Week 35 (1/22-1/28)

This week has been rough. Not gonna lie. There have been some wonderful things that have happened that I'll talk about but pregnancy-wise and shenanigans-wise it's been tough.

The severe itching hasn't gone away and Benadryl + anti-itch cream doesn't really help. The itching is so bad it's causing insomnia. I e-mailed the nurse on Thursday and got no response (which severely annoyed me) and so today (Monday) I called on my way to work and am waiting to speak to someone. The cramping also has continued but it's not regular so nothing to worry about. There is also a new symptom of super pressure down in my lady region. To the point where I was walking and literally had to stop for a few moments, my legs wouldn't work. My back is always aching and I am generally exhausted. The belly is big as always although I did get my eating back in check and my "exercise" back on track. It's not the exercise I used to do, now I just do 30 min on the elliptical at lunchtime every day but it's some movement.

The most fun thing that happened this week is one evening after work I was at home fixing dinner and I sneezed. This sneeze was not an extraordinary sneeze, it was just a regular old sneeze. What was interesting about the sneeze is what it caused. Standing in the kitchen. Sneeze. Pee myself. Now it wasn't like a 30 second long entire pee. It was just enough for me to realize some had escaped. I didn't think I had to pee. I mean there was no urge. It was at this point I think think that I realized my body had officially betrayed me. It took a few moments to really come to terms with what had just happened. If this wasn't a sign that I need to get on a Kegel regimen I don't know what is.

It was a nice surprise to come home and have a package from amazon. It had all sorts of burt's bees things for the baby. I hadn't ordered anything and neither had Hov and of course there was no name on the package but it could only have been one person. The most excited grandma-to-be. She has recently become obsessed with online baby things.

This week was the week we wanted to get the nursery together. We needed to go buy and assemble the furniture. My mom and John had insisted on buying us the stroller/carseat so that we wouldn't have to come out of pocket as much with the rest of the things we needed so we had those but still needed all the nursery furniture, mattress, breast pump, video monitor as well as towels, sheets, clothes, bouncer, tub and all those little things you don't realize add up to a million dollars. We had a 10% off target coupon but it could only be used once so we went to the store and wanted to buy the stuff and have it shipped to the house. They said no, go online and you have to do it there. We went home and went online and they wanted to charge us like $150 in shipping and would only take 4 gift cards which didn't work since we had like 10 gift cards. So at this point we decide we'll just go with two cars on the weekend and pick up the boxes there since we didn't want to pay shipping on top of what we already had to come out of pocket for.

Weekend comes and on Saturday it's Madeline's boyfriend's birthday party and I am making the cake (which came out amazing obvi) and a flan. Both were yummy but took the entire day to make. I didn't realize how taxing being on my feet was until it was 4pm and I had been up and running around since 8 and I felt like I wanted to amputate my legs. I did have a bit to relax before the party and it was all fine but we didn't get any errands done so we knew we had to do them all on Sunday.

The only thing we did get done on Saturday was a garage sale. So let me say when I was younger I would tag along with my grandparents or my mom to garage sales but never paid attention because I never NEEDED anything, it was more like meh lets see if there is anything interesting. It's a totally different experience when you go to one because you know they have something you need. So it all started on Craigslist when I found a lady selling baby clothes at $1each or 12 for $10. We went with really no expectation, I thought we'd find a few things. Went with 20 bucks ready to go in our pocket. We had more in my purse but Hov was convinced we wouldn't need it. We walk in and the lady has bags and bags of clothes, most of them brand new or barely worn. Long story short, we spent $40 and got like 50 pieces of clothes, 15 pairs of socks and 15 beanies. So we left there and I thought we did pretty good. I mean if we had bought all that stuff brand new we would have spent hundreds. Not to mention a lot of the things weren't just onesies that comes in a 4 pack, I mean there were legit outfits, sleeper things, the flannel foot pajama things, robes etc. So I thought we made out like a bandit.
We came home, washed it all and started organizing. So that was Friday night. Once I realized Craigslist was a gold mine for barely used baby things is when I looked for garage sales and found one for Saturday. Hov was a good sport about it and came along. We showed up and the first thing I see is a bouncer. We needed a bouncer. I had found a bouncer on CList for $15 and was going to meet the bro later that day. I ask her how much the bouncer was, she says $2. I almost had a heart attack. I look around some more. Pristine boppy with two covers- $2. Baby clothes- 4/$1. I told her we better get a bag or a box. If I thought we made out well with the first lady, we robbed this one. Ended up paying $15 total for a little pile of heaven. The pics here are all the things we got at the garage sale for $15. Long story short, we are almost done with clothes. Most of what we have is gender neutral or more boy-ish (lots of blues, greens, browns etc) but if it's a girl we can add some accessories and some pink in there and are good to go.


