Let the losing of my pregnancy weight begin. *cue Biggest Loser music*

Today was Day 1 of going to the gym & it was awesome.  Once I actually get my ass to the gym I develop a new attitude, almost instantly.  It’s just getting to the gym that is the problem.

I actually had to re-join the gym & did that yesterday.  The trainer that was signing me up was totally trying to get me to pay for some training sessions too.  I, very matter of factly, told him that I didn’t need a trainer.  It’s true – I don’t.  I’ve worked out my whole life & I’ve had trainers in the past.  I know how to use the equipment & my focus right now is to lose this pregnancy weight & get back down to my normal weight.

I told him, “Even though it may not seem like I know what I’m doing in the gym, I do.  I just haven’t been in a while & had a baby.”  He said, “Oh, I’m not judging you, but when I was in high school I ran track, blah blah blah, & after I met with a trainer last year I’m more efficient.”

Good for you, I said.  I have issues with some of these trainers that don’t know what they are doing out there.  If we were talking Jillian or Bob from the Biggest Loser, I’m game.  I know they would kick my ass in a good way.  But regardless, I know that I can do it on my own & if I struggle then I’ll re-evaluate if I want a trainer… & that’s just what I told Mr. Personal Trainer himself.  I don’t think he liked me very much after that.

Anyways, today was my first day back & I was stoked to go.  I just had to wait for Monkey to go down for his first nap of the day.  After he was sleeping, I threw on my clothes & left in a heartbeat.  So excited.

I ended up doing the elliptical for 45 minutes, treadmill (walking 1 minute & running 1 running) for 10 minutes, & the bike for 5 minutes.  My goal was to get in an hour of cardio, so I was successful!  After cardio I worked on strength training for my arms & shoulders.  It was a good workout & I was gone for 1.5 hours.

I purposely did not bring in my cell so that I could have this time alone & it was nice.  I had the music on my iPod turned up really loudly & I just enjoyed my gym time.  I know it’s something I’m going to look forward to daily.

OK, here’s where I’m thrilled this is an anonymous blog… I weighed myself today & the numbers are high.  I mean, really high.  I know numbers are just numbers, but it was painful to see 187.2 on the scale.  Yuck.  I’ve never weighed this much in my entire life.

And the reason that I’m sharing that large number with you is for accountability & motivation.  I want to happily report that I’m back to my normal weight as soon as I can.  Oh, and I tried on normal (read: non-maternity) pants the other day… Um, size 12.  A freakin’ size 12.  Good grief.

So yeah, I have a ways to go, but today was the start of that journey.  & most surprisingly, I’m not letting that huge number get to me.  It’s not like I’m obese at all – I guess I can be thankful that I’m over 5’6″.  Ha, ha.

So if you want to join me on this accountability thing, feel free!  I need all the motivation I can get.  I’ll leave you with my current short-term goals.

My goals right now:

1.  No more Dr. Pepper

2.  No more fast food, even Chick-Fil-A

3.  Go to the gym at least 4 times a week

4.  Drink lots of water

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The other night I went out with my best friend.  I was so excited & hardly had time to think about what I was going to wear.  After all, it was my first girl’s night out and I was more excited about that so I really forgot to look in my closet to see what I had to wear.

My friend came over and we looked in my closet, trying to find something for me to wear.  I have a lot of clothes… I mean, a lot.  However I do not own any “fat” clothes.

And since I just had a baby, this really sucks.  Big time.

All of my pants range from a size 2 to a size 6.  All of my shirts are x-small or small.  This is the extent of my closet.

Do you have any idea how frustrating it was to look through tons and tons of cute clothes, while knowing damn well that nothing will fit?  Plus, we were going out that night and what was I going to wear?  I surely didn’t want to sport any maternity wear that night.

I had so many shirts that still had the price tags on them.  I bought them right before finding out I was pregnant, so I never had the chance to wear them.  My friend ripped the tag right off of one and wore it.  Oh, it was so cute!

I tried on shirts and they were too snug for my liking.  I knew that I wouldn’t feel comfortable in them, but the real kicker was my favorite pair of jeans.

I held up said jeans and my friend said, “Those were the jeans that you loved?  They look so small.”  I said, “Just for fun I’m going to try them on.”  (And by “fun”, I really meant “torture”.)

Without one word of a lie, the right pant leg fit only to my right knee.  Oh and I guess I’ll be honest and tell you that they were very tight fitting from my right knee down to my ankle.  Why was it that I was pregnant all over my body instead of just in my stomach?

In fear of ripping my favorite jeans, I quickly took those pants off and asked my friend if she wanted to try them on too.  She was a lot smarter than me and quickly said that she didn’t.  Smart, smart girl.

I found another pair of jeans, skinny ones that looked even smaller.  Seriously they looked like they belonged to an 8th grader.  I did not dare put those bad boys on.

So all of that has been excellent motivation for me to exercise.  I have dealt with the postpartum depression.  I understand Monkey’s schedule right now.  I have mastered getting the dishes & laundry done daily.  I have also conquered my nightly glass of wine that I look forward to daily.

Now I am ready to tackle losing all of this damn baby weight.  It grosses me out to way this much, but to feel so flabby.  Yesterday I went to buy a pair of running shoes & everyone (I mean, everyone) at the store was in shape.  Like really toned, skinny, and just perfect.  Ahhh, that used to be me.  (Insert sad face here.)

Instead of getting all sorry for myself though, it provides great motivation for me.  So today is just another day in which I will exercise.  I am determined to lose this baby weight and be in shape… and hopefully (keeping my fingers crossed) fitting back into my beloved True Religion jeans.

