Fashion Shots

Today we were able to get 3D shots of our little guy. We learned a few things about our son.

1. He is incredibly wiggly (not surprised, based on the movement I have been CONSTANTLY feeling for the last month).

2. He is NOT cooperative when it comes to getting his picture taken (hopefully he will outgrow this once we is out of the womb? Doubt it.)

3. He likes to explore. For example, he must have been pretty bored with his head down where it was supposed to be. In the last week, he was completely turned around and got his head smashed up against my rib cage. The last 3-4 days, I have had intense, sharp pain in my rib and upper back. I thought he was just kicking me hard, but the pain never went away. Turns out it is because there is a big baby HEAD stuck there. Dang kid. The ultrasound tech showed his face is literally smashed against my rib, as his he was pressing against a glass wall. Luckily, the way the rest of his body is positioned indicates that he is most likely going to easily turn down south again.

Anyway, based on these three facts about our boy, we were lucky to get even remotely clear pictures of his face. These are the two we got:

You can tell in the second picture that he is squished. He also has his cute and blurry hand up by his face. I can already tell he had his dad's big ol' lips. We can't wait to see the rest of him!

Despite his cramped head, everything looks healthy. He is in the 54th percentile for size and weight, which is fine with me. I do NOT want a big baby to deliver! Less than two months to go!

Now entering the 30's...

No, I'm not talking about Jordan's birthday- I'm 30 weeks along in my pregnancy! WHAT?! I can't believe it. I feel like the second trimester just zoomed by. I remember when I first found out I was expecting, I checked out a TON of labor and pregnancy books from the library, only to shortly think, "This is stupid. March is FOREVER away. I can't even think about my third trimester- it's too far." Now, I feel like I am scrambling to read and learn and buy everything baby. I know, I know, I am not gonna know everything and even if I read stuff, it doesn't mean it will apply. But still, I am definitely feeling the pressure to get MORE prepared for our little dude.

My last update on my pregnancy was at 21 weeks. Aw, the second trimester, how I miss thee. Weeks 22-26 were pretty great. My bump grew, but people seemed to stop making comments on how big I was getting and instead I got a lot of "you look great!" comments (which are ALWAYS nicer to hear.) During the first half of my pregnancy, I was a little self conscience about my growing mid-section, but for the rest of my second trimester, I embraced the bump and had fun with it. Plus, around week 22, I FINALLY felt the baby move. His early movements were so fun. My appetite was fine, I didn't have any heartburn, and my feet, hands, and face still looked normal. My only problem was sleep- my sleep during my second trimester was super crappy. Here's me at 23 weeks:

A few weeks ago, I entered the third trimester. I think my body was like, "Wait, you're in the third trimester already?  But you look comfortable! Let me rearrange some things." BAM! Within a week, my face and hands swelled up and I gained a bunch of weight. Yuck. Plus, the baby decided that his cute little kicks were getting old and he decided to go full on Jackie Chan on my rib cage. For about 3 days during my 27th week, I had to walk around with my hand pushing against my rib to try to free the baby. He still will give me a hard bump against my ribs JUST to remind me who's the new boss. Sometimes he grows tired of my ribs and decided to push right against my bladder, resulting in a bunch of "false alarm" trips to the bathroom. He's a prankster, just like his dad. My clumsiness is at an all time high and my sleep quality is at an all time low. And please don't tell me to "just take more naps"; that's like telling someone who can't do pull ups that they should just try to do more pull ups.


While the third trimester is proving to be harder than the second, I still feel so lucky to be pregnant. Plus, there are some good things. I still don't have stretch marks (knock on wood) and I still have enough energy to exercise somewhat regularly. I've cut down my frequency, mainly due to the holidays and being busy, but I average working out about 3X per week. Better than nothing. My appetite is fine.  Also, while my acid reflux is like an on-going fountain in my throat, I still haven't been subjected to heart burn. Despite Junior's hard kicks, I still enjoy feeling him move and had fun watching my family feel him move over the holidays. Plus, two of my sweet friends have offered to host a shower for me next months, and I am SO excited for it! And finally, we are pretttttty set on a name! I'm gonna be lame and not say it now in case it changes, but we are about 95% sure of the first name. For a while, we were 100% sure of the middle name, but now there is a second one in the running. However, we are completely set on the last name. :)

As far as the entertaining aspects of pregnancy, I am still very emotional (which is funny later but not really while it is happening). Also, I sound like a walking whoopie cushion. No joke. I've just accepted it for now.

