8 Months Pregnant Belly

My baby belly at eight months pregnant.  I just got my new camera, and I'm extremely excited.  The quality isn't the greatest because of the lighting, but it works.  I've gotten so much bigger since my last belly shot at seven months.  I knew he had a growth spurt but it's so hard to tell until you see the pictures side by side.  My total weight gain is sixteen pounds.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

How we plan on taking care of our baby.

As I’m telling you this, I’d like you to keep in mind that this is what we’re doing.  What we do isn’t necessarily what you should do.  Our life circumstances are different, and our views may be different also.  Either way, I hope you can learn from this. 

First things first: where will we be living when Jason is born? 

Well, right now we have our application in at housing.  If you don’t know, housing is for people with lower incomes.  You are put on a waiting list until an apartment becomes available.  We could be waiting for six months before we get in.  For us this works out though.  We will not have the truck paid off for about two or three more months.  Therefore, we will not be able to afford an apartment until it is paid off.  This gives us time to save up our money. 

As we are waiting for a place to become available, we will be staying with my parents.  My mom has offered a room in the house for the nursery, and as long as we continue to pay rent, we are welcome here.  For the first few months, Jason will be in our room sleeping in a bassinet.  Then, once he has outgrown the bassinet, we will move him to the nursery in a crib. 

Who will be taking care of him?

Jason is due in the beginning of October.  I only say this because around Thanksgiving Mason will be laid off for the winter.  He will still have plowing to do if it snows, but during winter he will be collecting unemployment. 

In the first and possibly second month, I will be taking care of Jason during the day, but Mason will help in the afternoons.  I will also be taking care of him at night because Mason will have to get up early for work.  On the weekends he will help at night unless he has to work Saturday.  In the fall they have to work Saturday’s because they get busy again.  Therefore, he will probably only help me Saturday nights. 

To give you an idea, Mason leaves for work at 7:20am, and gets home any time after 3pm.  Some days he will work as late as 7pm.  During the fall months he will have very long hours and probably won’t get off until between 5 and 7pm. 

Once Mason is laid off for the winter, we will both be taking care of him during the day and at night.  On a side note: Mason will be looking for a job that will give him his CDL so he can start his trucking career.  We already have a few places in mind, but we have to wait until then to start applying due to unemployment and everything.

Babysitters

We will not really be in need of babysitters because I will be staying home with Jason.  But on the off chance that we do need one, we would go to our family friends or Mason’s dad first.  The reason we will not go to my parents first is because of their drinking habit.  Neither of us are comfortable with Jason being around alcohol, and we don’t want to risk it. 

Of course, we are going to give them a chance to prove that they can handle it, but once they ruin it it’s gone.  We want Jason to be able to spend time with his grandparents, but this is a touchy matter for us.  They have done a lot for us, but we don’t trust them.  That is a story all in its own, but that’s where we stand with my parents babysitting.

As for daycare or anything along those lines, we won’t be enrolling him in that.  For one, we don’t need to, and for two, it is expensive.  Lastly, I have problems trusting people I don’t know with my baby.  You may not agree, but this is just how we plan on raising him.  Again, what works for us may not work for you.

I believe that’s it.  If you have any other questions that I forgot, feel free to ask.  I will answer all of them in a separate post so that I can go into detail.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Life Update

The past two weeks have been extremely hectic, but there were great moments at the same time. 

First, as you know, Mason got ran over by the truck two weeks ago.  He is fine, and isn’t sore from it anymore.  All of his cuts are almost completely healed, and his bruises are gone. 

What you don’t know though is that on Thursday, Mason would say, “I got in a fight with a hedge trimmer.”  Mason was working on Thursday, and it was only 8:30 in the morning.  On that day he started at 7am.  He had picked up a hedge trimmer, and “got in a fight with it.”  As you’ve probably guessed, the hedge trimmer won. 

At first he thought that he only nicked himself with it, but I received a phone call at 8:45.  He told me that he cut his knee and had to go to the emergency room for stitches.  I was upset, but not too upset because he is prone to injuries.  He always ends up getting hurt somehow.  I learned later that he realized how bad it was when blood started seeping through his jeans. 

He told me that it hadn’t actually really hurt.  Mason even said that at the hospital he asked all the nurses and his doctor why it hurt less than what a paper cut does.  The nurses couldn’t give him an answer, but the doctor said that it was because some places have more nerves than others. 

According to Mason, the 6 numbing shots were a lot worse than what the three stitches were.  Luckily that was all he needed, and his tendon hadn’t been involved.  What the doctor didn’t realize was that Mason must have hit the bone a little bit. 

We figured this out because after the numbing medicine wore off, he was in a lot of pain.  By that night he could barely put weight on it, and he was in tears from the pain.  Keep in mind, Mason has ulcerative colitis and is really good with pain.  He RARELY reaches this point, but he did and I knew we needed to do something about it. 

So that night we went to the emergency room in town.  It wasn’t the same ER that he had went to for the stitches, but he wasn’t able to drive that far to that hospital. 