PS – Is anyone interested in an online exercise group on the next post where we can just be held accountable for exercising each day.  It helps me to be accountable & perhaps we can learn a thing or two from one another.  It’ll be fun & I hope that it will motivate you to do a little exercise each day too!

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Today started off just like every other day.  39 weeks pregnant and still waiting… But then something strange happened that will (hopefully) make this day stand out as a little different from the others.

A couple of my girl friends were in town and they wanted to meet us for lunch.  We settled on Cafe Express at noon.  Tarzan didn’t really feel like getting dressed, but I persuaded him to go and am glad that he went.

Anyways…

Lunch was great!  I enjoyed my huge greek salad with chicken and Tarzan enjoyed his sandwich.  We told the Craigslist story about my pregnancy anxiety to some of the girls that hadn’t heard it yet and we were all laughing.  Good times for sure!

When it was time to leave, I had to make a stop at the bathroom.  No new news there.  But it’s what I saw in the bathroom at 39 weeks pregnant that makes this story just a little different from going to the bathroom every other time.

When I was finished peeing and about to wipe myself, it felt a little different down there.  Maybe more moist, if you will.  Usually when I wipe, it’s toilet paper to vagina.  This time it was toilet paper, a slimy feeling, then vagina.  Totally different.

Then I looked at the toilet paper to see what this slimy feeling was and the paper was full of mucus-y stuff and blood.  Naturally I glanced in the toilet, but did not see a mucus plug, and since there was more blood than mucus, I figured it was the bloody show.

(Being that I’ve never been pregnant before, I purely make guesses on these kinds of things.)

Immediately I had a huge smile on my face.  Perhaps the stripping of my membranes on Friday at my 39 weeks pregnant doctor appointment and the spicy stir-fry last night did the trick.  I washed my hands and headed out to share the good news with my husband.

Of course I got a bit distracted by the desserts though.  We talked about getting a chocolate chip cookie and then he suggested we go next door to Border’s to get a rice krispie treat.  Yum.

While we were walking I looked at him and said, “So guess what?  I think the bloody show just happened!”  (I seriously said this with excitement in my voice.)  He stopped dead in his tracks and was like, “What? Do we need to get you home now?  Do we need to call the dr.?”

After I stopped laughing, I told him no.  I wanted to go to Border’s and walk around.  Plus, while I am hoping that labor and delivery starts soon (like today), I’m also well aware of the fact that it could take another week or so.  No getting my hopes up just yet.

He asked me why I thought it was the bloody show and I told him because there seemed to be more blood and a little mucus instead of a plug.  (I’ve totally googled “mucus plug” and have a good feeling that I know what to expect and that’s not what I saw on the toilet paper.)

We went into Border’s and started to twitter about what was going on.  It was like a natural high almost.  I feel so great and really hope that this means something.  Tarzan, on the other hand, seems a lot more nervous.  And I mean a lot.  I’m thinking it’s a typical response from a dad-to-be.

We got some goodies at Border’s and then went to walk around outside.  I wanted to keep on walking because I know that it can help to induce labor, but it was really hot, so we cut it a bit short and headed toward the car.  Tarzan kept on saying that he wanted to go closer to home (we were already close to home) to make sure that we could get the hospital bags in the car, have a plan for our dog, blah, blah, blah.  He also kept on saying that he just had a feeling that my water was “going to explode” at any minute and he wanted to be prepared.  LOL.

I gave in and we headed toward the car.  I told him that since we were going home we were going to have sex to try to induce labor.  He didn’t seem so sure about that.  He said something classic like, “If you had a penis, would you want to put it in a hole full of mucus and blood?”  Oh Tarzan.

I reminded him that we have always had sex whether on my period or not, so what was the difference?  I think his nerves were getting the best of him really.  He said that he was feeling really overwhelmed and here I was cracking up with laughter.  I’m just so calm about this whole process and he isn’t.  Poor guy.

Before he would let me get in the car, he put down a beach blanket on the seat.  I told him that it wasn’t necessary, and he responded with “at least I’m not putting down the garbage bags too“.  Okay, okay, point taken.

We drove home with me sitting on a big, comfy pink beach blanket while telling him that we were having sex and him seeming extremely nervous.  Nervous or not, I love this guy.  It’s so sweet to see him so excited about being a father, but so vulnerable and nervous at the same time.

When we got home I had to go to the bathroom again.  He was right there and as soon as I finished wiping myself there was a “plunk” on the toilet seat.  Yes, my friends, some kind of mucus-y bloody thing that didn’t make the toilet paper came out of my vagina and landed on the toilet seat.

The toilet paper was full of mucus and blood.  Tarzan and I examined it (I even wanted to take a picture because it fascinated me, but he said that would be disgusting) and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably pieces of my mucus plug falling out at each bathroom break.  I need to google the difference between mucus plug and bloody show because I’m not completely sure of the difference.

C’mon baby T!  Let’s get things moving and me to the hospital to meet you!!  Can. Not. Wait.

And now… here’s the perspective from Tarzan:

Jane's pregnant belly at Pregnancy week 39

My sweet little 39 weeks pregnant wonderful and beautiful wife Jane wanted me to write on this post as well, to document how the day went for me (so far – the craziness might just be getting started!)

I’m sorry if some (or a lot) of this is a repeat to the above, but this way you’re getting both sides of the story.  I didn’t read Pregnant Jane’s post above at all before writing this – so I have no idea what she wrote and she has no idea what I wrote.  So here goes…

Well, when Jane walked out of the bathroom I noticed she had a HUGE smile on her face.  I know something was going on.  When she told me that she thought she had her bloody show, I immediate thought about my recent blog post about wanting to ban that word and change it to the “stop sign” or “the show stopper”!

