My Pregnancy: Week 17

First of all, I just want to thank everyone for all the really nice sentiments regarding my last post!  I hesitated to write about the topic, because I didn't want it to sound like I'm fishing for compliments, but it's a definite factor in how I'm feeling right now and I always try to keep the blog honest.  I really appreciate everyone who reached out <3

Now let's check out the bump!

I feel like I "popped" this week and I finally made the leap to start dressing to show off the bump instead of just hiding it with big flowy shirts.  I wasn't fooling anybody haha!

In other news, we started talking about baby names.  I've been thinking about girl names for a while since I "have more pull" for our baby girl (since if we were having a boy we were locked in with David Richard #5, try again next time).  I want something unique.  I don't want 3 other people in her class having the same name.  If it's in the top 50 on Nameberry, it's gone. But at the same time I don't want anything too different, nothing my child has to spell or explain to every single teacher.  Been there done that, anybody who went to school with me knew my catch phrase spelled with a "w" pronounced like a "v".

I recently revealed my long list of names to Dave and at first... he was not impressed.  But he gave it a few days thought and I threw in a few more choices, so now we have a few names in the running.  We have decided to keep the name a secret until she is born.  I've heard a lot of feedback from friends who received rude comments when they told their name to people ahead of time, so they advised us to keep it to ourselves.  And I don't have many secrets to keep these days, so I think it will be fun!

I had somehow avoided buying anything brand new for baby girl, but I finally got sucked into a Carter's sale!  A friend posted it on FB and I was like, I really don't need to be shopping but I couldn't resist.  I got this set for $6.60, originally priced $22 (who pays that?) and I got it in the 12M size since I figure we'll probably have too much when she's born anyway.

I originally thought the shirt said "wild like Daddy" but it
actually says "wild about Daddy."  Cute but just not as good lol.

And in the process of commenting on said FB post, my good friend Heather's sister-in-law offered me a bunch of totes full of baby clothes all the way to 2T!  I also recently received 2 boxes of baby clothes from Shayna's sister.  And on top of that, a friend from college, that I haven't seen in over 10 years, reached out and sent me a nursing bra and some other odds and ends.  Other friends have cleaned out their basements and sent me home with some clutch items too, and Baby Midgley has already received tons of cute new clothes.  The generosity has been unreal!

Regarding the gym, I've officially dropped burpees and I'm doing squat thrusts instead to keep my belly off the ground.  I also think running and jumping may be done, it just feels uncomfortable in my uterus during and after.  My friend suggested a support belt, but I'm not sure if it will eliminate the issue or if I should just rein it in.  It's not like I'll be super upset about not running haha.  I also hit a bunch of golf balls on Sunday and now I'm super sore in my right hip flexor and abs!  I went in with really low expectations but I was actually crushing the ball.

And finally, POISON IVY SUCKS.  Aside from the fact that I avoided getting a ton of it on my face (thank the sweet Lord above), this is definitely the worst bout of poison ivy I've ever had.  I'm guessing it's because my immune system is busy doing other things, but it is horrible.  I am going crazy!

My Pregnancy: Week 16

Well I've officially made it... I weigh more than I've ever weighed in my entire life.  I've gained 15 lbs so far, so I feel like I'm probably on track for a 40-50 lbs weight gain.  Eeeeep.  My self confidence is definitely wavering a bit.  Sometimes I'm totally fine with my body, but then other times I'm staring at myself in the mirror thinking WTF is happening.  I know it's all for a reason (a really freakin' awesome reason!) and that it's only temporary, but it's still really hard to accept.  I tried on a few of my summer dresses that I thought would still work and most of them didn't.  The boob sections were too small, the dresses were too strappy for my new grandma bras, or they just weren't flattering.  It was slightly depressing.  I just felt so fat... but then other times I'm like look at this bump! and the changes are exciting.  I think when my bump is more prominent, I'll feel better.  In the meantime, maybe a little retail therapy in Target's maternity section will do the trick ;)

