Fruit/Veg/Edibles: Corn on ze cob and a buncha grapes
Weight gain: 2.0 lbs. Yeah, a lb a week… Grape baby and I got this…
Overall weight gain: 8 lbs.
I can be found eating: Like a first grader. 12 hour shifts have called for quite the shift in eating habits. Making time for bfast before leaving the house is an absolute must rather than a luxury. My go to has been cereal or oatmeal and a tall glass of OJ (very specifically tropicana, I guess I’m a picky prego). I also now need to keep quick, easy to grab, semi-discreet snacks at the ready… So far my lunchbox has been stuffed with welch’s fruit chews, peanut butter crackers, cinnamon applesauce, nutrigrain bars, yogurt, bananas and string cheese, my oldest friend. Literally that’s everything I ate in the first grade except I’m missing the dunkaroos. Salads and sandwiches from the caf complete my lunch and at-work-eats and then I head home for lateish dinners eating the rest of what the hubby/chef cooked up. My hero.
Aversions: There is a hospital smell that is really really beginning to bother me. It’s like the after-scent of either the constantly used hand sanitizer, or the soap or the paper towels. I haven’t quite brought myself to sniffing these things to determine the culprit. But I am acutely aware of this god awful lingering smell on my incessantly washed hands that is completely bothersome and can’t be avoided.
Movement/kicks: This little miss or mister is turning into quite the roly poly wiggle worm and I love it more and more every day. But the best thing that happened in the past few weeks is that Ryguy has been able to catch a few of the bigger kicks that I’ve felt. All hands on deck tv watching is the newest Hess Station pasttime accompanied by ‘Did you feel that?!’s galore. Sharing the bumps and thumps with him has been by far one of the highest points of pregodom thus far. Shoot off the fireworks; this. is. awesome.
Maternity style: Scrubadubs that are definitely showing that bump now! You need a lot of pocket space as a nurse and my shirt-front pen/paper/tape/glove/alcohol wipe dispensers have been losing significant space with noticeable speed. But the ability to wear PJ/uniforms is still a little bit of heaven. Otherwise I’ve pulled out some sweaters that used to be long and tunic-y, but now are just tight and bumpy, but they’re cute and workin for me! In other fashion news… I’ve now received two bridesmaids dresses in the mail. One for three weeks before my due date! The other for three months after. Both arrived with plenty of room for growth! But wow, sizes are essentially a crapshoot until further notice… even in shoes! Who knows how swollen I will be when I’m 8 mo. prego in the middle of the summer. Crap. Shoot.
How do I feel?: Good, great, grand… And just always ready for more sleep. Yesterday I went in to work for a weird 11a-7p shift and managed to sneak in not one but two naps between a 6 am husband drop off at the airport, a prenatal appointment and clocking in. Talent, that’s what that is.
Status of the bump: Still small, cute, and manageable, but we’ve now moved into the obvious phase. Far more brave souls have ventured to ask if there’s a little bun in the ‘ole oven. And every single time I am tempted to say no just to see their reaction. That’s a game I’ve yet to play and likely won’t… But it never fails to cross my mind when I am (oddly) taken aback by the question. In all honesty, it is still very surreal to me that I’m pregnant. All of the major milestones that Ryan and I have reached together in the past 2 insane years have felt surreal. I was just 21 (okay maybe not just), but I so vividly remember being unable to imagine how my life would unfold. And in the past 5 years, it just has. Perfectly, with minimal hiccups and at lightening speed. I wouldn’t change any of it, or the pace that it’s all moved at. But sometimes it’s the simple question of a stranger that makes me stop and realize where I am at this very minute and remember to take it all in because my first instinct is, what?! Wait… Yeah. I am pregnant. And your nurse. And married to my best friend, living in an amazing home, with my sweet little pup and all the joys of parenthood still await me. And I’m so happy. Thank you stranger. Thanks for asking.
Oh right, the bump.
Not obvious. 
OBVIOUS!
Classic. Pregnant belly hold with shirt-tuck. SUPER obvious.
The happies:
Job Update: Going well. Gotta just keep swimming and absorbing and sleeping to lock away all that newly learned info. Rationalization for more naps? Perhaps. Overall I’m so happy to have my job, a wonderfully supportive staff, a great preceptor and the opportunity to finally put all my hard work and years of education to good use. And to not leave a hospital with homework to do. It’s a dream come true. Being a real nurse on orientation is so much better than clinicals.
The not so happies:
I have nothing to report here.
Till next time.
