27 Weeks Bumpdate

How far along:  27 weeks.. and according to most charts, the 3rd trimester!! :)

Size of baby: Cucumber- 15in, 2.2lbs

Gender:  Girl :)

Maternity clothes:  Same as before.. just rotating the few basic pieces I have to get me through the last 3 months.  I did find a pair of super comfty shorts at Target last week that will help me in the warmer months.  Not wanting to spend too much on something I won't be wearing for too long.  

Sleep:  Not so great.  This belly makes it super uncomfortable for the most part. Sleeping on my side kind of hurts the belly, so my back is definitely the most comfortable for me even though I've heard that's bad?  Still getting up a lot to go to the bathroom and now that little missy is getting stronger, she has woken me up a few times doing her gymnastics routines in there!

Symptoms:  Tired, achey, slow, BIG appetite, and super growing belly (among many other things growing lol)

Miss anything:  Just being able to get up and move about freely as I want. It's crazy how much effort it takes now to get off the couch, out of bed, roll over, etc.

Movement:   Been super, super active lately. Some days I feel her all day and night.. I hope she likes to sleep more once she is here!

Food cravings:  Same here.  I have switched from my OJ to more of a milk drinker. Still strange for me.  I am loving the Dark Chocolate Almond Milk, but then just reg 1% milk for my cereal.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope

Have you started to show yet:   Growing, growing.

Belly button in or out:   Still in, but hurting lately from the stretching. Ouch!

Wedding rings on or off:  On! Still no swelling in the hands or feet.. just "swelling" in the face! :)

Mood: Happy and tired.

Best moment of this week:  FINALLY getting our crib and matching dresser this week.. for a GREAT deal.  Now maybe we can get it set up one day soon.. haha.  We also finished our bedroom renovation, got the guest room switched, and the nursery is almost completely empty of all the random stuff.  Hopefully she will have a room ready before she gets here!!  Also, my much needed "spa" time last night with a shellac manicure and reg. pedicure.  It was so nice to sit back and have someone else do all the work.. especially since I can't so easily reach those toes anymore.

Looking forward to:  Flying home tomorrow.. yay!! Wish me luck flying at 7 months pregnant and being comfortable. Also that I won't have to potty in those tiny airplane bathrooms, ah!

Exciting Career Change!

Exciting news!!! For those of you who don't already know, one month from tomorrow, April 25 (and also my mom's birthday!), will be my last day at my current job in the banking industry.  I am beginning my new and exciting chapter as a stay at home mom.  I am due June 25, so this gives me 2 months to be my crazy planner self and get everything left I need together and most importantly.. RELAX some! I can just do whatever the heck I want- No more hour commute to and from work, no more office drama and stress, just me time for 2 whole months.. I can not WAIT!  Then beginning the end of June, my life will once again be taken over by a new boss, Ms. Tilly.  I have a feeling I'll like her a little better as my boss than the corporate world! :)

I know the each woman/mom is different and some people can't imagine staying home.  I completely think this is a choice based on each family and no 2 people are the same.  It either is something you want to do, or you don't, and there's no right or wrong answer here.  I am so thankful to be lucky enough to even have the opportunity to stay home.  It will be hard to cut back on my shopping since I may have mentioned, my husband is a cheapy, but that will probably be a good thing for me! I am excited (and a bit nervous!) to begin this new journey.  I know some (or maybe most lol) days will be super stressful, but with out a doubt I know it will be such a wonderful adventure.  :)  Cheers to a new, exciting journey!

26 Weeks Bumpdate

*First I would like to say very happily that.. I passed my glucose test!!! I took it Monday and it wasn't too awful (even though I felt pretty nauseous after that drink) and found out yesterday that I passed.  I was so scared I would be the person who had the gestational diabetes and then turned into full blown diabetes after. Yes, I am a paranoid soul. :)  The Rhogam shot also wasn't bad going in, but man it hurt soooo bad all day yesterday. Ouch!*

How far along:  26 weeks

Size of baby: Still an Eggplant, but gone up in size- 9.2in, 2lbs

Gender:  Girl :)

Maternity clothes:  I took my shorts back to Old Navy this past weekend and got 2 maxi dresses and a shirt.  I am wearing one dress to the shower, and might just wear the same one in our pictures. Not sure yet on the pictures, but time is ticking!!!

Sleep:  Good lately, minus the potty breaks!!

Symptoms:  Thank goodness my whole rib issue is pretty much gone! It still is a bit sensitive to lay on my left side, so I am staying off of it to make sure I don't re-irritate it.  Other symptoms about the same- growing, tight belly, big appetite, tired, just over-all feeling VERY pregnant!

