Well, this whole blogging thing is a little confusing and I'm too tired and sick to really investigate how it's supposed to work and figure out the kinks and little things so I've made the blog public instead of private. That means you can view the blog without me "inviting" you. But I would like to remind everyone to sign up as a "follower" so that you're notified when I make changes, add new posts, etc. So far my dad is the only one signed up. Anyway, if you know of anyone who wants to see the blog, just forward them the web address and they can sign themselves up. As I said before, I'm too tired to deal with it.
Oh, I should probably mention that Brian's mom doesn't know yet because he wanted to tell her in person... so please don't forward the website to her, lol. And Natalie, if you see her at Starbucks... you're gonna have to keep quiet, for now. I heard you told Christine's mom, lol. Yep, Santa Maria is a small world and even up here in Sacramento I hear about stuff! He he.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Morning (All Day) Sickness...
Ugh. So I've been feeling "not so well" the past couple of weeks and I guess you could call this a rant. I hate that I had the preconceived notion that morning sickness is mostly in the morning and involves throwing up or feeling nauseous every so often (as opposed to constantly). Well, that is not my experience!
I wake up at 3:30am to get to work at 5am every day. I love the shift but it does not love me... or it doesn't agree with pregnancy. The first few days I woke up with morning sickness I had the hardest time getting through my shower, let alone the morning regimen that consists of brushing teeth (gag me!), brushing hair, putting on pants that really don't fit well anymore, and eating breakfast... yeah right. I read through some advice by the ladies on my "gluten free and pregnant" chat boards... they all say Glutino pretzels work... I would love to try them but I can't bring myself to buy a tiny bag of pretzels for $10! So I asked for cheaper alternatives... the response was an overwhelming: PROTEIN! Well, for a couple days I would snack on some nuts throughout the morning and that seemed to work. But that gets old REAL quick. Now I can't stand to look at a cashew, let alone eat one. And meat, oh no, meat is like the grossest thing in the world. I can't even watch KFC commercials.
I did some more research and every thing I read mentioned eating saltines before you get out of bed and before your body has a chance to feel sick. We all know saltines are a no-no on the gluten free diet but I thought maybe eating right away was the real trick. It was! So now I probably look like a psychopath but the minute my alarm goes off I run (literally) to the kitchen and try to scarf down some food (luckily no one sees this). For the time being it is Panda Puffs cereal (a gluten free peanut butter flavored puff cereal, kind of like Reeses Puffs). I can only stomach about a third of a regular serving but it's enough to keep the nausea away until I finish getting ready. So, I mastered my early mornings, more or less. Then comes the rest of the day...
I get to work at 5am. I used to snack on the nuts during the first couple hours but just a couple days ago realized that Cheetos are a very tasty snack around that time. Hey, don't knock it til you've tried it! They're salty and greasy and do well... at least it's not a peanut butter and pickle sandwich! Right around 9am the nausea starts up again. It's a different kind of nausea. I can tell it's more related to my empty stomach and now I know that once I eat lunch I'll feel a ton better. The only problem is NOTHING sounds good. Ever. So I force myself to eat something that is basically tasteless. Usually it's a baked potato from Wendy's. Sometimes french fries are the only thing I can stomach. Occasionally I can have a chicken salad or a taco salad but that's a rare occurrence. Well, after lunch I usually feel regular. By that I mean I enjoy about 3 hours without nausea. It's fabulous! And as long as I eat immediately after work and snack every hour I can usually stretch my nausea-free moments to around 5pm. But then the real nausea kicks in....
