I'm awesome.

It's funny how much of a wuss I am. I've never had stitches before, so I didn't know what to expect when I got them, or got them taken out.

So this morning, on the way to the doctor's to get them taken out, I was like "babe, it's going to hurt. I know it!"

It's totally not going to hurt. You're the biggest weenie ever.

But but but... You don't know!!!1!

Yes I do. I'm a dude. Who played soccer in high school. And fought people for money. Stitches don't hurt. Plus, you only have two of them.

Shut up! I need a Valium!

But yeah, it ended up not hurting. And it took the nurse like, 5 seconds to cut them out. I can't wait for the fun of pushing a watermelon out my hooter. Should be a blast.

Oh man. Using the word "blast" when referencing my baby's giant watermelon head coming out = terrible visual.

In other news: I was having a serious nesting moment last night. I HAD to put the stroller together. It was like if I were a heroin addict... I just needed a little fix to get me through. Come on man, just a little bump? I mean, just to take the edge off... come on! Dan was sure the cats would immediately sleep or poop on it, but they pretty much just sniffed it for a minute and went back to other cat stuff. And now we have a mega-cute stroller sitting in the living room to look at.

Also, I've started seriously amping up my short goals philosophy. That is, I prefer to have short term goals vs waiting for bigger and better things to happen. For example: I have to work the next 4 days. Then doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Then 1 day of work. Then 3-day weekend in Columbus for a relative's wedding. Breaking it down into little goals to get through is making time go much faster. I feel like I'm wishing my life away, but the faster time goes, the sooner Jack will be here, and the sooner I can stop itching, and the sooner I'll have a bigger purpose in life.

I just can't wait.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant, and time needs to fly just a smidge faster.

Third trimester growth ultrasound

We had the (hopefully) last ultrasound this morning. Everything looks good! Heart rate was fine.

Couldn't get a very clear face shot though. Boo.
But, he's still a boy. :)


Also talked to the dermatologist today. The biopsy came back as most definitely PUPPP. And now they want to wean me off of the miracle medications. :(

I got all of the thank-yous for the first shower written and mailed yesterday. Which again, is amazing, since it took upwards of 5 months to finish them after the wedding. But only having 20% of the amount from the wedding to write probably had something to do with it. Whatever.

Dude. I'm beyond tired today. The dreaded 3rd tri exhaustion has officially kicked in. Ugh. Nap-time!

I'm 31 weeks, 5 days pregnant and so in need of some caffeine.

First baby shower = success

So I was definitely worried that the baby shower today would be most awkward. The problem was, EVERYONE at this shower, aside from my sister, were people from Dan's family or his parents' friends or people from their church. Everyone went around the room and introduced themselves, and I should have paid more attention for the purpose of thanking the correct people while opening gifts. But I did not.

Eventually, we got to opening gifts, and Dan's step-mom pulled up 2 chairs, so Dan could open gifts with me. Thank god.

We ended up with a ton of onesies or little outfits, a Graco Travel System, a Fisher Price baby bath, a second bath tub, 2 Grooming Kits, a blanket, a set of burp pads, a bunch of bibs, 2 Swaddle blankets, 2 different clip on toys, a car seat snuzzler, a bottle drying rack, a Diaper Genie, and some other random little things. Pretty good haul.

I already wrote 20% of the thank-yous too, which is quite the accomplishment considering it took us like, 5 months to write them for the wedding. Whatever. I'm busy. Don't pressure me. Hand-written thank-yous are retarded anyway. Shut up.

Next thing on the baby countdown is another sonogram on Wednesday to check on his growth, then the next week I get the stitches from my biopsy out, then another baby appointment, then we get to get out of town for the first weekend in June for a wedding. I'm pretty psyched to have something to look forward to every week until the big day. Should make everything go much quicker.

News on the rash front: The soap/lotion/ointment/medication regimen is working wonders. I'm still a little itchy during the day, but I think the rash is pretty much at bay now and most of the itchiness is from my skin just being dry. Like, scratching it makes it itchy. We should find out the results of the biopsy in the next couple of days to make sure it's not something more serious than the suspected PUPPP.

Time for some cereal then bedtime. :)

Here's a link to pictures from the shower, courtesy of my mother-in-law.

I'm 31 weeks, 2 days pregnant, and I REALLY want to set up the baby's stuff already!

Dermatologists are great!

I got to meet our local dermatologist today. She was amazing. I like her more than I like my OB, which is unfortunate.

Basically, I stripped and put on the paper gown and plopped my sweaty ass up on the exam table. the nurse practitioner came in and felt me up and immediately said, "I think it's PUPPP. Let me go get the doctor to see what she thinks." Sweet. I didn't have to suggest to her that that's what I think it is too. That's a good sign. She said in her 8 years she's only seen maybe a half-dozen cases of it, so she wasn't 100%. So she grabbed the doctor and a text book. The text book read identically to what's happening to me, but apparently the rash isn't "presenting" like normal PUPPP. There are a couple of scaly spots on me that apparently look like eczema.

