Week 26 (11/20-11/26)

This week has been sort of uneventful baby-wise. She's moving around a lot. A lot. Especially when I'm laying down. She has no regard for my comfort, I guess I better get used to that. This week I'm practicing the baby being a girl, which is terrifying. I see some of the ladies that Hov's friends know (in the biblical sense) and good lord- you can do everything in your power to try and instill a sense of self-worth and respect and she could still end up a hot mess wearing fish net "clothing" and in general looking kind of sad. I think things would be easier in a lot of ways if it's a boy. If it's a boy then you have a whole different set of things to deal with but I think it's probably less stressful. Thoughts on the issue?

I went yesterday to do the glucose tolerance test to see if I am at risk for gestational diabetes. I hope it's all normal, there are a few people in my family who had it but they are all overweight so I think that may have had more of an effect than just genetics. If anyone ever has to go do this test, it's simple enough. You go in after having fasted, so I went first thing in the morning, and was dying of thirst. They draw like four tubes of blood, my veins are giant so it's usually never a problem. Then they give you this bottle of glucose drink. Imagine a powerade but with two or three times the syrup in it. I normally drink water, this was brutal. Not just that, I didn't realize that the bottle should have been shaken for like five minutes prior to consumption so a lot of the syrup had settled to the bottom and the more I drank, the thicker it got. It was awful. I almost threw it up. Then you wait an hour and of course can't drink water or eat anything or chew anything and they take more blood. If it comes back normal then we're good to go, if not I have to go back for a 3 hour test where they do something else, I haven't really looked into it yet.

I don't need another complication, this pregnancy has already brought my digestive system to a near halt. It's so uncomfortable. It's to the point where I'm not even hungry most of the time because things are going so slow. I sent Hov to the store to buy me some colace, I already have prunes by the bucketful and am drinking tons of water. For those of you who are grossed out- seriously reconsider ever getting pregnant. This is a very mild version of what's happening.

We are signing up for a birth course that starts in January and have been watching some birth videos. Not looking forward to the "ring of fire" or what I have coming for me but it's too late to go back at this point. Ha! We went to blue cross blue shield to see how much this whole ordeal is going to cost and we'll see, it's a good thing we have a 10k out of pocket limit. Freaking 10k. That's a joke, not to mention the pregnancy spans two calendar years so we have to meet the deductible twice. I told Hov I'm just gonna have the baby in our bathtub.

On the job front, Hov had his interview on Friday and we're waiting to hear back very nervously. If it doesn't work out then we'll be scrambling for him to get some form of employment. I have loved having him home though. That's been really really nice. I leave him with a mini honey-do list every day and he's been cooking which I love.

Week 25 (11/13-11/19)

What a week this has been!

First, the baby has been up and kicking in a big way. This week it feels like a he (I had a dream it was a he this week), and he is the size of a head of cauliflower, a rutabaga (not sure the size on that) or an eggplant. I am up to a total gain of 14 pounds which my grandmother will not let go. She insists that I do not gain any more weight. Considering the average pregnancy results in a 25-35 pound weight gain I'm pretty sure I'm within normal limits but for whatever reason she is convinced I'm a heifer.

Regardless of the weight jabs, I did have a lovely meal with the family on Saturday in Miami. I originally had the trip planned to visit Hov and of course I wake up on Friday with the beginnings of what I thought was the flu (body aches, cold sweat, cough, severe sore throat etc). I got to Miami Friday night and it was in full force. All weekend was spent trying to sleep and not feel like my skin and muscles were going to fall off. We went to RedFish Grill for dinner on Saturday after the extra strength tylenol kicked in and I was feeling a little better. I had never been there and I loved it, the outside is perfect for a wedding reception. I looked into it but it's a little too much for us.

I'm finally starting to feel a little better but I'm still stuck in bed. Hovik gets into town today which is amazing. He officially resigned and will be driving up as soon as he finishes getting ready. I'm ecstatic. I couldn't be happier. He has an interview this coming Friday and then he sits for the GMAT on his birthday (Dec 14th) so he will have a busy next couple of weeks... And once he finishes with the GMAT, I'll have him start on the nursery. I'm excited that we get to do that together.

