Pregnancy Update Week 21!

Baby size/Important facts: 10.5" and ~ 13 oz. Little leech has started forming POO in his/her intestines.  

Size comparisons: pomegranate, fanny pack, carrot, large banana, you get the idea! 

Weight Change: Total gain of ~11 lbs

Waist Change: 

• Week 10
• Waist: 29" 
• Bellybutton: 33.5" 
• Size gain this week alone:
• Waist: 0.5"
• Bellybutton: 0.5"
• Total gain:
• Waist: 3"
• Bellybutton: 4.5"

Maternity clothes: I now have 2 pairs of pants, some capris and shorts, plus a dress and several tops to wear, YAY! I still have a couple pairs of pj type bottoms that work okay inside the house and a few shirts (though not many) that may actually make it to the third trimester. I have learned though that skinny jeans (purchased for horseback riding) in pregnancy are a hilarious fail. The thighs are tight and it drags the crotch (and the rest of them) down. Oh well, better than being uncomfortably tight!

Bra changes: Nothing new to report.

Stretch marks: I have some from my teen years on my thighs, no new ones yet.

Sleep: Still comes and goes. On workout days it usually goes well. On non-workout days...less good.

Workouts: We've kept up with running, hooray! I managed my strength day this week, hoping to convince myself to yoga tomorrow. Unfortunately I've been battling some slight horse lameness in the last week, so not riding, but still getting in lots of walking. Still feeling strong and motivated-ish.

Diet: Good days and bad days. Lately I've just been STARVING.

Best moment this week: Felt little leech on the outside. Just once, but still! It's a hope. Kicked my hand when I was trying to fall asleep of course...

Miss anything: I miss sitting comfortably. My desk chair has wheels and we've got hard floors in our office. My core is unhappy with the amount of work necessary to sit still as I keep putting my feet up...which causes chair to roll too far away. I keep wanting to put something behind the wheels of the chair to help me sit still...

Food cravings: Hm. Not in particular, though a Chipotle burrito has sounded awesome for several weeks. We don't usually do takeout or eat out, but maybe sometime soon...

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope!

Sex Guess: After being kicked in the cervix a few times this week, I'm thinking boy. 

Labor signs: Thankfully no, better not for a long time.

Symptoms: Starving - always, gas, ungainliness, forgetfulness, and sleep disturbances. Frequent urination, strange pulling sensations, and the weird hip thing is starting to come back. 

Belly button in or out? The ultrasound tech had me remove my belly button ring, so now it's out for good. Unfortunately, now that it's out, the weirdness of my belly button's shape is significantly more apparently. Still mostly in though.

 Wedding rings on or off: On, and loose. Still doing fine there!

Emotional state: Missing everyone from up north for sure!

Looking forward to: Eric finally feeling the little leech moving around. The time is near - it can be felt, but so occasionally.

Still working on getting a few more pictures taken to get up a cool post on strength training. 

Also, super excited as my former little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters is coming to visit in a few weeks. AND...we scheduled a trip up north to see people in roughly six weeks so we can have a baby shower and see people up there!

Excuses for Laziness!

Ok, laziness might not be fair. But while we had family in town we definitely skipped a few runs and I had to bail out on another because of bad decisions. 

I ran and rode my horse on Tuesday. Rode horse on Wednesday. They arrived Wednesday evening. Didn't run again until Sunday - so skipped a short run in there. Didn't think anything of it and still had Sunday be our longer run, but it was feeling great and we made a wrong turn and instead of increasing our previous long distance from lately by only 5 minutes, we instead increased it by more like 12. Which seemed like no big deal, right? Normally we try to do our long run on Saturday and then have two days off afterwards (from running at least), but we were busy on Saturday. 

Especially since we'd accumulated a ton of steps walking around and hiking around Wed-Sat anyway. 

I felt great and had managed a 6 mile run in the 5th month of pregnancy, go me!

I also rode horse Sat, Sun, Mon. Tuesday came around and we decided it was time to get our normal run in again. As we left my right shin muscles - yup we're real technical over here - were a little tight. I figured they would loosen up. Not so much. 7 minutes into run, I quit. I started walking. I haven't quit a run in Ihavenoideahowlong. Uhm, it's been a while. But I decided that especially with all sorts of weird hormones in my system, running in pain was just not going to happen. And I felt fine walking, which is good. Otherwise I was going to have to stay put at almost a mile out from home and wait for my husband to run back to the house to get the car, lol. No thanks! 

My guess is that with the skipping of one run, plus the much too much increase in distance, plus skipping the run before, plus only one rest day while I was logging way more steps than normal (even though I wasn't running I was putting in SEVERAL miles walking everyday) were just too much for me. 

Consequently, I took a running break for a few days. We wanted to go back to it on Thursday but my shin was still a little sore if I did more than walk. Then we wanted to go back to it on Saturday, but now my calf was sore, so we vetoed that too. Got back up the next Monday (which was yesterday now) and put in a good 30 minutes. That felt ok, HOORAY! I also skipped all yoga, 3-4 horse rides, and serious strength training while we had guests in town.

But I DID do quite a bit of work at the woodshop, plus all the walking, hiking, and a day in Universal Studios, so not ALL bad. 

So this week I'm trying to get back to it. This past Sunday I started my strength training routine again. I put some time into some future blog updates. And I took some pretty pictures of what we were up to!

 This is what happens when you get no heat, overnight temp drops to 43, and you have a mini dachshund and pregnant lady that have been running around all day. Time for sweats and cuddles!

 Isn't this a totally cool looking tree wrapped around a tree? Weird, huh?

 I had to put Barley in jail. Mostly, just because he's cute. 

 Ah, the sign that told us what Strangler Figs were. Figured out that cool tree situation. Nasty buggers, aren't they?

 Found this even more impressive specimen. The hole in the middle is in the last remnant of the palm tree that the Strangler Fig surrounded originally. That small chunk is the last part you can see. 

 This is the rest of that huge Strangler Fig. WOW!

 Super impressive mosaic at the library. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the background is made up of tiles shaped into leaves before being mosaic-ed - is that a word? I love leaves in art.

Super awesome fountain, or at least, it usually is. The water was turned way down. Maybe because it's "winter"?

Looks like this building is being rennovated by the local art club. So many awesome mosaics, all with mirrors on this wall!

Funky fence and edge of house that butts up to that mosaic building. 

No really, it's a seriously funky house. Love it!

We also spent a day in Universal Studios - but I did not take one single picture there. Oh well. We had a lovely time, but now we're working on settling back into normal habits. And we bought tickets to go up north in April for our baby shower and to see more friends/family, hooray!

It was fun to play tour guide to some local areas that we haven't examined fully, so we were glad to have that opportunity. 

I'm not feeling too guilty on skipping some runs & workouts, but I am getting ready to buckle back down for sure.

When was the last time you just walked around a cute little downtown area and checked out all the stuff?

Pregnancy Update Week 20 - HALFWAY!!!

Baby size/Important facts: 6.5" and ~ 10 oz. This week, they're excited that genitals are starting to form more fully. 

Size comparisons: Philly cheesesteak, whoopie cushion, Chipotle burrito, red Swingline stapler, small cantalope!

Weight Change: Total gain of ~10 lbs

Waist Change: 

• Week 10
• Waist: 29" 
• Bellybutton: 33.5" 
• Size gain this week alone:
• Waist: 0.5"
• Bellybutton: 0"
• Total gain:
• Waist: 2.5"
• Bellybutton: 4"

Maternity clothes: I was lucky enough to get gifted a shopping trip. I now have 2 pairs of pants, some capris and shorts, plus a dress and several tops to wear, YAY! I still have a couple pairs of pj type bottoms that work okay inside the house and a few shirts (though not many) that may actually make it to the third trimester.

Bra changes: Mostly staying the same recently, thankfully. 

Stretch marks: I have some from my teen years on my thighs, no new ones yet.

Sleep: Some days are going really really well. I have in general been sleeping better as long as it's not too hot out. 

Workouts: With family in town I didn't get too much running done. 1 six mile run, and then with a bunch of other walking my legs were not up to running. Oh well. Did a lot of walking, a little horseback riding, and now I'm trying to get back into my swing of strength and yoga training. We'll try. 

Diet: Pretty happy with where I'm at - we've been on a pretty veg heavy binge - which is awesome. I've been adding ice cream sandwiches to it - because they have CALCIUM :) At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

Best moment this week: Seeing the little leech on ultrasound!

Miss anything: This week I missed wine a little. It's more sad to miss out on a fun beverage when there are more people indulging. Oh well!

Food cravings: Not in particular. I just want to eat all of the things!

I did see these at the store the other day. Sounded like the pregnancy box of snickers: confused, sleepy, cranky, spacey, drama mama, whiny, and feisty!

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope!

Sex Guess: After seeing the calmest, most chilled out baby on the ultrasound ever, this week I'm thinking girl. 

Labor signs: Thankfully no, better not for a long time.

Symptoms: Starving - always, gas, ungainliness, forgetfulness, and sleep disturbances. Frequent urination, strange pulling sensations, and the weird hip thing is starting to come back. 

Belly button in or out? The ultrasound tech had me remove my belly button ring, so now it's out for good. Unfortunately, now that it's out, the weirdness of my belly button's shape is significantly more apparently. SUPER STRANGE!

 Wedding rings on or off: On, and loose. Still doing fine there!

Emotional state: Feeling pretty good other than SHOCKED that halfway has come so fast!

Looking forward to: Hopefully feeling movement everyday, and also hearing back from the midwife on the final report from the ultrasound.

Everything is feeling much more real now, and we've started the process of amassing things. Here's just a few small pics of gifts and purchases lately. We also put together our registries (other than car seat - still researching) in the last week or two, because people are starting to ask!

 We are planning on cloth diapering, so we've started to get together a stash of used diapers. This was an adorable thrift store find!

 Here's a few books that were gifted to us!

One homemade Cat in the Hat quilt! This is AMAZING!

Hoping to get some workout photos taken by my hubby in the next few days for better updates. Also, I have a fun update with some of the things we did in the last week, to make up for the lack of many useful posts lately! ;)

Getting Starting - As Easy As One Foot in Front of the Other

So maybe you've never done a real workout before or never went running. The idea sounds OK but where the hell do you start? First, what do you need? Then, what do you do? 

I'm going to do my best to cover the basics of how to get started either running or with a light strength building program at home. It's best to commit to trying it out for three weeks, 3 x per week. I recommend starting with the running program for 3 weeks, and then add the strength training at 1-2 days per week in addition. However, if you have had issues with your joints and running in the past, reverse that. Start with the strength program 3 x per week, and then after 3 weeks, add the running 1-2 days per week. Either way rest days are IMPORTANT. This is going to be a 2 part blog, and this first installment is going to cover how to get started running. Next episode will cover getting started on strength training. 

Gear to get started: Clothes to run in. I prefer tanks to cut down on flapping shirts, and I do running skirts because they combine the feel of spandex shorts that stop thigh chafing but have the loose outer layer for modesty. You also need running shoes. You can start with just basic shoes labeled as "running" at Kohls or similar, but after about 3 months if you know you are going to continue, PLEASE go to a running store to get your stride checked and shoes recommended. Undergarments: for men - consider compression underwear with a long leg to ease in chafing. For ladies - a serious sports bra. One layer of spandex for anything above an A cup typically does not do the job. You can normally start running with just these things, other people like to always have a water carrier with them, whether a camelbak style or a water bottle with a strap to hold it. I find carrying water isn't necessary for runs under 5 miles unless there's a serious heat wave. 

Make sure to have had a light meal at least an hour beforehand or have a light snack (think apple or banana or juice) that's mostly carbs about 10 min before your run. Try to plan to eat a heavier meal after with protein to refuel your muscles. If you sweated a lot during your run, be sure to get enough salt. You can't hold enough water in your body if you don't have enough salt to do so.

STARTING

You should already be walking everyday. Or at least on your now designated run days. Be consistent, pick 3 days a week you will run. Or, if you started with only strength training, then pick 1 or 2 days a week you will run. 

At first you will start your run as a "run/walk."

You walk for 5 min. Then look up ahead of you and pick a short distance to run (jog). Maybe it's 3 mailboxes, or to the end of the block depending on your neighborhood. You run that distance, and then walk 30-45 seconds. Then run that distance again, and keep alternating for 5 minutes. If you can, run (jog) 1 min, walk 30 seconds.  

Increase your time by 5 more min each week for first few weeks, until you are run/walking 20 min per run day. Then start increasing the run time. Run 2 min, walk 45 seconds. Run 3 min, walk 1 min. Run 4 min, walk 1. Run 5 walk 1. Always alternating. 

Once you've made it to 5/1 run/walk then start adding 1 min to your total run time each run for the following week. 

Alternate increasing the total time of your run (20 min) one week, with increasing the run segment in the run/walk (the 5 min run/1 min walk) the next week. 

Or, maybe you never get beyond the 5/1 run/walk plan. That's OK!!!! Just stick with it, and increase distance from there.

Maybe you can eventually work up to 30 mins straight running. GO YOU!

I recommend then signing up for a 5K, it will keep you motivated to keep training. 

TIPS TO MAINTAIN
Once you have a regular schedule

Every 3 weeks, have a shorter run week. Shorten the runs all week, do 20 min per run instead. 

Make one run a week slightly longer, keep others at 30 min, and you can slowly add 2-3 min to the long run every week. On the short week, keep this run at 30 min.

If you make it to 60 min on long runs, you're ready for a 10K, or a serious running goal, a stronger training schedule,  or make that your max. 

Keep taking short weeks every 3-4 weeks, this keeps you and your joints healthy.

Let me know any questions you have about how to get started, these are only my basic tips!

Pregnancy Update Week 19

Baby size/Important facts: 6" long (head to rump) and about 9 oz. Starting to grow body hair and such. Practicing backflips. 

Size comparisons: Mango, square tissue box, pair of sunglasses, hot dog, other weird crap I'm sure....

Weight Change: Total gain of 9 lbs

Waist Change: 

• Week 10
• Waist: 29" 
• Bellybutton: 33.5" 
• Size gain this week alone:
• Waist: 0"
• Bellybutton: 0.5"
• Total gain:
• Waist: 2"
• Bellybutton: 4.5"

Maternity clothes: Still only a couple pairs of shorts and pants I can wear. Shirts are also becoming a problem, as I've always been comfy in fitted tops. I have only a couple that are long enough. Trying to get by without spending more $$ on clothes though. 

Bra changes: Mostly staying the same recently, thankfully. 

Stretch marks: I have some from my teen years on my thighs, no new ones yet.

Sleep: Still comes and goes. Doing better falling asleep, just still not always as good at staying asleep. Pillow always helps, bladder never does. Actually, TWICE in the last week, I made it 6+ hours before waking up to pee. Unfortunately it was late enough and light enough by then I couldn't fall back asleep. 

Workouts: Ran a little less this week, had family in town, but still got a few runs in. Yoga and strength training completely abandoned while we have house guests, but I've otherwise been up and active and such, so I don't feel too bad. At least I'm burning calories. Slowly riding a little more and a little faster, and so far my hips are tolerating!!

Diet: Doing pretty well, a little high in total calories and red meat while we have people over, but still getting plenty of veg. Also splurging on Krispy Kremes. Oh well, one week with junk won't kill me. 

Best moment this week: Feeling the little leech do a somersault for the first time. Still only feeling occasional movement, but now I'm sure I'm feeling a little. HOOORAY!

Miss anything: Still missing appropriate pants to ride in. Tired of feeling like I have to pee the whole time I am wearing the pants. 

Food cravings: Not much, unless my lovely husband specifically mentions something while I'm hungry. Like Krispy Kreme donuts or ice cream sandwiches, lol. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope!

Sex Guess: Due to the kicking me while riding today, I've decided I'm thinking boy right now...

Labor signs: Thankfully no, better not for a long time.

Symptoms: Starving - always, gas, ungainliness, forgetfulness, and sleep disturbances. 

Belly button in or out? It's starting to think about becoming flush, but not inverting yet.  

Wedding rings on or off: On, and loose. I have had a few moments where they were a little tight though. Considering picking up a fake or silicone ring as a placeholder so I don't feel naked if/when I have to remove them. 

Emotional state: Comes and goes. We finally had heat installed in our house, so I'm feeling less pathetic which also helps!

Looking forward to: Our 1/2 way anatomy scan ultrasound on TUESDAY!!!!

Now I have people starting to be amazed that I am still so active and can function. Yes, I went to a state park and walked around for several hours the other day. It went great. I didn't have the right shoes, but didn't have any real suffering from it. I'm just starting now to need a bit of cushioning in my shoes if I'm going to be on my feet more than an hour. That's weird for me though.

Also, people are really starting to notice my size. :)

Pregnancy Update Week 18

Baby size/Important facts: 6.5" long and 6 oz! Leech has learned to yawn and can now hear voices outside of me. Size comparisons: Can of soda, sweet potato, bell pepper

Weight Change: Total gain of 7 lbs! Whoo-hoo finally catching up!

Waist Change: 

• Week 10
• Waist: 29" 
• Bellybutton: 33.5" 
• Size gain this week alone: 
• Waist: 0.5" 
• Bellybutton: 1" 
• Total gain: 
• Waist: 2" 
• Bellybutton: 2.5" 

Maternity clothes: Still only a couple pairs of shorts and pants I can wear. Shirts are also becoming a problem, as I've always been comfy in fitted tops. I have only a couple that are long enough. Trying to get by without spending more $$ on clothes though. 

Bra changes: Loving my new sports bra. Starting to overfill the only two nursing bras I found, but it's not hurting, so I'm ignoring the "double boob" look for now. 

Stretch marks: I have some from my teen years on my thighs, no new ones yet.

Sleep: Somewhere between my hips/back being uncomfortable and feeling hot most of the time, I'm having trouble sleeping more than 3-4 hours a night. Then I can usually get up, eat something, cool off, and then sleep for another 90 minutes, but by then I've been mostly in bed for 10-11 hours and that's too much time. Trying to figure this out. 

Workouts: Running 3x a week, at least 3 miles, and one of those is 4-5 miles, these are going pretty well. Doing better getting yoga & strength training in. I have been riding 4 x per week, increasing only slowly, but my hips haven't been MORE unhappy about it, so I'll go with it. 

Diet: Not as great this week. I've just been starving and we didn't do as well keep leftovers around, so I've been shoving in whatever I can get in as fast as possible. Starting to really want high fat foods, but I'm wondering if I honestly am needing the calories of a juicy burger or something. I'm not craving junk, just heavy solid meals. 

Best moment this week: Looking down and my belly hiding my toes for the first time.

Miss anything? Comfortable clothes to ride in. My jeans with belly band just slip down past my butt if I try to ride. One pair of riding pants sits just slightly too high so that it pushes on me too much. The other pair is super high and that high part is starting to not be stretchy enough. 

Food cravings: Nothing really, just enjoying that I actually like candy/chocolate again. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? The smell of cigarettes & diesel exhaust, still and always. Plus my toothbrush. Makes me gag every single time.

Sex Guess: We're Team Green (not finding out sex until birth), but guessing is fun. I had a dream this week that we accidentally (due to a great visual of genitals) found out during our ultrasound that it's a boy. Hm. 

Labor signs: Thankfully no, better not for a long time.

