19 Weeks

That's right I'm 19 weeks today! I may not post a pic this time because I just did my 18 week photo a few days ago so I really look no different.

I have started getting warmer. In other words I feel like I'm having hot flashes sometimes. My appetite really hasn't came back or went into high gear yet. It's getting harder and harder to get up, which means I ask for hubby's help a lot (just because I can). It keeps me from playing the I'm up.. oops I fell back down game.

What the site says about what's up and coming for me:
Think you're big now? You'll start growing even faster in the weeks to come. As a result, you may notice some achiness in your lower abdomen or even an occasional brief, stabbing pain on one or both sides — especially when you shift position or at the end of an active day. Most likely, this is round ligament pain. The ligaments that support your uterus are stretching to accommodate its increasing weight.

Baby decided yesterday during the funeral to tickle me. Baby's the one person right now that can tickle me that I can't tell it to stop! Which if you know me is annoying because I hate to be tickled. Baby seems to favor my right side. All the movement I've felt has always been on my right side.


What the site says about baby this week:
Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Funeral

Whoever put fun in FUNeral was a real idiot. Funerals are NOT fun.

I went to a funeral today for Samuel Aaron Hensley. It like most funerals had a viewing, tears, a service, songs, letters, notes, poems, more tears, a laugh or two, a Pastor giving a sermon, etc.

Unfortunately we had to leave early due to my step-dad having a doctor's appointment. (I went with my mom and step-dad because my husband had to work)  The leaving means we weren't there for the entire service and we completely missed the burial.

Aaron didn't look like himself, but most of the time people don't look like themselves at their funeral. He had on a ball cap (not quite sure what logo the hat had on it) and his cross necklace.. after seeing those I didn't really notice what else he was wearing.

Aaron's last gift that he could give was literally a piece of him, he was a donor. His death has helped others to live a fuller life and that is a great gift.

Taxes

Seriously whoever came up with the idea to have taxes was a flipping idiot!

Take us for example we don't make a lot of money, but my husband makes more than he has before. So what did they do? The put us in a higher tax bracket which totally screwed us over. Us making more money should be a good thing, something to celebrate, but no taxes think they need to take more out from us just because we're making more. That's a bunch of crap! So we had to pay taxes and now we're trying to get back on track and nothing seems to be working. So we have the beginning of the month coming up which means all of our bills are due and we also have to renew our stupid license plates (which shouldn't have to be done, esp not yearly!)

Now we're having a kid, which sure we'll get more money back because of a kid, but who's to say that they won't have us pay next year too?

Seriously we'd all be better off if you'd just get rid of taxes. Why should I be taxed for a school that (a.) my kid doesn't go to and esp (b.) I currently don't have any kids! THAT'S RETARDED! And btw my kid(s) will not be going to that school, but you'll still tax me on it. LAME! And if you need a road fixed have people donate money ever think of that wise one? Instead you're taking out money all the time from our pay checks and wasting it. How about we just take your whole check and put it in? Oh and the president's check and all of congress' checks and we'll split those between the 50 states.. I think that'd make up for everyone else's money right there.

18 Weeks

So Saturday I turned 18 weeks, which means I'm 18 weeks and 5 days so I'm a little late on posting this.

This is one of the first pictures I've actually posted of me being pregnant. I think this picture makes me look bigger than I am, but hey I'm pregnant so I'm going to be big so I guess I shouldn't worry.

At 18 weeks my baby is around the size of a Bell Pepper. Between weeks 18-20 is when the baby doubles in size so I should be 'popping' soon.

I've felt the baby move a few times, which is amazing. I can't wait to feel the baby more often (and to actually know the difference between the baby and oh say gas movement without lots of thought LOL)

Most clothes that I wear are maternity clothes or are bigger than my pre-pregnancy clothes. I'm normally a large (since I had gained so much weight in the past 3 years), but I'm not quite big enough in the belly to fit into the large maternity shirts and the medium maternity shirts you can see the outline of my belly button so large it is!

Garfield (Yes, my cat) likes to lay on the end of our sectional. Well, when I stand in front of him he'll rub his head on my belly. It's so cute! I'm sure he won't think it's so cute when the baby is pulling his fur.. poor kitties.

Around 20 weeks we'll be having our 2nd Trimester Ultrasound and finally find out what gender our baby is. And more importantly make sure our baby is healthy and developing correctly.

Now hopefully I'll be able to keep a weekly update and let you all know (a.) How I look via picture and (b.) cute info on the baby and what should be happening that week and maybe some other random things that are going on.

Have a great day!  

Samuel Aaron Hensley

Samuel Aaron Hensley passed away today after nearly 2 weeks of struggling due to a car accident.

I can't say that I knew him well, but I did work with him. I can't say what type of person he was by personal experience, but I have heard wonderful things about him.

My family does business with his family and as I sit here and I can't imagine what they're going through, losing a son, a brother, a cousin, and so on, especially when he was so young. I can't promise this family that it will get easier, they will always miss him and that will always leave a void. And I can't promise that they'll ever stop crying at just the thought of him. But I do know that life will go on and that they can celebrate the life of Aaron. They can celebrate the years that they had with him and mourn the years that were 'taken away'

Always know that God has a reason and a purpose for everything, even death. I do not know the purpose and I'm sure neither do they, but there is one. And if this is the only thing take comfort in knowing that God did this for a reason and that it's for your good.

Aaron will no longer deal with the pains of this world. He will never again feel the crushing blow of heartache from a break-up or loss of a loved one. We will never have to worry that anything like what has happened will happen to him again. All of these things we can take comfort in.

Celebrating Easter

Today my family is celebrating Easter. We had food, Easter egg hunt, and just some Family Fellowship.

To eat we had hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, mac n' cheese (Velveeta kind), chips, and for dessert there was banana pudding. Very yummy, of course all I could eat was the sides so I had the baked beans, mac n' cheese, and chips. I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat any dessert. Haven't felt very good the last couple of days so the less I eat the better (read: if I throw up there will be less to come out)

The 3 older kids decided that they didn't want to be apart of the egg hunt. Well, besides to help hide the candy so there were only 7 Hunters this time. It took much longer for the egg hunt, but at least the little kids had a chance to get more candy.

After the egg hunt they came in and ate the dessert. And then everyone sat and talked and began to leave one family at a time.

After we left I had to go to Walmart to work and Hubby followed me there to buy a few things. Then we finally left Walmart. Yeah, it's not my favorite place in the world.

Now my M&FIL are here and spending some time with us. Well, technically they're currently out to get food, but they're bringing it back here. Since I'm not feeling well I'm staying away from food places and hoping to get feeling better real soon! I HATE feeling sick! But I guess that's part of pregnancy. Oh and not only do I feel ill, but my sinuses are driving me nuts! I'm drowsy, runny nosed, headaches, sneezing, etc. Some times I feel so blah that I can barely keep my eyes open! And I hate feeling that bad, it makes me think that I look like I'm on drugs and haven't had a shower in a week and may as well be wearing sweats and a nasty old t-shirt. That is not a good picture!

Whelp I'm off here for today, but I hope you have a great evening and a fabulous church service tomorrow.. if you attend church that is.  

Just Random

Today is Friday (as if you didn't know) This is not my favorite day by any means. I would love to be able to sit at home on Fridays in my pj's, watching Gossip Girl, and pigging out due to my pregnancy. But unfortunately I don't get Fridays off. So instead I'm up and getting ready. Fun, fun... not!

I still have my headache, sneezing, runny nose, etc. from my sinus/allergies. I cannot wait until the allergy/sinus season is over!

Well, I guess I need to get off of here and get ready to leave. BLAH!
Have a great day!

The Christian Mama's Guide To Having A Baby

I had never heard of this book until my step-mom sent me a link on Facebook. She said that it was free on the Kindle for that one day. So of course I got it. And I'm so glad that I did!

Erin MacPherson did a fabulous job writing this book. It's informative for first time moms, it's funny, it's honest, it talks about things (like sex) that most women would not feel free to discuss, and it involves God into your pregnancy. Which after all he did bless you with this baby so why shouldn't he be apart of your pregnancy?

I laughed so much! My husband probably thought I was insane at times, but of course then he noticed me holding my Kindle and that explained it all.

I've read so much on Pregnancy and thought that I pretty much knew everything there was to know, but after reading this book I still learned more. I learned that if you have/have to have a c-section that the Dr. will warn you that you may have 10 seconds where you won't be able to breathe (scary right?) But what it is, is when they take the baby out of you it may kick you in the lungs one last time as it's leaving your belly. So in other words you get the wind knocked out of you. Interesting, huh? And there were also plenty of other neat tid bits.

As I was already fully aware God is very important in everyday life and that includes your pregnancy. But I learned of helpful scriptures during the pregnancy and ideas on ways to make sure that God is a part of your pregnancy.