So Saturday was spend washing baby clothes and baking. Sunday came and Brooke had agreed to take some maternity pics for us so we had that on the agenda as well as going to target to buy the furniture and going to Costco. We did the pictures at Brooke's house and just did the indoor ones and I think we may have gotten some good ones. She gave me a few to preview and I like!
Thank goodness for filters and photoshop because between Hov and I we are super not photogenic. She was an amazing photog. So after the photo session we mention we have to go to Target and she says she and Aaron have to go also so lets make it a field trip.

We all get to target and apparently there is a baby sale that started the day before that we didn't know about. Almost everything we needed was on sale. I'm thinking it's our lucky day. If we had bought all the stuff when we went a few days earlier we would have missed the sale. So the breast pump is $30 cheaper plus they give you a $50 gift card for buying, the monitor isn't cheaper but also comes with a $50 gift card. I'm in a good mood and no longer annoyed with target and their stupid shipping.
We find the mattress we need and so all we are missing is the furniture (dresser, crib and changing table top thing). We go to the display and on top of the dresser is a little pamphlet/brochure thing that has the barcodes. But I notice that in front of the crib where all the prices are= ON SALE!!! Woop WooP!!! The crib is on sale for $250 as is the dresser AND if you buy the crib then the mattress is FREE. So I am on cloud 9. I can't believe it. I grab the thing with the barcodes and we go to find a Target employee to tell them we want the furniture. She comes, scans the stuff and tells us they don't have it. So my pure joy at the thought that we may actually be able to afford all the stuff quickly turns to annoyance. I tell her I want to make sure we get the sale prices for everything and can they get it from online or another store and she just says go talk to customer service people.

Now I am very aware that it is none of the employees fault. Having said that. Target needs to get their shit together. We were with the customer service people for an hour. They took the little barcode thing and none of the stores in the region had it and there was no way to order it online and get the sale price. They told us they could give us a rain check for it but they had no idea when they'd get it in again. AND there is no way for them to just enter the item number and see what stores in the US had it. If they knew what store had it, they could do a store-store transfer. How do they not have that capability?!?!?! So when she looked it up she says its $350 online and I was shocked because normally it's 300 and on sale down to 250 so it was a significant difference. So she is calling the Ft. Myers store, Gainesville, Tampa etc etc no dice. NO store has it. They won't sell us the display. The best offer is just the rain check. Finally she says, oh I think if you log in to your target account
you can search to see what store has it. We got to the kiosk and I sign in and she goes to search for the item when Brooke comes running with her phone in hand.

Brooke found it online, at the sale price AND it said it was in stock at this store. At this point I'm confused. WTF. How did they not find it but Brooke found it. EUREKA mofos- the barcode thing that was on top of the dresser of the furniture we wanted was the UPGRADED model, not the model that was there on sale. They didn't have the little barcode pamphlet for the furniture that was there. When they scanned my actual registry they found the right model, at the sale price, in stock. Whatever kind of sick game target is playing- I want nothing to do with. I was two seconds away from lighting the place on fire.

So after like two hours at target, we are loading the furniture in the back of Brooke and Aaron's truck. With the sale prices and our coupon we managed to get the furniture, mattress, pump and video monitor using our gift cards. We didn't have to come out of pocket. With the gift cards that we "earned" purchasing these items we got some of the things we needed- diaper genie, sheets, towels etc. We are almost done with baby purchases. My mom is compiling a list of things we still need and when she and John come to visit, we'll get the rest of the stuff.


