Dude.

I am huge.

Duuuuude.

ps Hi, my name is Meghan. I'm 22 years old, a college graduate, and about to become a Mom. And I still use "dude" an inappropriate amount in my everyday conversation. 

How far along? 33 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I'm starting to dread this question. But, nothing like a good dose of public humiliation for my pride. As of Tuesday, I've gained 40 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. My mom went into labor at 55 pounds over her usual weight with me - I thought she was crazy, but I don't think I'll be far behind that. Hey, at least we know it's in my genes (jeans?). And it's not like the doctor has been stunned out of their scrubs at my weight with a shriek of, "Whoa there! Lay off the Captain Crunch, missy!" In fact, nobody's mentioned anything to me about my weight. So. I just go with it, ya know. 

My poor feet. 

Maternity clothes? Nothing fits me anymore, but a good rotation of about 5 solid shirts (3 of which are borrowed from J. Thanks again....). I finally had to break down and buy myself a new dress for an upcoming wedding we are attending (WHICH, by the way, I am SO excited to be going to! My first non-Mormon wedding!!! It's going to be a blast. I can't wait).

Stretch marks? Still the same outer hip stretch marks. I'll be very happy indeed if that's all I get. I'll take it. 

Sleep: .....would be nice.

Best moment this week: Just the little movements that happen everyday. It's a real person in there, people. He's all cramped up and moving. His head is down, his spine against my belly, and his toes on my ribs, tap dancing away. 

Miss Anything? Yes. My old body. Vain? Maybe. True? Yes. Understandable? Very much so.

I'm getting very slow and tired these days. I have to change positions a lot. Stand too long and my feet get achy and sore. Sit too long and my ankles swell up. When I walk the dog, it's at a turtle's pace. But hey, at least I'm still out there. Sometimes I wonder what the construction workers I pass everyday think of the big pregnant lady walking her dog. They probably just think I'm due to explode with about 7 kids any day now. 

Movement: See above (the tap-dancing on the ribs part). But especially after I eat. "Mmm! Thanks for the goods, Mom!"

Food cravings: It's getting a lot harder to pinpoint just what I want. I'm always craving something, but not often do I find the right thing to "hit the spot."

Anything making you queasy or sick: No. Just sometimes this baby will wriggle in between a rib or something and it feels like I've got worms in my belly and I just went upside-down on a rollercoaster. Strangest thing ever. 

Labor Signs: Just a big baby and a big belly. Both the specialist and my midwife say that my baby and uterus are measuring about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. (Ok so maybe everyone who has made a comment about me looking "too" big wasn't all that crazy. But still. Saying that to her face doesn't make a pregnant lady feel good, alright?) I hope this means I will deliver at least a little early, but I'm not getting my expectations up. My mind is set on the full 40 weeks, and if he comes early, What a lovely surprise! If he comes late....well.....I hope I make it. 

Belly Button in or out? OUT. It has come OUT of hiding and into the wild blue yonder!

Wedding rings on or off? Off. I have officially moved on to one of Adam's old rings. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Oh.......both. At the same time. And then throw tired in the mix. 

Looking forward to: Snuggling my little man.

Goodbye Ankles!

I played soccer all four years of high school.
I loved it. When I think back of my fondest memories during those times, it is soccer that comes to mind.
It was when I worked my hardest, felt the best, gained confidence, and had fun.

And, when things like this happened during a game, I felt pretty cool going to school the next day:

Me and my ma, being Bad A --

Even this was pretty cool - as you can see, I got people to sign my swollen ankle. There was once a time when BOTH ankles were sprained at the same time. That was wicked.

Well, the time has come, my friends, that my ankles are now just as swollen, but I don't see anyone running up to sign them with a permanent marker.......

....even though they are ginormous, elephantitis for an even cooler reason this time.

somewhere i have never travelled

I was looking through some old videos and photos today (as that seemed like a decent Sunday activity for me to do), and I came across a photography slideshow I made for an art exhibit in college. I thought I would share it again just because I really love it (but please excuse the extremely crappy quality - blogger really downsized it for me). The pictures are pieced together by words from e.e. cummings' "somewhere i have never travelled." I forgot how beautiful that poem is to me, and how goose-bumpy it makes me. And the music and photos are lovely, too.  

I think of the boy in my belly:

Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility...

Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

For the whole poem, look here.

(See Collette, I like him too!)

The Birthday Month

I was doing really good with not eating too many sweets during my pregnancy ----      

until about, Oh, February time. That's when Valentine's Day, Adam's birthday, and my birthday, all hit within 3 weeks of each other. And once I got a good taste of it, my cravings haven't been the same since!

For Adam's birthday he requested a few things:
1) A big glorious breakfast with eggs, hashbrowns (the pre-packaged kind), blueberry muffins, and doughnuts (I threw in the fruit just for good measure, but he didn't eat much of it)

2) Funfetti cake with vanilla ice cream

3) Pizza for dinner
4) A stress-free day

We ended up also going bowling spur-of-the-moment. My belly was about the same size as the 8 pound bowling ball I was using but I still made it through four games, and Adam played an additional three by himself (7 games!!!!). I tried to get a picture but my camera battery died before I could.




And then I turned 22 last week!