I then felt my stomach beginning to get tied into knots.  “How do you know?” I asked.  Jane replied and explained what had happened in the bathroom.

OH  MY  $&*@^!  GOSH!

I’m thinking we’re going to have to rush home ASAP and get our bags ready when Jane says, “Mmmmm, I want a cookie from the cafe in Borders.”

W  H  A  T ?!?!?!

“Are you serious!?” I asked.  ”What if your water breaks while we’re walking there?  What if it breaks while we’re in the bookstore?” Jane wasn’t phased a bit.  Why in the hell is she so $#&%* calm and I’m the one beginning to feel like I’m about to have an all-out panic attack and flip out!?

We walked into Borders and Jane ordered her cookie, actually, a cookie and a marshmallow square thing and a drink.  We then walked around the store a little and said it would be good for us to come home so we’re closer to the house.  Jane was fine with being out and about.  She wanted to be.  WTH!?!?

Jane then said she wanted to take the long way to the car and I was 100% positive that I was going to hear the “plock” sound and then “whoooooosh!” water was going to be spraying everywhere from Jane’s vagina like a broken fire hydrant in front of hundreds of people walking around town.

As we were walking, Jane was updating her Twitter profile with the play-by-play and we were laughing at some of the responses from people.

As we were getting closer to the car Jane said, “Oooh, I feel a lot of pressure down there.”

“WHAT!?!  Pressure?  Is it the baby? Is he coming right now?  Oh my God.  We need to get to the car.  I’m going to put garbage bags and towels on the seat.  This is crazy.  Wow.  We need to get home and be close to our bags!”

I’m flipping out, but trying to be calm and Jane is as calm as could be.  IN FACT, during this long walk Jane was walking 10 times faster than she has ever walked since getting pregnant!  I was having trouble keeping up with her!  Usually I have to walk really slow with her and take my time.

But today I felt like we just entered a speed-walking marathon and 39 week pregnant Jane was in the lead by a mile.  She was on a mission.  She was happy.  She was excited.  She was walking so damn fast!

We finally get to the car and I quickly grabbed a beach towel and forgot the garbage bag.  ”Hurry, people are coming!”  I quickly put the towel down and Jane jumped in the car… literally.

While driving home Jane mentioned she wanted to have sex when we got home to help further bring things along.

I excitedly thought OK… but then had a mental image of the bloody show and mucus plug.  Urgh.  I was frazzled.  Jane’s water could burst any moment and now she wanted to have sex?  Huh?  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but in my frazzled state said something like, “How would you like to stick your penis into a hole filled with mucus?” Or something like that.  That cracked Jane up and that helped lighten my freaked-out frazzled-I’m-going-to-be-a-father mental state.

We made it home without any water shooting out all over the inside of our car and Jane went to the bathroom.  “Tarzan, I want you to look at it so you can see what it looks like.”

I just stood there at the door of the bathroom in shock with our house alarm still beeping from when we walked in the door, and within a few seconds the house alarm was about to go off.  ”Turn off the alarm!”  Jane shouted and I said, “Oh yeah”, put in the code, and turned it off.

Jane went to the bathroom, wiped, and   T H E R E   I T   W  A  S.

As far as what it was, I have no clue in the world.  It was red and chunks of stuff and snotty looking stuff that reminded me of the fat you sometimes see in a whole chicken or turkey when  you are cutting it.  It was nothing like what I expected.  The hairs on my neck and arms began to raise and I shuttered with a quick chill that overcame my body.

“What in the &%$* is that!?  Is that your mucus plug?  What is that!?  Whoooa!  Ewww.” I said.  At that moment I realized that my weak stomach is going to have one hell of a test coming up soon when we’re in the hospital.   (NOTE: We don’t think it was the actual plug, just pieces of… ummm.. it or other stuff or something.)

So here we are.  Jane wants to have sex.  My stomach is still feeling nauseous.  Seriously.  I’m not feeling too good right now.  I don’t know if it’s something I ate for lunch, or all of that excitement and my adrenaline kicking into high gear combined with being shown some bloody oozy pieces of who knows what that I have never seen before!

For the first time in Jane’s pregnancy, sex is the last thing on my mind.

Right now I need to eat some Tums and relax….

I can say that I would have never expected any of this!  From Jane becoming “Super Jane” and walking 100 miles an hour, to wanting to have sex now, and then wanting to clean the house after (WHAT!?  UH OH!), to me getting all worked up and feeling ill now.

What a day.  Once my stomach feels better a nice cold beer or wine sounds VERY good.

So stay tuned…  Jane tells me that this could be the beginning of something – or that this may be nothing and we’re still a week or two away.  Uhhhh…. I don’t know how many days like this my stomach could take!

Tarzan

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Pregnancy Weight: No change at 39 weeks pregnant!  Again I just want to reiterate how freakin’ awesome the end of the third trimester is.  In not one word of a lie, I have been eating dessert daily and the scale has not moved.

Who wouldn’t love this?!

And mark my word, I will continue on this path until this child is out of my ute.  Because we all know, after he comes out I will be saying no to dessert and anything else that will halt weight loss… until then, bring on the dessert!  Might as well enjoy it!

Blood Pressure: 97/66

Baby’s Heartbeat: He was in the 130′s and my OB made a comment that he doesn’t like me on my back.  I moved around a little and then his heart rate went up to the 140′s and 150′s.

Baby’s Position: No change here:  Head down.  Good little boy!

Weeks my belly is measuring at: 39 weeks pregnant.  My OB made a comment that he doesn’t seem as low as the week before.  Blah.

Internal: Checking the usual stuff did not hurt.  However, she stripped my membranes and I said “Ouch, ouch, ouch” out loud.  Not really painful, but very uncomfortable.  Good thing is that it only last 10-15 seconds at the most.  Anyone can handle that!

