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Monday, July 30, 2012

26 Week Baby Bump!



  • How far along? As of today, 26 weeks 2 days
  • Total weight gain: Up 14 lbs. By this time I weighed slightly more when I was pregnant with Layla. I feel like I haven't been eating as much. Since second tri started I really haven't had cravings other than my standard sweet tooth. I've also been busy with the house and girls that I haven't been snacking like I should. 
  • Maternity clothes? Yes some.
  • Stretch marks? No new ones.
  • Sleep: It's been the same. Nothing new to report, other than having to get up at least once to use the restroom.
  • Best moment this week: Emotionally I have been better this week.
  • Miss Anything? I miss being out of the bathroom for extended periods of time. I'm always in there. I have the bladder of a squirrel.
  • Movement: Definitely!
  • Food cravings: Just the usual sweets.
  • Food aversions: Nope.
  • Boy or girl: Girl!
  • Labor Signs: No
  • Symptoms: Physically, my body has felt pretty good these past two weeks. I have been pretty emotional though and easily irritated. 
  • Belly Button in or out? It's kind of out, but I doubt it can go any forever because of a small scar I have from a laparoscopy procedure to remove an ovarian cyst years ago.
  • Wedding rings on or off? On.
  • Looking forward to: Cooler weather which is still far away.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What I'm usually wearing these days..

I love clothes and I love fashion, but I don't always leave the house these days. Between this belly, toting around two girls, the Texas heat, mosquitos...I feel like I've been a hermit lately. So if I'm not leaving the house--I'm usually in what I call my uniform. A stretchy Victorias Secret t-shirt, and a pair of black yoga pants. Oh, and house slippers. Let's not forget about those. I hate feeling cold floors or getting crumbs on my feet. I've got a few of the stretchy tops and pants and they are so comfy!



So what's your to-go outfit when lounging around the house? 


Friday, July 20, 2012

Layla's Birth Story

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone


Layla
Born: May 6th 2011
6lbs 12 oz.
19 in.

I was asked recently to post Layla's birth story and I'm glad the reader reminded me, because I've been meaning to get around to it. As I sit here almost 25 weeks pregnant, I can't help but feel a lump in my throat remembering all we went through to have her and how for a brief moment, I thought I lost her.

Where to even begin. I suppose I should start from the beginning--though I have mentioned snippets here and there about conceiving her. H and I weren't in a hurry to add another child after Serena, but when we were ready we didn't know there was going to be difficulties. It took us almost 2 yrs to have her, and here's the crazy part, When I found out I was pregnant with her, it was the exact same day I found out the year before when I got pregnant (the one I miscarried). I could not believe it. How amazing was that. Because of that, I would remind myself that it was meant to be whenever I had doubts that the baby was doing fine in my uterus.  

For the most part, I was pretty calm throughout the pregnancy and it was pretty uneventful except for contractions I started having at 27 weeks that landed me a day in the hospital. I had a doppler during that pregnancy so if I was feeling anxious, I would whip it out and that "womp..womp..womp" sound of the heartbeat would always make me feel better. 

Around 37 weeks, I had a growth ultrasound and it was noted that my amniotic fluid was a bit low but nothing to be alarmed about. At 39 weeks, that's when everything changed. I went in for my one of my weekly appointments and my OB was out that day so a nurse practitioner saw me. It turns out I was only 1cm dilated. I had been like that for weeks now. As much as I loved being pregnant, I was also pretty uncomfortable, I asked her if she could do a membrane sweep to get things moving, and she said sure if that's what I wanted. Hellooooo!!! She could of warned me about how painful it was. Seriously! It hurt so bad-comparable to labor even. I will never ever do this again. After that I went in for an ultrasound and we got to see Layla again. Only this time the tech didn't really talk about anything. H and I stepped outside and waited for the nurse to come back and talk to us. I remember she came over with the chart and said "get your things, and head up to the third floor, you're having a baby today."

Woah. I was not prepared for that. As much as I wanted Layla to come out, I didn't know this was the day. I started crying. I was just so nervous. It was discovered that my fluid levels were way too low so I was to be induced. H and I headed upstairs and I could see the nervous excitement in his eyes as I shivered from anxiousness. We filled out some paperwork, were ushered to my room and H started letting our friends and family know the news. After getting settled into bed I was informed that I would be getting cervidal (softens the cervix) around 7pm and pitocin in the morning. It was about 1:00 pm at this point. (Serena was in school while all this was happening and my mom picked her up later). So I was expected to just pretty much lay in bed forever. Boooring..... However, I started getting several close contractions in the afternoon so the doctor said let's hold off on the cervidal and see if you go into spontaneous labor. Around 9pm my contractions started to get pretty intense. I had to breathe through a lot of them. They started getting more painful around 10:30 pm and I had one particular one that lasted a while followed by a Pop! My water had broken. More painful contractions followed and the nurse came in and asked if I wanted an epidural. 


