31/32 Week Pregnancy Update

We are eight months pregnant!  I can’t believe how close we are getting.  Have we started the countdown yet?  Mason and I have been counting down the weeks with a note of fear and excitement in our voices.  We are so excited to be parents and raise this child, but the idea of it is still scary.  Money is what scares us, but we have faith that everything will work out.  We have a plan, so we’re not going into this with nothing.  That’s what makes us feel more comfortable about being a family. 

So to start, surprisingly I have noticed a slowdown in Jason’s movements.  Of course he still moves a lot, but it isn’t like it used to be.  I don’t like this at all seeing as I count on his movements to tell me if he’s okay.  I believe this is where everything gets the most stressful.  I worry about going early, and I am terrified that something could happen in these last few weeks.  I hate voicing this worry, but it’s true.  Do other new mom’s feel that way?  I can’t be the only one. 

Something else that has surprised me is that his kicks rarely hurt.  There has been a couple that hurt a little bit, but nothing serious at all.  I always thought that once they get stronger it starts to hurt.  But the only ones that have hurt me are when he really stretches my skin, and he’s also kicked my back twice.  I wonder if it’s further along that the kicks start to be painful.  It’s hard going into this without a clue of what to really expect.  That’s why I make this blog.  Even though I’m learning, at least someone can still learn from my pregnancy. 

Anyways, my symptoms.  My morning sickness has gotten a lot better.  I still get nauseated sometimes, but I haven’t actually gotten sick in a couple weeks.  I forgot to mention that at my last doctor’s appointment we figured out that it was my prenatal that was making me sick.  So they switched me to Flintstone Complete vitamins.  Since then I have been sick a lot less.  I can’t believe it took us so long to realize it was the vitamins that were making me sick, but at least I know now. 

Next, I don’t have any energy.  I can sleep in until ten in the morning, and still be yawning at two in the afternoon, and be ready for bed by nine or ten at night.  I feel like a bum because of how much I sleep, but I guess pregnancy is an excuse.  At least I still get stuff done during the day. 

My newest symptom is a weird feeling in my legs.  It’s always my right leg.  When I stand or walk, every once in a while I’ll get a weird feeling that goes down my whole leg.  It starts at my hip and goes all the way down to my feet.  It feels almost like your leg is falling asleep, but different because it’s not the tingling or the squeezing feeling that you get when your leg falls asleep. 

I talked to my doctor about this at my doctor’s appointment and she said it was perfectly normal.  She said if it caused me pain in my butt/hip then it was probably my sciatic nerve, but if it’s my whole leg than it’s probably him putting pressure on the blood vessels to my legs.  Either way it’s not too bothersome or painful.  It only happens once in a while and it usually goes away within five minutes.  So it’s not too bad of a symptom for me.  

Besides that all of my symptoms have been pretty much the same.  I still have the achiness in my ribs.  It’s getting a lot harder to pick things up off the floor.  I get out of breath a lot, but it’s not all the time.  I think I’ve been a little bit more moody lately.  I haven’t really had too bad of moods throughout my pregnancy, but lately I’ve been feeling so jumpy with my emotions.  One minute I’m laughing hysterically, and the next I’m as serious as can be.  Thankfully I don’t break into random crying fits though. 

I still haven’t had too much swelling.  I think there have been times where I have gotten swollen, but not bad.  I could only tell because of that feeling you get trying to bend your fingers or toes when they’re swollen.   It hasn’t been bad at all, and it’s only happened a couple times so my engagement ring still sits comfortably on my ring finger. 

I’m not sure if this is a symptom or not, but I have been nesting really badly.  I have to wait until the baby shower to get everything ready in Mason and I’s bedroom, and it’s killing me.  The baby shower should be coming up soon, but I can’t seem to wait.  I can’t stop thinking about how we’re going to change the room around to fit the crib and everything. 

The reason we’re waiting for after the baby shower is because we want to know everything we have to fit in our room first.  Therefore, we can make room for it all at once instead of reorganizing the room more than once.  I can’t wait though.  I want to get the base of the car seat in the truck, but I can’t because it’s a baby shower present.  I want to dust everything and make it really clean but I can’t because it would be pointless to dust twice because I would end up dusting again before we put the baby things in here.  I know that once I get everything ready though I won’t be able to wait for him to get here.  Everything will be ready; we’ll just have to wait for him.  That will drive me insane.