Here is my belly (and face) at 27 weeks. This was the first chalkboard picture we took in our new house and were still trying to find a good spot to put the board.

  And here I am today!

Ok, so only ten more weeks to go....I think I can I think I can I think I can.

2013

January: Quit my job, moved to OKC, took a trip to Seattle and Southern Oregon to see my sister and her family.

February: Took and passed my LCSW exam, had my mom visit for a week.

March: Traveled to Arizona to see my sister-in-law and nieces for a week.

April: Traveled to Idaho for my cousins's wedding reception and spent a week in Seattle with my family.

May: Took a two week trip to Europe.

June: Went camping with Jordan for the first time and went on a trip with him to St Louis.

July: Found out I was pregnant!

August: Went to a family reunion in St George and saw my whole family.

September: Put on offer on our house.

October: Went to NYC for four days, found out we are having a boy!

November: Attended Jordan's brother's wedding, moved into our house.

December: Threw a party for Jordan's 30th birthday, went to Seattle for two weeks for Christmas.

2014 has some big shoes to fill.

A Death in the Family

When I was 13, I was trying to gain some independence and declared that I needed my own alarm clock. I think it was because I was starting to primp more for school in the morning around this time. I honestly don't remember. But I do recall absolutely needing my own alarm clock.

My dad took me to Fred Meyer's one evening to their electronics department. Back in those days, a HUGE portion of the electronics section was reserved for various alarm clocks. My, how times have changed. We checked out a few various clocks (ones with way high-tech features like a radio! Oooooh), and then I saw it. It was the Wacky Wake-up. And it needed to be mine.

This was no ordinary alarm clock, folks. Aside from its radio feature, it had "wacky" numbers. See how they are crooked? GENIUS! But more importantly, instead of having a beeping or buzzing alarm, it had seven different voices that would wake you up. For example, one was a stereotypical Indian accent that said, "Up, up! It's time to get up! Get out of bed with you!" Or there was the stereotypical Italian-American mobster voice that said, "I once had an Uncle At'ny. Each time his alarm went off, he hit snooze. 'Time to get up'- SNOOZE! 'Time to get up'- SNOOZE....now he's the LATE Uncle At'ny." You get the idea. To add to its wackiness, after each voice would state its monologue, the clock would make a random sound, such as a a jackhammer, a dripping water fountain, etc. In the store, it was amazing! We bought and it took it home. Then in the morning I realized something- "wacky" sounds and voices are TERRIBLE TO WAKE UP TO AT 6 A.M.! Still, I kept the clock.

The Wacky Wake-Up stayed with me through high school and college. My poor roommates had to endure it. I never trusted my cell phone alarm. Then I got married, and the clock came with me to Oklahoma. Jordan hated it, of course, but I didn't care. It was my special, annoying clock.

Sadly, over the past few months, the clock's voices became increasingly muffled, and the clock was unable to stay on time. It would gradually add minutes to the time despite no one touching it. Jordan continuously made the valid point that it was officially useless (a clock that won't tell time- sounds like something from the Island of Misfit Toys), and that it needed to be unplugged. For some reason, I was very hesitant to do it. I've always been guilty of being a little sentimental over things, and the dumb alarm clock was no exception. But, when we moved to our new home, I finally realized it was time.

RIP, Wacky Wake-UP and your seven different annoying personalities. You will be strangely and unexplainably missed.

Ode to Jordan's 20's

Today is the last day that Jordan can say he is "in his 20's". He turns the big 3-0 tomorrow. He has occasionally made the comment of how he feels old and how it's weird to think his 20's are almost done forever. However, he has also said something along the lines of this statement a few times: "Ya know, I think I made the most of my 20's." Looking back on the last decade of his life, I couldn't agree more. So, here is Jordan's 20's swan song.

I wasn't around much for the first part of his 20's, so all I write for them is pretty much heresay.

 Age 20

 

Jordan entered his 20's while he was on his mission in Germany. This is the only picture of him on facebook during his mission. I COULD go and scan a hard copy...but I won't. He was so tiny! His mission was tough, as Germans weren't the most welcoming of people when it came to American young men trying to teach them about religion. Jordan told me that he had a lot of dark, hard days that were really discouraging. But he also has told me countless fun and uplifting stories about how much he loved his mission. It seems for the most part, he really loved this time of life.

Age 21

 Jordan went back home to Tulsa shortly after he turned 21. When he got back from his mission, he spent the first 4-5 months at home working. Most of his friends were either away to college or still on their own missions, so he was pretty bored. He started going to the gym nearly daily for hours, worked on weight lifting and drank of ton of protein shakes/muscle milks. Hence, this is the year he went from scrawny lil' guy to the more muscly, bulky Jordan that I have always known.

Age 22

When he was 22, he took his first trip back to Germany. Guess he was a little homesick for his beloved Vaterland. 

 

This was also the age that I first met Jordan. Of course, at the time he was only my boyfriend's roommate that I was pretty sure didn't like me. This is our only picture of us "together" when Jordan was 22. As you can see, we weren't super close yet. Haha. There are three people between us. We have since closed the gap.

 Age 23

When Jordan was 23, he had  moved from being "my boyfriend's roommate" to "my ex-boyfriend's roommate", so we didn't really hang out much. I recall running into him on campus several times and we usually would chit chat for about 20 seconds and be on our way. So I have no picture of the two of us this year. Jordan spent this age mostly at BYU, but he also went BACK to Germany AGAIN, spent his summer with his homies in Oklahoma, and traveled to NYC with his buddies.

Age 24

What a fun Jordan year. This was the age where Jordan and I dated. Aw, 24 year old Jordan...so naive to the amount of craziness he had signed himself up for when he started pursuing me. This year was so fun. He was (and still is) quite the charmer and romantic. I'll always look back at this age of Jordan's life with happiness.

Age 25

What an eventful age! A few weeks after Jordan turned 25, he proposed to me. A few month later, we graduated from BYU, got hitched, and moved to Tulsa so I could go to grad school. 

Age 26

Jordan turned 26 while we were visiting Tucson. He had just interviewed for a PA school. When he was 26, he got into PA school at OU-Tulsa and began that educational journey.We also did a church history tour with my parents that year and went to Branson with his parents. Here's a picture of the first of many attempts I had at making him a birthday cake, as well as a picture of his first day in his PA school program, where he was given his white coat.

Age 27

Hmm...not the most eventful age for Jordan. He mainly spent it at school. We did go on a cruise for our anniversary that year, which was probably the highlight of age 27 for Jordan. 

Age 28

Another year full of school, only harder. Jordan spent the whole year doing clinical rotations. He also applied to some jobs and at the end of age 28, he got the offer from the doctor he works for now. As for fun, we did take a trip to Disneyland/Southern California that year, which was his very first time going to Disneyland EVER! He was about 23 years late!

Jordan also lost about 18+ lbs this year. We never took a before or after shot of it, so it's hard to show photos documenting it. It was basically because he was so busy with his rotations at the hospital, the only time he ate was at the hospital cafeteria when he had time. He was given a food card and so he always got grilled chicken or a salad. When he was at home, his mean wife never (and I mean NEVER) cooked, so he resorted to eating a lot of cereal for a few months.

Age 29

What. A. Year! I would say this final act of his 20's was definitely Jordan's most eventful one. He graduated PA school, we moved from Tulsa to OKC, he began his career, we went to Europe, He knocked up his wife, we bought a house, we traveled to St.George, St. Louis, Oregon, and New York. It's been a crazy year, and a crazy great one to end his decade.

