Heart burn, gas and more heart burn!

Our little peanut has caused quite a change in my body the last few weeks. Besides the obvious of the growing belly, can we say heart burn?! Man, I think I should buy some stock ownership in Tums. Thankfully, the heart burn only flares up in the evening and usually Tums does the trick. I did ask my doctor if this is normal and she said yes. One of the many mysteries of pregnancy. I also heard the old wives' tale that if you have heart burn, your baby will be born with lots of hair. Well, if that's the true and at the rate I've had heart burn, our little peanut is going to come out looking like a little monkey! I won't even go into the whole new level of gas experiences we've been experiencing- let's just say I hope my students will be understanding if an SBD (silent but deadly) slips out at school next week.

On the serious side, we have the crib set up and decided to use our dresser for baby clothes. Leif was awesome over spring break and spent 1/2 a day organizing the future "Man/Baby Cave". I also had my monthly check-up. Everything looks good- when the doctor used the doppler to check the heart rate, we could hear that the baby had the hiccups! I was also surprised with how my stomach/uterus measurements had changed. A month ago I was at 19 and this month 27! I guess you could say I really do look pregnant now. Even Leif commented (keep in mind Leif's sense of humor), "Honey, you don't look like you're getting fat anymore- you're really looking pregnant!" Thanks husband.

Week 24 Begins

As week 24 begins, I'm still in awe of this whole process. The last two weeks were eventful with baby movement. I must say that when you can see your stomach moving and you know it's not you making your skin move, it's pretty amazing. Every night I've been laying on the couch watching my belly. Leif looks at me like I've lost my mind, but I don't care. I figure when baby number two comes around, I won't have time to just sit and enjoy these moments. Clothing continues to be an issue- especially without a store near by to shop. Thankfully, my cousin who had a baby in November sent me all her maternity clothes! Thank you Renee!!! I still have issues with pants fitting correctly, but at least now I have some shirts that fit.

Since this is the technical start of month 6, I find myself wanting to get furniture for the baby room and get things set up. It's hard living where we do because either 1) the company won't ship things to us, or 2) we don't have ferry service over spring break! Yep- no ferry service and Leif and I were planning to go to Anchorage with the truck to buy some of the bigger baby items. Oh well, it's worked out that I found a used crib in town and that's in really good shape. Now, I need to find something to start storing all these clothes I'm acquiring for the baby. I also find mentally I'm wondering where my future is with teaching. I don't want to be exhausted from working with kids all day to come home and not have any patience to love and be with my own child. I'm sure once baby is here, it's all different. Just something on my mind. I did decide to request to work part-time next year- but with budget cuts and not being a tenure teacher- I have to wait until April to see if I have a job next year let a lone if they'll grant me to work part-time.

Well- enough for now. Time for lunch!!

Peanut Loves Grilled Steak!

Week 22 is here! Hard to believe 18 weeks to go- the teacher in me puts that in perspective of quarters and that's only 2 quarters of school! We start 4th quarter next Monday, which means when school is over, I'll have roughly 8 weeks to go! Man the time is going by so fast!! So my title says, Peanut loves grilled steak because while I was in Anchorage I had some form of steak each night for dinner. Well, on the third night of having steak, when my plate was being brought to me I could smell the food and Peanut went crazy- kicking and moving around- it was so funny. What other pregnancy stories can I share... oh, I have experienced my first official pregnancy leg cramp in my right calf. I woke up screaming around 5 am. Poor Leif jumped up and asked me what was wrong and I was yelling at him to rub my leg because I couldn't sit up in bed correctly to reach the cramp. My calf was sore for a day and half afterwards. The good news from this experience is I tried eating a banana and was able to eat it! YEAH!!! Well, that's all for Week 22. I'm also posting an amazing sunset picture I took last week. When we see nights like this, I'm reminded of why I love living in Alaska.