I was looking through pics today and came across this one. This was taken at the Smith Cabin in Palmyra when we went on our East Coast trip back in July. It was right before we got pregnant!! It made me a little envious to not have all this weight on me. I hope it doesn't take as long as it did after Jordyn to get back to this size!! :-)
I got dressed into my work clothes today and I am literally popping out of them. I have my pants completely unbuttoned and only held up by the string tied around my waist! Along with my pants, my shirt is getting squeezed as far as it will go:) I almost feel like the Hulk and all I have to do is stretch out my arms and all the buttons on my shirt will go flying!! I drive to work and walk forever from the parking garage and waddle up the three flights of stairs. By the time I get to the spa, I'm out of breath. I have to do a couple therapeutic massages which pretty much makes me bend over the whole time. My back almost spasms quite a few times and so does my butt when I bend over to pick something up. I walk out to my car when my shift is over and realize that the one spot that I picked to park in is covered in water!! It started raining really hard while I was working and all of that rain drained right to where my van was. It looked like it was wading in a river. There was no other choice but to walk right through it to get to my car. I drive home with wet, cold feet in the still raining weather and pray that no idiots hit me with their idiotic driving skills. I really thought someone was going to ram someone in the butt right to the left of me. He just missed him by cutting me off to go around the guy without lifting off of the gas. I just keep both hands on the wheel. I finally get home. Cold. Wet. Tired. All I want to do is take a hot shower and curl up in a blanket. I walk in the door and get the biggest welcome home from my girls. They are thrilled that I am home. They are happy to see me. They are so excited that I am home. All of a sudden, I am warm:)
I have been thinking and worrying about going back to work after I give birth ever since I found out I was pregnant. I was off for quite some time with my first two and was looking at having to go back to work rather quickly after having this one. I was not too happy about it. With Makenna, I had been working full time for six and a half years and was so ready to be done for awhile. I had done so many massages over that time that I had to take leave about three months before she was born because I ended up with pregnancy carpal tunnel. To me it was a sign. A sign to take some time off to be with my first born. After about a year, I went back to work. I looked back into the Hilton because I knew the manager there and knew that she would work with me and my schedule. She didn't make me work weekends and it was nice to just work part time. Personally every massage therapist should have no more than five hours of massage a day. But that's just my opinion:) Anyway, I worked until about two months before I gave birth to Jordyn. Since I was only part time, I figured it was no biggie to be off for awhile. It was around our normal slow time and didn't think they needed me anyways. I told my boss to just call me when they got busy. Well, I called her when I was ready to come back and she had laid me off before I had even had the baby. I had no idea. I still had my badge and work clothes!! She never told me so I had to apply and drug test all over again!! I was pissed but she took me right back in so whatever. The problem this time is that the economy has tanked since my last baby. I don't know if I will have a job to go back to when I'm ready to come back. I don't know if upper management will eliminate the position entirely before I come back. I just felt that I had to hang on to it! So I was consumed in trying to get as much time off after the baby as possible. I figured that the max I could get was 12 weeks since that is what full time workers get. Well, come to find out that there are NO rights for part time workers!! None!! Nothing is written about part timers. It is up to the discretion of your employer. So I sat down with my boss and she said some bull crap about not being able to have employees on that aren't active!! So, I'm like....what??? She was going to give me like a month!! So I went down to HR and she pretty much told me that I could have the whole 12 weeks off. It was up to my boss and she should know that. Blah blah blah....I just went up and told my boss that I could have 12 weeks. So now that I have 12 weeks, I have to work all the way up until I have this baby. I was determined!! I told myself that I was going to have as much time as possible with my baby afterwards and I wasn't going to waste time at home prego!! Well.....those thoughts were when I was newly prego!! I kept telling myself that I just had to do it and all the while my body keeps getting more stiff and sore as I massage. I'm already having pelvic pain real bad when I stand for long periods and that is what I do all night....is stand and use up a ton of energy!! By the end of the night, I'm hurting pretty bad! And I still have three months to go!! I was really starting to worry about it. I thought I was going to be better off with this one because I wasn't prego in the summer and could go walking and stay in better shape! But when I go walking, it makes my pelvic pain even worse! I just kept telling myself that I just had to do it. Well, last week I had a very emotional day! I sometimes get very weepy with this pregnancy. I can cry at the drop of a hat and I was crying all day. I got to work and I still was tearing up. I started my massage and it was just a really good massage. Some massages just go really smooth and I started thinking to myself....."hey!! you are a good massage therapist!! Why in the world are you so tied down with the Hilton!! Why are you so scared of change that you will try to work while absolutely miserable and then go back to work when you baby is so little when you really really don't want to!! Just because you feel so tied to the Hilton!! You are a great massage therapist with tons of experience and other spas would be lucky to have you!!" After my pep talk with myself, I instantly felt a calm come over me! It was amazing. My weepy, crying self became really calm and I KNEW that what I was saying to myself was not crazy. I made the decision right then that I will just work until I can't anymore and then be done for awhile. I will take some time off and when I'm ready I will go back to work. If it happens to be the Hilton, then it's the Hilton. If it's not, then it's time for a change. I think my path is supposed to go a different route right now anyway. Travis confirmed this for me when he told me I should just go until I can't anymore a couple weeks prior! I knew that when I talked to him that night, that he would be ok with it too. We are trying to get our mortgage lowered right now so hopefully if that works out, we will be in a much better position! Whichever way our path is supposed to go, I know that this is what I'm supposed to do. I just had to think of it first!! I just had that other route in my head and wasn't even considering another option. And now that I have, I have PEACE and it is right!!!
