Week 27: Whoa!

Saturday night, I was watching television in bed. Richard was asleep next to me. Baby FermaNels was kicking as usual (he's most active right before I go to bed). I glanced down and my stomach was moving! It looked like it was doing the wave. I lifted up my pjs to watch it. It was the weirdest thing. Even though I couldn't make out a hand or foot, I could see him pushing out! I quickly woke up Richard so he could witness this phenomenon. But as usual, Baby FermaNels got gun shy and stopped moving.

The Big Easy with Ms. Molly and Ms. Amy

This vacation had many firsts for my unborn baby:
First plane ride
First boat ride (we took a ferry from Algiers to Canal St)
And first goofy vacation T-Shirt:

These pictures are not in any order. I wanted to show different pictures from what is on Molly's blog.

The Nature Preserve:

The French Quarter:

Bourban St. smelled like stale beer and urine. And it was all tourists shopping! The drunkards were yet to come out.

The Levee on the Mississippi:


The Metairie Cemetary (founded in 1838):

And to sum up our vacation to New Orleans:

Sniffles..

I'm allergic to New Orleans. Or Amy. Or Amy's mom. Or the airplane. Or I just plain caught something along the way.
At any rate, I have a nasty head cold and since I am pregnant, I can't take any medication. So I am forced to fight my way through the congestion and head pressure, alone.
As soon as I am feeling better, I will post all about our fabulous trip to New Orleans.

I have to blow my nose now.

Where is Charlie? And why does his horse hate me?

Leg Cramps. Charlie Horses. Pulled calf muscles.
This has now made my list of things I hate about being pregnant.


I don't know why this happens, but it is very common for pregnant women to get leg cramps in their sleep. It is also extremely painful and annoying.
I pulled my right calf muscle last week. And my left calf muscle this week.
How do I train myself not to stretch in my sleep?

My List of Things I Hate About Being Pregnant:

1. Sciatica nerve (Thank goodness the baby rolled off the nerve by week 14)
2. Sleeping on my side (hip pain, leg pain, uncomfortable) Between me, Logger, and the pregnancy pillow, poor Richard has no room in bed.
3. Nosebleeds (enough said)
4. The awkward stage between fitting in your regular clothes and wearing maternity clothes. (Your regular clothes are too tight, but maternity clothes are too big. Either way, everyone thinks you are just getting fat)
5. Leg Cramps (see above post)


My List of Things I LOVE About Being Pregnant:
1. He's kicking!! (This is such a wonderful, indescribable feeling)
2. The fluttering (He's moving around!)
3. The cute belly (sometimes I just want to hug my own belly)
4. Eating (although I'm making smart choices, I don't feel silly for eating a pound of strawberries in one sitting or feel guilty if I never have leftovers anymore)
5. The bond between Richard and me (he has become very protective of me, and I oddly like this)
6. The bond between my mom and me (she understands all the weird things I'm experiencing and helps me see the lighter side of it)
7. The bond between my sister and me (I can ask her any medical question, any pregnancy question, any baby question, and she will give me an honest answer)
8. Monthly doctors visits (Who likes to go to the doctor?! Me! Because I get to listen to Baby FermaNels's heartbeat)
9. The bond between Molly and me (This is about as close as two friends can ever get. And she'll be right there next to me when the baby arrives. She'll probably be the one driving me to the hospital.)
10. The unknown factor. (When will baby come? What will he look like? Will he have my blue eyes? Will he have Richard's nose? What will he name him? Will he have hair right away? How big will he be? Will he love semi trucks like Richard?) There are so many questions. And I can't wait to find them out.

Baby Dreams

Supposedly your dreams are more vivid when your pregnant. I've only had a handful of baby dreams.
1. I gave birth to a toddler boy. He was already two years old.
2. I had given birth to a baby girl and she had long curly black hair (weird)
3. I was in labor (that's all I remember)

Then they got more vivid:
4. Our baby boy was born. Richard named him Seedman and we would call him Seedie for short (!!). I panicked and started searching through an endless pile of baby name books for a different boys name, any boys name. I couldn't find a single name that worked.
5. I was six months pregnant and back in high school (yikes!). I was in gym class and there were a lot of girls pregnant. We were excused from the exercises the rest of the classes had to perform. Then the teacher said we had to do line sprints (I think they are called "Suicides" also). So I took my place on the line. I sprinted to the blue line and back, then to the red line and back, then the black line and back. I had beat all the boys in the class. The teacher patted me on the back. I left gym class and met Richard in the library. He was looking for pregnancy fitness videos for me. He checked out four or five vhs videos. We were walking down the hall and I was telling him about how fast I was in gym class when I went into labor, right there in the high school hallway. Richard tried to pick me, but I was too big. And then I woke up.

Crazy crazy crazy

Week 24: Nosebleeds and Kicking

I've gained a total of 11 pounds. The nurse was laughing at me because I'm actually watching what I eat. She thinks I should take advantage of 9 months of eating anything I want. But it will eventually have to come off.

I've been getting nose bleeds a lot. Only one last week, but four the week before. Being pregnant causes my blood vessels to be larger than normal. And combined with our dry winter air, I'm getting nosebleeds on a regular basis. My doctor recommended putting Vaseline in my nose.

The baby kicks all the time now. Richard can feel it now. The baby kicked for the doctor yesterday. She put the sonogram machine on my belly to listen to his heartbeat and he kicked it! She exclaimed, "He wants out of there!". He's a feisty little FermaNelson.

This baby makes me do the craziest things?!

On my way home from work, I stopped at the pet store to buy Logger some biscuits. As I was leaving all I could think about was garlic bread. I had to have garlic bread for dinner. I didn't care what I had with it as long as there was garlic bread. Thankfully there is a grocery store down the road from the pet store.
As soon as I walked in, I spotted strawberries. Screw garlic bread; I needed strawberries...now. (I bought garlic bread too. Just in case.)
I got in my car and immediately opened the container of strawberries.
Three things you should know about me:
1. Other than my morning granola bar, I rarely eat while driving.
2. I never eat from the grocery bag or takeout bag. I always wait until I get home.
3. I always wash my fruit and vegetables before eating them

So there I was, flying down I-94 at 70 mph shoving unwashed strawberries in my mouth! Before I knew it, half the carton was gone. So I called Molly to tell her how shocked I was with my behavior and also to stop myself from eating them.
But as I write this, I'm polishing off the remainder of them. =)

Week 23: Thoughts on Labor

I am terrified of labor. I hear stories about how easy it was to horror stories about bleeding and emergency C-Sections and 6 hours of straight pushing!
I have so many fears about labor. The pain factor is a big one. But I'm hoping an epidermal will clear that right up. And then there are the "icks": Am I going to tear? Or should I have the doctor cut me? Am I going to poo on the table? Will I know?
Then I heard stories about the nurses pushing on your stomach after you give birth to get the afterbirth out. It is suppose to be very painful.

So, I registered for Childbirth Preparation Classes through my hospital. And either my husband, Richard, or my bestest friend, Molly, will be my partner. I've already been told we will watch the 1970s birth video we were forced to watch in 9th grade Health Class. Great.

It's all worth it though, right?!