26/27 week update

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I feel like I've been on the go constantly... partly just to get the kiddos out of the house so Jeff can get some good quiet sleep, but we've just had a lot going on it seems. I've been trying to slowly weed through all the baby clothes and baby items to see exactly what we need. I made a registry for the things I knew we would definitely need... mostly things like diapers, wipes, cloth diapers, bath stuff, burp cloths, receiving blankets... things that tend to get worn out after the use of one baby. It's nice, I didn't have to spend a ton of time registering for things because we have almost everything for a girl or a boy. Way easier this time!! I did actually register for an ergobaby baby carrier and infant insert, as well as a new space saver high chair... both of which we decided to purchase right off of my registry yesterday. I received a coupon from babies r us for 20% off of my entire purchase, so we hopped right on that and bought the things we suspected nobody would want to fork out the money for. I'm so glad we did!! We saved a ton of money, and I basically got the $25 infant insert for free!! Good deal for sure because those were some of our big ticket items. I have to say though, it's tough taking Jeff and the kids with me. My husband may or may not really enjoy shopping for Annie. She even scored a princess potty chair due to her daddy insisting that she needed it and would be successful at potty training if she had that chair. It was definitely a hit. She promptly drug it out of the bathroom this morning, placed it in the living room (all while saying "it's so heavy! it's so heavy!"... where she learned that, I have no idea but it was so cute!!) and sat down on it for a good several minutes. She loves princesses, so I have to say, Jeff suggested a good purchase.

Anyways... I'm now heading into my third trimester!!! YAY!!!! I am so excited to meet this little peanut. I'm more and more excited every day... I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by. I'm really focusing on enjoying every single minute of it... even the moments of discomfort. I just remind myself that it is such a blessing that I even get to have this experience, and that there are women out there who would do anything to experience all aspects of pregnancy... the good, the bad, the ugly. Personally I think it's mostly good... Yeah there are things that aren't the most fun, but I really can't complain because I can always think of something that would be way more miserable.

A couple of days ago I took my glucose test for instance... WOW. That's all I can say about that. I walked in expecting a nice quiet getaway from housework, playing mediator with the kids, and cooking/cleaning up the kitchen. Not so. When I entered the clinic, I was welcomed by a thick wave of tension being emitted by all these other pregnant ladies taking their glucose tests. You know, I get it's not the most joyous experience in the world, but make the best with what you have!! We are ALL hungry, we are all probably a little thirsty from now having our fluids limited, and I'm pretty sure none of us enjoyed the super tasty beverage we had to suck down in less than five minutes time, but it's not a bad enough experience that we should convince ourselves we're in a bad mood over it. Sheesh!! So I get in there for my first blood draw, and as soon as it was over, the lady put me in this room with only one other woman in it... let's just say I definitely knew why as soon as I sat down. This lady was probably the grouchiest of all of them. So, I plopped down in my chair with a smile on my face, a book in hand, and chuckled at how ridiculous it all was. For real ladies... the glucose test is not that bad. They make it sound way worse than it is. I'd love to go into detail about the things I heard the other women say, but it's just too ridiculous to repeat... haha.

So, with that all said and done, my results came back perfectly normal. Even my hematocrit levels were great!! What a relief, because I was very concerned that they had dropped given my recent diet change.

Speaking of my diet... I've been slacking on logging my food, but mostly because I've been slacking on eating. I'm just not hungry enough to force all that food into my body. It's terrible, and I try my hardest to make sure I'm getting all my nutrients, but I can't over stuff myself and make myself sick!! So I've been slowly phasing things back in. I can still drink milk, eat a small piece of low fat cheese, and use a small amount of cream cheese. Lately I've eaten half of a small chicken breast to see how I do with that, so far so good. Ground chicken works great for me too!! I've not had any beef or pork though, which seems to have cut out most of my issues. However, I did eat a turkey burger the other day (no bun, no mayo, no cheese... just lettuce, tomato, and ketchup) and I ended up with a mild reaction to that. Definitely not my worst attack by any means, but enough to make me uncomfortable. So this week I'm going to try ground turkey... I suspect there may have been something other than just ground turkey in that turkey burger, so we'll see how I do with the ground turkey I purchased. Anyway... that's about it. Still trying really hard to eat a lot of dark leafy greens, protein, fruits and other veggies... grains... etc.