 

So there's the proof that Jordan's 20's were pretty dang good. I feel so lucky to be able to have been a part of this chapter of his life, and I can't wait to see what his 30's bring. I suspect a lot of awesomeness.

Braaaaains

For this year's Halloween, we were zombies. This decision was entirely based on my desire to incorporate my baby bump into my costume (I figure if I have to get fat, I might as well use it to my advantage). Here is how the costumes turned out:

 

We wore our costumes to our ward's Halloween party. I had a few kids come up and ask if my baby was real. Yeah, kid. My fetus punched its way through my abdomen and I decided to just keep him that way. 

Our make up was not too elaborate or zombie-like. This was mainly due to Jordan's hesitation to put make up on right before his brother's wedding (which was 2 days later). He was worried about breaking out. Here is a close up of my make up:

I also carved a pumpkin. I had left over baby doll legs from the doll I had to amputate for my costume:

And lastly, a HUGE Pinterest fail. I found these adorable Nightmare Before Christmas nails on Pinterest and tried to do it myself....no good. Haha

Halfway there

I'm 21 weeks pregnant. OVER halfway there. What?


I must say, the rumors about the second trimester being the best one are true. It is better than the first in SO many ways. For one, I actually look pregnant and not just chunky. Additionally, it is fun to be able to talk openly about being pregnant rather than keeping it a secret. That drove me CRAZY! I'm a fairly open person, and when it came to something that I was so excited about, holding it in was pretty sucky. The best part about the second trimester is NO MORE SICKNESS!! I love being able to eat in peace without fear of puking later.

Here are some pictures of my growing midsection during trimester:

Womp! I feel like my tummy has exploded. I feel HUGE! And before anyone coos about how I am not that big, save it. I've already been told multiple times that I look too big to be only 21 weeks. Awesome. My friend explained that she thinks it is because I am so short, that my baby can only grow OUT, not up and down. I'll stick with that theory, I suppose.

I reeeeally try to stay positive with my pregnancy because I truly see it as a blessing in my life, but it is not all peaches n' cream. I've heard some girls state the good, the bad, and the ugly of pregnancy. I feel that focuses too much of negative aspects, so instead I'll update my current status with the good, the hard, and the entertaining.

The Good: As I mentioned earlier, I am no longer sick. Woohoo! Also, I don't have any stretch marks on my stomach (yet). I am paranoid about getting them and have a daily regimen of dry brushing, exfoliating my stomach in the shower, and smothering my torso with vitamin E oil,  sweet almond oil, coco butter, and a lotion that Jordan got me. I'm sure many would roll their eyes and think "It's no use, she'll still get them," but I am determined to try to fight them off!

Another fun thing is according to the internet (which is ALWAYS accurate), my baby can hear! Mainly, he just hears the blood and heart, and sources say he can hear my voice too. This makes me so happy. I have become a singing fool! Anytime I am in the car by myself, I sing songs out loud, thinking my baby might hear something. One thing that I really look forward to is sing to and with my kid, so it makes me giddy. I am also constantly rubbing my belly. It's fun to think that between my hand and baby is just skin and guts.

The Hard: Sleep sucks. Whenever I don't have terrible insomnia, I struggle to get comfortable. I yearn to lay on my stomach or back. Once I finally DO fall asleep, I have crazy dreams that are so stressful, scary, or strange, that I hardly wake up relaxed and rested. Often my nightmares are interrupted by me waking up with sore legs. I bought a large body pillow which seems to help a little. 

Another hard thing is accepting my changing body. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not as in love with my baby bump as I thought I would be. I always hoped I would be one of the lucky ones who only get big in their belly and the rest of their body looks the same. Sadly, everything between my armpits to my knees has gotten "softer". Blergh. Plus, even though I KNOW I have to gain weight during my pregnancy, it sure is hard to see the number on the scale go up and up. I'm now the heaviest I've ever been in my life, and I still have 4.5 months of pregnancy left. Gulp.

