To the pregnant lady I met at Disneyland...

The other day, a coworker commented on how fast this pregnancy has gone by.

I have to agree. It's been flying!
 Lately, I have been thinking about my little journey thus far. It also  reminded me of a random story that happened at the beginning of my preggo journey.

Let's take a trip back to late September. I had just found out I was pregnant on September 22nd. That following weekend we would be heading to Disneyland. By that point, I would be 4 weeks pregnant. I was a nervous wreck. I wasn't sure what rides to go on, and the fact that a human was forming in my body was making my head spin.

Well, per the "okay" from my doctor,  I rode most all rides EXCEPT for Tower of Terror and California Screamin'. I drew the line there. Can't say I 100% enjoyed everything fully, as I was petrified I would hurt the baby (clearly I didn't). As I was waiting in the lines, I was starting to feel crampy, and overall weird. Also, some other things were happening to my body that may be too TMI to share, LOL, but I was just one ball of nerves.

....Cue in the stranger pregnant lady....

I was in the bathroom, washing my hands. Next to me was an adorable preggo lady, who, poor thing was very pregnant and trying to help her other small child wash their hands. Somehow we caught eyes, and she commented how bloody hot it was. I nodded in agreement and then blurted out, almost tearfully,

"I'm newly pregnant/only 4 weeks along/I'm brand new to this/first timer/never been pregnant, ever/ I feel weird/I'm cramping/there are all these fluids/is this normal?/my boobs hurt/scared to do these rides/I'm going to hurt the baby/help!"

Okay, so I am sure it made more sense than that lol. The lady looked taken aback, but something in her face showed extreme compassion and pity for this brand new mama to be. I am sure she could of course see the fear that was written all over my face.

Her first words were "Oh honey. Congrats, but don't worry....". She then took time out of her busy schedule to literally hold my hands and talk me through all of it. Of COURSE everything that was happening thus far was normal, but when its your first time, you don't know any better. She was so sweet and kind. She helped me through it and we parted ways. When I left the bathroom, I felt like a brand new girl and I was able to enjoy my trip.

I didn't catch her name, but I will never forget the pregnant lady from Disneyland. Wherever you are, thank you. You helped this crazy preggo regain some of her sanity (don't have it all yet, LMAO!). Thank you.

Till next time loves,

How I got over my fear of (baby) committment

DISCLAIMER: (oh how I love these) This is an honest post, and please read it all the way through before you jump to conclusions. I do 100% realize many people (including some of my own loved ones and friends) have/had struggled with fertility and the fact we were able to get pregnant with no issues is a miracle and I am grateful for that.  Okay. Moving on.......

I'm close to 6 months pregnant (2 more weeks!) and happy as a clam. I am stoked to be a mommy, terrified of course, but excited nonetheless.

Its taken me a bit to be okay with this HUGE life change.  You see, I had a fear of commitment when it came to being a parent.
I really resisted the idea for a very long time (4 long years). I was even THIS CLOSE to saying no completely to having kids altogether. I quickly realized that wouldn't be fair to hubs, who dying to be a father. If hubs had his way, we would have had a honeymoon baby. Some of you ask...why such resistance? Well, these are the reasons (then) why it took forever:

#1. I LOVED how our life was (still is before the baby comes). We were constantly on the go, traveling, do practically whatever the heck we wanted, when we wanted it. Why would I want to change that? (Okay now I know.) We were/are known to our friends as the jet setters, always on the go. People have said things like "we love following where you are going on facebook" " You guys are always on the go, having adventures!". I took pride in that, and was fearful if we had a baby, that would all be gone in a heartbeat.

#2 I was selfish. This part still scares me, as being a mother is the most selfless job in the universe.  The thought of waking up multiple times in the night, basically never sleeping in, saying no to most outings, basically never having time to myself was frightening. I wasn't ready to give this up.

