Due Date: October 24.

Weight Gain: Up 7.8 Wednesday.  8.4 Thursday.  I am trying to convince, cajole, and/or force my body to go back to a 6-7 pound gain, which is about as much as I can comfortably accept at the moment.  Then I question why I’m stressed about a couple of pounds.  But I hate it.  I truly loathe what the scale is saying (and how my body is feeling – so please don’t tell me just not to step on the scale.) This just has not been a good week for weight.

Symptoms: Put “occasional”‘ in front of all of my normal symptoms and that would be about right.

What’s different this time: I really am bigger this time around in the waist.  I love that people tell me that’s not true, but since I have taken measurements every pregnancy it is verifiable.  Also different is the fact that we won’t know the gender of this baby until he or she is born.

Cravings/Aversions:  Nothing in particular, though bacon tastes really good right now!

Sleep: Okay, though I could definitely use more.

I am loving:  The fact that we leave on vacation in a few days and will be gone until I am almost 22 weeks.  Mid-pregnancy drags on and on, particularly when you have other children.  Also glad to see that we have a healthy baby that looks like it’s measuring on track.

I miss: My mom.

Are you nesting?  Nope.  I am packing.  Or am pre-packing, as the case may be.  I don’t want to pack maternity clothes unless I know that they will fit for the next 3 weeks!  You may think I’m kidding, but I tried on a non-maternity tankini top last week and it was great.  A week later and it no longer covers my belly completely.

Milestones: None that I can think of.  19 weeks is sort of no-man’s land.

Best moment this week:  Seeing the baby on the ultrasound was great!  It is amazing, even having done this two other times, that seeing this little squirmy baby can bring tears to my eyes.

I am stressing over:  Getting everything packed for our trip, the fact that we have not managed to unpack from the move, and particularly, my unaccounted for weight gain.

Movement:  Yes.  It is getting more noticeable when I am up and about and not just when I am lying still.

It’s a: Surprise!  We made it through the ultrasound without finding out and baby didn’t seem to want to cooperate either, so it was just as well that we didn’t want to know.

Exercise:  33 miles plus cross training last week and hoping for 32 this week.

Diet: Not the greatest, but decent the past few days.  I am frustrated though, because my diet doesn’t seem to correlate with my weight gain.  It’s the same “bad eating day and gain 4 pounds followed by 3 good days during with my weight changes by 0.2 pounds” that I’ve dealt with every pregnancy.

Exercise goal for the upcoming week:  Keep my mileage close to 30 and cross train.  But we will be in California on a different schedule so we’ll see…

Belly Shot:

No official shots – too busy packing!

Tomorrow I hit 19 weeks and we go in for the “big ultrasound”.  Ever since we were pregnant with Isaac we’d talked about being surprised on the baby’s gender. But then we found out we would be moving and the planner in me couldn’t bear to have baby showers and then either return a bunch of neutral things or clothing of the wrong gender when I was in a new state with a new baby.  So that didn’t happen.

Enter Jonathan.  Except, having had one boy, the planner in me couldn’t bear not knowing the gender because what if it was a girl?  What if we needed girl clothes?  So we found out.

There is also the minor annoyance of names.  I don’t even think about names until I know the gender since I see no reason to waste time thinking of two names.  I am one of those women who, if I could, would have my sister come up with a bunch of creative and classy name pairings, the same way women who hate baking can waltz into a bakery and order a dozen cupcakes with champagne colored icing and fake candy pearls.

This time around the planner in me is still balking at the fact that we don’t have any girl things.  I have gone so far as to talk with friends who have had girls though, so if we manage to actually produce a girl this time around she will be clothed.  So far my reasons for being surprised this time around are as follows:

1.  If we decide that we are done after this baby then this is our last chance at the surprise experience.

2.  Sometimes it’s fun to do the opposite of what Planner Ingrid wants to do.

3.  3-4 women I know are all pregnant and not finding out the gender and I feel like I am weak or less of a woman if I cave and need to know early.

