All About Pregnancy and Everything You Probably Never Wanted to Know About It

When I was pregnant with Rose, I did a decent job of taking consistent pictures of my baby bump and doing little updates. But this time around I haven't really taken many pictures at all and I thought it would be easier to just do one whole blog post about how this pregnancy went compared to my last one.

And if you don't care about pregnancy, then just skip right on past. I won't be offended. This is for my own record keeping.

I was trying to keep better track of what happened during this pregnancy because my memories of my pregnancy with Rose are a little foggy as to when different things started and I couldn't remember when to expect them during this pregnancy. For example, when I was pregnant with Rose I had about a month straight of painful headaches, and then it switched to really awful morning sickness that lasted for 4 or 5 months, but I couldn't remember exactly when it started and I wanted to know for this pregnancy when to expect the nausea and vomiting.

This time around the morning sickness wasn't nearly as bad as the last time. I still threw up more than anyone should ever have to and I still experienced nausea but it was so much better than the first time around. I'm not sure though if it was because I did a better job of taking care of myself or if my body had a better handle on this whole pregnancy thing this time.

I was super diligent about eating protein every morning (apparently that helps, it seems to have helped me), eating frequently even when I didn't want to, taking my prenatal vitamins RIGHT before going to bed so the iron in them wouldn't make me sick. I was also at home more this time. Last time I was going to school and almost all of my classes and my job were in basements without windows, so I couldn't snack as often as I needed to and I think the basements made me feel a little claustrophobic and didn't have enough air flow? I got REAL familiar with the bathrooms on campus and learned fast which bathrooms had automatic flushing toilets versus manual flushing. Because there is just nothing more unpleasant than throwing up in a toilet only for it to flush while you're still throwing up. (tmi? Sorry, but really, no one should have to experience that!)

This time, I threw up consistently on Tuesdays. Always always always on Tuesdays (and it was every Tuesday, once a week). I think in the 3 months of nausea/morning sickness, I only threw up 3 times NOT on a Tuesday. I don't know why it was always on Tuesday. I think it may have had something to do with that being my first shift of the week at work. (I worked the night shift Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) so, maybe my body was upset with me for staying up all night when it had just gotten used to sleeping the four nights before? I don't know. It wasn't pleasant, but I'd take once a week on the same day every week over the all day every day sickness I had with Rose. My supervisors at work were super kind and aware and once we realized that I started feeling sick around 4:30 or 5 am they let me leave early so that I could get home and sleep before I got sick.

Anyways, all that information to say, this time around my morning sickness was not as bad. And I think it's super weird that it was always on Tuesdays. Oh and it was tough dealing with morning sickness with a baby around because at first Rose couldn't figure out what was going on and it made her really sad when I ran into the bathroom to throw up. I think it scared her. (So, I'd be throwing up and ALSO trying to comfort Rose.) But once she got used to it, she would come into the bathroom and try to cheer me up by bringing me gifts like the tv remote (one of her favorite things).

After the morning sickness went away my immune system decided to fail me and I got regular people sick. I had a cold in the middle of December, then when that was almost gone, I got the stomach flu over Christmas break (I thought it was morning sickness but then Ryan and my Mom got it too, and morning sickness is NOT contagious.) Then I got another cold, then I got the stomach flu again at the end of January. And then after I got back from Florida I got another cold that lasted TWO weeks! and turned into a sinus infection. That last one lined up with the beginning of this Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States. So, I'm feeling better now, but I had a teeny tiny lingering cough from my cold and I wasn't allowed to go to one of my last OB/GYN appointments because of it. Even though it was clearly from a cold, not Coronavirus, if they had just asked me a FEW more questions, they would have come to that conclusion themselves.

I'm finally sickness free, but my body feels broken. I didn't experience much soreness when I was pregnant with Rose. My back hurt if I sat in a chair or on the couch for too long, and I had a hard time sleeping comfortably, but other than that I still felt pretty healthy and mobile by the end of my pregnancy, I honestly would have been fine if Rose had stayed inside me for another month.