So then the NP says "well, let's do a biopsy!" WHAT?! The NP and a regular nurse came back and numbed the crap out of my arm. Then the NP took a ¼" diameter chunk out of my bicep, and closed it up with a couple of stitches. I didn't realize I was going in for minor surgery today, so wtf. They have to send the nasty skin sample to a lab in New York, so it'll take up to a week to get the results back. And I have to go back in 2 ½ weeks to get the stitches taken out. Lovely.

In the meantime, they gave me a prescription for Elocon ointment and Zyrtec to take at night. Apparently, there are 8 levels of steroid cream... 1 being the strongest, 8 being the weakest. Elocon is considered a category 2. So it's pretty high-powered stuff. And the Zyrtec is in an effort to ease the itching and help me sleep through the night. They also told me to buy Olay body ribbons body wash with Jojoba Butter to use instead of my regular soap, then follow my showers up with Cerave lotion. Holy jesus. But in theory, all of this will work better than the random combination of garbage I have been using. Fingers crossed.

So my life is looking up.

Now I'm taking a prenatal vitamin, a DHA supplement, Famotidine, and Tums in the morning, using the Elocon ointment twice a day, showering with doctor-ordered soap and lotion, and taking Zyrtec at night along with another Tums to get more calcium. I've never taken so many medications at once in my whole life. Jeez.

OH! I also called my OB back today to get the results of my 3-hour glucose challenge, because he's been out of the office since Friday (which is nice, since I might have been killing my baby with too much sugar all weekend unknowingly... but whatever). The nurse said my numbers were fine. They did a total of 4 blood draws over 3 hours. The first was my fasting rate, which doesn't count... but the other numbers were 88, 149, and 86. The 149 is higher than the cutoff of 139, but she said it's normal for having 100gm of sugar in your blood for 2 hours. And then it dropped right back down by the 3-hour draw. So that's cool.

So again, I feel like my life is looking up. I almost can't wait to go to bed tonight so I can try my new concoction of meds.

ETA: I just slept for almost 10 hours without having to get out of bed. Holy crap. I haven't slept a full-night's sleep in almost 3 weeks. Modern medicine is amazing!!

I'm 30 weeks, 5 days pregnant and being a wuss about the stitches in my arm.

PUPPP is killing me

So I wonder if there's some kind of medication they could give me to numb all of my skin for the next 11 weeks. A girl can dream.

Today the rash has officially spread to my back and behind my knees. It's slowly taking over my entire body.

I can't even begin to explain the magnitude of the itch. Imagine a million tiny spiders crawling on you, and the spiders have tiny spider head lice, and the spider head lice are carrying poison ivy in their tiny pockets. Now multiply that creepy crawly itchy feeling you just had imagining that, by like, 1350285384763068. That's how unbearable this is.

I have a doctor's appointment in 11 hours, so maybe he can come up with some miracle for me.

ETA: My OB sucks. He just referred me to a dermatologist who didn't have any available appointments until next Wednesday. Bah!

I've never been allergic to anything in my life. I've never come in contact with poison ivy or sumac. The only itchy skin thing I've ever had is bug bites -- and a little Calamine lotion and a couple of days is all those need to heal. I'm stuck with this ridiculous rash until after Jack is born. So roughly 11 weeks. But, I've read online that in particularly aggressive cases of PUPPP, that the mom will be induced early. I'd like to carry him until 40 weeks, but not at the expense of my ending up in a mental institution because this freakin rash is driving me crazy.

I'm 29 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and I desperately need this Benadryl to kick in so I can try to sleep.

Pregnancy thus far.

So amazingly enough, this pregnancy has been pretty not-severe, in regards to ridiculous symptoms. You always hear about how uncomfortable pregnancy is, and how miserable you'll be the entire time. That has definitely not been the case here. But, with 11 weeks to go, I'm sure I still have time to eat those words later.

Around week 7 or 8, I had my only bout with "morning sickness". And that only consisted of about a week of feeling mildly nauseous. But I never puked... thank god. Me and puking to not mix.

By week 12-ish, I was starting to feel the tell-tale signs of round ligament pain. There were random stabby pains in my abdomen, and obnoxious aching feeling in my pelvis that hasn't really gone away. And I was completely exhausted from here until around week 17.

*TMI ALERT* The day I was 19 weeks along, I woke up with crusty nipples. Ohmigawd. Did I seriously start leaking already?! Yep! GROSS.

From midway through the first trimester up through the end of the second, I had lots of random cravings. No pickles and ice cream, but things like Wendy's chicken nuggets at 9 in the morning, or grilled cheese sandwiches in the middle of the night. I've heard of chicks craving things like raw ground beef and dirt while pregnant though. What the heck is up with that?

At 24 weeks we finally got to find out that it's a boy. As we were sitting in the car in the parking lot afterward, and calling everyone, Dan's dad suggested the name Jackson. We had thought of Gabriel Jack for a boy name, but changed it to Jackson Gabriel that day. Absolutely love it. We've been calling him "baby Jack" since then. It was around this time too that my acid reflux got really bad. I've since gotten prescription Pepcid AC that's squelched that pretty quick.

