Update for anyone who's interested

No baby yet. I tried drinking half a bottle of castor oil on the 25th, eating mexican food on the 26th, and lots and lots of walking over the last couple of days. But again- no baby. Just one very pregnant woman (who now gets asked if she's having twins), and one very impatient husband. Trent's birthday came, but not even an inkling of a contraction. I have surrendered to the fact that I have little control over when our baby boy makes his entrance. But I can't put all the blame on him, after all, we did gave him conflicting advice- wait until we are settled into our new place, but come on the 26th. We were no where near close to being settled in on the 26th. It's the evening of the 28th and I am just now starting to feel somewhat settled. This is mostly due to the great help I have received from my mom who came down Tuesday night to help get all my projects done before the little baby comes. She has been working nonstop ever since she got here.

Last week Trent and I decided to celebrate his birthday early by cashing in on his free Whisky River chicken sandwich at Red Robin. The closest Red Robin is 2 hours away in Daytona, so we made the birthday celebration into a day at the beach. This is very fitting for Trent who worships the sun. While we were on the east coast we decided to drive up to Jacksonville Beach to drop off a bed for my nephew, Stevie. And while we were there I had Trent take some pictures of mrs. preggo in her swimsuit...

with a coverup on top.

Of course we couldn't actually make it off the boardwalk and into the sand before the battery died but the 9 month pregnant look was captured and I am now officially done taking pictures.

Tomorrow I am going to post pictures of my baby showers. If you don't see a post hopefully that means I'm having a baby.

Full term

It's so hard to believe that tomorrow my baby will be "full term". Even though he has been quite the wiggle worm in the womb, for some reason, it's still very hard for me to comprehend that a real live baby is inside of me...

People still ask if I am ready. I still don't know how to answer that. Our baby is supposedly ready as far as position goes, evidently he flipped and is now "vertex" rather than "breach." And after having a couple of amazing baby showers last week, both Baby and I are much more prepared in a necessity sense than before. I'm pretty sure I have little control over the exact date of arrival, but wishing for this baby to be a boy didn't seem to do any harm.

In my "perfect world" Baby Savage would wait until after we have moved (that would be this weekend). In fact, he would also wait until after we have somewhat settled in to our new place (give me another couple weeks for that). The most ideal date would be May 26th, since that is Trent's birthday, and also Trent's Dad's birthday. Three generations, that would be something. But the true due date- which is the 28th, wouldn't be bad either, it's the first day of Trent's 2 week break from school. The next two days after that would be okay too, but anything in the month of June is not part of my "perfect world" plan.

I think the reality of this pregnancy will hit me like a million bricks once I go into labor, and especially once I see the baby outside of the womb. Until then I will try to get as much prepared as possible- any last minute advice would be wonderful :)

i•ron•ic

adj.
Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs:

One of the main reasons Trent wanted to go to Florida for dental school was because of the warm weather. Isn’t it kind of ironic that this winter just so happened to be the second coldest winter Gainesville has ever seen since they started recording temperatures in the early 1900s? Believe it or not, I think this has been the most stressful thing for Trent to handle since we’ve been here. He may have even lost hair over it.

But he’s not the only one who’s been losing hair. They say your hair is supposed to be “full and luxurious” when pregnant, something to do with the growing phase and the resting phase… but this is not the case for me. It seems that I have been losing more hair than ever the past few months (ironic, no?). Although the American Pregnancy Association would blame it on vitamin deficiency, I’m pretty sure it has more to do with stress (Hello! Vitamin-packed Ovaltine is my drink of choice these days). Stressing over little things that I really shouldn’t stress over, like having to give birth to a child with a big head. Or now, stressing over the fact that my baby is in breech position. I swear he was there with us at all those child birth classes, but he obviously wasn’t paying any attention. Isn’t it kind of ironic that I used to worry about having to push for hours to get that big ole head out but now I worry about not having the opportunity to (if he stays in his current position we would most likely have to go the c-section route)?