So as long as I can hold out for another 13 hours we will be in for a surprise.  It’s weird how it changes the experience though.  I remarked to Husband tonight that without the excitement of the big gender reveal “all” you get to do is find out if you have a healthy baby.  All.  As if that’s not what we want anyway.

So here’s to Baby Surprise.  But I am guessing a boy this time around too, since we don’t seem capable of producing the other version.  Although Isaac is still insisting that he is going to get a baby sister and Jonathan is getting a baby brother. Ha!

I give up.  Too much is changing from week to week and I am losing my capacity to remember things for five weeks at a time.  Bumping up to weekly-ish updates.  Besides, what if I have a girl and she actually CARES about what when on during pregnancy?

Due Date: October 24.

Weight Gain: 5-7 pounds up depending on the day.

Symptoms: Random nausea and heart burn, extreme fatigue, varicose veins that are not only ugly but hurt as well.  I seem to feel sick and often throw up after 3:00 pm.  Not fun.

What’s different this time: My belly is bigger and I am way more tired.  Running is a lot slower than with Isaac but I am not injured and off running like I was with Jonathan.

Cravings/Aversions:  Carbs still mess with me and tomato based products and recipes are hit and miss and I don’t eat much peanut butter.  The egg craving (sunny side up, now) is still going strong as is the blue-cheese-on-salad and juicy fruits.  There are some days I’ve eaten 4 eggs in one day.  Salty protein is the best.  Husband found a recipe for a chicken breast brine recipe which he then barbecues – yum!

Sleep: If I am woken up I have a hard time going back to sleep now.  I feel like most nights some combination of husband and children wakes and keeps me up.  For instance, the other night Jonathan screamed until 10 (very unusual), Isaac woke up screaming at 12 and ended up in our bed eventually.  I slept from 1-4 until I couldn’t handle Husband’s snoring anymore and slept in Isaac’s toddler bed from 4:15-6:30 (is there a weight limit on those things?!?).  Not.  A.  Fan.

I am loving:  That I am feeling better.  That we are in a house with more space.  That I am looking more pregnant than fat.

I miss: Being single and childless.

Are you nesting? Well, we just moved so we are sorting, re-packing, getting rid of stuff, and finding places for things.  Anyone want any books?  So sort of nesting, but not really.

Milestones: I am nearly out of all my pre-pregnancy pants and I have pulled out maternity clothes.  I know that some people hate wearing maternity stuff before 20 weeks (or ever).  I am not one of those people.

Best moment this week: I asked Jonathan one night what was in my tummy and he said, “Baby!  Hi baby!” while smacking my stomach.

I am stressing over: Packing for California, unpacking the house, the in between state of my wardrobe when we are going to see people (I’m in the beer gut stage of pregnancy; lot of maternity clothes look dumb but regular clothes don’t fit.), and the state of my weight gain.

Movement:  Yup.  For the past few weeks.  Not noticeable from the outside, but I can tell.

It’s a: Chinese gender predictor says girl… I was thinking girl but at my 16 week visit the heart rate was 134, which is around where Jonathan and Isaac were.  Isaac has prayed for a sister and insists we are having a girl and her name will be Bria.

Exercise: Still running 5 days with cross training on 2-3 days.  With packing and the move I totally stopped doing weights and my mileage plummeted last week (19 miles.  I did 40 the week before!)  This week I am on track to get back to 30+.

Diet: Diet has been crappy.  I still get sick on and off and usually the day after I throw up a few times my weight goes up (Wha???).  Note to teenage girls: bulimia (and its distant cousin morning sickness) are not the ways to lose weight.

Exercise goal for the upcoming week: Get out and do weights!  Keep mileage at 30-35 for the week.

Belly Shot:

There is something about pregnancy magazines that draws me, even when I don’t happen to be expecting.  On the bike or elliptical (when not in the middle of a riveting novel) I find myself flipping through baby, parenting, pregnancy, and cooking magazines.  It’s only when I am actually pregnant, however, that I start paying attention to the statistics that are thrown around.  Here, for your entertainment, is a smattering of stats from a single issue of Fit Pregnancy.

