32 lbs!!

Yes thats right, seven months pregnant and I have gained 32lbs, THIRTY-TWO!! I like to think of myself as a little heifer. haha But I have had a hard time getting used to the number on the scale going way up and my movement continually becoming more limited. Now I have pretty much accepted that I will gain weight (seven months into it mind you) and am grateful that my body does not hurt more. That was one thing I was very worried about when I found out I was pregnant. Even just gaining five pounds would send my hips and knees into a world of hurt, so bad it would make just walking hard. So you can imagine how painful I thought being pregnant would be. Amazingly enough, my body (hips and knees) do not even hurt as bad as they do when I gain 5 pounds, and I have gained 32! I like to think of it as my little miracle!!

I had a thought of taking a "now and then" picture of pregnancy. I decided to mimic a picture from the 4th of July 5k I did in Denver. I think it best shows off my size, both then and now. The fourth of July was a month before I got pregnant, and its safe to say I did not gain or lose any weight in that month. I weighed 118lbs in the first picture, and 150lbs in the second.

As for news on Jared: He got the green light for chewing from his doctor on Thursday! Wahoo!! He was so excited about it, all night he was eating just so he could chew! There are limitations tho. He has to keep it "about the same consistency as a McDonald's hamburger". So no chips, steak, anything that really needs hearty chewing, but anything is better than nothing!

This weekend we went tot he Park City condo for a relaxing vacation! Friday night we went out to dinner for the first time since the surgery! Yippie! Jared ordered a hamburger (he has been dying to bite one of these forever!) He tried to bite it normally first but only got half the burger (he still can not open his mouth very wide) so he ended up cutting it up and eating it with a fork. But hey, chewing is chewing no matter how it gets in your mouth. =>

He is also getting his feeling back! He still can not feel soft things on the left side of his face, but he can feel hard things! And that is a HUGE improvement! And he can feel medium-soft things on his right side. As for talking/communicating, that has improved greatly too! He almost sounds normal (its the annunciation tripping him up, but who can blame him if he can not feel half his face?) And the swelling is still there, but not nearly as bad as when he first came out of surgery. And this is how swollen he should be for the next couple months, according to his doctor. The sad news is that he has to go under the knife again. Some scar tissue is not forming the way it should and the doctor needs to go and cut it out. The doc says it should be a simple procedure and he will have about as much swelling as pulling wisdom teeth. So, we get to go through this whole lovely putting under/surgery experience again, but it shouldn't be as intesnse, which we are grateful for!

What My Life Consists Of...

I feel so pathetic. I have been wanting to update my blog for days now but I did not want to update it with anything surgery, work or baby related. But then the sad realization came:those things are what my life revolves around right now. I have no other life happenings. And so, my urge to post something new has taken over and it is yet another post about surgery and baby.

Jared is doing wonderfully. It is the 21st day after surgery and he is eating with a spoon! (granted sometimes he misses his mouth, but he is doing VERY well!) While he still had to puree everything, he got so sick of using a syringe he made himself learn how to use a spoon again. He only has to rubber band his jaw shut at night now, which makes things so much easier! He even felt like he could function normally enough to go to church today! He rolled up the bread into the tightest ball he could and swallowed it like a pill, and did the best he could with the water, and he even made a comment in Elders quorum! Oh he is growing up so fast! haha (ok healing so fast). This Thursday the doctor gave him the green light to begin some physical activity again. (non-impact exercises like lifting weights and stationary bicycle riding) I think that will help improve Jared's spirits and help him not feel so bored and helpless.

Here are some pictures to show Jared's progress with swelling and recovery. This was taken the 3rd day after surgery. You can see he is trying so hard to open his eyes because the swelling had traveled and his eyes were swelling shut.
This is the 5th day after surgery. The swelling had decreased around his eyes and a little around his jaw.
This was taken last night, so the 20th day after surgery. He is back to normal around his eye area and about the cheekbones, but below the cheekbones he still has very noticable swelling, especially on his right side. But it has improved a LOT!

We are very grateful for his healing well and quickly. I know it is not really quick, and that we still have months and months to go, but he is dramatically better than he was those first days out of surgery. And he even said that he doesnt hate the doctor andymore haha. (Jared was nto a fan of his doctor when he was in so much pain and so miserable. who would?)

As for our baby, she is a little mover. I say she is a born dancer, already dancing in my uterus. But Jared refuses the dancer baby and says she is a basketball/volleyball girl already practicing her moves. Either way, she is moving a lot already.

I am 25 weeks along, only 15 more to go! And I am a little nervous about those 15 weeks. I feel so huge and akward already, and I am dreading getting even bigger and more akward, but I guess thats what comes with pregnancy. haha

I am in the phase now where I should be buying maternity clothes, but I hate wearing clothes anyways, nothing is comfortable, so I am resisting buying new ones (probably the first time in my life). I do not normally wear this tight of a shirt, I just did that for the picture. Thank goodness for the baby doll tees because I have been able to get away with just wearing those so far. My wardrobe of choice (on weekends when I dont have to do anything or when I get home from work) is my robe (big, fluffy, comfortable, loose....what more could a preggo girl ask for?) or sweats and the baggiest shirt I can find.
But I have made it through six months (almost, I am in my sixth month) of this and only a few more to go! The end is in sight.....somedays => haha

I have been really lucky tho, I have had a good pregnancy. Besides getting the flu and the feeling nauseous all the time in the first trimester, there is nothing really big to complain about. (although I do have to go back and get one of those HUGE shots in my hip again next month, I'm not looking forward to that very much) I can say being pregnant is definately not my favorite thing, but I have been extremely blessed to have a relatively easy pregnancy. Since I found out I was pregnant people feel the need to tell me all their pregnancy horror stories and it made me very nervous and scared. I like to think of this good pregnancy as a blessing from the Lord, because he knows if this was a bad one He would have to have some huge convincing miracle for me to have another one. But this has been good, so I am not totally opposed to doing it again => haha And we are leaning towards the name Paige Arlene for our little baby girl!

My New Husband

It is not every life that a woman gets to be married to the same man but have two different husbands. haha Jared's surgery was major, and it majorly changed his apperance. This is a profile picture of Jared on our cruise in August, so about 4 months before his surgery.
And here is a profile picture we took of Jared yesterday. (we take pictures every day to document the swelling)

He still has a bunch of swelling, but this gives you a general idea of the major change. Both he and I are very interested to see what he will look like after all the swelling goes away (in 3-6 months or more according to his doctor) As for now, I love him and still find him incredibly handsome (even with a huge swollen face) and we are just trying to get through these recovery periods with as much comfort and ease as possible.