Thursday, June 30, 2016

Week 29

Well, this week you get another slightly early blog post, this time because I'm going to be gone all weekend and figured if I didn't write everything down now, you wouldn't hear from me until Monday or Tuesday. And considering how busy NEXT week is supposed to be... well I don't know but it's possible two whole weeks of pregnancy blog would go missing, and we can't have that!

So, here we are, week 29 almost wrapped up in a pretty bow, and week 30 about to start. Holy crap, where has the time gone? Speck will be here in 11 weeks!! (Well, 9 to 13 weeks really, but damn people, that's crazy!)

I have a feeling most of the third trimester is going to fly by, especially because we have a seriously busy summer schedule. Then I expect the last couple weeks before Speck arrives will drag by in the way that only a combination of impatience to meet a new human and the discomfort of feeling like a bloated and rotting whale corpse can account for. At least, that's what I've read. We shall see.

Meanwhile. Let's stick to the present. Enjoy the hell out of the now people, it's the only thing we can be sure of. So, what things do I need to tell you about week 29? Let's see first up, some good stuff.

I RAN 4 out of the past 7 days! And I may yet go for another run today too. Now, keep in mind when I say run here, I mean super slow running around a simple grass field, and the only thing that keeps it from being jogging is my posture and stride. In fact, just to make sure that I don't jog, I'm taking my shoes off and running barefoot around this field. The idea being that running barefoot will keep my weight forward, keep me on the balls of my feet and keep me from doing the up and down bouncing involved in jogging. And why would I want to avoid jogging you ask? Well, aside from the fact that it's supposed to be worse for your whole body and especially your joints, it also causes Speck to put WAAAAYYYY too much pressure on my bladder. So a running stride, even if slowed to a practical crawl, is vastly preferable to me. So there you go. RUNNING! Slow and only for between 1 to 1.5 miles at the moment, but still. Running. It feels so good to run again at all, I will take it. And, as I'm sneaking it into the middle of my 4km dog walk, I am sure to get a decent warm up and cool down each time. Ok. I've probably gone on about this way longer than most people are interested in, I'm just so happy about it that I can't stop telling people. It's like regaining a tiny piece of pre-pregnant me and it feels really good.

Moving on.

Acquisitions! Well, I have been avoiding buying many baby things, as I may have mentioned, but I have received one awesome gift from my mom which I will talk about in a second, and yesterday I bought some pregnancy things. The pregnancy things yesterday were no big deal, just some more athletic pants I can run in that aren't too hot, and an exercise ball for posture, baby positioning, and labor. My doula informs me that sitting on a exercise ball in the last trimester can help ensure Speck is in the right place come b-day, and I am all for that. Plus they're supposed to be damned handy things to have in labor (so much so that the birth center has a whole stack of them just waiting for use) and I hope to labor at home for as long as possible before heading to either the birth center or the hospital, so it'll be nice to have one here. Not to mention it's a nice comfortable alternative to my standing desk that still allows me to work at a pleasant angle relative to my computer but doesn't require me to sit in a chair for hours on end (something my preggo body is decidedly against). I've only had it for a day so far, but my verdict is (as I sit on it to type this blog entry) that if you have a desk job, are pregnant, and have become increasingly uncomfortable in your chair, this might be the solution for you. Might not be though. Keep in mind there's no back support, you have to do that part yourself (which is good for you, helps maintain posture and make your back stronger etc.... unless your back is already messed up, in which case it might not be good for you, please consult your doctor, don't take my random ass anecdotal evidence as science).


This was the best I could do for a selfie that included the exercise ball. It's the grey blob in the middle there. But this is totally me right now. Rocking the ball and working at my laptop. 

Here's a shot demonstrating what a nice height the laptop is for my neck and arms. Well, it sort of demonstrates that... mostly it demonstrates how messy my work space is. Hi, Mom! ;-)

So anyway, that was the main pregnancy related thing I got. The other things were just big, flowy, light colored, long sleeved shirts to wear while being out in the sun all day and needing perhaps more coverage than mere sunscreen can provide. Not to mention, providing a bit of extra mosquito protection as I am reluctant to use DEET products while carrying Speck. So, if a thin flowy shirt will help reduce the amount of mosquito repellent I need to use, I will happily wear one. 