If you exercise 3-5 times per week you have a 26% reduction of going into labor before term.

End up with Gestational Diabetes and you are 7 times more likely to get type II Diabetes later in life.

A combination of poverty and Gestational Diabetes increases your child’s likelihood of having ADHD.

A minimum of 4 months breastfeeding lowers a baby’s risk for MS later in life.

If you eat extra fiber you may gain 3.25 fewer pounds than women who choose white bread (high fiber eaters gained 27 pounds to the other group’s 30).  What if you prefer to gain less than either, is what I want to know.

80% of new moms hold onto some pregnancy pounds.

Moms who breastfed retained 0.9 fewer pounds per 3 months over moms who didn’t.

Depressed mothers have babies that are shorter than average.

Mothers who eat lots of chips tend to have babies that exhibit the same symptoms of babies whose mom’s smoked during pregnancy.

And that’s just the beginning!

Not listed in the magazine was the percentage of first time mothers who go crazy after reading that many pregnancy statistics.

Also featured are expensive maternity outfits (I have yet to discover why designers think that pregnant women want to show off swollen, chubby, varicose vein lined legs while hugely pregnant.  I don’t!), a lineup of maternity jeans (the ones that look most like your pre-pregnancy jeans will run you $167), and a belly band you can strap around your expanding waistline to play music to your baby (Or, um… you could just sing?)

First time moms beware.  I tend to laugh at most of the stuff in there, but I feel like pregnant women get such a crazy mix of messages.  Don’t gain too much weight!  You will end up fat, with diabetes, a C section, and a huge baby – and the weight will never come off!  But don’t gain too little either or your baby will be born to early and you will be a bad mom for starving your child!  Drink some caffeine but not too much!  Exercise daily, but only moderately and for 30 minutes.  Don’t drink alcohol unless you are pregnant and live in Europe!

Gah.

It is a hazardous thing to be pregnant in this information age unless you are willing to do a good deal of laughing and strategic disregarding of information.

As if you couldn’t tell I was pregnant already, here is another indicator.  I only did 1 hour and 45 minutes of vigorous cleaning at our old house before I found myself ready to sit down for an internet/water/ab work/scrabble through my purse in search of ANYTHING to eat break.  Non-pregnant me, even with this morning’s 8 miler would have been all about embracing the calorie burning of a massive cleaning project.  And as a note to self: all that was left in my purse was a smooshed and yucky South Beach bar.  Blech.  Time to restock the purse pantry!

So we moved.  Or are nearly moved.  Something along those lines.  We officially had to be out by July 1, but when we realized that our California trip was going to knock out almost 3 weeks in June it became imperative that we find a place and move before June.  Thanks to a friend who was walking by a nearby street, we looked at a house less than two weeks ago, signed the lease 3 days ago, and moved in 2 days ago.  May I note:

It is HARD to pack anything with small children.  Close to impossible, even.

 

It is not fun to move while pregnant, though 17.5 week is better than a move at 36 weeks and another move a week postpartum.

We have some incredibly good friends who not only helped us move our stuff (and for a small house we have a lot of stuff) but who also took on the daunting task of watching our two boys.  Watching the boys I think is by far the harder job.

I never want to move again but we probably will have to in a year.

Next time we move I think the smartest way to cut down on stuff is to get rid of our 3,000 books and invest in a Kindle and also get rid of all our children.  That should decrease the boxed stuff by about 80%.

We did not move into our dream house, by any stretch of the imagination, but oh, the space!  There is SO much more space than we had before that I am extremely glad to have made the move.  Husband pointed out that in the 5 moves we’ve made in our 6.5 years of marriage, each one has been a little more of an upgrade.  We started out in a 400 square foot studio and I had to put the crockpot on the bathroom counter to cook!  There is something about moving up incrementally that keeps me feeling incredibly grateful for the new opportunity and ready to leave the old place.  There is something nice about moving when you feel done with a space.