After the Target fiasco we took Brooke and Aaron out to dinner. Of course we did. How could we not. They're the best. Brooke was of course taking pics while we were at target. They do a pretty good job of showing the mood. I couldn't wait to get out of there and grab dinner. They had never been to Super Perros (Colombian restaurant) so we went and ordered a bunch of stuff and delighted their taste buds before continuing home where the boys unloaded the stuff into the nursery. We didn't make it to Costco.

This coming weekend my mom, John, my sister Ariel and her fiancée Stewart are all coming to visit. With the man power, I want to have the nursery done. The dresser and crib need to be assembled. The car seat bases need to be installed in our cars.

I have never been so exhausted after a weekend in my life.

Week 34 (1/15-1/21)

Newest pregnancy symptom: in addition to swollen hands/feet, insomnia, constipation and ever changing pigmentation, this week we are adding interesting locations for freakishly long hair. I had heard about this. I thought it was a myth. I thought I was immune. Not so. Whilst driving to work I noticed I had a small hair on my chin- not cute but not the end of the world. As I tilted my head back to get a better look at it, I saw the big daddy. Where my head and neck meet I saw the longest, loneliest, out of place hair. It was about an inch long and just hanging out. How long had it been there? Why had I not noticed? Had anyone else noticed? I'm just walking around with a giant hair coming out of my neck!!! Holy cow. I couldn't believe it. I ripped it out and tried to take a picture of it but by the time I got my camera out it had blown away. Not amused. Not at all. The swollen hands/feet bit is also now pretty extreme. Feet must be elevated at all times. Even at work. I took my old slippers there to wear during the day.
My hands hurt- there are no rings that fit so sometimes I get interesting glances from judgmental old ladies which is kind of amusing. I had to go and buy a larger pair of slippers to wear on a daily basis. Actually I probably could have gotten away with the same size in wide but they didn't have any so I just went a size bigger.

I think this past week the symptoms sort of came all at once. I now also have super itchy skin. All over. I'm moisturizing like a maniac but still so itchy. And the insomnia is worse than ever. NO sleep, itchy skin, swollen extremities, hair growing out of wherever it feels like it, and even more of my skin is changing color in weird places. So before it was like the normal stuff they tell you- darkening of the nipples/areolas which I'm NOT pleased about but whatever. I knew it would happen. I seriously underestimated the extent of it but I knew it was going to happen. I do have splotches of dark skin in places I wasn't expecting like my armpits. It now looks like I have a 5 o'clock shadow all the time even when freshly shaven. That was not in the books. I am also officially waddling. I need help getting up/down and often have to take breaks from just being to catch my breath. I can't wait for this to all be done.

So this week the big thing that happened is Hov and I went to Virginia!! We went to visit my dad's side of the family as told us he wanted to throw us a baby shower. I had to double check with my MD to make sure I could travel and she said as long as I wasn't having any contractions and had a copy of my medical records just in case I was good to go. I arrived on Thursday night, Hov joined on Friday. Thursday I got in around 7 and we went to dinner at Wegmans. Now I did not know about this glorious place. We don't have such magical locations in Tallahassee. For the locals- imagine if New Leaf, Earth Fare, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's got together in a orgy and out came a Costco-sized haven. That's what this place is. They have a little open cafe/restaurant thing where you can eat and that's where we went for dinner. I got the surf and turf (steak and crab cake) and a sweet tea and it was heavenly.

I slept for exactly zero minutes on Thursday night because I was itching so badly. I of course googled my symptoms and self-diagnosed a very rare pregnancy condition where I don't process bile properly and would need to deliver early or risk having a still born. The doctor's office didn't open until 8:30 and I was googling at 4 so that was a super fun night. The second it turned 8:30 I was on the phone with the doctor's office and they basically told me to take a Zyrtec and stop being a psycho. I also started having contractions for the first time. Not the normal Braxton-Hicks which don't hurt at all but instead feel like your uterus just tightens up. This time they were like period cramps. So then I was convinced I was going into early labor. Turns out I wasn't. Shocker.

