25 Weeks Pregnant!

I'm 25 weeks pregnant!!! I can't believe how quickly it's going by now!

Baby girl is as big as a.....

That's a lot to be carrying around in my body. And it is definitely beginning to notice it now more than ever. Since I've been off work pelvic pain is way more manageable because I can pace myself and rest when I need to at home. In addition to pelvic pain I'm staring to get more shoulder pain I'm guessing from my outrageously large boobs and lower back pain to boot. I'm so happy that I am lucky enough to have a supportive caring husband who allows me to stay home and take it easy when I need to.

Another new symptom this week is swollen feet! It's not happening every day but when it does my feet look like they belong on another person. It's pretty weird. Previously being a smoker makes me no novice when it comes to circulation issues. Before quitting I would often have ice cold feet and "death hands" as we used to refer to the corpse like grip that would shock the people closest to me and then sometimes I'd have the opposite swollen hot feet. Weird and generally uncomfortable feelings that I've been happy to be rid of.

Besides my little aches and pains I've been a generally happy pregnant lady. When I'm awake that is. I've been sleeping 10-12 hours a night and still waking up exhausted. I can tell little one isn't short of energy though she's more active than ever lately kicking, punching and rolling around. I don't think her movements will ever get old I still get giddy about them every time.

This week my goal is to start reading the Bradley Method for natural childbirth. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I do plan on going  all natural. I see a midwife instead of an OB and I plan to use the natural birthing suite that's available at St John's hospital. I want absolutely no medical intervention unless completely necessary and I am trying my hardest to prepare for this. I also plan to breastfeed and cloth diaper the baby right from birth. Most of my diet consists of really "clean" foods. I buy as much as I can organic and ingest/use chemical free products and I really want to do the same for my daughter. I by no means judge other parents/people for what they choose to do this is just something that I am personally passionate about. It also ends up being much cheaper for us. If all works out as planned we will spend between $1500 and $2000 less than families who use disposables on diapers. Plus cloth diapers are really stinking cute.

Big development with baby girl this week is eyelashes. They're all grown in and she's going to open those little eyelids soon. She's still developing her lungs and practicing inhaling and exhaling.

Still no stretch marks showing up, but we shall see. I'm getting itchier and itchier everyday. I've gained a total of 16lbs so far in this pregnancy and still going! I made it to the gym twice last week but I'm going to try to 3 times this week.

The belly is starting to feel so big!!! I've had a few people tell me I don't look that big for how far along I am but I feel ginormous. It feels like the tummy is a separate thing that's just stuck on there it's weird. The shape of my belly changes a lot too. Its been looking round on the bottom and top but kind of flat in the middle, I don't know if it's how she's laying now or what but it's definitely different...

<3

My Pregnancy Fitness Routine

During my pregnancy I try to get in a walk with the dog at least once a week. While I was working I got my cardio in there. Now that I'm done with work I'm going to be hitting the gym 3 times a week where I use the Elliptical machine for about 30 minutes keeping my heart rate between 130 & 145 bpm. And finish off with resistance machines for my arms.


Before bed most nights I try to get some exercises in, here is what I do.



First off I stretch.


Then I move on to doing standing pelvic exercises....
I stand with my feet about a foot apart and stick my booty out then contract my abdominal muscles and pull my pelvis forward. I repeat this 100 times.

Next I do about 30 regular squats.

I move to the floor and start by doing the "butterfly stretch"

I bounce my knees up and down about 50 times.

Next I do an abdominal exercise, you start of sitting with your legs straight in front of you and your arms extended out toward your toes. Keeping your back straight bend your need to begin scooting your bum forward shifting between the left and right leg you take 5 paces forward and five back. It strengthens the back and abdominal muscles.

After that I do a reverse table top pose

 I dip down and up 10 times then on the 10th time I hold myself up in this position for a 10 count. I repeat this 3 times.

Next I flip my body over and do 3 different poses in a row. The first do I do about 10 times holding each one for a 10 count. Then end with child's pose. 

I lift back up and do this exercise extending opposite legs and arms. I hold the position for a 10 count and do each side 5 times.

Next I get up to do prenatal squats.

These are supposed to help strengthen your legs and pelvic area for labor. I do 5 of these holding the squatting position for a 15 count each time.


To finish up I do 20-30 wall pushups and then end with some stretches and kegel exercises.


And that's it! Sometimes I do more or less reps depending on how my body is reacting to the positions. I am by no means telling other people to do this workout. I think it's important to consult your Dr about exercising before starting a new routine.

24 weeks pregnant

This week I'm 24 weeks pregnant! Baby girl is as big as a....

I had a "bonus" ultrasound on Wednesday. Her estimated weight was 1lb 5oz and everything looked perfect and healthy. Yay! My sister came with me because Nick had to work. I'm really excited she got to see her niece. Again the ultrasound tech pretty much sucked but we did get a look at her adorable face.

She must have been feeling pretty spunky that day. She kicked the fetal Doppler a ton which was really cute, she's definitely got a personality already! She tends not to like things in her space when the cats/dog lay on my tummy even a little bit she kicks at them.

This week she's starting to develop capillaries which make her skin look more pink and less translucent and her lungs are beginning to become more functional. In the next few weeks she'll practice breathing through her nostrils.

It seems like she's becoming more aware of the sounds around her. She always reacts to Nick's voice when she hears him she starts moving around it super cute.

I've been having way more cravings lately! This week cheese was a big craving as well as fruit and chocolate. Watermelon has been a big hit with me this summer and I've never been a big fan of it before.

