Brenda’s Pregnancy Journal

Boy that weekend just blew by! I need another one just to recover!

Friday night my friend Breanne came over & we shopped for supplies & then came home & made all the household products. It went even better than I could’ve expected (except for how long it took us) and I think the products are going to work wonderfully. We were up pretty late making them - it had taken us quite a while just to purchase what we’d need. But it was so cool to see some of them come together - a real chemistry expiriment!  The essential oils really make the difference by adding scents. I am going to spend all day Wednesday cleaning w/ them & can’t wait to see how well they work.

Saturday I was at my parents house & got to watch a show on the Discovery Health Channel called ‘Unconventional Births’ - wow!! It was a water birth, birth-center birth and a homebirth. Watching these women compared to the epidural births on a lot of TV shows was certainly an education. It was obvious they were in a LOT more pain - and very vocal w/ groans & grunts, but it was amazing to see them do it on their own, and after it was over the joy they had was far greater than the pain - and each of them - including one who had had an epidural birth before - said that they would definetly do it naturally again. I taped it & watched it later w/ Charlie. I think it was good for both of us to get a glimpse of what we are getting into - of course we’ll be in a hospital - so we won’t have all the advantages these women did, but hopefully it will work out fine.

In the afternoon I helped my sister-in-law prepare for a bridal shower & then in the evening Charlie & I  took dinner to our friends Shanna & Jason who just had a baby on the 2nd. It was so great to see how well they are doing. Shanna looks great & little Micah is adorable. It was so fun to hold him and think that in just a few months we’ll have one of our own. I just can’t wait for Elliot to be here! And it’s nice that he’ll have little boys his age to be friends with.

Saturday night (rather morning) we picked up Charlie’s parents from the airport at 1:00 A.M. it was after 2:00 before I went to bed - I was so tired. We slept in till noon, but when I woke up I got sick & threw up. I think it must’ve just been from the sleep change b/c I’ve felt fine since.

Sunday I went to my friend Laura’s bridal shower - it’s so fun to still have friends getting married - it’s such a special time of life. I’m going to be the wedding coordinator & I’m really looking forward to it.

Charlie worked most of the weekend so we hardly got to see eachother. I missed him. But last night we got to hang out - to tired to do much but watch TV, but it was just nice to be home alone together after a long weekend.

Yesterday was the first day total strangers came right out & asked me how far along I was. And it happened twice! Several other people comented on how much more I’m showing. So you’ll have to check out my 22 week belly shot & see what you think. It’s fun to be at a place where everyone knows just by looking at you - for so long it’s like your little secret from the world.

In preparation for cloth diapering I found out about a book that had a recipe to keep the diaper pail from smelling bad. So I went to the downtown LA Library (An amazingly huge and beautiful building, btw) & got it. The book is called Clean House, Clean Planet - Clean your home for pennies a day, the safe non-toxic way.  Well it is full of recipes for all kinds of make-your-own cleaning agents that are completely safe, non-toxic and CHEAP! Considering another book I read, The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women : Exploding the Estrogen Myth I am quite convinced that many of the products we use & things we eat are contaminated and are contributing to the contemporary diseases & problems in our culture - and being that I suffer from PCOS I feel these things can have a direct impact on my health. So I think I’m going to convert to natural, homemade cleaners, air fresheners, etc. Another reason I’m motivated to do so is b/c in a couple years Elliot is going to be roaming about & I feel safer if I know that if he gets into the products in our home, I’m not going to have to panic and call Poision Control. Plus it will save me $$$ and these days I am all over anything that will do that!! And the crunchiness continues. I can’t wait to get home & start my chemistry expiriment!

I scheduled our childbirth classes this week! We start in March. We’ll also attend a baby-basics class & a breastfeeding class. I am really looking forward to them!

I got some cash & gift certificates for Christmas so I got to pick something out myself. What I wanted very most was CD’s for Elliot. I found a great deal @ www.amazon.com and was able to get 13 CD’s for $50!!  They are all Cedarmont Kids Childrens Choir. There are several Bible/Christian/Sunday School ones, a couple Christmas ones, then several ones of just fun kids songs, and one just lullabyes. I have wonderful memories of listening to music & singing as a family growing up and I think this is a great family investment. I plan to start listening to them immedietly, so he’ll be used to them when he arrives, plus I want to know all the songs! …Do your ears hang low do they wobble to and fro….

Alright! Holidays are over & I can start preparing! Last night I went thru all our files & archived all the 2004 receipts & statements. I also made my filing system more efficient so I should have less clutter. And thanks to the paper shreader I got for Christmas I don’t have a stack of papers to rip up anymore!!  I’ll be having a lot of evenings to myself w/ Charlie @ basketball so I’m planning on doing lots of cleaning & organizing during that time.

Last night I got my first shipment of cloth diapers. Charlie & I were laughing at how excited I am to diaper - off all things to be eager for, I must be crazy! You can see a picture of the AIO’s & a couple covers in the nursery/layette/baby items album. You’ll see that I even ‘practiced’ on my cabage patch, lol.  They are just too cute! I also got most of my prefolds & I am very pleased w/ the unbleached color. It’s natural looking. I’m not going to wash them all yet - I have plenty of time to get around to doing that, afterall I’ll be washing them A LOT.

Obviously this year brings a lot of excitement! I think the time will go by rather quickly too. Next month my sister-in-law is due & it will be so fun to hold our little niece or nefew! Then in March we’ll celebrate 5 years of marriage, in April I’ll turn 25 and then Elliot arrive’s in May!

For New Year’s Eve we stayed in & watched a video after having dinner w/ my parents & grandparents. We’re both trying to get over colds so we weren’t up for any big partying.

On New Years I was totally blessed by my mom & grandma comming over & helping me take down all my Christmas decorations & straiten up the house. It was a big job that was so much easier with help. I’m all set to begin serious house-cleaning room by room in preparation for Elliot.

Yesterday we didn’t go to church b/w we’re both still not feeling well so we slept in. We did have lunch @ Daryl & Becky’s house with the whole family, which was really nice. We had a great time taking turns & sharing our New Year’s resolutions & then praying for God to enable us to acomplish them. I feel so blessed to be in a family of such faith, and I’m excited for Elliot to grow up with the heritage of believers.

So it’s Monday & I’m back at work. Still not feeling too great - wish I could just be in bed - especially on this rainy day. I am exited though b/c my first shipment of cloth diapers are due to arrive today, that should be fun to come home to!

Last night in our reading we learned about how important nutrition is to a healthy pregnancy & how it helps prevent things like toxemia & pre-eclampsia. I know it’s good to eat right, but I needed that chapter to really motivate me to really work on this area & quit eating junk food. I’ve been on a bit of a cookie craze lately. I’ll be getting some dried fruits & healthier snacks when I do my shopping this week. I also need to work on eating more veggies. I also want to eat healthy to prevent Gestational Diabetes & to do what I can to have a baby that isn’t too big.