week 18

wrapping up week 18. It was so incredibly hot out earlier this week that I spent about 5 days with a throbbing pain above one eye. Tylenol didn't do much, so I was also napping constantly, and drinking caffeinated Coke more often than I'd like. Never more than 1 or 2 per day, but pretty much every day for a week.

Wednesday night I took a 2 hour nap after work, and was really dizzy when I woke up. Tylenol, back to bed. Still really dizzy in the morning, to the point where I had to catch myself a few times to keep from falling over. I called work to tell them I wouldn't be in until 5 (I was scheduled to work night shift), made a giant fruit and juice smoothie, and took a 3 hour nap. Finally I could move around without feeling like I would pass out, so I went to work for the evening and also survived a long day there yesterday with no problems.

Luckily it has cooled down a little since then and my head has been fine. I am prone to dizziness anyhow, with my migraines, but I found out that dizziness is also a pregnancy symptom and one of the causes is lying/sleeping on your back. I try to sleep on my side, but I often end up on my back after I'm asleep. The past few nights, I've been forcing myself to stay on my side by putting a pillow behind me, and I seem to get a better nights sleep this way.

Still haven't felt little pal moving around in there, or at least not for certain. A few times I felt something briefly that was like a little tickle in my stomach...which was probably him but it was so faint and so quick that its hard to say. Most people feel some kicks by 20 weeks, so I should start feeling something within the next week or two.

We take you now to Kermit the Frog with another fast-breaking news story!

I'm digressing from baby news for a moment to ask a favor of all of you that live in Ohio.

Governor Strickland, in an effort to balance the state budget, is proposing a 50% reduction in library funding. This 50% loss would be devastating to all of Ohio's libraries, forcing many of them to close, and many others to drastically reduce their services and hours. However, it would only serve to close 7% of the overall budget gap.

As a librarian, but also as a believer in libraries as a community resource, I'm concerned for the future of libraries in Ohio if this budget gets passed. Libraries are a valuable community resource in prosperous times, but are absolutely vital in times of economic trouble. They serve as community centers, havens for the unemployed and underemployed, homework help centers, computer labs, and much much more. A reduction in library funding, especially by this large an amount, would have a tremendous negative impact on many members of our communities, just when they need our services the most.

Please contact Governor Strickland and your state representatives to voice your concern over these cuts. The budget will be finalized by June 30th, so we only have 9 days to make our voices heard. For more information, please go to http://saveohiolibraries.com



(Thanks for listening. We now return to our regularly schedule programming...)

Eating for Two

...even though one of us is only 6 inches long and weighs less than half a pound.

I'm having a hard time eating healthy, and instead find myself eating fast food and junk food...both because its readily available, and because I don't typically feel like cooking. As it is right now, little pal is most likely developing fond feelings for donuts and cheeseburgers.

I have to track my food intake for a week to show the midwives. My next appointment is 2 weeks from today, so I'm going to try tracking everything starting tomorrow. Maybe the shame of having to show it to them will inspire me to eat much healthier.

The hardest part for me in the cooking process is coming up with a menu and sticking with it. If someone would just tell me what to cook, I'd be set! I think I have this idea that every meal has to be fantastic, when really, it just needs to get nutritious food in our bellies. It doesn't need to be the best thing we've ever tasted.

So if anyone has some yummy recipes that are quick and easy (and healthy!) that you'd like to share, send 'em my way. Or even just ideas of easy brown bag lunches, snacks, etc. I could use some inspiration...

Wedding weekend

Saturday was Amy & Bob's wedding. Everything was beautiful, and went really smoothly, but man it was such a long long day! Hair appointment at 10 am, straight to the church to get ready, and got back home and in bed sometime after midnight. Sleeping in would have been lovely, but as Tim and I both had family in town, we got an early start to our day and spent the day visiting. I am so glad that I had the foresight to take tomorrow off work so I can recover.

On that note, here is a picture of me from the wedding. But not a true progress picture post....my belly was not as visible in this dress as it is in other outfits.

It's A....

(disclaimer: if you don't want to find out the sex of our baby, you shouldn't read this post. In fact, you should probably stop reading the blog in general because I'm sure I'll be mentioning it from now on.)

It's a BOY! He was not being very cooperative during the ultrasound at first, and had his legs crossed, but he finally let us see after 20 minutes or so. Isaac Henning will be here before we know it.

lack of sleep

I haven't been sleeping well the last few days, except for my random 2 and 3 hour naps on Saturday and Sunday. Tim and I switched sides of the bed since I was getting up so many times in the middle of the night, so now I am closer to the door.

We have since found out that Payton snuggles Tim to death not because she likes him, but rather because she likes that side of the bed. We have a king bed that is made by connecting two twins. There is a foam strip down the middle that connects the two mattresses, which also leaves a small ridge. She doesn't like sleeping on that ridge, so it ends up being Payton and one of us in one twin bed, and the other of us in the other twin bed. So I've been getting squashed and crowded out of the bed by a 100-lb bloodhound for the past few nights.

Our mattresses are pretty old anyhow, so that in itself could be contributing. If there was ever a time that I need a restful nights sleep, its now, so I think we're going to try to get a new mattress set soon. Hopefully if we get a real king mattress, Payton might sleep across the middle of the bed instead of in my lap.

More progress pics to come soon, hopefully tonight. And Friday is our ultrasound! Keep your fingers crossed that baby bird cooperates and hopefully we will find out if its a boy or a girl.