking down to make sure there are no baby legs or arms hanging out, I had an awful nightmare last night. Yes, if you know me, you know I’d rather stop being friends with someone than have to listen to their long drawn out dream stories so I’m going to spare you all the details.

Let’s just say my dream consisted of me hoovering down on a cheeseburger, then going into labor and then seeing both of Avery’s legs hanging outside of my body but they can’t do anything to get her out because of mommy’s poor nutritional choices. I woke up at this point so I’m not sure if I led a life of Avery’s legs just hanging out or if she was born safely into this world.

Needless to say, I’m all good now with hearing about labor horror stories. I thought I could handle it but I can’t. So please keep them to yourself until after Avery is born and at that time I’d love to swap stories of pooping on the bed and excruciating/mind numbing pain. Thanks!! 

I’ll have Avery when it’s snowing out????

My cousin Catie and I had a date yesterday to go to a psychic thanks to a Groupon that she had found. I’m starting to understand now why it was such a good Groupon deal.

First off, the psychic hated me because I had no real questions to ask. I don’t have much going on that I’m unsure of.  I have a job, I have a husband, I’m having a child, and we have a house. Am I supposed to ask her, now when is everything going to turn badly? As if I want to know that kind of stuff. However, I did ask her what any impatient pregnant woman would ask and that was “When will my daughter be born?” This very “special” psychic closed her eyes and said, “I’m seeing a lot of snow, yes, a lot of snow” and opens her eyes with a big smile on her face as if she just had an amazing revelation.  

My response, I said as sweetly and as un-sarcastically I could, “ummm, no, she’s due in like 2 weeks.” Thinking back maybe I should take it as a compliment that I don’t look as far along as I am but at the same time I saw the pictures from my baby shower and I know exactly what I look like and do not look like a person any less than 9 months. Not only that but my weeble wobble walk into her office should have been a clear indication as to where I am in this pregnancy. Any who, after I let the cat out of the bag about my due date, I asked again. Her response, “just be patient.” Super, thanks. How intuitive of you.

Since I’m fairly certain the psychic was inaccurate in her initial prediction and Avery will not be 3 months past her due date, I did ask my family to give their best guesses as to when they think Avery will be born, along with how big she will be. I had to make sure to get this out there ASAP as some of the guesses are tomorrow!! I’m all about bets so I need to think of a good prize to give to the person that’s closest in their predictions. I’m thinking I should let them come over and cook me supper the week after Avery is born, or maybe have a fun sleepover and they can share a room with Avery and come get me if it’s something other than a dirty diaper. So many great gift ideas that I’ll need some time to think. I'll probably come up with it mid-labor. But for now, here are their predictions…what are your thoughts???

My Prediction: I have to say I thought it would be tomorrow and I was hoping it would be because we have our last centering session so we will already be at the hospital but I don't think it's time. I'm thinking this instead....
Labor: August 30th
Born: August 31st
Weight: 7lbs 9oz
Length: 22 inches

Jon:
Labor: August 27th 5AM
Born: August 27th 2PM 
Weight: 7 pounds 1 ounce
Length: 20 inches

Aunt (Lesley Jones)

Labor: September 6^th

Born: September 7^th at 4:45pm

Weight: 61bs 2oz

Length: 20 inches

Mother in Law (Ida Levesque)

Labor: September 2^nd

Born: September 2^nd evening

Weight: 7lbs 2 oz

Length: 21 inches

Father in Law (Paul Levesque)

Labor: September 4^th

Born: September 4^th evening

Weight: 6lbs 2oz

Length: 21 inches

Dad (Chuck Mitchell)

Labor: September 3^rd

Born:  September 4^th, 3:30am

Weight: 7lbs 3oz

Length: 17.5”

Sister in Law (Amy McLean)

Labor: August 23rd
Born: August 24th, early morning
Weight 6lbs 7oz
Length: 20 inches

Mom (Ann Mitchell)

Labor: August 31 (The Blue Moon)
Born: September 1st. 1:20AM
Weight: 7lbs 14oz
Length: 19"

Sister (Nay McManus)

Labor-Aug 28th
Born- Aug 28th 10:20pm
Weight- 8lbs. 2oz
Length- 18in

Aunt (Barbara Labrecque)

Labor: Aug 30 2:00am
Born: Aug 30 8:00pm
Weight - 7lbs, 7oz
Length - 19in

Brother in Law (Phil McLean)