The REALLY AWESOME THING that my mom got me as a gift (despite my protest that gifts, and new things are not really what we're doing this pregnancy--but she's allowed to ignore me on this because she's my mom--no one else get any ideas) is THIS:


If you're wondering what that is, it's a diaper bag. The world's coolest diaper bag, to be specific. 

Don't believe me... check it out!

It's lined with water proof lining that can easily be hosed out or wiped down without damaging the bag. It also keeps rain out when you're trying to keep your diaper supply dry.

It comes with this super awesome folding change pad that is both stylish and functional. (Note the binky holder in the corner there. That's a neoprene pouch sized just for pacifiers.)

Unfolded you can see the two mesh pouches for holding clean diapers as well as the see through watertight pocket for dirty ones. The bright teal area is baby change land--also covered in a totally fluid resistant (yeah we won't pretend that's gonna be water) coating for easy clean up.

Change pad tucks away nicely and despite my inability to hold the bag open and take a picture at the same time, the bag is large and full of lots of useful pockets.


Timbuk2 makes amazing products, I have a few things made by them and they are all in mint condition despite being years old. I have a laptop bag of theirs that is 9 years old and still perfect. Not even a single zipper has broken. I looked into a lot of diaper bags and backpacks, and this one was the one I wanted most. I personally was not interested in any of the frilly designs on other bags, and I hate hand bags, or shoulder straps that can't be worn across the chest. Timbuk2 makes awesome messenger bags and this is basically a large messenger bag with a few adaptations specifically for diaper related issues. In the meantime it just looks awesome (in my opinion).  

Corey was skeptical at first, and I don't know if he would have gone for it if mom hadn't gone ahead and gotten it for us, but funnily enough on the day it arrived he met up with a friend on his way home who is a dad and whose opinion Corey holds pretty high. This dad friend mentioned that it was worth it to buy a diaper bag that rocked because you spend so much damned time with the thing. I think that sold Corey on it more than anything I could have said and when I showed it to him he seemed impressed. 

THANKS MOM!!! (And anonymous dad friend.)

So those are all my recent acquisitions. Let's see what else do you need to know?

Oh right. I had another midwife appointment this week. This time to actually have a real appointment instead of just meet the midwife and talk and get to know each other. It was lovely because we went over all of my files in detail in order to make sure she had everything and just to make sure I had all the details I wanted. What was particularly fabulous about this was that she took the time to go over my 20 week ultrasound results with me. Something my doctor (or rather the resident I meet with instead of my doctor) had flat out refused to do. Which I get, I mean it's time consuming to go over that kind of report and my results were all "normal" so I understand why she couldn't take the time. But, really this is a big part of why I wanted midwifery care to begin with. Being pregnant may not be medically a big deal, especially to people whose job it is to make sick people healthy again, but it's a big damned deal to me. I've never done it before and I like to know what's going on with my body, and I like to know all the details about how Speck is doing. So it was great to have my midwife go through all of the measurements the U/S tech had taken of Speck and show them to me on a measuring tape so I could get a great visual of just how big (or tiny) Speck is (or was 9 weeks ago). So cool! Also, at the time of the U/S I had normal amounts of amniotic fluid, a nicely closed cervix, and a posterior placenta that was not in any way blocking my cervix. All of which is good. Yay details!

The update from the latest appointment was that my fundal height was measuring right on time 28cm (I was 28 weeks and 3 days at my appointment). Funny thing; as my midwife was trying to measure where the top of my uterus was she exclaimed, twice, "you have very strong abs." Which just made me chuckle, because, yeah, I keep thinking that's why my bump is so small even though my fundal height is perfectly normal. Speck is measuring just fine, but my abs are keeping everything crammed in tight. Don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's what I've got. 

Meanwhile my bp was still nice and low (the low side of normal that is) and Speck's heart rate was not only normal but on par with all previous heart rate measurements so far. Speck is consistent like that. 

