Part Deux-This Time We’re Ready!

On Monday my contractions were coming, but they were definitely spread farther apart and I thought that they would subside.  I’m not sure it was because I had company and a distraction with one of my girlfriends, Jolena, but I thought all was going to be well (thank goodness she came over to keep my company, it helps to have great friends!).  After Jolena left and the sun started to go down that is when the pain intensified yet again.  I thought oh great here we go again!  I was becoming frustrated and was willing to try anything to make our baby come so the pain would stop.  We did our research and talked with friends and everyone gave us the same advice, have relations!  I thought how is this going to work with my contractions, but desperate times called for desperate measures and we did the deed!  I’m not going to go into details of what happened here, but let’s just say it was rather comedic with me being in pain and my hubby terrified. 

I still wasn’t able to sleep at all that night and when Tuesday morning came the pain was just unbearable.  I was howling in pain.  I also reverted to being a child calling for my mommy, lol!  I don’t know what it is, but when my mom is around, I always feel better. I told my husband to call her and ask her and my dad to come out early because it seemed as if our little baby boy was going to arrive sooner than we thought.  You may have figured it out by now, but I had to call out sick again that day from work and let my boss know that it seemed as if I would be having this baby soon.

When my husband called my parents, my mom was shocked and frazzled because she thought that the pains would subside and thought I would be delivering late.  Unfortunately, they could not come because their car was getting a tune up for their trip up to Atlanta.  Thank goodness, my husband thought fast and had his mom come stay with me that day.  The pain was ridiculous and having someone constantly kneading my lower back provided some relief.  I was so exhausted at this point having very very little sleep for the past four nights!  I just wanted sleep!  Realizing I wasn’t going to get it I had to figure out a way to make the pain stop.  That’s when I got up and started walking around the house and in the backyard.  Walking, believe it or not, really helped when I could feel a contraction coming!  Remember, no matter how much pain you may be in or how tired you are, if you get up and move you will definitely feel some relief.  It also helped to rock standing up, as if slow dancing when the contraction was a doozie!   We were of course timing it and towards the evening they started to get closer and closer apart, I’m talking about 3-5 minutes.  That’s when we knew this was more serious.  I got a rush of energy at this point and in between contractions was singing, yeah I felt crazy, but it made me feel better.  Basically, do what you need to do to feel better because this pain is no joke!

My water never broke at home, but my mucus plug came out while I was walking.  What is this?  Ok, this is really gross, but what about giving birth isn’t?!  Just get used to it, lol!  I thought I peed my pants while walking so I went to the bathroom to check and what I found made me gag and horrified!  It was this huge wad of mucus in my underwear, puke puke!  I called my husband (who’s not easily grossed out) and showed it to him and he was like yup, it’s that time, we need to head to the hospital. 

We grabbed our overnight labor bag and our delivery bag and headed out (it was about 8pm on Tuesday night)!  Oh yes, I will go over in another post what you should pack in both of these bags and when you should pack them and if you have pets what to do.   Stay tuned to Part Three for the final moments!

Uh Oh It’s About that Time…Or So I Thought!! (Part I)

Coming close to the end of my pregnancy my belly was huge and my ankles were swollen but other than that I was feeling pretty good.  I was still really active and instead of resting would always busy myself with something.  I recommend you rest so that you don’t go into labor early like I did!

I thought that I wouldn’t go into labor until after my due date because typically your first child’s birth goes past the anticipated date. Well I thought wrong, at least for myself! 

I had a pretty stressful week at work and I guess it all came to a boiling point on Friday when I had a breakdown at work.  I went home that day so thankful for the week to be over and thought that I would get some good rest over the weekend and come back refreshed for the next week.  However, that night I started experiencing shooting pains in my back that radiated to my stomach.  It was so bad that it jolted me awake and continued throughout the night. I started deep breaths to help with the pain and thought omg I couldn’t possibly be going into labor now!  I kept moaning in pain hoping that Jon would wake up, but he didn’t!  I looked over and saw him sleeping so peacefully, snoring away, lol!  I thought there was no point in waking him just yet, but when I noticed the pain intensifying and getting closer and closer I elbowed him pretty good to wake him, hehehe (I’m wicked because I have one bony elbow!).  He woke up immediately and was about to bless me out when I told him I thought I was in labor.  He then started timing my contractions.  They were only 10 minutes apart at this point so we decided to call my doctor and find out what to do.  This was at 2am mind you.  My hubby spoke to the night nurse who advised us to wait until my contractions were 3 minutes apart to trek it to the hospital. This was unfortunate for me because the contractions continued until around 8am.  I got no sleep and was dead tired. I also couldn’t rest on Saturday during the day because we already had plans so I figured I would just sleep that night, but then the contractions started again at 7pm.  I thought oh no not again!!  This time my contractions were 5 minutes apart.  I was exhausted, in pain and crying.  It freaked my hubby out because he never saw me like this before and it was at this point we decided to go to the hospital. 