And the all time favorite, sex. Where you will learn some tips for sex while being pregnant. After all it's going to be a little difficult to do all the normal positions when your belly is the size of a watermelon.

There was also a chapter or two made for the guys where Erin talked to some Fathers and put what they had to say on certain subjects. Btw if you're pregnant and feeling nauseous I'd skip out on the guy that was talking about some of the foods his wife was craving. I wasn't nauseous in the beginning, but after reading what she craved I was! Lol.

There are many other topics that I could have talked about that the book had, but I'll just let you read it for yourself. Trust me you won't regret it!

Pregnancy Scare

Last night after going to the bathroom I noticed a drop, just a drop of blood on the T.P. when I wiped. SO I called my mom and asked if I should call the Dr. she said yes so I got off the phone and called and talked to the Dr on call who is btw not my Dr. but still a good Dr. and he said to pay attention for the rest of the night and call in the morning to see if I need to be seen, unless there was more bleeding then to call. Anyways, I called this morning, had to leave a message, an hour of so later got a call from the nurse who took all the needed info then said she'd talk to the Dr. and call me back, and about thirty min later I got a call back from the nurse and she said that I don't need to be seen right now, but if I had more bleeding, cramping, or back pain to call right away. So now we wait. I'm going to make sure to take it easy and just be sure to be aware of my body.

Please keep baby and I in your prayers! Thanks!

Rough Times

  Hubby and I are having a hard time right now financially. Nothing that we won't be able to handle it's just so weird not being able to go out to McDonald's (or wherever) anytime we want, like we could normally do. 

I know that everything happens for a reason and that God will bring us out of this, it's just rough when you're used to one thing and then you're forced into another. 

I cooked 2 or 3 days in a row, which to some people is nothing, but to me that's a big deal. I HATE to cook! If it isn't going to taste gourmet than I just see it as a waste of money. It's SO much easier to just dial up a delivery place or go out. 

I'm sure the cooking thing is a good thing since I'll need to learn to cook more since we'll have a baby here soon, but I'm sure going to have to (a.) get better at cooking and (b.) learn some new recipes. I can't stand eating the same thing over and over again and I really can't stand eating my own cooking if I can have something better from (a.) fast food or (b.) a nice sit down restaurant. This will be some major changes. To bad DH (Dear Husband) doesn't like soups or spaghetti! He just has to be complicated. 

And waiting for May 3rd to get  here is super rough! I really want to know the sex of my LO (Little One) already!

Baby Gender

May 3rd cannot get here fast enough! I'm so excited to actually know the date of when I'll know my baby's gender! I know it's only a couple weeks away, but it feels like it's taking forever to get here. Hopefully the baby will cooperate with the ultrasound technician so we can get a good look at what gender the baby is.

Baby update

Baby's heart rate is 150's. May 3 I find out the baby's gender! And everything looks good. So we'll find out all the important stuff next visit. You know how baby is growing, make sure everything is developing, gender,... Etc.

Doctor's Appt #4

Today I have a Doctor's Appointment and I can't wait to get there. I choose to believe that the stretching pains and weirdness I feel in my tummy is God telling me that this baby is doing good and is still growing. So I believe that I'll go into my appointment and get to hear 'Shim's' heartbeat. And then any worries that may have crossed my mind will be gone!

I can't wait to hear what the Doctor has to say this appointment. And I really can't wait to find out when we'll be doing my next appointment, the BIG ULTRASOUND! AHHHHH! SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITING! Then I can put away the clothes that we bought for the opposite gender and prepare everything for whichever it is we'll be having. So glad I pretty much have everything planned out already so when we do find out it will be just throwing things together (and buying those things)!

Well, it's time to get ready to go to my appointment! So here I go and I'll fill you in later! Have a great day, everyone!

Drugs

I know that some people think that drugs are no big deal. But I DO! And I have no problem saying it. I read a post on my baby site community where a woman said that her husband chose drugs over his family, which means her (his wife), 2 little girls, and a baby on the way. I cannot believe that someone would do that. I mean to do drugs is bad enough, but to do them when you are a parent! OMW! I could list many horrible reasons and examples of why not to do drugs and the horrible, horrible things that happen when you do.. matter a fact I think I will. Obviously I'll just be naming a few because I don't have enough room for all of them and the stories behind them. 

