Bumpdate: 28 Weeks

Stretchmarks are multiplying!

Size of baby: Head of Cauliflower

Pregnancy Symptoms: Braxton-hicks started and swollen feet

Things that make me nauseous: Nothing

Cravings: Braum's muffins

Sleep:7-8 hours

Exercise: CF 4 x's, Yoga 1, Ran 4 miles

Baby Movement: Dad got kicked in his sleep!

Total Weight Gain: Haven't weighed


Hello Third Trimester!  We can't believe we're 3 months out from meeting our daughter for the first time. I'd like to take a moment to sum up these last two trimesters.

Food: I've avoided artificial sweeteners and use organic agave to sweeten my morning tea instead.  I eat sushi (cooked) once a week.  I haven't eaten red meat except for a steak twice a month.  I eat lunch meat, but I microwave the meat first.  I drink coffee a couple times a month.  I have green tea every morning, it's my staple.  I still use my Syntha-6 protein powder almost daily.  I sadly had to limit by tuna intake, and that's been rough!  I can hardly stand to eat meat since I became pregnant.  Also, I never puked once!  I haven't had any raging cravings, but I have let myself indulge more than usual.  Norah really seems to love cinnamon, snickerdoodle cookies, Sprite, greek yogurt and granola, sushi, lunch meat sandwiches, and peanut butter.  I only recently increased my caloric intake for the third trimester, so I'm aiming to eat about 2,000 calories now a day.

Exercise: Thus far I've kept a steady routine of working out six days a week.  I do CrossFit 4 days, run 2-3 miles twice a week and I take one rest day.  On top of that I walk my dog 1.5-2 miles a day.  I've stayed really active, and it's felt really natural for me to maintain.  Before I became pregnant I was really active, so I saw no reason to stop as long as Norah remained healthy.  I even added prenatal yoga once a week to my routine, but that's more for relaxation than exercise.  My CrossFit family has been SO supportive, and they make me feel like Super Woman with every WOD I show up to do!  They have no idea how much it means to me.  I have definitely had to modify workouts, don't get me wrong!  No more standard burpees, rope climbing, or sit-ups.  I've also decreased my olympic lifts by 30-40%.  My mile run time has also slowed by about 3 minutes, but I'm still getting a great workout and I'm keeping the blood circulating!

Baby Prepping:  I'm taking a Lamaze class, and we also hired a doula for DDay!  Also we've decided to take part in placenta encapsulation.  Mainly I wanted to do this for the hormonal relief needed for when I go back to work and my husband leaves us to return to school.  I know I'll be an emotional wreck, so I'll take all the help we can get!  I've also read a few natural birthing books, but I'm not going crazy with the research.  I do believe you can read too much and drive yourself nuts.  I also have been treating myself to a prenatal massage once a month.  It's my treat since I don't have anyone at home to rub my feet!  We almost have the nursery done as well.  Just lacking a few decorate wall pieces that I still need to make.

Maternity Clothes: M-F I wear my maternity ABU's.  Outside of work I mainly rock leggings, yoga pants and maxi dresses.  I haven't had to buy too much since I don't wear civilian clothes hardly at all.  Winter has been an easy season to dress the bump!  I mostly wear maternity workout clothes since I work out more than anything.  I bought all my workout maternity clothes from Old Navy.  My everyday clothes I bought from Goodwill, Motherhood, Target and Zulily!

Pregnancy Symptoms: Up to this point I've been incredibly blessed.  I've had practically no nausea.  I never puked once.  I do have some lower back pain, mild feet/ankle swelling, hemorrhoids (my favorite), face breakouts (first tri), fatigue (first tri), sore breasts (first tri) and stretchmarks.  I'm also gestational diabetes negative, woohoo!  It could be a lot worse, so I definitely don't complain!

By far the hardest part is experiencing most of this by myself, and having no one to share it with.  Out of the 40 weeks I'll hopefully be pregnant, my husband will only be present for 8 of them.  I wish he were here to feel and see all the changes happening to me and our daughter.  Phone calls and pictures can only really do so much.  I wish he were here to help with the logistics too.  Finding an OB, doula, pediatrician, attending birthing class, shopping for baby items, and doctor's appts would be so much less stressful and time consuming if I had him to help out.  I miss having my mom, friends and other family present in my life during this time too.

Luckily I've been as healthy as a horse thus far, so I'm hoping I keep the streak!

Beginning of my first trimester:

Beginning of my second trimester:

Beginning of my third trimester:

My how my body has changed!  I'm so fascinated with my midsection's ability to stretch as far as it has, even though at times I feel as if I'll rip open right down the middle!  I'm looking forward to seeing what other amazing things my body is capable of over the next three months.  As for this third leg of the journey, I hope to continue to exercise up until delivery.  I hope to keep working until at least 36 weeks.  Most of all, I hope to keep Norah in safely until at least 11 May.  That's when her Dad finally joins us in Florida.  She can come anytime after that date!  Here's hoping my last trimester is as enjoyable as my first two!