Labor: September 2^nd

Born: September 3^rd 2:37am

Weight: 8lbs 3 oz

Length: 20.5 inches

Soon to be brother in law (Jon Evans)

Labor: September 13th
Born: September 13th, 1:13PM
Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz
Length: 20.13"

Brother (Conor Mitchell)

Labor:  September 3^rd
Born:  September 4^th, 7:23 PM
Weight 7 lbs 15 oz
Length 20.1"

Niece (Jen McLean)

Labor: August 23
Born: August 23, 11:58pm
Weight: 8 lbs 7 oz 
Length: 21.4"

Diapers, Onesies and Wipes...Oh My!

What.A.Weekend…it was really amazing!!! My friend’s and family set up an absolutely beautiful surprise baby shower in NH! It was so perfect. My sister told me we were going to go get pedicures and I was super excited to go do that but to my surprise she took me to where she worked, at a church, and had everything set up there!! Even though I still need a pedicure, I will take a room full of my closets friends and family any day. J  Not only that but we received so many presents for Avery!! It’s actually unbelievable the amount of items we got and the fact that I will never need to do laundry due to the plethora of onesies is absolutely fabulous.

That and my sister had asked everyone to bring diapers which so helpful because I’m fairly certain we have enough to get her through at least a good part of the first few months. I couldn’t believe how many people traveled to come to it. I know that most of them came because we actually had my sister’s Bridal Shower and Bachelorette party the same day but we are talking a baby shower that started at 10am and everyone made it!!  It was a crazy and fun day for us all.

Because I’m in complete awe of the amount of onesies, diapers and wipes we received I just had to count…it is insane…

And the totals are!!

Diapers: 758 diapers and 2 diaper cakes

Wipes: 788

Onesies: 113 (not even including what was left to dry at the church or the ones she already has)

Avery is a lucky, lucky little girl to have so many people in her life that already love her. Thank you all again for such a special weekend and your generosity I truly couldn’t ask for anything more and I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures of Avery in all her adorable outfits.

The beautiful cake!!

Diaper Cake from my mom...with pink champagne in the middle for when Avery is born..for me not her...

Adorable favors from my Auntie Barb and Avery's Gaby (Great Auntie Barb)

Last but not least, the creative onesie station my sister put together!!!

Celebrating Being Full-Term with the dropping of Avery

I’ve been waiting for Avery to finally drop!! People say it happens around 35-37 weeks but my little one wanted to make an entrance and so on the official day of me being full term she had decided to drop like the New Years Eve Ball right into my pelvis.

Though I look like I have gained about 15lbs over night, I do feel A LOT better. I can breathe a little bit easier and my acid reflux has been noticeably less frequent. So, even though she was getting me nervous by staying up in my lungs for all this time, I’m ecstatic that she has finally made her way down.

I immediately had to send a text message picture to both my mom and best friend Emy to let them know of her descent. That and  I’ve been sending them the best/biggest and most unflattering pictures throughout the pregnancy so I knew they’d appreciate this little gem. To show how much I’ve gained and how much she has officially dropped I’ve added a Before and After Picture The before picture of me is at 12 weeks right before I announced I was pregnant and the after isfrom Monday when I was officially full term when I shocked the hell out of myself when I looked into the mirror.

I’m glad that I’ve officially made it full term and with minimal issues. So now I will continue stressing the remainder of this week packing the hospital bag and holding out going into labor for just one weekend as my sister’s Bridal and Bachelorette party are this weekend in NH. I already told Avery that her Auntie Nay Nay will not be pleased if my water breaks while we are out and about on the streets of Portsmouth. A woman going in to labor at a bar is not only classy but a huge buzz kill.  

Here I am at 12 weeks when I thought I was getting "FAT" !?!? ugh, to be that fat again...

Now here I am on Monday...."wow"  is all I have to say...My Yoga pants are really getting their workout..

PMS: Pre-Mother Syndrome

I think I’ve gone past “hormonal” and now have moved into a new phase coined by my dad as “PMS: Pre-Mother Syndrome.” I think the difference is that when I was hormonal I could kind of reel it in when I needed to, you know,  out in public and at perfect strangers and save it for my husband and family members. Now, I’m PMSing so much that I can’t even hold back my emotions in front of other people. This is one good reason  I work from home because I would seriously have an “Office Space” moment if anyone even looked at my stapler.