#3 I wanted to see the world. This one sounds like "oh, poor little rich girl", lol! I was and still am a big traveler. For our honeymoon we were blessed to spend two weeks in Ireland, which started my obsession with going to Europe. I have a HUGE bucket list when it comes to traveling, and everyone was stressing me out about how we HAVE to do it before kids or we will never go. I also have had friends travel abroad WITHOUT their kids, and holy crap, they were judged and crucified up the wazoo for doing that. Great.  Not a lot of people know this, but we almost booked Europe twice. First time, our dog had to have a 5 grand surgery, so we had to kiss Europe goodbye. The second time, we realized we would never get into a house if we used the money for Europe. Then on top of that, we made it into escrow, and sadly, our dog required EVEN MORE costly surgery (which sadly, he passed). This reason to be honest, still makes me sad. I try to remember that I have seen and have been to tons of places, and maybe someday, (if we win the lottery) we could go as a family. This is what I keep telling myself, LOL!!!!!

#4. Parents have scared me about parenthood- A huge reason as to why I was afraid was because "certain parents" literally scared the crap out of me. Now, I am fully aware being a parent is NOT a cake walk. I don't have crazy illusions that it will be perfect. However, I have heard such horrible things from some people, that it made me have a bad attitude about wanting kids.  I KID YOU NOT I have heard the following: "your life is over once you have kids", "kids will ruin your marriage, hope you guys are strong enough" (wow no pressure), "Your intimacy will be long gone, good luck getting it back", "See every movie you can, because you will never go again once you have kids", "Your hubby will become a roommate", and my favorite (guys, no freaking joke) "Having kids is like a level of hell".
Um, can you see why I was freaked out?! Luckily, as time went on, I met and had more conversations with parents who didn't sugar coat BUT said many things like "being a parent is the best decision I ever made", "being a parent is tough, but it is such an amazing journey" etc, you get it. I thank God for these parents because they helped me feel more encouraged. Thank you to those parents, you really, truly helped.

This summer, I had a honest conversation with myself and these "reasons". I had to be really honest and figure out why I felt this way. At the end of the day, I think I was just really afraid of change. I also realized I absolutely want children, I was just letting my fear get in the way. And also, let's be frank. I am not getting any younger, and neither is my hubby.

So, we went for it, and thankfully we were pregnant! I remember the moment I found out, something changed in me. I was overjoyed beyond measure that a little human was forming in me. Sorry if y'all find this cheesy, but I truly feel this was a God thing. From that moment on, all those fears, stress and worries melted away. It just felt different and I knew it was just right. As I have watched my body transform, I get excited because I am that much closer to meeting my precious gift, my child.

Now, I will say I am a bit nervous about what is to come. However, I pray everyday for God to equip us physically, emotionally and mentally for what is to come. I feel confident that we will be able to do it and come out on the other side. I think a lot of people who read my blog are already moms but to those who read this and are in my shoes, take heart. This girl completely got over her fear of baby commitment and couldn't be happier. All is right with the world :-).

Till next time loves,

Our gender reveal recap!!!!!

This past Saturday we had a gender reveal!!

If you read mommy blogs and/or you are on pinterest, gender reveal parties are all the rage! I definitely wanted to have one as neat way to find out our baby's gender!

There is a variety of ways you can do yours, but this is the way we decided to have ours. At our 20 week scan, Muggle was cooperative and the tech put the results in an envelope. I was so relieved because our party was that Saturday! I had nightmares that Muggle wouldn't cooperate! Luckily all was fine! At this point, we still didn't know! The very next day, I gave the envelope to Joelyn, who makes the best cakes in the world. What was neat was she did our wedding cake! It was awesome having her do our reveal cake. Thursday and Friday I was on pins and needles, anxious for Saturday to come!
Our party went very well and smoothly! For the food, I decided to have a menu of my food cravings. Luckily, my cravings have been pretty normal, but probably not the most healthiest. Oh well! Here are some of the food pictures:

going from left to right...
pink and blue cupcakes!//one of the tables before the food was set//close up of the food menu//one of the tables with yummy snacks// the main table set with yummy food plus our cake!!

