23 Weeks

Apparently nothing extremely exciting happens at 23 weeks, at least not enough for me to do an entire copy and paste here. So I'm putting it into my own words of what is going on, and how I am feeling. Finally right?

Baby is a little over a pound this week and measuring somewhere around 11 inches. He can hear sounds from the outside world a lot more clearly now, so the sound of a dog barking, car horn, or telephone ringing could prompt the little guy to go into a somersault kicking frenzy. If Aunt Crazy decides to start yelling at your stomach this week, either 1). Politely tell her that your child would like to come out with some form of hearing or 2). Punch her in the face. Let your pregnancy hormones decide.

This is the week that you will start getting comments on your growing size. I've noticed this, but haven't really experienced the second half of it. In response to the "When are you due?" question, you could receive an array of responses ranging from "Oh wow! Are you carrying twins in there?", to "I can't imagine how huge you are going to be when you are already gigantic now!", to "23 weeks? Seriously? I don't see anything. Are you sure you're pregnant?". If any of these responses are those that you receive, just go ahead and punch the person straight in the throat/face/stomach/arm/chest. You choose. If you don't want to resort to this form of physical violence, take whatever drink you are sipping on and give it a good toss right in their eyeballs. It's a sure fire way to make them shut it.

Sleep. Sleep is something I discuss a lot, considering the type of sleep changes on a nightly basis. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. But a warning to those around the pregnant lady. If the hormones start to flare up around the 23 week mark, it's mostly due to lack of sleep. Imagine if you will, man or woman, a belly that grows in gargantuan size in a course of months. Now of course this would cause back pain, rib pain, side pains, and last but not least, belly pain. But to add to that discomfort you have a crazy racing mind that won't allow you to sleep, leg pains, heartburn, acid reflux, anxiety, itching belly syndrome, and I am sure you get my point. Anyone who experiences one night of this madness would wake up in a cranky mood. So relate people. Get the pregnant lady her allotted cup of joe in morning, or a freaking antacid tablet for God's sake.

So there you have it. My take on pregnancy at 23 weeks.

Oh, and I got a kick out of this cartoon and thought it was appropriate after my last post of talking about how much I'm looking forward to tomorrow's shopping spree.

The Excitement Mounts

First off all, let me just say that I just crept out of bed a few minutes ago. And by crept, I do mean literally. Imagine Frankenstein in the first few momemnts of his creation. That is me. Every morning it's a little more of a struggle to roll my pregnant ass out of the bed. My night was filled with vivid, crazy, weird dreams. At one point I was at a high school wearing a vintage cheerleading uniform. Hmmm. Nothing substantial happened in the dream. That's really all there was to it.
Weird.

So day after tomorrow we head to Gulf Shores, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm not sure if I'm more excited this year, but I am definitely ready to cure my cabin fever. I know it'll be wonderful to get out of the house for a week, but even more wonderful to spend time with my family, friends, and the wonderful Mr. H.
That means that today, I get to spend the day cleaning, doing laundry, and go knows what else, to prepare myself for going on vacation. I'm going to be heading over to my Mom's house shortly to clean for her since she's a working woman.

And tomorrow is going to be a fun day! Me, Steph, and Mom are heading out for a shopping extravaganza. We aren't the Black Friday shoppers by any means. We are known for dodging malls and shopping centers of all kinds around any big holidays. But shopping for vacation? That's our shopping day of the year. We've sort of made a tradition out of it since we all started our annual Gulf Shores trip. Mom takes the Friday before vacay off work and we get up super early and make a day of summer clothes shopping, bathing suit shopping, and random whatever-the-hell-we-want shopping. It's almost looked forward to as the vacation itself. I'm definitely looking forward to getting a few new things, and spending time with the girlies as well.

So, I will probably squeeze in a short post tomorrow if possible. And then and entire week at the beach with my toes in the sand, listening to the waves, sun in my face, and a good book in hand. Speaking of books...anyone got any recommendations? I'm sure we'll be making a stop at Barnes and Noble to pick up a few reading materials tomorrow as well!

Good News!