During the pregnancy I wanted to deliver with no pain medication because I had an epidural with Serena and had not urge to push-which made the process difficult. However by 11:00 pm I caved and took the epidural. That was my first mistake. I got it too early. Once it settled in--I felt pretty great, I still felt a lot of pressure when they hit but it was painless. The nurse also offered me something to sleep but I declined. Mistake number two. I should of taken the darn sleeping pill because I didn't sleep a wink the whole night! Shortly after I got the epidural my legs started to go numb and I figured it was normal. At about 2:30 am I asked the nurse about the numb legs and she said she didn't know. Okkkk...

At about 4:30 am the anesthesiologist came in and said "woops, you're legs aren't supposed to be that numb." Uh ya think. So he stopped the epidural for 20 minutes and then restarted it at a lower dose. By 7:00 am, I started feeling really bad contractions. My legs were still a bit numb but I could feel everything else. At 9:00 am they started me on pitocin because I was taking forever to dilate. I started having bad back labor at noon and by 12:30 pm I was transitioning which was even more painful because of the intense pressure. All of a sudden I started getting the urge to bear down only the nurse wasn't in the room just H. I was breathlessly telling him to get the nurse. GET HER NOW! I was trying hard not too push. She came in taking her sweet time and at 1:00 pm I was able to start pushing with her holding one leg, and H holding the other. H was so supportive. I really didn't think I was going to be able to push her out but I did with the help of a vacuum. I also had an episiotomy but luckily I didn't feel that but I tell you, that ring of fire when the baby crowns is like nothing I've ever felt before. 

You know those stories you read how the mother cries tears of joy when their baby is born and they've never been so in love? I didn't exactly get to feel that right away. Don't forget I had literally no sleep, I had basically labored and birth naturally. I was so out of it--I couldn't even see straight. I remember when Layla came out she was grey. "Why was she grey?" "Babies are supposed to be pink and gooey, not grey and gooey". The doctor placed her on my chest for literally 2 seconds. Just a touch and moved her to the incubator. Layla wasn't breathing. The nurses started working on her and all I could do was lay there helplessly as the OB stitched me up. It was under a minute but so many thoughts ran through my head..

"Please God, don't let us have gone through all of this and not be able to hold her warm body in my arms, not get a chance to see her chest rise and fall with each breath and nestle her in my arms. Please God".

I think H was holding his breath until we heard her first cry. I can only imagine how scared he was and I saw tears in his eyes when he saw she was going to be ok. She was perfectly fine after that and so alert. I think she had spent too long in the birth canal. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I was traumatized after that. I laid in the hospital bed thinking I'm never going to do this again. Ever. Once they placed her in my arms I felt such relief but still I was so out of it. I was delirious from no sleep and shaken from what just happened. Not exactly the birth experience I had in mind but in the end I got a healthy baby and that's all that mattered. 


As I grow near to doing this again, there are definitely things I plan on doing differently. I've also done things different this pregnancy-like exercise. I didn't when I was pregnant with Layla (hardly any walking even) and I really think that was one contributing factor to a long and difficult labor. I'm not sure what I plan on doing as far as pain medication because I know how things can change. I guess we'll see.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

DIY Maternity Top!

My mom taught me to sew when I was little and I used to love making dresses for my stuffed teddy bears. I would also make skirts and some tops as well. Once I was a teenager though, I didn't bother much with it at all--Too busy with sports, school and friends. 

Over the years the closest I got to sewing again was just alterations and replacing fallen-off buttons. However this year I picked it up again and I'm loving it! 

You guys know how I feel about spending money right now on clothes I'm just going to wear for a few months right? Well I wanted a new top for a child's birthday party this past weekend, so I made my own out of an old dress. The best part is--the piece I made is actually removable so I can put it on other tops that are too short. Genius! 

Do you have tops that are too short, due to your growing belly? No problem.
(Uhh dirty mirror-sorry)

Here is the dress I used.


Now I could of done this the long way and just taken out the stitching, but I was in a hurry, so I just cut off the blue fabric. 




At first I was going to make this design, but then I decided to just go with pleats in the front. Just the front because I was feeling lazy like that lol.

(You are probably scrutinizing those grandma curtains in the back. Ugly huh? Yep they came with the house.  We'll talk about those another time though.)

Tada!




I want to make some more!