This time, I feel like my body is falling to pieces. Everything hurts, all the time. Rolling over in bed is a horrible experience, but if I stay on my left side my arm falls asleep, and if I stay on my right side my leg feels like the blood circulation is being cut off. Getting out of bed is painful, and when I finally get out I can barely walk. Throughout the day it gets better, but all the bending down and standing up I do to keep up with or pick up Rose basically knocks me out. If I stand for too long my feet and back hurt. But if I sit for too long my tail bone and back and ribs hurt. I have to use the bathroom like a million times a day. And the baby is a very happy and active baby who likes to stretch out her arms and legs at the same time, and it feels like she hits every single one of my organs all at once. And literally every time I change Rose's diaper, she kicks my stomach and belly button, which is also incredibly uncomfortable. I have babies kicking me from both sides.

One thing that I experienced during both pregnancies was crazy weird dreams that I get when I do sleep. One night I had a dream that involved murder. Another had a T-Rex that was trying to hunt and kill me and my friends. On another night Ryan's boss threw him a giant birthday party at the church and it involved lots of exotic food. (Ryan doesn't celebrate his birthday.) And I've had several dreams where people have gotten really mad at me when they weren't upset in real life. I can't remember any of the other dreams, but they are WEIRD.

Anyways, I'm having this baby in 3 days and I'm a little nervous because I don't like pain, and I'm worried that Ryan or I will get Coronavirus and they won't let my doctor deliver my baby or they won't let Ryan into the hospital with me, which would just be horrible and scary. And I'm also nervous to become a mom of two. And I'm sad that I'm totally rocking Rose's world and she doesn't even know what's coming because she doesn't have a good understanding of what "Mommy is having a baby. You're going to have a baby sister!" means. I know that people have second kids and third kids all the time and the older kids turn out fine and Rose probably won't ever even remember not having a sister, but I'm pregnant and emotional, so I'm allowed to have irrational sad thoughts about losing my one on one time with Rose.

BUT, I'm also excited to get this baby out of me and for my body to stop hurting so much. And I'm SO excited to meet her and for Rose to get to be a big sister. I'm excited to build our family and see what the future brings for us.

Note: I had to take a break here to go throw up... so either my morning sickness decided to take one last stand, or I'm being smitten for complaining too much, or when I cleaned out Rose's old car seat today I caught some long lost stomach flu germ that was clinging for dear life to the inside of her seat. Or I am just an unlucky pregnant person. Who knows.

So, on that note, here are all the pictures I have that document this pregnancy. (Another note: I don't think it's stomach flu because I only threw up once and wasn't sick the next day, my body just hates me.)

Oh and a few other facts and extra bullet points:
- Her official due date is April 17 (My Birthday)
- I'm getting induced on April 14
- We don't have a name picked out for her yet. Ryan and I will have to fight it out in the hospital over the names we each like. (However, if she comes out with a head full of red hair, then the name I like will get picked... so for those of you who believe in the power of prayer, please pray that she has red hair!)

Our first ultrasound pictures of her.

Just a cute picture of her little feet. 

Our Pregnancy Announcement on Halloween

Rose bringing me the tv remote when I'm throwing up. 

The first picture I have with a bump. This is on New Year's Eve.

About 30 weeks. 

32 weeks along.

A cute ultrasound picture of baby girl. 

Look at that perfect little face! I can't wait to meet her! 

38 weeks along. 

*I want to take a picture in front of the hospital doors with Ryan, so if I get that, I'll put that picture right here. :)

Florida Trip

This blog post has been on my to do list for over a month now. I got home from my trip to Florida on February 26, but then I spent a weekend celebrating with my husbands family for my Father in law's wedding, and then I got a cold that lasted 2 weeks and then turned into a sinus infection, we also had a water leak in our apartment, and then the world turned upside down as a global pandemic (I know everyone knows about Coronavirus, but I'm just mentioning it for future record when my children look back and ask what the pandemic was)  reached the United States and everything went crazy, and then an earthquake hit, and also I'm like 38 weeks pregnant. So, you know, nothing much has been going on here to keep me from writing. ha. ha.

Annnyyyyways, I'm having a baby in 2 weeks, so I have to get this blog post written, so that I can write a blog post about how my pregnancy went (so I can complain about how much I don't like being pregnant... for posterity's sake.), so that I can write a blog post about this baby's birth when she arrives. Also, I have a bunch of other little projects to get done before the baby comes (nothing fun, more like organizing a closet, putting a stroller and bassinet together, and sorting through 738110473818480358173 pieces of paper/mail/bills/boring adult stuff to put into a filing cabinet.) So, if I get this task out of the way, I'll maybe be more motivated to get the other tasks done next....

