Sunday, June 30, 2013

Staying Fit While Pregnant

You have waited forever it seems to get pregnant so you can lay around, be waited on, not have to exercise or eat healthy.  Sound familiar?  No such luck.  Good health needs to be maintained or needs to become a priority now.  You are growing another human.  If you need exercise and healthy food while not pregnant you will need it even more now. 

So, earlier this year I started begging for a Fitbit One.  Finally got one and then there was some drama with a missing charger that took forever to get because Fitbit was a million years behind on making them.  (Makes no sense if you have seen the charger, it is all of 6 inches long and plugs into your computer....how long could they possibly take to produce?)  Anyway, finally it arrived while we were on vacation.  I have now been wearing it for about 10 days.  I am in love!  Why start using it now while pregnant?  If you don't have the energy in the early weeks to do all out cardio or long sessions, this gadget tracks your steps so you can work at getting more and more steps in each day.  Plus walking is low impact, yet quite helpful for pregnant women.  See my note below regarding GD. It also tracks flights of stairs, calories burned and miles walked.  It also tracks your sleep and tells you how many times you woke up.  Interesting to know, but considering I have slept horribly since I found out I was pregnant, it is really just sad to know you woke up 30 times in one night.  All in all, it is small, clips easily on your bra, your pants pockets, or it can go straight into your pocket and a fun tool to get more activity into each day. 

*Here's an interesting article on walking after meals while pregnant and how it lowers your changes of getting Gestational Diabetes.   Walk away diabetes  You want to avoid GD at all costs. 

I am also using weights and strength training.  The fitness center at my work has group classes each day.  The Thursday lunch class is a strength and tone class.  It is fast paced so you get the cardio effect while getting most body parts. 

This morning I started Leslie Sansone's 3 Mega Mile walk DVD.  Who knew walking in your living room would make you sweat.  It's a keeper for pregos. 

I am gathering some information on Pinterest regarding healthy pregnancy workouts.  Check it out here:  Fit Pregnancy

I am logging my workouts each week on My Fitness Journey if you need ideas of circuits and workouts to do. 

Bump!

Well guys, here it is...the first bump pic.  Go figure in pic form I don't look anywhere as huge and ridic as I do in real life.  Already gained about 7 pounds and only 14 weeks, and 3 days....BUT I have been doing A LOT of weight training lately.  Not heavy weight training, just a lot of it, so I'm going with weight training weight.  Alright, regardless of my weight, this is what I'm looking like these days.

 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Give me your best advice

Being a mom to 1 little one is one thing, being a mom to 2 is another.

So, what's your best mommy (or daddy if you read blogs) advice?

Leave me your best advice as a comment!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Thoughts on Feeding My Child



Maybe I have "liked" too many mom's/parents pages on facebook or just being pregnant in general it seems like the breastfeeding debate is staring me in the face again. 

I nursed G till he was 14 months.  Honestly I would have probably continued because he really did like it, but there was this amazing once in a lifetime vacation to Panama that my husband earned that couldn't be missed.  I bet that sounds super selfish to the extreme natural moms out there.  But truth is 14 months was more than a lot of babies get and really most of his true nutrition was coming from food at that point and he was drinking organic whole milk too and lots of it.  It was clear that at that point it was for comfort and familiarity only.

Making the choice to stop nursing was bittersweet.  I never imagined how much I would miss that comforting that nursing gave, not just for him, but for me once I was done.  But everything must come to and end at some point

Nursing was neither easy nor hard for me, but it was meant to be.  It was an easy choice, I guess is what I mean.  That doesn't mean that sometimes I questioned myself, but I just continued on because it really did work for us as a family.  There was still that guilt at times that every thing I consumed or did would not go over well with my supply or the taste or might not even be particularly healthy.  Breastfeeding is a sacrifice.  Yes, a sacrifice!  I said it.  It takes work.  The same considerations you make for the 40 weeks of pregnancy have to continue regarding food anyway.  Working out was hard.  It hurt.  It required 2 sports bras.  I constantly stressed about my supply and was he getting enough.  G ate a lot and often.  He ate every 2 hours like clockwork.  There was another mom at G's daycare who was a pediatrician who made the comment to G's teacher that she would hate it if her baby had to eat that often and thats why she only did every 3 hours regardless.  OH my!!!  Between her (and her we do what is easiest for mom crap) and the 1st pediatrician (horrid, all facts, no personality) we met in the hospital, I am so grateful for the pediatrician we found for G.  She LOVES children and supports our decisions.  So, as for nursing, I did on demand.  Yes, that meant stopping everything I was doing if he needed to eat and it meant that one long 4 hour session when he was 3 weeks old and going through a growth spurt, but who was I to tell him no at such a young age?