We went to our hospital of delivery, Northside Atlanta at around 12am (great hospital and known to be one of the best hospitals for deliveries).  We told the check-in nurse that we thought I was in labor, filled out the necessary paperwork and they checked us into a labor/delivery room.  I was getting contractions the whole time this was going on and kept doing my breathing exercises learned in our childbirth and labor class-I will write a post about this.  This really helped me I must tell you. Once changed into the hospital gown (no undies, just sports bra) my nurse came in and told me she was going to check my cervix.  I didn’t know what to expect because my obgyn hadn’t done this yet.  In fact, my obgyn was supposed to check my cervix on the coming Wednesday.  Well, I’m going to get graphic here so beware!  Checking the cervix was horrendous!!!  Basically, the nurse stuck her entire hand up me and I mean her whole hand!  It was the most uncomfortable experience and I kept kneeing her in the face because I was closing my legs.  It was such a struggle and seemed to last forever!  It was not a quick check like I thought it would be and I definitely didn’t expect her whole hand to go up there!  I saw my hubby’s face as this was happening and he looked traumatized as it was going on, lol.  Eventually, he had to hold my legs apart for her to accomplish the deed and they both kept telling me to relax and tried to calm me down, but it was awful.  The nurse then informed us that I was only 1 cm dilated and that I needed to be at 10cm in order to give birth.  Made sense why this was so painful! She told us that we could stay at the hospital and wait it out, however long it may be or go home.  We decided to go home, but wasn’t allowed to leave until some tests were done to ensure our baby wasn’t in distress.  This was now my second sleepless night and this time my contractions didn’t stop when the sun came up.  Instead, they started to intensify. 

To rule out my baby being in any form of distress an ultrasound was done at the hospital and that made the trip to the hospital worth it because we got to see our baby fully formed and he looked so cute with his button nose!  There was no umbilical cord wrapped around his neck or anything and he was perfectly fine so we were given the okay to go home.  That Sunday, I was writhing in continuous pain. I hadn’t had a wink of sleep since Friday night and I was starting to break mentally. 

With my contractions not letting up Sunday night we already knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it to work, so I waited until 6am to call my manager and leave a message letting her know about my situation.  I told her I would keep her posted and try to make it to work on Tuesday or so I thought!

I’m Ready for 1st Trimester to be OVER!

I must admit that for the most part, I had a great pregnancy, but that’s not to say I didn’t go through some things.  I thought that morning sickness only happened in the morning.  Well I thought wrong!  I had morning sickness that lasted all day at times and going to work with that feeling was just awful.  I remember crying to my boss one morning because I couldn’t even function.  I learned to cope with time and to help with it I would keep some saltine crackers on my nightstand and eat a couple occasionally in the middle of the night and in the morning before getting out of bed.  I found that this worked because it helped with my blood sugar.

There was also the “baby brain” I developed.  Normally I have a pretty good memory and I’m quick on the pick-up, but for some reason I felt slow when preggers, lol!  I couldn’t remember a lot of things, to the point I would get embarrassed and tasks started to take me longer than my usual.  This was frustrating because I knew the amount I could output in a given timeframe, especially at work. There’s no cure for this unfortunately, just get used to it and eventually you get back to your old self.

Let’s not forget what happened physically! The physical changes, besides getting bigger were alarming. Ok, this is going to sound weird, but my underarms and crotch area got darker (tmi, but I’m keeping it real!).  I first noticed putting deodorant on and was like man, did I not wash my underarms or something???  So you best believe I was scrubbing away in that shower and came out with the utmost confidence all was well.  Yeah, that so called “dirt” didn’t wash away, so I eventually realized the darkness was part of my pregnancy.  My linea negra also darkened.  What is that?  It’s this vertical line that goes down the middle of your stomach all the way down to your crotch area.  Don’t worry though all this goes away a little bit after giving birth.  

Here's an example of linea negra

Not all was bad though; let me tell you because OMG, I loved my hair during this time!  It got really thick and grew so fast!  Umm, I’m talking about the hair on my head of course (actually it was everywhere so keep grooming-I got waxes all the way until I went into labor, so keep it clean)!  Ok, I’m going to keep it real here.  In the beginning of my pregnancy my waxes were the normal amount of pain, but as I got further along my area down there became much more sensitive and getting a wax was definitely painful!!  I would just think to myself I could go into labor at any time and do I want people looking at a hairy mess down there?!  Heck naw!  That was all the motivation I needed!  It’s just all about your level of pain tolerance.  Another positive is if you are small-chested, this is the time when your boobs start growing and you’ll no longer need those padded push-up bras honey! Your nails also become longer/stronger and you really do get that pregnancy glow, especially if you continue drinking lots of water.

