My back is freakin killing me today. I dunno what the deal is, but it's sore as heck. I foresee Dave helping me to the bathroom tonight.

We found a pediatrician...Dr. Sumida. He's super cool...very local, laid back, honest. Told me I'm huge and looks like baby is going to weigh 7 pounds or so. Asked if my doctor scolded me for gaining so much weight. Very funny, though, not offensive. I like that their office has 5 doctors who will cover for each other and take other doctor's patients in case of emergency. And they have Sunday hours just in case.

Caleb seems to be moving like crazy...it's sore. He takes his elbow and jams it into my stomach. I tell Dave to put his hand on my stomach and tell him to calm down. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I gotta pee more than ever. It doesn't help that I drink so much liquids, but I gotta or else I get thirsty. Today I was majorly ono for a soda, walked all the way to the back office to go in so I didn't have to face the happiest woman on earth in the front office, only to find the soda machine was broken. Then I dragged my butt up to A Building to grab a soda. It was delicious. I'm sure someone will tell me that soda is the reason Caleb moves like a maniac. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

I heard intense heartburn means that baby will come out hairy. Hopefully that hair is on his head cuz I was a bald baby.

Week 29

Here's the belly in week 29. I can't imagine that I have to go 11 more weeks and get even BIGGER. Caleb moves around like a crazy boy...I swear he's tumbling around for most of the day. Heartburn sucks big time, but at least in a way it curbs my overeating, which might help me not gain excessively.

We had doctor on Friday...weighed in at 128 1/2, which means I gained 3 pounds in 3 weeks. Though that's the right weight gain, it still sucks.

Yesterday we bought me one of those maternity belt things to help hold up my belly so that my back doesn't get sore. Had the same back pains last night (not as bad as before) but when I got up to go shishi in the night I had to wake Dave up to help me walk to the bathroom cuz teh left side was so sore. Sucks.

Got some ever huger panties. Dang, can't imagine how big my butt must be getting to fit into these panties cuz they look HUGE when I hold them up, but they are oh so comfortable when I put them on.

Tired...been trying to go to sleep earlier and earlier. Just don't have energy.

Soy milk sucks. I don't know what my dad is tasting, cuz he said it's so ono, but it SUCKS to me. Putting in Nesquick helps if I gulp it down. Dave said it's not a choice, I have to drink it so baby grows strong bones. I hate milk. Yuck.

I have got to stop drinking soda. It makes me feel gross. But it's so ono. I'm not big on willpower when it comes to food so we'll see.

Chocolate chip cookies have been ono to me but we bought the wrong kind. I wanted those chewy toll house ones in the red bag but I got distracted and bought the chewy chips ahoy in the red bag and it's just not the same.

We have doctor today...we'll see how much weight I've gained now. The results for my gestational diabetes came in and it's all good, so that's a relief. Lately I've been having this side pain like feeling in my right side. I dunno what it is, but it sure as heck is uncomfortable. I'm sure it's all that stretching that my body has to do to accommodate the large-ness.

I saw my cousin last night, who is also due in December but pregnant with twins...and my stomach is almost as big as hers. What the heck? I only have one baby, she has two, but my stomach is huge. And when people are asking me about how much weight I've gained so far, I realize it's about 20 pounds...and that I have 3 more months to go, which means I'll surpass the 30 pound weight gain mark easily. Oh well. I had set the scale at home with a tab thingy which was at 125 when my pregnancy started...my goal was that I would not pass that weight in my pregnancy. Yea right...I'm there now. Frick. Oh well.

I wore shorts to school two days this week and it was wonderful. I'm thinking of investing in more shorts because even capris are too HOT. I figure, as long as it's long shorts and my top is pretty, it's all good. Sheez, Dave wears shorts every day to school, so if he can, I can too. And my legs are prettier than his. Heehee.

Someday I will put another picture up...sorry, been slacking. Waking up in the morning is hard enough...to remember to take a picture is impossible.

I'm getting the feeling that I'm moving into HUGE territory. Comments recently have centered around how surprised people are at how big I've gotten all of a sudden. Last night my nephew's girlfriend told me she has a friend that's due the same time as me "but is super skinny." What the heck? I still have THREE months to go and it seems like this explosion is not going to end.

Anyways, along with the exploded belly comes the ever present need to shishi. I got up a total of FIVE times last night to go to the bathroom. I have to go in the morning before class starts, at recess, at lunch, and then right after school. If I'm lucky enough to have a prep somewhere in there, I go then too. It's the weirdest feeling to actually have something feeling like it's sticking into your bladder. I try to hold my belly up so that it's not pushing down on my bladder but that only helps temporarily. I'm scared I'm going to pee my pants in school one day.

We've accumulated more clothes for Caleb and have them hanging inside the crib. Looking at that stuff makes me trip. I can't believe we'll have a baby to put inside those clothes in a little bit!!!

A pregnant basketball player and a pregnant hip-hopper just aren't that cute. Tomorrow I will be a pregnant rock star...probably not that cute either.

It has been way TOO HOT lately. Thigh sweat is gross. Back of the knee sweat is gross.

