HELP! My chest, my throat! ON FIRE!

I was about to enter my seventh month of pregnancy, and I was working a Sunday shift at Live 5 News. Photographer Corey and I stopped by my favorite little sandwich place in Mount Pleasant, Mozzo Deli.

I always get the same sandwich everytime, The Milano, which is breaded eggplant, spinach, mozzarella, and ricotta cheese in a grilled wrap... my fave! But I ventured from the norm and went for The Godfather, which includes Genoa salami, ham, pepperoni, lettuce, tomato, onions, sweet and hot peppers, and oil and vinegar. And I got it on ciabatta bread! I ate the whole thing and it was delicious!

I have never experienced heartburn before, and I didn't know practically everything on that sandwich could trigger it!

The chest pain kicked in at about 4 p.m. It felt so extreme! I wasn't sure what was going on. I wrote my news story, left work, and called husband William in the pharmacy to tell him about my symptoms. He said I was presenting the symptoms of heartburn, and many pregnant women come in with the same complaints. It is basically my stomach acids traveling back up my esophagus, giving me the burning sensation.

He suggested to chew up some Tums. I took four! No relief and things only got worse! The burning sensation traveled up to my throat and it just felt like pressure and burning for HOURS!

With some online research on pregnancy heartburn (and the okay from my medical expert hubby), I tried several remedies including: more Tums (have a medical expert check the label some ingredients in some brands may not be good for a pregnant person), drinking water, drinking milk, standing up on my feet, chewing minty gum because saliva can neutralize stomach acid. The feeling was only worse when I laid down, so I "fell asleep" propped up on pillows. FINALLY, by 1 a.m. the feeling had gone away... THANK GOODNESS!

I barely ate anything the next day for fear of a relapse of the worse pregnancy side effect yet! (for me at least) Click here for some treatments from The Bump. My advice is eat slow and don't overeat! William also says Zantac or Ranitidine, an acid reducer, is safe during pregnancy.

Good luck to all the preggos out there, hopefully you can avoid the burn!

Months 6-7: Growing BIG time!

Oh wow my bump has popped out its biggest yet! However, I am very grateful all is progressing well and I'm measuring right on time. The headaches subsided, and now my biggest challenge is getting around with all the added weight and size.

In September we did a keepsake ultrasound at "See Me 3D" in Summerville. It was a awesome experience getting an extra sneak peek at our baby. He seems to like his little space in my belly. Both grandmas Marilyn and Suzy, Papa Bill, and Aunt Adrienne and Elizabeth all got a chance to oooh and ahhh at Baby Liam along with William and me! We thank God that our baby and we the parents have such a strong support system with many more family members and friends.

In other baby news, my friends Krista and Amy were blessed with the births of their babies. Sullivan Cole Driggers was born Sept. 27 (2 days early) and Landyn Grace Dickerson graced us with her presence a few weeks early on Sept. 30th! I guess this means I am next....!!!

Congrats Krista and Darren!

Congrats Amy and Duane!

Hello Trim. 3! Hello Headaches!

I'm huge and I have headaches everyday! Well hello to you Third Trimester! Before going on about this wonderful time in pregnancy, we need to take a look back at what baby's been up to!

-Baby "Liam" flew on a plane! We visited San Francisco, where daddy William had a pharmacy conference. (We also caught up with some old friends, Hi Kevin, Lauren, and Margo!)

-All my old high school friends from ten years ago saw me preggo! It was our reunion at Miler Country Club.

-I passed the 24 week mark, and my glucose tolerance test. They make you drink a sweet fruit juice type drink before taking a blood sample, to see how your body processes the sugar. I passed!

-Liam's baby friend Eliana was born! She's too cute! And Zephylia and me the day before she delivered!

Anyway, baby and I have grown TREMENDOUSLY in this sixth month. The headaches have been so bad, but I try to drink a lot of water, and I take tylenol as it is the only pain reliever Dr. B and Dr. Daddy William say are safe for a pregnant woman.

In other big news my sister in law Elizabeth is now engaged to her longtime boyfriend Randy! Yay Elizabeth and Randy! We'll be visiting them this weekend. We will also be doing a See Me 3D sneak peak in Summerville Saturday afternoon. I'm also planning to try out my first prenatal yoga class on Sunday. I'll keep you posted! Have a nice weekend!

BIG BABY NEWS! I'm halfway there!

WEEK 20: If you haven't checked out the blog or haven't heard the news yet, I'm expecting! Husband William and I are planning to welcome our little baby boy into the world on 12/11/11. We love our little cutie!