The way I found out that I transitioned from weepy hormonal pregnant woman to a raging PMS bitchy pregnant woman was today when I went to two of the most stressful places I could go to on a Saturday, David’s Bridal and Whole Foods. I can’t even get into Whole Foods right now because that is such a first world problem and I will sound like a complete and utter snob if I start a rant about how I couldn’t get my organic produce in a sufficient amount of time. So, I digress.

David’s Bridal, however, is another story. I stopped there on the way home from our 5 hour baby class. Oddly enough, kept it together during that entire baby class even sitting near the annoying girl that asks questions just to ask questions, (you know the kind)  and then doesn’t listen to the answer. Not annoying at all. I would love to be the nurse in her room during labor. This is neither here nor there. So, after three emails and two phone calls from David’s Bridal basically yelling at me to come get my dress since “they don’t like to keep dresses there for more than 14 days” I figured that I'd head on down there since I would already be in that general direction. When I get there they are re-doing the entire parking lot making me park what seemed at least a half a mile away. This was awesome, especially as I started to have Braxton Hicks contractions during my journey to the store.

When I finally got to DB and went to the desk to ask for my dress the girl at the front collected all my information about myself as well as the bride (my sister) and said “oh, sorry, you aren’t in the system.”  And then tries to help the customer behind me. Ummm, cool. That makes a lot of sense since I ordered my dress here and then it came in as stated by your obnoxious phone calls and emails. When I asked her to check again she had the nerve to give me attitude! Long story short, for most of you that know me, you know that I hate rocking the boat and I don’t normally raise my voice at perfect strangers but this was this DB’s consultant’s unlucky day. After her 3^rd attempt of trying to  find me with no success I yelled, “I am 9 months pregnant, I drove 40 minutes to get here because you told me that it came so I have no idea how I am not possibly in your system.” After scaring the living crap out of this unsuspecting girl a manager made their way over and oddly enough after 10 seconds of checking the system, found me.

I’m not saying that DB is a bad place to go for your wedding needs but this was just not my day and the consultant had the IQ of “Honey Boo-Boo.” So, I’m happy that the day ended well in the sense that I have my dress and I won’t have to put in Avery’s baby book the article of my arrest for assaulting a DB “Consultant” at 9 months pregnant.  

Avery is going to LOVE her nursery :)

I’ve been a wreck this week because now I’m having a tough time sleeping again and I’m completely and utterly hormonal. I broke down into tears yesterday on the couch for no real good reason except that I feel completely overwhelmed by the fact that we have less than month to go before Avery gets here.

Jon found me on the couch and made a great effort to soothe me and to tell me everything was going to be “OK” and then very sweetly said “I thought being hormonal was only in the first trimester.” I sweetly replied back “ you’ve been so lucky that it hasn’t been the entire time.” He knew that that was the best place to end the conversation.

He did make me feel better for that moment in time but it’s really tough not to feel  completely helpless and overwhelmed. A month before my wedding I was basically done not only planning it but having everything organized and ready to go. I had everything together and wasn’t stressed AT ALL! I have less than month before our CHILD gets here and I haven’t bought anything except for a breast pump and that’s not even here just yet. I’m not sure why I felt it necessary to plan to the “T” my wedding months in advance but am deciding to wing it with our first born child.

We have had many generous gifts purchased off of our registry but they just haven’t made it to us yet so I’m at a little bit of a stand still. I’m so grateful people have been buying us things for Avery because we definitely need the help. So I’m patiently waiting and hoping that Babies R Us will get a move on it.

I am happy that I did go to the BetterCT show (I know I’ve said this before and Jon just loves that I keep bringing this up) but it’s so true. We at least have a bassinet to put Avery in so she doesn’t have to sleep in our sock drawer for the first few months of her life. So I think between the Bassinet, a few bibs and diapers she should be good to go. At least I’m hoping that should suffice since that’s all she’s going to be getting if she comes earlier than expected.

With that being said, I thought I’d share her nursery so you can really see what I’m talking about and how evil of a mother that I am for not having her name in letters on the wall or decals of trees with leaves blowing in the wind..

 I think kids these days have way too much stuff anyway…J

Celebrating the start of my 9th month with Mr. Braxton Hicks

I can’t believe that I’m 9 months pregnant. I never really thought the day would come but it has been a surprisingly speedy pregnancy with all things considering.