I kept saying I would get my diet under control when the second trimester started, but trying to come up with a meal plan and then actually cooking was not happening.  I just had absolutely no desire and even now, all of my favorite healthy meals sound completely gross.  But this week may be the turning point!  I made a simple meal plan that involved Dave doing most of the cooking on the grill and hit the grocery store.  I traded my typical breakfast of waffles for yogurt, I grabbed carrots and hummus for a snack at work, and I loaded up on fruit.  Cooked veggies are still kind of iffy, but I'm doing what I can.  I enjoyed my favorite salad (spring mix, goat cheese, strawberries, craisins, pistachios, and cucumbers with a blush wine vinaigrette) and I made a giant bowl of veggie packed pasta salad.  I'm still enjoying my desserts because pregnant!  But I'm definitely doing better than I was.

I also made this fruit pizza.  Let's just ignore the sugar cookie and cream cheese frosting and pretend it's healthy, ok?

I made it to the gym 3x this week, which may have been the first time since before the super bowl, so GO ME!  I think I might be done running.  I ran 100m 6 times on Friday during the WOD and by the end of the workout something just felt wrong.  I may give it one more chance, but if it doesn't feel right, even a little bit, that's it!

In front of everyone since I was only doing 100m (instead of 200).

I had my 16 week OB appointment, which was pretty uneventful.  I heard her heartbeat which was 146 and deemed great.  The doctor told me I should start feeling the baby move in the next few weeks, so I'm really looking forward to that!  I'm getting blood drawn today for what I believe is the final step in my genetic testing.  I didn't even realize this test was a thing, but they're sending me to a LapCorp for the msAFP test.  I'm not really sure if this is standard or part of some additional testing I'm getting because of my family history.  Either way, I'm going and then I'm grabbing Chipotle as my reward.

Non pregnancy related, I did a little gardening this weekend and wanted to share the before and afters.  A lot of the people in our neighborhood use landscapers or seem to always be outside doing yard work, so I felt like we needed to step up our curb appeal a little bit.  I want to plant a bunch of things here as the summer goes on and I think I'll probably add mulch once I'm finished putting everything in.  I really have zero experience gardening so I was sort of making it up as I went along, but I think the final result looks pretty good.

I paid the price though, because somehow I ended up with really bad poison ivy.  I thought it was just all over my forearms, but two days later it has finally fully developed and it's on my belly, a little on my legs, and a small patch on my nose.  Wonderful.  I remember there being some kind of vine that I pulled up, but I never even considered it could be poison ivy in the middle of this dirt pit. Ugh!  I might be making Dave do the rest of the planting here... I'll obviously be "too pregnant" aka I do not intend on getting poison ivy more than once this year/pregnancy.

My Pregnancy: Week 15

15 weeks and I feel like I'm bumpin'!

I think in another month or so it will be something I cannot hide with a flowy shirt.

I officially bought new bras this week!  Huzzah!  It was honestly pretty depressing buying giant super full coverage bras, but my mom kept reminding me that this is just temporary.  It's nice to have some that actually fit now and I got them pretty cheap at Vanity Fair.

My mom and I also popped over to the Care & Share and thrifted some super cute baby clothes for $1 a piece.  Most of the items looked brand new.  I found a maternity shirt and a pair of work pants too.

I'm starting to plan the theme for the nursery and have been discovering that basically every company that makes baby crap thinks all baby girls should only like the color pink (see pic of baby clothes above).  Come on!  I'm obviously doing a purple nursery.  I fell in love with these sheets on Etsy but there's no way in hell I'm paying $80 for a piece of fabric that my kid will probably just ruin.  I'm going to use the pattern and the pops of green as inspiration.

Here's some more of my Etsy inspiration.

I ordered these four 12x12" prints on Amazon for $25, so that's a start.

This week we officially signed up for a birth class!  Much to Dave's dismay, I have decided that I want to shoot for a drug free birth so I wanted to do something more thorough than the classes offered by the hospital.  I started looking at Bradley Method classes but the availability wasn't great.  I was pretty disappointed, but then my coworker told me I should look into Hypnobabies, which was actually created by a previous Bradley instructor so it covers all the same material about pregnancy, birth, and beyond plus the whole hypnosis thing.  The name sounds super woo-woo and I wasn't really sure at first, but I did some more reading and it piqued my interested.  From the website:

In the past, the word “hypnosis” conjured up images of stage hypnotists re-creating Elvis, or people clucking like chickens. Now it is common for hypnosis to be used therapeutically in the practice of medicine, in creating anesthesia for surgeries and dental work, and for personal therapy sessions. 

