Sunday, July 13, 2014

Pregnancy Updates!

I thought I would just stop by and give some quick updates on things over here, in pregnant lady land. I'm currently on summer break from school (thank God) and I thought I'd have all sorts of time for blogging, working out, relaxing, snoozing...not so. I think I'm busier now than ever. Good busy, but BUSY.

How far along am I? As of today, I am 31 weeks and 2 days (roughly 75% baked.)

How do I feel? *knocks on wood* Most of the time, I feel exactly like my normal, non-pregnant self. I regularly forget that I am quite obviously pregnant now - and I get surprised when people ask about it. Then I see my reflection and I get startled...like, "Who's body is THAT? Not mine!" In general, I feel pretty good. There are definitely times and entire days when I am pretty tired, but nothing that has changed my lifestyle all that much.
 
31 weeks after building the crib!
Least favorite part of being pregnant? My biggest complaint would still be relentless heartburn - so I've been taking down Gaviscon like its candy.
Turns out I am one of those weird people that likes the taste of antacids. Another least favorite thing: uninvited hands on the belly. I'm going to start grabbing the boobs of women that do this. You've been warned.

Favorite part of being pregnant? There is a lot that I do like. I like the anticipation - its like waiting for Christmas when you're a kid, but waiting for a much longer time. I love to feel the little pokes and jabs from my little dude. I love, love, love thinking about my Mister as a daddy...and I love all the conversations we have about the baby. Our relationship is different and better, which is pretty cool because it was great before. 

What are you looking forward to? My shower is in two weeks! I don't really do "themes" - at least I am not into baby-ish themes. My "shower" is basically a summer picnic, complete with woven baskets and checkered table cloths. It will be really nice to see the family. I'm also having a lot of fun planning out the nursery. Again, we're not into themes. It will be a modern, minimalist room with some mid-century touches; no jungle animals or baseball themes for this kid.
Gertie, sleeping on the job during Shower preparation! Bum.
Biggest concerns about this whole thing? I guess there is the whole "I've gotta keep a human alive ALL THE TIME" thing - which is mildly terrifying, but I hope to be mostly instinctual. I am, however, starting to have minor panic attacks thinking about how short my "maternity leave" will be - I use that term loosely. I feel like this is a real social injustice. How can we raise healthy, well-rounded, loving children when we get to maybe spend a few weeks home with them when they are BRAND NEW PEOPLE and we are BRAND NEW PARENTS? As an educator, I see all sorts of problems with this (bonding, development, consistency, stress.) I think it speaks volumes about what we value as a society. Anyway - I will be plotting and scheming to find a way to stay home until the day I am required to go back to work. There is always a chance. #teampositive (Don't make this political. I am grateful to be employed and to have insurance, etc. But in an ideal world, I would not be leaving my brand new baby with someone else when I am just getting to know them. You cannot argue with that.) 

What are you going to call this kid? We have to keep something a secret! We talked about this quite a bit and finding a name was hard...we've changed our minds a few times for various reasons. But I'm 95% sure we have settled on a pretty cool moniker for the this little boy. Since we gave away the gender, we are keeping the name a secret. And honestly, I don't want to hear the comments about how someone doesn't like the name. Too bad, so sad. I will say that it will not be your average name; in fact, it hasn't made the top 1,000 names in the US ever. :) Don't worry. You'll like it. 

How is working out? Going into this, I knew that I would have to learn to be fair to myself. I have pretty high expectations of myself with most things and I can be pretty mean to me when I am disappointed with my performance in anything. ANYTHING. I am one of those  people that will rewrite post-it notes 1000 times if my handwriting doesn't look right. OCD, maybe. So, working out has been an adjustment but I am actually proud of how I've dealt with it. I am still running most days, but it is slow and inconsistent and short - usually about 4 miles at a time. I have decided that any time I go running and I feel the SLIGHTEST amount of discomfort - I can walk. I'm not into taking risks with this kid, so I end up doing a lot of workouts where I run/walk every other block and I am ok with that. I've been able to deal with the change by staying really active in other ways: making projects around the house, cutting the grass, painting things, planting things, walking the dog, riding my bike, preparing the nursery, etc. It turns out that we have endless projects around here, and my time is better spent on them anyway.  
I feel a lot like preggers Charlotte running - cautious!!

Any cravings or weird diet changes? Not really. I go through phases with foods - where I like to have them, but it isn't really a weird craving. I had a phase with Cheerios, baked potatoes, even Egg White Delights from McD's (no Canadian bacon, obviously.) Lately, I want a lot of salads...big crunchy salads with all kinds of veggies for texture. I do prefer cold, uncooked things. I could eat 10 nectarines or a bag of cherries a day if I could get away with it. I do like ice cream once or twice a week - but who doesn't? The fact of the matter is that my stomach can't hold much anymore because this little kicking ninja in my belly takes up a lot of room, so I don't eat meals very often...lots of little things all day. Total, I have gained 12 pounds - which my doctor said is fine. Technically, I'm behind the weight gain curve, but she said it is because I'm active and I was diet-conscious before I got pregnant anyway. As long as the baby keeps putting on weight, its all good. Hopefully, I can get back to fighting weight quicker after the baby is here!

Oiselle - Flock vs Volee: This won't be common knowledge for all of you, but I wanted to address it anyway. My racing team, Oiselle, has broken up into three different racing groups: Haute Volee (elite athletes,) Volee (my current team) and now, the Flock (team members without the same requirements as Haute Volee and Volee.) Volee team members were asked to decide if we wanted to continue on the team for the upcoming year while adhering to certain social media and racing requirements or drop down to the less rigorous Flock - which still gives many perks but you can sort of be your own racer. I really like the idea of being on a sponsored race team as a competitive RACER, but the fact is, I don't know what the next 12 months (or 18 years) looks like for me. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to meet minimum racing requirements (8 races in the year) or if I could stay competitive during that time. I don't like to race for the sake of running; I like to compete. That said - I have decided to join the Flock and to take a step back from Volee. I actually felt a lot of relief once I formally made that decision, because I can still train and run for Oiselle - but at my own pace and around the needs of my new, little family. :)

So - that's a lot to take in. :) 

2 comments:

  1. I just love you guys! This was so fun to read!

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  2. This is a very thoughtful thinking that you can come up with about empathy that one can learn during their pregnancy. Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete