Pregnancy Weeks 27-28

Time for a pregnancy and life update, and to announce the WINNER of the shirt giveaway!

Pregnancy/running update:
I spent a large portion of these weeks either: feeling great or leaning over a toilet, throwing my guts out.

Week 27 felt awesome. I ran more than I have in a while, and every mile felt comfortable. I relished this feeling, since I knew my belly was growing by the day 🙂 I think I also went 4 days without major heartburn/throwing up, which was a record!

27 weeks

And again

Week 28 came with a vengeance, though. Monday and Tuesday I threw up both in the mornings and evenings. Tuesday evening I went for a “run” with Nate and Craig and felt soo clumsy and out of it, maybe because my caloric intake had been so low for a long time? We ran 1.3 miles at a 10:35 mile pace. My slowest mile yet!

Wednesday morning I woke up as nauseated as I have been. I broke down after a round of vomiting and dry-heaving and just curled up in bed next to Nate and cried a few tears. Nate suggested eating a little something to calm my stomach. That immediately came up and sparked endless vomiting. *Sigh*

Nate called the clinic, asking to talk to the doctor on call.

Two options: some knock-you out anti-nausea pills or bring her into the ER for fluids and anti-nausea medication.

I opted for the at-home medication, and Nate insisted that I couldn’t drive to pick it up. I put up a little resistance here, since it meant he would have to come into work late. Instead he gave me a bucket and told me to go upstairs. Lo-and-behold, I didn’t even make it up 3 stairs before I conveniently got to use the bucket. Guess it wouldn’t have been a good idea for me to drive, after all :).

It turned out great. The medication wiped me out, hard, for 5 hours. Nate went along to work. Ahhh. So nice to sleep and not feel so sick!

Since starting those meds, I can happily say I’ve only had a few rough patches! YES!!!

Week 28

In non-vomit-filled pregnancy news, baby is growing steadily! My 28 week appointment went great, despite failing the 1 hour glucose test. I’m feeling quite huge now, but that’s okay – less than 11 weeks to go!!

Jumping the gun, but had to post the pictures from today – I’m 29 weeks!

And that is one definite bump! Notice my “Baby Got Track” shirt? 🙂

Oh, and can I say cravings? Gees! Food has never been this way for me! The other night I so badly wanted a corn dog. Being too rational about it, I did not ask Nate to make a late grocery run… or a run to Faribault where their DQ actually does have a grill that sells corn dogs (which would be much better than any home-baked version, let’s be honest)… but truth be told, I really, really did want that crazy corn dog. I should probably send him out at least once for a late night run, right? Isn’t that just something you have to do?!? 🙂

My other kick lately has been chocolate milk.

If it’s bad for me, greasy or fried, or cheesy, I’ll take it. It’s like I’m craving all of the things I ate as a child… maybe that means I’ll have to get a Chuckwagon microwave sandwich at some point. Maybe in a few weeks when I’m home with my dad. We ate these together on any road trip and errand we could – when mom wasn’t around :).

My dad was cooler than your dad 🙂

Our CSA/garden:

We’ve had an abundance of awesome, fresh vegetables from our garden and CSA share. It’s been fun to experiment with different recipes! Here are a couple fun ones:

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam:

Very easy! It used up a ton of rhubarb from the garden, so the sugar and a pint of strawberries were the only cost.

Nate loves it on plain ice cream. I think I’ll make another batch for the freezer this weekend.

Recipe found here.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam –

Zucchini pizza subs:

Recipe here, but please sub the marinara sauce for this homemade pizza sauce (also is great to make and freeze!). It is SOO good!

Chicken oriental salad:

Literally made from ALL CSA/garden fresh items! The dressing = not as healthy, but it’s still homemade, so that counts, right?

I think this is one of my all-time favorite salads. There’s nothing fancy about it, just a lot of cabbage, some lettuce, green onions, carrots, and chicken if you desire.

The dressing is simple to put together as well:
3 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup mayo
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp sesame oil

Top with chow mein noodles. Easy as that!!

Our CSA hosts two potlucks throughout the growing season. What a wonderful idea! Craig is also a member (see him standing, far right). Nate is in the chair just to the left of him.

Another perk of the CSA: I can pick flowers from their fields every week. How fun!!

Brightens the counter every week 🙂

Between our garden, the CSA, and Nutrilite vitamins, I think I’m set nutritionally for the rest of this pregnancy :).

Baby prep:

Nate’s busy on a lot of house projects! He’s staining our deck here, which desperately needed it.

The in-laws gifted bean bag boards to Nate and I as an early Xmas gift. How awesome!

I promptly ordered custom Gustavus athletic shield logos to put on them. Can’t wait to see how they’ll turn out!

THE WINNER!!

Nate and I decided it was most democratic to have Mesa pick the giveaway winner, since there were too many names that we knew (and knew the sayings they picked would be PERFECT for them!).

Nate thought it would be a good idea to take video of the event, which I am not certain of… I am not known for my on-camera skills :).

But… check out both videos to see if you won!

For those of you who didn’t win, but found a fun, super-soft shirt logo you really liked (Craig and Sharon – your selections were particularly “you” :)), head on over to iamfunnyshirts.com and order one! Use the code: NICHOLEROCKS for 20% off!

To sign off, I leave you with two things:

This catchy country song, brought to you by my corn dog and greasy/fatty food cravings. You’re welcome for a well spent 3 minutes of your life :).