So Mr. H just informed me that he spoke with his boss and the regional manager today at his work. Both told him that he would be getting a route within the next few months!! They have some things to work out before they can get him started on it, so it could possibly take up to two months, but it could also be sooner than that!
Of course I am thrilled, and he is too, because this could mean that I could stay at home with the baby a lot longer than we thought before going back out into the work force.
Also, I wanted to finish up my degree and finish up some other plans, so this will definitely open the door for us! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this process won't drag on for him. The increase in salary for him would mean a good 10 grand more than I was making at my old job! So he's going to be making more money than the two of us combined where making the entire time we've been living together! That is great great news!
Keep your fingers crossed for us that everything will work out smoothly, and Mr. H will finally get the route he deserves! It's like he said..."I can wait a few more months, because now I know I don't have to wait a few more years.".
WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

We Have A Connection!

Internet connection, that is. After my rant on AT&T's crappy service, I must say, they surprised me today. Let's just see how long this lasts.
After speaking to, yet again, another technical representative, AT&T came to the conclusion that it would just be easier to send someone out to the house to help us out. So I set up an appointment for today between 1pm and 5pm. About five after one, he pulled up in the driveway, came inside, gave us a brand new modem, and established an internet connection within 2 minutes.
Pretty impressive. However, it still amazes me that AT&T did NOT come out to our house upon our initial service instillation and set up everything for us. They should have done this eons ago and save us both the trouble.
But things are up and running for the time being, so let's keep our fingers crossed (I suggest AT&T do the same) that things don't go falling apart again causing us to switch providers.

22 weeks and 5 days

Getting close to 23 weeks! And only 4 more days until vacation! Yahooo!
Here is a my usual quick pregnancy survey. Just to answer the general stuff.
How far along? 18 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: I'm not really positive. A few weeks days ago it was up 11 pounds.
Maternity clothes? Of course. Nothing else fits.
Stretch marks? Not yet!
Sleep: I am actually getting better sleep than ever! With the exception that little man wants to kick me extremely hard between 10pm-12am and keep me up, I've learned how to get comfortable with my growing belly.
Best moment this week: Feeling his kicks constantly. Hard ones.
Movement: All the time. I felt some hiccups yesterday!
Food cravings: No real cravings I guess. Still candy and sweets!
Labor Signs: Not yet!
Belly Button in or out? Still in.
What I miss: Laying on my stomach and wearing my engagement ring.
What I am looking forward to: Reaching my viability date! (May 14th). Basically what this means, is that doctors will do whatever they medical can to save the baby after this point. Before 24 weeks, not so much.
Weekly Wisdom: Don't go pushing and grabbing on a pregnant ladies stomach. Let her guide it for you. If I jab you in the stomach it isn't going to feel so good, so please don't do it to me. Thank you.
Milestones: Reaching 22 weeks is a milestone enough. I'm over halfway through, and with each day I'm one day closer to meeting my guy.

Computer Issues

So after months of no one at AT&T helping us fix our modem problems, we were finally able to speak to a representative who was helpful. She tells us she is going to overnight us a new modem for us to install and have the internet working as it should in no time.
Well the modem arrives, I go through the motions of the installation process, and run into a simple problem of needing a password. I call and speak to an AT&T rep, who after "helping" for one hour, actually made the situation worse than it was to begin with. We were disconnected when she tried to transfer me to a technical engineer, and I didn't receive a call from them. So now, we still have a modem that does not work, and no internet service which we are paying for each month.
So I've discovered that AT&T has horrible customer service, crappy technical support, and malfunctioning modems. Wonderful. I'm pretty positive that tomorrow I will be calling them to cancel our service and find a new internet provider.
Hopefully one day this week I will be blogging from my computer at home to let you know that we've either resolved this issue with AT&T, or we've moved elsewhere and have a working modem with no problems whatsoever.

22 Weeks!

So here I am at 22 weeks and 1 day. And feeling great so far! Finally have figured out the ways that I can get comfortable and actually sleep now. So that's definitely a plus. The baby has been kicking like crazy, which is amazing! Yesterday Steph was able to feel him so that was great!
And here is my update for the week!

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.