Internal stats: 80% effaced still.  Cervix OPEN.  Dilated 1.5 cm.  Went back to a -2 station.  Doesn’t he know that he needs to be dropping down instead of going the other way?  Oy.

Baby’s Momma: Most excellent!  I feel like I’m such a trooper being pregnant and still doing the same stuff as before.  I can’t tell you how many people were shocked that I was at the Aerosmith concert last night.  Not gonna lie, it felt good when people asked me when I was due and I simply replied, “Thursday”.

I heard so many comments like, “You’re such a trooper!”, “I’m glad that you aren’t letting pregnancy stop you from doing things!’, etc.  Even Tarzan told me how awesome I was for being such a good sport.  Sure I have a little slower walk in my step and I have to go to the bathroom more, but overall, I feel good and I’m not going to let something like being pregnant keep me at home.

And it must be said, even though it could sound very b!tchy of me and I don’t know her story at all, but there was another pregnant girl in front of us at the concert.  She wasn’t as far along as I am, maybe 26 weeks at the most (and that’s purely based on the fact that I’m basically a pregnancy expert now.  Only kidding.)

She was sitting down so much of the time and it didn’t look like she was having fun at all.  Obviously it’s not a competition, but I found myself glancing over at her while I was up dancing and singing along and she was sitting down and I wanted to pat myself on the back.  Again, I don’t know her story at all or how her pregnancy is going, but on a purely superficial level (yes, I completely admit that), I felt like I was a badass for being so close to my due date and dancing the night away.

And now to redeem myself, I friended a lady in a motorized scooter while in line waiting for ice.  Technically she could walk, but since it was such a long walk and since she has really bad arthritis in her back, she opted for the scooter option.  Anyways, she was really sweet to me and we chit-chatted while waiting in the ridiculously long line.

There are these weird things when it is your turn in line and I didn’t know if her scooter would fit through there, so I offered to buy her margarita for her.  She was so thankful and it made me feel so good.  People should help people more often.  Where has all the niceness gone in the world?

Stretch Marks: NONE.  Pregnancy week 39 is being very kind to me

Swollen pregnancy feet or hands: Nope.  (Thank you!)

Belly Button: In.  I’m glad that it is still in, but I am just a very teeny tiny bit disappointed.  Not that I want a gross protruding belly button (no offense), but I just thought that having one was part of being pregnant.  You know, like a turkey when it’s done.  I thought it would be popping out by now being 39 weeks pregnant.  Hmmm, guess not.  Maybe pregnancy week 40?

Next appointment: July 21st.  I hope there is some progress because I have a feeling that we will be talking about other options if there isn’t.  My due date is Thursday, July 23rd, and my OB will only let me go to 41 weeks pregnant, which means if an induction was to be done it would happen very close to being 41 weeks pregnant.  I do not want to go this route at all, but I also know that I would be in excellent hands if I had to.  You can bet your butt that I’ll be walking a ton, having sex, and doing whatever else can be done to get this baby out on his own.

Anything you want to share that helped you?

Funny story during appointment: If you were on twitter yesterday, you know that we had to wait a long time for the OB to actually see me.  Tarzan and I are really good at keeping ourselves entertained, which is a good thing.  We were taking pictures of the random stuff in the exam room (all the pictures you see on this post) and giggling.

While I was sitting on the exam table, with my dress hiked up, panties off, and using a paper-thin cover to protect my goods, I started to tap my fingers on the sides of the bed.  T. looked up at me and was like, “Do you hear that?”  This is about the time that my giggles turned to extreme laughter.  Like from the belly laughter.

As if laughing really loudly at the OB’s office wasn’t enough (the walls are so thin there), I was shaking the bed from laughing so hard.  I guess the bed is not in the newest condition because it was making a very loud noise upon each shake that I made.  So loud that it sounded like T. and I were messing around on the bed.  No joke.  To make matters worse, T. kept on saying, “Stop Jane!”  and that made me laugh and shake even harder, which increased the noise tremendously.

Naturally all of this laughing made me have to go to the bathroom, so I composed myself and hopped of the bed.  As soon as I opened the door, I saw two nurses standing outside of our door.  It was awkward and I have a feeling that they thought something was going on in our room too.  LOL.

Sure, sex helps move along labor they say, especially being 39 weeks pregnant.  But having sex in the doctor’s office would not be the best idea!  I still wonder if the nurses think we had sex!

Big milestones this week:  Aerosmith concert and feeling like I’m just in a really good place right now.  I’m more in love with my husband than ever (and vice versa) and I can’t wait to bring our little baby boy in this world.  We had a great dinner, complete with a non-alcoholic beer for me.

We reminisced about certain parts of dating from the past 6 years and how happy we both are.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it was really sweet.  It’s nice to have been together for so long, dating and marriage, and to still enjoy each other’s company.  I’ve also wanted to be the couple who is 80 years old and still in love.  There’s just something so sweet about it.

Anyways, T. told me that while he was driving a few days ago, he just felt really proud of his family: me, our dog, and our unborn baby.  It just made him feel really happy and proud.  Isn’t that sweet?

We are starting another beginning with one another and, while it was scary when I first got pregnant, it’s so fabulous now.  We are both so excited and can’t wait to have an addition to our family.  It’s a cool feeling to be so in love and to be on this journey together.

(Mushiness over.)

Tip for all you pregnant ladies: One word: Ice.  Instead of drinking tons of water while you are at a concert, movies (if you don’t chew loudly), or anywhere else where you don’t want to constantly go to the bathroom, chew/suck on ice instead.  I learned this from the above mentioned pregnant girl and it was brilliant.  I had a ton of ice and I didn’t have to leave the concert to pee all of the time.  Brilliant!

