There is definitely a real, live baby in there! Something changed this week and it is now very obvious! I mean before I knew there was a baby but I was reminded only by little movements from time to time and of course my growing belly. I can definitely feel her now. When she is active, I get nudged/kicked in many different places and often I will feel simultaneous jabs on my hipbone, ribs, belly button and everywhere in between. She even steps square on my bladder pretty much on a daily basis. What really gets her going is when she has the hiccups.
I can tell when this happens because if feels like a second heartbeat in my stomach that beats faster than mine but slower than hers. She moves like crazy to fight off the hiccups. Saturday, my very generous, organized, sweet friends Becca, Sage and Lindsay along with my sister threw Andy and I a baby shower at my parents’ house. I am not a big fan of the typical baby shower where a bunch of ladies get together and play games where the guests and mom-to-be cannot say the word “cute” or “baby” without losing the clothespin attached to their clothing when they entered the party. So my only request was that it be more like a party. They delivered and we had an awesome time visiting with everyone (both men and women), eating, drinking (water only for me) and hanging out. It was a really fun night that culminated in a gift opening session (the only traditional baby shower activity). Our friends were very generous and we received many wonderful gifts, especially little clothes. With all of the adorable girls outfits, there were plenty of “cutes” actually “kaaaaaa-yoooooooots” with no loss of clothespins. It was a fun time and the guys didn’t even seem too freaked out to be there. The next day, I had a blast washing up all of the clothes in baby-skin-friendly Dreft laundry detergent and putting the final touches on the nursery.
Andy and Alecia opening gifts at the couples baby shower
Sunday, I met my friend Jen and her son Max at the YMCA for some time in the pool. I had been nervous about swimming or aqua jogging since my friend Becca passed out after getting out of the pool when she was early in her third trimester. Her experience left a sort of stigma on the pool for me while pregnant. It was nice to get over that and get into the pool. Another friend Nicole swore to me that it is the best exercise once you are big and she said she swam and aqua jogged for as long as she could, then she would just go float around to have some time without gravity as an evil enemy. I took her advice and strapped the floatable jogging belt to my waist, oh wait I don’t have a waist anymore, it actually spent time both below and above the belly as I was trying to find the most comfortable position. Then, I spent an hour jogging in the water while Jen and Max went on the dragon-shaped kiddie slide and floated around in the shallow end of the pool. Near the end of my aqua jog I started thinking, “you know, I don’t really feel that much lighter…I mean the water feels great, but it is not some huge break from gravity.” That thought was immediately erased when I grabbed the railings of the ladder on the side of the pool and went to heave my enormous self back into gravity again. Apparently, I had gotten used to the weightlessness of the water when I had my “it’s not such a big relief” thought and reality quick came back to me as I vowed to spend more time in the pool. Let’s see, the pregnancy complaints…
I can no longer just “squeeze through” even though I find myself still saying that. “Excuse me, I just need to squeeze through here” as I turn sideways and am wider than if I were facing forward. People must either think, “ooh, poor thing, she doesn’t know how big she is, how sweet” or “um, grab a clue lady.”
Even low-impact exercise is getting more difficult. What used to feel like not even a workout, is now almost too vigorous for me. An hour walk leaves me waddling for the rest of the day (see waddling below) as I think the ligaments in my groin get stretched out and ache each time I get up from the seated position. I am still trying to get at least 45-60 minutes of low-impact exercise in most days…but sleep is now easily winning out over getting up early to go to the Y. My workouts are often after work now which is actually better because the mornings are hell for me for some reason. I get physically exhausted by my morning routine which causes my ears to ring and make me wonder if I can make it to work without falling asleep on the drive in. Now I often get all ready for work and then take a 30 minute nap before driving in. I know it sounds crazy, but this is my reality right now.
I waddle…enough said. Well actually I will say one more thing. I knew that I waddled when I first got up from my chair and started walking but I didn’t think I waddled beyond that. We were watching Anna and Derik’s wedding video and there is a short blip of my sister, mom and I walking down the beach and I was both bigger than I remembered and I was waddling. I still try and make a conscious effort not to waddle, but I think my natural tendency is, yes, wadding…
The heartburn I felt early on in the pregnancy is coming back with a vengeance. Luckily my doctor lets me take Pepcid AC which helps a lot! I can also no longer eat very much in one setting, so that coupled with my need to eat every two to three hours has turned my eating routine into lots of small meals all day long.
Tuesday night we had Baby Care Basics class at St. Lukes Hospital. For three and a half hours, we learned about how to take care of a baby. Some of the content was actually taken from a book we are both reading called The Happiest Baby on the Block which teaches you how to calm a baby and trigger his/her calming reflex using the 5 S’s: swaddling, side, Shhhh, swinging and sucking. In the class, we practiced swaddling and changing a diaper on a doll (both harder than they look, but I am sure we will get good at them soon.) A doctor also came into talk to the group and it was pretty informative even though most of the content was mostly common sense. They passed around an eight-pound baby doll so we could get an idea of how heavy the baby would be…no wonder, my stomach feels so heavy. Oh and there were tons of pamphlets to read from various organizations and services for parents and new children. All in all, it was a good class, but I was annoyed how the teacher said how important it was for dads to help while at the same time addressing all of the content to the class to mom’s, “Moms can do such and such to make the baby happy,” etc. Lame. I am so fortunate to have a husband who is so excited to be involved with the baby AND who has made it such a priority taking care of me while I have been pregnant.
Last night, Andy took a photography portrait class. Derik and Dave had given it to him as a gift for helping them out on some stuff with their new web business Tsuvo. He really enjoyed the class and vows that he will be good enough at portraits to take Belén’s first glamour shots. The only downside to all of this is that he wants me to be his model for his second class/1:1 session with the teacher. Normally I would reluctantly agree but now I have to very reluctantly agree. Really the last thing I want is more photos of me looking this large, but I am getting over it and will take one for the team. It should save us quite a bit of money at a photography studio and Andy is really excited about it.
Too Much Information
Remember, this is the section you should not read if you do not want to know the gross parts of pregnancy….
Monday night was hell. At first I thought it might be a new trend in pregnancy at night-time but I am happy to report that last night was a wonderful night of sleep, so the trend has not established itself…thank goodness. Broccoli is now off-limits. We had fish and broccoli salad for dinner which seemed great until I woke up at some gawd-awful hour wondering what the hell was wrong with me. My stomach (or something in the vicinity between my chest and my hips, it is hard to tell where anything is these days) hurt so bad that my first question was if I was going into labor. My self-assessment came back saying, “No, your pain is constant, not in bursts like contractions so this is not labor.” Phew. “Then what the hell is wrong with me?” After probably 20-30 minutes of more self-assessment, I decided two things.
1) The baby had grown and now had the ability to dig her arm or leg or something into my hip, therefore I could no longer sleep on my preferred right side.
2) I had gas, presumably from the broccoli and it was trapped somewhere under the baby causing much more pain than should be possible from gas. I couldn’t smell anything because like most nights since I have been pregnant, my sinuses were completely plugged up, but Andy confirmed that fermented broccoli was definitely lingering in the air as I worked to relieve the pain/pressure. Fun times, eh?!?
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