*multi-hour time lapse*

Speck took me down for a two hour nap and by the time I woke up Corey was home and it was time to make dinner and take the dog for a walk. So, that all happened in between that last paragraph and this one. 

That's a thing. Speck is back to taking me down for naps even though I am generally feeling pretty energetic. However, I have noticed that I'm not up for all night hangs as I once was. We had guests over the weekend and we had plans to go out both Friday and Saturday night. I managed to stay out to somewhat respectable hours both nights, but on Friday night after a few hours of dancing I was exhausted and barely managed to stay awake until our 1am departure time. Meanwhile, on Saturday night a few hours of talking to new people wiped me out and I left the party at 11pm. 

The only new thing this week seems to be that Speck is moving a lot, and the movements can be pretty huge. I have had moments of being distracted from working on the laptop by seeing a shark circling out of the corner of my eye. That's no shark though, it's the protohuman inside of me doing barrel rolls again. I suppose this has been a slow build over weeks, but it seemed particularly marked this week. 

Alright, I think that covers this week. We're off for a long weekend in the northern part of the province and I will return to the land of interwebs late on Sunday. Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. Here are two shots of the belly to hold you over til next week.


I added a forward facing one so you can check out my slowly darkening linea nigra. I think it's awesome. 

One of these days I'll get Corey to take a proper belly shot again, but at least we have these mirror selfies in the meantime. Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July everyone! (Or just a random weekend in July if you're not from the northern two countries in north america.)




Thursday, June 23, 2016

Week 28

Well, I'm a day early I suppose, since today is technically the last day of week 28 and week 29 doesn't start 'til tomorrow, but honestly, it's close enough and this weekend is going to be packed with activities and guests coming from out of town and well, it just makes more sense to write and post today.

I guess I could go ahead and schedule this to post tomorrow, but I figure after all the late posts I've made in the past few weeks an early one is probably just the thing. So here you go.

Week 28 has been fairly eventful, at least on a relative scale.

I've already forgotten what we did on Saturday but I remember it was busy, and on Sunday we went out to Corey's parents' place for a father's day hang which was nice. At some point in there I bought some new preggo summer clothes. Most of what I bought is NOT maternity. I'm really working to avoid buying maternity stuff because a. it's expensive and b. I hate the idea of buying clothes that I am only going to wear short term. So, we rocked the thrift store shopping and I did buy two maternity tops for dressing up a bit, but otherwise I bought stretchy long tank tops that cover the bump and the top of my pants and will continue to fit when I regain my normal shape. I also bought a pair of spandex shorts to wear under dresses and prevent the dreaded thigh rub, as well as a running skirt that has built in spandex shorts for the same purpose. Everything is a bit larger than I would have purchased pre-pregnancy, but not a ton larger and all stretchy athletic stuff, so quite likely to still fit in the future. Yay! And it feels good to have more than one top that I can wear with my limited number of pants etc. I'm not much of a fashion person, but even I was getting frustrated being limited to two outfits on repeat every damned day.

I deleted facebook from my phone at some point in the last ten days (can't remember when exactly) and it has led to a huge boost in productivity. I now only go onto facebook on my computer and facebook on the computer is a lot more clunky and less inviting, so it's easy to ditch it and get back to whatever I was supposed to be doing in the first place. Also, the damned app takes up almost a half a gig off space on a phone, so clearing it out was a huge help to me being able to download important things... like The Room 3... (If you don't know what that is, but you like puzzle games and you have a smartphone or a tablet, start with The Room and work your way up from there. Thank me/curse me later. Hours of your life you will never get back, but you'll be happy to give them up if you love puzzles, amazing graphics and creepy storylines and soundtracks.) Ahem... anyway...

Pregnancy, right. That's what this blog is about.

Which reminds me, there are two big things I forgot to mention in my last post, but which are just as relevant this week as they were last week so I suppose it's ok that they got spread out anyway.