We spent almost four hours in the waiting room.  Once we got back to the room the nurse said that it sounded like bone pain.  Mason said yeah because he knew what incision pain felt like.  He’s had three surgeries, and seven stitches in that same knee.  The nurse says okay and that she’ll send the doctor in. 

We sat there for an hour waiting for the doctor.  I was exhausted seeing as it was running on 11pm.  Therefore, I was not in the best mood.  I was hungry because we had been there so long, and I had forgotten a snack and I just wanted to go home. 

Well, the doctor arrived and looked at his knee for about a minute.  Then he said that Mason shouldn’t be in that kind of pain.  Basically saying that he was lying.  After that, he repeated the instructions of the first doctor that put in the stitches and said to take Tylenol.  Mason told him that Tylenol wasn’t working, but he didn’t say anything.  The doctor was in there a total of five minutes, and then we were discharged. 

It is an understatement to say we were upset.  They did not do anything for him besides repeat what we already knew.  They didn’t recommend crutches or anything along those lines. 

So we left with Mason still in a lot of pain.  The next day I got my older brother’s old crutches out, and Mason used them.  This helped a lot and by Sunday he was able to walk on it again.  If only the doctor would have recommended crutches! 

Anyways, Mason’s back to work today, and his stitches are healing really well.  He’s able to bend his knee more, and he isn’t in nearly as much pain as he was.  We are very thankful that he is healing so fast.  He will be getting his stitches out on Thursday. 

On a higher note, yesterday Mason and I went to a restaurant.  You may be surprised to hear that Mason and I have never done anything like this.  Sure, we’ve been to fast food restaurants, but we never went to a restaurant where you get waited on.  We’d done this with our families, but never with each other. 

It turned out that the food was amazing, and the service was equally as good.  The buns that we received were hot and really soft; not including delicious!  We didn’t even finish our appetizers before we had our meals, and believe me, they were meals.  Neither of us could finish what was on our plates. 

This was so much fun, and we’ve decided that we’re going to do it more often.  We’re thinking that we want to do it once more before Jason gets here, and then do it every couple months after that.  Needless to say, I was a very happy pregnant lady after our dinner. 

Other than that, Mason and I are doing amazing.  Our relationship has only been getting better and stronger.  We are extremely happy together, and we can’t wait for Jason to get here.  He is always on our minds.  I can’t wait to be a family because I know it will be perfect.  I’m not in the fairy tale where I don’t think it will be hard.  I know it will be hard, and I know we will have our moments.  But this is normal, and I expect it and even welcome it.  Life can’t be easy.  If life were easy, how would we get stronger? 

Well, that’s our life update.  Thanks for reading, and have an amazing day!  Don’t forget to leave a comment!

27/28 Week Pregnancy Update

Wow!  I am finally twenty-eight weeks pregnant.  It’s hard to believe that we only have twelve weeks left or sooner to see our little boy.  I hope it isn’t too soon because I want him to be perfectly healthy and not have to spend any time in the NICU. 

So we have reached the third trimester, and I am extremely excited.  I’m getting bigger every day, and I can feel him kick all the time.  He is getting extremely strong which is great. 

This past week has been really hectic.  I was feeling great in my 27^th week, but as soon as I hit my 28 week mark on Tuesday, everything went downhill.  I got extremely bad heartburn to the point where I couldn’t lay down in bed.  I also felt very sick to my stomach.  I was getting sick practically every day, sometimes three or four times a day. 

I was extremely miserable.  I couldn’t seem to get any sleep.  I was waking up every hour or so thinking I was going to get sick, and feeling horrible from heartburn.  I would take tums but it didn’t help. 

Thankfully by Saturday I felt a little bit better.  Mason and I were able to go to his dad’s, but it was very hot out which made it horrible because we were outside all day working on the truck.  Mason actually got heat exhaustion so I was up with him until three in the morning.  So I was running on hardly any sleep, and we went to his dad’s again on Sunday to finish the truck. 

I felt good until Monday then.  When I woke up Monday I felt very sick.  I couldn’t keep anything down until noon, and my doctor’s appointment was at 1:30pm.  Therefore at the doctor’s appointment I was dehydrated, but they weren’t worried because I had just started being able to eat and drink again. 

Otherwise my doctor’s appointment went great.  Jason’s heartbeat was in the high 140’s which she said was normal.  I also asked if he was breech or not, and she told me that he wasn’t because his heartbeat was low in my belly meaning he was head down.  I was very happy to hear this seeing as I was a breech baby with my mom. 

Also, my doctor has been regularly checking my growth, and she told me that I was 29 in.  I don’t know what I was before, but she didn’t say anything about whether it was good or bad, so I’m guessing it’s good. 

I lost 3 pounds since my last appointment, but they didn’t say anything about it because they knew that I had been really sick.  That makes my total weight gain 11 pounds so far, and I’m trying to gain more now to make up the difference.  It’s actually kind of weird having to try and gain weight instead of worrying about not gaining too much weight.  My glucose test came back normal which didn’t really surprise me.  Ever since I’ve started eating better and squeezing in more snacks I haven’t had any weird spells of lightheadedness.  So that’s pretty much it for my doctor’s appointment.  I’m extremely happy that everything is going so well. 

