Bump Update: 41 Weeks!

41 WEEKS! WE ARE HERE! WE ARE READY! Today is the day of my induction. Later today we will be meeting our little girl! HOW EXCITING! Kinda freaky because our lives are about to change and have a whole ton of pink in it but very exciting! Many times this past week, we thought she was coming. Matt says my engine was just getting revved up. But it has been exhausting. Contractions are EXHAUSTING! I generally contract late at night, go to sleep and sleep till I have to wake up and go to the bathroom, and then start contracting in the morning. But they never lead to anywhere. Oh well!

We have been having a fun week with Gummy here (my mom) The boys love her. And playing pillow fights with her. It has just been really great having her here. Sad that it is taking so long for Elyse to get here, which means less snuggle time for Gummy but it has still been fun for the boys! 

By the time you finish reading this, the induction should be underway. And by the end of the day we should have a baby. If you want to be one of the first to know how things are going make sure you are following me on FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM! 

***UPDATE!*** So my induction was bumped from today. They overbooked the L&D and had my due date written down wrong (as the 27th) so they thought this was an elective induction not a medically necessary induction. I am now scheduled again to be induced starting tomorrow morning. The doc did have me come in where he did do a pretty aggressive membrane sweep and is hoping I go sometime tonight after that. I am currently 4cm dilated. And her head was right there. He actually was bobbing her up and down to strip me more. Felt very weird! So...tomorrow might be the day, unless I get bumped again.

Total Weight Gain: Gained 26.8 pounds total. Weight as of this morning 264.6 pounds. I am now 10 pounds more than when I gave birth to Collin. And right on track to where I estimated I wanted to be at 40 weeks! HERE IS TO A HEALTHY AND FIT PLUS SIZE PREGNANCY!

Symptoms: Smaller appetite, eating smaller meals throughout the day. Having to "go" a lot since she is head down. Hard time sleeping. Waddling and lower back soreness like nothing else! CRAVING MILK! CRAVING SWEETS. Loss of mucus plug, BIG TIME. I thought I lost it before, nope, Saturday, I am positive I lost it.

Baby’s Size:  Jackfruit (~19-22 inches, 8 or more pounds) 

Labor Progress: As of my weekly check up appointment last Thursday I was 80% effaced,  3 cm dilated and Elyse was engaged in my pelvis -1 to 0 station. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes, bottoms need to wear maternity or stretchy pants. Tops I wear maternity now and my bigger t-shirts but those are tight now. I am actually running out of clothing. Wearing my new Fabletics sports bra in these pictures and LOVE THEM and the fun colors! A ton more coverage and super comfy!

Stretch Marks: I already have a ton that I got when I gained weight years ago. I think I am getting some new ones or my old was are just being stretched up higher on my belly. No bright purple ones just the faded white ones. I am using Honest Company belly balm right now though to help my belly stretch so I do not get any new ones. I apply it at night and right after I get out of the shower. 

Belly Button: Still an innie! Won't be flat or an outtie. :( 

Braxton Hicks Contractions: Yep, thought for sure many times this past week that it was the real deal because I was having consistent contractions for a few hours, 10 min apart then 5 minutes apart then they stopped. So sad.

Gender: GIRL!!! So excited about all the cute stuff we got for her! We have her coming home outfit and her picture props! So girly, and way too cute!

Sleep:  Napping is required everyday. Especially with all the walking I have been doing. I am waking up many times a night to go to the bathroom or trying to get comfy. (If you see me make a comment on FB or IG at 2am this is why!) I am still getting up at night at 11:30pm, 3:30am, 5:30 without fail. Always around 9pm for about an hour she likes to put on a show and be super active! 

Miss Anything: Sleeping comfortably flat on my back! Sleeping through the night. 

Cravings:  MILK and SWEETS! I normally don't drink milk any more due to an intolerance I have to it but I have been craving it like nothing else. 2 8oz glasses usually. Funny thing, ice cream doesn't do the trick. It has to be straight up cold whole milk. WEIRD! The sweets is new this week. Everything at Trader Joe's with chocolate is still calling my name. Cinnamon Rolls too. Oh and veggies of course. I am loving me some veggies!

Aversions: Not this week. Everything tastes too good! I am just getting so full very quickly

Excited About: Being induced tomorrow. We finally get to meet this little girl that we have been waiting for, for years!

Workouts: Pretty well for this week! I got in 6 days of regular workouts this past week plus some nightly walking and RUNNING to get this baby out! I'm didn't do any  COUNTRY HEAT! (so sore in my pelvis to shake it!) And I am enjoying finding prenatal yoga routines online.

***If you want to know when I have the baby be sure to follow me over at FACEBOOK orINSTAGRAM! Click the Follow button! I will be announcing there first!***

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!

Labor Inducing Lemon Cupcakes

Charlottesville folklore has it that if you eat these Lemon Drop Cupcakes at Cappellino's Crazy Cakes you will go into labor 24-48 hours later. Well. Cappellino's closed down a couple of years ago. So I did a quick Google search and found a homemade recipe that insured labor would start after eating these cupcakes. (I later found out that the cupcakes can still be found in town but at another location.) Yesterday I went to work in my kitchen and whipped up a HUGE batch of these cupcakes. They make 24. The breakdown of the lemony goodness is, lemon cake, with lemon syrup, with lemon glaze, and lemon buttercream. The fresh lemon is what is supposed to make you go into labor. I did make some alterations to the recipe.

One thing, you all know I don't eat a lot of sweets. This is A LOT OF SUGAR! Once upon a time I would have been find eating 6 cupcakes in one siting, but not anymore. I got 4 down over the space of 4 hours. By number 3 I was ready to puke, but my friends said to eat as many as I can and then one more. So just before bed I forced down a 4th. But here I am, the morning after my cupcake binge, still pregnant. 40 weeks and 6 days. Induction is scheduled for 24 hours so one way or another this baby is coming out!

Lemon-Sugar's Labor Inducing Lemon Drop Cupcakes

Lemon Drop Cupcakes 

(Modified from Lemon-Sugar)

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups white sugar
4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (4-8 lemons, depending on size) I USED 9!
3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Syrup Ingredients: 
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (I added an extra 2 tablespoons of juice)
1/2 cup white sugar

Glaze Ingredients:
2 cups powered sugar
31/2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (I used 4 tablespoons)

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh squeeze lemon juice (I used 4 tablespoons)

Optional Lemon Zest Decoration:
4 lemons, well scrubbed
2 cups sugar
1 cup cool water

DIRECTIONS: 

Cake Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 24 cupcake tins with liners.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add lemon zest.
4. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. In another bowl, combine lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla.
6. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternating to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour.
7. Fill each cupcake liner 1/2-3/4 full (do not over fill, they will explode!) Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake!
8. Remove from oven and remove from cupcake pans as soon as possible. Let cool on a wire rack.
9. Begin prepping the lemon syrup.

Syrup Directions:
1. Combine sugar and lemon juice in pan over low heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring frequently. Set aside.
2. After cakes have cool for 10 minutes, spoon the syrup over the tops of the cupcakes.
3. Allow the cakes to cool completely before glazing and frosting.

Glaze Directions:
1. Combine sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whist until smooth.
2. Using the back of a spoon, smooth some glaze over the top of each cupcake. Will run a little.
3. Each cupcake will use about 3/4 teaspoon of glaze.

Buttercream directions: 
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and salt for 30 seconds.
2. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and lemon juice and beat for 5-6 minutes until frosting is fluffy. Can add food coloring to make more yellow (I didn't because I didn't want any artificial coloring or flavors in my cupcakes.)
4. Add to piping bag and frost as desired.
5. Decorate with yellow sugar pearls, sugar, or a lemon drop candy or even a sliver of lemon zest for decoration. (again, I didn't add a topping I would go with candied lemon zest if I had thought about it more!)

Candied Lemon Zest Directions (just for fun!): 
1. Remove zest from lemons with a veggie peeler, keeping the pieces long. Remove white pith using a paring knife. Place julienned zest in a small bowl; cover with boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes; drain.
2. Bring sugar and cool water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When sugar is completely dissolved, add julienned zest, reduce heat to medium low, and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand overnight.

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Due Date Disappointment

So...your due date has come and gone and you are just sitting here waiting for "WHEN IS THE BABY GOING TO COME OUT!" For 9 months you have been waiting and counting down to your DUE DATE and then BAM, it arrives and nothing happens. Plus all the other moms around you or in your online groups are all having their babies but they are only at 38 weeks. And everyone around you is super excited too and you are getting phone calls, messages and contacted by everyone and their sister, anxiously awaiting for baby to come. Asking if you have had the baby yet and when you think it is going to happen. It can be just frustrating because you just never know unless you have a scheduled induction or c-section. Only 5% of women deliver on their due date.

Worse yet, there is possibly no labor progress. I have read it from other moms and have experienced it myself. The waiting game SUCKS! Collin was 5 days late. But what made it worse for me on this pregnancy is that for the last 2 months I have had 9/23 8 pounds 3 ounces, stuck in my head. My mind just picked this date to have her early in the morning and when the date just came and went and I was still pregnant, I felt so bummed. Now sitting at 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant and still, no baby. And for the past week, I have been having on and off contractions. It is just a waiting game!

SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH DUE DATE DISAPPOINTMENT?

1. Realize that the due date is just an ESTIMATE! That the due date is flexible. Some babies need less time to bake while other want a little more. As much as I hear it  from everyone who messages me, and ugh, don't want to believe it, that the baby will come when they are ready, it is true. Without any intervention, 5% of women deliver on their due date. On Average, first time moms deliver 10 days over their due date. And second or more time moms tend to carry to 40 weeks and 3 days. Only 10% of moms will carry longer than 42 weeks. WITHOUT ANY INTERVENTION.