Nights are the WORST! Come 7pm I get so nauseous. Food in general is so unappealing. I usually gag trying to swallow anything. I can't wait to fall asleep so I don't have to feel anything. The first week of "night sickness" I just suffered for the most part. Poor Brian had to watch without being able to help. He's so sweet, always offering to run out and get something... I just wish there was something to get. After some research though I found a few things that are supposed to help. First one: vitamin B6 supplements. Second: ginger. So night before last Brian ran to WalMart at 1am (I still wasn't asleep and had to work at 5am, can we say stressful?) and got some ginger and B6 vitamins (and Taco Bell for himself, lol). I couldn't swallow the vitamin without regurgitating. And we weren't sure what to do with the ginger that I would be able to stomach... so that night was a bust. The next night though, Brian made me some weird tea with the ginger. It actually tasted pretty good! Reminded me of a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks without the milk and he iced it for me. It did calm my stomach somewhat and I was able to sleep. I still couldn't swallow the B6 though. Then yesterday after work (during the time I feel decent) we decided to go shopping for some maternity pants. Right now I'm using the rubber band trick where you loop a rubber band through your button hole and around your button so you can keep your pants unbuttoned. It works but it's not attractive! While we were out Brian reminded me to buy some PSI bands. They are plastic "bracelets" that put pressure on a certain acupuncture spot on your wrist that is supposed to cure nausea (from morning sickness or motion sickness). Christine's daughter, Reina, uses them for car sickness and they worked for her so I figured I'd try it! Well, I bought some and they worked! I slept so well last night! It even decreased (did not "cure") the nausea enough that I was able to take my prenatal (horse pill) and B6 vitamin without puking them back up! Fabulous!
So I'm slowly but surely getting used to dealing with the nausea. Mornings - eating before anything else and snacking every 1-2 hours. Midday - pretty much set as long as I force myself to eat lunch. Evening - try to snack every 1-2 hours and wear the PSI Bands. Nighttime - wear the PSI bands and if necessary, drink some ginger tea and take B6 vitamin.
But, incase you didn't notice.... I guess I should count my blessings. I haven't actually thrown up yet!
I wake up at 3:30am to get to work at 5am every day. I love the shift but it does not love me... or it doesn't agree with pregnancy. The first few days I woke up with morning sickness I had the hardest time getting through my shower, let alone the morning regimen that consists of brushing teeth (gag me!), brushing hair, putting on pants that really don't fit well anymore, and eating breakfast... yeah right. I read through some advice by the ladies on my "gluten free and pregnant" chat boards... they all say Glutino pretzels work... I would love to try them but I can't bring myself to buy a tiny bag of pretzels for $10! So I asked for cheaper alternatives... the response was an overwhelming: PROTEIN! Well, for a couple days I would snack on some nuts throughout the morning and that seemed to work. But that gets old REAL quick. Now I can't stand to look at a cashew, let alone eat one. And meat, oh no, meat is like the grossest thing in the world. I can't even watch KFC commercials.
I did some more research and every thing I read mentioned eating saltines before you get out of bed and before your body has a chance to feel sick. We all know saltines are a no-no on the gluten free diet but I thought maybe eating right away was the real trick. It was! So now I probably look like a psychopath but the minute my alarm goes off I run (literally) to the kitchen and try to scarf down some food (luckily no one sees this). For the time being it is Panda Puffs cereal (a gluten free peanut butter flavored puff cereal, kind of like Reeses Puffs). I can only stomach about a third of a regular serving but it's enough to keep the nausea away until I finish getting ready. So, I mastered my early mornings, more or less. Then comes the rest of the day...
I get to work at 5am. I used to snack on the nuts during the first couple hours but just a couple days ago realized that Cheetos are a very tasty snack around that time. Hey, don't knock it til you've tried it! They're salty and greasy and do well... at least it's not a peanut butter and pickle sandwich! Right around 9am the nausea starts up again. It's a different kind of nausea. I can tell it's more related to my empty stomach and now I know that once I eat lunch I'll feel a ton better. The only problem is NOTHING sounds good. Ever. So I force myself to eat something that is basically tasteless. Usually it's a baked potato from Wendy's. Sometimes french fries are the only thing I can stomach. Occasionally I can have a chicken salad or a taco salad but that's a rare occurrence. Well, after lunch I usually feel regular. By that I mean I enjoy about 3 hours without nausea. It's fabulous! And as long as I eat immediately after work and snack every hour I can usually stretch my nausea-free moments to around 5pm. But then the real nausea kicks in....