1. Pregnancy brain! I hadn't noticed much in the way of this during the first or early second trimesters, but over the past few weeks I have noticed it and it is weird. My vocabulary recall has plummeted. Words that I use all the time. Common simple words. Words that five and ten year olds use on a daily basis, have escaped me completely for minutes at a time. It's ridiculous. And it happens a few times a day. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm used to having little moments like this normally, but maybe once a week or so, maybe less. Not a FEW TIMES A DAY. Seriously. Words like "bike," "furniture," and "couch" are three examples that have already eluded me today. What the fuck, brain? Why are we doing this?

So yeah, that's fun.

2. THIGH RUB! Holy hell. My poor skin. Now, let's get one thing perfectly clear, my thighs always touch a bit. Even when I'm in damned good shape my thighs are not the kind that stay gracefully separated. I've come to terms with this. No problem. But why, oh why, are they now suddenly magnetized to one another and attempting to become one piece of flesh? And I'm only kind of joking there, because after all the skin has rubbed off from chaffing the damned things are just likely to heal as a single piece as the two they started off as. OW!

Today I pushed thigh rub to a new limit accidentally by going for a run. I was wearing my new running skirt and thought it would prevent the dreaded thigh rub, after all, the spandex shorts cover my thighs... but no. The thighs are so determined to join forces that they pushed shorts out of the way and made sweet sweet love to each other despite my best attempts to pull the shorts back into place and now... I have pepperoni thighs. Only without all the deliciousness of pepperoni.

But, serious plus side to all of this: I RAN TODAY!! Granted, it was for just under a mile in the middle of my dog walk, but it was running, and it felt good, and SPECK DIDN'T TRY TO USE MY BLADDER AS A LIFE PRESERVER!!! YAY!!!

So, I'm going to try to make a habit of that, even if I stick to just a mile or two and keep it super slow. It felt good to do more than just walk.

And in bigger news, yesterday was the day of getting all the things done. I took the car for maintenance and tire changing (we don't have extra rims so we can't change them ourselves at home) and I went to upgrade my phone (I always feel guilty about giving up on a phone that still works just fine, but I couldn't resist getting the newest Samsung phone (the S7) for FREE by trading in my old phone). AND I met with my new midwife.

Oh yeah. That's the big one.

We talked for over two hours. She's great. The birth center is freaking gorgeous and I am SUPER tempted to give birth there rather than the hospital and... yeah. Despite my doubts last week I totally decided to switch over my care. It feels really nice to have all of my concerns addressed and to feel like I'm not being rushed through everything. So, yep. Midwife. I've got one, and I'm very happy about it.

Let's see... anything else? Speck is moving a bunch these days and can now push hard enough that my whole stomach moves around visibly when s/he decides to do a barrel roll. (At least I assume that's what Speck is up to. Certainly, it's what I would do, if I were suspended in fluid and had nothing else to keep me busy.)

I think that about covers it. Here's a photo of Artemis enjoying the summer wonderland that is our typical afternoon walk:

And here's a mirror bumpie that I took today (Corey will take the proper bump pic tomorrow, but this is what we have to work with today). And just for variety's sake there are two, one with a shirt (one of the new ones I just got) and one without.



Saturday, June 18, 2016

Week 27

It's officially summer (ok solstice says three more days, but whatever) and this is Artemis' and my favorite walk. Loving the green. Not loving the mosquitos, but they're not too bad yet.

Well here we are. Week 27 is done. Week 28 has started. Which means I am 27 weeks pregnant, starting my 7th month and officially into my third trimester... unless you're of the calendar that chooses a to accept the third trimester as starting at 28 weeks, in which case I might have another week to go, but I honestly don't care at this point. I'm going to call it the third trimester. Why not?

First up, some news and a dilemma (good news, good dilemma, nothing bad here): I received a call from the Women's Health center and there is an opening for a midwife that I can take if I want it. On the one hand that's super exciting because I REALLY wanted a midwife when this whole thing started. I wanted one for lots of reasons, not least of which was that I was terrified about how this whole thing would go, I didn't know the first thing about pregnancy, and I felt alone and unsupported (aside from my hubby--this was back in trimester one, when we weren't telling anyone and I felt very isolated) and the idea of having someone who would spend over an hour with me once a month going over everything that was happening to me sounded incredibly reassuring.

