Let's hear it for the Daddy/Husbands!

You know...I got to thinking the other day....so much of a pregnancy is focused on the mommy and the baby.  But what about the daddy/husband?  It's almost as if as soon as the husband has made a baby all is forgotten, the spotlight only shines on mommy and baby and poor daddy/husband is left all alone in the cold.  Not to mention in addition to the lack of attention now the daddy/husband has to pick up the slack from the mommy who is too exhausted to even think.  This weekend I was reminded of this.  

Typically I don't sleep in late on the weekends, usually I am up by 8 (although some of my parent friends might argue that is late).  However, since I have been pregnant getting up by 10 is a chore!  I literally peel myself off the sheets to wake up and I only do that for one of three reasons; 1) I have to pee, 2) I am hungry or 3) I feel guilty that Husband has already been up for almost 3 hours.  So this morning I woke up and walked downstairs to fix my new favorite breakfast consisting of greek vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit and wheat germ.  I prepare my breakfast, eat it and suddenly I am exhausted again.  Seriously?!  Is that even possible?  So I lay down on the couch with the blanket and pillow that must remain on the couch at all times (one day Husband put it away and I nearly gouged his eyes out---do NOT remove my pillow and blanket from the couch!).  At which point I proceed to veg while watching HBO (it's free for three months, what am I going to do when that's over?!).  At some point I must have dozed off and when I awoke it was to sweet Husband straightening up.  He had the laundry basket full and took it upstairs, had put away all my dirty dishes, cleaned up the bar area that seems to become junk ridden over the weekends, picked up about 5 empty water bottles, taken the trash out and more.  Immediately a sinking feeling too over me.  Poor Husband, his wife lies comatose about 80% of the time, no one to talk to and now he has to clean up after me.  That sounds like a true joy.  But you know what?  He never complains and he does it all like a champ, complete with a sweet kiss on my forehead when he notices that I am awake.  So I decided then and there that even though I am not fun, and even though this is part of marriage, Husband deserves the spotlight too.  The task is to plan something special for him and all of his hard work lately.  Don't get me wrong, keeping this bun in the oven is a lot of work, but picking up where I left off pre-pregnancy is too.  At least we women were built for this job.  I feel blessed that Husband is so patient and kind.  And even when I notice some frustration in his eyes when he is picking up the 10th empty water bottle for the day, or taking up another pair of my shoes, or canceling yet another outing because I do not feel well, he NEVER complains.  What a blessing!  

So this post is dedicated to all those amazing daddy/husbands.  You don't get enough credit during this time and you all deserve it!

"That's the craziest thing I have ever seen!"

On Monday, February 27th Daniel and I were finally able to see our sweet lil poppyseed on camera!  I had been waiting for our first OB visit for what felt like months.  When I was first told my appointment was on the 27th I thought, "How can I possibly wait that long?!"  Alas, the day arrived.  I was feeling less than fabulous.  By this point major nausea had set in making every waking hour torture.  The only reason I got out of bed that morning was to meet our baby.  Once we arrived to the doctor's office we were met by some of the friendliest staff I have ever met.  We were immediately taken to the exam room for the ultrasound.

I think Husband was semi-prepared for this event.  Just like the movies he was ready for the goo to be plopped onto my now pudgy (no bump, just pudgy) belly and the ultrasound thingy to scroll over it looking for baby.  Much to his surprise we were met by another fun tool...a vaginal ultrasound tool.  Nice.  Poor Husband didn't know what was about to happen.  I had to explain that the baby was likely too small to hear the heartbeat externally so they had to do it internally. "Oh wow, ok."  Those were his words.  After I convinced him that standing by my side was a much better prospect than standing by the doctor the procedure began.  

And almost immediately there was our sweet lil poppyseed...no longer a poppyseed and now the size of a kumquat.  Tears welled up in my eyes and my throat clenched up as I said, "that's our baby!"  Writing about it now makes me all weepy again.  Nothing can prepare you for that moment....nothing.  It is an absolute miracle by God that life is created in such a perfect fashion.  The tech then told us our baby was upside down...."great, it's going to be hyper like Daniel, it can't even sit straight" was my response.  I am sure it was because, like it's mother, that was it's best side---photographically speaking.  :)  I can respect that.  I mean who wants their first major photo shoot to be a dud, give em something they will love!  As we stared at our lil angel all DJ could say over and over again was, "That's the craziest thing I have ever seen!"  

Well lil Baby J we can't wait to meet you in 6 more months!  I'm already smitten.  Love you Baby J---upside down and all.  