2. Old Wives Tales to induce are truly that...OLD TALES! Dancing under the moon naked (best if full moon), bumpy car rides, pineapple. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. It all depends on if your body if "ready" for labor.

3. There are ways to try to naturally induce your labor but again, if the body isn't ready it probably won't work. 10 natural ways to induce labor:

1. Castor oil
2. Sex, sex, and more sex
3. Nipple Stimulation
4. Evening primrose oil EPO
5. Red Raspberry Leaf Tea
6. Spicy Food
7. Acupuncture
8. Exercise
9. Acupressure
10. Membrane Stripping

4. RELAX! Sometimes we get so worked up that we clamp up and that goes against the natural, body trying to open to push a baby out, feeling. If you are anxious to have the baby. Have fears about labor, or birthing a baby, or even after baby comes. Talk to your partner and work them out. The process of releasing fears can actually help you go into labor. Take some time to relax and decompress. Remember that once baby comes you won't have quiet time, alone time or time to just go in the bath for an hour. You are going to be feeding, changing and taking care of a whole new baby. It is going to be a big change. Address your fears, relax and release. 

5. Turn off your computer. Unplug from social media if you have to. Don't respond to text messages. Just turn off everything and don't get frustrated with what is going on around you. The news of other moms having their babies or people contacting you can get frustrating. Again making you close up and be tight instead of releasing and being relaxed. If you get overwhelmed with people asking when baby is coming, just don't respond or just turn everything off. And the same goes for when you have the baby. If you want to have a day or 2 of no one knowing but you and your partner and just family, that's ok too. No one should get upset at you for you wanting your peace and quiet. You will post your announcement when you are ready to do so. Don't feel like you have to post the second you go into labor. Or the second the baby is born. With Collin he was in distress for the first 6 hours. We didn't post anything about having him or what he or we were going through. Only a handful of people knew he was born. And that is ok! 

Just know that it is ok to feel sad and frustrated that you are 40+ weeks pregnant. But before you know it your baby will be snuggling in your arms and your life completely changed for the better! 

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!

40 Weeks Workout

40 weeks pregnant and I am still rocking my workouts! I have gotten a ton of people saying how they can't believe that I am still working out, hey me too sometimes. What I have figured out is that if you want to be healthy and fit especially while pregnant that you have to CHOOSE to do it. You have to WANT IT and really do it. Would I rather sit on my couch and surf Pinterest or Facebook. HECK YEAH! But...I also did not want to gain more than 30 pounds this pregnancy. That was a huge priority on my list. So what did I do...I worked really hard and made myself workout for at least 30 minutes a day 4-5 times a week. That's it. I never had to spend hours and hours at a gym. I didn't do any crazy exercises. I just continued what I was doing for as long as I could then I started modifying more, and here at the end I have been using more prenatal exercises I found on Youtube.

One of my favorite things I have access to though has been the Active Maternity workouts available only on Beachbody on Demand. There is a workout for each of the different trimesters, and even a workout for postpartum after you have been cleared by your doc! I have really enjoyed them and I would do them 2 times a week, up until this past month when I introduced COUNTRY HEAT which has been so much fun!

Check out my Highlight reel for the 3rd trimester Active Maternity Workout! You can find my other videos over at YOUTUBE!

If you are looking at still wanting to be active and fit while you are pregnant. Let me know and let's chat because I was able to have a healthy and fit plus size pregnancy and I know you can have a healthy and fit pregnancy too!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!

BEST Stretch Mark Belly Balm- 40 Weeks Pregnant Review

Here I am at 40 weeks and still I have barely gained any new stretch marks. I know I just talked about this and it is my #2 must have item for the third trimester. I have one or 2 new marks but honestly they are only about 1 cm in length and they are being torn from a previous mark. So, I call that a win.

I have gained 26 pounds this entire pregnancy at this point. And I am currently at my heaviest I have ever been at 264 pounds. To fight against the stretch marks I assumed I would get, I took action and invested in the HONEST COMPANY ORGANIC BELLY BALM. Using it just twice a day. And that is it. I am going to continue to use it after baby comes to help tighten and tone my belly up. So...We shall see. But check out my pictures and see for yourself.
 
The bottom line. Most women out there have stretch marks. Don't look at them as a flaw but as a way to tell the story to how you are today. I gained my stretch marks because I gained weight too quickly wanting to get pregnant. I didn't care how much I ate, I just did and assumed that I would lose the weight once I got pregnant. They are a reminder that I have fought for my health for years. That I finally took back what I lost control of. I suffered an addiction to sweets and treats and sugar. And I fought so hard to get control of my life back and change how I see food and my relationship. Because of what I went through I now am the healthiest I have ever been feeling better on the inside and out than I ever have been! 

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!