32 Weeks

 

How far along? 32 weeks and my friend Emily (pictured above) is 28 weeks.

Baby’s size: around 16.7 inches long and about 3.75 pounds.

Total weight gain: Don’t know. Will wait to jump on the scale at my OB appointment next Monday.

Clothes: Maternity tank from Old Navy and maternity chevron stripe jersey maxi shirt from Old Navy.

Workouts – Last week (May 26 – June 1)

• 1 mile walk around neighborhood
• 13 mile bike ride through First Landing State Park
• 2 mile walk on boardwalk

Now that it’s June we can officially say that we’re having a baby next month! What?! I’m not writing a full update this week. We had company from May 28th to June 2nd and we got married on Saturday, May 30th! It was a wonderful and beautiful long weekend but I’m tired today. Hoping to do a post of wedding pictures very soon!

31 Weeks

How far along? 31+ weeks

Baby’s size: around 16.25 inches long and about 3.3 pounds.

Total weight gain: 23 pounds…no change from last week

Clothes: My striped tee is from Motherhood maternity. White shorts are from Target.

Workouts – Last week (May 19 – May 25)

• 1 hour prenatal yoga
• 3 miles on the elliptical
• 3 mile walk
• does lots of shopping and cleaning for house guests count? I think yes!

Symptoms: The braxton hicks contractions pop up every evening now. Somewhere between 7pm-8pm I start feeling them and then about every time I try to do something until I relax or go to bed. The doctor say this is normal! As long it you don’t have more than 5-6 an hour or if they don’t go away when you relax. I’ve also had some emotions I can’t control and some anxiety. But I also remind myself that I have a ton going on right now. Not only is the baby due in less than 60 days but we just had our house renovated, we’re getting married and throwing the party ourselves and my older son is about to graduate high school we’re struggling with a lot of things with him right now. I feel extremely lucky that I also don’t have the pressures of an outside job (I work part time for my fiance’s company) and that I can put my feet up pretty much whenever I want to or I would be SO overwhelmed.

Movement: Still mostly feeling the baby move low on my left side and in the top of my belly or ribs. Other than surprising me sometimes, it’s not painful and always amazing.

31 week Dr visit: Baby is still measuring on time and had a heart rate in the 150’s. I got to schedule all of my upcoming bi-weekly and weekly doctor appointments all the way to July 24th!

What I’m eating: Craving red meat and veggies…I think I had it like 4-5 times last week. Yogurt bowls or a smoothie in the morning. I remembered that fresh summer nectarines are my favorite fruit! I actually poked my lip out when I ate the last one. I’m going to buy more today but I also have a whole cut up watermelon and a cantaloupe in the fridge that must be eaten. Darn!

Drinking: Cherry lime La Croix sparkling water is the best(I’m holding above one while trying to take my picture)!! Zevia Ginger Ale. Kevita probiotic drinks. Ice water. Nepresso decaf coffee in the morning.

Looking forward to: Our wedding on Saturday. Having house guests starting Thursday until next Tuesday. A few more preparations today and I can sit back and enjoy the next few days!

Shotgun weddings: Technically a shotgun wedding means to be married due to an unplanned pregnancy. We did plan ours but Travis has joked about holding a shotgun in our wedding pics and I think a lot of people associate it with getting married while pregnant (ignoring the “unplanned” part). We have been together for 8 years and have been engaged for almost 2 years and now getting married about 8 weeks before our baby is due. I thought we were waiting a long time to get married until a few days ago when my new hairdresser told me about a her last OB visit. She is 28 weeks along and her appointments are at an office in the hospital (a different hospital than the one I will deliver). While she was there she heard a “code purple” called and inquired about what it meant. Apparently there was a woman in labor on the same floor and the couple had decided to be married before the baby came and the nurses were calling for a chaplain! It’s not what I would want to think about while in labor but it’s a cool story for them.

30 Weeks

How far along? 30 weeks

Baby’s size: around 15.7 inches long and about 2.75-3 pounds.

Total weight gain: 23 pounds

Clothes: My long gray jersey maxi dress from Noah and Bowie and my sweater is from J Crew.

Workouts – Last week (May 12 – May 18).

• 2.5 miles on elliptical
• 1 hour Barre class
• 1 hour prenatal yoga
• 1 hour spin

Symptoms: The pain/discomfort in my tailbone area when I sit is sticking around. It may be caused by the babies position and therefore may be here to stay until the end. We’ll see. I hate that the heat wears me out because I usually love the heat of spring and summer. See below for how I’ve been dealing with it!

Movement: I’m starting to feel kicks in my ribs. I love it when the baby the moving around, every time it happens I think, “I love you baby.”

What I’m eating: This week I changed up from my regular coconut or vanilla yogurt and got plain. It’s really good with honey drizzled over the top of the granola and fruit. I roasted some bone-in chicken breast that was delish! The leftovers got turned into equally delish chicken salad that we had for lunch for 2 days. My favorite veggies last were zucchini and onions that I cooked in coconut oil and my diced baked sweet potatoes. I made a layered dip with lots of avocado mashed with lime juice as the base, some refried beans, a little sour cream and salsa on the top. That was my lunch on Sunday with some Late July tortilla chips. A little frozen yogurt or fruit popsicle is a must in the evenings after dinner.

Drinking: Zevia Ginger Ale. Kombucha. Ice water. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Nepresso decaf coffee.

Enjoying: The fact that our pool is finally warm enough to get in and float around in! I’ve spent over an hour floating around each day for the last 4 days!

Looking forward to: Our wedding on May 30th. I’m trying to enjoy all the planning that has been required. I really can’t complain…everything is falling into place like I planned it months in advance.

29 Weeks

How far along? 29 weeks

Baby’s size: around 15.25 inches long (compared to a butternut squash) and about 2.5 pounds. At my ultrasound the tech said that the baby is between 2.5 and 3 pounds right now!

Total weight gain: 22 pounds. I’m happier about my weight now that I’m almost to 30 weeks. It’s average to gain about a pound per week in the third trimester and if I follow that trend I’ll be at a total of about 33 pounds at 40 weeks. We’ll see what happens…

Clothes: My striped tee is from Motherhood maternity. The gray tank is Old Navy. White shorts are from Target.

Workouts – Last week (May 5 – May 11). We went to Richmond 3 days in the last week and I also couldn’t work out the day that I had the 3 hour doctors appointment in the morning so there’s less gym class activity here than normal:

• 2 hours cleaning house
• 1 hour prenatal yoga
• 3.6 miles on elliptical
• 3 mile walk
• 2 mile easy bike ride to Bay and back home

29 week doctor visit: I am happy to report that the placenta has moved up so its no longer covering my cervix! I don’t have to worry about the possibility of having to have a c-section! I want to go into labor and be rushed to the hospital and experience what happens on my own terms, not be scheduled to go in for surgery and know when my babies birthday will be in advance. This is such a relief! In related placenta news, it’s attached to the front part of my stomach (called an anterior placenta). Most of the time the placenta is attached to the part closest to your spine. The baby doesn’t care where it is and it poses no risks it just makes it harder for other people to feel kicks! This is probaby why Travis just felt the baby kick for a first time a little over a week ago. They look at the placenta by ultrasound so we also got to peek at the baby yesterday. He or she was in the proper head down position but was covering its face the whole time so we didn’t get a single good picture. The tech also said that the baby was having the hiccups and showed us how its stomach was jumping up and down. I could feel the movements and have felt them before. Travis was surprised that the baby could have hiccups while still in my belly! So cute! The glucose tolerance test was grueling. I chose the fruit punch flavor which was like a slightly carbonated version of the sweetest kool-aid ever. They drew my blood before I drank it, then an hour later and two hours later (for a total of 3 times drawing blood). I had to fast after midnight to prepare for the test and by the time I left the office at 12:30 pm I was feeling dizzy, had a slight headache and was so hot that I sweating everywhere (legs, arms, back). I felt better after lunch (which I ate slowly per their recommendation) but I was worn out and slept for an hour and a half after eating. Luckily the results came back all within normal limits. I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now, until 36 weeks when I go once per week.

Symptoms: I still have discomfort in my tailbone area when I sit but it’s not as bad as last week.

Movement: Getting so much stronger by the day! It’s so weird to feel the baby kick while I walking around or bending over. Sometimes it takes my breath away.

What I’m eating: Seared salmon with mango salsa, sauteed snap peas and brown rice/quinoa blend on the side. Seared  salmon, roasted asparagus and a mexican quinoa with black beans mix that I made. Cooked salmon in sushi with avocado and cucumber. I was loving the a salmon again last week! Yogurt, granola and fruit bowls. Smoothies…for breakfast and sometimes for a snack. I bought the yummiest black pepper feta and had it on a salad twice and in scrambled eggs once.

Drinking: Back to the Zevia Ginger Ale. My water needs to have lots of ice and now when the water is gone I eat the ice before I get my refill. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Nepresso decaf coffee.

Looking forward to: I have a few more pictures to take and edit and then I can share my post on our house before and after renovations. I’ll be sharing all but the nursery sometime this week…because the nursery will have its own separate post. Travis and I are getting married on May 30th in our backyard so that’s the next BIG thing before the baby gets here!

The Ultimate Mounds Bar Breakfast Smoothie

No actual Mounds Bars were harmed in the making of this smoothie but I did technically have some chocolate for breakfast. I blame it on the third trimester. You come up with your own excuse and make this too. Actually, who needs an excuse to have a nice healthy fruit smoothie with a tad of chocolate sweetness in it? Not me. So feel good about having little chocolate in your breakfast. Just don’t sub Nutella for the Justin’s, there’s a huge difference in the sugar content. Nutella has almost 3 times as much sugar. In fact the first listed ingredient is sugar whereas with Justin’s hazelnuts and almonds come before the organic cane sugar.

It seriously does taste like a Mounds! Try it!

• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 – 6 ounce container coconut yogurt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 3/4 cup frozen cherries
• 2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks
• 3 tablespoons Justin’s chocolate hazelnut spread

Method

• Place all ingredients in a high speed blender in the order listed. Run on “smoothie” setting. Serves 2.

28 weeks

How far along? 28 weeks – officially in the 3rd trimester!

Baby’s size: around 14.8 inches long (compared to a chinese cabbage) and about 2.25 pounds. Apparently I had the wrong week’s info last week. I’ll get a better idea of the babies actual size when I have my ultrasound Monday the 11th!

Total weight gain: 20 pounds

Clothes: Long jersey maxi dress from Noah and Bowie. My sleeveless denim jacket is from Target.

Workouts – Last week (April 28 – May 4):

• 1 hour Barre class
• 1 hour spin class
• 30 minute spin class
• 1 hour prenatal yoga
• 1 hour spin class

Symptoms: I have new pain this week…pain in my low tailbone. I can’t sit straight it’s so bad. I have to sit sideways. Spinning is uncomfortable unless I lean forward and that’s getting harder because of my belly. I don’t want to give it up! I think I’m also getting the “pregnancy mask”. I have multiple dark spots on my cheeks that we’re there before and that’s a classic area to be affected during pregnancy. In other news, don’t have the linea nigra yet. According to this article, not having it may mean that I have plenty of folic acid!

Movement: Almost got my moving belly on video the other day but the baby stopped moving by the time I reached for my phone and started the video.

What I’m eating: Craving shrimp, crab cakes and calamari like crazy. Coconut on everything. Fruit: this week it was navel oranges, cherries, banana and blueberries. I made chicken enchiladas with black beans and served them up with lots of avocado that had lime juiced squeezed all over it and salsa of course…so yummy!

Drinking: Milk. Kombucha. Water. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Nepresso decaf coffee.

Looking forward to: My appointment for ultrasound, glucose and regular check up on Monday the 11th feels like it will never get here!!

My Pregnancy Skincare Must-Haves

Women on pregnancy apps will argue for days about how skincare creams are worthless. Stretch marks are genetic they say. They say that whether you lube up or not the marks are inevitable. I think it’s like saying that going to the gym is worthless. You may not end up looking ready for a cover of Shape magazine but you go and be healthy and get results that you’ll be happier with than if you didn’t go at all.

I only got one minor stretch mark on my belly when I was pregnant with my first. That mark was attached to my appendicitis scar and I always wondered if that’s why I got it in the first place. My brother Jeremy believed that itching or scratching caused stretch marks. Every time he saw me rubbing my belly he would throw me the cocoa butter. That was 17 years ago but it worked and I’m sticking to it again this time. Before you get too jealous, I’ll clarify that I do have some stretch marks…just not on my stomach.

In my every day routine I use lotion over my entire body after every shower. Since I’ve been expecting I also reapply lotion on my belly and sides if I feel itchy and I apply lotion to my belly and boobs before falling asleep every night. I started doing that way before I even started showing hoping to increase my chances of going through this pregnancy with no additional stretch marks! Here are the products that I’ve been using:

Zoe’s Organics Belly Oil and Belly Butter. I love these products. They have an aromatherapy smell that is very soothing and I believe even helps me fall asleep faster. My fiance has commented before that I smell like a medicine cabinet after I put it on so if I want to remain scentless (or just depending on my mood) I use the organic shea butter pictured below instead. Zoe’s Organics also has baby products like diaper cream and a breath balm that people rave about on Instagram so I plan to have some of those in stock before the baby gets here. They recently started selling them at Target too.

L’Occitane Organic Shea Butter: Love how rich and creamy this spread is…I mean cream…hehehehe. It’s the best unscented lotion I ever used. Is it only me but doesn’t every single unscented product seem to have an odd smell to it? Anyways. My favorite time to use this is before bed. Depending on what I’m wearing I can apply it after a shower. For example, if I’m wearing a loose shirt and stretch pants or shorts that go under my belly I can use this cream but if I’m wearing my full panel maternity jeans the material feels odd over my shea buttered belly.

 

Mustela Stretch Mark Double Action: Love to the love. Beautiful light scent. Dare I say it’s floral-y? But not in a weird way. I love to use this after a shower because it’s light and smooths right in. I started using it on my legs and back along with my belly so the tube went fast. I need to order another…

Shikai Borage Therapy Dry Skin lotion: I usually use ShiKai coconut body lotion but last winter between the very cold temps and my dry pregnancy skin the regular lotion wasn’t working for me. Flaky is gross! I switched to this unscented skin therapy lotion…well, I switched until the bottle was empty and the weather warmed up and then went back to coconut!

What do you use for your skin care routine?

 

Pictures of my Wednesday

I went shopping for fabrics to recover some chairs we bought at an estate sale. Still haven’t decided…

We played at the Bay near the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier…

I cleaned the pool house while Travis cleaned the pool. It was recently painted like the rest of our house (pics on that to come soon). That back wall where the bar counter is used to have navy blue and bright yellow stripes! That’s my yummy cherry root flavored kombucha on the counter.

Kane chilling by the canal. You can see the sunset reflected on the water.

The sunset…

27 Weeks

How far along? 27+ weeks

Baby’s size: around 14.8 inches long (compared to a chinese cabbage) and about 2.25 pounds

Total weight gain: 20 pounds

Clothes: Jeans are AG Adriano Goldschmied from A Pea in the Pod. Cardigan is Target. Tank is from Old Navy maternity (bought second hand…it’s a lot shorter than my other Old Navy tanks and I was pulling it down all day).

Workouts – Last week (April 21 – April 27):

• 4 mile walk
• 1 hour prenatal yoga
• hours of cleaning: dusting, putting things away, mopping, sweeping, scrubbing…all related to us basically packing our up our entire house up so we could have new wood floors installed and then the entire house painted. Everything I put away had to be wiped off first! I still have the guest room to put back together and a couple more pictures to hang. If someone wouldn’t mind coming to clean my ceiling fans, clean my windows and scrub the oven that would nice…I can pay in wine that I can’t drink right now 🙂

Symptoms: I’ve been sleeping like a baby this past week. I don’t toss and turn and there was even a couple of nights that I didn’t get up to pee in the middle of night…so weird.

Movement: Travis finally felt the baby kick this week!!

What I’m eating: This really hasn’t changed: yogurt/granola/fruit bowls, frozen yogurt, tacos. I like to have a Kind bar or Think Thin Protein bar in the afternoons when I’m running on empty. I tend to have a bar and fruit (last week it was cantaloupe, navel orange or cherries) or I’ll eat lemon hummus and rice crackers. I can’t get enough seared salmon…had it twice this week.

Drinking:. Kombucha. Water. Lots of unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Nepresso decaf coffee.

Last week: Work on the house was completed including touch ups. After 3 weeks of contractors and dust I’m ready to be done with that for a while. Our house is feeling more and more like home. Travis even complemented me on having the vision to make the design decisions that I did. Very nice of him to notice!

Looking forward to: My next doctor appointment! It’s technically my “28 week” check-up but I’ll be 29 weeks. It’s a 3 1/2-4 hour event that will include the glucose test, an ultrasound to check on my low lying placenta previa and my regular checkup. I hope, hope, hope that the placenta has moved on up where it’s supposed to be!

26 Weeks

How far along? 26 weeks

Baby’s size: around 14.5 inches long (compared to a cauliflower) and about 2 pounds

Total weight gain: 18 pounds

Clothes: Black tank is from Free People (non-maternity, just bought a medium instead of my typical small). White shorts are from Target. I usually wear a size 6 in Target shorts because they run small (my normal size in most pants/shorts is a 4 or 27 waist) but I got these in a size 8 low rise fit and they not only zip but they also button under my belly! Maternity win! All for $19.99 and free shipping. Hopefully they will fit until the end of my pregnancy and help me transition back into my regular clothes.

Workouts – Last week (April 14 – April 20):

• 4 miles on the elliptical
• Lots of cleaning due to floor demo and install being done and right after they finished the painters started. I skipped a couple of workouts at the end of the week due to being tired from all of this work, then on Sunday and Monday I suffered from allergies so bad I could barely move off of the sofa. I hate missing workouts and hope to have a better report next week!

Symptoms: Nothing new here. I will mention the allergies that I’ve been suffering with again. I’ve NEVER had allergy problems! I think it may have hit me this year because of a lessened immunity due to being pregnant. That is far from an official diagnosis but I do hope they NEVER come back.

Movement: My little night owl! Every time I change position at night so does the baby 🙂

What I’m eating: Breakfast food is still my favorite: yogurt/granola/fruit bowls and smoothies. I discovered Whole Foods coconut fruit bars this week. No. Words. Yum.

Drinking: I bought a growler of Barefoot Bucha Cherry root flavored kombucha at Whole Foods. It’s made locally and I’d like to think sipping it helped me through my allergy woes. Water. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Nepresso decaf coffee.

Last week: Officially under 100 days until my due date! This week also marks the point in my pregnancy when I started getting comments on being pregnant everywhere I go. I’ve been showing for a long time but I guess there’s a certain point in pregnancy when strangers begin easily recognizing the bump.  We went to 2 estate sales last weekend, Home Depot, out to eat, Food Lion, Whole Foods…every single place I went I got at least a comment…twice I got asked when I was due…once someone let me in line in front of them. I don’t mind at all! It’s fun!

Looking forward to: Our reno is almost done! The floors are finished. The stairs are being sanded and stained. The painters have only a couple of rooms left to paint. Can’t wait to get my house back together and share a before and after post!