I went for a long walk and spent most of the day in and out of naps trying to get a little rest. I also went and got a mani which was 99% because I wanted the hand massage. They really are so uncomfortable. I can't close my fists all the way without it hurting. Sausage fingers. Hov even made a comment about how they are so big which is pretty rare. He's kept his preggo comments to a severe minimum which is really good for his safety. He got in Friday night pretty late and we just went back to the house and went to sleep. Or tried to. He slept and I half slept and half used his legs as scratching posts for my feet.

Saturday was the big day. Bridget did not waste any time setting things up. It was amazing how things came together and all the little details she put into it. I left Hov to help her and went to visit my great-grandmother. She wants to try and make it until the baby is born but I don't know when it'll be that we'll make it up there. Maybe via Skype. The visit was short but sweet- she seemed happy to see us. By the time we got back to the house Bridget was hard at work as was her friend Cynthia who helps with party planning things. My grandparents were there and Hov had been helpful too.

Cynthia made a gorgeous cake with a little fondant baby on top and a fondant rubber ducky. It was actually a pound cake which was delicious. She also is talented with balloon decorations. She made a bunch of rattles out of balloons and decorated the house with them. She also had streamers and a sign that said baby shower. It was very cute, all pastel colors with rubber ducks and rattle things decorating.


My aunt Maria wasn't able to come but she made the favors which were little cute gift boxes filled with mints and decorated with a little bottle thing and a tag that said Claudia & Hovik's baby shower. I know he hates these things with a burning passion but I was really happy that he agreed to be a part of one. The favor boxes along with little rubber ducks decorated the tables. It was very simple but cute.

The "seat of honor" was a loveseat where we were to be seated while opening gifts. Above the loveseat they decorated the space with streamers and balloons and then set up the gift area next to it. Bridget used Vanessa's old swinging crib thing as the place for gifts and put some baby blankets in it for decoration. It was pretty adorable. So we sat next to that and opened gifts together at the end of the evening.

We didn't do any games which was totally fine with us but there was a table set up with burp cloths that people could decorate with messages or however they wanted to personalize it that we would then get to use with the baby.
There was also a sign-in plate for people to sign and advice cards. I don't think anyone got around to the cards though.


Most importantly- the food (obvi). The spread was nice and healthy for the most part with the option to eat shenanigans. Bread rolls and two kinds of salad started the buffet, followed by a bean dip, a sampler of puff pastry appetizers (stuffed with spinach, crab, mushroom etc), rotisserie chicken which was delicious and a giant platter of this rice dish my grandmother makes which is absolutely heavenly.

I think there may have been more desserts than savory foods which is amazing to me.
So first was the cake that Cynthia made which was the pound cake, then there was a giant tres leches my aunt/uncle brought, then Bridget made a flan which was delicious even Hov had a few servings, brownies and a jello tower. If you think the jello tower is weird it's because you probably haven't been keeping up with the blog. I was recently obsessed with jello. 

So there was a cupcake tower but instead of cupcakes there were four different kinds of jello in little cups arranged on the tower. I think I may have had one of every flavor but I'd never admit to it. So pretty much I left VA with diabetes.



Saturday was wonderful and tiring. It was great to see everyone and get to catch up and hear all the advice and wives tales. Apparently having a beer every few days increases milk production and someone predicted I was going to only have a boy and this would be my only child according to some necklace voodoo. We went to sleep fat and happy....