I’ve felt pretty well the past week or so. I’m very tired but I’m sleeping a lot better thanks to ice cream, one glass of milk and a piece of my chocolate calcium supplement right before bed. With this wonderful cocktail of dairy products I’m finding that I’m only getting up once in the middle of the night to use the restroom and then back to bed I go. So, I know I’m a complainer but in retrospect it hasn’t been too bad.

Even today I’ve had my first run in with some Braxton Hicks Contractions. I’ve never had these before but knew what they were right away from my obsessive checking of mommy blogs and Google searches. These again weren’t as bad as originally anticipated. My stomach just seemed to tighten up and then that was it. After about an hour or so of random spurts of tightness it kind of faded off leaving me feeling as though I did some ab workouts (at least I think I remember ab workouts feeling that way) and that’s really it. I think the reason for the contractions may have to do with me starting to drink some Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. This was something that I read on the mommy blogs and it turns out that a lot of people have heard of this before. I think people are keeping this little gem a secret because it was the first I heard about it.  Apparently if you drink this tea in your third trimester it helps strengthen your uterus and make contractions a lot easier. I’m all about a strong uterus and easier contractions so I’m drinking this about twice a day as I’m up for anything that can help assist with my plans of a “natural birth.” 

Besides the small trials and tribulations I’m very excited that things are going well still and I only have 4 weeks left until we meet our little girl. I know these 4 weeks will be the most difficult but as long as Gifford’s Ice Cream doesn’t go out of business I think I can do it.

So I give to you my 9^th month (36 week) photo. Hubby is out mowing the lawn so please excuse the creepy self photo and empty closet as I put most of my clothing in storage since I’ve outgrown the majority of my pre-pregnancy clothes the day I found out I was pregnant. 

Woah, Nelly...

I know I’m not “FAT” just “Pregnant” which is what everyone says to me when I start complaining about how big I have gotten. And even though I don’t look like it, I feel like the mother in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and if the house started to burn down you may as well just keep me in it or rent a fork lift to attempt to get me out. At least that is how I’m feeling at this moment in time.

I think what adds to this is the fact that I’m almost the same weight as my husband. Usually, he has a good 35-45lbs on me but not at this moment. Only a mere 9lbs separates my weight from his. I didn’t realize this until he jumped on the scale this morning and he was happy with the number that appeared. I almost fainted slash cried seeing this. He has been really good throughout this pregnancy and has not gained any weight which I know some guys do. I have mixed emotions about this now. Originally I was proud of him and happy that he did not jump on the ice cream train as much as I did. However, it would be nice of him to gain maybe 5lbs so at least we are out of the same range!

Even though I have 4 weeks left to go and thought that I don’t have too much more weight to gain, my loving brother in law told me that this is just the beginning and I should expect my body to change drastically in the next 4 weeks. He did follow up by saying that I looked as though I was only 6 months pregnant currently but continued to tell me how my belly will drop even more within the next few weeks. Perfect. I didn’t feel like having shaved legs for the month of August anyway.

I know this will all be worth it in the end but I am so, so ready to be able to bend down without being winded and feeling as though the acid in my belly is about to shoot through my nose. A girl can dream cant she? 

Pregnancy Insomnia

Pregnancy Insomnia is going to be the end of me. I have not slept through an entire night in over a week and I’m about to lose it. I was basically bragging for weeks that being pregnant hasn’t made me lose any sleep at all because my size hasn’t caused any discomfort. HOWEVER, everything else is now causing me discomfort.

Sure I found a nice little cure for my acid reflux but unless I’m popping those bad boys every few hours my acid reflux takes over and so I’m eating chocolate during all hours of the night to help me sleep but can only take a certain amount as you can potentially get somewhat sick from over eating those chocolate little goodies.  Not only that but now I’m peeing every other hour. Granted I drink more water than anyone I know and should probably ease up on that but I can’t seem to stop and therefore I’m trying to figure out if I can fit a nice little twin size mattress in our bathroom.

And if I haven’t complained enough, I’m also suffering from a head cold that I seemed to contract during our stay at Martha’s Vineyard over the past week.  So between my throat being on fire from acid reflux and peeing constantly, I also get to deal with blowing my nose and a headache throughout the entire evening.

