Weight...What?

At my 36 week prenatal check up I was seen by a Nurse Practitioner, who I had seen once in the very beginning of my pregnancy. She took my blood pressure, weight and urine sample and then we had the following convo:
NP: Well you have gained 6# since your last appointment, 2 weeks ago.
Me: oh, ok
NP: Your total weight gain has been 37#. The average weight gain for a pregnancy is 25 - 35#.
80% of your diet should be fruits and vegetables.
Me: Oh... so I SHOULDN'T have milkshakes for breakfast and nachos for dinner? Um... i'm 9 months pregnant, the deed is done.

What I took from that interaction is that I feel AMAZING and beautiful - no matter what a professional says, or co-workers, or neighbors, or family,. I gained weight, YES. Probably too much, YES. Might I regret it in a couple months feeling like a fat cow, maybe. But i'm happy now and have thoroughly enjoy this journey (including my breakfast and dinners of choice).

My Father in Law (retired firefighter) told me over the weekend "I've delivered babies and seen lots of pregnant women but never with bellies as big as yours" followed by "YOU'RE AS BIG AS A HOUSE!" This has been a great test of confidence and self security and i'm happy to report - I got lots of it and pregnancy has really enhanced my esteem despite all the "twin/house/ginormous" comments. I feel privileged to have conceived, nurture, carry and grow our precious baby in my body and i'll celebrate that with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream + vanilla almond milk shakes for breakfast!

When you look in the mirror, see the beautiful woman you are,  

 focus only on the positive in your life and

 love yourself, because you are YOU

Love in Bloom - 5 week countdown!!

 
For some reason 5 weeks seems so much longer than 38 DAYS to me!!! That's right, we have a birthday... Monday 7.8.13. After much deliberation and consultation we have decided to adhere to the doctor's recommendation and have a C-section. He had shared his concerns with us a couple months ago and it took a lot of thought and debate to finally make a decision. After our son's traumatic birth of 23.5 hrs natural labor resulting in a HEALTHY 9lb baby - he had fractured his clavicle during the process and the Doc felt that it would be safest to have a C-section this time. Although I was heart broken at the thought, I did tons of research (and griping) and really tried to figure out a way because I wanted to "try it again".  We concluded that there is a lot to risk and should follow Dr.'s recommendation. So there it is - our long awaited sweet surprise will join our family in 5 weeks!! Here is a picture from our family photo shoot we took today... of ALL days it was one of the hottest of the year. More pictures from the photo shoot to be shared soon. 

32 weeks "ready to POP"

 

 
Working in an office all day with lots of ladies and wonderful people whom i really enjoy was really fun for months 1-7 of my pregnancy. Everyday i felt showered with compliments about my "glow", how great i looked, how i made pregnancy look easy and on and on... then 3rd trimester hit! Now the comments i hear are mostly "WOW - you get bigger everyday" or my favorite = "are you SURE you're not having twins?!?!" which she proceeded to ask me 2 more times after i answered NO!  Today i was told that i look like i'm going to have that baby any day now. my reply?... "I HOPE NOT!! i have 8ish more weeks to go". A Psychiatrist i work with asked me for some paperwork today "before i pop"... all before 10 am.  Then later in the day a co-worker said "you must be ready to have that baby already". Yep, that was my breaking point. My response? "If I hear 1 more person tell me something like that i am going to loose it! why do you think i'm ready? do I look miserable to you? have i complained to you? I'm due in July and actually really loving pregnancy - so NO! i'm not ready and hopefully the baby is not ready either!" Gotta tell you, it felt good too
I feel like making a button that says:
PER BABYCENTER.com

"i'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to the baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb." SO I"M ONLY GOING TO GET BIGGER!! Please keep your "funny" comments to yourself.

Maybe it's the 3rd trimester crabbiness kicking in, or feeling pretty crappy today that's getting to me but really people, really! I'm trying to think if i was ever so insensitive to those pregnant beauties i know. I do remember empathizing with them and marveling on how amazing it is that our bodies get so big at the end. So perhaps if i said that to a friend at the wrong time, i could have made her feel like i feel now.

I am one who embraces, appreciates and really just loves the miracle of pregnancy. I feel so grateful for this blessing and try to dismiss silly comments by people who  don't understand, or care, how their funny "jokes" may make a VERY PREGNANT lady feel but today sucked! I drove to work and had another "episode" where i feel like i'm just going to die, had to pull over and then was late to work. I get to work, feeling like crap and am showered by those lovely "popping and overdue" comments, and as i type this my back is killing me. I just want to go home and lay down for some back pain relief. But instead i'll stretch, walk it off, find some chocolate and SMILE because i'm pregnant, BIG and having a BABY soonish :) The end.