So, without further ado, here's how my trip to Florida went! Back when everything was normal! It's crazy how much has changed in just one month.

- The first part of the trip involved a miserable 4 hour red eye flight with me (7 months pregnant) and Rose. Our plane took off at 11 pm Utah time (3 hours after Rose's bedtime, have you ever heard about the importance of getting a toddler to bed BEFORE they get over tired? The consequences of not listening to that advice are rough.) and arrived at 5 am Florida time. I came prepared with Melatonin, a blanket, a binkie, a bottle of milk, and the stuffed horse that Rose sleeps with. Normally, Rose wants to sit on my lap all the time, but something about being on a cramped airplane made it so that she had absolutely no desire to sit on my lap. At all. She was trying to escape constantly, but there was a lot of turbulence so the seatbelt sign was on for almost the entire flight, and I just had to wrestle with her to get her to stay with me. I felt like I was wrestling with a raccoon the entire flight. It was rough. I only cried once though.... so I'd consider that a success. And I don't think anyone around me noticed. Rose didn't sleep for the entire flight EXCEPT for a brief moment when the plane started descending.

The small moment when Rose decided to fall asleep right before the plane landed. [Insert eye roll here]

- We got to the airport where we met my mom who had flown from Texas, and my cousin was there too. She flew on the same flight as me but the flight attendants wouldn't let her and I sit by each other because the plane was full. Rose had a meltdown while we grabbed our luggage, (at this point I told my mom that Rose could fly back to Texas with her) picked up the rental car, and then drove an hour to my grandparents house. We got there by 7 am, all of us very tired, and then we went to sleep until sometime in the afternoon.

- My wish list of things to do while in Florida included: a trip to St. Augustine, eating coconut shrimp, seeing a sunset on the Gulf of Mexico, seeing Spanish moss, eating breakfast at my grandma's, doing something for my mom's birthday, being a bridesmaid in my Kindergarten best friends wedding, seeing an alligator, and seeing my other best friend from elementary school and my family delivered! I got to do all of those things and more!

- On our second day there, we drove forever and ever to get to St. Augustine (the one problem with moving away from Florida when you are 12 is that you have absolutely no mental map of the geography of Florida. So, when I put that one on my bucket list, I didn't realize it would be a 4 hour drive... ) ((Also, unfortunately, the memories I had of St. Augustine from my elementary school field trips there were a little skewed from what St. Augustine actually is, or maybe it has changed... but it wasn't what I was expecting.)) St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US and when I was a kid you could go see all this historic stuff like the oldest school house and the fountain of youth and the fort, but as an adult you have to pay to see each of these historic landmarks and everything else is just fancy restaurants and tourist shops. We did stop for some yummy ice cream and then we had lunch at a sea food place where I was able to have delicious coconut shrimp (which has been one of my cravings this pregnancy.)

The chocolate ice cream, that Rose thought was very good. 

I love this picture of 4 generations. :) 

Coconut Shrimp. :) My only complaint is that this is NOT enough coconut shrimp to hold me over until the next time I'm near a coast. 

- After St. Augustine, we drove another couple hours to a place called Flemington to spend the night with a couple that my grandparents have been friends with for over 50 years. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. There wasn't any service so at night after everyone went to bed I sat on the back porch, barefoot, without a blanket or jacket (in FEBRUARY) and wasn't cold! I listened to the frogs and the bugs and used their house phone to call Ryan. It was so peaceful. In the morning, Buddy (the husband) let me drive his golf cart with my Mom and Rose and he showed us around all of his property. And then the best part (besides driving the golf cart, which was super fun, I think I need to get myself one!) he let us meet his cows and pet them! I love cows, they remind me of my time spent in Elma and Winlock, Washington where there are lots of cows. I knew that cows were big, but when you are standing close enough to touch them they are absolutely massive! I couldn't believe how big they were, it's a bit intimidating! But honestly was probably one of my very favorite parts of the trip.

My beautiful cousin!