 Some more decorations from the party:

From top/ left to right....
My super cute boy or girl banner (it didn't come out in the picture, grr)//we had our guests pitch in their guesses//printed off an old wives tales paper! I had more girl than boy!


Once all of our guests arrived, it was time to cut the cake! We could hardly stand the suspense!

O.M.G. IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!

I truly and sincerely was shocked! Everyone was dead set it was a boy (except for like, 10 people who were team girl) , so I assumed it was a boy then, though I never felt in my heart it was 100% . I was so freaking excited and I can't believe we are having a little girl!!!! I am still in shock but beyond overjoyed!!!

A couple of funny things about the video: 1. That cake! It totally got stuck! I was so nervous trying to yank it out! 2. I nearly stab poor Shan! Of course he wasn't in any danger, but it looks bad in the video! 3. Oh mom! She didn't understand that the whole cake would be pink, goofball! She thought at first it was a boy, because some of the blue smeared. She is so excited though!

Truly, this was one fun party and I'm so glad we did our reveal the way we did! I can't believe we will be parents of a little girl! She is already so loved, and for that, I am so thankful.

Some more pics from the party. I wish I had more pictures but I didn't take hardly any and I should have passed that torch. Oh well:

                     My sister and I                           Some of our guests :))

 

                 From left to right... 

  us before cutting//getting ready to dive in//cutting away//our looks of shock//holy crap, we are surprised and so happy!!

                         The happy and overjoyed parents!


                                            Till next time loves,

 

The 20 week scan

Last Wednesday, I had the 20 week ultrasound.
I was very excited to see how my precious baby was progressing but I was insanely anxious.

Why?

Well, early on in our pregnancy, we were given the option to do prenatal testing. For my peeps with no kids and don't what that is, it's basically test  that "tests" for markers such as down syndrome, spinal biffida (sp?), cleft palate, brain abnormalities, etc. They will run another blood test at another point in the pregnancy (before 20 weeks), but that in no way guarantees something is wrong with your baby, only gives an indication that it could be there. The only way to be sure is amniocentesis, which carries a risk of miscarriage.

Between my sister and I, we had a slew of friends who took this test, and each was told something was very wrong. It caused a lot of stress and in the end, their babies were healthy. I personally can't handle that type of stress, plus it wouldn't change anything about my pregnancy. We decided against it. However, there were some doubts in the back of my mind that I just wanted to be sure my baby was fine. Now let me preface, even if later there was a diagnosis of some sort, it wouldn't change a thing. My baby would be amazing and perfect, regardless of any diagnosis. However, every parent simply want their baby to be okay. I would love to say I wasn't worried about it, but I was. Thankfully, I had a lot of people on my side praying and lifting me up. Thanks to that, I felt more peace, but I was so anxious for January 15th to get here.

So,  the big day came! I drank my 32 oz. of water, and picked up an orange juice. I wanted Muggle to not be a sleepy baby, and I heard OJ peps them up! Even though we weren't finding out that day, I wanted Muggle to cooperate so the tech could see their bits, lol!
 I got checked in and was definitely feeling uncomfortable, but nonetheless excited. I was so thankful I didn't have to wait long (Kaiser is notorious for running behind in this department) and a lovely lady Roxanne got the process started.

I wish I could have taken pics of the process but Kaiser is pretty strict. So sadly, no fun pics to document. Shannon wasn't allowed in for the first 20-30 minutes, as this was the point where they were taking the "big ticket" pictures of baby's anatomy. I couldn't even see! As she was taking her pictures, she commented "Wow, your baby is awfully wiggly". She was digging into my belly (in a safe manner) because my child decided to not be still. I realized the OJ was a bad idea, despite I didn't even drink half the bottle. She would ask me "whoa, did you feel that?" Apparently Muggle was auditioning for Cirque du Solei! What was weird was I wasn't feeling anything! Thankfully baby cooperated enough to let her get the important anatomy shots, phew!!! After what should have only taken 20 minutes (it took over 30) she let me pee and then Shannon came in.