Miss anything:  Still bending over, getting up and down easily. All the things this big belly prevents. :) 

Movement:   Still a busy bee in there! Every time at our appointment when they go to do the doppler, they comment on how much she is moving around in there.  I wonder what that'll be like once she's here!

Food cravings:  Same ole, same ole.  Nothing specific.  Mainly I give in to "bad" food more and am definitely hungry A LOT.  Sadly, I did eat healthier before pregnancy. But man that Chickfila biscuit was good this morning! :)

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope

Have you started to show yet:   Bigger and bigger every day it seems! Thank goodness at my appointment on Monday my doctor said my weight was right on track and looking great, whew!

Belly button in or out:   Still in, thank goodness.

Wedding rings on or off:  On! No swelling yet on anything.. Except my pregnant chin- does that count? haha

Mood: Happy, happy!!!

Best moment of this week:  Hearing little missy's heartbeat on Monday and passing my Glucose test!!!!!

Looking forward to:  Being home NEXT WEEK!!!!!  I am so excited to see all my friends and family and to celebrate little Tilly at our shower next Saturday.

Also want to send a big Happy Birthday to my best friend, Lexie! Love you!!!

25 Weeks Bumpdate

How far along:  25 weeks

Size of baby: Eggplant- 9in, 1.7lbs

Gender:  GIRL!

Maternity clothes:  Got some new capris in from Old Navy this past week that actually fit great.  I ordered the capris, 2 pairs of shorts, and lots for Ms. Tilly- originally priced $153 and I paid... 17 cents!! I love my Old Navy shopping challenges haha.  Unfortunately the band on the shorts were a bit too tight, so I knew it wouldn't be good in a few months.  I think this weekend I will take them back to the store and see if a bigger size helps with the band, if not, look for something else.  There is also a Motherhood Maternity in the same mall that I need to check out.  I need something cute for my shower and our pictures in 2 weeks!!! :) :)

Sleep:  Pretty good here.. starting back waking up a lot this week for potty breaks all night, fun fun!

Symptoms:  Well what I THOUGHT was carpal tunnel last week ended up spreading to my chest/rib area so bad that I went to a Chiropractor. Come to find out, my ribs had popped out of place in the back causing HORRIFIC chest and arm pain. Eh.  I've had 3 visits so far of intense massage therapy and a creepy little machine that pounds on your bones and "pops" them back. It doesn't hurt, just sounds awful. Thank goodness it has helped TONS and I should have my last appointment on Thursday. I am going to miss those back massages! :)  Other than that- growing belly and MASSIVE appetite. The amount of food I can eat at one time is kind of scary.  Sadly it seems to all be stopping in my face and chin, definitely rocking the prego face lately!

Miss anything:  Bending over, haha 

Movement:   All the time! And she is moving up a lot higher now, as you can tell from my high belly up there.

Food cravings:  Still nothing crazy here.  I haven't really experienced the whole "I have to have this certain thing right now, all the time" cravings, or anything weird.  I don't know if that's good or not. My craving is just eating! :)

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope

Have you started to show yet:   Yep!!

Belly button in or out:  In, and still shallow.

Wedding rings on or off:  On

Mood: Happy and ready for June

Best moment of this week:  Having my ribs popped back into place! haha

Looking forward to:  My shower, and half way for my appointment on Monday! haha I am so excited to hear her little heartbeat, but will be having my Glucose Test and getting the Rhogam shot as well.. yikes.

Clyde

I will put a warning here.. If you are not a dog (or animal) person, you will probably think we have lost our minds after reading this post.

My family has always had dogs and I can't even begin to imagine the amount of money we have spent on the animals throughout the years.  When they are sick or hurt, you know there is no way you can't help them, so the money just has to be spent. Luckily Lance is also a dog person, so I got to "adopt" 2 doggies when I moved to NC  2 1/2 years ago. Both are beagles mixed, Clyde is 15, and Bonnie is 13.  I like to call Clyde my little old man.  He is so pitiful and sweet, even when he drives me insane.  Bonnie, on the other hand, still is insane and acts like a puppy.. and she's a mean little thing!