I’ve also been a wee bit stressed over the townhouse that we made an offer on 39 days ago. Since it’s a “short sale” we have to wait for the bank to approve our offer. We have heard absolutely nothing from them yet. But we just recently did find out that someone else has made an offer in the mean time. The most ironic thing of all is the fact that they call this thing a “short sale.” There is nothing short to it.

We have about 10 more weeks till our small-headed, non-breech baby is going to make his entrance and we have no clue where or if this child will have shelter. The good thing is that it's starting to warm up here in Gainesville. At least one of us will have hair at that point.

The calm before the storm

This past week has been the most boring seven days of my entire existence. Going back as far as my mind can stretch, life has always been busy. That stopped at about 8 am last Monday morning when my life hit its very first standstill. I found myself working and sleeping without much to do to fill in the extra hours.

I have a feeling this is the calm before the little storm that is about to hit.

Everyone has seen a warning sign similar to the one below, right?

In Florida this icon is all too familiar, indicating that there is a hurricane on the rise. I think the symbol represents the eye of the storm

Now rewind to February 9th when I posted my favorite picture of our unborn child. Here it is again, with a few finishing touches.

I do believe we have received our warning sign. I will try to enjoy the next three months of calm before our little storm arrives :)

And since it has been a month since I last posted a picture of me and the belly...

23 going on 15

How does this work?

In high school people often told me I looked older than I was. Now that I am older, people often tell me that I look younger than I am. You would think this was a fantastic scenario, but no. Not when you are married and people think you are sixteen (I'm pretty sure that is illegal in the state of Florida, even if I was granted parental consent). And it's especially humiliating when you are visibly pregnant. Trent and I get it all the time. The card scanner at the gym, the hostess at the restaurant, the random stranger in the grocery store. You blame it on my young looking sidekick? Nope, I get it at work all the time too, and they've never see my 17-year-old husband. It happened again today. The lady in charge of payroll came up to me and whispered "I told Marsha (my boss) that you look like you might be pregnant, she informed me that you are indeed pregnant. I was like- Isn't she in high school!? Marsha told me that you're not, and that you're married." wow. Do they think they are paying me a compliment? I might be quietly chuckling with you on the outside but on the inside I am screaming "I have a college degree, I've been out of high school for 6 years, I'm married, I'm 23 and a half..."

Some sort of explanation is needed. Is it really possible for me to stop aging at 20 and then start "younging" (my made up antonym for aging) and if so, how long is this going to last or what can I do to stop it? You would think getting pregnant would do the trick. Nope, the pregnancy pimples have me headed more in the direction of middle school.

Then

Now (pre pregnancy)

Wear more make up? Encircle myself with older looking people? Dress in less? Lose the weight that appears to have gone straight to my face?

Or maybe I should just embrace the 16-year-old-married-pregnant-person that I appear to be. Now that's a thought.

Last night Trent and I went to our first birthing class...

I may have learned more during that 2 hour session than I have during any other 2 hour period in my life. And since I am so clueless about the whole pregnancy and birthing process, I put a spoon in each hand and scarf down any advice that is given of this sort when it is placed in front of me.

Here are a few of the things that stood out the most to us.

First and foremost, the video. A full blown birthing video. With no meds, a rather large lady demonstrated what they call a "natural birth." Simply put- the dramatic course of events that took place during this lady's labor changed my life. When I saw that big ole' baby's head trying to fit though that tiny little exit point, I leaned over to Trent and asked him something along the lines of- where do I sign up for the c-section? This is coming from someone who specifically enrolled with a midwife rather than a doctor for the primary reason of not wanting to be pressured into a c-section. I cant get the image out of my head. On a positive note, Trent and I both have abnormally small heads. I will be crossing my fingers for the next 3 months that the small-head gene gets passed down to baby #1.

Particularly interesting point number two. They were talking about pregnancy cravings. They talked about how some people crave dirt and other non-food items. I actually have heard of this before, but what struck me as weird was that they advised us to microwave the dirt before eating it. They were totally serious too. They said, "if you really, really have to eat that handful of dirt, make sure to just microwave it first." What the?

