2nd Trimester Here I Come!!!! and Watch Out ER!!

I'm officially in the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy!!! I can't believe it has already been 3 months, before I know it I'll be holding my baby. So much has happened since the last time I posted. Last week Jeff and I spent 5 days in Orlando, FL. He had a softball tournament, so we spent time going to games and spent time doing other things. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, did a little outlet shopping and some swimming in the hotel pool. When we got back Sunday I noticed some pain in my chest on the left side, nothing new, I get this every so often and it normally would go away in a day or two. Well, come Tuesday it has intensified A LOT and I can barely sit at my desk by Tuesday afternoon. My family doctor moved out of town over the summer and I never bothered to find a new one. I called the practice she had been at though to see if I could get an appointment with another doctor, sure they said, next Monday! I was like ummmm, I can't wait that long this is really bad. So the receptionist said, well maybe we can squeeze you in tomorrow afternoon, please hold. I get pissed and hung up. I called Jeff in tears and he said just leave work please I know how much pain you are in and you can't sit there until 5 p.m. like this. He begged me to leave and he said he'd take me to the ER. I told him NO WAY, I had already been off work for 4 days to go to Orlando and I couldn't leave early. Well, a half hour later the pain got more intense and I left. We ended up at the ER, they thought it was a possible blood clot due to the pregnancy and recent flight. I had an EKG which turned out fine, bloodwork which also turned out fine and an ultrasound of my legs for blood clots which also turned out fine. I'm still in the worst pain of my life and have no answers. I get sent home. About an hour later the pain gets worse and we are back. They decided to give me a shot of Nubain for pain and yes Nubain is OK for pregnant women. I of course am allergic to almost every singe narcotic pain killer, so why wouldn't I be allergic to Nubain. I break out in a rash and start itching within 10 minutes. I am then given Benadryl which makes me super tired. I was so not with it, but at least it took the edge of the pain. I'm then sent home again, still with no answers about why I have the pain or what it is from. I'm very frustrated at this point, but so drugged that I don't really care. I wake up the next day still in the same amount of pain and my mom called her family doctor and got me an appointment for that afternoon. I explained my symptoms to the doctor, she pushed around on my chest and says "I'm pretty sure you have Costochondritis". Finally, an answer!! I had told her I'd had the pain before off and on for the last year, but never this intense. She told me I had a condition called Costochondritis, it happens to a lot of people, mostly women and it is when the cartilage between your sternum and ribs starts seperating and becomes inflammed. Any kind of lifting or strange movement can make it worse and with my being pregnant and things stretching out anyways it made the pain that much more intense for me. I'm still in pain, but at least I have answers and can take better care of myself to avoid this happening again. I can only sleep sitting up in our loveseat which isn't so horrible, but it isn't the bed. I'm not allowed any pain mediction except for Tylenol, I was given Tylenol with Codeine but that is only for night time to help me sleep. I just hope the pain subsides soon and I can feel like myself again.

Maternity Clothes Review

I have spent numerous hours trying to find fashionable, good fitting maternity jeans. I know I'm only 11 weeks along, but regular jeans no longer fit me, it is really weird considering I've only gained 1 lb. So, I'm going to list the stores I visited in no particular order and review their selection of maternity wear. My opinion on the following stores may also differ from yours, so please take no offense if you had good luck at one of the stores I didn't have good luck at.

1. Mimi/Motherhood Maternity - this is by far the BEST store I've been to, not only do they have a wide variety of all types of maternity clothing, they also sell DESIGNER maternity jeans. I'm very, very picky when it comes to my jeans and think nothing of spending $80-$100 on a pair of regular jeans. I'd rather have one or two great pairs of expensive jeans than five pairs of crappy fitting inexpensive jeans. So, I found a pair of IT brand jeans at Mimi that fit like a glove, they are FABULOUS! They did cost $108, but feeling good about myself is worth the price. I will be back to this store again, hopefully I'll hit some good sales because the Mimi side is very expensive, but the Motherhood side is a little less expensive so that is a plus.

2. Old Navy - I'm not even sure what to say about Old Navy except for the store by me sucked. There was NO selection, there was like half of a corner dedicated to the maternity clothing at my local store. I was very, very disappointed. I will not be back. I might order a few tops online, but I would never order jeans from Old Navy online. I know how ill-fitting their regular clothes can be and imagine the maternity line is the same way.

3. JCPenney - Another big thumbs down here. I'm not even going to review it except that I'll say don't waste your time.

4. Burlington Coat Factory - Another loser in my eyes. Yeah, the clothes are cheap, but they also look cheap. I tried on a pair of "boot cut" jeans that were $16.99 and they were dorky looking peg legs. I will not go back.

5. Target - Target is OK, I tried some jeans on here, they fit funny, but then again I'm a tough fit for jeans. They have some cute tops, but everyone must be the same size as me because the only sizes left were XL. They don't have a huge selection, I think about 4 racks of maternity, but what they did have was cute. Target has more maternity available online and I'd for sure consider ordering some tops online.