But when that didn't happen, I made do with what was available, did a ton of my own research, found a doula and a doctor who was down with natural childbirth and now... Now I don't know. I still love the idea of a midwife. I don't particularly enjoy the 15 minute sprint through the doctor's office that constitutes my monthly prenatal appointment (soon to be biweekly). However, I do like the doctor I found, and if he's actually the one who delivers me I think all will be well. I'm ok with the idea of a hospital birth as long as no one pushes interventions at me, and I think my doula is awesome and we're pretty prepared for this whole thing. Plus my doctor now would become Speck's pediatrician and that's pretty cool. So... do I really want to go through the hassle of switching healthcare providers at this point? I don't know... but, being one who is all for having the most information possible for any decision, I have made an appointment to meet with the midwife to see how awesome she is. Apparently I can do this without upsetting anyone and make my choice after we've met. Plus I'll get to see the birth center (which I have to say is another really appealing part of having a midwife, it looks SOOO comfortable and you get a private room and everything). So, lots of thinking to be done, and a good problem to have, really. I look forward to meeting the midwife and seeing how I feel about her. My hope is that Corey will be able to come too and he can throw in his two cents. We shall see...

Now then: Things that are new in the past week...

HOT FLASHES. Holy shit. I understand that hormones, and blood levels, are all surging and my body is working overtime to adapt to everything that's happening but DAMN. For someone who generally runs cold, and tends to wear fuzzy slippers and a hoodie while reading at night even through most of the summer, suddenly feeling an urge to strip down to as little as possible at 1am is disconcerting at best and downright freaky at worst. (Worst being the first time it happened and I freaked out wondering if I suddenly had a fever, or if the temperature in the house had suddenly spiked, or if I had caught fire without noticing it somehow...) Anyway, having never experienced a real hot flash before this was unsettling, and I immediately turned to the internet to make sure it was a pregnancy thing and not... I don't know... the plague? But yeah, we're all good. Super common in pregnancy especially during the third trimester. So yay! Not the plague! But BOO! COMMON in the third trimester. Blech. I could do without that.

Gas. Gas is not new. Gas has been a big part of this whole deal from the start but lately it's been... more prevalent, shall we say? I don't know. I've been gassy since the first week of pregnancy, but it's like now I can't get up and walk across the room without crop dusting the whole way. Also, apparently, quite common and due in large part to a slowing of my digestive system directly related to pregnancy. Great. Fun isn't it?

Fatigue! Also not new, but having made a more decisive return. While most of the second trimester was spent with only quick bouts of fatigue that were generally cured by napping, the past week and a half has swung back towards the all day fatigue that plagued me in the first trimester. Though, to be fair, it hasn't been quite as all consuming... or rather, it seems to be more of a physical fatigue and less of a mind, body and soul fatigue. I feel tired for no reason, as though I've just run ten miles or more (would that I still could) and sluggish, almost like one feels during a flu. Yet my brain still functions relatively well and I have maintained most of my motivation for writing and work in general. Most, but not all. It has taken a hit. But so far it's nothing compared to the all-I-can-do-is-curl-up-into-a-ball-and-question-all-my-life-choices fatigue of the first trimester. Small victories. We'll take 'em.

PANIC!! This one is pretty new. Not that I haven't had moments all through this pregnancy of disbelief/doubt about what's really happening here, but with Speck moving more and more I'm now constantly faced with the reality that there is a living human growing inside of me and that pretty soon (13 weeks from now) that human is going to come out and say hi, move into our house, and take over our lives. ACK!!! Unprepared doesn't begin to cover how I feel about that, but it's the best I can come up with on short notice. Still, there are other moments when it's pretty cool. Speck is in there, doing her/his thing and becoming a person. There is personality there already. Something I didn't realize until I had close friends have kids is that even new borns have personality. They don't do much with it. Mostly sleeping, crying, eating, and pooping, but it's there, and if you spend enough time with them you can tell. That's the part I'm looking forward to. Getting to know this little human we've made and learning things from it. Seeing the world anew through her/his eyes and sharing that sense of discovery. That part is going to be awesome (in the most literal sense of the word). Then there will be the crying, pooping, eating, and sleeping, but I guess we'll get through that too.