Love Day

HAPPY LOVE DAY!! Every year we celebrate our love on a day (4/18) that we created and take as our own. This year is quite special as it is our "10 years from when we met" anniversary, so that much more reason to celebrate our love! As an artist, I do not compose music, paint or draw but what I really enjoy is making pict'deos (well that's what I just named them). I had a great time reminiscing over the past 10 years of wonderful memories, adventures and experiences; dwindling it down to only 52 images summarizing the past decade so in love with my hubby! Here's to celebrating love; wishing for everyone to create their own, special holiday!!

Baby Love

We had our 20 week ultrasound and received the results almost immediately (via e-mail of course) "Your fetal ultrasound is normal"! WHEW, what a great relief! I do have to say, during that hour long ultrasound, i almost caved and asked to find out  the baby's sex. It was so tempting as the technician was right there and probably able to tell us if we wanted... BUT i stayed strong and declined that temptation. It is really fun, and an incredible experience to not know the gender and just focus on the miracle and excitement of having A BABY! Whatever sex it may be. So here is a projected picture of our baby's ultrasound on my belly, baby love!

CraVings

Well...for the first few months i couldn't eat enough veggies, V8, salads, all things healthy and delicious and then Girl Scout cookie season kicked in. I blame those girls and their cookies for my demise, so now here i am and insatiable. Cravings have fully kicked in & I'm craving FOOD!!! I guess in particular, nachos. Mmmmmm, nachos!
Tortilla chips smothered in cheddar cheese surrounding black beans topped off with olives, green onions, avocados and more cheese. of course some hot salsa on the side. they were so so so good!

ROUND 2

If you're here visiting RevilleVille then you  may have received our Round 2 New Years card. Congratulations, you're our in our circle and we wanted to share our adventures with you all. So welcome!! I started this blog in the Spring when we finally decided to grow our family and I've had a really fun time blogging about some of the happenings in our little world. This is RevilleVilles official debut as i had only shared this site with a few people...until now. So please, check it out, join in on the convo & check in often as the adventures have just continued to begin :)

Restaurant Considerations

 

 

Next time i make reservations (or accept dinner invites) my 1st question well be "is there a women's restroom on the 1st floor?" because walking up (& down) 3 flights of stairs EVERY TIME i have to use the restroom ain't cutting it for this preggo gal! Well, I'm getting my workout tonight celebrating a friend's birthday. We'll see how much time i actually get to spend with her tonight though :)

La Leche

Cuddling on the couch last night the topic of "feeding babies" comes up and guess what genius hubby decides to tell Mr. Curious Lil Rev? YES... babies drink milk from their mommy's chi-chi's!!! I of course knew that this would need to be discussed and explained as Lil Rev has never really seen a breastfeeding momma before so as you can imagine, this sparked an immense curiosity (and fits of raging laughter) in our 6yr old boy. So i described it as the incredible thing it is in which mommies bodies do amazing things for their babies and we talked about many other mammals who also drink "chi-chi milk" and that was that.
Well this morning while i was making his school lunch the following convo took place:
LR: Mommy, where are you going to feed the baby your chi chi milk?
Me: Anywhere I am when the baby is hungry.
LR: Will you feed the baby in my room?
Me: Probably not, it will mostly be in the living room and my bedroom.
LR: Can i watch you feed the baby your chi chi milk?
Me: Of course. Babies eat a lot so i will be feeding the baby often so you will be around and see.
LR: What does chi chi milk taste like?
Me: Well i never tasted it
LR: Can i taste it?
Me: The milk is usually for babies
LR: Can we each put it in a cup so we all can taste it?
Me: We'll see
LR: Do your chi chi's have milk right now?
Me: My body is making it, getting ready for when the baby is born
LR: Does the milk come out when you take a shower?
Me: You're really interested in this huh? Can you help me finish making your PB&J?

Birthdays

Tis the season... for lots of celebrations! Lil Rev turned 6 this month and we threw him a Magical birthday hosting our 1st "kid" party at our house. I didn't know what to expect as i invited his entire Kindergarten class, cousins and friends too, and i am happy to report it was a complete success! The kids loved the Magic Hat activity where they all decorated their top hats and the main event included a Magician who manifested a real bird and rabbit in our home. Popcorn, treats, cake and fun magical party favors left all the kids, and parents, happy party goers. Hosting the party was a lot of fun, and lots of work too... SO next year i think a party at a bounce house place or a pizza parlor will have to happen.

A few weeks before the Magical birthday - we started off the birthday celebrations with my birthday in which i threw myself a Sweet 16 ~ Twice As Nice party ;) Complete with a music play list of the top 100 hits from when i was 16 years old. Let me tell you, it was quite a blast from the past... Macarena, Come on Ride the Train, Keith Sweat, LL Cool J, Tu Pac. The play list was rockin!! My sis and soul sista even traveled over 600 miles to celebrate with me and made it that much more special! I also started a new business adventure as an Independent Distributor for a great jewelry company. My Premier jewelry show for my birthday, the great ladies in my life and a baby announcement made my birthday weekend complete.