Now for the rest of my symptoms.  I’ve gotten over the sickness, but I’ve been feeling pretty achy lately.  I’ve taken advantage of Mason’s massaging skills again because of back pain.  He is absolutely amazing at giving massages and relaxing me.  Again, take advantage of any chance you get for a massage! 

It feels like Jason is always on my ribs which is not very comfortable.  Sometimes it can be painful, but I love it either way because it shows me that he’s okay. 

I have also had a couple times where I felt like my heartbeat was racing.  From what I’ve read, this is normal, but please let me know if this has also happened to you.  It is a very uncomfortable and scary feeling for me when it happens. 

Well, that’s about it for my 27/28 week update!  I’m sorry that it was so late.  This week has been pretty hectic.  I’m going to post an update today on how Mason and I’s relationship is going, and just how everyday life is.  Please check that out, and don’t forget to comment!  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!

A Beautiful Day

Have I forgot to mention that we have two rabbits?  Yes we do!  A large callico and a black dwarf bunny.  We were debating on breeding them in the future, but now we think we will breed dogs instead.

Anyways, that's not the point.  Today has been beautiful: not too hot, not too cold.  So what did we do?  Spent time outside of course.  And what was Mason's choice for the day?  He wanted to work on the muffler on his truck (men!). 

So we pulled the rabbits out of their cage (much to their dismay), and stuck them in their outside "playpen".  Abby (the callico) being the spoiled one from daddy got to sit in the truck to keep cool while Bridget (black dwarf) laid in the shade with mommy.  They had a great time relaxing while Mason had his much needed truck time. 

After about two hours, Mason finally fixed what actually turned out to be broken (surprisingly), and now we have a quiet truck.  This is great for when the baby comes.  Everyone loves sleeping babies and a quiet truck equals a sleeping baby, most of the time. 

But did we have enough sun yet?  Definitely not!  First we had to test out the truck on the road.  Then we decided to go biking on a local trail.  Keep in mind, I haven't been on a bike since the beginning of my pregnancy when I wasn't showing at all.  Now I got a baby bump in the way. 

It turned out to be especially fun though, and great quality time with my amazing fiance.  Plus, it was great exercise to keep my weight under control.  With all these cravings, I may need it. 

Turns out that it was so fun that we're thinking of making it a regular thing.  This will be great because I love exploring nature. 

So if it's beautiful out where you are, get outside and enjoy it!  You only have so many beautiful days in your lifetime, and every one is different than the first. 

23 Weeks Pregnant

I’m finally 23 weeks pregnant!  This pregnancy still seems like it’s going fast which makes me happy because before we know it we’ll be seeing Jason. 

I feel like I’m getting bigger every day, and every day Jason is getting stronger.  I can feel him kicking almost all the time now.  He is still really low, but it hasn’t affected my bathroom visits. 

I’ve been curious as to whether he is going to be breech or not.  At my last ultrasound he was breech in the beginning, but he wasn’t at the end.  I have a feeling that he’ll be one of those that move up until the day I give birth, but I don’t know yet. 

If anyone is wondering, I am planning to have a vaginal birth.  My idea on the epidural is to wait and see if I need it, but I’m not the greatest person with pain so I’ll probably end up getting it.  A c-section will be pretty stressful because of having to heal afterwards.  Mason and I already know that he will only get the day I give birth off of work, so I’m going to be on my own taking care of Jason.  A c-section would probably mean that I’ll need my parents help for a while. 

Does anyone know when your doctor tells you if you might be too small to give birth naturally?  I am especially short, so I’ve been worried about that.

Now for my symptoms.  I’ve still been having back pain, but only on my right side at my hip.  It feels like something needs to pop and it won’t.  Also, according to my scale, I’ve gained about three pounds since my last appointment.  It’s been scary gaining weight because I’m worried about gaining too much, but so far my nurse says my weight is perfect.  It’s gotten to the point where I can definitely feel the weight difference when I walk for a while. 

Cravings are definitely still there.  I’ve been wanting skittles like you wouldn’t believe, and I have yet to get them.  On the plus side, our local farmers market will be opening soon so I can get some fresh strawberries.  (It’s about time!)  I still haven’t noticed any swelling, but I was wondering if there is ever a time you should take off your engagement/wedding ring during pregnancy?  I don’t want the ring to get stuck on my finger.  That’s pretty much it for my symptoms. 

My mom and I went through all the baby stuff we’ve gotten from yard sales and what not.  We have more than a whole twin bed full of stuff piled up.  It’s pretty amazing. 

Apparently now we have hit the point where I’m not allowed to see the things my mom buys for Jason anymore because of the baby shower getting closer.  This is a huge bother for me because I hate not knowing.  I just can’t wait to see the cute baby stuff, but I’ll be sure to sneak a few peeks. 

Anyways I’m extremely excited to be at 23 weeks.  My doctor’s appointment is on this coming Monday (June 11^th), so I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes.  Plus, Mason’s birthday is on the 20^th of June.  I have yet to think of something amazing to do that day.  He’s turning 19 but he has to work, so it will be a challenge, but we will definitely have some fun.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great day.