At this point, she turned the screen towards us and showed us more profile shots of Muggle. I cried because I couldn't believe how big and beautiful our precious baby looked! Muggle has quite the personality though! At one point, baby stuck their tongue out at us. Oh boy...

I left feeling really good and excited. Now all I had to do was wait for Friday for my doctor's appointment to go over everything. People were very surprised I didn't know anything right then. The way Kaiser operates is that the tech ONLY takes the shots. It is then processed by a radiologist, who then sends the results to my doc. It makes sense, but the wait sucks!

Friday finally did come and after school I zipped to my appointment. I had to wait an hour (agony!) because my doc was pulled in to a procedure. Once she came in, we went over the usual stuff and then she delivered the sweetest news: "your baby's scans came back completely normal. The radiologist didn't find any red flag indicators and baby is progressing beautifully." THANK YOU JESUS!!! I was very happy and relieved Muggle was doing just fine!

I am realizing more and more that worrying doesn't do a single dang thing and I need to let go and give it to God. I am just feeling so thankful  my baby is doing well!!

Here are some latest pics of my little love. I hate that my maiden name shows up rather than Potter. Oh well I guess:

Muggle smiling!

That precious profile! Ahh I can't hardly stand it! So cute!

Another profile  :)

5 months!!!!!!

Wow. 5 months already?!?!? Crazy! This pregnancy is flying by at an insane rate. I feel like it was just September 22nd, when I found out I was pregnant.


I am very excited and terrified at the same time, knowing that a HUGE but beautiful change is coming in a quick 4 months. I pray everyday that God can prepare me physically, mentally and emotionally for this radical change.

Here is a round up of my pregnancy so far:

How Far Along: 20 weeks today!!!

Size of Muggle: Muggle butt is the size of a banana. Supposedly, Muggle is about 10.5 ounces now! He/She is getting so big!!

Total Weight Gain: 7 lbs so far.

Crazy mood swings? It has improved. I still feel weepy at times, and still get a little too irritated over nonsense! Trying to work on that!  

What I miss: I would like to say nothing, but if I am really being honest, I super miss wine and bloody marys, LOL!!!! And I know I know, its worth it, but to answer the question that's my honest truth!

Sleep: I am mastering the sleeping on my sides. My body pillow has been great and I sleep soundly most nights. There are times when I need to pee. Practice for night feedings!!!

Symptoms: Besides my body being mad for the crazy hike last week, I have felt pretty great! Nothing out of control or crazy! I just feel sleepy at night. 

Cravings:YES. Dairy, dairy dairy. Shakes, chocolate milk, cheese...yes please! Also baby dill pickles, smoothies and of course cereal.  


Aversions: None. I think that went away after the 3rd month. 

Movement: I felt Muggle on Christmas, but then I didn't feel him/her as much! I thought I just imagined it, but in the last week or two, I can definitely feel Muggle! More so at night. It's awesome to feel him/her!!!! 

Belly stats: Oh man, do I have a belly! I  feel like I'm huge! I really felt self conscious about it considering there were other preggos who basically didn't have a belly at 5 months. I learned to get over it quickly, because having a preggo belly is beautiful and it's absurd to feel self conscious!  Everyone is different! Plus, I have learned that the women on my mom's side all had HUGE bellies when pregnant. Makes sense then! I love rubbing my belly too, it's the best feeling in the world!

Maternity Clothes: Yes, mainly in the pants department, thanks to my burgeoning belly. Oh how I love maternity jeans! I have some maternity tops, but a lot of my tops and dresses still fit.

Stretch marks? I found a tiny one on my side. Guess the stretch mark train might find me! And for the record, I slathered on those "anti stretch mark" creams. It looks like it's starting to prove the theory "no matter what you do, you either going to get them or you don't".

