29 Weeks, 2 Days

George has been the biggest sweetheart since his return from his last yacht charter voyage.  Such a nice change.  Not that he was a jerk before or anything, just distant, withdrawn, unaware of the baby growing in my belly other than the fact that I am getting fat and ridiculous looking.  I think he realized while he was gone this last time, the little time he has left with Alexa and I before we are separated again for another 3+ weeks.  In between work obligations, he is really making an effort to spend quality time with us.  It is so nice and I am grateful for his effort and this time we have together.

Alexa and Daddy G have both reached out these last few days rubbing and hugging my belly and talking to the little angel inside.  Alexa is so sweet, when she sees my naked belly she hugs and rubs my belly, then says, “Your belly is getting big Mama.”  A much nicer approach than what her Daddy has done in the past giving me a disgusted look and saying “You are getting reeeaaally big!”  Ouch!  Alexa knows the baby will arrive in November and she tells me almost every day how excited she is to help take care of her little sibling.  She is going to be a great big sister.

Physically, I am trying to watch my weight like crazy and still I seem to be gaining a bit too much weight these days too fast.  One morning I get on the scale and I weigh 138 lbs.  the very next morning I weigh myself and I weigh 140 lbs!  What?!?! How the crap can I gain 2 lbs in a day?!?!?  As you can tell, when I say I am watching my weight, I mean literally watching it on the scale… not actually changing my diet a whole heck of a lot to quash the rapid weight gains.  Each day that I have that extra bread or half a block of cheese or ice cream or chocolate, I say out loud, “this is the last time I can do this, otherwise, I will not be happy when it comes time to try to loose the weight after baby.”  However, cravings are stronger than my willpower, so ice cream, chocolate and half blocks of cheese seem to sneak in a few times a week none-the-less.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I cut out the protein shakes, but my stomach cramps have remained.  I fear the baby is just squishing my intestines meaning I am doomed to suffer from these horrible intestinal cramps 4 to 6 times a day condemned to probably get even worse throughout the remainder of the pregnancy regardless of what I consume.  Not fun.  So, last night I resumed the protein shakes.  What the hell… they are organic protein shakes with organic soy or organic almond milk, so it’s not like they are all that bad.  And I am honestly concerned about my protein intake this time.

I don’t have a big appetite for some reason this pregnancy and when I do get ravenous, I eat a small amount and then feel like I’m going to either vomit or explode.  Like yesterday in Antibes, for example, after the owners at the French veggie restaurant were less than welcome to us, we decided to eat lunch at a Thai restaurant.  I ordered summer roles, tom yum lemon grass soup and vegetable green curry.  Well, I ate my small bowl of tom yum soup first then one of the three summer roles and I was engorged!  Still I managed to squeeze down a few bites of the vegetable curry and after, some chocolate ice cream.  Then later, after painfully waddling around for the rest of the afternoon, I couldn’t even imagine eating a proper dinner.  Hence, the protein shake last night.  The protein shake was my dinner.  Oh, and a couple slices of full fat cheddar cheese (correction, almost half a block).  I really need to get a hold of this cheese and ice cream problem of mine.  Here’s some pictures of the last two days… enjoy!