Today.....is a good day

I woke this morning feeling wonderful. It's my day off and so far I am nausea free - a big deal for me! I had a huge bowl of corn flakes. I don't think they ever tasted that good before! YUM!

The other good news is I can now make it through a full 8 hour work day and not feel like someone beat the crap out of me or I had been up all night running a marathon. Even when i got home yesterday I didn't crash on the couch and sleep for an hour.

Both of these things are huge improvements from last week and the week before. I'm grateful for at least a little relief, thats for sure. I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end. My first trimester will be over in 2-3 weeks and they say all this miserable stuff goes with it! I might actually have that pregnancy "glow" by then, because goodness knows it hasn't been there yet!

Christy and baby are home as of yesterday mid-day. I offered my services as a photographer to do baby's first portrait. I've learned a lot by watching my cousin and how she poses the newborns and such. I cant wait to try some out myself. Big brother Luke is doing well. Mom says he's quite content with his new train toy he got when baby came home yesterday. Everyone has to feel loved and special and we're all making an extra effort to give him that!

House cleaning must occur in the next week at my house. We have guests coming to stay with us for our annual family reunion. There will be about 60 people in attendance and 8 1/2 of them are staying with Rob and me! It's going to be crazy! I cant wait to see everyone and it's so awesome that we all make this effort once a year to get together and pay hommage to our family! It's so important to spend time with the ones we love and the ones who love us. Time is the most precious gift we can give and receive. Dont you think?

more pictures

someone new in my life

Last night, my best friend gave birth to her second child.... a girl.. a beautiful little girl. It was a long labor but Christy is tough in spirit and mind! She's had a rough 9 months but persevered for her daughter's sake.

This morning, on my way to work, i recieved a text message from Christy.

"I am so in love with my little girl"

I began to cry, being the hormonal crazed pregnant woman that I am these days. I put myself in her place... with Rob at my side and both of us crying tears of joy at our new arrival several months down the road.

I have been struggling quite a bit with morning sickness lately and Im just so damn tired all the time. And so I was avoiding my blog like the plague. No one wants to hear a pregnant lady bitch and moan over and over again about how bad she feels, when in fact she should just shut up and be happy that she's having a baby at all.

But this news of little Mikaela's arrival has given me a new surge of hope and energy and a not so distant end to all this horrible icky "hang over" type feeling I have ALL the time.

perfect and healthy

Yesterday Rob and I headed off for our first glimpse of our little baby. What a wonderfully emotional experience. After hearing about two of my friends who had complications from their pregnancies resulting in a miscarriage, my concerns grew exponentially as yesterday approached. But once I saw that perfectly round sac and my little baby's heartbeat, I knew everything was going to be ok. I pretty much cried through the whole thing. It was so amazing.

Mom and I had super time in Tampa last weekend. She asked me to go with her back in February. "I'm going with or without you," she said.

What's a girl to do with an offer like that?

The last time I went with mom to Tampa was about 3-4 years ago, when my life was completely different. Back then i cried the whole weekend. And this time... I celebrated two major happenings in my life: marriage to an awesome guy and our first child on the way. Overall we had a great time. Its quite hot in Florida in July. We knew that already, but who cares. We weren't planning on tennis or golf or anything at all that required physical activity except the 1/3 mile walk to the pool and back. We figured the walk was good enough exercise anyway! It rained nearly every evening and we even had some big booming thunderstorms too. I couldn't believe how it poured some nights.

By the end of the weekend, we were both burnt to a crisp and completely sunned out. We were so careful about getting burnt we spent the whole weekend under the umbrellas in the shade, but none of that mattered much for some reason. Im now pealing all over my shoulder and chest. Im not a big fan of sunburn.

My biggest disappointment was the Spa. I LOVE going to the Spa down there. But when I mentioned I was 6 weeks pregnant, they immediately turned me down for any type of massage. They said it had something to do with the distribution of blood and how it could harm the baby. Despite my moans and groans, I knew it was best to avoid anything like that, so i went with a facial and a pedicure! Both were wonderful!

Other than that, my baby gave me a week off from morning sickness. Hallalujiah! I was able to enjoy the various menu items at the restaurants we visited down there. I could even get toast down in the morning with apple juice, something I could not do the previous couple of weeks.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was back to my sick self again, barely making it home on a somewhat bumpy flight. The last few mornings have been progressively worse and yesterday the sickness lasted almost the whole day. I spent most of it nibbling on crackers and sipping cold apple juice. Carbs seem to work well for me; pasta, rice, potatoes, crackers. They settle my stomach well. Unfortunately, these are exactly the kinds of things I have been trying to eliminate from my diet to shed some pounds.

At this point, I am figuring my low carb diet is off limits until about next February. I am trying to make an effort to eat more veggies, like carrots, squash, green beans etc. Thank God for corn season! I put a list on the fridge of all good foods for pregnant women to eat and on my good days I try to eat as much of them as possible. We have several different kinds of juices in the fridge now and I bought these little snack apple sauces with no sugar added and extra calcium. I'm still trying to eat a few oranges a week. Milk has been difficult to get down, but my alternatives are yogurt and cheeses. And when i do have carbs in my diet, i try to make sure they are whole grain or whole wheat. I always bring a baggy of whole grain cheerios to work with me so i have something to munch on. I heard sweet potatoes are really good for me at this point so I have those instead of a regular potato (with skins intact).

Of all the symptoms of pregnancy, morning sickness has been the most prominent, other than these two MELONS on my chest that ACHE all the time. OY! But someone gave me some good advice the other day...

"Keep smiling! You're a MOMMY!"

Words to live by...

daddy

Despite the sickness
Despite the mood swings
Beyond irrationality
And whatever may happen in the next 8 months
Between us a special bond holds strong
a love I have never experienced before
And with the ultimate meshing of our two lives
brings more...
more for you...
more for me..
more for us..
more for our little one...

---

It's like PMS on steroids...i swear! And i'm sure no matter what sex you are, you have some clue as to what I mean. But despite that, my husband, my friend, my lover is an exceptional man and i have no doubts as to his ability to be a wonderful father. He, in no way, fits the cliche and often negative label "my baby's daddy" (thank god). The affection between us is different...changed somehow... but for the better. He looks at me differently. It's hard to explain but it makes me love him more.

He's so excited about this baby. I came home from my weekend with Polly two weeks ago and he started spewing all these wonderful ideas about the nursery... painting.... lighting... etc. He's been reading this book that my friend gave him about "the expecting father" or something like that.

He does EVERYTHING that requires lifting without a second thought. "You will endure many things that I cannot endure with you," is his response when i tell him he's quite the workhorse! And he's constantly helping me make healthy food choices and encouraging me to rest at any given opportunity. He understands the sensitivity of the situation at hand.

Fair (not necessarily equal) partnership is clearly visible in this relationship. There is give and take... 60/40....40/60. But we are both aware of what each of us brings to this relationship and we both appreciate each other immensely. Something I had not felt in the past. This whole experience has strengthened our already strong love, respect, and our affection for one another. And I'm sure we're going to need it in the coming years with the challenges of raising a child together.