So here we are.  Pregnancy week 39.  The clock is ticking.  LOUDLY!

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38 weeks pregnant and counting… and waiting.  Are signs of labor during my pregnancy starting?

It’s funny because I know that I’m 1cm dilated and 80% effaced and I keep getting my hopes up with every little sign.  I’m also quite aware of the fact that dilation and effacement doesn’t necessarily mean a thing.  It’s such a tease really.

I find myself looking for signs of labor approaching and then I think “Is this it?” and it never is.  I need to remain calm and stop worrying.  I really just don’t want to have to worry about being induced, but no sense in worrying about that now either.

I had my last pregnancy internal on Friday and I must say that I dislike having my appointment on Fridays.  It was much better when I had my appointment on Wednesdays because the office was always open should I need to call about a question.  With a Friday appointment I can’t just call the office.  Well, I technically could call the emergency number, which pages my OB, but the key word there is emergency.

Anyways, after my internal on Friday my OB told me that I could expect a little spotting since there was a little drop of blood on her glove.  No big deal, right?

Well I had spotting the whole damn weekend, accompanied with menstrual cramp feelings.  I wanted to call the office, but did not deem this quite an emergency, so I refrained.  Naturally I was super excited when the office re-opened yesterday and I was able to place my call to the nurse.

Wouldn’t you know that she called me back while I was in the produce section of the grocery store?  Perfect location to talk blood, mucus plug, cramping, and labor, isn’t it?

Anyways, the nurse said my OB said it was nothing to worry about, most likely my cervix ripening and shedding some blood.  She also said that my OB thinks it will be just a matter of time now (another tease, no?).  I was told that I should not be having period-like blood, so if I do to call the office or the emergency number if the office is closed.  So far, so good (as far as having no period-like blood).

So now I just sit and wait and continue to look for other…

Signs of labor during pregnancy week 38?

For example, and consider yourself fair-warned about this TMI topic coming up, pregnancy bowel movements.

Up until four days ago, I was not pooping.  I swear that a week had gone by, or at least it felt like that.  It could have only been a few days.  Obviously I wasn’t keeping track.

But four days ago, everything started to move in my bowels and this was without changing up my diet.  No diarrhea (really, I did warn you about the topic!), but not extremely “solid” either.  And it’s been happening daily at least 2-3 times.  This is brand-spanking new for me and I like to think that it’s a sign.  Pregnancy bowel movements is not my favorite topic by far, but it’s a sign my body is preparing for labor!

I’ve read and heard numerous times that bowel movements at the end of your pregnancy is a sign that labor is soon because your body will start to cleanse that unwanted stuff before labor.

The only reason I remember that is because there were about six signs of preliminary labor and I checked off each item to Tarzan as we were watching a DVD on the signs of labor – which we will be reviewing on here within the next day or two.  The only thing that I hadn’t experienced on the signs of labor list was “diarrhea”.  Lovely topic.

And then things started to move, so maybe I can check that item off the list too.

Even if I can, it doesn’t really mean anything.  My baby will come out when he is ready, no matter what I do to help him along the way (spicy foods, sex, walking, etc).  I wish it was easier to get him to make his appearance, but I know that when he does it will be special and I will be so thankful to hold him in my arms instead of him pressing against my bladder.

All. Of. The. Time.

Related posts:

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How’s that for a blog post title for ya?  Whew!  Anyway, as Jane mentioned in her sneezing and peeing post, pregnancy week 16 has been VERY good for her.  No nausea, no morning sickness, no headaches, no throwing up, just some hormone flair-ups here and there, and of course sneezing and peeing.

I’ll take her sneezing and peeing any day compared to all of the other stuff she was going through in pregnancy weeks 14 and 15.  Whew!  We had some rough days there.

Anyway, as I continue on this pregnancy journey with Jane, I’ve been noticing more and more pregnancy sympathy pains.  I’ve blogged about them as they’ve hit me, so here’s a new one for you: Sympathy pains have brought on my own hormone-flaring mood swings.  Weird.

Jane mentioned that I was a grump tonight in her post.  After I read her blog post and commented, I did some thinking.  Why was I a grump?  After all, today wasn’t more or less stressful than the past few weeks and months have been.  After doing a little more soul-searching, I realized that I didn’t have an answer as to why I was so grumpy tonight and so short with Jane.

You know what that means… My own hormones are kicking in and making ME have mood swings!  WTH?  Seriously?!  That is the only solution that I can come up with.  I’ve been in a bad mood all night and I can’t put my finger on what caused it or why it suddenly melted away.

I guess a father-to-be can have pregnancy sympathy pains, can’t he?  He can have and experience everything else, so why not those wonderful, joyful pregnancy mood swings?

All I can say is that I’m VERY happy that Jane was in a really good mood tonight.  If she happened to have one of her mood swings kick in the same time I did tonight… LOOK OUT.  It would have been World War III in this house and I would be sleeping in the doghouse tonight.  It would have been bad.

To be honest, I had no clue what I signed up for with this whole “sympathy pains” deal.  I never knew a father-to-be would go through really anything while his wife is pregnant.  This has been such a wake up call for me.  I guess with each one of these little pregnancy sympathy pains I go through, I get to experience a little of what Jane is going through.  How fun.

However, I’m starting to get concerned about my testicles when it comes time for Jane to deliver our baby.  I swear, if they start to hurt even a little while we’re waiting for our son or daughter to enter this world, I’m outta there.  I have a feeling that if any man felt even 1% of the pain there compared to what a woman feels during childbirth, we wouldn’t be able to walk for a month.

