Baby #2: Weeks 16 & 17

Week 16:

Can I just say I am over extreme thunderstorms?  Thankfully our immediate area did not experience any tornadoes or major damage, but we lost power Wednesday night, which came back after 4 hours, and then lost power again on Thursday night.  It was around 9 pm and it wasn't even storming at the time when a transformer right in front of our house basically exploded.  It was loud, super bright, and pretty scary.  I was really stressed Wednesday night about losing all the groceries I had just purchased, but thankfully the power wasn't out that long.  On Thursday I was more relaxed.  We had cooked some strip steaks for dinner, so I knew they weren't going to waste, and enjoyed the labor intensive Mongolian Beef leftovers for lunch.  And I felt hopeful things would come back on quickly like the night before, especially since PECO was saying our estimated time was 11 pm.  Well we woke up in the morning with no power, threw out a few things in the fridge, and packed everything else up to be taken to my inlaws'.

We got our power back around lunch time. Of course, it really wasn't that big of a deal.  I know people experienced much worse and my heart aches for them, but it was still inconvenient and I'm hoping we get a break from any extreme weather for the foreseeable future!

I was supposed to go to the gym Friday morning, but with the power being out I knew Dave would need my help dealing with the fridge situation and I was also awake from 2:30 until 3 something, which is not ideal when your alarm is going off at 5 am.  I've honestly been so exhausted all week so the extra hour of sleep was worth it.  I went Saturday morning instead and hit some back squats (topped out at 135#) and a 20 minute workout of rowing, squats, and snatches.  I kept things pretty low key in general because I didn't want to start the weekend feeling worn down.

Saturday afternoon I took V to Lancaster for Dave's cousin's wife's baby shower.  She was the belle of the ball at the party: saying hi to everyone, twirling around in her adorable dress, playing with the trucks and shovels, and making friends with the boys who were years older than her.

The rest of the weekend a mix of relaxing and being productive around the house.  We did some yard work, some cleaning and organizing inside, and finally started making a plan for the stuff in the office that needs to go.

On Monday I had my 16 week appointment.  I got to hear baby girl's heartbeat which was approximately 150 bpm.  They also said I'm measuring right on track!  We went over a 48 hr food log I had completed and she said, even with some daily candy at work, I'm doing just fine.  Completing a food log was definitely something I did not do with my OB practice, they never really talked about my diet aside from telling me I should probably eat a little less ice cream (which was true).  Quite honestly, after my 8 and 12 week appointments, my OB visits all seemed rushed and sort of  impersonal.  They would come in, look at a few things, ask me if I had any questions, and then send me on my way 15 minutes later.  This is one of the biggest differences with Lifecycle WomanCare.

LWC’s model of care of LWC is founded on our firm belief that the highest quality of care and the best health outcomes are achieved only when healthcare is provided with input, trust, mutual respect, and continued partnership between clients and providers. We have spent the last 36 years dedicated to advancing this model of healthcare—the midwifery model of care—for our clients and, indeed, for all women.

Experience has shown us that when women can develop this level of trusted partnerships with their providers, they are empowered and educated to be more in control of their health and healthcare decisions, and that these positive outcomes are repeated throughout every stage of women’s lives.

Our appointments are designed to foster those relationships. LWC provides a full 30 minutes or more for appointments, offering individualized attention and support for each client and her unique needs.

I've definitely noticed the difference and just feel so comfortable there.  When I had Vienna, I feel like I had the birth I was hoping for in spite of the OB and hospital policies.  I'm really looking forward to birthing with a team who fully supports my birth plan and goals!

Week 17:

I  hit the gym at 6 am on Wednesday!  Started with some L-sit overhead presses, 10 rounds of 5 reps with 20# dumbbells.  I really wished I was doing handstand push ups, but oh well!  The WOD was three 5 minute rounds of dubs, overhead squats, and burpee box jump overs.  I subbed 14 cals on the bike for the 100 dubs, did the OH squats at #55/65/75 (instead of #65/85/95), and did squat thruster box step overs.  It felt challenging, but good.  I wanted to go a little heavier on the OH squats, but my left shoulder was bothering me a little bit.  I'm going to ask the chiro to take a look at it and see what I can do with some lacrosse ball massage/torture.

I went again at 6 am on Friday.  The workout was 40 push ups (which I did on my knees), 20 pull ups, and then 10 rounds of 3 power cleans, 3 front squats, and 3 jerks.  The Rx weight was 80 lbs, which I probably could've done, but my shoulder was still bothering me so I went with 65.  I finished in 17:59.  Yay for going twice in one week!  I hate getting up at 5 something, but I really like having a regular schedule and with the heat, I think mornings are my best bet.

Saturday was a fun day!  We went to the Wayne Music Festival for a bit and Vienna thought she was the star of the show.  We stayed for about 2 hours and then headed over to Dave's cousin's graduation party where she also got doted on by everyone.

Dr. Margaret!

On Sunday my mom came over to get her Vienna fix and Michelle and Alex stopped by too.  Otherwise we spent most of the weekend emptying out the office.  We put together a few boxes of donations, threw out a ton of paperwork and other crap, and moved the rest of the stuff and some furniture up to the spare bedroom.  We still need to get the big leather couch out of there.  It's destined for the burn pit at Midgley Lane!  And we need to take the giant book shelves down.  It felt good to really make some progress in that space though.  I'll share some before pictures when the afters can justify how embarrassing the space looked to start lol.

We closed out week 17 with a Phillies game!  Vienna was cheering and clapping and making friends with every employee at Citizens Bank Park.  She's at such a fun age, she's always so happy (as long as she can run wild and free)!

Look at those curls -->

I can't believe I'm almost half way!

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.