Needless to say, I’m flipping cranky and my poor husband has been an innocent by standard in this mess and has also had not one good nights sleep in days. Despite having a horrific week of not sleeping we had an excellent time on our babymoon with our family and we loved just sitting back and relaxing. It was a big milestone and now things are really coming to light that we only have 5 short weeks left until our little girl is here. We are so excited to meet her and to also start putting her in these precious outfits and giving her all these generous gifts from our family. I present to you, Avery’s Martha’s Vineyard swag….

Ya-Ya and Grandpa got this cute little T-shirt for Avery on our trip. 

GABY (Great Auntie Barb, we added the "Y" to make it easier for Avery to say :) ) got Avery her first stuffed animal and a cute little hat to wear on our next family summer vacation!!

And even though everyone told me not to buy any clothes for her since we would be getting so much, I did want to purchase her at least one thing so that we could take lots of pics and I could one day tell her that she was with us on our Babymoon to MV. :)

"Babymoon"

I told myself that even if I’m on vacation I need not to slack on my blog because I do want to look at this and share some of these blogs with Avery when she grows up. Even though I’m sure she will probably care less by the time I think to show her this.

Since this summer is a little jammed packed between weddings, bridal showers, moving, etc… Jon and I have decided to make our family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard our official Babymoon as well since we will not have time to go anywhere by the time Avery gets here. It works out perfect because this will be the last family vacation without a little one around so I think most of us are enjoying our grown up time of sleeping in, drinking (not IL), not putting in car seats in to the car, eating when we want, basically being free of any baby strings and its been really nice.

As I sit here writing, my mom and aunt are cooking us dinner. My husband, sister and soon to be brother in law are playing “Rummikub” which seems confusing as all hell and my brother and dad are hanging on the couch with iPads in hand. It has been beyond relaxing and I’m truly excited that we were able to come here and do this.

Only problem thus far has been that I’m getting A LOT bigger.  Every single day it gets more and more scary. Today, we went on a tour of Gays Head and Oak Bluffs center and I needed to sit about 3 times, have about 5 bottled waters and contemplated wearing sneakers with my cute sundress due to my crampy feet and swollen calf from my Charlie horse the previous night. Highly attractive all around. 

Even though my body is changing each and every day I’m still happy that my feet are not too swollen and my body looks somewhat normal. So, I decided that before I grow much bigger that I would bite the bullet and take a Baby Bump bathing suit picture, because I’m sure I can show Avery when she gets older and embarrass the crap out of her. And since I haven’t posted a picture in awhile I figured I’d post a good one. I put away the maternity suit and shoved into my regular bikini. If pregnant women in bathing suits highly offend you then look away. Or don’t, I don’t care because I’m on vacation, I’m over 34 weeks pregnant and I’m excited that I can still squeeze my booty into this suit and I think I look good besides my ghost like complexion. J

Acid Reflux, I have finally beat you!

My battle with Acid Reflux hasn’t been all bad. Due to acid reflux I was able to enjoy a nice 4:30am sunrise at our new home. I got to sleep propped up on our couches for an entire evening, which I know I have not done enough of in my life, and I’ve gained all my pregnancy weight trying to self medicate with Gifford’s Black Raspberry Ice Cream for over 2 months. All in all, I can’t say it’s been ALL bad.

My sister in law has been telling me for months to go out and get some chewable calcium tabs to help with it. Why on earth would I go get chewable calcium tabs when all I have to do is eat mass amounts of delicious tasting ice cream?? Well, it happened. It finally happened. The night in which my trusted Black Raspberry medication stopped working for me. I believe it was a Tuesday evening. It was a bad bad day. I tossed and turned and had no way of sleeping without propping myself up in bed and chugged mass amounts of milk and iced water. My ice cream has finally and officially failed me. 

So, I decided that I needed to move on from my black raspberry goodness and try a different avenue. As most of you know, my husband and I are suckers for Whole Foods and I thought it would be the perfect place to get me some of these chewable calcium. Oh, I was right. The brand is called “Adora” and I would sincerely be a spokeswomen for this product if I could be. Not only are the delicious and taste exactly that of a Dove Dark Chocolate mini candy, but for the past 3 days my heartburn has been basically non existent and I haven’t missed any sleep because of it.

For all you pregnant women out there suffering, I urge you to put down the ice cream, unless you want it for taste and not medicinal purposes and pick yourself up some of these. They are out of this world and continues to give me an excuse to eat delicious sweets to relieve this awful pregnancy symptom.