The Entertaining: Pregnancy brings out my emotions BIG TIME. For example, a few weeks ago I went shopping at Aldi's. Aldi's is a grocery store that offers discounted food, but the catch is you have to bag your own groceries and you can only use a debit card or cash to pay for your items. I had gone through the store, stocked up on all our groceries for the week and checked out. As the cashier was ringing up all my groceries, it hit me. I didn't have my debit card with me. I had taken out pretty much all wallet items from my wallet and purse except for my license and one credit card before I went to NYC to avoid theft. I told the teenaged cashier, "I am so sorry. I don't have my debit card or cash. I can't pay for any of this." He looked at me with a blank look and said something along the lines of "Uhhhhh...." I told him to just put my groceries in my cart and I would put them back. The cashier responded, "Uhhhh....k, Sorry." As I went to put the groceries back I could feel tears starting to swell. It really wasn't a big deal. Sure, it was annoying, but it was totally manageable. Then the manager came up to me and said, "Ma'am, you don't have to put those away. We'd be happy to do it for you." I croaked out an "Ok, thanks. Sorry!" and tried to scurry away as my tears began to flow. I speed walked to my car and as soon as I hopped in, I started to bawl. Like full on sobbing, like Jordan-just-died sobbing. I drove home having this conversation with my mind:

Mind: Chill out, this is not a big deal.

Me: WAAAAAA!!!! *Sob* WAAAAA!

Mind: It's OK! Just go back tomorrow. Buy the same stuff. You have free time tomorrow.

Me: WAAAAAA!!!! *sniff sniff* WAAAAA!

Mind: Really? You do realize this is a total overreaction. You're making us both look bad.

Me: WAAAAAAAAAA!!

Mind: Ok, fine. Go nuts. I give up.

Me: WAAAAAA!

See? Sometimes pregnancy can be downright entertaining.

Gender Results

 According to the....

Chinese Conception Calendar: Boy

Mayan Combination Test: Boy

Wedding Ring Test: Boy

The Childbirth.org Test:Girl

My own motherly intuition: Boy

Jordan's paternal intuition: Boy

Two ultrasounds (one at 16 weeks and one at 18 weeks):

 

BOY!

Our little person is a little dude. When I heard and saw the gender, I was not surprised at all. Ever since I found out I was pregnant I have felt very strongly that it was a boy. Plus, I have always, ALWAYS pictured having a boy first. Before our ultrasound, I told Jordan that I was so convinced that it was a boy that I would be SHOCKED if it wasn't. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.
We are so excited to meet him, though I am mourning my little daughter that never was. I hope she comes someday. In the meantime, I look forward to being best buds with her big brother.

New York, New York: The City So Nice, They Named It Twice

Monday night, we got back from a fun trip to NYC!

This trip began in August, when I got a text from Jordan that simply stated, "We're going to New York in October!" Uh....We are? He THEN proceeded to explain that his supervising doctor wanted him to attend a two day training in New York. Because it was work related, Jordan's office paid for his plane ticket and hotel. What was EXTRA awesome was his doctor was like, "Hey, you should stay a few extra days and take your wife! No biggie. We'll still cover the hotel."

Yeah, I KNOW!

So of course, we bought a ticket for me and excitedly awaited our trip to the Big Apple.

We got in very late on Wednesday night, so that day was pretty uneventful. The next day we spent too much time trying to get into Jimmy Fallon via stand by tickets (don't ever try this, it is SO not worth the hassle) and right before the show was about to begin we were told that they could only take the first six people in line (we were numbers 12 and 13). We declared ourselves unlucky and left in a huff.

Because we weren't able to watch Fallon, we had some time to kill. I suggested we go to the Gerschwin Theater where Wicked has been playing on Broadway for the past 10 years. Wicked has a lottery where they save 26 front row center spots for lucky people who sign up in hopes that their names are called. If your name is called, you can buy up to two tickets for $30 a piece. When we got there, the line for the lottery was HUGE. I would estimate about 200 people. The odds were bad. Plus, I was still declaring us unlucky due to our denied entrance to the tv show. When they started calling names for the lottery, they called about 5-6 names that weren't ours. I kept saying to Jordan, "I know we won't get it. This is just an experience to be in the lottery." But then, sure enough the caller shouted out, "Alma....Hints?" WE GOT IN!!!! I couldn't believe it. I immediately changed out title to the LUCKIEST people in New York. We got to sit front row for Wicked, and it was ok....just kidding. It was ammmmmaaaaaaazzzzzzzzing! I had chills. I swear I made eye contact with several of the actors, and I probably looked really stupid because I was half-mouthing the words while they sang, but I don't care. It was so great!

