Is it Friday already?? Ha – I say that because I honestly have no idea what day it is half the time. My days consist of snuggling, rocking, one-handed eating and trying to do everything else in the moments of quiet.
I’m slowly getting back into things – Evs is transitioning back to full-time work and so the days that he is home I am taking full advantage and letting them have their daddy-son bonding time which gives me space to just…be. And sleep. Mainly sleep really. We’ve also managed to get out of the house a few times and even braved the shops to get Rehan some new clothes (he’s in that awkward in-between stage of being too big for his newborn clothes and too small for the 0-3 month ones).
One good thing about having a baby is the time you have to catch up on reading – I spend the times with Rehan attached to my boob scrolling through blogs on my iPad and attending to him as he makes cooing noises or somehow manages to fall off or asleep.
So, here are a few links that I have read and loved this week.
This made me snort out of my coffee in the morning – kids can be disturbingly creepy. My favourite – “I want to peel all your skin off”. I cannot WAIT till Rehan starts talking.
Being an Instagram addict – I love the idea of this DIY wall art. Am very tempted to get a frame and put this up in the hallway.
I’ve always thought that running is more than just a way to get fit and exercise. It’s literally a METAPHOR for life. Here’s 17 things running teaches you about life. I love very single one of them.
Dealing with a squealing baby sometimes (ok, most of the time) makes your nerves frayed and ends frazzled and the importance of me-time has never stood out so much for me. There are just MOMENTS where I know I just need to be quietly by myself before I can be a better person to those around me. Kinda like the oxygen-in-the-airplane scenario. This post from Tiny Buddha (one of my newest fave sites!) write about how taking quiet time for yourself helps people around you.
If you have not heard of Bad Lip Reading you need to go see THIS. It will make you pee your pants. And then when you’re done – watch the latest one for The Walking Dead. The exchange between Rick and The Governor at the end nearly made me split my stitches. You have been warned.
Now that I’m firmly into the second trimester (halfway woohoo!), I’ve had a few curious questions on how my routine has changed since I became pregnant. Well, to be completely honest – it hasn’t changed too much from what I was doing before but with some considerations and modifications to the little baby that is holed up there for the next 5-6 months.
My exercise routine before I got pregnant was a bit on and off. I was just getting back into running after slowly returning from my injury. I hadn’t really touched my gym membership but I had lofty dreams of finally completing the Body for Life program. I was doing yoga regularly – Bikram yoga to be precise and slowly falling in love with its sweaty, toxin-releasing, I-want-to-die style. However, once it was confirmed that those two lines were not a figment of my imagination and boy, this was happening – I had to stop.
What I changed in the first trimester
-No Bikram yoga
This is because particularly in the early days of pregnancy, you are not supposed to raise your internal body temperature as it can affect the development of the baby. That being said, yogis who have been doing Bikram for years are able to continue practising this by monitoring their body temperature and listening to their bodies. Given I was a fair newbie to the style, I didn’t really want to push myself like that.
Also, given how tired I was in the first trimester, I really didn’t have the energy to do something that strenuous.
- Walking
I was still running but I found that about 6-7 weeks in, I was getting a few twinges and cramps which made me feel a little uncomfortable. So I switched to a more run-walk style – with the focus on walking. It was actually quite frustrating, because I wanted to run but my body wasn’t quite cooperating. I think a lot of this was due to the lack of energy I had in the first trimester because of the nausea/not eating and I couldn’t sustain long distances.
Walking helped me feel better – I made a point to take the dogs for a walk more often and counted that towards my exercise. My aim was just to keep moving, in any way I could.
- Resting
More often than not, you would find me on the couch or in bed in the first trimester. I was EXHAUSTED. So exercise wasn’t the biggest priority on my mind. I made the choice to listen to my body then, knowing that I needed rest more than movement and made sure I didn’t exert myself.
In the second trimester
With the second trimester, it was like a switch flicked on and I got my groove back. I was eating better, I had energy and all I wanted to do was get out there and move. However, as I’d been pretty idle over the weeks before, my strength and stamina wasn’t quite what it used to be. I was heavier for one, and while not much it did make a few things uncomfortable.