My underarms are black. I don't know why. I noticed it a few days ago and last night when we were showering Dave pointed it out. WTF? I scrub it hard, it's not like I'm not clean. All I can think about is my mom scolding me for having black underarms cuz she's going to tell me I'm not washing good. I AM! It must have something to do with pregnancy. I'm going to look it up in my book. Gross.

I'm TIRED. I dunno if it's just that it's a long week (well, a full week, which I haven't had in a while) or if it's that the second trimester is almost over so tiredness is setting in again, but I'm just super freakin' tired.

Today I had acid reflux burps that went up to my nose and stung. Like the kine where the acid seems to be burning your nasal passages. It actually brought tears to my eyes. I gotta remember to take my bottle of Rolaids to school.

Cramping sucks. Last night I woke up with a major cramp in my left leg. It freakin' hurts more than I imagined it would. I don't think I've ever had a cramp like that before. I think it has to do with the fact that we did a LOT of walking and standing yesterday...when we were at the Roosevelt game and I looked at my feet, I noticed that my once cute little feet had swelled into the typical, rubber slipper wearing, puffy, veiny, ugly feet. Even Dave couldn't fake it and tell me it looked normal.

I had a conniption last night while I was trying to find clothes to wear to the game too...we were originally going to go to the UH game and it was ridiculous trying to find a normal looking, black or UH shirt that actually fit well. Plus too I'm thinking I don't want to wear long pants cuz I gotta hike my butt up to the yellow, but then my shorts were dirty so I didn't have that to wear, and my capris just weren't looking the way I wanted them to. Dave thinks it's ridiculous for me to get so grouchy over clothes...he just doesn't understand how hard it is. I know I shouldn't take it out on him, but in the heat of the moment, I just can't help it. Grrr.

Went to watch a movie tonight and for the life of me, I couldn't find a comfortable sitting position. Guess I'm at that point in the pregnancy now, where the belly is restricting my comfort. Even sleeping at night...I swear it's hard to find a comfortable position to sleep, then when I do I have to move around because whichever part of my body is touching the bed gets super hot. My body pillow, which was a savior in the past, has now had to move toward the bottom of the bed so it just rests between my legs because it was in the way of my belly when I lay on my side.

I got comments today about constantly rubbing my belly. I know I do it a lot, but what else am I supposed to do? It's there, right in front of me, and it just feels cool. And when Caleb's moving around a lot, it's only natural to put my hand there.

Okay, gotta go nene...hope tomorrow is a wonderful day, even if I gotta be in committee meeting for a majority of it and there are some conversation dominators who should just shut up once in a while. Oh well. At least I'm not the chairperson...I'll just take notes and it's all good.

Week 26

Here's the belly. My piko gets sore in the afternoon cuz it's sticking out a lot. If you notice, the panty changed from cute bikinis to gramma style coverage...so comfortable!!!!

So I emailed Sue Bitler from HSTA to ask her what, contractually, we are allowed in terms of maternity leave...and here's what she said...

• We are allowed FOUR weeks of maternity leave which comes out of our accumulated sick leave days.
• Holidays, intersessions, and breaks do NOT count toward this four week period...sick leave days are only deducted for WORK days.
  
• We are entitled to 20 days of Family Leave which will be deducted out of accumulated sick leave days.
  
• You are also entitled to your five Personal Leave days (if you have not used them for the year).
  
• Maternity and Family Leave are not contract leaves...they are state leaves available to all state employees. Personal Leave is a contract leave.
  

Goodness gracious, thank GOD for knowledgeable people who are willing to help me out!!!!

So I still gotta go look at my calendar and figure it all out, but that makes me feel a LOT better knowing that the break isn't being wasted time for me.

I love three day weekends!! I think every weekend should be a three day weekend! I think Dave and I actually get along better on three day weekends than normal ones!

Today we woke up at 8:00, made croissanwiches (yum!), then I actually started to get work done at around 8:30, which was amazing. Worked until about 11:00, then we headed out to Waipahu to pick up my team's tshirts. We cruised around USA Baby for a while, where we picked up some items and carried them around the store with us, but thought the better of it and put them down in the end. We were unhappy to see that the crib we bought was now on sale for even less than the sale price we bought it for (oh well), and marveled at how EXPENSIVE some of these purely decorative items are. Then we had lunch with Leish and Mark...ramen and curry, which definitely wasn't GOMAICHI, but was okay....the company was excellent, as was listening to Dave's political views, which interestingly enough include more Star Wars than you could possibly imagine (ask him for his creative ideas). We then headed to rent Pearl Harbor which for some reason we had talked about earlier and disagreed as to who died and how, so we had to prove each other wrong. Enjoyed that while doing work...what a highly productive day!!

Other thoughts...

I can't imagine what it's going to be like to get bigger than this...the skin at my sides often feels as though it's about to burst...it actually hurts. I wonder how Blake and Stacie are doing now that they're at home. I wonder how the cloth diapers are going...we're going to have to have them let us practice on Allison so we know what we're doing before Caleb is born. I gotta buy some new bras, but I'm scared because I know I'm going to buy new ones, then need other new ones as I get even bigger. It's not the cup that doesn't fit, but the stretching around my body. I have those ugly red lines after removing them cuz they're squeezing the crap out of me.

Dave just finished his World Series Championship Game...and won. Yay, life can go on now.