We have been in this house 3 years and 9 months, the longest of any of our stays.  And as I sit in the quietness of this house in which we had two children I am both grateful for the space that we had (a step up from our 1 bedroom California apartment) and ready to move on.

As soon as I finish cleaning the kitchen.

 

So my running has been really slow since about 6 weeks, when I began feeling sick.  And I am not exaggerating.  I know that runners who downplay their running can be as annoying as stick thin women who pinch their belly buttons and claim to be obese.  I don’t want to be one of those runners.  I feel like I have adequate knowledge of how I run though to know that I promptly got slower when the all-the-time-nausea set in.  If I do a run where I average a 9 minute pace I am doing really well.  Which means that there are substantially more runs during which I run even slower.  I have not done tempo runs, I have not done speed work, I have just gotten out and run slowly every week.

Last Saturday was the Free2Run 5K, a race that raises money for and awareness about human trafficking.  I decided to do for the third year in a row when I realized that I would be about 15.5 weeks and should at least be feeling okay-ish.  The first year I did the race I was pregnant, had not run in 2 months because of being injured, and ran it in just under 27 minutes – my slowest 5K ever.  Last year I ran 20:20 and missed being the first woman by about 20 seconds.  This year my goal was to hopefully finish faster than last time I was pregnant, since I am not as far along as I was then and have also been running regularly, which seemed like it should count for something.  I was a little sad to find that the old course had be re-imagined, this time with a hill involved, but since I was pregnant and not chasing a PR it didn’t bother me too much.  Okay, let’s be real.  It bothered me.

It’s hard to say no to a race that begins right out your kitchen window.  And it was such a beautiful day!

The day of the race I prepped my t-shirt.  And then I did a 2 mile warm up.  My goal was to get to 8 miles for the day (31 for the week) by piecing together my warm up, the 5K, and my cool down.  If you are not a runner, I realize that sounds dumb.  If you are a runner and accustomed to at least getting in a long-ish weekend run, you understand.

Husband decided to walk with the boys and the stroller while I ran.  There were about 130 or so runners and walkers and we all lined up, the gun went off, and we ran.

As I began to run I remembered something important.  I HATE being crowded in by other people.  I sort of feel this way about driving too, which is why I think it is fortunate that I have only received one speeding ticket in my life.  My goal, both in running and driving, is not not be near people while doing either activity.  This is one of the reasons that I love the idea of the Boston Marathon but have the feeling I would hate it in actuality.  I like to run races by myself.  Logical, no?

So I took off running.  And as I watched my Garmin hit 6:30 I had that sweet and glorious feeling.  The feeling you get when you slip into cold water on a hot day.  Or sink onto a soft couch when you’ve been on your feet for hours.  Or that first bite of a smooth and silky chocolate dessert.  Those moments where you think, truly: Oh. My. God.  Except there I was equating those blissful feelings with running a 6:30 pace, which I held for all of a minute.  But this was the fastest I’d run in 13 weeks and, oh my, the endorphin high from that moment was incredible!

After that, I just ran.  I ran a pace that felt good and comfortable and sustainable.  I hit mile 1 at just over a 7 minute pace and mile 2 (even with the hill) was a 7:15.  I never paid attention to mile 3.  It was such a good feeling to be out there and running harder than I had in forever and feeling good that I actually thought someone was making fun of me when they yelled that I was the first woman.  Maybe I would have run a bit faster if I believed them, but I didn’t.  The only category I knew I was capable of winning was the “Expectant Mothers” category.  Plus I knew that I’d seen women start ahead of me and I didn’t really remember passing any of them.

So I hit the finish line at 22:47, the 16th person to finish,  feeling good, like I hadn’t really raced and wasn’t totally spent, to find out that I really was the first woman to finish (all the cross country girls and fast women must have been elsewhere that morning!).  So I took off and ran another 2.9 miles to get to my 8 mile goal.  I felt like the Energizer Bunny – there’s the crazy pregnant lady again, still running!  Did she ever make it to the finish line?  The guy who came in first finished in 17:45, so you see the discrepancy in times!  I just think it is crazy how the specific field of runners totally dictates the end results (which I know sounds obvious).  But I ran so hard last year and barely got second and then this year I am pregnant, run so much slower and without really racing, end up first.  Whatever.  I got a fun plaque and a free road ID out of it, which I appreciate!

I am also thinking that I may need to start doing some speed work at the track because running fast felt so good.  Maybe I am just crazy.  But I will also admit that I took a 2+ hour nap in the afternoon and was tired (though not really sore) the following morning entire day.

I leave you with this helpful quotation from Dr. Miriam Stoppard from Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth.  “Jogging: This is very hard on your breasts and jarring for your back, spine, pelvis, hips, and knees.  Don’t jog while pregnant.”

That’s right, my pregnant friends.  Don’t jog.  RUN.

Inspirational 5K running song: Hall of Fame

Due Date: Still October 24th.  Ultrasounds (for what they are worth) at 7 weeks and 12 weeks both showed baby’s size to be consistent with that date.  So sometime at the end of October.

Weight Gain: You know how much you hate it when the scale jumps all over the place?  (Don’t lie… you know you do.)  Well, we have reached that phase of pregnancy, the part where weight fluctuations and pregnancy hormones converge to create the perfect storm.  For the record, I am up 2 pounds from pre-pregnancy.  Today.  But on Monday I was 0.5 pound up.  The next day my weight was 3.5 pounds up from that.  Yesterday it was an additional 1.2 pounds up (cue music from horror film).  But today it’s down several pounds and, so help me, I plan on making that stick around!

Symptoms: Still taking zofran for nausea most days (which I think I can phase out sometime soon) which creates it’s own set of symptoms.  Still moody at times though probably less depressed than I have been since February, so that’s nice.  Exhausted.  Oh, and those varicose veins from the second pregnancy that didn’t go away… yeah.  Yuck.  And ouch.  Something will need to be done about those after this baby comes.  Acid reflux at random times (like midnight) has been another symptom.

What’s different this time: This is the earliest I have begun feeling better.  I really felt like there was a difference this time when I hit 13-14 weeks.  As opposed to the last two times when I went around muttering about the damn liars who write pregnancy books and tell women they will feel better at the start of the magical second trimester.  LIARS all of them.  Also different this time is the fact that I am bigger.  (I really am – not just saying that.).  The weird thing is that for most of this pregnancy I have weighed less than the first two (been at or under my pre-preg 126 until 4 days ago) but I have felt heavier, pudgier, and my stomach is just bigger.  Third baby, I guess.  I thought I had abs of steel.

Maternity Clothes: Not yet.  Most of mine are still on loan to a friend and though I totally felt like I would outgrow everything at 11 weeks, at 15 weeks I am still wearing my normal jeans and shirts – I just look pudgy.  I did manage (last year) to find some $4 tops at Ann Taylor that are sort of like peasant blouses.  They are working very well right now.  Also, best summer maternity clothes ever?  Running shorts and old race t-shirts (as long as you don’t have to look all pulled together).

Cravings/Aversions:  Eggs!  How I love you, eggs.  Also, I have the dubious distinction of eating an entire pineapple the other day without meaning to.  Like I cut it open at lunch time and it was gone by 3:00.  Tomatoes are also delicious right now.  I think it might just be things with high water content.  Steak and other meat is good… pretty much as of two weeks ago food started sounded good again even though I still get sick occasionally.  Carbs, even though I eat them, are not something that I have been a huge fan of.  Peanut butter hasn’t been tasting good either, though bananas (which I found nauseating last pregnancy) are totally fine.

Sleep: I feel tired, but not as tired as I did a few weeks ago.  My most aggravating sleep complaint has been the onset of pregnancy insomnia; a kid wakes up, my husband snores erratically, and I watch the minutes tick by as I don’t sleep.  Not a fan.

I am loving:  Um.  Pineapple.  Duh.  Also the sunshine and the fact that it’s warmer.  The sun makes all the difference in the world.

I miss: I miss my body.  How I can be pregnant three times in 4.5 years and have managed to forget just how hard dealing with my changing and expanding body is never ceases to amaze me.  I also miss running really hard and training for something.