And, finally, DISCOMFORT. I won't pretend that's exactly new, because let's face it; this whole thing is essentially a nine month exercise in seeing just how uncomfortable you can be in your own skin, but the body is really ramping it up here in preparation for the final third. Finding a comfortable way to sit for a long time is pretty much impossible. I wake up every few hours in the middle of the night with various body parts aching, or my bladder flashing neon signs at me saying "EMPTY ME NOW, OR ELSE!" None of my clothes really fit anymore, and I need to buy new tops that cover the waistbands on my maternity pants... everything is a pain in the ass. From getting out of a chair, to trying to go for a long walk without having to pee half way through. Running is out, not because it's too much for my body, but because it's too much for my poor bladder. Five minutes in I feel like Speck has decided that we've entered rough seas and my bladder is her/his life saver. Speck clings to it like a wayward teddy bear and I slow to a walk because damn it, it's just not worth it. Turning in bed feels like turning an unruly boat with a broken rudder, and I am constantly, vibrantly aware of my bump and the fact that it often moves on its own.

So, yeah, people keep telling me I look great, and I know that as far as pregnancy goes I've been super lucky. And, furthermore, I feel pretty good most of the time. I don't want to give you the impression that I'm miserable. Far from it. I think I am lucky, and have had a pretty good run of this thing so far. But I guess that's my point. Even when your pregnancy is going super well, and you feel pretty good, and can still do lots of stuff, and everyone thinks you look wonderful... PREGNANCY IS STILL A PAIN IN THE ASS! So, if you know anyone who is pregnant, please be nice to them. And don't compare their pregnancy to your pregnancy, or your wife's, or your friends, or your brother's sister-in-law's third cousin's. Every pregnancy is different and they all have their sucky moments. So hugs all around for the pregnant ladies, for keeping the species going and putting up with all the parts of this that are bullshit. Not far now, ladies. Just one hot, sweaty, sticky summer to go. ;-)

Here's the weekly bump picture! It was pretty hot yesterday so I'm not wearing much. Those are prepreggo jean shorts that I was amazed to find still fit (with a hair tie buttonhole extension of course)!



Friday, June 10, 2016

Week 26

Well, it has once more been a busy week, but this week I'm determined to get back on schedule! So, here we are. It's actually Friday, the day I flip over to week 26 completed, and I am writing this blog. WINNING!!!

So let's see... this week...

Lots of walking to and from things and appointments and with the dog. I can't say it enough, walking rocks. I shudder to think how out of shape I would feel if I weren't walking as much as I am. And I already shudder at how out of shape I feel, so that's saying something.

It's not 'cause I look pregnant. Not really. Though granted, this week I've decided I thoroughly hate my own ass and thighs (why? who knows, I'm guessing a combination of hormones and insecurity--certainly I remember them once being two distinct lumps of flesh... this is no longer the case), but whatever. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about not feeling strong. I usually feel strong. I usually feel like I can lift lots of heavy things, do pull ups, carry couches, and run for a long time. I don't feel like that right now, and I don't like it. I want to feel that way again. I'm going to try to do more things that help me feel that way.

Moving on...

Speck was moving lots for a week or so, and then was quiet for a few days. Of course that had me mildly concerned, but as long as I was feeling some movement I wasn't really worried and I kept getting the odd jab and poke so I was mostly not worried. And then the day before yesterday Speck pulled me down into nap land for a few hours in the middle of the day and I realized it must have been another growth spurt. Then again yesterday I needed extra sleep, and some more today. And ever since my nap today Speck has been moving around plenty. So... I'm going to call that a growth spurt.