Symptoms: Starving - always, heartburn, gas, ungainliness, forgetfulness, and sleep disturbances. 

Belly button in or out? The right side was always a little shallower, and it's starting to be almost flush with the rest of my belly. Firmly still in on the left. 

Wedding rings on or off: On, and loose.

Emotional state: Frustrated with lack of ability to buy baby stuff, maternity clothes, prenatal massage, or actually prenatal yoga classes.  

Looking forward to: Feeling the leech doing gymnastics, hearing heartbeat again on Wednesday, family arriving on Tuesday, and getting that darn ultrasound scheduled!

I am starting to get a little frustrated with people telling me that they know ALL about how my pregnancy is going to go, just because they've been pregnant. Everyone is different. Also, not really interested in hearing about how newborns don't sleep. I know. However, me not being able to sleep right now is a bigger issue and different. It's bad when I can't manage to sleep by myself, without external things waking me up. I can handle being sleep deprived for good reasons. 

On the other end, I am very comfortable to hear and listen to any and all birth stories, from the super easy to the horrible ones. I feel like the more info and knowledge I have, the better. 

Exercise Challenge

Alright, so it's now February. There's a better than decent chance that everyone that made "getting in shape" their New Year's Resolution has already failed. Or at least lost track of their goal, and could use some help getting back up on the horse. 

So I challenge you...five minutes. 

Every day for the next week (barring extreme weather/emergency circumstances) to get outside (or inside if you have a treadmill) and walk or run for 5 minutes!!!

Seriously, strap on your shoes. Or tie or duct tape or whatever you need to do. Commit to five minutes. If you aren't a running, commit to walking it. If you are a runner, commit to running it every other day, or 3 x week, and walking the rest. Every little bit helps. Every minute you are up off your butt you are making more endorphin in your brain to help you feel more awesome. Every minute you are up and moving you are burning more calories than sitting around. Every one has 5 minutes to spend for your health and sanity every day. 

Not only are you more likely to stick with it if your goal is relatively easy to achieve. Just 5 minutes. Maybe an after dinner walk with the family - it's good for digestion!

This is the ONE thing my husband and I have managed to do since Halloween. We have missed just a few days. One I was in the ER, and 2 more it rained the entire time we were home together. Every other day we at least walked around the block.

Some of those days, we decided on a much longer walk because we felt good and were enjoying it. 

Keep in mind that if it takes you 10-15 minutes to bundle up to go out in the winter for a walk, it's worth then taking a longer walk. :) This is helping you out in the long run.

Do you have a dog? Commit to walking the dog for 5 minutes at least a day. This is a great strategy if you need more motivation.

This sad, pathetic-looking little pooch has managed at least a mile with us everyday. In fact, we started taking him on some of our shorter runs of the week. 3 mile runs, and this little dude joins us. This is my proof that we are not fast runners. 10 lbs mini dachshunds cannot keep up with fast people, so we're definitely slow. Slow is fine, slow is safe. There is little more to guilt most people to running at least 5 minutes than seeing/hearing about a dog with 4" legs running further than you. Seriously, just go do it. 

Every bit you do makes you more likely to do more later. Once you have a streak of so many days under your belt, it's easy to agree to just go around the block - even if you're nauseous and tired.

Remember that if you think it's too hard, consider that in order to keep running, I had to go buy the UGLIEST BRA EVER. It's literally called The Last Resort Bra and it was my last resort to a sports bra that comes in my size (tiny band HUGE cups) and is less than $80. I got stuck with pink because it was $20 cheaper at the time. 

Yes, this is the ugliest bra I've ever bought, but I think it will last through the pregnancy, might still be useful afterwards, and it does a great job of taming the bounce. 

If you have a problem getting outside to run or walk in the cold, check out these tips from my favorite blog - Shut Up and Run. 

Challenge yourself. Commit to 5 minutes a day. If you feel great at the end of 5 minutes, push it a little further. Keep going. If you feel crappy 5 minutes in, go back inside. You did it!

Coming soon: how to get started with running/working out.