So why breastfeed?
*that incredible bond/the mommy high you get.  I'm not saying you can't get that from holding your baby close while you bottle feed, but it is just a different experience.  I really cannot even put it in to words. 
*it is calming for you and the baby in such an uncalm world.
*it is perfect nutrition
*you don't have to try and figure out which brand or recipe of formula will work with your baby best
*no bottles to clean.  I personally love this one, because dishes are no fun and it hurts my back to stand over the sink. 
*your baby's next meal is always with you.  Perfect considering I was awful at remembering the diaper bag the first 20 or so times we left the house.  Don't judge!  I remembered the most important part...the baby!
*no worry about wasting anything.  I know you are thinking who complains about that, but I have heard the complaint from more than one formula feeding mom. 
*not having to go to the kitchen to fix bottles in the middle of the night.  Just swoop the crying baby from wherever they are sleeping and you are ready to go.
*my monthly visitor (aka period) did not return until G was 13 months.  Does not work for everyone, but it was a nice reprieve while taking care of my first baby.

Want to read what others are saying or find help?  go here, here, and here.

Need a few silly reasons not to breastfeed?
*lopsided boobs.  Yep, G loved the left one, hated the right one so I was left with a very hard to hide symmetry problem for the 14 months I nursed.  It goes away though once you stop nursing so technically this is only a wardrobe nightmare for a very short time in your life.  I'm sure if I had started pumping the right side from the first week it would not have been as noticeable but no one shared that tip with me. 
*If you work, you will most likely have to pump.  I'm not going to sugar coat it.  Pumping is not that fun.  It is time consuming.  It can be stressful.  No matter how short on milk I thought I would be, it was always enough for G the next day.  Miracles happen every day!

Bottom line...be informed.  Do your research and then just try it before you make any firm decisions.  I guarantee you that your hospital has a breastfeeding class.  Take it.  I did and learned a lot.  Have a friend that has done it before be on call to help you.  Keep your lactation consultant's phone number in your phone.  They will answer any question you have.  Then relax.  Having anxiety about it will make it hard for you and the baby.  Finally, good luck in whatever decision you make.  No matter what the decision as long as you have done the research you are surely doing the right thing for you and your baby.

***Note about the picture.  I was nursing, pumping and reading.  Multitasking!


Saturday, June 8, 2013

Responses from those we have told


People are funny...

My family:  (as they read the #1 big bro shirt G was wearing)  Oh, you are having a baby?  Ya, we alredy know!

Kendra:  all of aisle 5 at the grocery store now knows you are pregnant (as she yells to her husband the news)

My boss:  So many....here goes...
1.  you are due during peak season again?
2.  I'm going to tell Jerry (her boss) that from now on I am only hiring boy supervisors.
3.  You just got skinny.
4.  You were the prettiest pregnant person ever with G, I wonder if this time you will spread out and be squishy like normal women. 

Coworker:  the week before P had asked me how G was doing and someone else, M, goes you have a kid?  Don't you know how that happens?  lol.  P said, I bet it was her idea.  Mind you, these are both men.  So I just kept quiet, but it made me laugh.  Now that I have told my boss, I figured I could tell a few random people that would be most excited for me.  P was one of those, but I mean how do you just throw that out there, so I waited.  I randomly had a story about how I overheard Mark tell our friends at lunch the other day that in 5 years we would probably get a dog.  Ummm, this is news to me :)  Not that I disagree, but I just thought it was funny that he had thought this through and told our friends first.  haha.  So anyway, I'm telling P that story and he says, so anything else exciting going on, so I said, well other than getting a dog in 5 years, I guess we're going to have a baby in December.  He was like, for real, you mean this December?  well ya, I'm not an elephant.  Aren't they the ones that are prego for 2 years?  Anyway so I say Dec. 26 to be more exact.  He then proceeded to tell me that I look great prego so he's happy.  Men!