Btw, the following items from my blog sale are still available: 1, 2, 3,4, 6 &7


Monday, July 16, 2012

24 Week baby bump and an outfit post..


  • How far along? As of today, 24 weeks 2 days
  • Total weight gain: Up 13 lbs. I have a feeling I'll gain about 25 lbs total. Or maybe that's just what I want to gain? Who am I kidding, I'll probably gain 35 lbs like I did with Layla. 
  • Maternity clothes? Yes some. I can still squeeze into some pants that sit low but it gets uncomfortable when I sit down.
  • Stretch marks? No new ones.
  • Sleep: It's been the same. I'm having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.
  • Best moment this week: Just feeling my baby grow.
  • Miss Anything? Not too much other than my body feeling normal. 
  • Movement: Definitely! This little girl is busy. It's like she hardly sleeps.
  • Food cravings: Chocolate like always
  • Food aversions: Not really
  • Boy or girl: Girl!
  • Labor Signs: No
  • Symptoms: Really uncomfortable this past week. Lot's of stretching on my sides and pressure on my bladder.
  • Belly Button in or out? It's kind of out. 
  • Wedding rings on or off? On.
  • Looking forward to: An OB appt this week. :)

    Now onto the outfit...

    I bought this adorable maxi dress at Marshall's a few days ago and I'm in love. Maxi dresses are so comfortable and the best thing is--I can still wear it when I'm not pregnant either. Score!



    I stepped out of my comfort zone again and applied some brown shadow on my lids and black liner under my eyes. I like the way it came out, but I'm most comfortable not wearing too much makeup. I wish I was good at experimenting with eyeshadows but I'm not. Oh well. With my heavy lids too much puts me in the clown category.


Thursday, July 12, 2012

It's a Pink Life second blog sale!

It's time for another blog sale! I don't dislike any of the items, but I just either don't wear them, or they don't fit me the way they used too (pre-pregnancy that is). I'm hoping you lovely readers will give some of these items a good home.


Here's how it's going to be done:

* Email me at itsapinklife@gmail.com if you like an item with the item number that you are interested in.

* Sales are on a first come, first served basis.

* Only accepting payment through paypal and for USA and Canada customers only.

* Once you confirm you want the item, I will email you an invoice or my paypal information.

* Shipping cost is $5 and will be listed in the invoice.

* No shipping cost for jewelry.

Sizing:

When looking at an item, keep in mind I am 5'1 and normally wear a size small. 

Let's get started!

Item #1
Express cropped black sweater
Size: Small
Price: $15
(This sweater is actually a little roomy. It fits more like a medium.)



Item #2 
Gorgeous silky Arden B one shoulder top
Size: Small
Price: $20
(Only worn once. Love it, but also fits a little roomy on me)



Item #3
Embellished neckline Charlotte Russe top
Size: Small
Price: $12




Item #4
Charlotte Russe top (I cut the tag out inside because it would scratch me)
Size: Small
Price: $10



Item #5
Simple summer maxi dress from Macy's
Size: Small
Brand new with tags. Worn once in house, featured in blog but not worn for outing after all.
Price: Bought for $30, selling for $18




Item #6
Charcoal Taffeta Alfred Sung dress w/pockets
Size: 2 adjusted to size 1. Where I took it in, the seams can be taken out to become a size 2 again.
Worn one time for a wedding in April.
Price: $50 (Paid $180 for it)



The seams on each side of the zipper is where I took it in.


Also comes with removable straps and a rosette band that can go around the waist.


Item #7
Super cute blue corset top/no boning (I believe it's from Agaci)
Size: XS
Price $10





Item #8
Black strapless Forever 21 top
Size: Small
Price: $8
(Meant to put this one out on my last blog sale)



Item #9
Stretchy faux pearl bracelet (Previously worn)
Price: $6



Item #10
3 string black and white necklace
Price: $8




That's it for now. Thanks for looking! Please email me if you have any questions.


Thursday, July 5, 2012

Good ole fashioned apple pie..

I hope everyone had a lovely Fourth of July and the mosquitos didn't bite you too much. In honor of yesterday let's talk about pie, particularly apple pie. I love apple pie. 

Now I'm not talking about the one's you can buy at your local grocery store. I'm talking about homemade grandma Ople's apple pie. Well not my grandma Ople, but somebody's grandma Ople.

I make this pie ever so often when we have barbecues and my friends love it. I wanted to keep this little recipe to myself and call it my secret but it's not really mine, so here I am sharing it with you all!

Try it. You'll love it. Mmm my mouth is watering just looking at this picture which is the one I made two weeks ago.



Grandma Ople's Apple Pie (found on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
  3. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.
Now here are the little tweaks I make. First, I don't make a lattice crust. I just roll out my pillsbury pie crust and make slits at the top. I also beat an eggwhite and brush on the top of the crust-then I sprinkle with a little bit of sugar.

Enjoy.