I had another prenatal exam today. Nothing unusual happening. Speck's heart rate is 138, my fundal height is 26cm which is spot on, and my own blood pressure was 100 over 62, so all is normal. One funny moment at the appointment came when the doctor was checking Speck's heart rate. She was using a doppler, but was timing with her watch so she had to count and Speck kicked the doppler right as she was mid count and she lost track. I laughed. I like the doctor, she's great, but she always seems to be in such a hurry and I often feel like I'm getting pushed through my appointment quickly, so it was kind of funny that Speck kicked the doppler and made her start over. It seemed to me like Speck was saying "everyone just chill out!"

Teehee. Totally my kid (and Corey's come to that).

Despite the hurry my doctor (or the resident I see most times instead of my doctor) seems to always be in, I do feel well cared for at this point in time. She's always very thorough in asking me how I'm doing and making sure I'm not experiencing any symptoms that could be problematic. Today I finally got to hear how my ultrasound from a month ago went. The answer is "everything looks normal." I was also given paperwork to go take a gestational diabetes test in a week. It's purely routine and precautionary, I don't have any indicators to suggest I would have it, but I guess it's common enough they like to test for it regardless. I'm not looking forward to the sugary drink, but otherwise I'm not too worried about it.

Oh, and I know I keep talking about walking, but did I mention how glorious swimming is? Last week I went swimming with a friend at a tiny lake just 45 minutes out of town and it was wonderful. I have always loved swimming (back when I did triathlon it was my favorite part of training) and I felt so good in the water that I went ahead and swam the whole length of the lake. And before anyone gets too impressed it's only 700 meters long, but still, it felt really good to swim for a long time without worrying about flip turns and to get out of the water and not smell like chlorine. I can't wait to go back with my goggles and cap and make at least two laps out of it. And, I have to say, it would go a long way to making me feel strong again.

Well, I think that's about it for this week. I'm stoked to actually be posting on the appropriate day for the first time in a while. The only downside is that Corey and I haven't taken my bump picture for the week yet, so I'll have to leave you with my bumpie from Wednesday. It's only two days off anyway. Hope everyone is doing well! More next week!

(I struggled to take a non-blurry pic so I'll give you two options, blurry but showing my face and more of the bump or crisp but hidden faced and poorly angled for maximum bump exposure.)

Note my snazzy new haircut!


Oh, and two quick non-pregnancy related notes: 

1. I wrote a blog post recently about the Stanford rape victim's letter and the sentencing debacle that went along with it. If you're interested in seeing me curse in the name of severe injustice instead of just for kicks you can find that here

2. I have started a Patreon account to support my various writing endeavors and there's a whole parody YA Urban Fantasy web serial that I'm writing attached to it, should that interest you. Fair warning, the main character of that web serial is a 17 year old who curses like a Spanish sailor.


Monday, June 6, 2016

Week 25

Well, damn.

I had really hoped to get this written and posted on Friday or Saturday, but no such luck. It has been yet another busy week. This time I had multiple moments where I wanted to write this blog instead of what I was doing, but NO TIME!

Well, here we are now, and considering when I posted last week, I suppose it's only appropriate that I posted this one a week later. Don't worry, I don't plan to make this a habit. Sigh...

Alright. Here we go, pregnancy shit that came up in week 25:


  • Speck started kicking more. No, really a WHOLE lot more. Like Speck went from saying hi a few times a day at odd hours to being up and about MOST OF THE DAY! This is great, except that now, of course, I'm paranoid whenever Speck is sleeping, or chilling, or whatever Speck gets up to when I don't feel Speck move. Still, mostly a bonus.
  • Wednesday I had a crazy hormonal melt down of doom. It was totally weird. So first of all, I felt angry/sad/angy/sad/normal in weird bursts all day on Wednesday. And, interestingly, I could tell it was happening the whole time. I kept thinking "Woah. What a strange hormonal surge, I'm totally angry for NO reason." And, as I was alone and working all day, it really was for NO reason. Then I made the mistake of exchanging words with someone on the internet and then when my husband came home I told him how crazy and hormonal I felt, and he sympathized briefly, and then managed to bring up a topic that I'm always defensive about even when I'm feeling normal and we had a stupid argument that ended with me sobbing for 20 minutes straight for... yep, you guessed it, NO REASON! I mean really, at most, slight annoyance would have been an acceptable response. Sobbing was definitely not on the table. But no matter how many times I told myself that, the tears streamed. Fuck you, hormones!
  • On Thursday I met up with a friend for lunch and we got doughnuts. Yep. Just doughnuts. Well, we also had coffee. Coffee and doughnuts for lunch. LUNCH OF CHAMPIONS! They were delicious high end doughnuts. Here look: 