On 27w5d, I did the 1-hour glucose test for gestational diabetes. The acceptable range is 75-139. I failed with a 153. Boo. So starting this coming Tuesday, I have to start a 3-day carb diet and then Friday morning I'll go in for the 3-hour test. I have to drink double the sugar in the same amount of liquid then sit in the lab of the hospital for 3 freaking hours after fasting for 10 hours beforehand. It's gonna SUCK.

Not 3 days after the 1-hour GD appointment, I started to get an itchy feeling in my stretch marks. Weird. I did some Googling and discovered PUPPP. I haven't been diagnosed yet, but I'm dead certain that I have this. The itching started in just a couple of spots on my belly, but it's expanded across my entire midsection below my belly button. And it's gross. Like a lumpy, intensely itchy rash inside the stretch marks. The only thing I've found that helps is a frozen washcloth. But I have another doctor's appointment this coming Wednesday and hopefully I can get a prescription for some kind of steroid cream or something. Oh, and apparently, the only cure is having the baby. It won't go away until a few days after he's born. Super.

So like I said, I've had nothing but mild symptoms (up until this friggin rash). Which is pretty awesome. Hopefully that's some kind of sign that Jack will be a low-maintenance baby. Heh... we can only hope.

I'm 29 weeks, 2 days pregnant.

Background check!

I'm Cara. He's Dan. This is the (condensed) story of us.

• July 2004 - I moved (with my parents and sisters) to a tiny town called Defiance, Ohio.
• March 2005 - I started dating a dude. We'll call him P. P was sponging off of Dan, sleeping on his couch in their tiny 1-bedroom apartment. I should have seen the light with P early on. I did not. But I did realize that Dan and I liked the same music, while P was into "punk rawk". This should also have been a sign. It was not.
• November 2005 - P and I moved into an apartment together.
• October 2006 - I started getting bored. We ended up at a party where Dan was. We were all drunk. I decided it was time to go, but needed to puke first. Dan stepped on my barefoot with steel-toe boots while I was stumbling to the bathroom -- I still have the scar. While I was gaining the courage to give thanks to the porcelain gods, Dan proceeded to tell me how I'm "hot, and [he's] a dude, so you know, we should totally like..." *BARF* It was quite the romantic beginning.
• November 2006 - I woke up one morning and was seriously done with P. Have you ever been in one of those relationships where it's just over one day? Yep, this was that. Luckily, the timing was so good, since our lease was up at the end of that month. I proceeded to move out and into Dan's place -- strictly as friends until I figured out what the heck I was going to do now that my family lived in another state again.
• December 24 2006 - Dan and I decided to make it official. We were an item. So much for that "strictly friends" thing. Heh.
• August 2007 - We moved to a suburb of Toledo called Perrysburg courtesy of Dan getting a promotion. I freakin loved this town. It was so nice, and our apartment was cute, and we were in the building right next to the community pool and laundromat. Amazing.
• January 2008 - I started working for the company I now work for. It's a rather large retail pharmacy chain that shall go unnamed. I started as a cashier and cross trained as a photo specialist.
• February 2008 - Dan lost his amazing job courtesy of a giant jerk of a boss. We decide (with the help of Dan's mom and step-dad) to move to southern California to get Dan back in school to finish his degree and to be somewhere with more job prospects.
• March 2008 - I turned 23 and the next evening, Dan proposed in the Perrysburg Chili's restaurant with my parents and sisters and his dad and step-mom there. It was pretty sweet. Two weeks later, we headed west. Luckily, I was able to transfer to another store in the same company.
  
• Summer 2008 - Dan's car got stolen, which was the beginning of the end of California. He later learned that he could configure it so all of his remaining classes would be online, meaning we didn't have to stay in California... hhm.
• January 2009 - We high-tailed it out of California. Paying almost $1500 to rent a 1-bedroom apartment was not the greatest of times. So we headed back to NW Ohio. We ended up about 15 miles from where we started in Defiance in a little town called Bryan.
  
• June 2009 - I became a Certified Pharmacy Technician. Score!
• September 19, 2009 - Dan and I became Mr and Mrs. The wedding was amazing and so much fun. The following weekend, we left for our 7-day western Caribbean cruise. So epic.
• November 8, 2009 - My sisters turned 20, and I did a home pregnancy test. I peed on the stick, waited the 3 minutes. Then I went out into the living room and showed Dan the directions for the test where it shows 2 lines = pregnant. "Hey babe - See this? [show him the picture]" "Yes?" "Okay, now see this? [show him the test with 2 lines]" And we squealed like little girls.

That's pretty much where we are now. I'm 29 weeks pregnant with a little boy who we're naming Jackson Gabriel, due July 16, 2010. We're super excited about this new adventure, and we're hoping it keeps up with the crazy roller coaster ride we've been on thus far.

I am 29 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Only 11 weeks to go!