1. Doing drugs is bad 

    -Self explanatory 

2. Doing drugs with children is harmful to your child and their future

   -If your child catches you doing drugs they'll think that there's nothing wrong with drugs and that it's cool to do drugs. Well guess what happens then. They'll try out drugs. Sure maybe you won't allow it, but just like you did they'll sneak around and find someone who will give it to them. And then guess what happens! Your children turn into junkies! Any future that they may have possibly had has now been ruined. They'll be lucky to graduate High School, which means no college, which means no good job and that means they'll probably never be able to buy their own home. They may find someone to marry, but they'll be a loser just like them and then they'll have kids who grow up seeing they way mommy and daddy do drugs and then they'll do drugs. From there it just starts all over again. In other words if you're doing drugs and you have kids you may as well inject them/ have them smoke it now because they will later anyways.

3. Drugs kill people

   - I have an Aunt and an Uncle (siblings not a couple) who both died from drugs. They'd done drugs most of their life and it killed them. They swelled up, had liquid in places it shouldn't have been in their body and died. Of course long term use can do that, but there's also overdosing that can kill you. Drugs=Death maybe not right now, but one day. 

4. It ruins your family

    -Pretty self explanatory

5. You're hurting more than yourself when you do drugs

   - You harm your parents, spouse, children, siblings, grandparents, cousins, Aunts, Uncle, Friends,.. etc. If someone cares about you and you hurt yourself than you're hurting them. Plain and simple. 

6. It's illegal 

   -You have a family and here you're willing to do something that can get you thrown in jail. It will ruin your life. 

7. You can't get a job if you can't pass the drug test

   -Do I really need to explain any further? 

......ETC.

This is a problem that many of my family members have so it is something that is 'very close to my heart' and it also irritates me. So I guess this is a vent and hopefully someone with this problem will read it and realize just how stupid they're being and change. ...

She Doesn't Owe You!

I know your family is perfect, but mine is not. Now I'm not talking about my husband, mom or dad, but family a little further out. They've been spoiled and taught to take, take, take from anyone and everyone and worse some of them were taught to work and still think that everyone owes them. They don't work, they take from the government, WIC, Disability,.. etc. None of them are anymore disabled than I am, they just want those of us who do work to give to them. I'm so tired of my family thinking that people like my mom and Mike are just rolling in money just because they've worked hard and have a nice house. Well, guess what they worked really hard for everything they have and don't have the money that you think they do. Nice house means a 'nice' mortgage and being a landlord of over 80 buildings means more 'nice' mortgages. They pay more money than they receive and then my mom gets made to feel like crap because she won't give her hard earned money to the rest of the family. My mother doesn't owe you anything I don't care if you're her kid, sibling, parent, or whatever she owes you nothing so stop asking! Enough said!

Intuition

Just 2 more days and then I'll have my 4th Baby Doctor Appointment! Unfortunately this still isn't the Doctor's Appointment where I get the big ultrasound. So just around a month more then I'll get to know the gender! I can't wait!! I mean obviously I have to wait, but it's driving me nuts.

I keep hearing of all these women who have thought they were having one gender and found out they were having another. I really hope that my feeling is right, I want a girl and typically my intuition is correct so hopefully this pregnancy stuff hasn't messed that up.

I don't think it has since I knew that someone was pregnant as soon as I saw them and no one besides their close family knew about it yet. I walked into church, looked at this person and thought, "She's pregnant" and my mom said she did the same thing. We only talked about it after they announced it that night. Which is when we found out we should have told each other what we thought. Lol.

I get this awesome intuition stuff from my mom, well of course it's really from God, but I think it's something that can be passed down as well. She knew that this woman was pregnant too. Lol. Sometimes this intuition thing can be cool, but sometimes you know things earlier than anyone else and since it's bad you can't say anything. Especially since you're unsure if it's true or not.

I once had a feeling that I should go hug my Uncle and I didn't do it, I never got to see him alive again. He'd died that week and I missed my chance to say goodbye. I'd left church that Sunday and didn't even say bye, I knew better.

We've had two deaths in the church and as you know these things come in 3's. Mom and I both thought of the same man. It's a man that we would be very upset to lose. He's a good man, a man of God.. the only comfort I would have in it being him would be knowing that he was ready to go and meet God. But for now we wait to see if we're correct. This is the hard part. Sometimes you want to maybe warn the family of what may happen, but then you think, "What if I'm wrong and I upset them for no reason." So typically we just keep it between us (mom and I).

I love my gift, that's what this is. Sometimes it's fun, but sometimes I know things I'd rather not know. But at least I get a warning so when I actually hear it, it isn't such a shock.