Take note that each woman’s experiences and changes are different.  Some of these could be:  acne, stretch marks, spreading of the nose, swollen ankles (I got this later on), varicose veins.  All I’m saying is these men and our kids better appreciate all that we go through, jeez!  Try not to freak yourself out too much though because a majority of these things goes away.  The only things that may stay are stretch marks (which eventually get lighter if you do get them) and fat (so continue eating healthy and being active).  Aaannd, if you’re still unhappy, then you just get started on that “fund!”

What to Wear??? I’m Getting Bigger and Bigger!

Okay, so I must admit even though I knew I was preggers when my normal size clothing weren’t fitting me anymore it really ticked me off.  I don’t know if I thought I would be able to wear them throughout my pregnancy, but that was expectedly not the case. 

I would try to squeeze into my work slacks and make sure not to bend over for fear of them ripping on me!  When I would take them off there would be the imprint of a button on my belly! That’s when I decided to give up and start wearing larger clothing.  The hardest piece of clothing for me to stop wearing was actually my jeans.  The only reason I stopped was due to a comment my husband said to me.  We were going to Babies R’ Us to pick up some Mustela and my hubby was walking behind me.  He then said in his loud voice around other people, “Yeah, Love you need to stop trying to fit into your jeans, give it up.”  I laughed it off and was like, “What are you talking about; I’m fitting in them aren’t I?”  Yeah, I shouldn’t have said that because he then proceeded to tell me about my muffin top sticking up over my jeans and how I looked like one of those women trying to fit into something that is four sizes too small for her!  Record scratching...gasp!!  "Did he just say that to me?!"  I won't bore you with what I said in response, lol!  Let's just say he got an earful!  However, after that, you best believe I started to wear clothing that fit me and that day I unbuttoned my jeans to give my belly and growing baby some room, lol!   

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though.  The perfect example was my birthday.  My friends and I normally do a bday dinner where we dress cute and go for some great food and company.  I had a dress in mind that I wanted to wear so I thought all was set until I tried to fit in that dang dress.  It wouldn’t zip up and I was annoyed, but was like it’s okay I’ll find another cute dress to wear.  I find another one and guess what it didn’t fit me as well!  After trying five dresses that didn’t fit I got cray cray.  I mean crazy to the point that my hubby was going to call one of my besties to come help me get ready, lol!  Poor guy didn’t know what to do because I was raging in our closet crying my eyes out trying to find something.  After an hour, I ended up settling on a black stretch dress and tried to compose myself on the way to dinner with my hubby reassuring me that we would get clothing for me that would fit and be to my liking.  Yeah, I was hormonal and still getting used to the idea of an expanding body.

The lesson I learned from that was that I needed to invest in more clothing that had some pull and elasticity so that they could expand with me.   If you find out you’re preggers and go shopping during this time, purchases items with stretch potential to get more bang for your buck!  And you can also wear them after giving birth as well; I know I still do!

I was actually happy to be preggers in the summer because I wore dresses and skirts all the time! These items were staples in my closet: stretch dresses, babydoll dresses and shirts, stretch skirts, pants that had an elastic waist.  Clothes that were stretchy and could accommodate my growing belly, actually scratch that, my growing everywhere!  Check out some of these outfits for ideas:

Drawstring and elastic waist is a must!

Babydoll shirt

Dress worn to a bestie's bday

Everyday dress 

baby shower outfit

I was almost 9 months preggers here!

Here's my bday outfit 

Stretchy skirt

This May Not Be "Snakes on a Plane," but it is Puke on a Train!

Happy Friday Everyone!  I thought I would post a somewhat comedic experience in retrospect.  


Let me start this off by saying this experience was soo embarrassing for me and just disgusting.  I remember it like it was yesterday...

My job had me traveling when I was about 2-3 months preggers and my flight was early in the morning.  We live in Atlanta, so not sure how many of you know this, but Atlanta traffic sucks!  My hubby, Jon decided it would be better for us to take Marta, our train, instead of battling through traffic.  He reasoned with me saying you know how you get motion sickness in the car with traffic, so this will be better.  Uh huh, I should have went with my gut instinct.  