I think the thing that stood out the most to Trent was the ever so important topic of kegels. He hasn't stopped talking about them since. This morning when we were getting ready for work/school I swear he asked me 15 times if I was kegeling. When I replied, "no", he would then advise me to do a few. A couple minutes later he would follow up to see how well they went. I have a feeling the reminders aren't going to stop anytime soon, its like his new kick. When he got home from school he asked if I had been doing them today. Have I ever told you how much I Hate kegeling. Ugh. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Since every post needs a picture (or at least to make my sister happy), here is my favorite picture of our boy with a small head. I know it looks like his head is massive, but really his body is just that much smaller. wink wink.

Now that I have blogged about football...

I am entitled to one pregnancy post, no?

Holy cow. Only 17 weeks to go. It seems like that could come tomorrow with how fast time flies. People ask if I'm ready... well, no, I mean, sure, why not? But then to think that it's only (give or take) 17 weeks away is quite frightening. Maybe I'm not ready. Don't get me wrong, I'm dying to meet the little guy, to see what he looks like, and to eat up his active personality. Sorry to get side tracked, but, wow, is he active. Ever since my last pregnancy post when I thought I discovered what it felt like to accumulate fat, baby has been kicking and flipping (and who knows what else, it's just lots and lots of moving) as if to assure me it's him and not something else. These kicks are actually visibal to the human eye. At least to my eye, but not so much to Trent's. While it's practically my newest favorite hobby to just stare at my stomach and watch the sudden jolts, I think Trent is still developing the patience that is required to play that game. Come on, you gotta wait for it...

Back to what I was saying. Excited? Yes. However, I do realize this is going to change our lives in a big way. Speaking of big, little man in the oven is getting humongous. His supposed height from head to toe is nearly 12 inches and, according to the charts, he should weigh over a pound by now. And hence, there is this double-me-affect taking place. I'm getting bigger by the second, especially after I eat. My body seems to hold on to every ounce of fat that I intake as if to hoard it from the baby. Come on thighs, baby needs it much, much more than you.

So that's it for now. Lots of moving, lots of growing, and not a lot of time left... Here is my very first preggo pic for you to relish in my chubbines, because lets be honest, who wouldn't want to to do that?

whoa whoa whoa, don't divide that by 4, I'm just barely 5 months, okay? :)

Confessions of a Football Fanatic's Wife

I have a sneaky feeling that some people feel sorry for me because of my husband's obsession with college football. While I must admit that on a few select Saturdays during the season it is a bit overwhelming, I really wouldn't want it any other way. I cant think of a single thing I would rather my husband enjoy watching over it. That's because I like to watch it too. But that's not my big confession. You probably already knew all that.

Here it is.

Sometimes, when I'm home alone, and there is 50 gazillion channels to choose from, I choose ESPN. And what's worse is I just made what I thought was a super killer deal with my husband- we canceled cable until next football season in exchange for an xbox 360 (we're talking almost 1000 dollars in savings plus he agreed to change alllll the baby diapers when he is home). But guess what... I kinda miss hearing all the familiar voices of our friends at ESPN. Even the really annoying ones like Lou Holtz. Okay, maybe not Lou Holtz. But everyone else's voice, besides his, I sorta miss. In fact, when I go to the gym to work out, I occasionally tune into ESPN for a few brief moments to bring back all the warm fuzzy memories that I had before I made the infamous xbox-agreement.

In memory of the long lost 2009 football season, I have compiled one picture from every game that we attended. With the exception of the first game against Charleston Southern- my battery was dead, Amy- can I get a copy of your's? So here it goes. Recap of 2009, sans Charleston Southern.


Lots of memories of the Troy game. Trent's good friend from BYU, Jake, was in town interviewing at the dental school so we decided to all go to the Gator Walk as part of the pre-game celebration. Both Jake and Trent can testify that I was only one extended arm away from hugging Tim Tebow. The ball was in my court and I let it drop, oh well. That is now my official biggest regret in life- not hugging Tebow when the opportunity presented itself.

