Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Feeling Triumphant!

I had another doctor's appointment today and was pleasantly surprised when I got on the scale. I gained less than a pound over the last two weeks. Yeah!! The couple pieces of cake I had at my niece's birthday party were probably a major contributor to that little gain. Worth it! :) I saw the doctor I like this time and he was very encouraging. He told me to continue doing what I was doing and that I was doing great! Made me feel so much better. The nurse, however, told me I should only be eating 1400 calories, max 1600. I was a little shocked by that, since that's what I should eat when I'm not pregnant and trying to lose weight. She said this as I was leaving, so I don't know what the doctor would have thought, but oh well. I think I'm going to ignore that advice and just do what I did the last two weeks: eat every couple of hours, drink tons of water, stay away from sweets and snack on tons of veggies and fruits. I started making a fruit and veggie plate in the morning. It has made eating healthy so much easier. Part of why I hate vegetables is because they are too much work, so getting them washed, peeled and cut all at once is really really helpful! I can't say I haven't had my weak moments over the last two weeks (birthday cake was just one weak moment), but I really feel like I didn't go crazy! I'm going to keep working at decreasing my sugar consumption. I didn't have dessert much, but I did have it more than I should have.

On another note, I just think it is completely fascinating how the doctors can tell if the baby is head down or not. It was a little crazy having him squish down where her head was at. This might sound stupid, but it made me feel like he was "closer" to my baby than me...since he could knowingly feel a specific body part. I still am not sure what I feel when I feel it. I mean, since she is head down, I know that the nudges I feel at the top of my belly are feet and things like that, but he got to "hold" my baby's head. Ha, this sounds insane.

Aaaaand I am officially planning to not get an epidural. My decision has absolutely nothing to do with me being against them, or wanting to be "all natural" with delivery. It was made after watching a video at our birthing class of someone getting an epidural. I got so much anxiety while watching it, that I knew I would not be able to relax going into my labor if I knew I was going to get one. I fully believe that the more fear/anxiety I have, the more painful it will be. An epidural scares me more than any pain I anticipate that I will experience...even after having a long talk with my doctor about their safety. For the record, I do not doubt the safety of an epidural, nor do I think they are for weak women, the idea of one just seriously scares the crap out of me. While in labor, I intend to get as far as I can without one, and then if my contractions are painful enough to overpower my fear of an epidural, I will consider getting one, no shame. So for the next 7 weeks, I will be practicing relaxation and breathing techniques like crazy! Just one more doctor's appointment in two weeks then I'm on to appointments every week. Seriously insane!!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

New Topic

May 1st seems so close yet so far away right now! I can't believe I only have eight weeks left, but man, they are starting to drag. I'm just so darn excited for it to be here. I want to say thank you so much for the comments on my last post. I can't tell you how much they meant to me and helped boost my spirits. Since that day, I have walked faithfully every day. Since it's still a little too frigid for me to walk outside, I have been driving to campus to walk around the indoor track. It's been so great. I have to wait until four to go because of all the parking restrictions, but I'm determined to not miss a day. I have also improved my eating a lot. I have forced myself to snack on veggies when I'm hungry. It takes a lot for me to eat raw veggies, I absolutely hate them. I have to add some peanut butter or ranch just to get them down, but I figure a little extra fat isn't going to hurt too bad. I do keep the dipping to a minimum though, just enough to distract my tastebuds.

I figure maybe everyone is tired of reading about my pregnancy woes, so I have been trying to think of something else to write about! So, here's a little update on our future plans. After Ellie is born, we have one month until we move in with my parents for two months until Mathew graduates. We have been hoping Mathew could find a job in Idaho so we could stay close to family. But it's starting to look like that's not going to happen. Entry level engineering jobs are really hard to find, especially in Idaho. The bulk of engineering jobs period are out of state, particularly in the east (from what research I've done at least). We have started to feel more and more of a pull towards Layton. The place he did his internship at said to contact them when he graduated if he wanted to come back and work. We didn't really know how we felt about that at the time. It was so great to have the security of knowing he would have a place to work, but we always really hoped we could stay local. The closer his graduation has gotten, the more confident and comfortable we get with moving to Layton. Mathew has even talked about not even looking for another job around here. He really liked working where he was at and it seems absolutely insane to turn down a job offer at this point. He really needs to get experience.

I really hated living in Utah, which is why it has been a struggle for me to even think about going back. I didn't like the atmosphere and it was too chaotic. The only positive part was my job. I had the greatest job working at Shabby Apple and the people I worked with were fantastic. It made me stay sane while we were living there. Other than that though, I just wanted to move the entire time. Sorry Utah friends, but I'm an Idaho girl. :) But after lots of thought, I realized that our situation would be a lot different than before. We would be living further outside of Salt Lake (hallelujah) and be able to find a place to live in that we really love. We would also have a steady income so we could actually create and keep to a budget, instead of just constantly saving every penny possible for when we move back to Rexburg. We would also be fairly close to family and Mathew wouldn't have to get on the freeway everyday like before. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually getting excited to move there (possibly, nothing is set in stone). I've just felt more at peace with the idea every day. There are still things that concern me, like the difference in rent costs (yikes!), but I know we will be able to figure it out. I can't wait to move on to this new stage of life. Who knows, maybe we will love Layton!

*Holy crap! I just noticed my last post disappeared!!! I must have accidentally deleted it. Thanks again for the comments though, glad they are still in my email to keep me motivated. :)