With every baby, Lady has always laid on my belly! Even when I was just newly pregnant, she was all over my belly! She gets herself nice and comfy. I think she figures this is the only time she can cuddle with them before they start making noise:)
Me at exactly 20 weeks. Travis has his finger over the flash so there is a shadow but I didn't like the other pic he took:) It's starting to stick out really good now.
Jordyn didn't even want to give me a minute to take a pic:)
We told Makenna that we were going to find out if she was having a brother or sister before we left for the doctors. At first she misunderstood and thought we were going to have the baby right then. And then my mom was preparing her that it might be a sister (because she was determined that she was getting a brother) and she replies, "I don't need another sister. I already have one!!!"
At my OB appointment, we got his and hers H1N1 shots. My doctor thought Trav should get one too since he is a teacher! So, hopefully everything will be alright. I think we have waited long enough to know that it is ok.
I think Jordyn is getting over being traumatized by Santa. She wants to look at the pic now and smiles.
We put up our tree and Christmas stuff right after Thanksgiving and Makenna thought that Santa was coming that night. She was quite disappointed. She is really at a fun age this year.
Jordyn is being nicer to our tree this year. Last year, we had no ornaments on the whole bottom because she wouldn't quit messing with it. She will still bring me an ornament here and there but not too bad.
We put beads on the tree this year and Makenna asked us why we were putting necklaces on it.
Makenna won't leave the baby Jesus alone in my nativities.
We rotated some toys. We put some out in the garage to make room for the tree and put some back in that had been out for awhile and I think we should have just wrapped them and put them under the tree. It's like Christmas. They are so excited to play with all these 'new' toys:)
Jordyn has to have all her buds in her crib with her when she goes to sleep. She has Bolt, Rhino, and Mittens. Plus, a couple of babies, a doggie, Eeyore and two Minnie Mouses. And they have to be in a certain spot. She knows immediately if someone is missing.
Every time Lady barks (for any reason), Jordyn replies loudly, "Hama's here!!!"
Added some more pics:) My scanner was being weird on me so there are a couple that scanned smaller than the others but o-well:) Everything looks great but I guess I have a small cyst in the placenta. But the ultrasound tech said it was nothing to worry about and it was good that it wasn't by the cord. My OB said we will just check it again in about six weeks just to make sure it doesn't grow. The placenta is also against my stomach and that is probably why I don't feel him as much.
He's already buff.....look at that muscle:)
Cute leg and foot. You can see the cyst in this pic. It's the dark circle right above his foot.
Foot
Spine, arm and hand
Another hot dog shot:) And a real good look at the cyst! I still can't believe we are having a boy!! It still doesn't seem real. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with a boy and I'm definitely going to have to practice diaper changing:)
I am finally feeling pretty good the last few weeks. I have pretty much gotten over the nausea except a little in the morning until I eat and brushing my teeth. I gag every time:( But all in all, I can't complain;) I still get headaches but they are tolerable and I got a prescription if they get too bad. I also started feeling the baby a few days ago. I was starting to get worried since I should have felt it sooner after having two babies but I think this baby is just chilling! I only feel it when I'm laying down and mostly right before I go to sleep. It also seems like I've grown quite a bit just in the last two weeks. I still sleep on my tummy kinda but it's more of a side lying/on tummy sleep but it's still comfy at the moment. I don't think I could sleep straight on it. I just had a massage two weeks ago and I laid on my tummy just fine. What a difference a couple of weeks makes:) I'm still trying to bike ride and do weights as often as I can but not as often as I used to. The seat hurts my bum if I ride too often and those girls are heavy to pull:) Work is going ok too. We are going into the slow season so that will be nice to have a little break for a bit. My manager seems to make me come in just in case though which is really irritating to sit there doing nothing. I'm really trying to enjoy this pregnancy since I personally feel it will be our last:) Trav used to agree with me but I think he is waiting to see if we have a boy first to say it's our last. If it's a girl, maybe he can carry the next one:)
Travis and I spent pretty much the whole day yesterday cleaning and organizing. We were so tired but we couldn't stop once we got started. I just can't stand the house being messy right now! It drives me crazy. We even did a little Christmas shopping too. I took Jordyn while he took Makenna. I think I only need to get a few more things for Kenna but I really need to figure out what to get Jordyn. My goal was to be done by Thanksgiving. I don't know if I'm going to make it but I'm going to try to get as much done as possible. I've got all our siblings done so I just need to finish the girls and our parents. I want to be able to decorate the day after Thanksgiving and then just enjoy the season without all the craziness of shopping. I can't stand crowds and they really bother me now that I'm prego. Like really bad!! People can be so rude and inconsiderate. They will just stand in your way even though they know you need to get by! Ugh. We are also going to put more lights on outside. Travis got a bunch of lights after Christmas last year for a buck a box! So, I'm hoping to get an early start on that too so we can actually enjoy them for the whole time. We are also going to take our girls to Disneyland for Christmas. That will be part of their presents. I've been saving my tips since June specifically for Christmas and Disneyland. I'm so excited because the last time we went, Jordyn was 3 months old and didn't have a clue. But now she is so into Mickey and Minnie and all the princesses and everybody. And Makenna is just more into them since the last time too so we are really excited for them. I so love this time of year!!!