Oh the hyped up Tennessee game. Since the Gator Walk was such a hit the previous week we decided to take another stab at it. After all, maybe I could apologize to Tebow. There were probably 500 times more people at the Gator Walk this week. All the crowds of people + first trimester nausea + the scorching heat of the afternoon = second biggest regret of my life- not selling my ticket for $120 when the opportunity presented itself (and it did indeed present itself).

Best football road trip ever. I already have a whole post dedicated to this battle in the Bayou, so no reminiscing necessary here.

The homecoming game. As part of the homecoming festivities we attended the Gator Growl, the student-run pep rally, the night prior . Despite the fact that the homecoming game was against Arkansas, I don't recall them mentioning Arkansas the entire night. Every single joke was on Florida State. I didn't really get that.

The great Florida-Georgia game held at the Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville on Halloween Day. Hence the Gator costume. The costume, however, was a failure as it looks more like a frog than a gator. Oh well, at least it provided a tad bit of shade during one of the hottest days of my life. And it wasn't because I was pregnant, although I did share the big news with my family earlier that day at a park in Jax Beach. It's still a wonder how I was able to gather all my siblings and parents in that Jax Beach park for a "Halloween BBQ" and not have them know the real reason for the get-together.

I accidentally wore exact Vandy colors to this game. It's a good thing it got cool enough towards the end to cover up my gold cardigan with my orange and blue sweater. We went to the famous Swamp Restaurant right before the game with the gift card my Grandma Jessie and Uncle Brent gave to us for graduation. It was quite the crowded place that afternoon, I think we were pretty darn lucky to be able to get a seat, that was in view of the TV, and be able to order, and get our food. Maybe you would have to see how packed the restaurant is on game day to appreciate such rarity.

No special memories come to mind for this game. I do remember getting there sometime after the first quarter because I was busy watching New Moon the morning of. Evidently there was only one thing on my mind after seeing the movie, and I don't think he was playing football.

It was all fun up until about this point. And then the game started and UF started their scoring rampage. Someone (it is still beyond me who actually snapped this one) captured so well how I was feeling during this game with the following photo. On a positive note, the company was fantastic. Jeff and Stacey were in town for Thanksgiving Break and we had so much fun going to the game with them. Stacey and I had a blast making Cheyenne a little gator onesie and tutu, and we all enjoyed taking turns passing her around during the game. Some stranger next to us even got a turn holding her.

One day, when I find the docking device for my camera, I will post pictures of our trip to the Sugar Bowl. But until then these pictures will have to suffice. And this brings us to the end of the '09 Florida Football Season.

Pregnancy

Yesterday I had my 20 week ultrasound and, to my relief, the previous gender results were confirmed- he’s 100% boy. I was a little hesitant to believe it the first time since we both thought it was a girl even though we really wanted our first baby to be a boy (Trent probably would be fine if the second and third etc are boys too). I think we talked ourselves into thinking it when we were coming up with all the positive aspects of having a girl. Needless to say, I feel much better now having a second confirmation that he's really a he and most importantly he developing perfectly.

I never wanted to only blog about pregnancy when I was expecting, and believe me I’m still not planning on doing that for the next 20 weeks, but it does seem to be the one thing that occupies my thoughts about 90% of the time so we will see how successful I am with blogging about something else. With that having been said, here are my thoughts on pregnancy so far.

Kicking
For the past couple weeks I *thought* I have been feeling the baby move. Since it’s my first pregnancy I don’t really know what it’s supposed to feel like. But regardless of what it is that I'm feeling, it started in my 18th week as faint, little flutters and then three days ago (after eating a chocolate covered pretzel at work) it progressed into what felt like 3 distinct kicks. I even put my hand under my sweater after the second and I felt something move with my hand. But just now at work I felt a similar sensation in my upper thigh. I’m beginning to think these feelings are the fluttery feeling of fat accumulation. Either that or muscle degradation.