This week we hit the halfway point in our pregnancy, and William, my parents, and I met with the ultrasound specialist at Dr. Bradford's office for a big 20 week ultrasound to confirm the sex and look at baby's anatomy! We even got a little 3-D image sneak peak!

Belly jelly for the ultrasound

Four chambers of the heart

Baby's spine

Itty bitty foot

Baby's hand

Profile shot

Baby face in 3D

At 20 weeks, my checklist includes:
-registering for breastfeeding classes
-registering for childbirth classes
-choosing a pediatrician
-and scheduling a hospital tour

I may have put the crib before the baby, but I already bought the crib set online, Bananafish's Bailey print. It's so soft and cute. Good thing we guessed right and it's a boy!

Last of all I want to thank my mystery co-worker at Live 5 News, who left these baby gumdrop pacifiers on my desk! I feel like I've asked EVERYONE and NO ONE will tell me who! Thank you anyway co-worker! My boy loves pink and purple! ;)

YAY! It's a bouncing baby... what!?

Week 19: Does your belly hang low? Does it wobble to and fro? YES! I've gained a whopping 16 lbs!! My baby is waaaaay low in my belly, and I feel him kick, tumble and move all the time! We go next week for the 20 week anatomy screening, and finally Dr. Bradford will confirm boy or girl.

Thankfully I'm not always hungry like I was during the first trimester. Nausea is gone. Headaches mostly gone. But I feel like all the extra weight is hurting my back and legs and giving me a mild case of sciatica. OUCH! Anyone have a good prenatal massage therapist?

I had a great time at Krista's baby shower the other weekend, where I debuted my super cute fruit baby carriage. She got this awesome navy microfiber Vera Bradley diaper bag from her sister Trista. I'm definitely copying her. Hint hint to my sisters, it's on my amazon.com universal registry already! Love it!

Also look at all the belly bumps! we are all expecting babies each month from July until February (minus the month of November) I hope the non-preggos at the party didn't drink the water after us... but who knows, I think someone did! ;)

Have you ever heard of Morph Thing? It's this silly website where William and I morphed our faces together, and the program predicted what our baby would look like...

Haha, I'm not sure our morph babies resemble either of us very much!? We shall soon know for sure, but you can place your bets now! Wikki = boy or girl?

Wikki beats!

Woosh Woosh Woosh! Wikki is now 17 weeks old and has a heart beat in the 150 bpm range!

He/she has already received a number of gifts from his/her loving Aunties! What a lucky baby!
A penguin onesie and booty socks from Auntie Kaye and Adrienne, "I love my Auntie" bibs and a baby penguin and daddy figurine from Auntie Christina, and another onesie from Auntie Elizabeth and Grandma Suzy!

Mommy is growing bigger and bigger! I've already gained 15 pounds... YIKES! I hope that's not too much for 17 weeks...

Anyway I'm super excited to celebrate my friend Krista's baby shower this weekend. She's having a baby boy named Sullivan in late September! I made a super cute watermelon stroller fruit basket! It was pretty easy to make after watching this youtube link.

Krista and Darren Driggers (with baby Sullivan bump)

Watermelon stroller fruit basket!

Week 12: My clothes don't fit!

It was a great weekend celebrating Lori Wall and Josh Sparkman's wedding! Congrats to the happy couple. The Wall's are some of my longtime friends from Summerville. I also got to catch up with Holly Bounds Jackson, my USC J-School and SCBA intern friend... Check out our HUGE breakfast from Page's Okra Grill in Mt. Pleasant! Cheese grits, eggs, bacon, biscuits, home fries and french toast! It was all so scrumptious, but off the record, we couldn't finish it all.

I've now finished my 12th week of pregnancy! Oh yeah baby! The past two weeks have been better -- I'm not as tired, not as nauseas, and do not have as many headaches!

So my belly is popping out more. My clothes don't fit so this weekend I went shopping for maternity clothes for the first time! It was a different experience, but luckily my pregnant friend Amy was there for advice. I think I ended up with some pretty cute stuff from the Motherhood store.

The neatest little thing which I recommend to all pregnant women is what they call "The Tummy Sleeve." It's a little soft tube like item that goes around the belly. Anyway, you can wear your own pants/shorts unbuttoned and the tummy sleeve hides all the bumps.

Stay tuned... William and I go back to the doctor this week and will have an update on little Wikki! Can't wait! :)