My obstetrician has been fairly conservative in his advice for me – scale down the running, more walking, go swimming. While I totally respect his opinion, I was more of the mind that I was going to listen to my body. Rebellious pregnant woman – that’s me. LOL – funny how that has turned out
- Swimming
One thing I did introduce more often was swimming. Evs and I had been going on and off once a week before we went on holiday in May and with the opening of a new pool centre near us, we started going more often (even when it was a pain to wash my hair that much!!). I’ve found this to be the best exercise for me – there’s something about being in the water and being in your own zone that I love. Also as I get bigger and more uncomfortable, feeling weightless for a few hours is an awesome feeling
- More walking
I’m also going strong with the walking – it’s getting harder going up all the hills in my area, but I find that even a half hour walk around the neighbourhood is enough to keep me from feeling like I’m a sloth.
- Core exercises
From all the reading I have been doing, having a strong core is essential as that’s where the power to push out that baby comes from. After the first trimester, it’s not recommended to do exercises lying on your back or stomach down as well as toning down the abs exercise as it can actually cause your ab muscles to separate. Lovely. What I have been doing is planks – trying to increase my time every time. It’s harder than it looks!!
- Yoga (prenatal kind)
I miss yoga. I really do. And I tried a few classes at the new gym but they weren’t quite the ones for me. So, especially with some of the turmoil in my life at the moment, I need something to take me away and just relax. So this has been fairly sporadic and I’m making a promise to myself to get onto this – even if it’s just once a week.
There is no doubt that I’m taking it easy now. I’m forgoing the high-intensity workouts in favour of more relaxing pursuits and really just trying to keep active in any way that I can. My aim is to be healthy and as prepared as I can be for the birth – which means not overdoing it. A lot of it is also focusing on the more mental and emotional side – I need that.
The best advice I have heard in regards to exercise when pregnant is to keep doing what you were doing before you got pregnant – just don’t add anything extra or do anything too new. This isn’t the time to start training for something you have never done before, but to do what your body is used to, but keeping in mind your own limits and cues. Everyone is different. Listen to your body – be healthy
How far along?18 weeks, 6 days (as of posting I’ve started week 19 now)
How big is baby? A mango!! (which so happens to coincide with the start of the mango season here in Australia. I’m eyeing them off)
(Notice new outdoor furniture that we assembled today as well. And my wilted basil plant in the white pot lol. We’re missing the cushions as they had sold out, but still it was nice to sit here watching the sun set).
How I’m feeling? Still feeling good – I feel like I’m at a point where it seems a little cruisy. Each week I just feel like I get bigger and bigger but otherwise it’s been pretty drama free. My belly still itches like a mother which is really annoying me. Anyone have any suggestions for relieving this??
Quitting sugar has been harder than I thought this time around. Mainly because I’ve been wanting juicy, fresh fruit like mangoes and watermelon and allowing myself to eat that instead of chocolate. However, the effects of sugar on me – no matter where it came from – are the same. That includes the bloating.
See exhibit A.
That’s bloat + baby.
But the difference now is that I can blame it all on baby
Fitness? Doing as well as I can manage – I think I have to accept that my body isn’t quite it used to be (and even then it wasn’t a hugely well-oiled machine). I tried a slow jog on the tready at the gym the other day and I was puffed by 1.5km. Gah. So brisk walking it is. Walking the dogs and swimming is really where I am at the moment and it’s been kinda humbling in a way to…just…accept that. I think I might post about this in more detail.
Weight? As I’m getting bigger so is my weight. Which is awesome because it means baby is growing!!
How I’m changing? Ok so you’ve all heard of my itchy belly…well it’s also itchy boobs now. #FML. I look deranged as I try and discreetly scratch myself and it’s not really working. The discreet thing that is. Also since we spent most of this long weekend baby item shopping, I’ve started to notice prams a lot more. Like I stare young couples down in an attempt to figure out what they have. I’m so confused.
What I miss?I found a replacement for wine!!! I found this brand at my local supermarket that makes non-alcoholic wine and it hits the spot. Like *ALMOST* the same – I miss the little buzz you get from wine, but this has been good on the warm summery-type evenings we’ve had over the last few days.
Symptoms? Pimples are coming back and I think it’s because of the weather changing from cold to hot to cold again. Maybe the mangoes as well. Ugh. Also…I THINK I can start to feel the baby move. I mean, over the last few weeks I’ve been getting little jabs here and there and then a bubbly type feeling (which I know is NOT gas) so I’m getting all excited. Evs puts his hands on my belly as much as he can but nothing from the outside yet.
Cravings? Oatmeal. Weird I know. And avocadoes are back in my book again. Had the best brunch at a local cafe and it was so so good.
Aversions? I’m kinda starting to get off eating meat. I prefer to eat around it and would much rather eat the side veggies etc than the actual meat part. Thinking I need to make more vegetarian stuff.
Highlights this week? Buying our first baby clothes ever! They had a 30% off storewide sale at Bonds over the weekend and I bought some jumpsuits and the cutest stripy leggings. Is it just me or are chubby legs with a big, saggy nappy the most cutest thing to see in stripy leggings??
Ok so I keep falling behind in updating this. Technically I started week 18 this week so this will get me up to speed. Plus for some reason I have no idea where week 16 photos have gone but nothing major happened in that week except baby was as a big as a turnip
How far along?errr…Let’s just say 17 weeks, 6 days
How big is baby? It was a turnip…and the became a sweet potato
How I’m feeling? Really good. I’m loving this second trimester because I have energy and I’m not that huge that I’ve started doing the “duck-waddle” (as coined by Evs after we went to our monthly Obs appointment last week and we were SURROUNDED by ladies about to pop.) However, I have started doing that hand on back thing as I walk because GODDAMN by back is killing me.
Belly has popped out even more and if you saw my photo from my I Heart My Bodypost – yeah…well.
I can’t remember if I have mentioned this already, but I’ve started having trouble getting comfortable to sleep so I bought myself a Snoogle. You can bet I’m getting all up close and personal with this pillow (see pic #3 at the bottom – so comfortable). I don’t know how I slept without this before. Evs is feeling a little bit left out but I make him overheat anyways so he can’t complain.
Fitness? Hmph. Have a slight annoyance at the moment. Evs asked the question about the kind of exercise I should be doing (for some reason he feels like I’m exerting myself and should be moving around in a bubble. Slightly cute, slightly more annoying) and the doc was like “No running” even AFTER I had told him my running history and what exactly I was doing now (which is taking it slow, making sure my heart rate was not elevated). His concern – which coming from a male doctor I found slightly creepy but oh well – that my NIPPLES would get stimulated through the movement and start to produce colostrum (i.e. pre-milk).
Um, what?
THAT’S your biggest concern??? (I didn’t ask what I was meant to do when it was cold)
Gah.
So I’m “allowed” to walk briskly and swim. I appreciate my doc’s advice, but sometimes I feel like I know my body a little better. There’s that part of me (which I am sure is the Indian side that is wired to worship doctors) that says I should listen, but I’m also listening to my body as well.
So swimming it has been and lots of walks. I went to a yoga class at the gym which was run by a girl that was very nervous to have a pregnant woman (aka me) in her class. She kept looking over and instructing me to do hip-openers.
My hips were certainly opened by the end of it.
Weight?Hmm…not sure if I’ll continue to do post this. I have been thinking, given the thoughts around my own body image and the relationship my weight used to be – I don’t want that to dictate how I feel about myself. I’m NOT, but sometimes there is an unbidden thought of comparison that I don’t like as much. Also as an indication to anyone else out there as well that what I’m putting on or not is normal. It’s not – it’s just MY body going through the changes.
As long as I know that my body and my baby is well nutritioned and that my doc is happy with how I am going, then I’m not concerned. At my appointment I was measuring right on track for 17 weeks and the heartbeat was strong so I’m all happy.
(As an aside – OMG it never fails to make my own heart skip a beat when I hear the baby’s. I worry y’all).
How I’m changing? Popped out even more. At my cousin’s baby’s 1st birthday over the weekend everyone was fawning over it which was kinda nice. Although, my bump isn’t quite round – it’s sorta lumpy I feel haha.
What I miss?Still wine. I need to find a replacement and fast.
