My New Threads!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new Running For Two shirt by For Two Fitness in Spring that Santa brought me for Christmas. I have worn it twice now. One to a long run and yesterday to yoga to show off to all the other Momma's.

I have gotten so many compliments on it. On my long run a ton of people were like, "WOW! WAY TO GO MOMMA!" "Cute" and of course lots and lots of Awe's! The color is perfect for me. The spring color is a Kelly Green color and is perfect to bring out my red hair and of course red face from running but that is ok.

I love the fit! IT IS AWESOME! Yesterday during yoga I never had to adjust my shirt down. It is plenty long enough to cover my belly and there is still a ton of room left for me to grow. The fabric is super soft and I never had any chaffing from the hem. It fits and feels so nice!

All you fit momma's out there, this is definitely a piece of clothing I suggest you invest in. It will last through your whole pregnancy and it also answers that question, is she pregnant or not? People know I am pregnant when I am wearing the shirt. I LOVE IT!

~After yoga yesterday!~

4 Months Pregnant

Yesterday I have finally hit 21 weeks pregnant! YEA! Less than 20 weeks left until we meet our little guy or girl! Yep we still don't know and we should be finding out on the 13th!

What's up with baby? Per What To Expect.com at 16 weeks the baby is as big as an onion weighing at 3.5 ounces. At 20 weeks as big as a large banana weighing 11 ounces. Also as of 16 weeks the baby can start to hear sounds from outside the uterus. So baby will be hearing the piano lessons and definitely be hearing my horn playing! By 20 weeks the baby is practicing for life outside the womb. It is practicing swallowing, and can taste the difference in the amniotic fluid as that changes from what I eat on a day to day basis.

It feels like the whole last month I was sick. I had bronchitis for the first 2 weeks and a pesky cold for the last 2 weeks. When I was pregnant with Mason, I never got sick once! NOT ONCE! This kid, an entire month. Exercise took a backseat for me to get better. When I was feeling good I did run/walk.

I also got a new running schedule to get my mileage up to prepare me for the half marathon at the end of Feb. I just need to stay healthy and well so that I can do my long runs on the weekends and the shorter runs in the week!

I am still getting Braxton hicks contractions when I exercise. I think it will be a constant for me up until I deliver. I only get 1 though that I can feel where with Mason I would get 2-3 in a 45 minute window.

I noticed that this baby is sitting lower in my belly than Mason did. I do have to use the bathroom more frequently that I had hoped I would have to at this point. And often have to use the bathroom when walking/running. I'm still napping/resting during the middle of the day to keep my energy up for the later end of the day.

I did start listening to my HypnoBirthing CD's in week 20. I have been listening to them for my afternoon rest/nap. Weird/exciting experience: I got flashes of my labor with Mason that I don't remember. I realized how much my Doula helped me, and I am surprised that she didn't pass out from all the breathing she did to help me. I also remember emotional feelings from the labor and birth. It kind of surprised me. I was crying when I woke up. Very powerful emotions!

That is about it. My belly is still about 4-5 weeks bigger now than I was at this point with Mason. I am still down 3-4 lbs from my starting weight. Slowly my weight is going up but again, I am trying my darndest to keep it as low as possible! Also, check out my new tab at the top for pregnancy related blog posts, including my monthly updates!

2014 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I love new years because it is a chance to start over and try to do better in all that you do, or choose to do. My usual goals are to lose weight, make more lunches for my hubs, do better at my church duties.

Here are a list of my goals for this year:

1. Weight loss/Staying Healthy-
This year is different. I can't lose weight because I am pregnant. My goal with that is to not gain too much. I am already doing pretty well in that department. I am still 4-5 pounds under what I started this pregnancy at, which is a pretty good feeling. I am not doing it on purpose. If I am hungry than I eat. But this pregnancy, I am still exercising, a lot more than I was with the first. I feel fuller sooner too. So I am not eating as much as I used to.

Also, I am eating better foods in general. I have indulged, I love my desserts, but again I can't eat too much without feeling icky and sick. So I think that is a good thing for me. I get little tastes not the whole cake! Also once the baby is born my goal is to try and stay healthy, and let my body and the baby do the work in the weight loss dept with the breast feeding. Hoping that this time the breast feeding will help me shed some of the baby weight I put on.