When learning how to use hypnosis for childbirth, you are taught how the vertical and horizontal uterine muscles work efficiently together when the body is deeply relaxed. The depth of relaxation needed to facilitate an easier, more comfortable birthing can easily be achieved with hypnosis. Women learn these skills in classes, and practice them at home every day until the baby arrives.

By learning and practicing Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis, hypno-mothers are able to enter into self-hypnosis instantly, and create their own natural anesthesia and direct it to wherever they need it. She has total control over her body, and is an active participant in her birth process. She is aware of everything around her, and as birth progresses, she naturally goes deeper inside herself, trusting in her body’s innate ability to give birth with ease and comfort.

Dave is super skeptical but he supports his crazy wife ;)  I'm sure I'll post more on the class when it starts in May!

My Pregnancy: Week 14

I finally took my first bump pics!

There's definitely something there, but I'm still trying to wear mostly flowy tops because I feel like it just looks like I have beer gut.

But I did finally embrace maternity pants.  I tried on a pair of maternity leggings that a friend gave me and it was life changing!  After that I finally washed all the pants I got off a facebook yard sale group and a pair of pants I splurged on when Gap was having a 35% off sale finally arrived in the mail.  So much more comfortable!  I really need to buy new bras soon, my boobs are huge.

Our biggest thing this week was the gender reveal.  They called me with the genetic testing results last Monday and asked if I wanted to know the gender and I asked them to mail us the results.  When I hung up, I immediately regretted it.  I wanted to KNOW!  The results came on Wednesday and it took all the self control I had not to rip open the envelope.  I took it to Wegmans and ordered our cake.

On Sunday we had our immediately family over for dinner and then it was time to slice!

I still can't believe basically ALL of my friends guessed that it was a girl.  Apparently I had some kind of vibe going on haha.  I'm so excited, to be honest I really wanted a little lady!  We decided the cake looked like it had been decorated by a child, but on the bright side it was delicious.

Other updates for the week:

Sleep & Energy

I'm waking up multiple times every night but usually can get back to sleep pretty easily.  I typically get up to pee at least once.  I thought I was feeling more energy starting the second trimester, but I keep falling asleep on the couch every night and I'm still feeling pretty beat after lunch.  Hopefully an energy surge is still to come.

Food

I'm still the queen of takeout... I keep trying to meal plan and everything just sounds awful.  I'm also finding that I may need to start eating less than I'm used to, but more often.  I've been feeling uncomfortably full after eating a normal sized meal, so I think I'm already losing some space down there.  But I'm also super hungry, so I think I need to switch to more of a grazing style of eating throughout the day.  I WANT ALL THE AHI TUNA :(

Workouts

I've been pretty inconsistent in the gym for the past few weeks, between the snow storm, Butler going downhill, and now a super busy week at work.  Oh well.  I need to get back to a set schedule (story of my life...) because any time I get there I feel like a rockstar just for participating.  I attempted some handstand push ups last Friday and they felt super weird in my abs, so those were the first thing to go.  I was also very aware of my belly during my burpees, so I may be switching to squat thrusts sooner than later.  Otherwise everything still feels good!

Shower & Registry

My shower has officially been booked and my registry is pretty complete as well.  I didn't want my shower to be a surprise because I did not want to show up to it all sweaty and frumpy, which is how I anticipate spending most of my summer lol.  I'm also super hard to surprise since I'm such a planner so getting me for my bridal shower was enough!  It's going to be mid June, which is really early, but that's what I wanted, so I'm not huge and struggling trying to set everything up and do lots of laundry.  I want to have the nursery all ready to go well ahead of time, so I can spend the end of my pregnancy relaxing, cleaning, and possibly making a few freezer meals.

Not sure if I'll update every week, but I plan on checking in once in a while.  Have a great weekend!