Symptoms? The itchiness continues to dog me and I have all my team at work on ‘itch-watch’ so they can admonish me if they see me start to move my hands over my belly. Sigh. Such a good team.
Also, yes the back pain hasn’t been fun. I think I pulled something the other day after sitting too long at a funny chair and I literally couldn’t walk without limping.
ALSO – um, I’ve got this LINE down my belly. A slightly darker, hairier LINE. Apparently it’s normal (I Googled and checked) – and is called a linea nigra.
Cravings? Nothing unusual, but I had some choc-mint ice-cream the other day and I thought, uh-oh this could lead me down a slippery path.
Aversions? Avocados are back! What I’m not liking is the veggie burger brand we normally buy. Yech. Will need to experiment with making my own.
Highlights this week? A healthy appointment where everything is going well. No major dramas which is what I want to hear. Also, more days of sunshine is making my heart sing. COME ON Melbourne.
How I’m feeling? Not bad. There are days when I forget I’m pregnant and it surprises me. I’ve officially ‘popped’. I’m also officially not fitting into my jeans but stubbornly hanging onto them. Sigh. I need to go shopping. I went to a maternity store and they had a STRAP ON BUMP in the change rooms. Be prepared for some freakiness –>
Whoa. It’s like looking into the FUTURE. (But without the hairstyle that makes me look bald haha)
(Yay or nay to the jeans?? Not sure if I can justify spending $130 on them but OMG they are comfortable)
I’m enjoying flaunting the bump a bit now and have people do a slight double take when they realise it’s not me after a big meal but something a little rounder. Apparently the baby can now hear sounds through the womb and I’m trying my best to not cuss and expose it to some good music and not just the umpteenth rerun of Gangnam Style on the radio.
(Bump back to normal. It looks tiny now lol)
Fitness? You know we joined the fancy-schamncy gym with the month long membership? So Evs and I headed over to check out the gym and get in some swimming. I was curious to see how I’d feel running again given that I hadn’t really pushed my body that much over the last few months. I started off slow on the treadmill and completed about 2km at an even pace. Overall, I felt good – I wasn’t breathless, no cramps and I felt I could sustain that for some time longer. After we did about a 1km each in the pool so I was quite happy with my workout. And that was probably the extent of my exercise this week. I walked a few days when taking the dogs for their walk, but otherwise have been couch-potatoing it. I also think walking around the Pregnancy Expo this weekend counted towards exercise and totally made up for the lemon gelato I had afterwards.
Weight? + 0.2kg(~ 1.8kg overall)
How I’m changing? Popped out. I’m also starting to do that annoying habit of rubbing my belly. Also, this might be weird but I swear my belly button has gotten bigger. It now looks like I could plug something into it and scarily feels like it goes much deeper than I suspect. Weird.
What I miss? Wine. And Oysters. Both were in abundance at the Problogger event on the weekend and I had to sadly stick to Lemon Lime Bitters and the cooked food.
Symptoms? OMG the itchiness!!! As my skin stretches on my belly I have this insatiable urge to just claw at it and relieve the itching. I’m using this organic oil on my belly that soothes and moisturise it and helps with the stretch mark situation as well. (Was *this* close to buying Miranda Kerr’s organic range. Gah.) I’m trying not to itch but god help me, it is a mean feat indeed.
Cravings? Wine. Full glasses of heady, bodied, red wine. So. Not. Fair.
Aversions? Funnily enough – avocadoes.
Highlights this week? Being able to get out and about – feeling like my normal self in terms of food and exercise. Also Ev’s 30th birthday – he is officially an OLD MAN (I say that every year but you know ). He got his usual techy things that was lusting after for his birthday but the sweetest thing was him declaring that his REAL present would arrive in April. Cue the awww…
(Store-bought M&M cake. The best kind )
I also had my ultrasound on my heart and a cardiologist appointment this week to make sure that my ticker was all good. For the back story – I had open heart surgery when I was a baby which resulted in a patched up heart. My obstetrician was just a little concerned given that I have a slight murmur when he was listening to my heart so he referred me to get it all checked out. After a few appointments, it turns out that my heart is in fine working order and I have nothing to worry about
