@SheilAnneSmith A girl!!!! how exciting!! Congratulations!

@SheilAnneSmith That appointment definitely sounds miserable with the full bladder and having to wait so long and having to go back but I'm glad everything is looking good! Beautiful name and yay for getting to see your precious girl another time!

Aww..so Marlin got to feel baby girl kicking for the first time last night and it just happened to be on his Birthday. She's not even here yet and she's upstaging me on birthday presents!!

@SheilAnneSmith Hooray! What a beautiful picture! Beautiful little girl! Also, the name sounds very special having a lot of importance in memory of precious family. I'm very happy for you, even if the appointment was a total pain in the bladder.

@Kirstie155 Thank you! @WifiresGettingFit Slowly getting better! MIL is working on a baby shower now, and I'm just gonna let her go crazy with that. Haha.

Ok, sorry I was gone so long. I was doing better, then started working longer shifts again, and doubles. Basically, after 4-6 hours, I start to fall apart with dizziness, nausea, etc. I was also struggling with a lot of round ligament pain and breast pain in the evenings too--not normal pain, but hot fiery slashing nipple pain that had me howling and clutching ice to my boobs. (Husband couldn't figure out how to react to that.) Lol. Ice doesn't really work, neither does menthol aloe, pressure, tylenol or heat packs, btw. The internet is full of lies! I finally got some numbing oral gel, but never got to use it before the pains stopped all on their own.

Then I came down with a nasty head/throat cold. Not fun, as it revived the morningsickness completely just when I thought I was free of it! Body couldn't tell the difference between cough/sneeze and gag/throw up. So I took a couple days off. It snowed, and the restaurant was closed a bit, which helped me recover. I had to work more doubles after the snow while some employees were stranded out in the county though. (They don't salt or scrape county roads here.)

Anyway, I still have flashes of nausea and tiredness after a few hours of activity. But I feel a lot more like my normal self these days. I'm actually doing housework again, cooking meals (new kitchen stool is the bomb) and even sleeping at night. I've been going through my clothes, and packing away stuff that's too small. Oddly enough, I'm less bloated than I was the past couple months, and can wear more of my things. I can bend at the waist without pain, and walk up and down stairs. I'm back to working 9+ hr shifts, but taking more breaks to eat and drink. Hardly taking any nausea meds either. I just wanna get back to normal life as much as possible. Hoping 2nd trimester keeps getting better!

@Alioth so glad things are getting better for you! It sounds like things have been so rough. Glad your MIL is busy throwing you a shower! I hope things continue improving

@WifiresGettingFit Yes, that baby shower is for me. My aunt/mom and pulling it together in Oregon, so that's why it's a bit early as I didn't want to travel 500 miles each way any later than March and we're sneaking it in before cows start calving the 2nd half of March.

I am hoping something will also happen closer to home, some cousins of Marlin mentioned they'd do something close to home when we told them I was expecting but we haven't heard anything since then so I'm not sure where that stands. Despite not having many friends, I do have a pretty good group of co-worker type friends from both this job and my previous one, so it would be nice to do something here as well. I'll just sit on it and wait for now I suppose.

@Alioth Congratulations on the baby boy! Do you guys have a name picked out? The nursery theme sounds cute! I'm glad to hear the placenta issue should resolve itself! I'm glad overall you're feeling better! I hope you had a good day at work!

@Alioth Yay for a boy! They are super fun! That sounds like a really fun theme. My husband was complaining last week about the number of different colors and patterns in our nursery. If it were up to him, there would be a very small selection of muted and well coordinated/matching colors. For me, the nursery is actually my favorite room in the house. It's so fun and happy.

@Alioth Bruce isn't too common of a name (at least in my area), I've only ever met two. Are there other names in the running that you prefer more? Can't help you about the swimsuit conundrum but going out on the lake sounds fun!

@Alioth My boy parent advice: prepared to get peed on. It will happen. Use a washcloth, extra diaper, peepee teepee, whatever you have to. Buy cute clothes when you see them, because they are fewer and farther between than cute girl clothes and may not be available in the right size when you are deliberately searching. That's all I've got for now.

I would just wear a bikini. I wound up not having a reason to use a swimsuit while pregnant but would have worn a bikini and enjoyed the many horrified looks when people saw my extremely extensive stretch marks.

Just thought it might be time to check-in again. Time is flying and we only have 6.5 weeks to go. I feel no where near ready right now. I just finally even got anything unpacked from the baby shower this last weekend. Marlin and I have both been sick, him with a Flu-like bug that's had him down for almost two weeks and me with bronchitis for the last week. Just getting through a workday is a victory as all I really want to do is sleep!

We have our last "child birth education" class tonight and besides what little we touched on labor/pain management a few weeks ago, I've done nothing to further plan or prepare--it's making me pretty anxious, but I just haven't had the time or energy to dedicate towards further education. I do know it'll just be Marlin and I, I don't have anyone else for support during labor, my mom won't be able to make it until after she's born. I'm leaning heavily towards no epidural, but my reasons are purely out distrust for the medical world--both in the administration and then pushing of further interventions. But we are both going to need to be a lot more prepared to ensure we aren't forced into anything in the heat of the moment.

Good news is the hospital has private tubs in each room, birthing balls and laughing gas as an option. They also practice delayed cord clamping as a rule and delay any procedures until after 2 hours of skin to skin and a successful first feed as long as all is going well. We are actually touring their birth center tonight.

I've been hovering around 10 pounds gained for the last month so I'm very happy with how well that's gone for me, as is the doctor. Controlled gains along with tedious blood sugar tracking has kept the doctors from pushing any extra testing or anything. When I spoke to them last week they weren't pushing for anything out of routine for NST or ultrasounds, so I'm very happy with that. My next appointment is the 11th and then we'll start moving towards weekly appointments.

I am feeling very round, it's started to hurt to bend over and I've been noticing days of increased pelvic pressure, not all the time, but some days are worse than others. I had planned to take advantage of some free physical therapy at the college after I did their pain study for them, but I've been too busy to even schedule it. At this point, I may not even bother. My hips/back feel better when I get walks in, but it went back to snowing again for now, maybe later in the week if the snow is gone and I am over being sick I can get more walks in again.

So as ill-prepared as I feel right now, I also can not wait for it to be over. Pregnancy is not something I am finding great joy in, it's a means to an end and that's about it for me! More power to those who love this time of their life but for me, I'm ready to get back to being able sling sacks of grain, cow *kitten* and hay without physical limitations!

We aren't doing anything real matchy or coordinated but here is the state of the nursery so far. I need to get my recliner delivered and it'll be about all together. I've added some various fabric storage totes on the shelves since the photos--they are pink and we're 80% off, so I'll take whatever color is on sale!