Archie is going to have a hard time adjusting once Hov gets back. He used to sleep on the floor on his bed but I have to admit since Hov has been
gone he's been my bed buddy. We'll see what happens. He's actually pretty flexible, he just lays wherever I put him so hopefully it won't be a big deal. He's actually started laying on my belly, it's kind of cute. I can start balancing things on it which is entertaining and kind of disturbing at the same time. It's getting big!! Not only is it getting big, my belly button is starting to invert itself. I took a picture of it, so this pic is a close-up of my belly button.

Inverted belly button!

I am actually not too happy about the belly button going inside out. It's only half-way so far but if you look at the picture really fast it looks like a nipple which would be an awkward picture to have up here. You all don't have to worry, those pics won't be coming.

Week 24 (11/6- 11/12)

So a pretty big development in my life is happening. Hov and I decided to try and see if we can't get him back up here in Tallahassee. We were seriously weighing our options starting a few days ago and now it's in full effect. We sort of realized that all these sacrifices we were making by living with family members and saving every penny and dealing with all things Miami (traffic, horrible commutes, douchebags) was to eventually get a lifestyle down there that we pretty much already have up here. The only thing that was keeping us going was being near family which is still really important to us but I think we have to consider a positive quality of life. My family already has said they're going to be visiting a lot anyway. We'll see what happens. Staying in Tallahassee means Hov has to find a job up here now since he obviously can't go back to his old job. If he can't find a job then he can't really leave Miami since we need his income to pay all the bills. I really hope it works out. We have so much space up here that is OUR space. I'd feel a lot better if it worked out and also it would be way easier with finishing my program. Fingers crossed everyone. It's too bad we don't have more contacts up here, it just seems like most of the people we have known have Tallahassee as a stopping point, not really as a destination.

I've been in ZERO mood to cook lately which has meant there has been more eating out this week than normal. Not really great but quite tasty. I must get better. This belly is big enough as is! I did have a super craving for tres leches for some reason so I decided to make one and halfway through realized I couldn't eat the frosting so left it naked and have basically eaten half of it as of today. Keep in mind that the pan it's in is a half-sheet. It came out way too thin but the last time I made it in a regular 9x13 pan there wasn't enough space for the frosting so I thought this was the solution (which wouldn't have mattered anyway since I didn't make the frosting) but I won't be making this mistake again.

Another amazing thing is I got the babyshower invite from my girls Brooke and Maddie, I'm obsessed. Brooke is so talented with all DIY things, she made her own wedding invitations and I love what she did with these invites. So simple but so cute. I can't wait for the babyshower, I'm excited.


I also finally went and changed my name officially. I am no longer Claudia Vargas, it's now Claudia Arakelian. It's like a tongue twister, try to say it three times fast. I had tried to go shortly after we went to the courthouse but the government shutdown was going on and they laughed in my face. This time I went to the social security office 20 minutes before they opened and was already 11th in line. I was pretty annoyed but actually it went really quickly and it was totally fine. In and out in like 15 minutes. I took advantage of being out to go have breakfast by myself at Canopy Road. I pretty much raged. They have the most delicious sweet potato pancakes so of course I had to get one of those, and eggs with a side of bacon... but then I had a craving for biscuits and gravy so I got some of those too. I left with a bunch of leftovers but those didn't last until the end of the day. The only thing that was annoying was you can't go change your drivers license the same day you go to the social security office, you have to wait 24 hours so I did. I went to the DMV the next day only to find out that the person at the SS office had messed up the paperwork but she it was entered online correctly and of course I needed two alternate things to verify my address which left me scrambling. Thank goodness I had my voter registration card which counted as one and it just so happened that I had a check that I hadn't cashed yet that I used as a "pay stub" that had the address on it. Shenanigans. So I was happy I could change my name on that but then they tell me that I need a new picture. I had a fantastic drivers license picture but they wanted a new one. Of course they did. I had just come from the gym, my hair is a mess, no make-up. Ugh. My name is changed but my picture looks awful which is annoying. I can go back and get a new one whenever I decide to do my hair and makeup one day.