Nights are the WORST! Come 7pm I get so nauseous. Food in general is so unappealing. I usually gag trying to swallow anything. I can't wait to fall asleep so I don't have to feel anything. The first week of "night sickness" I just suffered for the most part. Poor Brian had to watch without being able to help. He's so sweet, always offering to run out and get something... I just wish there was something to get. After some research though I found a few things that are supposed to help. First one: vitamin B6 supplements. Second: ginger. So night before last Brian ran to WalMart at 1am (I still wasn't asleep and had to work at 5am, can we say stressful?) and got some ginger and B6 vitamins (and Taco Bell for himself, lol). I couldn't swallow the vitamin without regurgitating. And we weren't sure what to do with the ginger that I would be able to stomach... so that night was a bust. The next night though, Brian made me some weird tea with the ginger. It actually tasted pretty good! Reminded me of a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks without the milk and he iced it for me. It did calm my stomach somewhat and I was able to sleep. I still couldn't swallow the B6 though. Then yesterday after work (during the time I feel decent) we decided to go shopping for some maternity pants. Right now I'm using the rubber band trick where you loop a rubber band through your button hole and around your button so you can keep your pants unbuttoned. It works but it's not attractive! While we were out Brian reminded me to buy some PSI bands. They are plastic "bracelets" that put pressure on a certain acupuncture spot on your wrist that is supposed to cure nausea (from morning sickness or motion sickness). Christine's daughter, Reina, uses them for car sickness and they worked for her so I figured I'd try it! Well, I bought some and they worked! I slept so well last night! It even decreased (did not "cure") the nausea enough that I was able to take my prenatal (horse pill) and B6 vitamin without puking them back up! Fabulous!
So I'm slowly but surely getting used to dealing with the nausea. Mornings - eating before anything else and snacking every 1-2 hours. Midday - pretty much set as long as I force myself to eat lunch. Evening - try to snack every 1-2 hours and wear the PSI Bands. Nighttime - wear the PSI bands and if necessary, drink some ginger tea and take B6 vitamin.
But, incase you didn't notice.... I guess I should count my blessings. I haven't actually thrown up yet!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Explaining the nickname "Rex"
Okay, I know Rex sounds like a boy name and I warned hubby about it if we used it as a nickname until our little one was born... but this is why it stuck...
Brian likes to call things ____-o-saurus Rex. For example, he calls our dog Mutt-o-saurus Rex or me Wubs-o-saurus Rex... so it's a pet name of sorts... really he's calling this baby "baby-saurus Rex" You get the idea... Rex for short... or Rexi. No, we are NOT naming our kid Rex or Rexi... it's just a nickname. After we should know the sex (we're not finding out) we might have to change that or everyone will assume boy. (I think it's a girl... cuz of my aunt Lisa... but that's a whole different story)
(Oh, and we're not having a dinosaur... we're having a human... or at least we hope so... it will be confirmed on Oct. 7 when we have our first appointment/ultrasound.)
Brian likes to call things ____-o-saurus Rex. For example, he calls our dog Mutt-o-saurus Rex or me Wubs-o-saurus Rex... so it's a pet name of sorts... really he's calling this baby "baby-saurus Rex" You get the idea... Rex for short... or Rexi. No, we are NOT naming our kid Rex or Rexi... it's just a nickname. After we should know the sex (we're not finding out) we might have to change that or everyone will assume boy. (I think it's a girl... cuz of my aunt Lisa... but that's a whole different story)
(Oh, and we're not having a dinosaur... we're having a human... or at least we hope so... it will be confirmed on Oct. 7 when we have our first appointment/ultrasound.)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sharing the info...
I just wanted to comment that this blog is only available to those who are invited, at least for now, since not everyone knows about it. I didn't think it would be such a great idea to make it public/searchable so that the pregnancy stays somewhat secretive for a while, from certain people anyhow. So, if you know someone who wants to be able to view this page, just have them email me with their email address and I'll add them...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Welcome
Hey everyone, today is day 1 of my new blogging facination. This whole blogging thing is totally new to me but with a new baby on the way I thought it would be a great way to easlily share the news with anyone interested. I plan on posting the details of our prenatal appointments, ultrasound pictures, and birth information for all to see... or at least those that are invited! With this being our first child and the first grandchild and great grandchild on all sides of the family, there are a large number of people wondering what's going on with us so I think this is the best way to share... that way everyone can log on and read up when the time is convenient for them and no one will feel bad if I forget to call them with updates! (Hey, I've heard a lot of things about pregnancy brain... so it's not my fault!)
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