Last year for my birthday we were living with Noe and her family and they took me out to one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Buca Di Beppo's:

But this year I am pregnant with a boy and I wanted some MEAT!!!

So I requested Famous Dave's!!

Adam snuck a message to the waitress that it was my birthday and I got a sundae with a FIREWORK in it. Here I am laughing at the waitress, who is telling us that most people don't get their camera out in time to catch the flame -- go figure.

Don't be silly, of course I still had my cake and ice cream waiting for me at home, even after this one. 

And not just any cake --- but BTS cake. I've been requesting this cake every birthday for the past 7+ years. It's so moist and rich and yummy and easy to make.

If you can't tell, I accidentally started cutting my cake before Adam had a chance to sing to me. And also, I like my Heath bits to be crunchy when I eat my cake, and they get soggy on the whip cream if you leave them on there. So I only Heath my cake a little at a time.

And because my mom's a very excited grandma, I got a few unusual goodies in my birthday package that I can only assume weren't exactly for me:

Adam got me lots of fun things for my sewing and crafting addiction (you never know how nice it is to have a good pair of scissors until you get one --- In comparison to my new scissors, I might as well have been cutting material with a block of wood the last year!) He also got me Adele's cd which I love!

Next up on my list of excuses to eat junk food: Pi Day, St. Patty's Day, and Easter!

Your History Lesson for the Day

This past Saturday we went to the 12th Annual Eagle Festival in Blackwater, Maryland. Adam was super stoked to see an eagle out in the wild, even though we got there too late for the guided "Eagle Prowl" (we really like our weekends for sleeping in, what can we say?)

 We were stocked up with snacks, binoculars, and sweatshirts, but it turned out we didn't have to go very far at all! They had an eagle there who was living in captivity because she can no longer fly.


This little lady may be a little disheveled, what with her messy feathers, missing wing, and cranky face, but she still had her dignity.

The park ranger told us that Benjamin Franklin disagreed with the decision to make the Eagle our National Symbol, as eagles are known for stealing meals from other animals after they've done all the hard work to obtain it.

"I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . "           (Source)


Benny boy would rather have seen the Turkey as our National Symbol.....




But I was still curious why we did choose the Eagle. Here's what I found online:

The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of American, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent ...   The eagle represents freedom. Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom, whether with strong pinions he sweeps into the valleys below, or upward into the boundless spaces beyond. 

It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots.    Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, has become the national emblem of a country that offers freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future. --Maude M. Grant

And if that just completely bore you, they also threw in some owls at the festival, and that's when things got reallly cute:

NO? That didn't help? You're still bored? Well, so is this guy:

I really wish I had gotten a picture of the lady holding him. She did her make up to perfectly match her owl's face (though I couldn't tell if that was intentional or not), and she kept sweet talking to the owl: "He knows who his mama is, doesn't he???" When she saw me with my camera, she swiveled his head around to face me, and this is the thrilled look I got. I'm sure this is only a preview of what my poor son will go through..... :) 

And then, at the very end of our adventure, just as we were walking to our car, three eagles soared directly over us. They stayed long enough for us to whip out our binoculars, watch them dance with each other for a bit, satisfy Adam's desire, and then they moved on. It was spectacular and made the whole day worth it.

30 weeks

I'm 3/4 of the way there! I can hardly believe that I only have 10 weeks left. Next week and it will be 9 and that's single digit weeks!!

How far along? 30 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Wooo....let's see here....um, 30? Yep. 30 pounds. Gained. 

Maternity clothes? Now that its getting unbelievably gorgeous and spring-y out, I've been wearing dresses and leggings, stretchy capris, and comfy tee shirts. So I don't have to keep wearing the same two pair of maternity pants every other day. 

Stretch marks? It's official. They've arrived. They aren't on my belly, but on my outer hips. And they are purple and short and slashy. 

Sleep: ERG. This one is a struggle. I'm not comfortable on either side really anymore, and sitting up has to be just at the right angle. I wake up 7-12 times a night to move around. Rarely do I wake up in the mornings feeling refreshed anymore. Last week someone at church commented, "You look more and more tired each time I see you." (I am really starting to dread Sundays, by the way). And hey, that's because I am more and more tired each week. 

Best moment this week: The Fear-Release session at my Hypnobirthing class. It was so powerful - for both Adam and I. Uh-Mazing.

Miss Anything? Energy.

Movement: Very busy little man we have in there. 

Food cravings: Pea!Nut!Butter! Peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter and Nutella, peanut butter and celery, peanut butter and syrup, peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and cookies, peanut butter and ice cream, peanut butter Captain Crunch. You get the point...

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not especially, but junk food is really hitting the spot lately. I was really good about eating healthy for awhile there, but now I really crave sugar and just junky junk.

Labor Signs: Supposedly now is about the time I'll start having Braxton Hicks contractions. I'm not really sure if that's happened much or not, but I have felt one distinct tightening of my uterus, and since my uterus is so big these days, it's like my entire mid-section is clenched. That's a third of my body! It was such a strange, involuntary feeling taking up so much of my body I wanted to laugh, but I felt paralyzed until it eased up. It didn't hurt, but it was strange.

Belly Button in or out? It's pretty flat-even with my skin now.

Wedding rings on or off? Right now they are off, but I think they'd probably fit now that my hands have cooled off and gotten some use for the day.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Labor! :)