Week 21: Pickles and Relish

Presents from Kevin and Melissa :)

Week: 21
Weight:145 (Pre-pregnancy weight=125)
Waist size: 38 inches (Pre-pregnancy waist size=32...I think)
Body changes: Faint stretch marks on boobs. Belly button on the cusp of not being an "innie". Belly butter is my best friend.
Rose (good thing that happened) and thorn (bad thing) of the week:
Rose-Finding a surprise gift on my desk from 2 Prime Drivers Melissa and Kevin on Monday morning. 2 adorable boy outfits x 2 plus cute blankets.
Thorn- Charlie horses. 5 in the past week in the middle of the night.


Monday marked the start of Week 21 of the Mueller twin pregnancy. The first half of pregnancy seemed to go by at a turtle's pace, and now, the second half seems to be flying by as we keep thinking of all the things to get done before they arrive. I thought I would use this blog to look back (briefly) on the first half of pregnancy: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But first...pickles and relish. Friday night, I woke up with a horrendous charlie horse in my right calf. (I had gotten a few charlie horses when I flew on a couple trips last month, but I was hopeful it was just tied to flying.) I sat up punching my leg, sharing some curse words, and screaming in pain. Josh shot up in bed, ran into the kitchen, and came back with a jar of relish. I looked at him (while still yelling in pain) and asked what I was supposed to do with that. He said it would help the pain. He didn't bring a fork or spoon and acted like I could just scoop some in my mouth. We started laughing which started to ease the pain. Umm..yeah I might barf if I scoop relish straight into my mouth Josh. lol. He returned the jar to the fridge and came back to bed. Saturday morning, we woke up and Josh did his normal routine: cuddle up to me, kiss my belly, and say something to the boys. Life was good and then BAM another charlie horse. I started screaming again as each time they get worse. Josh jumped out of bed, ran to the kitchen, and this time came back with a jar of...pickles. I look up and he's pushing a pickle into my mouth. I took a few bites and burst into laughter. I don't know what exactly what it was but seeing Josh running back and forth with pickle products trying to help my pain just made me want to laugh. Who knows if the pickles actually help as he keeps swearing they do, but the comic relief definitely helps reduce the suckiness of the charlie horse outbreaks. :)

21 Weeks

The good. Let's roll back to the beginning... It was a rough Monday at work, and for the first time in my working adult history, I swung by a liquor store on the way home. I picked up a 6 pack of my favorite apple wheat cider, kicked off my shoes at home, and went to the tv to watch some cheap reality show drama. I downed 2 bottles of cider as Josh was in the next room playing Xbox. (I'm not too proud that I had drank alcohol this night, but it's just part of my story. We had been trying to get pregnant for around 3 months, and I had honestly thought it might not ever happen.) For some reason, I felt compelled to pee on yet another pregnancy test (thinking it would not be positive of course). I set it on the back of the toilet and went back to the tv watching. At the commercial, I headed back to see what I thought would be a negative result. I glanced down. Glanced back. Umm...JOSH???!!! Josh was ecstatic about the news. I burst into tears as I started thinking "Oh my gosh. a) I just drank alcohol. b) I now have to grow up. c) We are PREGNANT." and every other thought that goes through a pregnant woman's head. After Josh calmed me down, the news sunk in and we were both happy to know we were going to bring a little Mueller into the world and start our family.

The bad. The first few weeks after finding out we were expecting were great. We wanted to wait a while to tell our friends and family because we wanted to let the news sink in as well as give the baby more time to grow, go to a doctor appointment to confirm, and didn't want to jump into announcing a baby when I was scared of the possibility of miscarriage. I didn't really feel any change in my body at first, but I did feel more tired. I began falling asleep each night around 7 to 8 pm on the couch and getting sleepy at work. I took a couple more pregnancy tests those first couple weeks because I was doubting that I actually could be pregnant. Then, the changes started happening. My senses hit full throttle. Every breeze that blew a smell past my nose made me sick to my stomach. I came home from work each night and just felt icky. Didn't throw up for another few weeks but had just a general bad feeling in my stomach all the time. My boobs had a growth spurt overnight that my husband was quick to notice (that wasn't really a bad thing ;))

The ugly. "Pregnancy is a beautiful thing." I have heard so many women talk about the great parts of being pregnant. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention when they were talking about all the not so great parts, but I have experienced a lot of not so great parts in this pregnancy.
Morning sickness (never threw up in the morning...just after noon and at night) for 3 months, bloody nose (still happening as of today), 2 fever blisters, diarrhea (daily for first month or so), charlie horses, uncontrollable acne breakouts, dysgeusia (metallic taste in mouth 24/7. still happening just not as bad as beginning by far), pinched nerves in back, blurred vision/dizziness (only happened once for about 30 minutes where I couldn't see anything clearly), and horrible memory. And then there's the weight gain. At first, you just feel awkward because you feel bloated and gross, but it isn't obvious to the public that you're pregnant. Pants stop fitting as nicely, and you get to take advantage of the hairband trick to keep pants usable. Classy. For sure.

Went to workout at work and discovered my tshirts are wee bit small now. Oops. :)

Don't get me wrong. I'm really happy to be pregnant and receive this blessing in my life. I'm just saying that it can be a bit rough! I have no idea how single moms do it. I have relied so much on Josh for help. He has been amazing...doing laundry, dishes, cooking, driving me places, picking up stuff for me because I'm too tired to move sometimes. Props to those women that breeze through it and look amazing without complaining. You have my praise. I just wanted to share my experience so far because I will probably forget all of it within minutes of the Mueller twins arrival to the world....as I've been told happens. Plus, someday I want to say "LOOK BOYS...I did all this crap for you!" :)

I'm much more enjoying the second half of pregnancy so far. I haven't thrown up in 3 weeks, and my senses feel much more toned down. Plus, the fact that the babies arrival is getting closer brings much more excitement to blur out the rough parts of pregnancy. Tomorrow, the painter comes to paint the boys' nursery. I can't wait until it's done so we can start decorating their room and buying more stuff for them.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week everyone!