So that’s pretty much it for my symptoms.  I’m extremely thankful that my symptoms haven’t been bad at all.  I feel like the luckiest pregnant girl in the world.  I have an outstanding fiancé that’s always there for me, and I have so much support from my family.  This pregnancy has been flying by, and there haven’t been any complications.  We are very blessed. 

Finally, as you know I had an appointment on Monday.  Everything went great.  His heartbeat was normal, and his growth was right on track.  I swear he had a growth spurt because I feel a lot bigger now.  My belly button is still in, but it’s puffing out around the edges of it.  And it’s getting pretty obvious no matter what I wear that I’m pregnant. 

Basically, my appointment was the same as usual.  I managed to make my OB laugh though.  She asked how my heartburn was, and I told her that it was good and I haven’t had to take my prescription for it.  I also said that the only thing that kills me is barbeque chips because they’re so good.  She said, “Middleswarth?”  Middleswarth is a brand of potato chips that only the state of Pennsylvania has.  They are extremely good.  So I said yeah, and she started laughing.  Then she said that she had to go buy some now because of talking about them. 

I thought this was funny.  I wonder how many pregnant women mention what they’re craving, and then the OB has to go buy some because she hasn’t had them in a while.  We pregnant girls are bad influences. 

Lastly, you wouldn’t guess how much I’ve gained.  Five pounds!  Five pounds in two weeks.  That makes my total weight gain sixteen pounds.  I’m pretty happy about this, but at the same time I’m worried.  I keep thinking, “What if I gain five pounds at my next appointment too?”  I’ll be getting close to my 25-35 pound mark if that happens.  But what can you do?  You have to gain weight when you’re pregnant, and you might as well be proud of taking care of your baby.  At least I’m not underweight.  I’m glad that he’s healthy and growing perfectly. 

That’s it for these two weeks.  It hasn’t been much of an eventful time, but who needs it to be exciting?  We just want Jason to be healthy, and stay in my belly as long as possible.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day.  And if you’re pregnant and reading this, I hope your pregnancy is going just as well as mine.  Let me know in a comment below.  Thanks again.

4th of July

Mason and I finally made plans for the 4th of July.  I am extremely excited!  We are going to see some amazing fireworks, and have a great night together.  It will be just us with Jason probably kicking me like crazy.  Neither of us have ever seen fireworks as amazing as we're seeing on Wednesday.  Normally our town doesn't have that great of fireworks because we're a small town and we don't have the money, but this is different.  It will be like nothing we've ever seen before. 

So far Mason and I have never got to really spend a holiday together without anyone else, and this will be the first time that we'll have the night to ourselves.  It will be absolutely amazing. 

I cannot wait!  Please let me know how your 4th of July goes.  I'll be sure to let you know about ours.  We've also decided that we're going to do this every year, and when Jason's old enough, we'll take him too.  We don't want to take him when he's really little because of the crowd, and being far from home.  We might not go when he's little, or we might have our family friend babysit him.  But in the end, this will become a tradition that I'm sure he'll love. 

It's amazing how everything falls together so perfectly.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

25/26 Weeks Pregnant

I have finally reached the third trimester!  This pregnancy seems to be going so fast.  All the sudden I'm huge, and it's definitely beginning to be noticeable.  He is kicking all the time, and you can see it from the outside clearly.  He loves to roll and freak Mason out, and every time Mason touches his hand to my stomach, he kicks. 

Anyways, you're probably wondering why I didn't update in my 25th week.  Well, nothing seems to be changing that much.  Because of this, I figured I would update every two weeks since I have appointments every two weeks.  This way my updates are longer, and less boring. 

First, I POPPED.  I seriously feel huge now, and everyone says I'm getting big.  It's as if I have a basketball under my shirt.  Every one says that this shows I'm definitely having a boy since I'm carrying so much in front. 

Back pain came along with the hugeness of my belly.  You can obviously see the bend in my back, and I can feel it.  I've already used Mason for a massage which helped a lot.  I would recommend taking advantage of a family member to give you a massage every once in a while.  It is extremely relaxing, and definitely helps with lower back pain. 