 

Carbo Loading

This week I am officially seven weeks pregnant.  Feels like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant and now I am more than half way through my first trimester....mommies weren't kidding when they said this time flies by!  With week seven (actually it all started with week six) I have begun to feel less than fabulous.  Actually I have begun to feel downright cruddy.  The fact that I get up, shower and actually dress in something other than pajamas or "comfy clothes" and put on makeup is a downright miracle lately.  I can handle the frequent pee breaks, the mild cramps and bloating and even the exhaustion (sometimes I swear I have developed narcolepsy because I can crash in about 2.2) but what I can't seem to fight through is the nausea!  Yes, the morning sickness has reared its ugly monstrous head!!!  

Side note: for about five days I was feeling rather symptom free.  "Oh that's a blessing" many might say; but for me it freaked me out.  Was I still even pregnant.  Not to be rude but you read so many horror stories about miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies that you begin to get a bit terrified.  I had to tell myself, "step away from the Internet Lissette, you are psyching yourself out!"  Of course I turned to my factory size inventory of birth control tests and tested myself again...you know...just to make sure.  So I thank God in my prayers for everything and told him that I would try to give up control of this pregnancy, that whatever was His will I would accept (easier said than done, but Jesus and I have an understanding, I try to give up control and he gives me some good signs that I am doing a good job).  So I tell God that I will give up control and that I was just worried since I had no symptoms.  Well like the miracle worker that he is I woke up two days letter with just about every symptom in the book.

So that brings me back to now.  It seems that along with the "sign" of nausea God also thought it fit that I should develop this amazing taste in my mouth.  Ahhh who doesn't want the taste of a penny in their mouth at all times?!  I mean I know I was thinking, "hmmm being the foodie that I am, I would like the ever tantalizing taste of penny please."  I've always said God has a sense of humor.  Maybe this is his way of reminding me how expensive our baby will be?  :)  So with this delish taste and awesome nausea I have lost all my foodie powers. I no longer want anything really.  I crave something one day and the next the thought makes me want to gag.  For example, one night I was adamant about eating a steak, "Daniel, I will not leave this house unless we can eat steaks tonight!"  We go, I stuff my face (BTW, it was NOT as tasty as I had imagined it would be) and the next morning the thought of the steak almost sends me into the bathroom gagging.  So needless to say I have now developed an aversion to steak; actually most meats.  The thought of meats makes me sick, except for sandwich meat which is the one meat I cannot have.  Again, very funny God.  So what can I eat?  Well low and behold God had a nice treat up his sleeve because one of the only things that seem to keep me from gagging are carbs.

Ahhh carbs!  Those delicious, rich, white, doughy carbs that make my mouth sing with joy and my belly satisfied every time!  Pasta, bread, crackers, chips, potatoes, if it's white and bad for you I crave it!  Plain, buttered, salted, warm, cold, crispy, soft, it doesn't matter because I want them!  I guess for the next nine months I shall refer to this time of my life as extreme carbo loading; you know in preparation for the birth.  ;)  On a good note, I seem to be able to eat fruit, and lots of it.  So there you have it, I can eat carbs and more carbs.  That should look fabulous on my body in the next few weeks.  

Oh well....c'est la vie!

As I depart I shall leave behind some of my favorite carb friends...nom nom!

 

No God no Gain & the Poppyseed's 1st Bucket List Completion

As soon as I found out I was pregnant one of the first things that came to mind was my half marathon training.  Would I be allowed to run?  Was all my training in vain?  And worst of all...Could I even finish a half marathon pregnant?!

As many of you know I had been training for a half marathon for several months.  I am not a natural runner, in fact I don't necessarily like to run.  But I do like the challenge I face with running.  I had a few setbacks during my training ranging from everything from asthma to minor injuries (bad shoes) to....pregnancy.  :)  I found out on January 20th that I was pregnant and race was on the 29th.  Perfect timing!  As soon as I called my doctor to schedule my first appointment I asked him if I could still run.  

"I'll be honest with you Lissette, the first time I ran a marathon I was beat by my pregnant friend.  So yes, you can run but remember this is not the time for no pain no gain.  You have to really listen to your body.  If you are breathing too heavily or your heart rate gets too high you need to stop and walk.  I know you are running 10 minute miles but be prepared to run longer ones like 11 minutes."  

My first reaction to that was "Boo Dat!"

