Miserable Nuisance

During the 9th week of pregnancy Bryan and I traveled to Los Angeles.  That Saturday I began to notice some discomfort on the left side of my inner pelvic area near my spine.  It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable to walk, stand, or sit.  I associated it with all the walking and standing we were doing sight seeing through the city.  I had begun to waddle to ease the nausea I was experiencing, I thought maybe the different stride was bothering my body. On Sunday I still had the discomfort, but noticed that I wasn't sitting with my legs crossed as I usually do when I sit in seats and thought that sitting with perfect posture was causing discomfort.  Come Monday, I noticed that when I got up from a sitting position and began to walk that my pelvic/spine area felt stuck and needed some assistance to get moving.  I called my mom to ask what the discomfort could be and she said to watch it for a few days to see what happens...

Tuesday April 12: 10 weeks pregnant and the day that changed my pregnancy.

I had gone to work at a company that I had worked at many times before and gotten to know the people and the job at hand.  All morning long I had noticed that I was hurting and grimacing with every step I took.  Not just the stuck feeling, but stuck with pain feeling.  I would grip handles with white knuckles, and take each step much slower.  Other employees starting commenting that something wasn't right with me, I agreed and said I must have slept wrong and had a kink. 

By the afternoon the pain was worse no matter if I were standing, sitting, walking, or still. At 1:30ish I bent down (maybe to my knees) and my legs gave out.  I fell to my knees and couldn't move, I was literally stuck! I managed to lay on my side as I deciphered a way to get back to standing, about 10 minutes later.  I was done for the day.  I told the contact person that I was in pain and needed to go home, she agreed since she had seen me suffer all day long.  I somehow managed to make it to my car and headed home.  However, by the time I got home the pain was worse and it took me about 20 minutes to get from the door to the bedroom.  

I called Bryan and the OB to see what to do.  The doctor on call said to come to Labor and Delivery to get things checked out. When we arrived I could barely walk and had to use Bryan for full support. The hospital ran a doppler test to check for a blood clot since we had just traveled.  The results were negative as I assumed since the pain wasn't in my legs.  Since I was pregnant they couldn't run any x-rays nor prescribe an anti-inflammatory as they usually would. Instead they told me I had to go to Physical Therapy where they would figure out what was wrong, fix it, and how to prevent it.  Why that isn't the usual protocol is beyond me. 

Two days later I was at the Physical Therapist office barely managing to walk or move without grimacing in pain.  The therapist did a few exercises with me and bam pain gone, walking normal! (for a little while)  She diagnosed that my SI joint (the location where the pelvis and spine meet) was out of alignment/dislocated.  It's normal for pregnancy due to the extra hormones that loosen the joints to prepare for baby's arrival, mine just happened to loosen early.  She sent me home with 2 months worth of physical therapy and exercises to help strengthen the muscles around the area, but warned that it would get better in the second trimester, but come back to haunt me in the third...  boy was she right!!!

So that's the reason why this pregnancy hasn't been the easiest and we have been uber busy in preparing for the baby.  The second trimester was fairly easy (in the joint pain department) so we were able to get just about everything done and ready for the baby.  Now on to the third trimester... let the haunting begin!

April Fool's Day

We had our first OB appointment on Friday April 1.  I was 8 weeks along and would be hearing and seeing our baby for the first time!  When we got into the ultrasound room, the technician talked us through what all we would be doing and seeing.  I had never understood growing up why my mom had condom's next to her ultrasound machine in her office nor what the stick looking probe did... now I know!!  

8 week ultrasound: the ball to the left of the baby is the yolk sac it helps provide nourishment until the placenta is formed.  The heart rate was strong and fast.  My first response was "holy $h!t" Yep this is real, we are pregnant, no turing back now. Bryan thought it was cool. 

That night was emailed our families to tell them about the first appointment.  We titled the email "TWINS!!"  But quickly mentioned Happy April Fool's Day!

No No's and Ho Ho's

The first people we wanted to tell were our immediately families, but I didn't just want to call them.  Bryan's birthday was coming up and we would be seeing both sides of the family the same weekend so we were able to tell them in person.  I had decided to embroider 4 bib's for the 4 grandparents.  On the bib's I put "I ♥ ___"  fill in with a name that the baby could potentially call that grandparent.  For the Novack's I chose "Tom Tom" for Tom, and "No No" for Judy.  For the Homlar's I chose "Bo Bo" for Bob, and "Ho Ho" for Marjorie.

We saw the Novack's first on Saturday March 12.  They came up for the day to celebrate Bryan's Birthday early.  We planned on going for a hike on Rainbow Mountain.  Before heading out we decided to tell them our news (since we assumed the rest of the day would consist of baby talk).  I had a box that I could fold the bib's up in and gave it to Judy.  She opened the box and inside she saw the word "No No." When she pulled out the fabric she looked at for a split second before asking, "are you telling us something?" We said, "yes, we're pregnant."  With a calm, yet excited demeanor they congratulated us (and yes the rest of the day consisted of baby talk). 

