This is how Halloween is celebrated at the Richard Household!! 

Still Happily Married

I have officially reached that point in the pregnancy where I am just too swollen to wear my wedding ring anymore. My feet and ankles started swelling up months ago, but my hands and fingers took awhile longer to figure out that they can pudge up as well. About a week ago Ben told me I should probably quit wearing my ring so we wouldn't have to have it cut off, but I told him there was no way I was going to not wear my wedding ring. Well, yesterday it was pinching my finger so badly and I had to run my hand under water to get it off because my fingers have swelled so much. I gave in to Ben's advice and left my ring at home today. I don't think I'll be able to wear it anymore until after the child is born. I hate not wearing it and I don't want anyone to think that we're having marital problems - we're just having water retention problems!!

The Weight Gain

I had a pre-natal appointment yesterday. The one thing that I'm always curious about when I go in is how much weight I've gained since my last appointment. At my very first appointment they told me I should expect to gain between 15 and 40 pounds throughout the whole pregnancy. As of yesterday I am 0.3 pounds away for the 40 pound weight gain mark!! I'd love it if I could just cap it off right here, but I'm fairly certain that with 6 weeks left and baby supposedly gaining a half a pound a week it just isn't going to happen.

At my appointment I asked if they could tell yet what position the baby is in. I told her that there is always a body part sticking out up by my ribs, but I can't tell if it's a head or a butt. She felt around and determined that the baby is in the head down position so everytime I get a lump by my ribs the baby is sticking out her little butt. I'm sure she'll love to hear about that after she's born!!

Cravings

I have realized that the one thing everyone asks a pregnant woman is if she's had any weird cravings and I haven't written anything about cravings. I really haven't craved anything "weird". At the beginning of the pregnancy I ate pickles everyday. Cliche, I know; however I found out the juice from pickles can help relieve any morning sickness and it did!! After the morning sickness completely went away so did my need for pickles. Then I moved into the Chinese Food category. I craved chinese food at least once a week. Luckily my office is right next door to a Chinese restaurant and I was able to get my fix! Right now I have to have ice-cream everyday. I buy a couple of cartons each time I go to the grocery store because I can't risk running out. Ben has been lucky enough to not have to go to the store for me in the middle of the night to buy me any treats.

Getting a little Top Heavy

Working with this new body shape of mine has been proving to be challenging. I have encountered many problems that I am not normally used to such as walking into doors, walls, and people because I'm not used to having a big belly sticking out. Last night however, I experienced something a little different...

I was in the living room sitting in our recliner watching TV and Ben was in the office working on the computer. I started to lay the back down and as I was pushing it back with my body the whole chair tipped over backwards! Our recliner is in a corner so I got stuck upside down and I couldn't roll out of the position I was in and I didn't have enough strength to push myself back up. So with my legs in the air and my arms trying to hold me up with the walls I started screaming for help. I have found that Ben is not the type of person that comes running if you just say help once, so I repeated myself over and over and over again until he came in the living room. He just started laughing and told me that I must be getting too top heavy for the recliner. It was kind of scary, but after I was in an upright position again I realized how funny it actually was. I just wish I had a picture of what it looked like from Ben's point of view!!

I love elastic!

I measured around my belly again last night. I have now added 12 inches to my original size. Word around the nursery is that this baby should be gaining a half a pound a week from now until the birth, so I think my belly is going to be having a big growth spurt!!

I have decided that I hate all maternity clothes unless they have an elastic waist that pulls up all the way over my belly because of how quickly I'm growing now. Whoever thought low-rise maternity pants were a good idea must not have ever been pregnant. You can't sit down in those things and you constantly have to pull them up. The bigger the elastic panel is on the pants the better!!

I thought I was smarter than this!

I have heard tales about how pregnant women are forgetful and absent-minded. I have always been very proud of what a great memory I have, unfortunately I think I've been bit by the Pregnancy Brain Stopping Bug. There have been a lot of times that I go to do something and realize that it's already been done or I'll remind myself to do something multiple times during the day and still manage to forget to do it. That's little stuff.
Last week I was walking to my car after work with two of the girls that I work with. When we got to the parking lot I went to a car that I thought was mine and pressed my unlock button 3 or 4 times before I realized that the car was not mine. It was a silver 4-door, but not my make or model. Now the thing that really gets me about the fact that I did this is that I park in the same parking spot everyday and this car was at least 4 or 5 parking spaces away.
I really hope that I get my common sense and brain activity back after the baby is born!!