Heartburn and Indigestion and Reflux, OH MY!!

Time to get back to the list....as a reminder, we're talking about things that have been different for me during pregnancy #2. So, on with the show.

3. Okay, so I really have no idea of the differences between the three ailments listed in the title of this post. To me, they're interchangeable. So, if someone feels compelled to comment and give me the Web MD definitions of each, that's cool. All I know is that I have nightly bouts of that burning sensation in my chest and throat. I've almost been through an entire plastic tub of antacids, but I can't really tell that they do anything. But, hey, if you buy the tropical fruit variety, it's kind of like eating candy at bedtime. It feels so wrong, yet so very right!

I always heard that lots of heartburn = a baby with lots of hair. So, given how much hair Bailey had at birth - and I didn't have much heartburn, at least that I can remember - then this baby is likely to come out looking like Fabio. Or old school Michael Bolton. No, I'm thinking that this baby will probably be completely bald, since all I'm used to is a kid with good hair.

4. Sleep isn't what it used to be. I remember during my first pregnancy that, if I was tired at 7 p.m., I went to bed. Surprisingly, you just can't do that the next time around. Well, I guess I can go to bed whenever I want, but that both puts a lot of parenting pressure on my husband AND that means sacrificing precious time with my daughter. I'm not really willing to do either (most days, that is). Even when I do get the rare opportunity to sneak off and take a nap, I just can't sleep anymore. This goes for nighttime, too. My body and mind are both so fatigued but, between not being able to find a comfortable position, sweating my a?% off, and the constant racing of my mind, sleep is sometimes elusive. When I wake up in the morning and drag myself out of bed, it's not a pretty picture.

5. I'm so much less worried about all the weird physical things that pregnancy brings. If you've been pregnant, you know that there's all kinds of strange and sometimes downright scary physical sensations along the way. Some of these are explained in detail in the books you read, but some are not...and, even if they are, you don't really believe the fact that they aren't dangerous when you actually experience them. I remember living in fear during my first pregnancy, as every new feeling could potentially lead to the end result of a dead baby. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the way I thought. I asked every restaurant waiter if the salmon was farm raised or wild. I avoided my favorite Cobb salad because of the blue cheese. I made sure to have only 1 (or less) diet cokes each day. And so on, and so forth.

This time, I'm certainly aware of absolute dangers. It's not like I go out of my way to stand in front of the microwave or anything. But, I just don't let most things stress me out. I've realized that it's much better to spend 9 months of your life enjoying the moment than to spend it agonizing over every little thing. There's plenty of time for agonizing once that new little life is outside of my body. That's when the real worrying begins.

Okay, gotta go. Peace...

"You had a bad day" (sung to the tune of that annoying Daniel Powter song)

Okay, before I get back to the list I started earlier, I have to detail for you my most recent "bad day." Now, the disclaimer is that there are kids starving in underprivileged countries, rare sicknesses ravaging nations....all that. So, my bad days can be put into perspective. But, that doesn't mean I can't complain about them. We all have rights, you know.

I've been having major allergy issues this week. Since when do I have allergies??? They started about 1 1/2 years ago and have been relentless this year. Of course, I can't have the typical sneezy, stuffy symptoms. Mine have to be weird. I get a bunch of drainage in my throat that sometimes feels like it's drowning me (don't read if this grosses you out!) and, lately, my eyes have been watering and burning so badly that people think I'm having some kind of personal problem that is making me cry all day. Uggh.

So, anyway, a couple of days ago I was burning and watering like mad, so I just decided to go home from work a little early and take it easy. I stopped at the pharmacy, stocked up on Claritin and allergy eye drops, and picked up Bailey from my mother-in-law's house. Since my in-laws only live about 2 blocks away, Bailey gets to enjoy sitting in the front passenger seat for the short distance home. When I got there, she couldn't get the door open on her own (which is typical), so I proceeded to walk around the car to open it for her. Unfortunately, I had a bunch of things in my arms at this point. When I opened the door, I realized (too late) that she was leaning into it. She toppled headfirst out of the car. I drive an SUV, so it's not like the distance from car seat to garage floor is short. I couldn't get the stuff out of my arms fast enough to catch her and she hit the floor head first....a friend at work calls this kind of accident the "bowling ball moment." That's because the sound of your child's head hitting the ground sounds like you just dropped a bowling ball. Anyway, after a whole lot of tears (hers AND mine), and checking to make sure there were no broken bones, she was just fine. But, it's moments like these when you realize how scary even small injuries can be.

Fast forward to later in the evening when I started feeling better (yay, Claritin!) and decided it was time to exercise a bit in order to pay the price for the Sonic burger I gave in to the day before....