2. Exercise-
I plan on exercising as long as I can before baby. I already know my cutoff for the gym though which will be May 1 so that it is a full month instead of a partial month payment. I plan on running as long as I can too. I will not be running long distances at the end of the pregnancy, but if I can continue to do 1-2 slow, slow, slower miles than that would be nice. But if not, than a nice walk would be great too. I plan on doing yoga up until I have the baby. I will probably fork out a day price to go to the yoga class because I think it will help me in the end more than it does now.

After baby I plan on starting to run again in August. I am giving myself the full 2 months to rest and recover after baby. It could be a little longer depending when the baby arrives in May but Aug 1 I will be in the gym. I also plan on running/walking in the Women's 4 miler that is at the end of Aug/early Sept. It is such a great race I don't want to miss it. Then it is getting back into training and such. Still debating if I can pull off running a 1/2 marathon in November or not. We will see how I am feeling after baby. But that is in the plans for me!

3. Blog pageviews-
I really love writing in this blog. It is personal, it is real and it is fun. I love hearing my friends read it. I would love for all of your friends to read it too. I would love to get double the number of monthly page views by the end of the year. I know that it is just me, but I also know that a year ago, I was looking for other blogs out there to help inspire me to get off my duff and get moving and I hope to do the same for someone else! Through Heather's looking Glass, Healthy Heddleston and This Runners Trials are the 3 blogs that I visit all the time and helped me keep on moving. I am inspired by their stories and adventures!

4. Be a Better Mother-
Yes that is true. I am still learning how to be a mom and there are things that I am lacking in and things that are pretty good. I need/want to be better at reading with my son. Sitting down with him explaining things. Make him put the puzzles together without my help. It is so easy for me to just do things for him. He needs to learn on his own and I really struggle with having him figure it out on his own, cause it is just easier for me to do it for him. On top of that I have to learn how to be a mom to 2 kids. I am scared for this. I am scared about the whole juggling thing. I just hope and pray that my kids are patient with me as I learn how to be a mom to both. As my husband says, take it one day at a time.

5. Continue to grow my piano studio-
I love teaching. I love my students. It is sad that I am having a hard time finding students in my area. By the end of the year I hope to have a steady solid 10 students with a possible wait list. I can only fit 10 in my schedule with the hubs and 10 is plenty to have when I am also a full time stay at home mom. Teaching is just amazing though. I love being able to pass on the love of music to our next generation.

So there you have it! My goals. If I think of any more I will write them out, but I have spent all day thinking about them and this is what I have right now. Also on a cool note, this is my 100th post! Such a small number but still I have done 100 posts in the last 4 months! Pretty neat!

QOTD: Did you make new goals this year or keep some of the old ones?

2013: A Year In Review

This past year has been an interesting one to say the least. My aunt says that the calendar should take a hint from hotels and omit the 13th year. It just doesn't always go right. At least my 2013 is ending on a high note!

My year began with the common, I MUST LOSE WEIGHT, mantra that all new years for most women contain. I worked with my doctor on a natural but very reduced caloric diet intake while taking medicine to help aid in the weight loss. I did lose the weight but SURPRISE, we got pregnant in March, found out April 1. Then all heck broke loose. Things weren't going well. Not even from the start. Matt was out of town the whole time I was pregnant. I had to go to the doc every couple of days for blood work and check-ups. Stress upon stress built! As did my waist line as I had many celebration and sympathy ice cream outings. All the weight I had lost at the beginning of the year was back, and it put me back at my weight from the 1st time I really lost a ton of weight back in 2010-2011.

May rolls around along with my miscarriage and the next day the arrival of Mother's Day and my husband who was hauling butt driving cross country to be with me, after his military training was done. I was in the dumps. I had low self confidence. My faith in Heavenly Father was altered. I thought for sure that it was our miracle. But nope miscarriage #2 in a row. And I had gained 15 lbs quickly and felt bad in that arena. I talked with some friends who told us about a great gym that provides day care, 2.5 hours worth a day. Membership was steeper than we like but the day care provided was the sweet note! So I enrolled in THE BIGGEST GYM I have ever been in. It has everything. Classes, track, weights, cardio, spa the works! I love it.

And I wanted/needed to get back into running. So I signed up for my first 5k. No more excuses. That was my new mantra! I put running races off for years. I thought I was too fat. Too slow. I don't have the running body type. But I have learned, it doesn't matter what you look like, or how slow you go. It is that you finish! Every time I cross that finish line, I cry because I am doing something I never thought I could do. And I don't care if I am the last one to cross. I am honored to cross that line!

I trained with amazing ladies for the women's 4 miler race! Made new friends, kept old ones from prior races. Fell in love with running again. Then BAM! SURPRISE, really, really surprise, cause we weren't "trying". PREGNANT AGAIN! But this time it sticks. My mantra, no excuses stuck in my mind. If the pregnancy is meant to be than I can still run. No excuse to stop running just cause I am pregnant. So run I did, and have! I have run in 5 races this year. 2 5k's, 1 4 miler, 1 10k, and 1 8k. I feel great about myself!

So now the end of the year, I am 20 weeks pregnant, almost 21 weeks. Still running. Still taking care of myself. And so happy with where this year has brought me. I am glad the year is over though, cause it was a rocky first half of the year but hey I survived. Now on to 2014 Where we will meet our new child, I will run more races and learn to run faster and better! I am so happy!

Prepping for Labor

This one goes out to the expecting momma's out there! Lately I have had ladies asking me how do I prepare for a medication free labor. I already talked about hypnobirthing, and that is one way, but seriously. How to prepare for labor??? It is hard to be completely prepared for it. And every labor is different. Women who find out that I birthed Mason without meds look at me like I am crazy or are in awe.

Some women want to try medication free. Some women know they want an epidural. Some women know they want to or have to have a c-secion. But if you are on the fence about wanting to try medication free first, good for you! Why not try experiencing the most painful experience in your entire life. We as women are blessed with the honor of experiencing child birth and all the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of it. One way or another that child is coming out, right? I often tell women if you want to try medication free, do it. Try it. But! You need to mentally prepare yourself for the what-if's.

I wanted med free birth. That was my plan. But I accepted that if I couldn't handle it and I needed help or sleep than yes, I would have gotten an epidural. A 17 hour labor is a long time without rest or sleep. Sometimes an epidural is just what is needed to let you sleep and BAM you are ready to have a baby. I also accepted the fact that if I had to have intervention then that is what needed to be done. I hoped I didn't need intervention or a c-section and glad that I didn't but I was ok if I needed it.

~Think about the kind of birth you want. Hearing or watching birth stories can get overwhelming. I watched TLC's A Baby story all the time while pregnant with Mace, and at about 30 weeks I couldn't handle it anymore. It freaked me out. I started to have doubts if I could actually do a med free birth.

~Prepare for the worst. I won't give birth at home. I will give birth in a hospital. For the Just in case! I am thankful for the medical advances we have available to us today. I know plenty of women that, without medical advancements to help with their labors they would have not made it through.

~Educate yourself on how labors go, what interventions can be used. Know what they are before so that if you have to have them you won't be scared, too much. Take a birthing class. Meet with professionals about it. Educate yourself on all the various drugs they can give you, pitocin, cydotec or anything else.

~Know your limits. Know at what point you are willing to say, GIVE ME THE DRUGS! I had a line in my mind and I never got close to it. I was weird per my doula. Usually during transition the mother starts saying, "I can't do this." or a variation similar to that. That is one sign that they are close to being near the pushing phase. Transition is hard, and fast. I never asked for anything. Never questioned my ability to keep going without meds. Merrie said that was weird. I am sure if it got a ton worse than I would have been asking and I knew my line. Just never crossed it.

~Make a birth plan. Come prepared to the hospital. If you are ready to go on things and everything is in your own wording you will feel better about it. Oh and talk to your doc before labor about what you want. Make sure they are on the same board as you and how they respond to different situations. My doc, totally open to unmedicated births, but not open about alternate birthing positions, (squating, all 4 or kneeling I will be having a talk with him about that when I get closer BTW!)

~Second time is not the same as the first. I have heard and read this. It will be faster or it will go completely different that the first. I am scared for that fact and still trying to prepare myself. Even though I have done an unmedicated birth for my son, I am still preparing these same ways for this next one because who knows what might happen. Just cause I did it once doesn't automatically guarantee that I can do it again!

QOTD: Do you read birthing stories or watch birth shows to help you prepare? Have they freaked you out too?