Are you nesting?  We are moving this month.  I am trying to figure out how to pack.

Milestones: Entering the second trimester (even according to my doctor’s office, which considers the second trimester to begin at 15 weeks.  Huh?).  I also feel like I have (again because of the waning nausea) come to a place of more acceptance of being pregnant.

Best moment this week: Feeling better is at the top of the list.  I am also glad to be done with my class.  I don’t miss driving back and forth two nights a week and getting to bed late on lab night.  Finding pineapple on sale for $1.59 was also nice.

I am stressing over:  Moving and the fact that the house we are moving into isn’t one that I love.  It will work for a year and the location is great, but I want wide open spaces, a dish washer, and beauty.  Hardwood floors, a private gym, a jacuzi tub, and a live in family member would also be nice.  Body image stuff is also rearing its ugly head as the nausea wanes and I down entire pineapples.

Movement:  I think so.  There have been little “bops” this past week that I am pretty sure are movement.

It’s a: My guess right now is girl.  However, based on my track record I have been sure we were having a girl both other times and look who was wrong.

Exercise: Running is feeling better now that I am not exhausted and puking on a daily basis.  I hit 35 miles last week and 36 the week before.  I am doing a 5K this weekend which messes with the running schedule, but I would be happy staying close to 30 mpw for a while.  I also did my first 10 miler in 8 weeks last Friday.  Did weights for the first time in about 8 weeks too and was sore for three days after.  My goal this week is to do them twice.  Still cross training a few times per week as well.

Diet: I am all over the place with food but as my weight has started jumping I am feeling the need to keep better track of what I am eating.  I still eat a lot of carbs when I feel nauseous but I would prefer to be eating a clean/closer to Paleo diet if I had my way.  Since the nausea has not completely lifted I am trying to cut myself some slack.  I am eating tons of fruit and veggies again though, so that’s a plus.

Exercise goal for the upcoming weeks: Run the 5K and have fun.  Do weights consistently twice a week.  Keep my mileage at 30-35.  I would love to up my long runs but we’ll have to see!

Belly Shot:

In the winter of 2010 I decided to dabble in Nursing prereqs and I took my first class at JCC.  It has taken me three years (Three!?!?  I got an entire BA done in that amount of time and worked 20 hours a week!) to make it through about 20 units of Nutrition, Anatomy and Physiology, Developmental Psych, Organic Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Microbiology.  And thanks to a program in the area that I found, all the classes and books and fees (except Nutrition) were free for me.  And I will totally admit that I sold some of my text books to Amazon and turned the gift card into running shoes!

I started Microbiology and marathon training in January at the same time.  Then I got pregnant.

In the end I completely dropped marathon training and barely finished Micro (50% success rate on large projects begun in 2013).  Once the nausea kicked in I couldn’t believe that two years prior I had managed to take Chemistry and Pharmacology and never missed a class. This time around my motto was “Excellent results with good enough effort”.  I had to get a 4.0, since most nursing programs do a point system and you get points awarded based on your grade in key classes.

So what was “good enough”?  It meant reading over the notes daily but not nearly enough.  It meant forgetting to look at the study questions.  It meant skipping lab one night because I felt sick instead of pushing through.  It meant not studying at all for the final lab quiz because I knew the instructor would drop the lowest score and I had 100% on the quizzes.  It meant getting through the first 5 exams with a 98% so that I could plan to skip the sixth exam (he dropped the lowest score of the six) and the five nights of lecture pertaining to it so that I could lay on my back and feel sick (I have NEVER skipped an exam in my life, even if I knew one would be dropped).  It meant not knowing all the answers on the final.

But when grades went up today, my “good enough” was good for a 4.0.

So now I am done with all my prerequisites and am feeling a little like I’m all dressed up with no place to go.  There is a good chance that we won’t be here more than a year.  At which point we could move anywhere and I could face an entirely different set of classes that need to be taken, provided we can manage to not get pregnant again.  Which, given our every-two-year track record would be asking a lot.

