Ready to throw in the towel...

Only in the past month of my pregnancy have I really been feeling the symptoms of actually being pregnant... heartburn, indigestion, minor skin outbreaks, back pain, food cravings, increased appetite, fatigue, shortness of breath, dysgeusia, urinary incontinence and the worst of them all, edema.

In the past two weeks, edema has seriously kicked my ass. For those who don't know what it is, basically it's the swelling of your ankles and feet. My feet seriously look like Hulk feet minus the green tinge! I've accepted the fact that I've been very fortunate not to have to deal with many of the symptoms until pretty much the home stretch but the swelling is seriously the worst feeling ever! No matter what I do, such as, keeping my feet elevated, cutting salt from my diet, icing down my feet, wearing support socks (which look RIDICULOUS!) it has just been inevitable and full force!

Before shot of when I first noticed the swelling...

The morning after...

This morning, I reached my breaking point.I woke up like I always do, but noticed my feet had not gotten better overnight and my legs felt tingly. It was torture getting from the bed to the bathroom, a mere 8 feet away. I could help but break down and cry for a solid ten minutes. (Hell, I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.)

I've always hated my feet... I'm flat-footed and have a princess toe which has made me feel subconscious about wearing open-toed shoes and sandals. Now let's add the fact that my ankles have morphed into cankles and my toes are reminiscent of Jimmy Dean sausages. I only have two pairs of shoes that fit and that's only because I had to go out and buy them a size bigger and in wide. Thank you Payless for having these shoes on sale and I had an additional coupon! My other pair are size 9, silver flip flops from Target that I wear when I'm not at work.

I keep telling myself, "Only a few more weeks and it will all be over." I'm so ready for Emilia to make her debut and put me out of my misery.

Our (Hopefully) Musical Daughter

I know I said I would blog about the cool baby stuff we were given at the shower but I'm too lazy to take photos right now... that being said, I did have three particular items on the registry that I really wanted and I received all three:

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions
Thanks to Jessica for Queen, Elaine for Journey and Henry for Weezer!

I found these albums on Amazon and thought my kid has to have these. Not only are they my favorite bands but they are kid friendly! I really do hope that my kid loves Queen, Journey and Weezer as much as I do. In fact, I hope she is very much interested in music as her dad is. I sing to her when I'm driving alone or in the shower and she seems to be dancing in utero when Johnny plays jazz saxophone...

We've recently been talking about our musical influences were growing up and how it's shaped us today. As for me, I remember my dad jamming out to Queen, The Beach Boys and other classic rock bands every time we were in the car. My mom would blast Vicente Fernandez, Ana Gabriel, Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel, Selena, Gloria Trevi and mariachi classics every Saturday morning while cleaning the house. All of Johnny's siblings have know how to play one or more instruments and Johnny himself has 11 different instruments at home. Johnny really wants Emilia to play the violin or classical guitar. I, on the other hand, want her to play electric guitar or piano. I guess when the time comes, she'll favor her own instrument and want to play it on her terms.

In the mean time, I was thinking about some songs I hope she grows up with. I would really like to make her a mix tape in the future for her to actually listen to the lyrics. I'm sure I'll keep adding to the list, but the following songs have always brought a smile to my face and made me reflect about my life and how I've gotten to where I am now. I thought I would share it and if you have any you think I should add, leave a comment!

The Middle – Jimmy Eat World

Time of Your Life – Green Day

All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crow

Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen

All You Need Is Love – The Beatles

What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley and the Wailers

100 Years – Five for Fighting

I’ll Stand By You – The Pretenders

Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

Pork and Beans - Weezer

I Just Want to Celebrate - Rare Earth

Currently...

I needed more inspiration to write and thought this might help... I got it from a blog I frequently read.

Currently...

Obsessing over: keeping a clean house and getting organized before the baby arrives! I love my house... I can't express that enough. However, it sucks having a dog and a cat that shed so damn much around the house. Lately, I've been so exhausted that my list of to do's gets thrown out the window. I'm also trying to organize the nursery as much as I possible can without anyone's help. My reasoning behind this is I can work at my own pace, have it the way I want it and take naps in between if i want to. I swear I feel like a damn hibernating bear.

Working on: writing out "Thank You" cards to the 60+ people who attended our baby shower this past weekend. Johnny and I are both very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who are sharing this amazing adventure with us. It's hard to send a little thanks when you want to do so much more to show how appreciative we are.