So yeah.  Tarzan has mood swings now.  How wonderful.  And if I start peeing when I sneeze I’m seriously… SERIOUSLY going to start freaking out.  I have to draw the line there.

Right now I’d like to take this opportunity to send a big CONGRATULATIONS to my beautiful pregnant wife Jane for reaching another milestone today that is even bigger than sneezing and peeing.  Today Jane reached…

5,000 Followers on Twitter!

Before I dive in, if you’re not following His Boys Can Swim (Jane runs the Twitter account 100% of the time) on Twitter, go to: http://www.twitter.com/hisboyscanswim (opens in a new window).

If you don’t have an account on Twitter, I highly suggest you get one.  It’s 100% free.  It’s also 100% confusing at first, and seems strange, but I’ll explain the whole Twitter deal below.

Anyway, Jane is on Twitter several times a day so you’ll be able to “chat” (AKA Tweet) to her live via Twitter.

I’m proud of her!  Our first blog His Boys Can Swim pregnancy blog post was on December 26th, 2008.  (I can’t believe that we’ve only been at this for a little over a month and a half!)  I think Jane signed up for Twitter sometime around then, but didn’t start Twittering until the beginning of January.

So getting over 5,000 followers on Twitter in around 40 days isn’t too shabby at all.  Here are some interesting stats (from Twitter Grader which change by the hour up and down):

• As of this writing, His Boys Can Swim (AKA Jane) is # 1,367 out of 1,242,061 Twitter users graded.
   
• As of this very moment, Jane is in the top 10 Twitter users in all of Houston, Texas
   
• She’s not listed on the Texas page right now for some reason, but when it updates, Jane will be either the # 7 or # 8 Twitter user in ALL of Texas.

That is really cool and I’m so proud of my Jane.

Now why should you jump on the strange Twitter bandwagon?

Well first, if you own a business or a website, Twitter is an absolute must now-a-days.  It’s a great way to find new customers and it’s a great way for people to find your website.

If you don’t own a business or a website, that’s fine too.  You can meet others with the same interests you have, meet people locally, or whatever.  It’s also a good way to keep up with friends and see what they’re up to.

You’ll also meet a lot of great people.  In fact, Jane has received a few packages in the mail (with SEVERAL more on the way) from people who she’s met on Twitter.  People are sending her their products (pregnancy/maternity/etc related) to try out and then Jane will post a review of the products here.  Really cool idea.  Jane gets to try new stuff out and those who send her stuff get a review on our pregnancy blog.  It’s a nice win-win for everyone.

If by chance anyone from Apple is reading this blog, personally, I would LOVE an iPhone.  It’s killing me now owning one.  We’d be able to post on this blog within seconds after every doctor appointment.  Imagine… just six days from now we’ll be finding out if we have a boy or girl and I take a picture of the ultrasound machine and write a quick blog saying, “We’re having a girl!”  Or, “We’re having a boy!”

Oh how my life would be complete with an iPhone.  So Apple, I would be happy to try out an iPhone for awhile and review it on our blog.  I’d have one already, but that money went to our first doctor appointment.  Priorities.  It’s amazing how fast things change, huh?

Now speaking of reviews, if you have any pregnancy-related products or services that you’d like Jane to try out and post a review for you here, please contact us.

Now please understand we cannot accept everyone and every product.  It has to be something that Jane likes and would use (or EAT as I know we have some chocolate on the way!  Mmmm!) and obviously it would need to be beneficial for our readers to learn about.  Oh, and it needs to relate to maternity/pregnancy/babies/etc.

If you’re wondering how chocolate fits in that group, then you’re either not pregnant or your wife isn’t pregnant!

Father-To-Be Stress.
A Visit To The Doctor.

Next on my list this evening is what I’m doing to keep my father-to-be stress levels down.  If you’ve been following our pregnancy journey, you know that I’ve got a lot of stress due to many factors: economy, slow/dead business, no maternity insurance, a pregnant wife, and we have to sell our house that we just bought a year ago to make sure we can pay for the doctor/hospital bills, baby, and lower our stress levels a little overall when it comes to money.  And there is a little stress over the fact that I can’t stop eating ice cream at night!  (I have to add some humor here somewhere.)

What’s crazy to me is how I’ve lost 14 pounds during Jane’s 16 weeks of pregnancy.  I’ve been eating a lot of ice cream just about every night and I only started walking about a week and 1/2 ago!  Huh.  I don’t get it.  And yes, NO LIE… I just finished off the Cookie’s and Cream ice cream Jane bought today!

Anyway, here’s something new for you…

I’ll admit that I went to the doctors today.  If you look back a few blog posts, you’ll see how I had some crazy chest pain at 5 AM one morning.  It was scary stuff.  It ended up being gas because my stomach acids are kicking into high gear and causing all sorts of crazy things to happen.  Anyway, you can read about everything that happened in that post.

So today I went to the doctors and he gave me some sample meds to take to lower the stomach acid in my stomach for 10-15 days to give my stomach a chance to heal.  I’m NOT a fan of having to take any meds.  I’m one of those guys who doesn’t like going to the doctor, I don’t like hospitals, and I don’t like taking medicine.

However, the stuff he gave me is super mild, can be taken with anything at anytime, it’s like a longer lasting Tums.  And I’m OK with that since I’ve been eating those like candy lately.

Also, to keep stress levels down I’ve been walking quite a bit lately.  Walked around 5 miles today.  Will try to do at least that every day and I want to start doing at least 10 to 12 miles every Saturday or Sunday.  Once I get in the groove, I’ll mix in lifting some weights in a week or two.

I know that the only real healthy way to lower stress is by exercising like crazy.  I also just read in Men’s Health magazine that if you have whatever you’re stressed about while you’re working out, you could actually be doing more damage than good.  Crazy, huh?  So I do all I can to have a completely clear head.

