Holy Crap Diapers are Expensive

Just a quick note to say I think we may go broke buying diapers "when the kid comes" as F says. I was in Target today doing some household shopping, and I said to myself, let's just take a quick walk through the baby aisle and see how much diapers are going to run us. HOLY CRAP. I found a 36 pack of diapers (pampers) on sale for 8.50, but even on sale or with a coupon, that's only enough diapers for about 4 days! So even with sales or coupons, name brand diapers are going to run us about 70 a month. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but come on, I'm in grad school! It's not like I rake in the big ones! Thank god we don't have to pay for daycare. I think our budget will have to revisted "when the kid comes."

Coming up on Week 29....

Hey Everyone!

Just got back last night from a weekend trip to the beach. My friend Grace and her daughter Dahlia came with me to Destin for the weekend. I had to travel there for a one-day conference, so we all just stayed the weekend and enjoyed the beach. We stayed with my friend Julie, who has a house up there. We got to eat seafood and lay at the beach and swim in her nicely heated pool :-) It was Dahlia's (Graces' daughter) first time in a pool, she loved it. Grace even dunked her a couple of times and she didn't' even cry. My friend Julie has a 7 year-old daughter as well that played with us at the beach and pool. She loved playing with the baby too. I can't wait until next spring when i'll have my own baby to bring along. I took a picture of me at the beach (see the beached whale above), I had to prove to F that I let my belly see the sunshine!

I think F missed me a little while I was gone. We got back late last night and I had to get up at 5am to drop him at the airport for a week long business trip. He seemed sad that just as I got back he had to leave. I'm not too bothered by it just because I have so much work to get done in the next two weeks. Is is bad that it makes me feel good that he is sad that we're not together? I mean i"m not happy he's sad, it just makes me feel loved and needed.

On a pregnancy note...this week has been pretty good. The baby kicks so hard that I can see little parts poking out when he/she kicks. I haven't been sleeping the best, but I've been sticking to my 11pm-7am schedule, which I'm pretty thrilled about. Normally grad students don't' roll into work until 10am, by 10am my house is clean, I've done 5 loads of laundry, walked the dog and prepped dinner and am on my way out the door to work. I've started nesting I think, I have this uncontrollable urge to organize and clean things. Mostly to organize things. I don't go for another apt. until May 20th, which is a long stretch from the last apt, but then after that I have to go every two weeks. I think that's all on the pregnancy news...I gained a little bit too much weight last week, gotta do my walking this week!

When I was in Destin, Grace and I hit up the outlets and go some cute baby stuff. I was able to find two affordable nursing bras that actually fit and were comfortable, and I got a bunch of stuff at the Carters and Osh Kosh outlets. F seemed to be happy with my savings savy purchases of unisex sleepers. I did manage to get a smile when I showed him the osh kosh overalls, we both LOVE kids in denim overalls. Girl or boy, our kid will be dressed in denim overalls a lot I bet.

Well have a great week!

28 Weeks Pregnant

Finally into my third trimester. Things seem to be going better. I've gained 15 lbs, which the midwife seemed pleased with. After failing my first glucose screen I passed the dreaded 4 hour glucose tolerance test! Yeah! No Gestational diabetes! My Asthma is not improving, but not holding me back or hurting the baby, so I just tell myself it could be so much worse!

I've been trying to walk 4 night a week (or more if we're ambitious) with my friend Grace. When I walk with her consistently and watch my sugar sweet intake I consistently maintain or lose weight. The longer 3-mile walks are a little difficult, I get this tight feeling in my stomach like cramps that are just irritating, no really painful, but bad enough I have to stop and breath a little. I finally got some maternity clothes I like, after returning some hideous flowery things I had bought earlier that never quite fit. I got some nursing tanks and a nursing bra from gap maternity, after trying on like 10 nursing bras at the fancy maternity store her in town.

My friends are throwing me a shower at the end of May and all the invites just went out so I'm excited for that too. I finished TA'ing today and now the summer is mine! Hopefully I will get lots of work done with no teaching/grading etc to do.

Franco and I signed up for a birthing class that's 4 evenings in May. He isn't very happy about it, and I know parts of it will be boring, but I'm excited to ask questions and hopefully get more comfortable with the whole hospital thing.

We bought a new camera this weekend at Super Walmart, we got a Canon EOS Digital SLR camera. F has been playing with it nonstop, he'll be the official daddy photographer I guess! Hope everything is good!

