Category: pregnancy

Coffee Break

I love the blog posts I’ve seen others do that are written as if we’re sitting and having coffee today. I’ve had all sorts of random thoughts floating through my head, so it’s time for a coffee date!

Coffee, water, and half a doughnut

Today over coffee, I’d tell you …

Time flies when you’re not looking. I know many moms of young children (myself included) wish some of the endless witching hours would go away. We hate it when people say, “Treasure these times! They go so fast!” because they feel interminable when things are not going well, aren’t fun, and are fraught with stress about discipline, illness, and other “are we making the right call?” choices.

My littlest moved into his big boy bed the other night. My daughter had a father-daughter dance this weekend and looked too grown-up in some of her pictures. I went with my oldest on a field trip to the zoo and he wrote a narrative zoo journal about his trip.

My catalogue of tiny baby memories for each of them is growing the tiniest bit slimmer every day, but I’m adding to their bigger kid catalogues. It’s wonderful and bittersweet. Time does fly, at least outside of those crazy times.

Did you hear that Iran wants to start promoting their country as a tourist destination? I would love to someday visit Iran as a tourist. Yes, really. There’s so much history and so many beautiful places to experience. But seriously … The risks of traveling there seem to far outweigh the non-risks. I’ll content myself for now with dreaming of a someday trip to Cuba. Maybe one day more “forbidden” places will be safe and open for travel.

It’s almost time to start my Hypnobabies again. Except I seem to have misplaced my workbook … Ugh. Hypnobabies is a self-hypnosis, guided meditation and relaxation way of prepping for labor and delivery … And the last trimester of pregnancy, and the early postpartum days too, in my opinion. I know, I know – how crunchy.

I started HB during my pregnancy with Nora as a way to last longer before the epidural. (You can read more about her birth here.) I used it again, although not as diligently, when pregnant with Jude. (His story here.) Even if I still end up the epidural route, HB helps so much in the mental processes around pregnancy, labor, and delivery that I still think it’s worthwhile. It’d be nice to NOT have the epidural (and the possibility of a spinal headache, the epidural shakes and chills, the dropping blood pressure), but I’m not going to presume anything. I’ll aim for a positive experience in whatever way that comes to me and this baby.

And HB helps me sleep better. I can definitely use some of that!

My job is … Fine. I’m not in a super-excited place about it, but I’m not super-negative about it. Maybe it’s contentment? That’s at least something to aim for. And super excitement isn’t something I necessarily want leading up to maternity leave. This may be a good time for exploration within the job and the possibilities I’ve been too busy to examine during other periods.

I think this baby likes yoga. I haven’t been as good about getting a short practice or two in during the week. I did 20 minutes tonight, and I could really tell the (tight) difference in my hips and legs. After even just those 20 minutes, the baby started moving around and kicking more than I’d felt other evenings. I think s/he appreciates the room around their room now!

One of these days I’m going to leave an entry exactly as typed and auto-corrected to see if it makes any sense at all. The iPad just changed “baby started” to “baby’s tatted” in the last paragraph. I mean, come on.

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 18, 19, 20

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How far along? 20 weeks as of Saturday

Total weight gain/loss: I’m back on the weight gain train!    I think I’ve gained about nine pounds since getting pregnant.

Maternity clothes? This week’s weird experience is having maternity pants too tight in the legs but loose in the hips. What?! I’m also on the quest to find a maternity dress appropriate for my sister’s wedding. Finding a dress that is not black or navy is proving to be a challenge. In other news, my Stitch Fixes are now including maternity clothes, which is interesting! I’ll share an update on that separately, but those weekly pictures are all StitchFix outfits. Same pink/red top in the 18 and 20 week pictures, actually!

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Stretch marks? I feel like the ones on my legs are trying to spread. I’m also wondering if my legs are trying to develop varicose veins, so I’m contemplating running compression socks as everyday wear. Thoughts?

Sleep: I love my pillows. My husband loves my pillows … I had to push him off of it last night  😉

Best moment this week(s): We had our anatomy ultrasound at 18.5 weeks, so two weeks ago. Everything seems to be developing normal and on pace! Baby Mouse is still a surprise baby, too.

Movement: Lots and stronger! On Friday I was sitting with my hand lightly resting on my belly. Suddenly my hand popped off because of a tiny little kick or punch that could be felt from the outside!