6. Kohls - I love Kohls, but the maternity selection was just OK. I won't buy jeans from them, but I'd buy some tops if I found a few cute ones.

7. The GAP - The Gap has a bigger selection online than the store, but they still had some cute stuff in store. I tried on every single pair of jeans they sell and not one pair passed my test, of course Gap jeans always looked terrible on me pre-pregnancy, so why would their maternity jeans look good, right? I will go back, but for tops only.

The choice in maternity wear available has really depressed me. I can't believe that major department stores like Dillards and Macy's don't carry maternity. Oh well, at least I'm only pregnant for 6 more months. Another plus is the style right now in regular clothing is flowy/babydoll, so I can probably get away with tops purchased at regular clothing stores for a while. My other saving grace is that I work in a super casual office and can wear sweats to work.

My Only Craving

I haven't been craving pickles and ice cream, but I have been craving orange juice, orange popsicles, etc... What is it with me and orange. I've just conviced Jeff to take me down to Timbo's (soft serve place around the corner) to see if they have an orange slush. Now, I've got my little heart set on an orange slush and so does the baby, THEY BETTER HAVE ONE!!!!! And if they don't they might have one hostile pregnant woman to deal with.

My Eye Twitch and Almost Teary Eyed Morning

About three weeks after finding out I was pregnant I noticed that my right eye would twitch a few to several times per day on the lower lid. I had my yearly eye checkup today and asked my eye doctor about it. She said it is related to pregnancy, most likely due to hormones, lack of sleep and stress. She said I can take something like Benedryl to help it out, as long as my OB gives it the A-OK or I can try to become less stressed and get more sleep. Jill trying to become less stressed is going to be a challenge. I'm going to try it though. I do have more energy now that I'm nearing the end of the 1st trimester and have been able to get back into my daily workout routine. Hopefully that helps out, I really don't want to resort to taking drugs.

It has been about 3 weeks since I've worn my regular jeans, I've basically been wearing dresses and stretchy style pants to work and on the weekends. I thought I'd wear something fun to work today and put on a pair of jeans. They were a no-go, but they were a little tight before I was pregnant anyways. I go to another pair of jeans that fit me perfectly pre-pregnancy, also a no go. Now I've not gained but 3 lbs. and my damn pants didn't fit!!!!!! I almost cried and had to talk myself down from the ledge by reminding myself that I'm pregnant, things are changing, shifting, etc... I do have one pair of very expensive maternity jeans, but didn't really want to wear those to work today because those are my bar hopping jeans (just kidding). I've decided to take a trip to Target and Old Navy tomorrow to check out their maternity wear so I can find something decent and inexpensive for work. I'll blog about my shopping trip tomorrow.

The Baby Room!!!

I have decided to decorate the baby room in cloud blue and chocolate brown. The theme will be puppies and since we have a doggie (2nd generation labradoodle to be exact!) that I'm totally in love with, I figured I'd include her in the decor somehow. I won't be going overboard with the puppies, but I will tell you that a few pictures of my Maizy will be hung up in the room. My bedding and accessories will be purchased from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. They have some fabulous stuff and after looking at lots of baby room stuff online nothing else suited my style but the stuff available from this company. It is a little pricier than what you'd pay at say Target or Babies R'Us but still not as outrageously expensive as the baby stuff at Pottery Barn Kids. We plan on getting white baby furniture and will be putting a white chair rail around the entire room. The upper half of the room will be painted cloud blue and the lower half will be painted chocolate brown. And no, I'm not having a boy!!! I chose the blue and brown because they are my two favorite colors. This blue is light enough to be gender neutral, so it will last through two babies whether we have a boy and girl, or two girls or two boys. Let me know what you think.

Babymoon Here We Come!!!!

As almost everyone knows my husband loves to play sports (he was a 3 sport athlete in high school: baseball, basketball and track). He was invited by a rival softball team to play with them at the upcoming World Softball Tournament being played at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, FL. We will be leaving in the late afternoon on September 16 and return September 21. I can't wait!! We are even going a day early so we can go to Disney's Animal Kingdom (I've been wanting to go for 3 years). We figured with a baby on the way these little impromptu trips will be few and far between so we might as well do it now while we can take advantage of it.

I'll post pictures when we return.

Pregnancy Topics

I'm going to be blogging soon about a few pregnancy/baby topics, which are as follows:

1. My desires to have a natural/med-free birth and my reasons why.

2. My plans to cloth diaper my baby (don't get scared, you wouldn't believe what is out there, you just have to do your homework to find it).

3. My use of a doula at my birth.

Look for my full coverage on them soon!

10 Week Belly Shot

I know it may not look like much is there, but to me it is a definate little bump that appeared in the last week. I will be updating my blog with a weekly belly shot that I will take each Saturday night and post Sunday.