Front Row, Suckuhs!


The next day (Friday) Jordan spent most the day in his training, and I walked to the Met. To described the Met in word would be: overwhelming. It is huge and confusing. Even when I had the free museum map, I still had to stop to ask for directions. I only covers about one fifth of the museum in 3 hours. But while I was there, I was able to see some very cool. famous works of art. It was amazing to see art that I learned about in high school and college. Especially Van Gogh's painting. He painted so thick on canvas, you can see individual strokes. I just stared at them thinking, "Wow, Vincent Van Gogh made those strokes." There were several Toulousse Le Trec paintings as well. It was fun to see them up close because he often painted on cardboard instead of canvases, and if you looked closely you could see the scratches in the cardboard, most likely from his sketch of the painting before adding paint. Amazing.

More work, because I'm a bit of an art history nerd (though I forgot so much of it, sadly. I swear Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me" was my theme song in every museum I visited in Europe and New York).

Jordan met me in Central Park after his class and together we hustled to the Nederlander Theater where the new musical Newsies was playing. Newsies also had a lottery, though they didn't give out front row seats. Their lottery seats are pretty much whatever is left over, such as obstructed view and left over balcony seats. I still wanted to try it because 1) the tickets were $30 a piece which is great for any Broadway show, and 2) NEWSIES!!!! Are you kidding me? One of my all time favorite musicals ever. we HAD to give it a shot. This time there were signficantly fewer people in the lottery (I would say about 60-70), so we had a good chance of getting called....and once again, we heard "Alma....Heintz?" Woohoo! We were seated in the fourth row on the very end, so we couldn't see about 25% of the stage, but we still loved it. The dancing was SO good, and they sang almost every song from the movie musical (though they changed many of the lyrics). It was an adorable show and I felt so lucky to have been able to see it.

The next day, we took it pretty easy. I hung out and walked around the Upper East Side (don't I sound so New Yorky? No? Ok...) and after Jordan's class we took a subway to Little Italy. We splurged on an authentic Italian three course meal and did not regret it!

The following day was Sunday. Jordan's class was over, so we took a subway downtown to the new 9/11 Memorial. It is still a work in progress, but they allow visitors to come. It was a beautiful, somber place to be. They transformed the building skeletons of the twin towers into two beautiful waterfall fountains. Around both fountains were engraved the names of every victim/deceased helper from 9/11. One of my favorite parts was the Survivor Tree. This tree survived the collapse of the towers (all trees were completely destroyed). The Survivor Tree was just a stump when they found it, but it appeared to be able to grow again. It was transported to the City Park where it was nursed back to health. Now is a lovely 30 foot tree that they transported back to the 9/11 site. Very sweet.


Sunday evening, we explored FAO Schwarz. I had fun on the famous giant piano, even if Tom Hanks didn't show up for a duet. Jordan had fun exploring Jordan-sized candy.


After our trip to the toy store, we met my wonderful friend Aleeza in Central Park. Aleeza was one of my best friends/soul mates/bosom buddies in high school. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding, and my wedding was the last time I saw her! She was so sweet. She had JUST gotten back from Spain, like she met us after she dropped her luggage off at her apartment. We had fun catching up, discussing how weirded out she is that I am going to be an actual mother of a real child, and we ended the day by eating some tasty New York Pizza together. It was great to see her, and hopefully it won't be another 4.5 years until we meet again.