Sunday was a short day- we went to breakfast at Panera and then headed to the airport. Our girlfriend Maddie was watching Archie for the weekend and she came to get us. Once home the shenanigans continued, we went to Tan's (best asian in town) for dinner and then to Target so we could finish up the nursery. We had calculated that with the gifts we got in VA we would be able to get all the big things and then just have to come out of pocket for the rest of the medium/small items we were missing which would obviously be a big help. What I hadn't counted on (and I should have known better) is that Hov played the whole "register for whatever you want babe" card when I was doing the original thing and once we went to Target and he saw what I had chosen he vetoed a bunch of things. First thing that went was the crib. The one I picked was apparently too flimsy for his liking and he wanted the sturdier one which was of course 50% more expensive. Then we needed to get the matching dresser/changing table combo that I hadn't planned on getting at all. By the time we went through all the things we were missing it was almost a new list. I should have known better than to have believed him! At least we are in agreement with the final list. Now we just have to go and pull the trigger, we need to buy stock in target before we go!

Today was the last day of week 34. I had a doctor's appointment and got scolded at by the midwife. Wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't take the warden with me. He's got the kitchen on lockdown now. I gained 6 lbs this month and am on carb & sugar restriction with instructions to up the cardio. Considering how OCD I was before about calories and exercise it's kind of embarrassing but I really have let myself go so it was about time. It just was with a witness this time so he sees me going to the kitchen and kicks me out. I guess it's a new day. The problem is I just want a big bowl of Cheerios...

Week 33 (1/8-1/14)

This week is my first full week back at work since the holidays. I have to say, I am less than thrilled to be back. I was getting really used to staying home and cooking and fixing things up at home- basically being Suzie home-maker. I don't think I need a PhD to do that but I may end up doing it for a little while after I graduate.

This week we meet up with a man to get our life insurance policies in check, we need to make sure either of us would be in an OK position if something happened to one of us or if something happened to the both of us we need to make sure that the baby would be OK. Along the same lines we need to get going on writing a will and determining guardianship of the baby and having all that sorted out. Talk about awkward conversations to have with people... "Heyyyy so I was wondering, if we both die would you be willing to raise our kid? There would be some life insurance money so the baby would have a college fund and a paid-for place to live"

The baby is moving around this week a lot, it looks like I am a living massage chair. You can see things rolling under the skin around my belly like the massage chairs at nail salons. I am still super congested which is stupid but we are in the home stretch!

Also this week is the baby shower my mom is throwing for me! I go down to Miami on Friday night and come back Monday morning. The shower is on Saturday. I'm anxious to see all the things she has been up to, she has been very sneaky and very excited about all the DIY things she's done. The only thing I know is where is will be (at the Rusty Pelican) and what the colors are: yellow, white and green. I need to figure out what I'm going to wear, I think I have a yellow dress that may still fit but at this point- whatever goes on is a contender for outfit even if it doesn't match the color scheme. The picture on the right shows the view from the ballroom at the Rusty Pelican. Can you say AMAZING?!?!?!

So I went down to Miami Friday night, my grandparents picked me up at the airport. The flight was uneventful, I tried to pack as little as possible (or so I thought) but my carry-on was still totally full. I took three dresses to try on since I feel and look like a house in everything. This last part of pregnancy is not the lovely glowing part, it's the giant, swollen, sweaty part. Pictures are no longer cute to look at. Having said that, I'm still going to add the pics of the baby shower, I'm just not pleased with how giant I am. Take this as a warning to all people who are planning or maybe not planning but end up getting pregnant. Look at me in these pics- this is what happens when you let yourself eat whatever you want during pregnancy. You get squishy. Don't get squishy.

My mom and I in yellow with the Abohasens

My grandma in yellow with some
of her crew

Saturday was the day of the baby shower. My mom and John left early so my mom could go to the salon and John went to the venue to start setting up. Apparently my mom had him working hard doing all the projects for decorations and setting up (my grandpa helped too) but then none of the men were invited. I stayed at my grandparent's apartment so my grandmother and I got ready in the morning and headed out to the Rusty Pelican like half an hour late. We arrived and I hadn't been to the venue since it was renovated and it's gorgeous! Love it. When you first walked in my mom had set up a little sign-in table where guests signed a little book, took a pin she had made with a daisy on it (for a game) and also took a guess as to if it was a boy or a girl. She had two vases, one with a blue ribbon and one with a pink ribbon and she also had hershey kisses that were either in blue or pink wrapping and if you thought it was a girl then you put a pink kiss in the pink vase etc. A lot of the women there didn't want to vote until I had arrived so they could see my belly and make predictions based on that. The boy vase had way more kisses in it at the end of the party.