Thinking about: what baby Emilia will look like. The curiosity is killing me! I have a few friends who have mentioned they've had dreams in their third trimester about what their child looks like. I have yet to have a serious dream about Emma. In fact, just last week, I dreamt that we had company over at the house and all of a sudden the baby morphed out from my belly. She was super clean, lots of black hair, small body and super clingy. I kept telling the baby, "What are you doing here!? You're not supposed to be here for another two months! Go back inside, now!" I woke up with the giggles as I retold the dream to Johnny. As curious as we both are and how often we talk about it, we will just have to wait and see when she decides to show up.

Anticipating: anything not relating to work. I love my job but recently certain people in the office have made it difficult to want to show up. It's all been a bunch of silly drama and maybe it's because I am more hormonal than ever, but I just don't feel like putting up with anyone's shit. (Pardon my French!) On top of that, I found out I don't qualify for FMLA or short term disability which means I have to take an extended leave from work. After finding this information out, I really don't want to be here. I am always looking forward to the weekends and catch myself staring at my approved holidays calendar waiting for the next official day away from this forsaken place.

Pretty much what it felt like yesterday...

Listening to: the Queen station on Pandora... I can't get enough of Freddie Mercury. You guys have no idea how much I <3 Queen... I love them so much I am determined to get my child to love them also. My bff Jess gave Baby Emma the Lullaby Renditions of Queen! I can't wait to have this playing non-stop in the nursery! :D

Eating: everything in sight! And according to my doctor, I'm on target with weight, belly measurements, no signs of high blood pressure or gestational diabetes. I must add, I'm hungry what feels like 80% of the time, however, I don't stuff myself to the point where I feel awful. I do find myself eating strange things at strange times such as chocolate icebox pie for breakfast.

Wishing: this damn heartburn/indigestion goes away!!! For a while there, it was so bad, I wanted to cry because I was not getting enough sleep to make it through the work day and the pain was just unbearable. I started taking Zantac which has helped a bit, the occasional Tums here and there has also helped. However, my best line of defense and also the most uncomfortable was buying a backrest pillow from Walmart a few days ago. It seems to help me sleep better but I'm just not accustomed to sleeping upright.

Anywhooooo, that's it for now... next post will be about the baby shower we had last weekend. I really want to share some of the cool stuff we received. Until then, here's a current photo of me at 33 weeks taken this morning before work.

New Year updates

Hello again!

I know, I know! I've been a bad blogger! I admit it! Since November, work has drained me of all the remaining energy I have left at the end of the day. Now that I'm back in my climate controlled downtown office with more peace and quiet, lovely co-workers and the fact that Christmas is pretty much a wrap, I feel a bit more energized to get back to focusing on the baby. Jeez, that sounds pretty bad. So, we have lots to catch up on!!!

I'm going to make this as short and sweet as possible! You should know by know how much I love making lists...

- We had a doctor's appointment in December and two in January. Everything seems to be okay minus the fact that my doc told me I'm iron deficient/borderline anemic.This majorly sucks because I have to take an iron supplement everyday along with my horse pills AKA prenatals.The iron pill wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have god-awful indigestion everyday leaving the taste of blood in my mouth. I also had to take a three-hour glucose screening... that was the whomps, as well! I had to fast starting at midnight, get blood drawn at 9am, drink a disgusting, orange flavored glucose drink in less than 5 minutes, and get blood drawn again at 10am, 11am and noon. I felt so sick and weak (and severely bruised!) the rest of the day that I decided it would be best if I didn't go to work. In the end, I passed my glucose test with flying colors!

- Baby Emilia seems to be doing pretty awesome... she has a very strong and healthy heartbeat and is very active in the womb! Funny story... the first time I felt her move was on Monday, November 28th. Johnny and I had to be at Santa's Secret Warehouse at 3 in the morning for a live shot with KHOU Channel 11. We started the live shots at 4:30am with IHOP making us delicious pancakes and continued for the rest of the morning. During the 10 o'clock hour, we all had to be part of a live taping of Great Day. David Paul interviewed Johnny and he announced to all of Houston that we were expecting a baby... I think Emilia heard loud and clear because she decided to do somersaults, handstands, ninja kicks, and strange yoga positions all day after that! At first I was convinced it was gas... but nope, just Emma having a ball! Here's the video of Johnny's announcement:

- Speaking of work... good lord, Christmas was one of the most stressful experiences ever. Without going into too much detail, the main stress came from working too closely with one my bosses, one of my assistants not being much of an assistant, the fact that I rarely got to sit down and the 35 minute commute. Closer to the finish line of all the Christmas hoopla, I really felt the stress and I'm sure Emma did, too. I found myself being incredibly emotional, losing sleep, having a daily achy back and tired feet, and having little or no appetite. I was ready to call it quits after being told some very hurtful things but I was very fortunate to have several co-workers reassure me that I was doing a fantastic job and how much they appreciated me. I stuck it out. I finally was able to make it back to my regular office in mid January. And let me tell you, things are a complete 180 here!