As far as baby goes, all is well with my little womb tenant. Growth seems to be happening at a rapid rate, which is awesome! I'm loving every minute of feeling our sweet little baby moving around, and even seeing the movements on the outside! I'm at the point now where I can see and feel different body parts starting to poke out here and there. It's super fun! That's probably my favorite part of pregnancy. It's kind of a game with this baby because when I push gently on the limb that's poking out, baby will move and push back somewhere else. My belly button hernia has also been a source of entertainment for this little tyke... the minute I push it back in baby just pushes it right back out. That gets a little uncomfortable, but whatever. It's to be expected I suppose. Baby definitely has her/his schedule all worked out in there. From what I've noticed, baby is most active in the morning and evening, with little spurts of movements during the day here and there. I'm hoping that since this one seems to have the most consistent schedule, that perhaps it will be easier to get the baby on a good sleep schedule when she/he is born. We'll see though.

As for me... I'm doing pretty darn good right now. I've had a little more energy this last week, and I just feel healthy. Perhaps it's all the time I've spent outside in the sun? Maybe it's the fact that I already have a flip flop tan? Who knows... But I'm doing really well. I still haven't gained any weight, which is perfectly fine and completely okay for me. Before I became pregnant with this baby I had hoped to lose at least 10 pounds... So I pretty much started out with 10 pounds of baby weight. I was still only a few pounds from my pre-Annie weight, which was good, but that meant that I really had to be careful this time about my weight gain. So... from start of pregnancy to now, I'm still at the 8 pound mark. This honestly makes me super happy because most of my clothes still kind of fit me... and it's also quite the ego boost when people make comments about it... for instance, yesterday at the mall, a sales associate at the mac counter informed me that she didn't even realize I was pregnant until I turned to the side. Seriously, that made my day, because for some reason yesterday I was starting to feel like my belly had grown a ton over night.

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I'm having a lot of braxton hicks contractions, and they are very slowly increasing in intensity. Some of them have been mildly painful. From what I hear, this is pretty normal. Also, given my experience with Annie, I'm pretty confident that this is just how my body works. Sometimes I'll have pretty regular braxton hicks, but never for longer than an hour and never getting stronger, longer, or closer together. I feel like that's just how my body does things so it can be fast and efficient at bringing the baby into the world when it's time for baby to be born. My doctor is well aware that I'm just one of those people that experience a lot of them, and he's not concerned in the least. I'm pretty confident I'll know when to get checked out if they start to feel different.

Anyway... not much else to update on. My next appointment is in two weeks... and then I think the one after that is when I start going every two weeks. So crazy!! Baby will be here sooooo soon!! Thanks for reading, friends! God bless!!

Foodness.

Today, I fell off the healthy food train. Oh well, right? I didn't have an attack, which is great. I didn't eat anything that usually triggers it. We stopped at the mountain view diner after a doctor visit this morning... where we shared some fries and the kids ate some chicken. I had been craving some fries and ranch, so that made me super happy! I ate my usual for breakfast, english muffin with almond butter and some pineapple. I had a glass of milk after that, drank my coffee... (then had fries for lunch... shame shame...) I really wasn't that hungry today. I didn't snack at all... and when I did it was because I forced myself. So for a snack I had pineapple. For dinner, I had left over lettuce wraps and had a couple chia shots to finish.

Tomorrow will be better.

About my dr visit... It brought me a lot of relief! I've had a lot of trouble with my right hand in recent years. After carpal tunnel surgery, and wrist arthroscopy surgery (for a really big cartilage tear), I have had yet another issue with my hand. I've noticed a lot of pain near the base of my thumb in the last couple of months. Usually just when I grip things, turn my wrist in certain ways, or try to pinch things... basically movements that put pressure on the area. I went in today and discovered I did not actually injure my hand!! Good news!! But I do have some sort of something that ends with tenosynovitis. (The only part I remembered). It has to do with the tendons on that side of my hand. This can be due to pregnancy, lifting Annie all the time... repetitive use... whatever the cause, it's treatable right now!! I'll be going back to hand therapy (for the third time), and hopefully it will go away after baby comes. So yay! Good news.