And speaking of head, I’m doing all I can to get back into the right mindset again.  2008 was a landslide year.  Literally starting in January my business went down each and every month.  Either I lost clients for one reason or another or the clients that I did have didn’t pan out because of the economy.

That does a number on your psyche… BIG TIME.  So I’ve hit some really down periods which is not like me because I’m usually a pretty upbeat self-motivated guy.  Now here’s a side of Tarzan that I have not shown on our blog thus far…

What have I started doing to recondition my mind?

I’ve hit the books.  But not just any book.  I’m not sure what it was that attracted me to them, but I’m reading OLD books I’ve found in my collection I’ve built over the years of old rare books.  Funny, I’ve never been much of a reader, but I used to like finding and getting these old gems.

Now for some reason, when I try to read any of the books on self-improvement and personal development that have been written over the last 5-10 years or so, I have a tough time getting through them.  Most of them have too much fluff now-a-days.  I don’t have time for fluff.  I need the real-deal answers and how-to information NOW.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great book written recently… but they’re just not cutting it for me.  Books written early to mid 1900′s are cutting it for me right now as crazy as that may sound.  And just for S&G, I figured I’d take a picture of the 3 that I’m reading right now and let you know what they are.

Note: Do not let a pregnant women smell an old book. Yikes! Almost caused instant nausea!

The first book, the blue one on the left is called, “Riches Within Your Reach” by Robert Collier.  This one is from 1953.  And this one is pure GOLD.  Nearly everything you read today in the personal development world (or see in movies like “The Secret”) are all based on the writings from Robert Collier.

The second book, “That Something” is by W.W. Woodbridge and believe it or not, that baby was written in the year 1914.  95-years-old.  Crazy.  I honestly think I’m the first person who has ever opened it.  (It’s small and can be read in 30 minutes.)

And the third book is, “Wake Up and Live!” by Dorothea Brande.  This one was written in 1936, but my copy is the 12th printing from 1942.

Live many things I’ve discussed on our pregnancy blog, I feel funny about disclosing the above for some reason.  I guess it’s because it’s yet another glimpse into the private life of Tarzan.

However, we’re here to document our pregnancy journey and the above plays the BIGGEST roll for me in this journey.  We have a baby on the way and I’m getting more active to lose weight so I can get these stress levels under control and be healthier.  I’m working hard to fix my mindset and get it back on track so I can focus on my business, make changes, create new ideas, and figure out how to make money in this economy.  And on and on and on.

So son or daughter, when you read this in 20 years or whenever, know that I’m doing all this stuff with you in mind – to do all I can to provide you with an incredible life.  I want to be able to do a ton of fun things for you and your Mom.  I want to help you grow not just on the outside, but where it really counts, which is on the inside.

Oh God, my pregnancy sympathy pains and hormones are kicking in again, I’m getting tears in my eyes… Oh no.  We’re out of ice cream.

Related posts:

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2. 15 weeks pregnant and the floodgates have opened: Crying during pregnancy and beyond? While I was working upstairs, Jane was eating her breakfast...
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I’m taking a new leap in my pregnancy during this second trimester by wanting to purchase a prenatal yoga dvd.  I’m not really sure what’s come over me, considering that I’ve hated regular yoga the handful of times I’ve tried it.  

The weirdest thing is that I truly expect to love it each time; after all, everyone that I know that does yoga loves it and swears by it.  I’m definitely the exception to the rule on this one.

However, when I think about pushing something that could weigh anywhere from 5-9 pounds out of my vag, I must admit that I warm up quickly to the idea of prenatal yoga.  After all, it claims to help with the labor and delivery process, which means to me that it will make it a little easier.  And, I want the labor and delivery process to be as easy as it can be, hence, me trying prenatal yoga.

I found a dvd on Amazon.com called Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea and it looks good.  I’m thinking about ordering it later today and then posting a review on here for others that might be interested in doing prenatal yoga, especially if you are like me and aren’t a huge fan of yoga in the first place.  

I read some of the reviews on Amazon.com and I really like that some people said it was slow-paced.  This sounds perfect for me.  Besides the downward dog, I don’t know any yoga poses.  I will require something that is slow-paced since I’m a beginner, so this sounds like a good fit for me.

I guess my main problem with regular yoga was that I could never get the breathing right… and really, that’s what yoga is all about.  And, that is probably what helps with labor and delivery too.  

It’s all in the breathing.  

I need all the help I can get when it comes to preparing for breathing correctly when I’m pushing out a baby, so I’m game to try this.

Anyone else have Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea and love it?  If so, what do you find most beneficial?  Have you noticed that you are able to get your breathing under control?  

Most importantly, do you think that it will help with your labor and delivery because that’s what I REALLY want to know!

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I have high expectations for being 15 weeks pregnant.  I like to think that the whole morning sickness thing that happened in week 14 of being pregnant was a fluke.  My body keeping me in check, perhaps.

Yesterday and today have been great days!  I’ve felt good.  I haven’t had a headache.  I haven’t even felt nauseous.  It’s been a long time since I have just felt pregnant with no other side effects.  Yay for being 15 weeks pregnant!

It was such a beautiful day today in Houston.  It might have been in the 70′s and Tarzan and I went for a long walk.  Well, we went on 2 walks because the first one was a complete bust.  You see, Tarzan and I agree and even think alike on many things, but we are complete opposites on others.

For example, my husband thinks it is fun and relaxing to go in the middle of the woods (in Texas!  Hello!  We have snakes and other creepy things that crawl and bite you.)  There really isn’t one part of me that is a nature type of girl.  Yes, I like to feel “one with nature”, but maybe in a hotel with the woods surrounding me.  I’m that kind of girl.