It is a bit anti-climactic knowing that I finally got through the classes but feel like it doesn’t matter much in the big picture.  So I did the only logical thing and went out to dinner with Husband to celebrate over seafood stuffed steak.  Sometimes you just need to celebrate regardless of how you feel.  And any excuse for a steak is fine with me!

I don’t miss reading about microbes and infectious diseases over nap time.  AT ALL!

Look!  Two of these in a row!  I am so proud.  Laura over at Navigating the Mothership is doing her quarterly Day in the Life (or for some people, Week in the Life round up) this week and for the first time ever I have managed to document two seasons in a row.

I opted to do Wednesday, April 17.  As soon as I started the day I wanted to do a take back, but honestly, I don’t think any of the other days this week would have been much better.

4:50 am: Jonathan starts yelling.  I drag myself out of bed six minutes later mumbling something about darned kids who are still breastfeeding at 18 months.

I walk into his room and he sits up like a Jack-in-the box, saying: “Mama!  Mama!” and promptly closes his eyes and opens his mouth.

5:15 am: I stumble back to bed where my alarm goes off at 5:50.  I hit snooze until 6:10, when Husband enters to wake me up.  I manage to open my eyes at 6:15.  I tentatively swing my legs out of bed at 6:20.  Isaac, of course, is already up and sitting in his room.  I pour an inch of coffee and try to wake up as Husband rails against the mess that is adult education.

6:45 am: I slowly get ready to run, popping a single shot block that is left in the package.  Because there is nothing like 33 calories to fuel a run.

7:15 am: I finally make it out the door.  It is 32 degrees, windy, and sort of rainy/lightly sleeting.  Who needs coffee?  Running in this weather is bracing enough!  I am hoping to do 6 miles and am enjoying myself so much that I do 8.  It takes me an hour and 13 minutes, fully 6 minutes more than a slow 8 miles would take me when I’m not pregnant.  Pink and Fallout Boy see me through and I actually enjoy the run.  I am finding more and more that the constantly slow runs bother me.

I just want to get through the distance in a normal amount of time!  But when I enjoy the process and the scenery it’s so much better.  If you try to tie in life lessons here, I will probably smack you.

8:30 am: I return home and jump into the flurry of getting people dressed and fed.

Isaac gets dressed and then watches part of The Sword in the Stone, one of his current favorites.

9:00 am: I take Isaac across the parking lot to preschool.  After I make my escape I come home to the horrendous mess that is our house and pop a Zofran.  I make some eggs, which I eat every day without fail.  I crave eggs.

I consider taking a prenatal vitamin, but having been unable to stomach one yet, I decline.  It’s been 14 weeks of no prenatals, what’s another day?  Husband exits stage left, en route to teaching in Lansing and Dearborn.  This schedule means that he will be home around midnight.

I clean the house while Jonathan hangs out and I change jeans 5 times.  I am at the weird jean stage of pregnancy where all my jeans fit until noon and then they don’t button anymore.  But if I move up to my “fat” jeans, the waist doesn’t fit right and they fall down.  Good times.

9:47 am: I try making cottage cheese with nonfat milk.  Supposedly this should work.  I have had great success with 1% milk but the verdict is “don’t bother” when it comes to nonfat milk.

I promptly toss the results.  I also finish the dishes.

10:30 am: Time for second breakfast!  Followed almost immediately by a graham cracker and cottage cheese.

10:52 am: After reading a few books together, Jonathan finally succeeds in completely getting on my nerves.

I remove him to his crib and take myself to the living room.  I think our problem is the fact that today he hits 18 months and I am 13 weeks 6 days pregnant.

That’s enough to mess with anyone’s relationship.  Ah, quiet.  Finally.

11:30 am: We head out in the stroller to get Isaac from preschool.

By now it is snowing.  Because what else would it be doing in Michigan at the end of April.  I take a line from What to Expect and mentally turn it into our state motto.  Michigan: Where happiness goes to die.  You can’t actually see the snow flakes in the picture below, but trust me, they are there.