-In mid December, we moved into a house near Hobby Airport. We kinda lucked out with the place... rent is decent, when I mean decent, I mean less than $900 a month. We have a beautiful 1950's home with a fully fenced back yard, 2 bedrooms, two full baths, two car garage, hardwood floors, built in ironing board, stacked washer & dryer, a study nook, huge dining room and living room, a freakin' solarium, central air and heat, tiled patio, huge attic, awesome kitchen with even more awesome Chambers stove, font yard privacy fence, plantation shutters, ceiling fans throughout... I could keep going...Moving in was a bit difficult as I wasn't allowed to lift a finger but we had lots of help from family and friends. I love my new home. It's perfect for Johnny, myself, Olive, Luigi and the newest roomie, Emma. 

- My mom and aunt are hosting a baby shower for Johnny and I... it's been interesting to say the least. Registering at Babies R Us was an experience I will never forget. I didn't find it fun at all and Johnny was in panic mode. The staff gave us a list of this we should consider registering for but nothing prepares you for the realization of how much stuff a baby actually needs. I think that overwhelmed Johnny and add the fact that he's a person who likes to price compare and read reviews. Which is why the minute we got home, we hopped on Amazon.com and created an additional registry. Things seem to be falling into place in regard to the shower... they got a venue, the food has been decided, my brother and his friend made the invites (see below!), centerpieces are being made, fun games picked out, etc...

Back of Envelope

Front of Invitation

Inside of Invitation

- The nursery is just about done! We went black Friday shopping at managed to score Emma's crib, mattress and changing table for about $250. All the furniture has been put together including a bad ass rocking chair, my Uncle Robert, Aunt Dora and cousins, Bobby and Daniel gave us! My dad and Johnny spent the day working on that this past weekend....

My men working hard to finish the crib!

Johnny loves that power drill!

I couldn't resist putting Olive in the crib!

Once we wash and iron all the bedding, this is what it will look like!

- Last but not least, I told myself early on that I didn't want to become one of "those" pregnant women. Lo and behold, I am quickly turning into one! I can't bend down anymore, it's becoming increasingly difficult to breathe, I'm hungry all the damn time, I just want to hibernate until Emma arrives, I get tired more frequently, I have to pee like a racehorse, I'm uncomfortable sitting, I'm uncomfortable standing, nothing fits the way I'd like it to, I lose track of what I'm doing, everything hurts... I mean seriously, April can't come soon enough! 

That's about it for now... I hope to try and keep up with this every week! I leave y'all with my obligatory 6 month bump photo. Mind you, I'm at 28 week now... I need a new photo...

Our First (Super Official) Doctor's Visit

FINALLY! It seemed as if this day would never arrive! My insurance officially kicked in on November 1st and I was able to get an appointment with Dr. Tiffany Tarrant over the the Houston Women's Care Associates. A million thanks to Tony and Liz, Johnny's bro and sis-in-law, who recommended them!

Without this sounding too much like a Yelp review, Dr. Tarrant is AWESOME! She is just so nice and as odd as it may sound, a breath of fresh air! Anyhooooo, We had our appointment last Monday, November 7th... the staff was super helpful and extremely kind. I got some vitals checked... all normal. Pee'd in a cup, yet again, and despite frequently peeing on sticks and in cups, I still manage to pee on my hand. Jeezus! The doctor came and asked us a few questions about family history. We chose to take a few genetic blood tests and I had a pap smear done since it had been a few years since my previous one. Then Dr. Tarrant offered to do an ultra sound to give us a better idea of how far along I am. It seems I'm a bit behind but only by two weeks... which puts my due date at around April 14th, 2012. She also asked if we wanted to know the sex... DUH, lady! She thinks its a girl because we saw a lot of "taco" and no "hot dog." My words, not hers. Hee, hee, hee. We'll get confirmation when the blood work comes back and another ultrasound this week. Speaking of blood work, I had to give eight vials of blood! They couldn't find my vein for a while and eventually, the technician just guessed and pricked... lucky for me, she hit the vein.

So, drum roll please! Meet the future addition to the Santillán/Salinas family!

Don't wanna say if it's a little lady or a little gent just yet, but we're excited with either!

In case you're not sure what you're looking at, the spine is up top and the head to the right of the sonogram. Still kinda looks like a little alien, to be honest, but an adorable little alien, no?


Anyway, I'll keep up with future updates as soon as I can! Work is kicking my butt and I find myself not wanting to be in front of a screen outside of the office. Bear with me!