    See? Totally high end doughnuts. The one on the left is lemon merengue and the one on the right is cherry amaretto. Both were amazing but I think the lemon merengue won. If you live in Winnipeg you can try these beauties yourself at Oh Doughnuts on Broadway. :-) And for anyone wondering, no, I am not making a habit of eating doughnuts for lunch, but it was a lovely treat for one day.
  • I totally look pregnant now. I mean, I wear baggy sweatshirts sometimes and then you can't really see it, but if I'm just in a t-shirt or whatever, I look pregnant. That keeps throwing me off. It's weird to look in the mirror and think I look pregnant. It's also weird that it has taken this long. And, I think my "bump" is oddly shaped. I don't have the nice round belly that so many pregnant ladies rock, I have... I don't know a beer gut? A barrel? I'll post the weekly pick at the end and you can tell me what you think it looks like. Regardless, it's a pretty big difference from where I started...
  • I've finally accepted the idea that we're having a kid enough to look into buying some things. Mostly, we're trying to get everything second hand from folks we know or online, but I've just finally delved into real research for cloth diapering and now thanks to a supremely easy to understand youtube series I finally feel like I understand what the hell is going on with cloth diapers. And now that I understand them I'm ready to buy them. The great news is, I already bought some back in early May when we went to the childcycle consignment sale here in Winnipeg. I had just barely understood enough of what people had told me to know that buying a stack of "prefolds" would probably be useful. That was seriously about all I understood. I didn't even get how to put them on when I bought them. Now, however, after that super useful youtube series, I know that I bought enough prefolds to get us started, along with extra inserts and wipes, and two snappis. So we just need to buy a few covers, maybe one more set of prefolds just to cover between wash times, and we should be good to start. YAY! Thanks past self, for accidentally scoring us some cloth diapering essentials for a super low price. *Pats past self on the back.*
  • I also now wish to buy a super awesome but far too expensive diaper bag made by timbuk2 (because I hate the idea of flowery tote style diaper bags and would much rather have a messenger bag or backpack) but that's just random eye candy for the time being. It's very strange for me to want to buy baby stuff. I have been largely repelled by it this whole pregnancy so far. To be fair, I still am, mostly, except that now that I understand cloth diapering I am kind of excited to try it and thus am having fun looking at covers etc. online. 
  • I can't get my head around the idea that my uterus is supposed to be the size of a freaking soccer ball right now. I mean... holy crap. A SOCCER BALL? That's big. I don't feel like I'm carrying a soccer ball around in there... except when I do.
  • There have been a few times where I've felt uncomfortably pregnant, most of them while sleeping these days. I've been using a pillow between my legs for weeks now, but I think it's time to go full body pillow. Hubby makes a pretty good body pillow, but he gets hot too easily for that to last more than a few minutes and I can't stand waking up covered in my own sweat, let alone someone else's. So, off to find a washable pillow, methinks.  
  • My boobs are much larger than I would deem necessary. It kind of irks me and they're a bit uncomfortable. Hubby is not complaining. Men. Sigh...
And that's about all I can come up with for now. Still walking tons, and feel much better when out walking than when sitting still. My hips and lower back don't hold up well to sitting for very long, but they love walking, yes they do. So, I'm trying to spend as much time walking the dog as is reasonable and the rest of the time at my standing desk. I still wind up sitting more than I would like but I've managed to knock it down some. 

Off to walk the pooch and get back to work. Hope everyone else is doing well! Oh, and here's the week 25 bump picture!


What do you think? Barrel? Beer gut? I'm not sure.

Also here's a comparison of week 5 to week 25 just for kicks: