My Pregnancy: Week 35

Happy Birthday to me!  I'm 31 today and I'm pretty sure this year is going to be one I'll never forget.

Still got my pull ups!

Friday's WOD was a nice little chipper: 30 hand release push ups (incline PUs on the barbell for me), 20 squat cleans (95# Rx - I did 55), 30 pull ups, 20 jerks, 30 toes to bar, 20 clean and jerks, 25 minute cap.  I figured 30 pull ups in a row was too many, so I did 15 and then another 15 instead of the toes to bar.  I warmed up 65# on the barbell, but it felt kind of heavy, so I went with 55.  It ended up feeling pretty easy and I was able to cycle a lot of the movements.  The pull ups were the hardest part of the workout, I'm honestly not really sure how I'm still getting up there lol, but they actually hurt my hands more than anything.  My fingers have been aching, apparently carpal tunnel syndrome is common in pregnancy, so gripping the bar is more difficult in general.  I finished in 19:30.

Friday night we had a nice little date night out at Bonefish Grill.  We had a $50 gift card and a free entree, so it was very economical.  We split their famous bang bang shrimp appetizer, each got yummy seafood entrees (twin lobster tails for me!), and Dave convinced me to share the coconut pie for dessert.  Even with some drinks for Dave our bill came out to $18!

On Saturday Dave got up and took Carmela for a nice long walk and let me sleep in.  He's been so awesome with that on the weekends and apparently I really needed it, because I woke up at 10:15 after 10+ hours of sleep.  In the afternoon I attended a baby shower for Laura, a friend from the gym who is due 2 weeks after me.  It was great to celebrate her and get lots of post birth advice from the other mamas there.

Sunday we had our fantasy draft, so I stuffed my face with pizza and faked more than a few people out with my delicious rootbeer.

I'm the only girl in my fantasy league and everything felt like business as usual for the afternoon, like I was just one of the guys... until I rolled my ankle taking a step down out of the house and I went down!  Thankfully I fell straight to my butt.  My friends gathered around me in a panic... worried about the 35 week pregnant lady that just bit it!  I was a little worked up, my ankle hurt and I had tears in my eyes, but I insisted I was fine and was up and walking around with no issues except for a my ankle feeling pretty sore.  I never felt anything in my belly, no cramping or weird sensations, and my ankle felt fine the next day, but all I could think of was my OB telling me to avoid falling risks.  Apparently I can CrossFit, but taking one step down is too much!  Thankfully my ankle felt totally fine when I woke up the next morning.

I switched up my gym schedule this week and hit the gym on Tuesday morning.  The strength portion was build to a heavy single strict press and push press (aka strict press + dip with your legs).  I got to 85# on my strict press, which is pretty close to my max, so I was impressed with myself.  I did 105# for my push press and it was pretty easy.  The WOD was a bunch of burpee box jumps and double unders, so I decided to do Monday's workout.

I went with 65# and the first few rounds were super easy.  But then it got hard!  The squats were definitely the hardest part for me and I just got winded in general.  I made it through the 10 rounds and then the 11th (4 reps for each) and 12th (5 reps) and then made it through 6 cleans, 6 squats, and 3 jerks to finish.  I was totally spent.  My pelvis felt kind of sore for the rest of the day, so I'm thinking it may be time to back off of weighted squats.

Tuesday night Dave took me out for a fancy birthday dinner at the Kimberton Inn, which is where we had our rehearsal dinner.  The meal was absolutely delicious and the service was outstanding as well.  I started with the lobster bisque and Dave got the seared sirloin scalloppine.  Both were very rich and melted in your mouth.  For our entrees Dave got the boneless duck breast and duck leg confit, the breast was so tender and moist, and I went with the bourbon-molasses glazed organic king salmon fillet, which was really unique and cooked perfectly.  Dave said it's the first salmon he's actually liked haha!  For dessert we split the double chocolate torte.  It was a wonderful birthday treat.

On Wednesday we did a maternity shoot in Valley Forge with our friend Megan!  I was a little nervous beforehand since I'm feeling pretty large these days.  I was worried I was going to get the pics back and hate all of them because of my big fat face lol.  But the shoot was great!  It was a little awkward at first, but over the hour both Dave and I got more comfortable and she got some gorgeous shots.  I'm going to post a bunch of them later, but here's a teaser :)

Other random week 35 stuff:

• I'm finally starting to feel pretty uncomfortable.  My pelvis is aching (yes baby I feel your head), it's really hard to roll over and get out of bed, and forget bending over.  I guess I can't be too sad that I'm finally struggling at 35 weeks.
• My friend Jes got me this a few weeks ago and I totally forgot to post it, but I had to share!

•  The dog thinks my pillow fort is for her.  She's always trying to steal my snoogle!

Who me?

Less than a month left... except I'll probably go a week over my due date lol.  We shall see! 

 

My Pregnancy: Week 34

I seriously considered skipping CF on Friday in lieu of some extra sleep, but I packed my bag and set my alarm anyway.  I woke up "in the middle of the night" and got up to pee, and then when I checked the time it was 5 minutes before my alarm.  I was super annoyed, but I was up and going!  The workout was grueling, it was a hero WOD called Kalsu: 100 thrusters with 5 burpees every minute on the minute (30 min cap).  The last time I did thrusters they didn't feel great for my left knee or wrist, so I was thinking I would just go with an empty barbell (35#) or some dumbbells, but I figured I'd warm up and see how 55# felt.  When 55# felt totally fine, I decided to go with it knowing I could always pull the plates off midway if I needed to.  This workout had me winded.  I would finish my 5 squat thrusts around 20 seconds in, take a few seconds to breath, then rep out 3-5 thrusters quickly, and then have 15-20 seconds to sit my ass on a box and rest.  You had to do the burpees no matter what, but I took 2 separate minutes where I didn't do any thrusters to try and catch my breath.  100 is A LOT, so it was definitely a mental workout.  You get to 30 and go shit, there's so many left.  Then you get halfway and go shit, there's so many left.  I took my second break at 70 and thought shit, there's so many left!  80 was where I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I was pushing myself to do 5 reps per round and knew I only had 4 sets of burpees left.  I finished in 25:41 and it was glorious.  I was really proud of myself.

On Saturday we headed down to the city for a long day of good vibes and framily fun.  We ate lots of delicious food, dipped our toes in a baby pool, and tried our best to pretend we were at the real Folk Fest.  It was a wonderful time and I somehow managed to stay awake until 3:30 in the morning!

On Monday we finally had our hospital tour.  The maternity ward at Paoli Hospital was renovated a few years ago and it is really nice.  I had done my research ahead of time, so most of what the tour guide told us, I already knew, but it was really nice to see the space so I can envision myself birthing there.

Monday night was awful.  I had a little bit of heartburn earlier in the day, but it really reared it's ugly head overnight.  I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and then couldn't lay back down afterwards.  I could feel the acid in my throat and thought I was definitely going to throw up, but the feeling would go away as soon as I was upright.  I piled up all my pillows and tried to get comfy half sitting up.  I managed to fall back asleep at some point, but it was a rough night.  I couldn't really pinpoint what caused it, but it may have been the excessive amount of cheese I consumed.

Tuesday I had my 34 week OB appointment and it was easy breezy.  My belly is measuring on time, my blood pressure was good, and my OB wasn't concerned about my giant swollen ankles.  I asked her about any restrictions regarding working out till the end and she said as long as it feels good and I avoid any risk of falling.

Today I got up to workout and did not love it.  I was feeling really sluggish during the warm up and the gym was really stuffy.  It was another 20 rep squat day, but since it didn't feel great last week I broke it up into 2 sets of 10.  I did 90 lbs and it was challenging, but breaking it up was a good choice.  The WOD was 3 rounds of 5 bear complex (power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push press), 10 bar facing burpees, 20 wall balls, and 5 bar facing burpees.  I used 55# for the bear complex movement (Rx was 75) and they felt good.  The wall balls felt fine as well but 20 was a lot at once, so I was breaking them up into 3 sets. The burpees (squat thrusts with a step over the bar) sucked and at one point I stood up quickly and was seeing stars.  I used to see stars a lot when I was tumbling, I'd always get them when I would first warm up my back handspring, so it wasn't super alarming to me, but it definitely warranted a long break.  I didn't feel dizzy or anything so when they went away, I continued and just really took my sweet time through the workout with lots of rest.  I finished in 17:53, well after most of the class, and was so overheated that I took my shirt off and let my big ol' belly hang out for everyone to see lol.

I also received this adorable package in the mail today "just because" from my friend Sarah all the way in Minnesota.  We are spoiled!  I cannot wait to be holding a little baby in my arms wearing one of these gorgeous headbands :)

1 month to go!

My Pregnancy: Week 33

Friday's WOD was a long mix of many different movements including wall balls, pull ups, rowing, burpees, handstand push ups, and lunges.  I'm happy to report, I still have my pull ups!  I subbed incline push ups (on a racked barbell) for the HSPUs and it seemed like they were going to be really easy, but apparently I haven't been using those muscles much lately because I ended up being really sore through my chest.

Friday night we went out in Phoenixville for both a little going away party for Shayna and Kyle and to celebrate our friend Jaclyn's birthday.  I failed to snap any pics, but it was a really fun night at a new brewery called Root Down.  I honestly felt like a champion hanging out at the bar after 11, 8 months pregnant and having gotten up for the gym at 5 am.  Jaclyn was fawning over my belly and told me I was a goddess.  It was just what I needed :)

Saturday Dave let me sleep in while he took the dog for a nice long walk.  When I woke up we headed to Duck Donuts!  They are so tasty.

The rest of my day was consumed by cooking!  I spent 5 hours in the kitchen prepping 4 different recipes for the freezer.  I made Leftover Roast Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables, this Paleo Shepherd's Pie (with an added layer of cauliflower mash), Cheesy Chicken Tuscan Pasta (plus some zucchini, spinach, and mozzarella), and a super simple Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Rice Casserole.  I started with the more labor intensive tasks (prepping all the meat, chopping all the veggies, etc.) but within the first hour I was already feeling over it and actually started to feel ill.  I think that I was experiencing a sugar crash after only having donuts and coffee in my system, so I took a little break on the couch with some water and a string cheese and felt a lot better.  It was a long day of cooking, even with trying to stay off my feet using a stool at the counter and sitting at the kitchen table as much as possible.  Dave was downstairs continuing to organize the basement, but he came in clutch to do some dishes and chop most of the chicken just when I needed the help the most.  Each recipe made two 9"x13" pans of food (and 6 containers of soup) so I think Dave and I will get around 6 meals out of each one!  5 hours for 24 meals for 2 people... worth it!

Sunday started with a short dog walk, followed by church.  Then I met up with Leah to spend the day together and run a bunch of errands.  We ran around KOP, enjoying each other's company, and got a lot done including basically robbing Motherhood Maternity.  A while ago I ordered a bunch of items online but they sent me someone else's order.  I got a full refund for my stuff and they told me they would send me a return label for the incorrect items.  I kept all the clothes in the mailing bag for months and then finally just decided that they were mine now!  I kept a few of the items but still had a really fancy dress and a bathing suit that I didn't care for or need, so I returned them and got $90 store credit!  The woman working at the store was amazing, she really made me feel great about myself and even volunteered to check out my items with two separate transactions so I could use both my coupons.  I purchased a bunch of pricey nursing items that I wouldn't have splurged on otherwise and after their sales, my coupons, and my store credit I spent $21 on $150 worth of merchandise!  Boom!

After doing all that cooking on Saturday, we woke up around 2:45 am on Monday to a huge flash of light and a barking dog!  A tree randomly fell and took out the power lines and all I could think was MY FOOD!  I was stressing all morning and kept waking up worrying about losing all the meals I worked so hard on.  When we got out of bed at 6 something, the tree removal team was out there but PECO was no where to be found.  Dave packed everything in coolers and took it to his parents' house for the day.  Our power was back on around 11 am.  The freezer food probably would've been fine without getting moved, but anything in the fridge would've definitely been ruined.  Everything turned out ok, but it wasn't exactly how we wanted to start the week.

Wednesday morning I dragged myself out of bed for CrossFit.  I was starving when I woke up but then I forgot my Clif Bar, so I kind of felt off throughout the workout.  We started with a 20 rep back squat at 50% of your max.  I went with 85# since my knee has been iffy on and off (it didn't hurt this morning, yay!) and it was so many reps.  It felt pretty heavy and was really unenjoyable (for everyone in the class based on the general complaining going on).  I felt a little something in my belly immediately afterwards and think I really should've broken up the reps.  The WOD was a mix of kettlebell swings and handstand push ups (I did more incline barbell push ups).  The kettlebell swings were a little iffy with my back, even though I know I was using good form and I used the 26# KB which is light for me, but not enough to make me want to stop.  The push ups were challenging again and I enjoyed that.

Other week 33 odds & ends:

• There's always a body part poking out of my stomach!  I feel like her feet are constantly kicking away and it feels so cool.  Of course whenever anybody wants to feel her move, she will immediately stop.
• Dave installed both of the car seat bases on Tuesday night, now we just need to get them checked at the police department near his work.
• Most of my pregnancy I've stayed away from drinking coffee on a daily basis, but lately I'm on the caffeine train.  I only drink a tiny cup in the morning, which is well under the recommended amount, but I just wish I wasn't feeling so dependent on it.  I could try and cut it out like I've done before, but I've been finding myself trying not to face plant at my desk before I've had it.  Oh well.
• My feet and ankles are super swollen.  I basically only fit in flip flops now and jamming my feet into my sneakers isn't fun.
• I got quoted on my doula's facebook page!

What a difference 10 weeks makes!  Only 6 to go!