27 Weeks Pregnant

Man oh man did the 2nd trimester fly by! Tomorrow I am 27 weeks pregnant. I went for a prenatal appointment today which was fun. I failed my initial glucose test by 6 points :-( so I have to go for the glucose tolerance test this Friday. This is really going to suck. You have to give blood 4 times and sit there a total of 4 hours. Not cool. I'll have to grade some papers. I have gained 14 lbs so far, which the midwife said was very good. My blood pressure is normal and my baby his head down. His/Her heartbeat was good and my fundus was measuring right on track. Now is I could just kick the bronchitis and write my dissertation I woudldn't even have anything to complain about! Well, I'm sure i'd find something. F has been working so many hours lately keeping up at work and his grad class. Hopefully the break between semesters will be good for him.

I think i'm begining to nest. I have this overwhelming urge to cook, clean and organize. Today I cleaned our patio, posted used furniture listings on craigslist, emptied all of the carboard boxes out of the garage, and now i'm making meatballs and 4 loafs of banana bread at 9:20 at night. Where did this energy/urge to organize and clean come from?

Well it's back to banana bread and meatballs! Oh, and I walked 2 miles today! Go me

25 Weeks and 5 Days Pregnant

Yikes has the time flown by. Junior is kicking like crazy these days. I had read somewhere you feel the most kicks between 24 and 28 weeks, because the baby is big enough for you to feel but still has room to tumble around in there. F and I were laying in bed Saturday morning before breakfast and jr. was kicking so hard F felt all of them. He was so happy to feel so many in a row. Pregnancy has been a not-so-fun experience, but little moments we get to share like that almost make it worth it. I'm sure it'll all be worth it when we see our little baby as well.

I had my glucose screen done this morning. Not as bad as the preggo ladies let on! It was like drinking watered down orange kool aid. I mean the fasting part stunk because i'm a HUGE breakfast person, but other than that, it wasn't too bad. They also retested my antibodies and my iron levels. Please let me pass the glucose test so I don't have to do the 3 hour one! I hate having blood drawn, it freaks me out. Yes i'm a big baby, we all have our things that freak us out though.

Another grad student at my department has "come out of the closet" about her pregnancy. She's about 8 weeks along due in November. I personally waited until I was 14 weeks to spill the beans at work, but to each their own. I gave her a bunch of pregnancy books I had already finished and told her she can complain to me anytime she wants. It'll be good to have anther phd student having a baby, that way I don't get the mommy student label all to myself.

Had my 25 week apt. last Thursday. I have gained a whopping 12 lbs! Geesh louise, I better watch the treats. I'm trying to keep my overall weight gain to 25 lbs and I have 14 weeks left! Better watch out. Grace comes back from her trip today, so we can get back to our walking. Anyway..back to the apt, my midwife was delivering a baby so I got to see a different one, which was fine. She was WAY more thorough then my midwife. She says I have bronchitis again and it's not normal to get it twice in 2 months, lol. She referred me to a pulmonologist. She also lectured me on choosing a birthing class. I explained to her my husband wasn't really into it and I was trying to get him to want to go, not just do it because I said so. We'll see if we do one or not. I might just do one myself.

Not much else going on, busy grading my students paper for the end of the semester. Hope all is well with everyone.

24.5 Weeks Pregnant

I've been so bad about updating my blog. Things have been seriously busy. I've been taking and teaching a class, working on my research and battling constant irritating illnesses from sinus infections to UTI's to migraines. My kid is sucking the life out of me! F has been taking a class too, he keeps getting stuck with deadbeat group members who don't do any work on their group projects and he doesn't have the balls to let the professor know. I guess he doesn't want to get confrontational! I hate tattle tails, but I also hate people that leach off of others work and get away with it.

Baby seems to be doing fine! We're getting really excited as the months tick away. I have my 25 week midwife apt. this week, I know she's going to harp on my weight, I've gained 6 lbs in the last month, for a grand total of 14 whopping lbs. Geesh. Baby kicks all day and F can really feel them now too. I've been eating like crazy feeling faint after 2-3 hours without food. I keep walking and taking my swim class, so hopefully the baby just had a growth spurt in utero! lol

The semester is almost over and I can go back to working on my research fulltime until the bambino makes his/her appearance this summer.

22 Weeks

Sorry I haven't uploaded in awhile. I've been sick with sinus stuff and busy with work and just plain worn out. I feel exhausted and overwhelmed and I have 4 more months to go.

We had our 21 week anatomy scan, but we didn't find out the sex. I'm proud that we didn't cave and find out. All of the organs and structures looked great. Baby weighed in just below a pound and had a hb of 160 bpm! Some of our friends have been guessing what we're having. I think it's a girl, F thinks it's a boy, our friends have various other guesses. We'll just have to wait and see. F was talking to my belly this morning and we got 3 huge kicks! He must have a very vibrating voice! lol.

Almost up to 10 lbs now! yikes, but I ate pizza and cookies for dinner last night. I'll have to stop doing that unless I want to look like a hippo. I've been doing a swim class 2-3 nights a week and trying to walk with Grace whenever we get chances to. We've both been so busy. I hope all is well with everyone else!