14 posts tagged “pregnancy”

I'm hoping that as Charlotte gets older, I'll have a little more time to blog.  I used to post at least every day, and sometimes more than once a day.  Now, I'm lucky if I get to brush my hair once a day.  I've lost touch with all but a few of my VOX neighbors and feel out of the loop on so many levels.  However, with this new year I'm hoping to get back into the habit of blogging. 

Charlotte is 6 weeks old this week, and she's prettier every day.  I can't get over how in love with her we are.

I was terrified to get on the scale since I gave birth.  I feel like a beached whale, and I assumed I look like one too.  But last night I got dressed up for New Years Eve (although we just stayed in and watched the ball drop) and Abram showered me with compliments and really seemed impressed with my bouncing back body.  So...this morning I sucked it up and got on the scale. 

Aside from the 10+ pounds I lost just from giving birth, I have lost a little more than 25 pounds in the following 6 weeks.  I was super excited to realize that.  And all without any exercise at all!  Imagine what I can lose when I get off my ass! 

My face is almost back to it's un-puffy, pre-pregnancy size....which is nice.  It sucked not having a distinction between my chin and neck....

New Years Self-Portrait 2009

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I'm starting to hate being so normal throughout this pregnancy.  I haven't had anything to really complain about.  Nothing terribly exciting medically -- which is a blessing of course -- but still....

Now, everyone I know that was pregnant, isn't.  All those little beh-bees have been born.  EARLY!  And I just want my baby here.  Now.  Mostly because I am just damn tired of being pregnant.  I want to be able to put on my own socks and shoes (a chore Abram now does for me).  I want to be able to roll over in the middle of the night and not feel like my belly skin is ripping open.  I want to do some sit-ups.  I want to have a drink.  I want to eat some sushi.  I want to smell my baby's hair....

But, I'm stuck in this terminally normal pregnancy.  No morning sickness, no real pain or inconviences to be worried about.  Absolutley NO sign that this child is eager to leave her toasty-warm home any time soon.  And while I'm very grateful that she's healthy and safe in there, I just want her out of me at this point. 

Pregnancy was cute when I could still shave.  And even see my genitals.  Not so cute anymore.

Show us something you've made recently.

Pucker Up!

I have a feeling she's going to be the answer to a lot of my VOX questions....

• I hate Wednesdays.  There's absolutely nothing to be excited about.  Especially this particular Wednesday.  What do I have to look forward to?   Oh yeah, having the OB swab me for a strep test.  And I'm not talking swabbing of the throat. Who knew you could have strep in your hoo-ha?  Learn something new every day.....

• I've been incredibly irritable lately, not wanting to be bothered, but then hurt or annoyed when I'm ignored.  I feel really fickle.  I get these urges to do something but then I can't decide what to do, or what I'm craving or what I need.  I don't know if this is pregnancy related or just....me.  It's probably hormonal -- but it's annoying either way.

• I'm tired of living here.  Here being South Carolina.  I miss having my Mom around and I miss the more oranized suburban sprawl of up North.  North of here that is...which is Virginia to us.  I want my daughter to grow up somewhere with more...."umph"....and South Carolina only has "umph" in the trendy areas that are inconvienent and expensive.  Plus, all these mosquitoes are driving me fucking insane.  Who am I kidding, i just want to move to get away from the mosquitoes.  Screw the "umph."

• I'm reading all these "Babyproofing Your Marriage" type books and I'm starting to freak out a little bit.  Will we ever have sex again?  Will our cuddly, silly, intimacy be non-existant after Charlotte is born?  Will I have to carry my loos belly skin around in a shopping basket in front of me for the rest of my life?!  These are the burning questions people....right now I'm more concerned about how to keep my post-partum belly skin from draggin on the ground than I am about whether or not I'll be a good parent.  I attribute this to the fact that I've never really doubted my ability to be a good mother.  I do, however,doubt my ability to stay away from the bavarian cream doughnuts after the birth.  *sigh*

• West Virginia sunsets make me swoon.  If I had less teeth and no ambition to work, I'd move to the mountians and live off berries and moss.

Bluefield, WV sunset

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We went to West Virginia for the weekend.  The looong weekend.  Ours started on Wednesday afternoon.  I love going up there.  It's a night and day difference between Charleston and Bluefield.  The air here stinks.  It's still hot and humid and icky feeling.  Once you get up in the mountains where My Jew is from, it's like you're breathing in clean, pure, nature.  The leaves were changing and it was breezy and cool.....

*sigh*

My belly was fawned over. Rubbed.  Talked to.  I just endured and felt slightly disembodied.  You really become a separate entity once you have a big pregnant belly.  No one is talking to me anymore.  All the comments are directed at the belly -- the baby inside.  It's kind of nice to only have to answer easy questions and nod my head when people are talking to my stomach.  Only 33 days and she'll (supposedly) be here in the real world.  I can't wait.

We celebrated My Jew's mother's birthday while up there.  The party was at this yummy Japanese steakhouse -- you know, where they throw the food at you?  It was delicious and we got to hang out with all her friends.  Then, My Jew and I took a little trip to Pipestem State Park. I have photos, but I forgot to upload them.  So, suffice it to say that this place was gorgeous.  Huge mountains covered with changing leaves, a river with cool water bubbling over rocks and boulders, trails leading down to mirror-like lakes.  And deer!   Oh!  My Jew and I were wandering down a path and he stopped me....there were 3 deer no more than 10 feet from us, eating!  They kept coming closer....and in the fading light, I tried to get some pictures of them, but I suck -- or my camera sucks-- and they didn't turn out to well.

Coming home Sunday night was depressing.  We slowly watched the trees turn green again as we drove farther south, and then, arriving home, we watched the Bears lose to the Flacons.....devastating.  But, it was nice to be in our house again.  With our animals and our list of chores.  And without a single foreign hand on my belly..... 

Show us your most prized possession.

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That little girl in there.....

My Dad did something really special for us and built Charlotte a changing table by hand.  It took him about a month, and it's beautiful.  I sent him the dimensions, and he drew it, built it, painted it, and personalized it all on his own.  I've been eager to see if for months, and I finally got it yesterday!!

2008 10 05_0440

He even hand cut the name pieces and the sun....

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I love my Dad!!

Baby shower weekend has come and gone.  I was so exhausted.  Seeing our families together was amazing, and so much fun.  But wow, I was stressed out and tired and fighting the cranky, pregnant, bitchy Jessica inside. 

I've never had a baby shower (obviously) and I've never even been to one as a guest.  So, I didn't really know what to expect.  It wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'll be eagerly anticipating putting on a present opening show in the near future.  There's just something awkward about sitting in the center of a bunch of people with cameras, opening gifts, "awww-ing" and then smiling with said gift for a photo-op. 

Needless to say, I sucked at this part.  I didn't puff puff pass the gifts like I guess you are supposed to.  I just handed them to my sister to pile in the corner.  I didn't know I was supposed to pass everything around.  Sheesh.  I should have gotten a handbook or something. 

The food was really good and I was super-duper happy when we got to that part.  :) 

By the time Abram and the men got back from watching the game, this was my photo face:

No More Pictures

Jess Mom Bea Mimi Silly

We did get a lot of great stuff....seeing it all in the nursery makes me really eager for Charlotte to get here!!  Only 8 weeks to go!

My Jew left me on Sunday to fly up to Norfolk to teach a class this week.  All week.  Booooo!  We don't like it when he's away.  Especially when he's away and I'm so pregnant.  And useless.  And....hormonal. 

My baby shower is this Saturday and we have family from both our sides coming into town.  None of my family has ever met his family.  Our moms have never met, our siblings, grandparents, etc.  I guess I didn't really think about it until we got married and pregnant.  Now it seems kind of silly that we are all one big family and neither half knows the other.  So, what better excuse to have some of them meet than my baby shower?  Unfortunately, I will not be able to get drunk for this event, something I haven't missed until the thought of my mother, step-mother, sister-in-law, grandmother and great-grandmother all circling My Jew's unsuspecting mother, sister and aunt and bombarding them with their various *special* personalities. 

I cringe just thinking about it.  And I wonder how long I can hide in a closet before someone notices the pregnant chick isn't at the party anymore?  Knowing my family, they wouldn't even realize I was gone. 

However terrified I am of the inevitable social awkwardness to come, I am more concerned about the amount of prep work I have to do before eveyone gets here.  We're having the shower at my grandmother's house.  Thank jeebus fior that.  She has maids, and 4000sq/ft and landscapers and lives in a country club.  I don't have to worry so much about setting up for the party either.  But, none of our families have seen our house either.  So I know that his mom and sister and aunt and my family will all want to come over at some point to see the house, the nursery, the animals, etc. 

That leaves me, all week, without My Jew, to clean the shit out of my house and make it look presentable to raise a newborn baby in.  Quite a project when I have 7 animals under my feet, hardly any way of bending over, and the lifting limit of a 10 year old girl.