Best Moments this week: people being so kind and supportive! A lot of people in our lives are very excited for Muggle to be here! Hubby and I feel thankful that our precious baby is so loved by many!
Another best moment is feeling Muggle move! 

What I'm looking forward to: Our 20 week ultrasound (not excited about all the water I have to drink). I am actually feeling nervous because I am praying Muggle is healthy and developing normally (we opted out of prenatal testing). I am also very excited, as next weekend we are having our gender reveal!!!

Thankful everyday for this sweet baby!!! Our adventure is only beginning!!!

The lazy preggo and working out...

Ahhh....the gym and I have a love/hate relationship. When I am good and consistent with the gym, I see results. Then I plateau and go through a battle of the minds to get my arse back in the gym/routine.

Any trainer/health guru will tell you a balanced diet complete with some sort of exercise is truly the answer for a healthy diet and weight. Especially when you become with child, the excuse of couch potato is no longer accepted.

Heck, I have oodles of friends who worked out like hellions, still did 5ks and so forth. I have known some current preggos who are eating these perfectly healthy meals that look like something out of a health magazine. Me, yeah not so much. 

I wish I had a better excuse for not working out. I known preggos/current preggos who were/are super nauseated and super sick, and may have skipped out on the gym. That to me is extremely understandable. What's my excuse? Um, I feel tired and I simply don't want to. Yeah, that's stupid.

So far in this pregnancy, I have gained almost 7 pounds. I haven't eaten well. Its so much easier to grab a meal on the go, or make something that's out of a box. My clean eating friends are going to flip a lid, but hey, I'm being honest! I am truly and sincerely shocked I haven't gained a jillion pounds by now.
Over the break, it hit me. I am not a vision of  perfect weight. If anything, I should have been WAY skinnier prior to pregnancy. And while yes, I haven't gained a crazy amount, I need to be careful and mindful of what I am doing and putting into my body. At the end of the day, its for the benefit of my precious muggle.

Slowly, I began working out, easing back into my old workouts and routines. I started prenatal yoga at home (I will add the link below). I started walking more and I did a fun hike which made my body angry (you can read about that here). On Monday, I went back to the gym with the hub and it felt glorious. I started new and more fun recipes which led me to cook more.

Wow...it took my only 5 months to get my arse in gear. Not good. I am frustrated at myself for now just getting with the program. I of course am not working out to "get skinny" or "lose weight". I am doing it for the health of myself and muggle butt. Even though I am starting late, I am figuring that's better than nothing! Below I am adding some videos that I have found online that will maybe help my current preggos. Even if you have a routine set, a gym membership, etc, these videos could be a nice addition to whatever you are doing. They aren't crazy and actually kind of fun. And yes, don't worry. I'm definitely listening to my body! After my crazy hike, I am listening to my body and slowing down if it becomes too much. Here are some faves:

   Man, I heart this girl. She is so pretty, soft spoken and has a fabulous British accent. LOVE! These videos are 10-11 minutes long! That's nothing:

         
I LOVE Andrea Orbeck!And for my non-preggos, she has amazing videos which I did prior to pregnancy. She is a trainer to the stars and she WORKS you out, considering her videos are only 10 minutes. Even doing this with a walk would be a good workout!

This isn't Andrea Orbeck, but its from the same youtube channel popsugar fitness! This is a great lower body video!

          And just adding one more, another yoga workout from the same channel, popsugar fitness:

 

Till next time loves! 

 

Surviving the infamous glucose test

Okay, so I have been meaning to do this post, because I feel there is a lot negative crap out there and I want my fellow first time preggos to be encouraged. Yep, I'm talking about the famous, awesome glucose test.

At about 7 weeks, I had my very first appointment, saw my precious baby, and ran through a series of questions regarding, health, etc. It came up as a concern on how much diabetes runs in my family. Literally everyone in their mom has it, on both sides of the family.