My hips have also been hurting me a lot which I think is from the added weight.  They always feel like they have to pop, but instead they grind together and it's pretty painful.  I haven't found a way to relieve this yet so if anyone can help, please do.

Surprisingly I still haven't had any swelling that I've noticed.  I can clean for three hours straight scrubbing floors, vacuuming, dusting, and everything else, but still not have any swelling in my feet.  My feet will hurt, but they just don't swell up. 

Of course I've been having cravings.  My number one craving has been strawberries, but now that I ate so many of them in such a small amount of time, I'm getting tired of them.  Besides that I'm still craving sweet things, but I haven't been fulfilling this craving.  I also found out that I love tater tots.  So far I haven't had that bad of cravings though which is good. 

Now for weight gain.  I have gained about 14 pounds total which is scary.  I don't want to gain too much weight during this pregnancy and then not be able to lose it.  I know that I have to gain weight though, so at the same time I'm proud that I'm on track and my baby is healthy. 

I have had some doctors appointments since I last updated.  First, I had to get a holter monitor.  This was because I was having spells where I would get dizzy and weak.  Nothing abnormal showed up on this test.  Then, on Monday, I had my sugar test a little early.  This also turned out normal.  As for the drink; I almost couldn't hold it down.  It wasn't the taste so much, but holding it down afterwards was hard.  I think it was because of having to drink it so fast; it didn't want to settle in my stomach. 

After my sugar test, I had my regular appointment.  During this appointment he was kicking the whole time.  My OB checked my measurements which she started doing at the last appointment.  She said we were both right on track and that his heartbeat was normal.  That is always a great thing to hear.  I feel blessed to have such a healthy baby. 

Well, that's how my pregnancy is going.  If anyone else is pregnant and reading this, I hope your pregnancy is going just as well.  Thanks for reading and following my journey.  Have a great day!

Legal Advice (Life is Chaos)

At first, I wasn’t going to be specific about the certain issues we’ve been having, but Mason and I need advice.  We are practically begging you for real legal advice because we don’t know what to do at this point.  I hope you enjoy just a piece of our hectic lives.  Warning: this part is not pretty. 

So what you do know is that we lived with Mason’s grandmother.  Mason lived there for over sixteen years, and the last couple years he had his own bedroom.  That is where we both kept all of our belongings.  Everything was going well until Mason’s brother and his girlfriend got evicted because they didn’t pay their bills.  What they didn’t say was that they didn’t pay their bills because they were using that money for drugs. 

I’ll tell you about these two people.  They are manipulating, and they lie to everyone so that they believe the best in them.  Most, if not everything they say is lies.  They told us that they were on crack, pills, and other illegal drugs.  They even did these drugs in front of us, but we did not touch any of these things.  We kept to ourselves what we knew.  For some reason they trusted us with the truth.  There was many people that they trusted with the truth of their lives, but some things were still kept a secret. 

For one, only very few people know the truth about their daughter.  Before she was one, she was taken from them, but they blamed it on someone else.  The fact is that they got drunk and one of them sat on her, breaking her femur.  They were granted visitation rights after that, but they did not make those appointments.  When they did, they treated that little girl like crap.  It wasn’t long before they lost their visitation rights too. 

We also know that they have been stealing Mason’s grandmother’s checks and forging them.  There were bank statements to prove it, which Mason’s dad has.  At first they took that mail so no one would find out, but we ended up getting ahold of one of them, and the rest was found when they were kicked out.  On top of forging her checks (over $2,000 worth), they stole cash and anything worth value that they could pawn. 

Moving on.  When they were evicted, Mason’s grandmother allowed them to move in with her and live in her bedroom.  This bedroom was supposed to stay hers, and she was supposed to be allowed back there, but that didn’t happen.  It became their bedroom and what was supposed to be a short stay turned into as long as they wanted.  She had a lot of personal belongings back there that they got ahold of and pawned. 

We did not trust them, so we got a lock to put on our door.  It was supposed to be a lock that you couldn’t pick, but being as the house was a trailer, the door wasn’t that secure.  It could be forced open if someone really tried.  We knew this, so we didn’t leave that room alone that often. 