I'm thinking I need to make enough money so I can buy a bunch of land and also have my own pond. How beautiful is this?!

- That afternoon we drove back down closer to where my grandparents live and stopped on the way to watch the sunset, I can't remember the name of the beach. It wasn't the nicest beach I've ever been to. But the sunset did not disappoint. And Rose and I had fun playing in the water. We got there a little early so my mom and grandparents relaxed at a picnic table while Rose and I walked up and down the shore picking up poor little sea snail things and throwing them into the water. (Rose wasn't very soft with them.) She wouldn't stop putting her hands in her mouth so I had to put a stop to it, and luckily I did because one of the last ones she picked up was actually a hermit crab, and if I hadn't taken that away from her she definitely would have been pinched by a grumpy hermit crab that wasn't happy to have his home invaded by little toddler fingers. We also found a tiny starfish that she may have killed by squeezing too hard when she didn't want to give it back to me. (Side note: do you want to know what I think the scariest thing I can think of is? A giant toddler. Have you ever seen a toddler play with little toys or bugs or anything? Now imagine that toddler is big enough to pick you up, doesn't have any idea how to be gentle, and squeezes you to death, or throws you to the ground when they are done with you, or shoves you and other humans into a cup because that's just what they feel like doing with their fun new toy. It's a terrifying thought. Thank goodness toddlers are so small! But not so lucky for the little creatures they find...) During the sunset I was able to take some incredible pictures of Rose, I will try to limit myself to a reasonable number of pictures... but don't count on it.

(I knew I wouldn't be able to limit myself... If you don't care about pictures just scroll right on through. There's no hope for me.)

- The next day was a day to just relax at my grandparent's house and recover from all the stuff we did the two days before. We celebrated my mom's birthday with my grandma's fried chicken (the best fried chicken ever, I promise) and a homemade red velvet cake.

Growing up in Florida is a magical experience, I'm glad Rose got to enjoy some of the little joys that come from playing here. 

- On Friday, my mom and Rose and I drove to Oviedo, near Orlando. I got my nails done with Tori and her other bridesmaids. Which was really nice, the pedicure chairs were massage chairs which felt really nice on my aching pregnant back. The last time I had my nails done professionally was on my mission, 4 years ago, so it was a fun way to spend the morning. While I did that, my mom and Rose drove to the airport to pick up my sister, Emily, who spent the rest of the trip with us. We stayed in this super cute airbnb right across the street from where I went to preschool. I was tempted to steal all of their decorations because they were so cute, but I resisted because I'm a law abiding citizen. That evening I went to a wedding rehearsal and then dinner. The weather was crazy because my first few days in Florida felt SO hot and humid but then during the rehearsal it was in the 40's and windy and so so cold, and I was NOT dressed warm enough. I guess the weather is bipolar no matter what state you are in.

I went to preschool at this beautiful Methodist church! Isn't it fun to see Rose sitting on the steps here?

- Something important that my mom and Emily and I made a priority while in Oviedo was to get gelati's at Jeremiah's ice each of the 3 days that we were there. That may seem exorbitant, but it was necessary, considering it has been at least 12 years since we last went to Jeremiah's ice and you can't get it in Utah or Texas and it is SO delicious. You just have to take advantage of things like that! A gelati is a swirl of vanilla soft serve and Italian ice (which comes in SO many flavors). It might sound strange, but if you ever get a chance to try it, I highly highly recommend that you do!

Okay, embarrassing picture alert: When I was a kid I loved climbing. Trees, light posts, anything that could be climbed I would. Emily found this lovely picture of me a while ago and posted it on Facebook! And I will just have you know that I had never even HEARD of pole dancing at this time so that is NOT what I am doing despite what it may look like! Anyways, my family thinks this photo is hilarious, it's taken at Jeremiah's Ice and so I did a small recreation of the photo when we were there during the trip. You're welcome. 