For whatever reason I had a V8 drink right before boarding the train.  Yeah, this is when I soon found out that I had an aversion for tomato!  We're on the train with all the corporate folks traveling into the city so the train is really packed.  Luckily, some nice gentleman offers me his seat and Jon stands right in front of me reading off of his Nook.  We are about 10-15 minutes into the ride when I start to feel really nauseous.  I thought it would pass, but it started to get worse and worse and I started to look around like a crazy woman for somewhere I could puke! I definitely didn't want to do it on anyone! I started sweating because I was panicking and I decided okay, I'm just going to try to hold it in until the next stop and we will get off go to the restroom and all will be well!  Let me tell you, that was certainly not the case!  The time between stops ended up being longer than anticipated and I was about to blow all over this train!  I gave Jon this look and he knew the deal so as soon as the train stopped I pushed people out of the way like a maniac and ran off.  I didn't even care about my luggage because I left it on the train, but luckily Jon grabbed it up and ran after me.  I didn't even have time to react when it just came out projectile style!  It was red and everywhere on the train platform, all over my shoes and on Jon's shoes as well (sorry Love!).  I thought whew all is well no one saw except us. Well, I was wrong!  I puked so fast that the train door was still open and everyone in the car was staring at me while all this was going on!  When I saw this I immediately started to cry and blame Jon.  He didn't even know what I was sobbing/saying, but I kept saying, "I told you I didn't want to come on the train and you made me and now look."  After he understood what I was saying he just gave me a look like, "Are you serious???"  I dropped it after that because I was trying to milk the situation, but I quickly saw how that wasn't going to work, lol!

Jon being a quick thinker immediately started to look for a restroom so we could both get cleaned up.  Well guess what again?!  Stinking Marta doesn't have restrooms because of crime.  We found this out after asking a cop.  I couldn't go to the airport and travel with my puke red shoes that were made out of fabric, so I ended up throwing them away with my socks and wore flip flops in the cold weather with un-pedicured feet!  Jon just kept the puke splatters on his shoes and cleaned them when he got to work.  

After I calmed down I really didn't want to board the train again to go to the airport (especially with puke mouth!), but we had to or else I would miss my flight.  We boarded the train and I was praying the whole time that I wouldn't puke again because I still felt nauseous.  Thank goodness we made it though and I was able to get to my destination.  

What is the lesson of this story?  In pregnancy sometimes ailments you already have become even more exaggerated, like my motion sickness, so beware!  You may also discover food aversions you may not have had before.  Just remember this is all part of the process, so buckle up and get ready for the ride!

"You're So Vain..." Oh Wait, Maybe It's Just Me??? Naaah!

Ok, so this is going to sound vain I know, but as soon as I found out I was preggers I thought omg my body is going to be ruined!  I just thought the worse and decided to prepare so this is what I did and I must say it worked! 

First, drink lots and lots of water and when you think you can’t drink anymore, drink  more!  This not only gives you that beautiful pregnancy glow but it helps your skin with elasticity so that as your belly gets bigger stretch marks will be very little or non-existent! 

Second, I did my research on stretch mark creams and I know I heard about Palmer’s, but I didn’t use it, instead I used this product called Mustela found at Babies R’Us and it was a miracle worker, let me tell you!  My coworker who was preggers with her second child suggested it because it worked for her and I must say it had the same results for me.  Love, love, love this product!  I put it on my tummy of course and on my breasts and hips/upper thighs.  Basically, everywhere I knew was going to expand due to pregnancy.  I already know when my close friends become preggers this will be a product that is part of their care package.

I don’t know about you, but after having my first child I am absolutely in love!  I guess you could say I have the kiddie bug now!  I want 3-4 kids and as I say this my husband says, “Just three!”  I know that this may wreck my body on the outside, so I’m going to have a “fund.”  What is the fund you may ask? Ok, do not judge me, but if working out, eating right, drinking water and lathering stretch mark creams don’t work I’m going to get some cosmetic or surgical help.  I’m sorry, but this is something for me.  Give me that laser for those stretch marks honey!  Again, this is only if the true and tried methods don’t work, so who knows people if the fund will come into play!

Third, stay active.  Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t workout.  Sure, there are those days where you’re exhausted, so give yourself a break on those days, but if you’re feeling good get out there and stay in shape!  And as soon as you get the okay to exercise from your doctor after giving birth jump on it!

Thank goodness, my inner circle enjoys working out and eating right, so the process hasn’t been too difficult. I have also been using two fitness bands everyday and these things definitely work (thanks Mom!)!  Sure, they make you sweat like a beast, but when you take them off at the end of the day you will see the results, trust me!  Plus, when you band them around your abdomen during the day it gives you the semblance of your old body.  Then when you look at yourself in the mirror, you think heeey I’m getting my figure back!  If you don’t have or want the fitness bands then wear a girdle during the day, just to suck everything in.  I’m apparently not like my mom who bounced back after a month with each of us, so try not to stress yourself out over this as it’s a gradual process.  This is something I’ve had to consistently remind myself of! 

Hang in there people, it gets better with time!