Monday was our last day in NYC. No joke, we spent the day eating. We started by getting a donut that was about the size of a chihuahua, followed by New York Sausages from a street vender, and ended at Junior's (famous for their cheesecake). We were able to meet up with a friend of ours from Tulsa who now lives in Brooklyn for his medical residency. It was great to catch up. After that, we left for the airport, and sleepily ended up safe and sound back in OKC.

It was a wonderful trip, and were happy we were able to squeeze in one more fun vacation together before our baby decides to crash the party. Speaking of baby, being pregnant in New York is hard stuff, man. I gotta hand it to the many chic women I saw strutting in high heels and a baby belly as they speed walked down 5th Avenue. Meanwhile, I was huffing and puffing and desperately searching the nearest bathroom. When I wasn't doing that, I was complaining about how my feet hurt, and I was only 18 weeks along. This mom-to-be was meant to gestate in a suburb.

One more word of caution to those who choose to hit up New York while pregnant, the following things may make you cry:

1) The end of the song Defying Gravity when Elpheba starts to fly.
2) Seeing a man wearing a sign and trying to politely pass out flyers for whatever business he is "advertising", only to be completely ignored by everyone.
3) Everything in the 9/11 Memorial.
4) Finding out your subway stop is closed and completely inaccessible.

Yeah, this baby has turned me into an even bigger wuss than I once was. Thanks, kid.

Preggo Pet Peeves

I really try hard not to focus on the discomforts or negatives about being pregnant. For one, what good does it do? It's not something that I can change in the next 5 months. For another thing, I find it a little insensitive to go on and on about how much pregnancy may suck when there are so many women who are desperate to conceive. I remember when we were trying, or right after my miscarriage whenever I heard a girl complain about pregnancy symptoms, I wanted to scream, "I will gladly trade places with you!" So, for those reasons, I try to steer clear of complaining.

However, there are a few outside factors of pregnancy that bother me. These aren't things happening to my body, but things that I have to deal with (and every other pregnant woman) that get under my skin.


Prenatal "Exercises": I have been trying hard to keep up exercise throughout my pregnancy. I've been doing pretty well. I average working out about 4 times per week. The intensity of my exercising has definitely decreased, but I still want to feel like I am doing SOMETHING! For my first trimester, my doctor gave me the go ahead to go out as I used to prior to becoming pregnant, only to not let my heart rate sky rocket and to not do any hard core, repetitive jumping. Great! Once my second trimester came, I became more aware of my growing belly. I didn't want to bend too sharply or lay on my stomach. So I thought it would be a good time to transition to exercises specifically for a gestater, such as myself. Guys, these work outs are LAME! LAME LAME LAME! I did a prenatal yoga routine that had me sitting on my butt for the ENTIRE exercise! What?! And then I tried a cardio one. It seriously went like this: "Carefully march in place....CAREFUL....ok, now when you feel ready, start to raise your arms....ok, we are going to do this for about 5 minutes straight.BE CAREFUL! Ok, you're done!" I find these exercises incredibly condescending.  I tried one last one yesterday and decided to give up on them. From now on, I'm just gonna stick with my girl Jillian Michaels and modify when she wants me to jump.

Being Seen As Fragile:  I get it! Pregnancy is a big deal, and it is important for moms-to-be to take care of themselves. But for the love! People ask like if they blow on me I'll shatter into tiny pieces. I went to a bridal shower last week and I had MULTIPLE people comment on how I shouldn't be doing something because it was too heavy/too heavy. These tasks included: carrying a large bowl of potato salad, standing up and cooking, carrying a box full of table cloths, helping someone else take down a table (which was always touching the floor), and carrying empty serving bowls. I know no one means no harm when they tell me, "Oh, you shouldn't be carrying that/doing that!" but it gets a little old. I also know the people who say it care about me and my baby and many of them are people that I care about as well (Jordan is among the guilty). I guess part of me takes it the wrong way, as if someone is telling me, "I know better than you do about your body," or "You don't know how to take care of yourself or your baby." That's something that I have to deal with, I suppose. My fellow pregnant friend agreed with me when I was venting to her the other day, and she explained that when my third trimester comes, I won't mind the excuse not to carry things around, so I guess I should just wait til that day comes.