Walking in the first thing you noticed was the amazing view, that place is unbelievable. The buffet was already set up with brunch. There were some more breakfasty things like pastries, parfaits and fruit and then there also was some lunch stuff- free-range chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. It was all delicious. Simple but delicious and more than enough. The ladies were all enjoying mimosas so I of course joined in (virgin of course) with seltzer water instead of champagne. It was very refreshing. The tables were set up with the cutest center pieces and favors. For the center pieces my mom did the fish-bowl type vase with sunflowers in it cut really short and it was adorable. Then on each plate was a little pail that had a chocolate flower sticking out so it looked like a little garden pot with a flower growing out of it. Also each place had a little box with the eos lip glosses in them, the round egg-looking ones. Adorable. She also had custom pencils all around engraved with the date and Claudia's babyshower so people could use them for the games. Lastly was the cupcake stand, with mini-cupcakes. All so delicious. I ate four. There were three flavors: red velvet, vanilla and coconut. They really were delish.

Pat Rojas (Abohasen) won the pin game
She was a sniper catching people!

We mingled, ate and played a few games. The first one started with the pins that all the guests picked up as they walked in. The game was that you couldn't touch your hair, if you did someone could take your pin. Whoever had the most at the end won. The second game was the belly measuring game which actually ended in a tie. The third game was the game where you had to come up with things that the baby needed that started with every letter in the alphabet. Whoever filled out theirs entirely the fastest won. That was funny, you could tell the different professions based on the answers (bankers said H=hedge-fund). My mom also had these little advice cards that everyone filled out and I read those later on in the day. They were very sweet. All in all, it was an amazing day. I couldn't have asked for anything better. My mom and John really outdid themselves with all the decorations and the attention to detail. It was out of control. My mom and grandmother hosted the event so a lot of their friends came who I've known my whole life and so it was wonderful to see so many people and so many generations celebrating together. It was really sweet and humbling to have such an amazing day. I am so thankful for my mom and grandmother for throwing it for me.

Saturday ended with us opening the gifts at the apartment, we didn't have enough time to do it at the party but my mom was a diligent gift-note-taker and she made sure I had the list of who brought what so I could write my notes. We got a lot of things off the registry but since I flew down my mom and John took the gifts with them and will be making a trip up to visit us and to bring the gifts so I can settle all them in the nursery.



Sunday began with a lovely breakfast at La Boulangerie (a French bakery) on the Key. It was delicious and then my mom and I headed to the Ritz-Carlton for a mother-daughter spa day. We both had massages and then were looking forward to relaxing. My mom had a regular massage and I had the special preggo massage. The therapist had me lay on one side and then switch to the other halfway through. I wanted her to go harder with the massage but she said since I was pregnant she couldn't use more than medium pressure. Ugh pregnancy rules. I couldn't use any of the facilities in the spa (steam room, sauna, jacuzzi) so they made an exception and let us hang out by the pool. We relaxed and had a few drinks- a virgin passion fruit colada is absolutely delicious btw. We spent the afternoon there and unfortunately all good things must come to an end. My mom and John left so they could drive back to Ft. Myers and I stayed at my grandparent's house. I took advantage of the spanish grammar nazi to start writing my thank you cards. They are all done.

A pina colada well deserved! Bravo!!

I got back to Tallahassee Monday morning. We were late going to the airport (shocker) but the lady let me in the priority security line because of the belly (score!!) so I made it on time. Barely. Hovik picked me up and took me home to pick up my car and I went straight to lab. Thank goodness I don't have to teach tonight although I do have the phone "interview" with the life insurance people. Hov has his tonight too. I'll be happy once it's done and settled.

Coming up next week: Hov and I go to VA to visit my dad's side of the family!! Stay tuned...