Now I just need to find a cure for excessive amounts of bathroom trips and I’ll have an awesome nights sleep for once. 

I feel you Jessica Simpson...I feel you..

A lot of women get excited to get pregnant because that means they can “eat whatever they want” and “have an excuse to be fat.” I really didn’t have the mentality going in to this. When my mid-wife said that the “normal range” is to gain from 25-35 pounds, I thought, “Well, I’m going to be awesome and only try and gain 20lbs.” That was a nice thought.

It’s tough to say how much I’ve really gained because I’ve seen some highs and lows in this pregnancy. Back before I knew I was pregnant, after the holidays mind you, I weighed about 135lbs. Not excellent but for 5’7” I’ll take it. My husband and I went on a diet and I got down to about 123lbs. I was beyond excited and began exercising to start getting in shape for the summer. I leveled off at about 125lbs. That excitement lasted ohhh, about 1 week and then I found I was pregnant. Not that I ran out and got a bunch of cookies and ice cream but my need for Triscuits and chocolate milk overpowered me and I started to gain.

 Basically,  I said my starting weight was about 128 since before I got pregnant I was 135lbs and during the first trimester of pregnancy I was all the way down to 123lbs so I thought I’d take the middle ground. Point being,  I should have said my starting weight was 135lbs and called it a day because now based on 128lbs I have gained 30 lbs!!!!!! At least had I gone with 135, I would have had some leeway.

Therefore, I did what any normal, hormonal, fat feeling, pregnant woman would do and headed right to Google to see how much I’d be gaining (on average) for the remainder of my pregnancy and they said about 1lb a week but it will be all baby for the next 7 weeks. Thank goodness my iPhone app “What to Expect When you are Expecting” always knows what I’m thinking and feeling so for my tip of the day they gave me this beautiful chart and I feel SO much better.  

SO, Yes, I’m currently almost 158lbs with a weight gain of 30lbs. I’ll probably get up to 165 when all is said and done and I’ve come to terms with this. Not sure if my husband has yet but he will, and if not, I think he knows now after the hot dog comment that it’s best to shut up and ride out the next 7+ weeks with a smile on his face and an ice cream bowl in his hands. 

Seeeee 30lbs is totally normal. :) Thanks "What to Expect"

8 Weeks Left, but who's counting?!?

Less than 8 weeks to go!! It’s crazy how time has flown by all of a sudden. I’ve definitely been a little pre-occupied with work and the house but its still felt like the third trimester is going by a lot faster than the other two.

Of course, this trimester feels a lot different for other reasons. Yes, acid reflux is still a constant issue and my self-medicating with Black Raspberry ice cream continues to help but it is doing a number on my inner thighs, facial region, and bingo arms. I could potentially start a fire with all this thigh and arm rubbing. So I’d definitely been an asset to anyone going on a camping trip.  Not only that but my face is starting to look fuller and fuller. I’m actually terrified to take my weekly belly photo on Friday. I think I’m going to start cutting my head off in order to not frighten my readers. I’m certain I can’t blame just the ice cream for this weight gain as I know my appetite has become that of a teenage boy. I never used to eat that much before so now I think I’m eating just like a normal human being. I had two hot dogs last night (calm down, I talked to my mid-wife and I’m good with the ones we bought) and my husband looked at me in disbelief. I feel as though most people would normally consume 2 hot dogs if that was what they had for dinner. Pre-Pregnancy I’d only have one and be full for the night. Now my husband looks at me as though I’m Wilbur the Pig at every single meal since I’m now having normal size portions. He so sensitively said that he hoped that this wasn’t “habit forming.” I love men.

Not only has the rapid weight gain been noticeable but my constant need to sleep is getting the best of me. At first, I blamed it on all the changes going on in my life and my need to be constantly moving. However, yesterday I just sat in a movie theater watching “Ted” and I needed an 8 hour nap to recover. My poor husband will leave me in bed for 5 minutes by myself and that’s it for me for the night. I’m sure it’s just my body’s way of preparing for delivery but I feel like a lethargic fat beast that can’t get out of my own way.

Again, some symptoms are either just waiting for the perfect time to emerge or perhaps they won’t get me this time around.  But I’m happy to report, no swollen feet/ankles, no stretch marks, belly button is still intact, and no pre-term labor pains. So yes, I’ve been very lucky and as long as my friend’s and family can put up with my constant need for a bed and obese body then I think I can make it through this last trimester on a high note!