Another one of THOSE posts.

Ya know, the ones where I'm not complaining, I'm just documenting.

Ok, Thursday afternoon my nurse called to let me know that my B-12 is at 143. The lowest its ever been. "Low" is 190. I'm 143. I'd been on B-12 before but in October my old doctor tested me and I was at 150ish. I got on an iron supplement because somehow B-12 and iron are linked, and I've been anemic for years and when dealing with anemia B-12 and iron are best friends. By December I was in the 200's so I was to continue the iron prescription, but didn't need B-12. Well, at the end of December I went and got myself all pregnant, and apparently this baby thinks B-12 is delicious and he's taking it all. (I'll teach him to share when he comes out.) So, the nurse called in a prescription. The B-12 is injection form, so after work Paul went and picked up the meds and the syringes. Friday morning we went to the hospital with all our gear and a PA gave me a shot and taught Paul how to give me a shot, (So I don't have to go to the hospital everyday.) So Paul is now giving me a shot every night for a week, then every week for a month, and every month for...ever, probably.

After my first shot on Friday my right eye turned pink, totally unrelated I've found out now, but I tried all weekend to blame the b-12. I was miserable all weekend, still taking meds, still getting shots, still having a red swollen burning, itching eye. This morning we had a normal appointment with my OB. Things went fine. Although she told me to add ANOTHER iron supplement. Also, she casually mentioned that I needed to go get checked for pink eye. I asked if she thought it was a B-12 reaction, she looked at me like "No stupid, it's pink eye." Awesome. So we left there and I headed to an insta-care. Yes, it's pink eye. (And a cold and swollen tonsils.) Got ANOTHER prescription for eye drops and got home 4 hours later.
Anyone who knows me (or knows my mom) know that we don't go to the doctor. Growing up I thought clinics and pharmacies were for people with one foot in the grave. I NEVER went to the doctor or took medicine. I've been to the doctor at least 10 times in the past 4 months. Sure, it's mostly baby, but I never thought I'd be a doctors office/hospital/pharmacy pro. And a couple times is the past 4 months I've been to the doc twice in one day. Unheard of before now. When I was younger I thought "getting a prescription filled" required thousands of dollars, an interview with a rocket scientist, and a signature from the president or something. Now the folks over at Walgreen's practically know me by name.

I was a little discouraged and emotional today after doctor visit number one, but after number two and a trip to the pharmacy. I'm ok. I typically wouldn't get emotional about an eye infection and an extra vitamin, but I'm pregnant. I need an entire box of tissues just to watch Lincoln Financial Group and Foldger's Coffee commercials, so give me a break.

In two weeks I go back for more blood work to test all of the above and two weeks later I go back for my diabetes test and my first Rhogam shot, (because of the negative blood.)

Oh and because I hate milk and don't get a lot of dairy, I'm adding a calcium supplement, too What's one more pill?!

So just to make sure you got all that.

-prenatals (2 pills)
-prescription iron
-over the counter iron
-B-12 shots
-Negative blood
-a cold
-pink eye
-back pain
-no sleep
-calcium pill

And,

-a healthy baby who is (thankfully) taking everything he needs from me.
-an amazing baby heartbeat that I could listen to all day.
-a BIG baby, who measured 24 weeks and not the 23 weeks and a day that I'm technically at right now.
-3 lbs gained this month, which I'm not complaining about. This puts me at 6.4 lbs thus far in the pregnancy.
-An amazing husband who is totally kicking butt and the whole "in sickness and in health" thing. I couldn't do this without him.

I'm so excited to meet this little guy. In spite of everything I just complai...documented, I love being pregnant. I love feeling him kick, I love that I can lay in bed with my hands on my belly and feel him wiggling around in there. I love him so much.

Just another day...

The evolution of the pillow...or something.

I love pillows. I need good pillows. It's really hard for me to travel unless I take my own pillow. But for the past 10 years or so I've slept with 3 pillows. Two under my head and one to hug. My pillow I hug has been the same pillow for 14 years. It's called my squishy. It's been to Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Ukraine a couple times, Mexico a few times, Peru, and all over the United States. It's usually the only pillow that makes it in the suitcase. But I can't sleep without it. When we first got married Paul hid it a couple times, but he quickly learned that that is not a funny joke.

Well, when I got pregnant and sleep stopped being so routine and easy I had to make some changes. I added the wedge to tuck under my side. It worked well for a couple weeks. Then it got annoying, but I kept using it. I've had a lot of back pain and I had a massage therapist and a chiropractor tell me to sleep with a pillow between my knees. So I did. That worked for a while too. But the problem was that I didn't trade these new pillows for old ones, I just added them. So not only was I getting bigger and looking like I also had a pillow under my pajamas, I was sleeping with 5 pillows. Poor Paul. And the other problem was how ofter I turned from side to side and how this process also required taking all the pillows with me and adjusting them every time. It stopped seeming worth it because I was spending too much time being awake. Fluffing the head pillows, re-tucking the wedge, flipping and fluffing and sliding the knee pillow and squishing up the squishy to put my arm around.

A few nights ago Paul and I went to Target and he found this.
A 50 dollar pillow. You know how every 2 or 3 weeks I find something pregnancy related that changes my life? (Like stretch denim) This is my new one. Paul bought it for me and I love it! I still wake up a lot but its better to wake up with this one than the other 5. Totally worth it. And the best part? I've ditched all the other pillows except the squishy. That one still hangs around.

These are the 2 head pillows.
This is the squishy.The Wedge.The knee pillow.Such a learning experience.

Also, last night I didn't sleep well at all. I spent the whole day feeling tired and big. I was feeling so big in fact that when I got home from work I tried on some old pants. Ones I wore in our engagement pictures a year and a half ago, and they buttoned and zipped up! A little snug, but it didn't take too much extra effort. So instead of going for a walk in the rain, I ate a graham cracker before dinner. Oye. 4 more months to go...

On being a mom when I'm not one yet.

Mother's day kind of took me by surprise this year. I think it was probably the easiest mother's day I'll ever have. No diapers to change, no crying baby, not chasing a little hyper one around, no scraped knees to bandage, no home work to help with, no one scared of the dark...that's about all mom's deal with right?

I guess I don't feel like a mom yet. I know there is a lot changing and that I've made some changes over the past 5 months. But I don't feel like I've become a mom, its more that my body is not my own right now and I'm doing all I can to make it a safe healthy place for another human to grow.

Anyway, starting at 8:27 Sunday morning, I started getting Happy Mother's Day texts. I received several texts, a phone call, a couple emails, facebook messages, several Happy Mother's Day wishes at church along with a few belly rubs, (which isn't as weird as I thought it would be) a gift from my cute sister-in-law, a card in the mail from the in-laws, and a gift and card from my hubster. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciated all these people thinking of me. But I guess I just didn't think about it before last Sunday.

I spent some time on mom's day wondering how I'll feel next mother's day, and also thinking about the past few months, and how my due date keeps getting closer. The time is going by so fast. It really is. The first couple weeks of knowing were the slowest 2 weeks of my life, but the past 14 weeks have gone by almost too fast.

It's amazing how quickly you forget all the little details of weird things that happen or change during pregnancy, and I'm still in my pregnancy and can't remember a lot of detail. Maybe forgetting is all part of a bigger plan. Probably a lot of women would stop after one if they could remember all the details. It was amazing to me on that day in week 14 when I magically didn't get sick at 3 PM, and my dinner didn't end up in the toilet 10 minutes later. I found myself, by week 15, when people asked how I was feeling or if I was sick a lot saying, "I'm great!" or "It really hasn't been that bad." When just a few short weeks (or days) before that I would have told them that there was an actual terrorist in me trying to kill me from the inside.

It was crazy to no longer panic if I was going to be in the car for more that 15 minutes and I forgot my bland snack. That snack was mostly saltines. Oh how I consumed the saltines. No living thing should ever depend on saltines like I did, unless you're a parrot. And I started to work more than 20 hours a week and not feel like I'd worked 50. I could stay up past 8:30 PM and not need to sleep until 8:30 AM. The red splotches on my forehead from all the throw up sessions started to fade. (This next one is not a good one) I gained weight instead of losing weight. I didn't get up 3 times between 12am and 6am. I could go on but I won't.

I tried not to complain because I didn't want to ever come across as ungrateful or unhappy about my child, but there were days, ask Paul. The 2 friends I was pregnant with at work both sadly lost their babies. One at just over 14 weeks and one at 18 weeks. It was so sad, and a little uncomfortable being the only one pregnant. It made me almost thankful for the really sick days and the really tired days because I know they both would have traded me places in a second.

Oh and about the whole forgetting the bad parts, I hope I say the same thing after labor pains and contractions and delivery. I never want to forget the moments, just the pain. (**To all you Moms** Please leave me a comment telling me I'll forget.)

I started this post like 4 days ago, and I have no idea how I was gonna wrap it up. So I'll just say I had a happy mother's day. I love my mom. I love being pregnant. And happy late mother's day to all you moms out there (who are gonna tell me I'll forget the pain... ;)).

Here is my 21 week mother's day belly.

California stuff 2010

We spent 10 days in California at the end of April. Probably our first and last trip of the year before the Little Baby Paw arrives. Well, I guess technically its our second trip of the year if you count ringing in the new year were the little guy was conceived. :)

Oh and PAW? We will not be telling anyone his name until delivery, (and we haven't picked one yet) so on the blog and when we talk about him, he is Paw. (Paul and Andrea White)

The trip was very relaxing. We ended up not going on my birthday trip to Sea World. I was a bit self conscious about wet suits, dolphins, water, trainers thinking Shamu had escaped, etc. And also, swimming with dolphins isn't cheap, and neither was my chair. So it worked out fine.