I was relieved to hear my doctor clear me for the race but a part of me was a little scared too.  Running is hard enough not pregnant much less pregnant.  I know, I know, I'm about two seconds pregnant but that's beside the point.  Immediately you feel protective of your belly.  I'm constantly yelling at our puppy Chloe, "step away from the bun in the oven" so the thought of putting my body and the baby through 13.1 miles of non-stop aerobic activity left me with some reservations.  I prayed a lot about it and the night before I really felt that I could do it.  I prayed to God for endurance, breath and calm and told him that if it was His will, I would run the race.  Now I'll take a moment to say that now would have been the perfect time to cop out of this race.  I could just not run and blame it on the poppyseed.  But in my heart of hearts I knew I needed to run the race.

The next morning (no sleep mind you, in fact I haven't slept very well in weeks---I'm guessing it's the poppyseed's fault) we woke up at 5 AM.  I got dressed, stretched and peed about 200 times (I drank over 9 bottles of water the day before).  After assuring myself that I was well hydrated we hopped in the most expensive cab ride in the city of Austin ($58 to be exact) and headed to the race site.  I made the driver make a detour to a Starbucks so I could load up on a pre-race snack of a half a bagel, peanut butter and banana.  I was now hydrated and nourished.  I was a little nervous because as I have said before, my appetite is voracious with this lil seed growing in my belly.  We walk up to the racesite (after yet another pee) and it is freezing.  Literally it is freezing out.  No not cold, I'm talking 32 degree weather out.  I thought Husband might die.  He was in shorts and moaning and groaning the entire time.  He HATES the cold...I prefer the cold.  In fact I run better in the cold.  The buzzer sounds and we are off.  I turn on my Cadence app to play music that has a beat that matches my running cadence.  What happened over the next 13.1 miles I can't really explain other than a miracle and God's work.  I am not exaggerating either!  Prior to this I had only run 8 miles and that 8 mile run was one of my worst ever.  I didn't feel tired or out of breath...not until between mile 8 and 9 (my ankle was hurting pretty badly by this point but my breathing was still ok---that didn't last long).  By mile 10 I had to stop and stretch out my good ankle (funny how the good parts of my body ended up bothering me the most during the run).  I had already stopped at mile 7 because Husband had to use the potty so I stretched a bit, grabbed a Gatorade (my survival drink) and waited a few for him.  But by mile 10 I was feeling some pain.  I could feel my heart rate shooting up and my sugar levels dropping.  All that got me through the next three miles was the thought of Gatorade and stopping to stretch.  Amazingly, my belly didn't hurt at all.  I have been having some of that common early pregnancy belly pressure so I was worried that would bother me during the run, but it never did.  I wanted so badly to run the last mile but I had to remember the doctors orders, "listen to your body and walk when it tells you."  It's a good thing I did that because it allowed for enough energy for me to sprint the last quarter mile.  

At a time of 2 hours and 26 minutes Team Jenkins comprised of myself, Husband and Poppyseed Jenkins crossed the finish line in front of the state capitol (which is fitting since it is the same place Husband proposed).  I couldn't believe it.  There was no reason for me to finish this race other than God's power because I sure couldn't do it on my own...in fact I hadn't done it on my own.  

So now the lil poppyseed can cross half marathon off their bucket list.  :)  I am so blessed that Husband was patient enough to run the race with me.  Somehow all my symptoms were gone for that entire 13.1 miles (don't worry, they made their return a few hours later). 

Here are a few pics of the race weekend and Team Jenkins + Poppyseed.

 When in Austin you must salute your capital and DJ's alma mater.  Hook em'---don't worry baby J is Hookin em' too. 

 Team Jenkins + Poppyseed right after the finish! 

 This room made for a very happy pregnant lady...the bed was amazing.  Thank you W Hotel!

The shower was amaze too! 

Secrets & Lies

Ok anyone who knows me knows I don't like lies.  In fact I hate them and try my very best not to ever lie.  I heard once at church, that a lie is a lie is a lie.  White lies, black lies...they are all lies.  So that literally stuck in my head and since that message I try not to ever lie.  Don't get me wrong...I'm human so upon occasion I have told my share of little lies.  

Being that I hate to lie, keeping my pregnancy a secret has been very hard; and I've only known I am pregnant for a week!  The day after I found out one of my best friend's Amanda came over.  It was terrible keeping this secret from her.  I kept catching myself touching my belly (as if I suddenly have a baby bump) and wanting to make reference to the little poppyseed growing my belly.  Nope couldn't do it.  Then our good friend Jason came over the same weekend to hang out with Husband.  He was nice enough to cook breakfast and I asked if there was enough for me.  He said, "yeah, I guess I can me enough for three" (in his most sarcastic voice).  I wanted to reply, "how about for four, wink, wink?"  Then my other bestie Priscilla, Amanda and I were supposed to go to a Beth Moore program at church the other night.  I was home most of the day feeling pretty cruddy (exhausted and nauseous) and I just could not get myself up off the couch.  So an hour before the event I emailed the girls and told them I couldn't go, that I had gotten my period and I was feeling terrible.  I hated to lie, but it's too soon to tell.

Which brings me to my next point; waiting 12 weeks to tell SUCKS!  I mean, this is the most exciting thing in my life next to getting proposed to and marrying Daniel and I can't tell a soul!  That just doesn't make any sense.  All the sites recommend keeping it hush hush until the end of 12 weeks to make sure everything is ok.  I'm having a hard time keeping it hush hush until my first doctor's appointment (which by the way is ions away on February 27th).  I did cheat and I did tell two friends, mainly because one is my moral compass and my calm and i needed some emergency calming the day I found out and the other because I guessed she was pregnant literally 3-4 weeks into her pregnancy. I figured it was only fair.  Without these two ladies I would be bursting at the seams.  Actually I am bursting but I have to keep it controlled and only to these two ladies.  

I know that once I publish my blog my friends will read and see how much it tore me up to lie and keep this secret from them.  Geez, by the time I publish my blog I will probably have about 100 entries at the rate I am going.  For now the blog is my own form of therapy, my way of keeping quiet.  At least I can write how I feel.  I'm not sure if I will wait the full 12 weeks to tell my besties and our parents.  I am not sure that I can handle keeping it that quiet but we will see.  Usually I am a great secret keeper but who can keep a secret about a poppyseed?

From Poppyseed to Papaya

So how does it feel after you see that "+" sign on the pee stick?

Well first of all I quickly realized that what I thought were symptoms of PMS were really signs of pregnancy.  First off the bat...the sore breasts is a major understatement.  Now anyone who knows me knows I was not blessed with a well endowed chest...think Kate Hudson (I'm not gonna lie that is one of the reason's I always liked her).  So if these itty bittys can feel like 20 lb sandbags then I feel so sorry for all my friends who were blessed with breasts!  Seriously, I am so sore that even the air hurts.  In fact I am wearing a sports bra as I type this!  The only plus side is that with this baby I may skip to the next letter of the bra alphabet which I only did once during my horrific last year of college when I gained 20 lbs (that's the last time I bring up that period of my life). 

The other thing I feel is tired...no exhausted.  The kind of exhausted where you are so tired that you literally have to breathe with your mouth open.  I have a wall.  At 3 PM it is over.  I have to get up from my desk at work and go on a pee break just to keep me awake.  Speaking of pee...wow!  You start having to go all the time.  It comes out of nowhere. Most of us at least have a warning period where we think..."oooh I may need to tinkle soon, but it can wait."  Now it is literally, "I'm about to bust get me to the restroom stat!"  Oh and waking up several times a night to pee is also completely awesome!  My friend and I were talking the other day and she said that was one of the most annoying symptoms.

Other than that I have felt slight dizziness, jittery and sometimes nauseous (although thankfully that is only fleeting).  I have been warned of the miseries of morning sickness, so far, so good (knocking on wood) but my doctor also told me that most women don't start to feel it until about six weeks.  According to my calculations I have about 1 1/2 weeks or normalcy.  Let's just think positive and hope that I am one of the blessed ones who doesn't have the pleasure of experiencing this most wonderful symptom. 

Oh and the final symptom is hunger.  I was wondering why I was starving all the time.  I thought it was my increased workout regimen.  I have been training for a half marathon (participation TBD, that's another blog entry) so I figured my increased mileage and gym visits was the culprit for my voracious appetite.  I literally eat, feel stuffed and less than an hour later I am starving...not hungry....STARVING!  I read one of the symptoms is increased appetite due to a feeling of not being full.  Awesome.  All because of this the lil poppyseed growing inside of me.

Which leads me to my final note.  Poppyseed Papaya came from The Bump.  On the site they have a calendar that allows you to track your baby's growth based on fruits and veggies.  When my friend Brandy was pregnant each week I would ask her, "what fruit or veggie are we this week?"  And thus was born the title of my blog. Yes, I know, my baby will be larger than a papaya at birth but Poppyseed Papaya sounded much cuter than Poppyseed Cantaloupe or Poppyseed Pumpkin. 

Wait, how, when, what?!

It's funny how they say women's intuition is always right. Several times in my life I have had the pleasant and unpleasant opportunity of proving that theory correct. A week before January 20th Husband and I were on a ski trip with some friends. For some reason before the trip I was worried I might be pregnant.

***Warning: Now begins the TMI portion of the blog***

I had stopped taking BC back in October but we had been careful. However, on one particular date we were not so careful...