It turned out that somehow Mason’s wallet had been stolen.  At first we thought he misplaced it.  It did not have any cash in it, but it did have his bank card in it, and his driver’s license.  This was a big deal because Mason’s brother did not have his license (even though he still drove).  What I also forgot to say is that Mason’s brother had eight warrants out for his arrest, and they were continually running from the cops.  It was a given that no one was supposed to give information of where they were out.    Later, Mason’s wallet was returned.  You wouldn’t guess who took it. 

Everything was on and off then.  One day they would be okay with us, and then the next they would be threatening us, and punching holes in the wall.  They kept trying to get us kicked out, but at the time it wasn’t working.  The truth is that we were tired of this though.  There was a couple nights where we stayed in the woods in the middle of winter because we couldn’t deal with it anymore.  

Anyways, the cops showed up at the house.  This was not the first time, but Mason’s grandmother had opened the door this time because she hadn’t realized who it was.  Mason and I had heard the door open, and we had gone out knowing that it was the cops.   By this time Mason had gotten a new wallet with a new I.D., and he had changed his bank card.  They asked for his I.D. because he looks like his brother, and once they knew who he was, the questions started flying. 

First, they asked his grandmother if they were living with her, and she said no.  But when they asked Mason, he didn’t lie, but he told them that they were in fact living there.  Note: they were out getting groceries at the time.  His grandmother was then in a pickle because the cops knew that she was lying.  That was when they said that he had eight warrants, 7 for traffic violations, and one for domestic violence.  They were aware that Mason’s brother’s vehicle had dead tags on it, and that he did not have a license, but drove without it. 

When the police leaved, his grandmother told Mason that he gave out too much information.  Mason told her that he wasn’t going to lie to the cops.  I completely agree with this, and I don’t regret the fact that we told the truth.  In the end, she told us that we had to get out, which we already knew.  Besides the fact that she was kicking us out, we knew that as soon as they got home from the store, they would know what we said.  His grandmother never kept her mouth shut about stuff that she should. 

That was when we got as much of our belongings as we could, which wasn’t all of it, and left leaving the door locked.  Conveniently, they pulled into the driveway as we were leaving.  They asked us about the cops and everything, and we told them that his grandmother said that they were living there.  They got angry, and Mason’s brother punched and kicked the vehicle.  As he was distracted, we slowly backed away trying not to look obvious.  They started gathering the bags, and we started walking to a family friends.  When we were out of view, we ran.  Once we reached her house, she locked the door, and we hid. 

Of course, not ten minutes later they showed up knocking on the door looking for us.  No one answered, and eventually they left, but they still drove around the park looking for us.  We called the cops, but they said that they couldn’t do anything unless they had a gun to our heads.  We found out later that this was not true. 

This is where you know that Mason went to his dad’s, and I stayed there.  After three days, we went back to get more of our belongings.  That was when we found the room broken into, and trashed.  They had tipped over a desk, and dumped diesel over everything, including all of our clothes.  The smell was so strong that you could smell it outside.  That was when we noticed things missing: two printers, two i-pods, a camera, a playstation 2, and two prepaid cell phones.  (One printer showed up after we called the police about them being stolen.  They said that everything was civil, but that they would talk to them about it.  Obviously they said they had nothing to do with it.) 

A couple weeks later, we went back with Mason’s younger brother.  I stayed behind because of the diesel smell being bad for the baby.  At this time, Mason’s brother was in jail.  When Mason, and his younger brother reached the door, Mason’s brother’s girlfriend tried locking it, but they opened it.  She then called 911 and said that they were flipping out when in reality they were calm.  They went to the room to see if they could find the things of value that were stolen. 

Afterwards, they went back to our family friend’s house, but then we heard that the cops were at his grandmother’s, so we went back.  When we got there, they questioned everyone, and they were rude to Mason and his brother.  Mason’s brother’s girlfriend said that she had been pushed by Mason. 

There is a reason this isn’t true.  For one, the dispatcher stated that Mason and his brother were calm while she was freaking out.  For two, Mason’s brother was in front of him when he went into the house, and she was in front of Mason’s brother.  She had also locked herself in his grandmother’s bedroom which was past Mason and I’s bedroom.  Mason was given harassment charges that he could have fought, but we figured that we should just pay it and get it over with.  Mason had just got his job, and he couldn’t miss work for a court hearing.  Again we mentioned to the police the things that had been stolen, but they said it was civil.  Mason’s dad also showed up, and the cops found things that was used to get “high”, but they didn’t do anything about it. 