Food cravings: Limes, avocados, and salt. Always with the salt. Still not really fond of chicken.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Chicken and pork, in particular. Sweet things – dessert isn’t so fun right now, which should be helping with that tight pants syndrome but isn’t! Also anything with cream cheese icing – BLECH.

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Gender prediction: Still think it’s a girl!

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On and loose.

Feeling all the Feels or Just Some of the Feels? Not as emotional all the time, but I’m starting to see those peaks of frustration or crying or whatever. 🙂

Weekly Wisdom: I was on business travel this last week and somehow had the foresight to pack a Ziplock bag with some meal replacement shake mixes and granola bars, as well as a reusable water bottle for making the shakes. These came in handy several times when meals weren’t coinciding with my body’s needs (time zones) or during airport delays.

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Milestones: Our anatomy scan was great, like I mentioned. My oldest son (6.5) decided that if the baby is a girl, her name should be Rachel. Why? Because he has a friend named Rachel [I think it’s a little crush] and that’s a nice name. I had a great friend named Rachel, too, and this was actually our girl name if Jude had been a girl. So we shall see, Seth!

Pregnancy Fitness: I need to get back into more regular yoga practices. It makes a big difference, but I’ve slacked off over the last week because of the travel and general fatigue. I did an in-person vinyasa flow class a week and a half ago, modifying with the instructor for pregnancy. It was wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed being in a yoga class with real people again. 🙂

 

Towel as yoga mat. Toes still visible. That’s a decent start to the day.

A photo posted by Erin M (@treaclenet) on

Friday Five: What’s (Still) in My Gym Bag?

Oh, whoops … I totally missed a week there, didn’t?! I had a baby update all in my head to share and kept thinking that I just needed to take a picture. That never did happen, partly because Kid #3 was up all of Saturday night/Sunday morning with a stomach virus. Then I took one at work – in the bathroom, of course, because that’s the only full-length mirror I have access to. I hated that picture because it was IN A BATHROOM. Ugh. Then it’s Friday and I’m passing another week tomorrow, and well … why I don’t just combine and 16/17 week update on Monday, okay?

(Everything baby is peachy, btw.)

This week’s Friday Five theme is “What’s in your gym bag?”

I haven’t been to the gym for running, yoga, cross-training, or anything other than customer meetings since I got pregnant. See, I work in HR and we’re assigned to organizations to support and have regular meetings to hear what’s going on and what help they might want. My gym is at my workplace, one of my customer organizations runs the gym, so … ta da!

Since I hadn’t been in so long, I thought it’d be fun to see what’s STILL in my gym bag after four months of not using it.

Running Shoes

First up: the running shoes, of course. Adidas Supernova Boost, I think. Purple, for sure. You can see my ID tag from the local running store and the pod-holder for my Nike+ Sportswatch. I like these shoes a lot, but my favorites are still my Mizuno Wave Riders.

Spare Change

Ah yes: the collection of spare “change.” Spare shorts, socks, and underwear. Spare Bondi Band to keep bangs and hair off my face (running pet peeve). Spare Velcro roller and flat iron for the post-run-and-shower beautifying.

Nuun and Honey Stinger Chews

Nuun! I love you, Nuun. You’ve helped me even during pregnancy when it’s so hard to choke down regular water without vomiting. The Strawberry Lemonade is probably my favorite, although Grape + Tropical is pretty good, too … especially after a nasty Houston summer run when I need the double help. And some chews for fuel … love me some chews.

Plastic bags

The always important plastic bags! I keep the runDisney bag from last year’s WDW Marathon Weekend 10K in my gym bag. It’s great for putting either my work clothes (post-work run) or my sweaty running clothes (pre-work run) in until I get home and can throw them in the laundry. You never know when you’ll need a plastic bag.

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And finally: my secret weapon. Wonderful for both runner mama’s occasional monkey butt and chafing (don’t lie, it happens to all of us) AND for the baby’s diaper rash. Best stuff ever. Except maybe coconut oil (for the same issues), but the Dr. Smith’s diaper rash ointment is more portable.

Now I’m all nostalgic … the prenatal yoga has been wonderful, but I can’t wait to go run again! On my drive home from work the other day I was getting all emotional looking at the sidewalks in our neighborhood and remembering how they look in sunrise runs. That, my friends, is what pregnancy hormones do to you!

Enjoy the Friday Five Link-up that’s hosted by Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney! It’s a great way to find more running blogs!

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