11:40-12:10 pm: We decide to hit the library.  Since we can see the library from our house, traveling there through snow and wind with two small children in a stroller is no big deal.  Once there, Isaac plays with the chess set and breaks a knight and Jonathan tries to see how many DVD’s he can remove from their cases while I am not looking.

12:25 pm: We having lunch and I try something I have wanted to try for a while – making microwave popcorn using normal popcorn and a brown paper bag.  It works!

Though I do burn the first batch.  Popcorn, yogurt, and hot chocolate for lunch – works for me.

Lunch is set to the back drop of a really annoying CD that I picked up at the library.

1:15 pm: We discover the sound on my laptop has quit working and Isaac has a meltdown when he discovers he can’t watch Diego.  He runs around the house with his sword while I nurse Jonathan and lay him down for a nap.  I try roasting some garbanzo beans that I saw on Pinterest.

1:40 pm: Isaac and I read a book and he goes down for his “nap”.  I finally get to eat my lunch as well as check email, waste time on Pinterest, and do other nap related tasks.

3:00 pm: The stench from Isaac’s room suggests that I change him.  The kid is completely potty trained, including staying dry at nights, except for the fact that he poops in a diaper almost every day at nap time.  I hate it.  It is nauseating.  Today is special and Isaac has, for the first time ever, stuck his hands in his diaper and then touched other stuff in his room.  I get very mad and say mean things to him.

3:35 pm: I start feeling nauseous and start snacking, hoping to quell the nausea.  I discover Isaac has fallen asleep and I wake him up at 3:58.

4:00 pm: The babysitter arrives.  I try not to think about the fact that we have spent almost the grocery budget in babysitting this month because that has been the only way to survive without family helping us.  With my microbiology final the next evening and a Tuesday and Wednesday where husband works 9 am to 11:30 pm and I am home all day with the kids, some things have to give.  Apparently our budget is that thing.

4:00-6:00 pm: I head out to study, stopping by a bathroom to throw up.  I spend an hour on the stationary bike with my micro notes and then get off and study some more.

6:00 pm: I return home feeling exhausted and nauseous.  I throw both boys in the bath tub where they do a lot of splashing and not listening and I do a lot of yelling.

I get them in pajamas, feed them dinner, and (barely) get through the bedtime routine.

All I can think while trying to get through the last hour and a half is; “Why is this so f****** hard?”  I know I am the only parent out there who has thoughts like that, especially with bad words thrown in for good measure, but there you go.  Day in the life, folks.  (And yes, I realize that the above pictures make them look like adorable and effortless charges.)

7:30 pm: The sun comes out for the first time all day, just in time for the boys to go to bed.  Jonathan nurses and then grabs my hand, pulls it over his face and then pulls it out crowing: “A BOO!”  So we play peek-a-boo a few times before I lay him down.

7:44 pm:  Isaac needs to get out and go to the bathroom.  ”Will my shift ever be over?” I wonder.

7:45-9:00 pm: I waste time, I try to study.  I continue feeling exhausted, sore, and nauseous.  The bread that sounded so good when I got home and the cereal that sounded like it would cure the nausea gets thrown up along with everyone else.

9:00 pm: I go in and feed Jonathan praying that he will sleep through the night.  I brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

9:31 pm:  I am done.  There is nothing left.  I realize that I am wearing the same cold weather pajamas that I was wearing back in January for the Winter Day in the Life.  That is depressing.

I climb in bed and sleep the sleep of an exhausted pregnant woman, waking only to roll over to the other side when Husband arrives home sometime near midnight.

The End.

1.  Start training for a marathon, preferably one for which you have lofty goals.

2.  Be sure to announce to your husband and anyone else who is around how you are absolutely not wanting to be pregnant or have another baby at the moment.

3.  Make future plans that you would actually enjoy doing that do not involve pregnancy, nursing a baby, constant nausea, or lack of sleep.

4.  Lend out all your cute maternity clothing.

5.  Choose your birth control based on not wanting to be impacted by hormones.

This method seems to work for me.