This is officially the end of the 6th month. Get ready people!!!! Baby is the size of an ear of corn this week. The baby likes balling up in one place, usually on the right side of my belly and then stretching out and then balling up again. I feel like I have an alien in my belly. So crazy feeling. One more month and we're officially in the last trimester. I can't get over it. This is really happening.

Week 23 (10/30-11/5)

This week has gotten off to a great start. Although I had to come off the high of visiting Hov, which sucked, we got a lease going with a couple and the house will be officially leased once he signs which should happen immediately. That is such a relief for us, letting the house essentially pay for itself allows us to save what we would be paying to a mortgage every month so eventually we can have a nice down payment for a little place in south florida. Now we just need to sell all the "extra" things we aren't planning on taking and pack up little by little. Hopefully we can unload all this stuff on craigslist.

Here are a few more pics from the previous weekend in Miami. Notice the scary veins in my hand. Yikes.

Pregnancy-wise this week the baby is the size of a grapefruit/large mango/papaya depending where you look. He/she weights roughly a pound and is about 11 inches long. The belly is steadily expanding and I am faithfully rubbing oil/cocoa butter all over it to try and make sure those stretch marks stay away. I think I'm stating to have some braxton-hicks "contractions" although I'm not sure. What I'm feeling I can only describe as my uterus being possessed. It'll randomly get tight and move, usually to the right side and then it looks like I have a bowling ball on the right side of my belly which is really strange. It's not painful at all, I just feel like I have no control over whatever is happening. I hope this is normal...

I'm still not pleased with the darkening of hair which is pretty much the first real negative pregnancy symptom I'm experiencing. If that's my biggest complaint then I guess I shouldn't complain, I'm just being vain. I still don't like it. Also, I've started noticing the "linea negra" which is a dark line that appears from the belly button down to the naughty bits. I thought I had escaped this fate since most books mention it happening much earlier but no, it's coming.

We've received a few cards in the mail as responses to our announcements and they have been so sweet. I'm keeping them. I guess this will be the start to a memory box or something like that. I also finished reading the natural childbirth book and Hov has it now so he has to do his homework and read it and then we can practice the exercises together. Going down to visit him this past weekend was soooooooooooo different from the one before- I flew this time so obviously that changed things. It was so much nicer. Good lord. If we could do that every time that would be greeeeat. I'm actually going to see if we can't get a flight for Thanksgiving because I just don't feel like driving. The problem is Tallahassee is such a small airport that it's all so expensive.

This weekend was awful without seeing Hov. I took Archie to the dog park both days which he loved, he had such a good time. I pretty much just tried to stay busy. I went to my friend's house on Saturday to watch the FSU game and of course was almost falling asleep by the second half but that was a lot of fun and I also went to brunch with some girlfriends on Sunday which was fun. For the game, I had made some cupcakes by request and they turned out quite good if I say so myself. I ate six. Six cupcakes between Saturday and Sunday. SIX. Anyway, there are no more thank goodness. I'll try to wait a long while more before I make any again.

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream

Today was my check-up appointment with the Ob. She said everything looks great, she listened to the heartbeat which was strong and fast as always. She also measured my belly for the first time. I'm at 23 weeks and measuring at 22 which she said was good. I guess in general you should measure at what week mark you are so at 23 weeks you should measure 23 (cm I'm assuming). She says as long as we're within 1-2 of the week mark we're fine and she prefers that I'm on the smaller side so that delivery won't be as challenging.

On the downside, I think my right eye is preparing to fall out. It's been red and irritated (but not itchy) for the last few days. I have an appointment tomorrow at the wellness center on campus to get it looked at. It's very uncomfortable but more than anything it's worrying. We'll see what happens. The only thing I have in my mind is the marathon of "Monsters Inside Me" that I watched with my sister, I'm half convinced I have some rare parasite hijacking my system. Hopefully not.