Symptoms haven't been too bad this week. I've been working through the pelvic pain and I have a chiropractic appointment this upcoming week. My feet have been getting swollen and I've been really tired lately, but nothing too inconvenient.

Now that I'm not working I'm going to make an effort to make it to the gym 3 times a week. I went today and it was great getting my sweat on. As far as my nightly "workout" routine goes I've only done it a few times this week because I've just been so exhausted. But here is what I generally do.....

My Pregnancy Fitness Routine


No signs of stretch marks yet! My total pregnancy weight gain so far is 13.4 lbs. One of the hardest things about this week has been accepting the fact that I am going to gain quite a bit of weight. I haven't felt very good about myself lately. Don't get me wrong I love my belly and I'm happy to be the vessel for my daughter to grow in. But it is hard. Every day I notice things getting bigger all over. I'm staying active and eating right most of the time. I feel like I'm doing good but I'm starting to figure out the gain is inevitable. You have to gain some weight to have a healthy pregnancy. Every woman and pregnancy is different and if I am one of those pregnant women who end up with the swollen bloated everything and the big puffy round face I need to just be okay with it. It's rough for me, but I'm getting there.

<3

23 weeks pregnant.

I'm 23 weeks pregnant! There's not that much time left before little one gets here! And she's getting big and strong in there! She's now as big as a...

And my uterus is now as big as a soccer ball! Woah!

This week my biggest symptoms have not been very fun. I started having leg cramps in the night :( Thankfully I'm so used to having them normally that I can usually react quickly and prevent them but right now the muscles in my calves are soo tight it's uncomfortable pretty much all of the time. Symptom number two is extreme pelvic and hip pain! I've always had issues with my hips when I'm really active so that doesn't surprise me it's the pelvic pain that's really freaking me out. I don't know if it's normal to experience it this intensely this early but thankfully I have a Drs appointment this upcoming Wednesday where I can ask her about it and possibly set up an appointment with a chiropractor.

This week we got our crib set! I am so excited! I absolutely love this set. It's just pretty without being overly girly. The last thing I want is for my baby girl to be bombarded with a ton of pink frilly shit all over the place every day of her life and I think I've been successful in avoiding just that.

I'm still doing my exercises most nights of the week. I've also been reading "Natural Childbirth for Dummies" and I've incorporated some new moves that are supposed to help prepare me for labor. I think I'm going to post my workout routine on the next blog for any other interested preggos. No signs of stretch marks yet and I'm still using my Angel Baby Earth Mama Natural Stretch oil which I've been using every night since I was about 6 weeks pregnant. I'm now up to 11.7 lbs in total weight gain. I was retaining a lot of water up until today but now I seem to be pretty much back to normal.

Here are my belly shots this week. The first 2 are what I get when I ask my husband to stop what he's doing and take belly shots of me. The next 2 are my mirror shots and now you know why most the time I just do mirror shots ;)

<3

22 weeks pregnant

I totally missed 21 weeks pregnant... My bad.

But I am now 22 weeks and 1 day pregnant today and baby is as big as a...

And she definitely feels that big! I feel all of her movements now and when she does a big flip in there it can't be ignored. She's kicks so strong sometimes it amazes me. She's also responding to outside stimulus. If I poke her with my finger and leave it there for a minute she'll kick me right back. I can literally do this for an hour and not be bored. She usually gets bored after a while though.

The big reason I didn't blog last weekend was because I was feeling horrible. I worked all day on my feet Saturday. The employee labor system at my work said that we needed 2 people in the store for 3.5 hours that I was there all alone with no help. I didn't have time to eat or sit or take a breather. It was so busy and no one could come in to help out. By the time that I got home my feet were swollen my legs were aching and I just felt like I had been hit by a bus. I had lots of pressure and some random pain in my lower abdominal area. The next morning I felt better, we spent the day at my in-law's house playing in the pool with the kids around 3pm I started getting rhythmic sharp pain right where I think my cervix would  be located and after we left it just got worse some of the pain was so sharp I had to verbalize it. Needless to say I was a little freaked out so I called the on call doctor and he sent me to the birthing center at St John. They checked me and baby out and everything was fine. The only thing that they could tell me was that my body was saying to take it easy and that it was probably happening because I was doing to much and was to stressed out.

I am sooo happy it wasn't anything serious. But it was a wake up call to me that I have been pushing myself to hard and that I needed to change something immediately. So.... After 3 more days of work I put in my 2 weeks notice. After getting off the phone with my boss who was not very understanding I felt an instant sense of relief. I am so happy to be done with that place. The pay was crappy for what I had to put up with there. And standing all day with no break trying to fit in time to pee, a sip of water and a bite of food when I can is not healthy for a growing baby.

Now that I'm officially a "house wife" again you can look forward to more recipes and some artwork being posted on here. I'm going to try to launch my own Etsy.com site to sell my watercolor paintings and prints by the time that school starts at the end of August. And my wonderful husband can now look  forward to a clean house and a home cooked meal every night again. Needless to say I am really happy about this.

After a week or two of slacking I've picked back up on my pregnancy workout before bed. It has been really nice I feel so much better when I do it.

Still no sign of stretch marks (keeping my fingers crossed) and my weight gain so far is 11lbs total. I've been really hungry and eating whatever I can get my hands on. This week I'm starting to refocus on my nutrition to try to keep my weight gain to minimum and make sure that the baby is getting everything that she needs.

Also as of last night I am officially sick. I've got some kind of head cold and I'm rather miserable today. 

Sorry for looking like a hobo but I'm sick and didn't want to miss another week of belly pics!


<3