Last week was an interesting week for Mr. Clyde.  On Monday Lance and I took the day off to run some errands, one being taking Clyde for his yearly check up.  We never took our dogs to the vet growing up unless they were sick, so this whole yearly exam is new to me.  Especially when I learned his "senior wellness checkup" costed us $525.00 for the day. Yikes.  So we leave Clyde there for the day and go about our errands.  Around 3:30 the vet calls stating everything looks great except for one little thing... in his routine x-rays they noticed a PENNY was in his stomach.  Now, this might seem weird to some people but with these dogs.. they eat EVERYTHING.  It's absurd.  We didn't think much of it, thinking it would pass, until she went on to explain the problem with pennies is they can get stuck in the stomach and cause lots of issues. Pennies made before 1982 are solid copper, so they only irritate the stomach, but pennies made after 1982 are zinc, coated in copper.  The zinc is very toxic and once it gets in their blood, it's bad.  So now we were on a mission to get that penny out.  Obviously the first action is to check his bathroom every day and see if it comes out. That was a job for Lance! Well of course by Friday there was no penny and this was our cutoff she wanted to recheck him.  Friday morning Lance drops him back off at the vet on the way to work and upon more x-rays, that dang penny was still in the same spot.  The vet then called to let me know and suggested giving him some ointment in his eye (crazy!) that makes him violently puke.  I knew it had to be done, but this made me so sad to think about.  She reassured me as soon as he was done puking, they give him an injection of something to make the nausea go away and him feel better.  Well, 45 minutes later I get a call.. Clyde threw up every last thing in his stomach BUT THE PENNY.  At this point the vet is very concerned and suggest we have either surgery (not recommended because of how invasive it is) or a scope put down his throat to dig it out.  Here's the catch.. the scope procedure is between $1,000-$1,500 and if it doesn't work, they take him into surgery immediately and end up doing that, plus adding on double the cost.  This is not something you want to deal with at work. I was back and forth on the phone all morning between Lance and the vet.  We finally decided to go with the scope in the end because she said the specialist doing the procedure was very confident she could get it, and he would only be under for around 30 minutes with no recovery time really.

Around 1:00pm I leave work early, drive across town to get Clyde (pay $300 for the checkup visit, uh), drive him another 30 minutes to a specialist, pay another fortune, and leave our poor pitiful dog for surgery.  I got home around 4:30pm and was beyond stressed from the whole day/week. Thank goodness about 15 minutes after I got home they call to inform me the penny came right out, and he only had mild irritation in his stomach since it was a 1979 copper penny.  He has to take antacids for a week, and then will be good as new.  We went to get him at 8:00pm that night once he was out of post-op, and all was well in the Rowland house.  All and all we spent around $1,800.00 last week on Clyde, but we have our crazy old man back, so it was definitely worth it.  I don't think he got the memo about Tilly coming soon and her being pretty expensive! haha

The famous penny

After his first vet visit

Just being pitiful

RIP - my sweet Molly who went to doggie Heaven the end of January.

24 Weeks Bumpdate

I was getting ready for work and didn't want it to be a complete black outfit (with my work pants) so I decided to rock the pj pants in this week's pictures to break up the color. She is definitely sitting up high and poking way out!!

How far along:  24 weeks

Size of baby: Ear of corn- 8.5in, 1.5lbs

Gender:  GIRL!

Maternity clothes:  Same here! Still squeezing into some regular tops and dresses, but mostly maternity for this big ole belly.

Sleep:  Getting better. Last week was AWFUL.  This is more in the symptoms, but last week I started getting carpal tunnel type symptoms in my left arm from the shoulder to my finger tips. Laying on my back or left side made it a million times worse, so I was stuck strictly on my right side.  This made my right side start to hurt and be uncomfortable. UH!

Symptoms:  Gosh, lots!! The arm issue above, which I can happily say with the use of a wrist brace and nightly band exercises, is getting better! It has started to affect my right side some, so I have been doing the exercises on both.  Bad tail bone pain at work after sitting all day, so today I brought my lovely donut pillow I got a few years ago when I broke my tail bone. Helping so far!!  I can't bend over that well around this big ole belly, I realized this past weekend when trying to tie my tennis shoes that I was in for a challenge.  Overall just very uncomfortable, pain on the inside of my stomach from what I assume is everything stretching, and still super exhausted after work.  I can only imagine how intense the next 16 weeks will be!!! With all that being said though, feeling Tilly constantly move and wiggle around inside of me makes it totally worth it. But yes, it's still hard and miserable! :)

Miss anything:  Not having something hurt

Movement:   She is definitely a busy bee in there! Flipping, kicking, whatever it is.. I feel her all the time!

Food cravings:  I've been really enjoying cereal lately.. and milk.  I NEVER drink milk and if I do for cereal or things, I mostly use Almond Milk, so this is a big change! Also my appetite is insane lately. I am hungry ALL.THE.TIME. and I mean hungry.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope

Have you started to show yet:   Big, big yes.

Belly button in or out:  In, but it's getting so shallow. So odd!

Wedding rings on or off:  On

Mood: Happy, nervous, anxious.. but mostly happy!

Best moment of this week:  Just feeling her moving and watching her (me) grow!

Looking forward to:  My shower!!! I can't wait to be home and see everyone in 3 weeks!!!!!!!