Back to my story…

Yesterday Tarzan went for a walk in the woods (there are trails, but literally, you are deep in the woods.  In the middle of nowhere.  Where you do not see another person.  Ever.) and was gone for three hours.  He came home and told me how awesome it was and blah, blah, blah.  Well of course he did a fantastic job on selling these trails in the middle of the woods to me that I actually wanted to go today.  

I was even excited…  until we took our first steps, that is.

Seriously, we were in the middle of nowhere.  The trail wasn’t paved.  There was dirt to walk on when we were lucky, but most of the time it was leaves and a mixture of other woodsy things.  (At this point I had to wonder if Tarzan has ever been to the zoo.  I mean, really, doesn’t he know that there are types of snakes that blend in with leaves.  They are even hard to spot at the zoo, and now we were in the freakin’ woods.  Oh God help me.)

Of course, after about 10 steps I wanted to go back to the car.  But, I didn’t want to wimp out, so I kept on going.  I did my best to talk extremely loud and step down hard, you know, to scare off any animals that might want to attack me.  We walked and walked for a good hour until we got to a river.  This is about the time that the thought of alligators crossed my mind.  Now I kept a watchful eye for alligators and snakes, while my husband asked me how relaxing this was.  

Um, no.  Relaxing is most definitely NOT the word that I would pick.  Scared.  Worried.  Panicky.  Am-I-going-to-die-and-no-one-will-ever-find-me?  These were the thoughts going through my mind.  It was pure hell in these woods I tell you.  

My heart was racing and I was reminded that it had been a while since I’ve really exercised and that I probably should not go too far or else I just might have a heart attack… and that’s just not good for the baby.  Thank God for being pregnant because I totally blamed why I wanted to get out of the woods on the fetus that I’m housing.  I told Tarzan that it was a bit too much for me and that I didn’t want to overdo it.

The next thing you know, we are on the path to our car.  I’m so thankful that we didn’t get lost trying to go back.  That would have been awful.  I doubt that I’ll ever go deep in the woods again, for relaxing nonetheless, but if I do, I’ll bring my camera.  I’m definitely not being a baby; that sh!t was scary.  A scary movie kind of scary with a killer hiding in the woods.  Except the killer could be a person, alligator, or a rattlesnake.  You take your pick.

We got in the car and drove to a new section of houses that were being built.  We parked and walked around a beautiful neighborhood.  This was more like it.  This was a walk that I could enjoy, and gasp, even relax on.  It was peaceful and the other thing that I had to worry about was getting out of the way of cars.  Easy enough!  We walked around for about an hour and then called it a day.  

It felt so awesome to actually get out and do something active.  It’s always just getting my butt off the couch to actually do it that’s the problem.  Same thing with the gym.  Once I’m there, I’m golden.  I could spend 3 hours working out at the gym.  I have my iPod with good music and I’m in my zone.  Same thing with today.  I didn’t want to stop.  I felt like I could pull a Forest Gump and walk all day long.  If you feel good, and if you have awesome weather like we do, I recommend you getting out too.  You’ll thank me later, I’m sure.

I think I’ll end this post here.  I hope you got a good laugh out of my day and now I’m off to eat some Dreyer’s Samoas ice cream.  Oh yes, you read that right… and I couldn’t be more excited to shove ice cream down my throat.  It’s making my mouth water just writing about it.  Yummy, yum, yum!

Oh and ps – Tarzan and I had sex twice today.  Yes, twice.  We’re champs!

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Today is my last day being 14 weeks pregnant, and wouldn’t you know that I got my first “Oh my gosh, you are showing” pregnancy comment.  

I was out walking my dog throughout our neighborhood when I bumped into a neighbor.  I haven’t seen this neighbor since right after Thanksgiving, so then I was only 6 or 7 weeks pregnant.  Definitely not showing at that point, unless you want to count the bloat.  Ha, ha.

Anyways, we bumped into each other on my street and she said, “Oh my gosh, you are showing.  That’s so cute!”  I just want it to be known that it’s official, I suppose.  I am pregnant and got my first “stranger” type of comment… and I’m thrilled.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Have you got your first comment?  If so, how far along were you?

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I highly doubt Jane would be jumping on this right now, especially after the non-stop nausea and morning sickness today.  

However, I thought I’d share what I found.  It’s called, “Dancing Thru Pregnancy“.  They’ve been around for 25 years.

You can also check out a recent article posted by the NBC Connecticut website.

Now obviously I don’t see Pregnant Jane doing anything like this right now now, but maybe once she gets through this horrible sickness stage she may be up for something like this?  I think it would be good for her and fun for her to do.  Not sure if they’re any local place around these parts, but worst case I could crank on some 80′s music or something and watch her jam out.

Has anyone done this or heard of this?

Really, there needs to be something for soon-to-be dad’s to do.  And don’t say we should dance, because if anyone saw this boy dance, they’d be rolling on the floor laughing, and that wouldn’t be good for pregnant women!

OK… I might as well admit this now since we’re on the subject of dancing because it makes me think of music…

If Jane is feeling better tomorrow, I’m going to ask her to record a song with me.  You see, a few days ago I wrote a song about pregnancy and I thought it was pretty good.

Neither Jane or I can sing whatsoever, so I’m sure it will turn out horrible… but it’ll be fun.  I’ll record it, and get it up on this site sometime.  Hopefully she’s up for it tomorrow.  If not, one of these days I’ll get her to sing the song I wrote about pregnancy.

Now don’t think I’m some professional sound recorder or anything.  If I can get Jane to do it, we’ll be singing into my webcam microphone.  ha ha!  Stay tuned… you may be hearing Jane and I sing a song in a few days!

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