Weight gain
Ill be completely honest- I’m scared to death of gaining too much weight during my pregnancy. My doctor only gave me one piece of advice in the first few visits- “don’t gain to much weight.” It seems to me there isn’t a ton of things to do to prevent the excess pounds, exercise seems to be restricted to low impact aerobics like, swimming and um, walking (does that even count?). And then they say you aren’t supposed to lift heavy things, I’m just crossing my fingers those 10 pound dumbbells at the gym don’t count. So far keeping the weight off hasn’t been a problem, the “pregnancy cravings” haven’t hit and doing an occasional workout has seemed to fit into the schedule so far. Having a personal trainer at work has probably helped too. But then again our baby boy weighs only half a pound and I’ve gained 5. Its probably that chocolate covered pretzel.

Pictures
Just as I wasn’t going to blog every post about pregnancy, I definitely wasn’t going to post pictures of the growing belly. So far I haven’t even taken any (of the posed nature) to post, but I’m thinking tomorrow on the official 20 week mark I may take one. I am thinking I might want to remember what I looked like before the baby completely takes over and changes the way I look (forever).

Pet Peeves
I’m sure my list of pet peeves is going to get a lot longer as pregnancy goes on and people start saying/doing weird things, but for now my biggest pet peeve (I guess you could call it a pet peeve) is people calling pregnancy 10 months. I was always confused by this before I was pregnant but never cared to really look into it. Until now. And I think I figured it out with the help of Wikipedia and lots and lots of calendars and counting.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prenatal_development.png

First of all, notice what they call “the first two weeks." To include those in your pregnancy is definitely debatable. All I’m going to say about it is this- to include those two weeks would mean that I was pregnant on the first day of my last period...I'm no expert on the matter but I think that's highly unlikely. However, notice in the picture above that even if you keep those first two debatable weeks, 40 weeks hits right at the end of 9 months.
I think people get confused because they think months are 4 weeks or 28 days and so when they are 12 weeks pregnant they divide that by 4 and say they are 3 months. Or at 16 weeks they figure they are 4 months pregnant. No, you’re thinking of February. On average, a month is like 30.42 days, that’s about 2.5 days longer than 28 days. Multiply that by the “10 months you're pregnant” and that’s were you get those extra 25 days you call the 10th month of pregnancy.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I do know two things for sure- 1) the doctors told us our baby was conceived sometime in September and 2) baby is due May 29th. I'm only pregnant for 9 months.

To sum it up
All and all, being pregnant hasn’t been too different from not being pregnant. When I think of all the “pregnancy side effects” they are all symptoms I’ve dealt with my whole life, I guess now I just have an excuse? Examples include the following:
-Pregnancy brain- Forgetfulness has always been a problem/strength (however you look at it) of mine.
-Gas- Nothing new here.
-Fatigue- Sleeping has always been on my top 10 list of favorite things to do.
-Increased Appetite- I have and always will be hungry for more. Always.

Exciting News for the New Year

I am naturally inclined to start this post by dwelling on the fact that I haven't posted in over two months {gasp}, but I don't think I'm going to go that route today. I have bigger and better things to get to, and I don't have all night...

Were having a baby in 2010! What a delightful surprise! The first ultrasound estimated Baby Savage's due date to be the 29th of May. We're almost half way there-- 19 weeks down and only 21 more to go.

The weekend before Christmas we went down to Orlando to get a sneak peek of the baby and determine the gender via a 3D ultrasound. The pictures/video were put on a DVD which was then dispersed to family members {who weren't expecting to find out the baby's gender until Jan 7} on Christmas Eve. Delightful surprise #2- we're having a boy! We will double confirm that on the 7th of January {in the mean time we will be crossing our fingers that the gender doesn't change}.

Pregnancy so far has had its ups and downs, some days I really enjoy being pregnant, other days I pull out a calender and start counting. But overall we are both genuinely excited to be parents and looking forward to all the challenges and rewards that come with it.



Happy New Year!