30 Weeks

I would really love to update at least once per week until my due date. I have no idea how reasonable that is given how busy I usually am, but I'm going to try!

So tomorrow I'll be 30 weeks. How exciting is that? The "WOW, you're gonna pop any minute," and "Are you SURE you're not due until September?" comments had already started, but they're getting more frequent now. And I want to pummel each and every one of these people. One of these days I'm just going to say, "Pregnant?" and act confused/offended if someone asks when I'm due.

Anyway.

I had been fighting what I thought was just "a little chest congestion" since July 4th weekend, and I finally went to the clinic last Thursday. Turns out I had have bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection. I STILL sound horrible and wheezy (mostly at night) after 4 days of antibiotics. Not excited about that. But I was to the point where I could barely take a breath last week, and today I just have some residual phlegm, so I should count my blessings!

I talked to my OB/GYN about this when I went in on July 9th, and he advised me to just take some Mucinex DM for 3-5 days and that I'd be back to normal. All this is to say, he didn't even bother listening to my lungs with his stethoscope. So I went to get a second opinion!

This is also the man who took me on as a patient with my stipulation that he'd be open to the possibility of a VBAC birth, and when we spoke about it at my first appointment he let me know he had a vacation planned the week I was due and if he wasn't there by some chance none of the other doctors are even willing to try. C-Section City. Apparently, he has to be at the hospital the entire time I'm laboring, and that might not be possible.

SINCE WHEN ARE DOCTORS SO LAZY? I hate to say that, but it made it seem as though he just wasn't even going to let me attempt because it'd be inconvenient for his schedule. He also said he'd need to check to see if my pelvic bone was able to accommodate a vaginal birth... what does that even mean? Women have been giving birth since the beginning of time, but I'm different?

Sorry, whole other tangent there.

Anywho, I should probably get back to work. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Few Things

Just caught up with all of the blogs in my feed since last time I binge-read, and I have to say: wow! A ton is going on out there in blogland!

MandaPanda had revision surgery yesterday (go send her well wishes, if you haven't already), Catherine and Amy W. have been posting, Beth Ann just celebrated her birthday weekend not too long ago! I love seeing some of my favorite bloggers back at it!

Just a ton has been going on with me, too. Can't believe I haven't written anything since February, I always thought if I got pregnant with the band, I would blog my entire experience because hardly anyone has... but, nope, I'm a slacker!

Aww, hell, it IS Thursday... why not catch up in bullet points?

• First things first: still pregnant. I'm 28 weeks as of this past Tuesday, and we just found out on Monday that I'm having a baby girl.  At my 18 week and 22 week ultrasounds, they couldn't determine the sex because she had her legs crossed. So stubborn!
• I had to have a complete unfill around April, because I couldn't keep/get anything down (except junk food)!
• Thanks to that, I'm a chubster now. Okay, fine... thanks to poor food choices. Cannot wait to have this baby and get back some of my fill and get to the gym again! During my first trimester, I was too nauseated to workout (my morning sickness was all day, and I DID throw up past the band, multiple times - hence the unfill!), then my second trimester I wanted to sleep all day... now I'm in my third trimester and I am too busy running around trying to learn how to do my new job and get dinner on the table most nights to even consider going out and exercising after the kids eat. I know, poor excuse.
• I am no longer working in jewelry. I got fired from my job at Ben Bridge, and then I immediately found another job in the same industry, but no longer doing sales... just repairs. Hated the hours, so I'm NOW working at a construction management company. It's new and interesting, the hours are ideal, and I have weekends off!
• The boys' birthday party is this weekend, can't believe they'll be 8 years old! And we haven't even gotten an opportunity to go shopping for their gifts. We went to San Antonio to visit family for the 4th of July last weekend, and we can't very well do it while they're with us... so we're going to have to wait until tomorrow when my parents pick them up for the night!

Hope everyone is doing great, I've got to get home... and my laptop is on the fritz so work is the only chance I have to sneak on here! :)

Funny Thing

I was so gung-ho about exercising when I first joined the gym, I was going 4-5 times a week... but now I can't even get the strength up to go once in the past few weeks. I have morning sickness so bad I can barely get up in the morning.

Obviously, I'm pregnant. Only about 7 weeks, so not a huge deal, and I haven't "officially announced" in anywhere yet (I told my parents and my husband's parents, a few close friends, and my co-workers... because running to the bathroom every hour on the hour to dry heavy into the toilet is odd).

The thing is: I don't really care to tell anyone other than that. I don't want to make a big Facebook announcement.

What would it say?

"We have two kids already - but we're having another... because we're crazy!"

And that's how I feel about it. I alternate between being overjoyed and crying on the way to work in the car. I realize it's just all of my crazy emotions overflowing. But I'm scared to start over.

I know we were trying for this, and we already made the decision and now it's happening... but it's all real now. Scary.

Exercise?

I have so many questions about exercise, only because I've only REALLY been doing it for the past year or so... sporadically, until now. And I've never really been fit, so it's all very confusing. Maybe a few of the seasoned veterans out there can help me!

• Am I "supposed to" eat back the calories I burn?
• Because I'm trying not to, but it's hard.

• What's a good target heart rate for someone 27-years-old and about 15 lbs overweight?
• I have no idea.

• When is the best time to exercise (calorically)?
• Because I do it at night, and then I'm pretty ravenous all evening, but it's bearable... and I think if I do it in the morning I'll be ravenous ALL DAY instead of just a few hours. But then I heard you burn more calories all day doing it first thing.

• How intensely can I exercise while pregnant?
• Hell, I just need answers to lots of pregnancy-related things.

• Is fasted cardio really a thing people do?
• Because, if so, I kind of think they need their heads checked. I could never do my standard hour of cardio on an empty stomach. (Currently I do about 30-60 minutes of cardio and 15-20 minutes of lifting per workout. It's going okay for me.) But I might if it helps me lose these thighs.

• How come I don't sweat as much as the other girls?
• I sweat. But I'm not drenched. Like my hair doesn't look like I got caught in torrential downpour, and my back and butt are usually wet, but I want to look like I worked harder! My Polar HRM says I burn on average 600 calories every time I workout.

As you can tell... I do too much thinking while I should be focusing on my burn.

Anyone have any thoughts, answers, or even your own questions we can ponder together?

10 Year Reunion

So, apparently, that's coming up.

Is this motivational or what? I haven't seen 9/10 of these people (nor wanted to) in 10 years, but on the other hand: I've lost about 50 lbs since high school.

I weighed in between 210-220 lbs from about sophomore year of high school until I got pregnant in 2007, and then from 2008-2010 I ballooned up to 260-270 lbs. I was in beast mode. That and suffering some personal tragedies, which I won't put you through listening to right now, all combined to make a perfect storm for my weight gain.

I weighed in this morning at a "slim" 178... and I feel great. But for how long? I get the itch to lose weight, even if I'm where I thought I wanted to be. I did when I was 170, 160, even 150.

I realize I'm a disordered eater. I binge, I'm a habitual overeater, I eat when I'm bored, I'm a habitual dieter, and more that I can't even put my finger on at the moment. I do it all except NOT eat.

Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah. So the idea of going to this makes me nervous. Very nervous. But it kind of gives me a goal: I'd like to not only be pregnant by then, but also be looking great. I want to get my arms in better shape along with my legs.

Someone told me today the only time you can lose cellulite off of your legs is when you're a teenager and when you're pregnant.

I'M ALL OVER IT!

So I guess I'll go.