We went to the beach, went shopping at my favorite spot- Circle at Orange, (Paul bought me a maternity shirt and a cute baby boutique cuz I was having one of those 'I feel fat, not pregnant' days.) Went to China Town and Downtown Disney, and we went house shopping. We spent several hours over a couple of days talking with a Real Estate Agent, and having him take us around to look at houses and condos. It was fun and overwhelming. I ended the experience feeling like we will get into a house sooner rather than later, but that we don't have to find a house before we get to California, its ok to rent for a while and take our time deciding. Also, we'll be in Utah until at least the first part of next year... February, March, April, Mayish...who knows...

And Paul's best friend got married. That was the main reason for the trip. Paul had a bachelor party one night at a beach house and so I hung out with my in-laws. Dad suggested we go see a chick flick, so we did. Have you seen Back up plan?? It was a bit odd watching a women give birth in a kiddie pool with my father in law sitting next to me, he was a bit traumatized, but we made it through. We had a rehearsal one night and the wedding was about 2 hours away so going to dinner and a rehearsal was an 8 hour event. And the wedding day was an all day event. It was so fun, and so beautiful, and Paul looks so good in a tux, especially after getting a little bit of sun. I had several, 'Wow, I have a hot husband' moments that day.

Overall, it was a good trip. Lots of reading relaxing and warm sun. And a lot of spoiling by the in-laws.

Oh and I only took pictures of the wedding day. (besides this one)
It made me think of the days when I was so dedicated to taking a picture everyday. I need to be better and remembering to catch the little moments.

Oh Baby!

We got home from California on Sunday and had an appointment yesterday morning. It was our 20 week ultrasound. The one that lasts about 45 minutes and they can tell you pretty much anything about your baby. Including the sex.

I was nervous about this ultrasound. I was excited to know if it was a boy or a girl, but as I was driving to the hospital I found myself thinking that all I really wanted to hear is that I have a healthy baby growing in me. The gender wasn't so much on my mind anymore.

We got to the appointment. Had to wait about 40 minutes...don't know why... And finally got called back. The ultrasound began and the tech started showing us every inch of the baby. I never got sick of hearing, "That looks great" "That is exactly how it should be" and "Everything there looks normal". I did however wish she'd stop saying, "This little baby really doesn't want you to know what it is!" Then finally after a lot of poking and wiggling of my tummy, we saw it. It's a BOY!!!
This is the little munchkins profile. So cute!
And this is a tiny little foot that I cant wait to nibble on.

The scanner kind of made the pictures weird, but trust me, he's cute.

Right after the appointment I did a little shopping. Whenever I shopped before knowing the sex I felt like there was a lot more girl stuff, so I spent the afternoon proving myself wrong! It was so much fun, but I promised Paul that I'm done shopping (for clothes) until after he's here...unless it's really really cute...

We picked up the dresser/changing table today after work, and I called and ordered my chair!! The one the has taken me the past 6 weeks to budget for and justify "spending as much on one chair as I would on an entire sectional." (my sis-in-laws words) And thank you pottery barn chair for being on sale six weeks after I found you, sat on you, and fell in love with you. I saved almost 200 washingtons!

This is what heaven looks like.
Only its this color.
We couldn't be happier about our little guy. We are so looking forward to this new era we are entering in to. And I can't wait to have a little baby around all the time and be "out-numbered" as Paul says.

Here I am at just over 20 weeks right after the ultrasound, with pictures of our baby. I'm so in love!

bad blogger

I decided I don't blog very well. When nothing is going on and I'm bored I don't blog, or I blog to take up time, and to, in the future, look back and remember that not much was going on that day/week/month. When stuff is going on I don't blog because too much is going on and blogging get bumped because there's not enough time. So then I play catch up, and I leave out a lot of the fun details in order to make myself feel less behind.

Things I'll be catching up on in the very near (I hope) future:

• California trip (my lack of picture taking since the 365 days), house hunting, wedding, "girls night" with my father-in-law.
• My thoughts on being a mom and my latest Dr appointment details with pictures (I hope).
• My hard working husband and his job.

Maybe not in that order, but come back tomorrow for at least one of the 3 updates.

I'm going to bed now. I've had 11 days off work and am not quite ready for tomorrow. Fortunately I only scheduled myself for 3 days this week, so I'll probably survive.

In other news, fresh fruit smoothies are my new thing these days. I make em myself and I pretty much a pro. It's healthy stuff, so I'm happy. I did give in to an unhealthy craving tonight though. I've had strong craving s for at least 2 months off and on for my moms home made caramel popcorn balls. We only make them at Christmas, and they are so yummy. Tonight I finally gave in. I made Paul go out to our shed in the dark to find our air popper and large pan, and then I pulled out the Christmas recipe and got cooking. I started just after 9pm and finished at 10. And as I suspected, I picked at the pan full of yumminess a tiny bit, probably not even a whole balls worth, and then I was over it. So over it that I just dumped the stuff in ziploc bags and didn't even roll out or wrap the balls.

Goodnight.