The doctor wanted me to take the test that day, but because of prior commitment, I couldn't. Now normally, one would not have to do it this early. Usually, its at 28 weeks. Due to our crazy family history, they wanted it done ASAP. Mind you at this point I am just 7 weeks preggo. Great.

So, I did the worst thing a first time preggo can do...I read the mommy forums. For those of you who know me, y'all know I'm a hypochondriac and my family has jokingly banned me from WebMD. Those mommy forums can be super scary and make you feel like you will have a 2 headed baby. I had been told by many of the doctors and nurses to stay away, but of course I didn't listen.

 Every topic basically said that this test was torture, you will feel like dying, its the worst thing in the world etc. etc. Of course I was nervous. Even though I never suffered through morning sickness, I have a weak stomach and have had loads of tummy issues prior to pregnancy. I was super nervous for this test, like so nervous I prayed about it (I'm sure God was rolling his eyes the whole time, lol!).

So, a week later, I arrived, got checked in, etc. I was extra chatty with the lab tech, because I wanted to stall. She hands me this beauty

and tells me I have 5 minutes. Gulp.  I open it and told myself to grow a pair. I start to drink it, and actually, IT IS NOT THAT BAD! I was pleasantly surprised!!! I threw it back like my favorite shot and called it good.  A few days later....I failed by ONE MERE POINT. WTH?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I was so irritated! I got a phone call to set up my 3 hour and I even tried to negotiate with the lab technician, who was cracking up. Nope, I still had to take my 3 hour test.
Now, I was even more annoyed than nervous! The 3 hour requires a specific fasting the night before, a  more horrid tasting drink (100 mg), plus you get your blood drawn a grand total of 4 times. You have to just sit there in a sugar induced coma. Ugh. SO fun.

I decided to get it over with, so I march in the first thing in the morning. Same procedures checking in, first blood drawn. Then, they produce this pretty:

 It already looked nasty. My stomach was churning. Again, I stall by making stupid small talk but the technician gave me a look, so again, I told myself to "grow a pair" and I opened it up.
Now, I won't lie. Its pretty gross. Imagine a yummy lemonade drink, but up the sugar x 1,000. It was so freaking sweet.
Then there is the wait. I felt like complete and total crap thanks to all the sugar. I would get dizzy each time I stood up (and no, you can't have any water). By the end of it all, my arms were completely bruised up. I will say it was nice to catch up on reading, and watch some of my favorite shows. Not a bad deal!
 To be perfectly honest with you, this whole experience wasn't all that bad. Thankfully, my results came in and I passed! Thank God!

Sure, it wasn't fun, but I know labor will be much worse. I figured people are dying of cancer, going through horrible radiation or chemo, and here I am, just drinking sugar. Really, it could be worse!

So, what was my take away? Words of Wisdom? For my first timers (which there is a few of you):

1. DON'T read the forums! DO NOT DO IT!  Honestly, it will scare you and make you nervous. For the exception of those mamas dealing with morning sickness (which this test will make you feel worse), a lot of the other mamas were complaining for nothing. Honestly, it is not that bad. And trust me, I am kind of a wimp!

2.  The drink, especially the 50 mg. isn't that bad. It tastes just like orange soda. Even though the lemon is very sweet, its chuggable. Just don't think about it!

3. The wait is a perfect opportunity to read/catch up on shows. Each test requires a wait. Take advantage and bring stuff with you. It was nice getting a chance to read and just sit there.

4. Go in with a positive attitude. I truly believe if you go in with a positive mindset, it won't be that bad.

So while I was overjoyed I got this over with. However, the joy was fleeting as I had another bombshell at my last appointment.

I will have to take this test again. 
 Why why why why?!?!?!?!!?!?  Praying my doctor was just being forgetful, but word on the street is that this supposed to happen again.
Well, since I have done it twice, it should be a no biggie, right??!?

Pshhh....till next time loves!