Of course we were very upset about the things that had been stolen, but we let it go because they kept saying that they couldn’t do anything because it was civil.  After that, once Mason’s brother was out of jail, every time they seen us, they gave us the middle finger.  This wasn’t that big of a deal, but Mason and I still wanted to get a restraining order for the safety of our baby. 

Then, two weeks ago, Mason’s brother found out where Mason worked.  He threatened to call in and get him fired.  The next day Mason warned his boss, and his boss said that they don’t put up with that.  A few days ago, Mason’s boss pulled him aside to tell him that they had in fact received a phone call from Mason’s brother’s girlfriend attempting to get him fired.  Mason did not get in trouble. 

Now, just last night, our family friend’s air conditioner wires were cut while they weren’t home.  It was ninety degrees out.  They did this because they have seen us come in the trailer park to visit her, and for a while they thought that we were living there instead of at my parents. 

The fact is that they know now where we live, what vehicle we drive, and where Mason works.  They have just been kicked out of his grandmother’s house because of them stealing everything from her.  They are angry, and blaming this on us.  Therefore, we are in danger, and supposedly we can’t do anything about it because everything is civil.  It’s gotten to the point where Mason keeps a baseball bat in the truck for protection during the day, and at night he keeps it in our bedroom.  Now we have to be careful and make sure to lock everything up.  We have to walk on our tippy toes because the cops won’t do anything about them. 

Being that I’m pregnant, this is an issue.  So I know that this was very long, but please, please, please give us advice.  We have no idea what we can do, but we do know that something has to happen.  Leave a comment down below (as long as you want), specifying anything we can do in details.  This will be a great help to us.  Thank you, and I hope your day is much better than ours. 

Old People, New Skin

It feels like it's been forever since we have seen Mason's grandmother.  Mason has seen her like two months ago, but I haven't seen or talked to her since we've been kicked out.  I guess today is the day that we see her again.  It feels like she knows the old us, and now we're new people. 

So today Mason's dad is having a family dinner, and his grandmother is coming.  We were invited/required to come if you know what I mean.  But she doesn't know that I'm pregnant, so I'm wearing a shirt that kind of shows off my baby bump.  Mason says I'm still in the in between stages of being obviously pregnant and not showing much.  We just want it to be an easy reveal, and no stress, but who knows what will happen. 

Wish us luck.  It should go well because Mason's been inching into talking to her again since the certain issues we had have been kicked out of the house.  I'm not so sure I'm ready to talk to her again though.  She almost ruined our lives and it didn't seem to bother her much, but it definitely bothered us.  I don't know if I've forgiven her yet.  I know you can't hold grudges, but kicking us out when she knew we didn't have anywhere to go was a big deal. 

I guess we'll have to see how everyone fends, and where the table conversation goes.  Who knows with her.  I'll let you know how everything goes tonight or tomorrow.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day. 

Don't forget to thank God for the blessings today.  Even just the sky looks beautiful.  Maybe that's a good sign.  God is with me for this battle.

I Love How He Loves Me

Another fact about me: I love writing.  I've been writing since my little sister passed away.  It's helped me to get my feelings out, and it turned out to be a great way for healing.  Mostly I write poetry, but I have wrote some short stories, and started some novels.  The only problem is finishing the novels, it never happens. 

I thought I'd share with you what I wrote for Mason.  It'll give you an idea just how much I love him.  Our relationship is not always perfect, I'll admit that, but we will always be there for each other and our baby.  He will have a mommy and daddy, and we'll raise him together as a family. 

Anyways, before I keep getting off topic, here it is.  It's called I Love How He Loves Me

A kiss on the cheek there,
An arm around me here.
The glimmer in his eyes,
Shows me how much he cares.

He takes me in his truck,
A ride to no where;
Just places for us to see,
Only us, together. 

The whisper of the wind,
The tweet of the birds,
All tell me the story of his heart,
In several words.
Yes, I love how he loves me.

Thanks for reading.