Big Changes!
Whoa baby!
I can’t believe it, but today I’m one day away from 20 weeks – halfway through my pregnancy! It’s been busy in life and apparently in my womb, because this week we had our ultrasound and saw a MUCH different picture than when we were only 8 weeks along with Little Blob!
I mean, that babe is really growing! Sometimes I look down at my expanding belly and think, “Is there REALLY something in there that’s progressing and full of life?” – it’s still hard to believe this is our reality and daily we are grateful for this little guy (or girl – we aren’t finding out!). The ultrasound showed us the babe’s cerebellum, spine, fingers and toes, four chambers of her beating heart, and a very clear thumbs up. Love it!
Too cool! Love that outline of the leg!
And two little feet…kicking away at the camera.
Thumbs up, mom!
It was a big day! We both couldn’t believe the detail and beauty of a small, growing life! So, how am I feeling lately?
Pretty good! A few updates in that regard:
Weight gained: About 10 lbs. It’s hard to believe because I don’t always feel like I’m carrying that much weight around, but for being half way through my pregnancy I feel good about that! I weigh myself some mornings but not all, and am weighed at my midwife appointments mid-day. which of course is different than the morning, so from the mornings I can see it’s about 10 lbs or so thus far. I think weight gain is dependant on each body and everyone is so different that you really can’t compare, but at this point I feel like the weight gain has been slow and steady and feels about right. I do have to remember that my center of gravity is different than it used to be and already there’s a lot more weight on my body for daily life activities and workouts.
Bellybutton: Oh that sucker popped out long before my belly did, and it feels and looks so funny! But I actually love it – it’s such a clear change as I always had an innie belly button, but now it sticks out through every shirt! I think there’s just not much room in my body/torso and the baby just had no room to go anywhere but out pretty quickly!
Movement: I’m so thankful I’ve been able to stay active throughout each trimester so far. I’ve modified some of the exercises and movements by lifting less weight and not doing anything high intensity (or much core-focused), but I’m still moving my major muscle groups and trying to hold onto as much muscle as I can. I can still do 4-5 pull ups without assistance, don’t have any round ligament pain, and still crushed Half Murph (1/2 mile run, 50 pull ups – I used a band for this quantity – 100 push ups – off a bar on an incline for me – and 150 squats, 1/2 mile run to finish) on Memorial Day Monday (picture post-workout above) and felt awesome! I’m not following a specific program but that’s nothing new for me; despite knowing that a structured program tends to yield better results than changing things up often, my goal is always to stay consistent and keep up with general movement, and so far, so good with about 3-4 workouts a week and at least 12,000 steps a day.
Nutrition: My appetite is definitely up, but I’m not really craving anything these days except smokies (I can eat chicken or beef in a sausage form but still don’t love cooking meat) and English muffins… A little less sugar than a few weeks ago, a little more vegetables, but otherwise I’m finding I’ll be starving and start wolfing food down and then am suddenly full. Is it possible I’m already starting to run out of room and need to eat smaller, more frequent meals? For a while I was tracking my macros with Eat to Perform, as you guys know about, but I took a break for several weeks from that to eat intuitively because it didn’t feel necessary to track. After feeling like I was going overboard on sugar, I decided to track again for a week just to see where I’m falling without trying to hit any numbers. It’s actually helped me to be more mindful of how I’m eating and if it’s mindless or really necessary, and that coupled with moving and putting any “treat” foods (which we don’t actually have a lot of right now) downstairs in the basement means I’m noticing less sugar, which is great! I’ll likely finish the week of tracking and then let it go again – I just was curious to see where I was.
Kicks: I’m feeling little jabs and muscle cramps that I think are the baby (like Paige! No butterfly or tickling feelings for me at all!), but my placenta is in the front of my body so the baby has to kick through that for me to feel it!
The ultrasound truly was the cherry on top of a fun and full weekend because earlier…
We bought a house! On Thursday, we got the keys, walked around our empty house, pulled out our camping chairs and projector, and watched a movie while eating pizza from Without Papers in Inglewood. A major thanks to Jay (you can find him locally at Jason Saville Realty) for helping us with our first home and to our broker, Rylan Hahn at Roost Mortgage, who managed to wrangle all of our information being self-employed and with multiple income streams and handled loads of paperwork for us! It was a labor of life for all of us involved but we are so grateful God opened all the doors and made something happen that we truly never thought would… Another major gift!
Our home is from the year 1912 – 105 years old – and we absolutely love all 680 square feet of it!
Mikey walking in for the first time – ow THAT is a natural and excited smile right there!
The weekend was busy and full, but thanks to friends we got it done in a short amount of time – and thanks to Geoff connecting us with a moving truck from Duane at Get a Move On in Calgary – definitely recommend them if you need a moving truck or movers!
We put in two long days of unpacking and our home is basically liveable now, and we are so, so grateful for this change in our lives. We’ve still got paintings to hang and some boxes to find homes for in the basement, but we are more or less ready to go. Needless to say, we were pretty beat by the end of Sunday…
We still need to get a bed asap as my dad is coming up this weekend to paint the exterior (which will be a HUGE help but also so fun to have some solo time with him)! Here’s what we’re thinking (thanks to my sister-in-law, Sarah for this color combo and idea):
So…a lot of life updates! Moving both my body and houses, very grateful for our supportive community and for our baby and home to have, and thankful for this journey that we’re on right now. I’ve mentioned it before but it feels like a time of blessing and Mikey and I are just embracing it and saying THANK YOU to God for these gifts. Thanks for being part of my journey and for allowing me the space to share!
Live well & be well,
Bonnie