My Love Affair With Chocolate

I recently learned that my unhealthy relationship with chocolate is genetic! When my mom was pregnant, she used to tell dad that they needed milk, and she'd head out to the shop, but 2 or 3 candy bars and scarf them down on the way home!! Now I know why as a child I would always try to sneak as much candy as I could get my hot little hands on! My mom sneaking chocolate with me in utero has made me the chocolate fiend (and childhood candy snatcher) that I am today! My kids don't stand a chance!!

This is totally how I feel- Week 28

Thanking kindly baby-gaga.com

Third Trimester!!

As of tomorrow, I will offically be SIX MONTHS PREGNANT! The third trimester has come, baby! So now I get to start freaking out about being a parent soon. Crap! What am I thinking! And there's still way too much to do! I'm not saying that I'd like a pregnancy to last LONGER, but it would be nice to have a FEW more preparation months...

Antenatal Class

I had my first antenatal class today. Apparently at my hospital, they've split up the classes between two bodies... the physical therapists and the parent information. So I'm now on my physical therapy classes where we learn about pain, stretching, posture, labor and so on. It was actually quite nice to be in a room full of pregnant bellies. I have a few pregnant friends here, but we've yet to get together to compare notes (better get on that!). So chatting about pregnancy issues was really pleasant. The PT who did the class is the one I'm seeing one on one for my hip...which is just a little tender. It's too bad that partners aren't allowed in these sessions, though, as I'd really like Rob to be able to go and learn about these stages.... not sure how much I'll remember!!

I just found out today that I will start my parent info classes NEXT week! And Rob gets to go to those! Already my life is revolving around this little devil! I've got a PT appointment Monday morning, parent info classes Tues morning and PT classes Wed morning and GP baby visit Thur morning! When am I going to see the inside of my office to get some work done!

I've decided....

...that this whole flipping-back-and-forth-all-night-long-instead-of-sleeping thing is God's way of preparing you for the upcoming sleepless nights.

This Whole Weight Gaining Thing

I'm sure this is similar for all women, but I'm starting to hate gaining all this weight! For someone who lost over 40 pounds, to then gain a lot of it back is really annoying. I know it's all for the baby but I don't think I EVER felt so much like a cow as I do now.

Stairs are the worst. When I gained weight previously, it was always over an extended period of time and I couldn't necessarily feel the effects. But I can certainly feel them now. Walking up stairs is such a pain..I can FEEL the extra weight pressing me down. I never felt this way when I was naturally this heavy.

And then there's bedtime. Up and down, side to side...ugh! I find myself flipping back and forth from one side of the belly to another to keep my upper arms from falling asleep. But the whole flipping aspect is quite difficult. Now I have to flip an ever growing...and an ever heavier belly over as well, making the task that much more difficult. No wonder I'm tired all the time!

But I suppose I need to look at the up sides. Baby has started kicking to the point where I can feel it when it kicks my hand. That's pretty cool. I suppose I don't feel it as much as others what with my anterior placenta and all, but it is definitely fantastic. And, I'm nearing my 3rd trimester. Only 3 months to go!

Battle of the Nursing Bras- Part II

The battle has begun!! My question to the general pregnant public is, how good at plus sized nursing bras for the larger woman? Did the bra company just make the bra bigger or did they actually spend the time to support our larger breasts properly?

Each bra will be rated from 1 to 5 (5 being highest) in each of 5 categories for a possible total of 25 points:

1. Comfort- How do I feel when wearing the bra? Does it annoy me at all?

2. Support- Am I flapping in the breeze or do I feel properly supported?

3. Need For Adjustment- Do the straps fall constantly? Do I feel the need to pull at the back frequently?

4. Sex Appeal/ Attractiveness- Whats my husbands view of me in the bra?

5. Ease of Breast Exposing- Well, these ARE for nursing, so how easily can I extract my breast from the cup for the purpose of breast feeding?

This week, I am putting the bog standard plus size nursing bra, non-underwire under the radar. This bra is $21.98 from Motherhood.

When I first put the bra on, it felt really good. I was a bit weary of the stretchy shoulder straps, but if shortened enough, they held their place fairly well. That being said, I felt the need to adjust and tug at the back of the bra if the straps were too short. On the flip side, if the straps were longer, the support was lacking, so there was a bit of a Catch 22. My husband liked the initial support when presented to him (but then his wife hasn't been in the mood for much bra showing lately, so his rating this week could have been in gratitude). This bra, like the other Motherhood bras, has a plastic hook/snap at each breast. I found it easy to unhook with opposite hands, but I wasn't well able to re-hook, say the right cup with the right hand. Re-hooking really was a two hand job.

So, how did Ms. Bog Standard fair:

Comfort- 4
Support- 3.5
Need For Adjustment-3
Sex Appeal/ Attractiveness- 3
Ease of Breast Exposing- 3.5

Total-17 points

So here's our standard for the rest of the bras to go by.

Ladies, please feel free to send me in some ratings of your own using this scale...just let us know where you bought the bra and how much it cost for those who might like to get one. Send me a message and I'll post your review in a blog.

Cheers!
Jen