- Saturday was a wedding day for me (not my wedding, but Tori's wedding.) Rose spent the day with my Mom and Emily and had lots of fun with them. While I had lots of fun getting my hair and make up done, wearing a pretty bridesmaid dress that may have been just a little bit (a lot) snug because my belly grew so much since I bought it, eating snacks, riding in a limo(!!! My first time!), and participating one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen. Everything was perfect. Tori was beautiful, the weather was perfect, the vows were so fun to listen to (I've never been to a wedding where vows were exchanged) and Tori's cute 4 year old stepdaughter was the cutest addition to the wedding party. And there's really not much better than seeing your oldest friend get married to someone who treats her so well and you can tell makes her so happy. I just love marriage and I love when my friends get married! <3 <3 <3 The only downsides to weddings is that there are so many people there to see the bride and groom that you just don't get to catch up the way you would like with your friend. The last time I saw Tori (before this) was when she flew all the way to Utah for my wedding 3 years ago, and we had the same issue then too. We'll just have to plan a trip to meet up without any wedding stuff going on some day.

The problem with getting married before all of your friends, for me at least, has been the fact that they always choose to get married when I look like THIS. 

Tori at my wedding almost exactly 3 years before <3

- On Sunday, we went to church and were only going to stay for the first hour, but Rose threw a fit because she wanted to play in nursery, so we had to be good and stay for the second hour too. (I guess it's a good thing because who knew that church would be cancelled for who knows how long when the world shut down for Coronavirus! I miss church!) And like heathens, we stopped at Boston Fish House for lunch (where I had more coconut shrimp), and then Jeremiah's Ice for our third gelati that weekend before we drove back down to Bartow.

(A few more photos from Granny's house.)

- We spent Monday and Tuesday, our last full days, in Bartow at my grandparent's home. On Monday we took a few hours to drive to Lakeland to meet my friend Kristen (my other childhood best friend) for lunch and then to get cupcakes. I hadn't seen her in SIX years! Which is just so devastating, and a few hours just wasn't enough time to catch up. In that six years she graduated from high school and college, got married, and got accepted into a CRNA program for grad school. I served a mission, got married, graduated from college, and had a baby and am about to have another one. Growing up is cool in some ways, but time flies by between seeing the people you care about way too fast. I moved away from Florida in 2007, and I have wished since that year that I could figure out a way to push Florida and Texas (and now Florida, Texas, and Utah) closer together. But, so far it hasn't worked out. My other solution is to figure out how to teleport. or get rich. None of my plans are working so far. But there's still time.

- On our last day we drove to Highland's Hammock, a really pretty state park. We went on the only 2 hikes that were stroller friendly. Some highlights of this visit were getting to see a thousand year old live oak tree, finding some really, really big leaves, and walking on a boardwalk above some water, and finally spotting an alligator! We were perfectly safe, alligators sleep during the day, and this one wasn't that close. The boardwalk could have been just a bit wider, but we made do.

Thousand Year old live oak tree. It's not looking so hot, but it's still alive. The trunk is really impressive, the top, not so much. 

The alligator!

- Emily and I finished up our last day by taking pictures in the Bartow cemetery. I really wanted to capture the beauty of the sunlight shining through the Spanish moss on the giant oak trees, and I am not an experienced enough photographer to have been able to get the pictures that I wanted, but I did get some great pictures of Emily and she took some cute ones of me and my baby bump. It was nice to have a cooperative photo subject. Ryan and Rose are not so easily persuaded to have their pictures taken.

Spanish Moss is SO beautiful, especially on these massive oak trees. I wish you could all see it in person!

Just look at how big this tree is! 

- We flew home on Wednesday, and this flight went much better than the flight there. This sweet family sitting in front of us had a boy who was probably 3 or 4 that took a liking to Rose, he kept turning around to say hi, and then handing his toys to Rose, and then at one point she just wandered to their row and played with him and his toys for like 2 hours. They let her sit with them and read her books, and I got to sit without trying to wrangle my wild raccoon the whole flight. They were life savers, I felt so so grateful to this family the whole time.

This little guy jumped out of my suitcase while I was packing. He really rounded out my trip by making it feel like Florida. 

My Instagram stories from the flight home. Isn't she cute?

- This trip was just so fun. I love Florida so much and would move back in a heartbeat if Ryan didn't hate humidity so much (he also has to have mountains. Funny that doesn't work when I say I have to have the beach!) I'll just have to keep working on that teleportation idea so I can go back whenever I want. However, I am currently accepting donations to fly me back there (once it's safe to travel again) should anyone feel so generously inclined. ;)