Favorite Fridays: Mini VS beauty haul

Back to doing favorite Fridays! Have a good weekend!!!

http://youtu.be/F3xio2NG500

The perfect pregnancy has met its nemesis

I realize its my last day of vacation and I pretty much haven't blogged anything.
I think my new year's resolution is to blog at least once a week. Hrumph. We will see if that really happens lol.

Well, for the most part, this pregnancy has been very Pollyanna-esque. It has been awesome and I have enjoyed every second of it.

I know my mama friends and fellow preggos who have had/or currently struggling with rough pregnancies are one post away from murdering me. Well, take heart, not everything can be easy and perfect for this preggo!

A few weeks ago, in the beginning of December, I woke up with  awful cramping, in my pelvis and lower abdominal area. I had no clue what it was but I wasn't spotting or bleeding (sorry for the tmi) so I plowed on with my school day. I was busy, running around and the whole time I was cramping.

As the day went on, it got progressively worse. The pain was non stop. I called Kaiser, went on the scary internet (LOL), and came up with the conclusion as long as I wasn't bleeding, I should be fine, make sure I'm chugging tons of water. The next day the pain was unbearable. Again, the pain was non-stop. Like literally, there was no reprieve at all. It wouldn't go away.  To describe it accurately, imagine someone punching you in the stomach and at the same exact time, imagine someone squeezing your insides. Now, some of you might scoff and think I'm exaggerating, but sadly, I'm not. It hurt that bad, and it was way worse than period cramps, that's for sure!

I tried to be very warrior woman about the pain. I would try and breathe through it. I figured this was a dress rehearsal for contractions and I tried to just deal with it. However by day 2 and a half, I had enough. I was in the middle of teaching and I happened to be sitting. As I got up, the pain was so intense it literally took my breath away and I doubled over. My students grew very alarmed and I knew I had to get my booty to Kaiser.

Long story short, I was fine, thankfully! We saw Muggle on an ultrasound, and he/she was happy as a little clam, jumping around and flipping over. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen! I checked out completely fine, but the pain was thanks to round ligament and uterus stretching. The only thing to "cure" it is tons of water, and putting up your feet. The next day I wisely took the day off, and did just that. Thankfully, it went away!

Fast forward to yesterday.....
I had been dying to get outdoors and do a nice walk/hike. We hiked yesterday right near the water. The hike wasn't crazy at all. If anything, the trail was flat and smooth. There were some stairs but I was very careful, went very slowly, had my water with me.

About an hour later, the amazing and fabulous cramping I felt a few weeks ago came with a vengeance. On our 2 hour ride home, the pain was unbearable again. I tried again to just breathe through it and stay calm. After almost 3 hours of agony I called Kaiser again. The sweet nurse that I spoke to confirmed with ER doc to make sure I didn't need to come in. The good doctor recommended that within a 1 hour period, chug 2 liters of water and lay on my left side. If it wasn't gone, I needed to come in.

I followed the instructions to a T, and again, it worked! Ladies, if you deal with round ligament, try these instructions. It definitely worked!

So, what's my take away from this? Words of wisdom to impart?

1. DON'T OVERDO IT! That's the obvious one. Being on your feet, running around,
overdoing it with exercise makes round ligament worse.

2. Round ligament is totally normal! This is extremely normal in the 2nd trimester, especially for first timers like me. If you are bleeding, hightail it to your doc. Otherwise, its normal. Our bodies need to grow and accommodate our precious babies.

3. Don't suffer in pain if it gets too bad! I went almost 3 days in agony. Why did I do that to myself? I think I just wanted to be tough, but I was so miserable!

4. Truly, putting your feet up, laying down on your left side, and drinking TONS of water truly helps. It seems silly, but really, it works! Warm (not hot) showers feel really good too!

So, while this pregnancy has been great, round ligament truly has kicked my arse. I feel more knowledgeable of what it all means and I am proud myself staying calm through the pain. Hope this means I can handle contractions calmly, LOL! Well, we shall see about that one...

Happy Friday all,