25 weeks

Not much of an update this week. Still continuing to work on my diet change... yesterday was a pretty good day, minus one cheat. For breakfast I ate steel cute oatmeal with brown sugar and blue berries, drank a glass of milk after, took a chia shot with OJ, had a cup of coffee... snacked on fruit throughout the morning. For lunch.. I can't remember what I ate. I know I had a protein bar and a fiber bar somewhere in there, with some fresh veggies. For dinner I had two cups of spinach with a homemade cucumber cilantro dressing (super yummy) and had a side of yellow squash sauteed in sesame oil with fresh minced garlic. Then I had a small serving of peach cobbler. So yummy. Today I had an english muffin with almond butter, blue berries, a glass of milk and a cup of coffee. For lunch, I will make a smoothie with black beans, kale, spinach, mango, banana, strawberries, chia seeds, and rice milk. I'll probably throw in a protein bar (mostly nuts and seeds, but packed with protein!), as well as some fruits and veggies to snack on. For dinner I'm having lettuce wraps made with ground chicken. There's my day of food!

Anyway, pregnancy wise, I'm finding a bit more energy these days. I suspect it's because I've been taking unisom as needed, as well as getting more nutrients I may not have been getting before. I'm still struggling to get to sleep and stay asleep some nights but it's getting better.

I'm honestly a little surprised that my weight hasn't started climbing since I've changed my diet. I feel like I'm constantly eating to get enough of everything baby and I need. I still haven't gained anything in quite some time. I'm so totally fine with that!! I've hit the 8 pound mark and stayed there. My dr is not the least bit concerned... in fact he really wants me to keep my weight down. Fine by me!!

As for baby... I have a very active and very responsive little baby in there. During the day I don't feel quite as many kicks and punches, but I suspect that's because baby sleeps most of the day because my constant running around lulls him/her to sleep.. which makes for a lot of fun "bonding" time in the evening. I can now feel little limbs poking out now, which is so fun to me!! That's my favorite part of pregnancy. I love being able to see where my baby is, and feel little hard spots where something is poking out. It's pretty fun lately because whenever I push lightly on my belly where he/she is bundled up, baby pushes back. It's been kind of a game. I just love it! I'm thoroughly enjoying this part. According to my weekly pregnancy e-mails, baby weighs a little under two pounds at this point and is roughly 13.5 inches long! We're getting there! :)

Other wise... not much else happening right now. I have my two hour glucose test on the 12th (yuck). It's so boring... but at least this time I have a smart phone and will remember to bring something to do. I'll probably stop at Ben Franklin on the way there and pick up some yarn to make hats with while I wait around. We'll see. Anyway... thanks for reading, friends!! :)

I forgot....

Oops. I forgot to write down what I ate the last couple days... I've been too busy relaxing and letting things go, crocheting hats/angering my bum hand.... and celebrating Joey's night time potty training success!! I'm seriously so proud!! AND relieved!! I didn't have to do a darn thing. He just stopped wetting the bed all on his own... so I officially have one child left in diapers!! And boy does it feel great... hopefully it will still be one child in diapers when the baby comes. Here's to potty training Annabelle!! It could not have been easier to potty train Joey, so I'm hoping for the same results. We waited until he was good and ready (the week after he turned 3) and he was potty trained in just a couple of days. So easy! With Joey, I've learned not to listen to most advice people offer me (unless it's from people who are close to him) or pay any attention to what other people do with their kids. So what if their kids were trained before age three. It doesn't make me a bad mom for not pushing it at an earlier age. It was easy for me to wait, and it payed off. My kid waits until he's good and ready to do EVERYTHING. And that is totally okay!! So... here's to hoping and praying it's this breezy with Annie.

Anyway... food. I've been lame and been trying to keep it simple. Eating a certain way my whole life, and then suddenly changing all of that has been a bit of a challenge for my picky pallet. So.. for breakfast I ate an english muffin with almond butter and a side of berries. Then my chia shot with OJ, and a cup of coffee to follow. For lunch today, I made a crazy smoothie. It contained half a cup of black beans, 2 cups spinach, 2 cups kale, strawberries, blueberries, a banana, little bit of coconut creme, rice milk... and that's it. For dinner I made some low fat ground chicken stir fry with kale, yellow squash, carrots, and brown rice.. I ate that in the form of a lettuce wrap. Then I made a smoothie with spinach, strawberries, blueberries, low fat organic yogurt, coconut creme, chia seeds, and half a cup of black beans with some honey to sweeten it. For a snack earlier I ate a protein bar made from nuts. So. There you have it. That's what I ate. I hope in addition to my prenatals, I managed to get everything baby and I needed nutritionally. Friends, if you have any input, please feel free to give it to me!! I'm so new to this *mostly* vegetarian thing... it's a little overwhelming. I feel like I need to eat more than I can physically consume. It's crazy!! But... I'm slowly finding my limits with things like low fat yogurt (I can only eat about 1/4 cup of it without getting a mild gallbladder attack) and I can eat a small piece of mozzarella cheese and be okay... Oh and that ground chicken is working out great. Anyway... thanks for reading!! :)

Just a bit of random foodness...

I finally got some sleep last night!! yay!! Having so much trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep lately prompted me to finally try some unisom... And oh my goodness was it magical. I slept very soundly last night... not as much as I normally like, but the quality was there.

Anyway, today I started out my day with 1/4 cup of steel cut oats with a large spoonful of pumpkin, a little brown brown sugar, dash of cinnamon, and a dash of milk. I did NOT like the pumpkin. Yuck. Take two tomorrow will just be my usual embellishments... brown sugar and milk.

I then grabbed a cup of coffee with a little half n half and ran out the door to my Bible study brunch. There I ate about two cups of spinach salad topped with mangos and strawberries and dressed it with cucumber cilantro dressing... (homemade by my wonderful mother in law, and it was amazing and so healthy!! Can't wait to post the recipe!!) On the side, I ate probably a good cup and a half of fresh cut fruits and berries. SO yummy. Oh and I ate a tiny sliver of quiche to see if I could tolerate it... which I did.

THEN, when I got home, I did a "chia shot" as I kindly call it. I put a tbsp of chia seeds in a small cup, added an ounce of juice and chug it/refill as needed to get all the seeds. Super nutritious! I also had a fiber bar, and picked some pecans off the french toast casserole I made for my Bible study brunch. That was a mistake. Mild attack as a result of that... :(

For a snack, I munched on a few black bean quinoa chips and a tbsp of hummus...

For dinner, I sauteed about 2 cups of kale in a teaspoon of olive oil and a dash of garlic salt and pepper. Then I had a rosemary biscuit as a treat, and ate a broiled bartlet pair topped with a TINY bit of mozzarella cheese. I decided to experiment a little to see if I can further define my limits. I did just fine with that so now at least I know how much mozzarella I can eat. I finished dinner with a tbsp of almond butter and another chia shot. A good day I should think! Lots of dark leafy greens... I would like to increase my amounts of dark leafy greens though. Perhaps in a smoothie? We'll see.

As far as drinks go, I try to keep it to just water for the most part... minus my morning coffee and juice in my chia shots. Other than that I just drink water.

Okay... hopefully tomorrow will be even better. :)

24 week update

Lately I've sort of kicked back and put things like my blog, social media, TV, and other such things on the back burner. Not that I was super great about blogging to begin with, but I just needed to spend more time in God's word as well as enjoying my children a little more. I've found it has helped ease a lot of my anxieties and worries about all things pregnancy and birth. Not sure why I've struggled so much lately, but I feel like it's the enemy's way of trying to take me down... but that just won't happen.

Anyway, I've been feeling... okay lately. Not the greatest, but I could definitely feel worse! This pregnancy has taken a huge toll on me emotionally, so I think the aches and pains I've been feeling physically have been a lot less tolerable because I've been struggling to keep myself together. I have tried to make a conscious effort to keep myself in a good mood as best I can, and maintain high levels of patience with people and with my kiddos. I've found that taking things out of my life like TV shows, groups on facebook, (wasting time on facebook in general), remaining somewhat oblivious to current events... those things have helped me to keep a positive mindset and focus on replacing negatives with positives. Call me ignorant, I call it blissfully unaware for my own sanity. 

I think part of my difficulty is that our little family is transitioning and trying to find balance with Jeff's new work schedule. He now works from 11pm-7am Thursday through Monday, and has Tuesday's and Wednesday's off. THAT has been a huge deal for me. I didn't realize how much things would change with that... Not only do I struggle with insomnia while pregnant, I struggle with staying asleep... Especially when Jeff is gone... It's like sleeping with one eye open. So if I don't get much sleep between the time Jeff leaves and returns from work, that's just too bad. I can't just wake him up so I can take a nap... The kids need me and Jeff needs a good solid sleep so he can work safely and come home in one piece. Not that I mind being up with my kiddos... that's my joy!! I love being a stay at home mom for them. It's what I always wanted for my children. But I'm not going to say it's easy keeping them quiet, chasing them around, entertaining them, doing my cleaning, cooking, and taking care of my pregnant self... especially not having enough sleep. Adjusting to being alone at night and most of the day has not been easy for me, but I know eventually I'll find balance and get used to a new routine. At least he has a good paying job right?!?

As far as baby goes... all seems to be progressing smoothly! I'm measuring perfectly, and baby had a super strong heartbeat today. I can definitely feel that baby is growing rapidly... I can see my baby moving around all the time, and kicks and punches are not so gentle anymore. Baby is also all over the place... I feel the baby super low and also a few inches past my belly button... This tells me baby is probably on the taller side in comparison to Joey and Annie, or this baby likes to stretch out more than they did. This little one also seems to enjoy pushing back when I press my hand on my belly. It's been a fun little game we've been able to play lately. I so enjoy feeling baby move and seeing the movements as well. Makes it seem more real that we're indeed having another baby, and it's a good bonding experience before we get to meet. So, all in all, baby is doing quite well in there. My weight gain has also been pleasingly under control. As of now, I've gained about 7-8 pounds... which is a little less than I had gained at this point in pregnancy with Annabelle... I won't even mention what I weighed at this point with Joey... yikes!!

I have to say, I believe part of my slow weight gain has to do with the fact that my gallbladder is so angry all the time. I've pinpointed a few things that trigger attacks, but sometimes I just don't know what triggers certain attacks. Since I started having issues with it at the beginning of April, I've noticed myself slowly phasing out foods that didn't used to bother me at the beginning of this month... I talked to my doctor about it today and he said that even though my test results were clear, this is something that happens a lot. So he recommended I eliminate meat and dairy to see if that helps, minus the few things I can eat. (Lightly seasoned chicken, fat free milk, small amounts of half n half in my coffee...that's about it right now). So now I'm learning how to be a vegetarian. It's a little overwhelming right now trying to monitor my food intake and ensure that I'm getting enough protein... as well as other nutrients. I've been told it gets easier once you get the hang of it. So... in order to help myself keep track of what I'm eating, I've decided to blog it out and include recipes that I decided I like.

This will be an interesting adventure for sure. Hopefully there will be aspects of this diet change that I will like enough to stick around after baby comes. I will still be looking forward to enjoying a nice expensive steak when this is all said and done! Assuming my gallbladder goes back to normal. I still like my meats.... just cutting them out for now. I have also decided to try and eat as much gluten free food items as possible (with a few exceptions here and there). Having Annie on a gluten free diet is easier when there are at least two of us eating that way, and it also makes her more interested in eating things I offer her if I'm eating them too. Trader Joe's has been awesome for gluten free food!! So anyway... here's what I ate today:

(I was feeling icky this morning so I skipped breakfast and just drank water... naughty girl... I know...)

Caramel latte with nonfat milk from starbucks, and a piece of lemon loaf. I then snacked on some white cheddar popcorn from Trader Joe's (roughly half a cup). For lunch, I ate half a gluten free bagel with unsweetened salted almond butter (about half a tbsp), 1 tbsp of chia seeds in a small cup of apple juice, a fiber bar... and I think that's it. For dinner, I sauteed about 2 cups of kale in olive oil with fresh minced garlic and a dash of salt and pepper. I then let it cool and put a small amount of honey balsamic dressing on it and it was so good! I paired that with a rosemary biscuit... my other treat for today. I then ate a protein bar (consisted mostly of mixed nuts), 1 tbsp chia seeds in a small cup of juice... and that's all I can remember other than some fruits and veggies for snacks. I know I ate more protein, just can't remember everything I ate today. It sounds like a ton of carbs... but today was my cheat day. So anyway, for tomorrow I prepped some steel cut oats for breakfast which I'm excited to experiment with. I have a few ideas for how to dress it up in a healthy yummy way... and I also have a day of meals and snacks planned for tomorrow and will plan more meals and snacks the for the next few days. Hopefully this helps me get the hang of this. Thanks for reading friends! God bless!

20 weeks

A lot has happened this week. My plan for everything went out the window, and honestly I couldn't be more relieved.

After my last visit with the midwife, I had this strange feeling about things... About this birth, about my care... I'm not sure what it was about. But lets just say these last few weeks have been really hard on me emotionally and mentally. For whatever reason, my anxiety level has been through the roof and I've been unable to pinpoint EXACTLY what the cause was. I wasn't sure if maybe the birth center being so close to where my mom died was possibly triggering my PTSD, or if perhaps I just didn't feel it was right for me to be there anymore? I'm not completely sure. But what I did know was that my anxiety was getting out of control. I'm still dealing with it, but I've been praying a lot, talking to God, and trying to decompress my feelings as much as possible.

So, in response to everything I had been feeling and after a lot of thought and a lot of prayer, I decided to switch my care back to my regular OB/GYN. And boy... I let out a huge sigh of relief when I finally got all that out of the way, and I feel even better today since I've been able to go in and talk to my doctor about everything that's been going on. He was so very supportive, and he said that him and his nurse were so excited to have me back. That felt great to hear. I was very worried that my choice to try out something different had hindered my relationship with my doctor and the clinic staff. I truly had a great experience there when I delivered Annabelle, and to top it off my doctor even made it a point to be there and deliver her. That's not something that doctor's do very often. My experience there was satisfying, and empowering. All of my requests were met, everyone was respectful of my wishes, and nobody offered me drugs which was awesome.

Reflecting on my experience at Evergreen, I decided that I really wouldn't mind a repeat of that given all of my anxieties and reservations about the birth center. So, in conclusion to that, I am very glad I made the switch. I have no regrets, and I felt so much better about where I'm delivering my baby. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. At this point as I still deal with some anxiety, I'm just going to try my best to relax, pray, and really try to hear what the Lord has to say to me. This pregnancy has been a huge lesson to me about giving up my fears to Him. I am so far from perfect at this... I struggle daily with fear and anxiety which is NOT of the Lord. I am not to feel this way, but to trust in His plan. So much easier said than done when you're kind of a stubborn control freak... I'll get there some day.

I still whole-heartedly support midwives and their model of care. I think it's a wonderful option for women who want that type of care for a low risk pregnancy, but for some reason it's just not for me, and THAT IS OKAY. I can still have a wonderful birth at the hospital that I like, with a doctor that I like, in the same way that I would choose to deliver at the birth center... a natural unmedicated birth. I know I can do it... I've done it before and I'll do it again.

So, that's my recent change in regards to my pregnancy/birth plan. I am so totally okay with it. I have to go where I feel the most secure and relaxed. That's at Evergreen. As far as baby goes, baby has been doing quite well. I have felt A LOT more kicks lately, and it's wonderful!! I'm loving that!! I also got to see baby kick from outside my belly. That was neat because I have never seen that so early. I believe I was about 21 or 22 weeks before I was able to see Joey kick, and I know I was over 6 months along with Annie before I saw her kicks. This baby is very strong too!!

I've also noticed a lot of braxton hicks contractions, which are totally normal. They might be due to the stress and anxiety I've been feeling lately. I've been trying to rest as much as possible as well as staying very hydrated with water and gatorade. This seems to help, as well as prayer. I have to credit my Bible study that I'm doing right now too. Having something to study and dive into when I need to hear God's holy word has been really helpful to me. I've found a lot of peace in that, and I am so thankful!! Other than that, things seem to be moving right along. Baby is measuring right on schedule and my pregnancy is finally going fairly smoothly at this point... as in right now... today.

SO here's to a smooth, anxiety and stress free pregnancy and delivery. I can't wait to meet this little one, and I do hope everything goes as smoothly as it did with baby's sister. Thanks for reading friends!! God bless!!