Monday, July 25, 2016

Custom Diaper Bag

I found a really pretty bag on Etsy today, but of course, I can't leave things the way they are.  I'm trying to see if I can have the bag (pictured below) modified.  I want a grey linen to replace the camo.  The lady that makes the bags told me that she was also out of the floral print.  So... I made my own (pictured to the left).  Not really sure how this will turn out, but I'm hoping to end up with a bag that I can use as a purse later!

We are getting a neutral backpack diaper bag for the bf so he won't look like he's holding his wife's purse when he's out with our son.  :)

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Baby Shower!

My friend is throwing me a baby shower and she asked me to design the invites since I'm not too shabby with the Adobe Creative Suite.  I've blurred out the names and contact info so I can post here.  I'm pretty pleased with the design, which is my take on something I saw on etsy a while back!

I'm super excited and happy that my friends want to do this for me, especially since most of their children are in middle/high school!  I'll be the oldest with the youngest, I suppose!

Low-carbing while pregnant and dealing with emotions

I've usually been a pretty even tempered person, but I've noticed that my emotions are running away with me as of late.  I'll hear a song on the radio and have to fight back the urge to cry... or someone says something that I construe as mean (while they may or may not mean it that way)... I want to yell vicious things at them and make them feel smaller than a skin cell.  I reluctantly admitted this to my bf yesterday and he said he was happy that at least I knew it was my hormones and he would try to be more sensitive.  (God bless that man.  We have so much stress in our lives right now due to a financial issue, so he's having to work a ton of overtime at a dangerous job he can't stand so we can buy stuff for our son.  Despite it all, he's still be the most loving, thoughtful, and comforting man I've ever known.  He rubs/kisses my growing belly at night, helps me up if I've been sitting on the floor even though I don't ask for help, he holds my hand and opens doors for me, and we go out on dates when he's not having to work very late.  :) )

Anyway, to combat the runaway emotions, I've found that taking a time-out so-to-speak helps a lot.  I need to go someplace quiet, such as our bedroom, sit in the dark, listen to soft music and take several deep breaths while thinking about my mood.  Is it really worth my stress?  Usually, it's not.  Within a few minutes, I'm back to myself.  :)

On a different note, since I'm wanting to maintain my weight and not gain a ton, I'm practicing a low-carb routine of 3 days on, 2 days off.  So far it's been working rather well.  I spoke with my doctor on the safety of doing a low carb diet while pregnant and her response was "Babies are made up of protein and water.  Fat mothers are made up of carbs and soda.  Just be sure you're eating plenty of veggies, drinking a ton of water, and taking the prenatal vitamins."  Being 40, I would like to shed the baby weight as quickly as possible... but my age makes it harder than it was at 25.  I don't want to be a fat parent as I want to do things with my son.  Because of that, I'm making a marked effort to be healthier than I was before I knew I was pregnant.  We have a flowerbed garden with green beans, cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini in full swing, which is great right now!  (Miracle Grow is the best!  Just sayin'!)

No pregnancy symptoms doesn't mean somethings wrong... enjoy it!

I meant to start this blog when I first found out I was pregnant, around May 2016 sometime, but life has a way of getting in the way.  :)

A little about me and how this all came into being... I am a writer and I've been with my amazing boyfriend since January 13th, 2015.  During my first marriage, my then husband wanted children pretty badly.  I always wanted to adopt for a variety of reasons (the first I will not mention as I'm sure it would ruffle some feathers), but the second reason was because the idea of being pregnant didn't appeal to me at all.  Being sick, not being able to drink, getting fat, having to subject myself to so many doctor's visits, not being able to sleep well... yeah.  Those things didn't sound like fun.  So when the ex and I went for a fertility check-up, I was relieved for my doctor to tell me that I would be unable to conceive since some certain hormone that I don't remember now was supposed to be at a 10 or higher... and I was at a level 7.  Husband at the time asked if that would change, and she said it was highly unlikely unless I went through hormone therapy.  No thanks!  That was in 2005.  Since then, I have divorced (2008), married (2010) and divorced (2014) all while not using birth control with my then husbands.

I met the love-of-my-life at the start of 2015 and after about 3 months of being in a committed relationship, we stopped using protection.  I mean, I obviously couldn't get pregnant!  He has a daughter from a previous marriage, and told me that his ex wife was told the same thing... that she couldn't get pregnant... but she did.  I remember laughing and telling him this was no where near the same situation!  I, in fact, COULD NOT get pregnant.

Come March 2016, I couldn't figure out why I was exhausted all of the time.  (I had missed periods, but I wasn't too concerned with that since that happened on a regular basis.)  I'd come home from my then job and nearly crash out on the sofa, which was totally unlike me.  The boyfriend suggested that I was pregnant, but I simply laughed.  "I can't get pregnant, remember?"  So we simply chalked it up to work being more stressful than usual.  

In May, we made a move halfway across the state for his work.  We packed up all of our belongings into a Uhaul and moved... just the two of us.  The exhaustion had let up, but I still was missing periods since January.  Since my mother had cancer, I was growing concerned I had some type of cervical or uterine cancer, so we thought it would be best that I had it checked out.  My fantastic boyfriend came with me to the doctor's visit and were both floored when the doc told me I was pregnant.  I freaked out a bit and told the doctor that there were no symptoms... could that be a wrong diagnosis and if it was correct, could the baby be okay?  She wheeled in a sonogram machine and again, boyfriend and I were at a loss when she ran a scanner over my stomach and a BABY, not a bean or a blip, a baby appeared on the screen.  I was 21 weeks pregnant.  I'd already burned through half of my pregnancy and had no idea.  No morning sickness, no pain, no expanding waist line...  Luckily, I like to take vitamins... so I was decent in that respect... but wow!  How did I get so lucky as to not have a baby with my ex's and this wait until I met the 'right' one?

Since then, I've had numerous doctor's visits and sonograms which confirm that our little son is doing perfectly well.  Today, I am at 31 weeks, almost to 32.  My waist has expanded a bit and I do get the occasional swollen feet/cankles, but everything else has been good.  In fact, I've only gained 3lbs since finding out I was pregnant.  (Docs say my son is burning up my fat reserves!)  Since I am 5'8" and was at 223lbs when I found out I was pregnant... I'm very happy he's burning up my fat!

Anyway, I'm writing this blog because as a 40 year old pregnant with my first and only child, I want to dispel that not having pregnancy symptoms doesn't mean that something is wrong with your baby.  Every pregnancy is different for every woman.  Honestly, had I not gone in to the doc, the only thing that would tell me something was up right now is I can feel and see him move!  I can wear nearly all of my old clothes still, with the exception a couple pairs of shorts that were tight then anyway.  I still wear the same size bra!