The next day Sunday March 13 we went to Nashville.  My niece had her first birthday party on Saturday and my mom would be in town.  We arrived around lunch time and decided to give my mother the box as we all ate.  She opened the box and saw the words "Ho Ho."  When she pulled out the bib she stared at it... with a "half smile, disgusted, upset, fake happy" look on her face.  She looked around the room (everyone else had figured it out) at everyone's happy smiling faces and asked, "is this a joke?"  I wanted to respond, "nope I think you're a Ho," but instead responded, "we're pregnant." She figured it out at that point as she screamed, hooted, and hollered!!  We then asked her "what were you thinking when you saw the bib?"  She said, "I thought the bib was for me to wear since I always spill on myself!" After we all stopped laughing, my sister-in-law's mother mentioned that they make adult designer bib's for elderly people... guess who's getting that for Christmas!

Knocked Up Novack

Yea so I'm actually 32 weeks along and just now posting about being pregnant.  For those that know, this pregnancy hasn't been the easiest and we have been busy with a massive "to-do" list. 

We found out we were pregnant on March 1!  

Now you know how I look at 6:00 am.  Apparently it's best to pee on the stick first thing in the morning.  

I had decided to try and surprise Bryan before he left for work.  I didn't want to go all day with this kind of information (either positive or negative) by myself.  Bryan usually gets up for work around 5:30-5:45.  When he got up to get into the shower, I went to the guest bathroom to pee on the stick.  When I saw it was positive, I decided to place the stick (with the cover tightly snapped together) on Bryan's dresser, assuming he was going to roll through his usual schedule of coming out of the bathroom and checking his phone... not that day!  Instead he grabbed his clothes, put on his shoes, made his breakfast and lunch, brushed his teeth, shaved his face, grab his wallet, put on his class ring, and then check his phone!  Bryan didn't know what exactly he was looking at as to whether it was positive or negative, but he commented "I assume this is positive, since you would probably be crying already if it were negative." 

Nurture Driveway

What does the word solicit mean??? In the front of our neighborhood there is a sign that reads "NO SOLICITATION." But for some reason we always get people coming by door to door selling, promoting, fundraising, etc. One Saturday we had a guy come to the door selling his pressure washing services, "looks like your driveway needs a good power washing to get rid of all that mold and mildew." We of course said no, but we started thinking, "do we need to pressure wash the driveway?"

Luckily Bryan's grandfather gave him a pressure washer when they moved from Ohio to Colorado. So since the solicitor put it in Bryan's head, he decided to pressure wash all the cement areas of our house. He did the back "porch" first to test it out. If he screwed something up, no one would know. Amazing the difference it made! He then decided to tackle the drive way section by section since it takes about 2 hours to clean it.

Before:

It doesn't look that bad, right!:

A better picture of how dirty it actually was. You can see where our car tires drive into the garage:

After:

I forgot to get a before of the side walk...

For a more dramatic affect of before and after:

Natural Strawberry Flavor

In case you didn't know, Bryan LOVES strawberries! By LOVE, I mean his cheeks are always rosy red probably because he ate so many strawberries as a kid. :) As soon as I bring strawberries home from the store, they are devoured with in hours.

Seeing how we live in Alabama and in a semi-rural/country area... Many farms exist where you can "pick your own___." We have been pumpkin picking, I have seen a Christmas tree lot, and I have heard of picking blueberries/blackberries. Last year I went with a few friends to pick strawberries. We all got one large bucket. Most ladies thought "gee what am I going to do with all these strawberries... make a pie, freeze some, make jam/jelly, etc." I knew what would happen to ours... and yes just as I commented "these will be gone by tomorrow" and they were!!

So this year Bryan wanted to come with us, yes he was the only man, but he wasn't the only male. We decided to get two buckets, assuming one would be devoured and the other we would freeze for later.

Our loot:

Navigation Weiss Lake

In May our small group went to Weiss Lake together. We had tried to get the whole Sunday School class to take a trip like this, but with 27 couples, more than a dozen kids (and differing personalities), plans never worked out. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other better and get to know our personalities from day to the wee hours of the night.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of everyone who went, nor the cabin we stayed in, nor the grounds, nor lake. I'm not used to thinking in picture documentation, which is surprising since I love to take pictures.

The weekend consisted of relaxation, taking turns cooking meals, hanging out, and listening to 2 year olds be, well, 2 year olds. The weather was kind of chilly so we didn't venture into the water as much as one would in the summer, but it was still zen-like to watch the rippling waves crash against the shore and the sun sparkle across the water in the early morning.

We did venture to a local rock climbing spot, Cherokee Rock Village. No it's not indoor climbing, it's a real rock garden that you climb. It's called Sand Rock because the soil naturally found there is sand, odd being that it's Alabama and the soil is usually red clay. One family, the Willhite's are outdoor enthusiasts and own many outdoor equipment for just about any outdoor adventure. They purchased a harness for their 2 year old twins to take a shot at climbing.

Sand Rock: Literally a bunch of giant rocks for anyone to climb, with appropriate gear.

Bryan wanted to hike to the top of the rock, since you have to have a way to get the gear set up. He didn't want the kids to follow since we didn't want to risk them running and falling off the side... however, they saw and wanted to hike up too.

Bryan helping (lifting) the kids to the top:

View from the top:

One of the twins climbing like a big boy! (with assistance from Bryan) Every time Bryan would take his hand off of the kid, the kid would yell out "help." So really Bryan lifted the boys farther and farther up the rock, but the kids did do most of the work themselves, they just needed a little extra nudge.

At another spot of the rock the adults decided to take a climb. Here's Bryan taking about three steps up the side... I wonder what his father would think of him climbing without a helmet?!?!?

And what we did most of the weekend: deal with babies. Here's Bryan getting in some practice... all three are smiling!