I got on the treadmill like usual and put the tv on one of my many guilty pleasures. Our treadmill is now in the study, which I know isn't important to the story but I have to point out that this is another "new baby coming" byproduct....we used to have a room dedicated to the treadmill and weights. How convenient. Now, guess what room that is now?? You got it - the nursery. So, we had to reconfigure our study to include the treadmill as there is really no other place in the house to put it. Well, I guess that's not true - it could sit out in the middle of our living room or kitchen if we really wanted it to. I guess we could have gotten rid of it, but I feel as though that treadmill is the only thing that I can rely on to help me shed baby weight here in a few months, so it's not going anywhere. The treadmill is my friend.

But, I digress. So, back to me on the treadmill a few nights ago. I'm watching t.v.; Bailey is playing with toys on the floor beside me. The doors to the study are closed so as not to bother Jason, who is watching t.v. in the adjacent living room. Is the stage sufficiently set? Good. Well, as I was trotting along, I accidentally stepped on the side of the treadmill instead of squarely on the belt. In any non-pregnant moment, I'm sure I would have easily recovered. In fact, I know I've done this a million times before. On this particular occasion, however, the misstep caused me to lose my balance and fall. My knees and shins hit the treadmill and it started pushing me backward. Funny how I never thought twice about placing the treadmill in the corner of the room until this very moment, when the moving belt pushed me back and basically trapped me up against the wall. Do you have the visual? I was desperately trying to crawl over the belt and deposit myself onto the (non-moving) floor, all the while the treadmill keeps moving and burning the skin off my legs. I finally made it onto the (non-moving) floor and just collapsed for a good 2 minutes. All Bailey could say/do the whole time was stare at me with a panicked look on her face and say "Mommy, stop doing that!!!" Seriously, there was a toddler on the news who could only say, like, 6 words but managed to find the phone, dial 911 and communicate that her mother had fallen...which resulted in the saving of her mother's life. But, that kid can't hold a candle to you, Bailey!!!!

My legs hurt SOOOO badly. I spent the whole rest of the night walking around with my pants rolled up past my knees in order to air out my oozing wounds. Needless to say, we are now out of those big band aids as I have about 10 covering the various skinned parts of my appendages.

Oh, I forgot to mention my favorite part. After all the drama with my treadmill fall, what was Jason's comment? "Are you going to get back on and finish your workout?" And, scene.

I know I said I would get back to my list, but this post was long so I'll get back to that another day!

9 Weeks Out!

So, before I had Bailey I thought that first-time motherhood would be the end of freedom as I knew it. And, perhaps it was, but I didn't really notice it all that much. This time, I'm acutely aware of how much more difficult 2 kids will be. Now, I know it will be awesome, but I'm also preparing myself for a lot more chaos. The reality is that my 3-year-old will not automatically start being self-sufficient, take great naps, and give up temper tantrums and her sense of entitlement just because I'm having another baby.

On the flipside, I'm so very excited to see what a little boy will bring for us! It's going to be a whole new experience, for which I'm very thankful. Once I get over the hurdle of dealing with a pee-pee (the 7-year-old me says "GROSS!"), having a boy will be really cool. Since I grew up with 3 brothers, that's what I was used to before I had Bailey. But, for the past 3 years, I've been absorbed with PINK, and HAIR ACCESSORIES, and PLAY KITCHENS, and "PRECIOUS" CLOTHES! What a change it will be to focus on some different things (I hope!!!!!).

At 31 weeks pregnant, here are some things I've learned the 2nd time around:

1. You get bored after about 6 months. With a first baby, there's all the new and exciting chapters to read in your "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book, registries to coordinate, showers to fuss over, the room to deliberate over, and varied-angle pictures of your belly to take. With a 2nd baby, you might get out the "What to Expect" book, but you read straight through and realize you already know all you need to know (or are willing to find out - sometimes ignorance is bliss) and put it back on the shelf in Month 2. As for the registry and showers, you don't know whether it's kosher to ask for things since it's your 2nd baby. But, when your friends convince you that, yes, you need a registry if only for those family members that will buy you a little something something, you go online (why waste time going into the store) and pick out a few things and call it a day. And, that brings us to the room. If you're like me, the room is really important, but you just don't have the same energy as you did with the first. So, the decisions are easier, the painting job a little less meticulous and the overall product just shy of perfect. I won't even address the belly pictures, because it goes without saying that pictures of yourself at this point just aren't your favorite things in the world. :-)

2. As if to illustrate the meaning behind the previous sentence....your belly gets bigger the 2nd time. You start out about the same, and may even gain about the same amount of weight, but your belly will be bigger. I feel as though I'm as big right now as I was when Bailey was born...maybe I'm really not, but perception is reality, right?! I told a friend recently that I'll be okay until some stranger asks me if I'm having twins. At that point, I might snap and go postal...who knows?

To be continued....