So for some reason I figured it might be a good idea to make sure I wasn't pregnant before launching myself down a mile high mountain covered in ice and snow. Truth be told I had been feeling pretty tired and was experiencing my normal PMS symptoms (tired, tender breasts, etc.) so I figured I was simply about to start. I had about a week to go before I was set to start but a few days before leaving for our trip I was sitting at work when a hot wave took over me and got very dizzy and nauseous. Hmmm....something seemed off. I continued about my business but I had this feeling that something was different. I couldn't explain it and although the symptoms were similar to PMS symptoms I knew I was pregnant. I took two tests, both negative before the trip. I was a little sad, even though were weren't planning on officially "starting" to try until March. While on our trip I blamed the exhaustion on the altitude. I was jittery at night and could not sleep to save my life. I also had crazy dreams. On dream in particular was about a baby we adopted from Russia, she turned into that mean little girl from Finding Nemo and was tossing our puppy around like a rag doll and I lost it and said, "that's it, you're going back to Russia!" Now don't judge me on my dream...no I would not choose my dog over my kid it was just a dream people.

While on the trip my friend starts her period..."hmm, that's odd, I always get mine before her." I tried not to think anything of it, I wasn't officially late quite yet. Side note: I have always had irregular periods due to mild endometriosis and poly cystic ovaries, so to say I am late isn't saying much---I've never been regular. When we got back home I was still feeling exhausted, I could not get enough rest. So I decided I would wait until the day that my ovulation calendar says I am supposed to start my next period before I take a pregnancy test.

****Our regularly programmed blog continues here***

Which brings me to Friday, February 20, 2011. I was headed back from dropping off Husband's keys (he locked his set in his car, I was not a happy wife) when on the way home I started feeling these funny little sharp dull pains in my stomach. Instantly I thought, "OMG, I think I am pregnant." I walk in the door, go upstairs, pull a test out of the drawer and go into the restroom. I read the instructions and pee on the stick (which by the way is a task in and of itself, the aim, the stream, the target it just a disastrophy waiting to happen) and set it down to wait. First line pops up, then the next, "ok, I'm not....wait, wait, what is that other line? Is that a...wait, what does a plus sign...wait a minute...OMG, I think that's a positive....I'm pregnant!!!!!" Now I will tell you that I read those instructions about 20 times just to make sure my eyes didn't deceive me or that I was reading it wrong. Yes, I was pregnant! I was surprised, happy, scared, elated, sobbing, laughing (all while still on the toilet mind you) at that same time. After consulting my very dear friend (I simply sent a pic of the result with "OMG" as the message) who calmed me down and talked me into telling Husband in a fun way I gathered myself and pulled out the infamous onsie.

I told Husband I had a belated birthday present that was "late" getting here because it took "four weeks" (I calculated that I was about four weeks along) to make. And so attached is the birthday present reveal. I love his reaction---"Wait, how, when, what?!"

Enjoy!!! 

I'm kind of a big deal...

A little over a year ago, even before Daniel and I were married, I was doing some shopping for the house (a never ending task) at one my favorite stores, High Fashion Home (I wonder if they would pay to advertise on my blog?). As I was perusing the aisles filled with crystal chandeliers, velvet chaise lounges and beds bigger than my house I stumbled in their gift/clothing department. Now I will take a moment to say that when I discovered this part of the store it instantly became one of my top five favorites. So there I am, touch shopping (this is when you touch, try on and feel things that alas you do not purchase) when I come across the baby section. Obviously at the time I wasn't in need of baby couture but one lil item did catch my eye. It was a onsie that read, "I'm kind of a big deal."

That brings me to the second part of my story. I know, seems like a cute onsie but what made this particular piece of baby couture special was that on my first date with Daniel, my ever humble husband did use the words, "I was kind of a big deal" when describing himself in college. I know, I know...that is not standard Daniel talk and I think that's what always makes me laugh about it. Whether he was or not I remember saying, "wow, anyone who has to tell me they were a big deal must not have been a big deal" wink, wink. I am sure my sassy comment pretty much sealed the deal for him. :)

So now back to me, in the aisle at High Fashion Home. As soon as I saw this onsie I took a pic with my camera phone and sent a text to Daniel with a message saying, "this would be awesome for our first kid." His response, "ha, ha--buy it." And so for the next year and a half that precious lil piece of baby couture sat in my closet all wrapped up in precious yellow tissue paper. I told Husband (my nickname for him, some might say generic, I like to call it witty) that whenever we find out we are pregnant with our first baby I would give it to him. And so it was on Friday, January 20, 2012 that that precious piece of baby couture would finally make it's debut...