Fitness Center Manager:  I tried out one of the classes, Strength and Tone, last week and loved it.  I was sore like 30 minutes later.  So much in fact I thought my right leg was going to give out the moment I took 1 step down the stairs.  Awkward.  Ok, so that might have been a little too good of a class, but clearly I will advance if I take it more often so soreness that intense 1 time does not worry me.  So I go to tell Susie that I'm prego and can Bethany give me alternate exercises for the lay down moves in the class so I can keep taking it.  She was like, oh my goodness, um yes of course, she has taught tons of pregnant women.  Just tell her; so you taking my 10 minute abs class now?  LOL, umm, no.



Grandpa Pugh:  so grandpa have you heard our news?  We're having another baby.  He says, well, no, I really hadn't heard, but I kinda knew.  Me: HUH?  Grandpa:  well, you look pregnant but I didn't want to ask.  haha!  well, I guess that is the truth. 

Another coworker:  We will call him QA inspector K.  A little background on K:  he is older....enough said!  Ok, so several months after I had given birth to G and had been working out, eating right, and had lost all my baby weight plus like 15 pounds K comes up to me one day and says, "it looks like you are starting to work on flattening your belly."  Thanks K!!!!  This is the flattest my belly has been in many, many years, but clearly I have more to go.  Old guys!!!!!  Last week I wear a dress to work and he tells me I look KINDA NICE!  Old guys!!!!  Today I am wearing a maternity shirt and it is pretty obvious that I am with child and he asks if I am having another baby.  So I say yes and he says "oh, you were just starting to get skinny."  Old guys!!!!  A short while later he tells me about how his 1st wife got pregnant right away with their 2nd baby after going off birth control.  Then he asks me how long I was off birth control prior to getting pregnant this time.  Ummmm, didn't realize that was anyone's business :) but if you must know we chose not to use any kind of BC after the birth of our first born.  He just said OH after that.  Old guys!!!

 

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Growing Baby #2 has begun!






Well, it looks like we are doing this parenting thing again.  About 7 weeks ago I found out we are expecting.  I actually thought it didn't happen that month but apparently my normal sign was just a fake out....A good fake out.  We are all thrilled.  Well, G doesn't understand at all.  I try to tell him to rub my belly and kiss his brother or sister and he wants to bang on my belly instead.  All boy that child.  If we were having a dog, he would be extra gentle I bet, but a kid growing in my belly does not seem to interest him.  29 more weeks for him to get used to the notion I guess.

We told my family and Mark's brother, Matt, and his wife and kids while we were in Ohio last week.  Everyone apparently already knew my incredible news they say.  I guess telling Facebook that you are napping in your car at lunch and have a sudden disgust for bananas makes you instantly prego in their book.  Since then we have just been telling people here and there. 

I had my first "real" appointment with the midwives this morning.  Honestly, we were a little nervous.  I have continued to bleed almost weekly since I first took that test, but took the intense morning sickness, food repulsion and a case of the sleepies as a good sign.  After 5 billion questions Midwife Amy finally did the long awaited for Doppler and a strong 160 beats was heard.  Such an amazing sound.   No ultrasound until at least 17 weeks...boo.  I can't wait to get a little peak.

Mark told me I need to be fair to baby #2 and give him/her the same fanfare I gave G so I guess it is weekly/monthly bump picks and a blog for this one too :)  Hope you are ready for my weekly "why does everyone tell me I'm huge" posts on FB.  Amy told me that the more pregnancies you have the bigger the baby.  G was 9 lbs, 4 oz.  All I could say was OH DEAR!  Now there is something to look forward to...not!  Another natural, unmedicated birth coming up. 

Oh, I left out the best part!  This little one will arrive sometime near December 26.  Poor thing, but we'll make it right.  That's my promise.