17 weeks and growing...

17 weeks :)

17 weeks tomorrow! here is the latest picture. hank and i were planning to head to the pool- he ended up going to the Jack Daniels distillery instead, so before i took off the only suit that still fits, he took a pic!

wee watson is definitely growing! still in-between regular and maternity clothes, but really loving my target version of the bella band :) it is a band that goes on top of your jeans or shorts, it smoothes out the bump and holds everything on!

my prenatal classes started, class number two is in a few hours...it is so much fun and i am loving being able to use yoga to relax and restore. i have always pushed myself in my workouts and am happy to let go of that, eat snickers, and listen to my body. speaking of snickers...why are they SO good? i have also added some other things to my diet that i have not eaten in years! sour cream (loving the mexican these days), cheddar cheese (mmm. mac and cheese) and eggs with their yolks! i went to bongo java yesterday and ate an egg and cheese bagel. yum, yum, yum! i am so surprised my stomach hasn't started a revolt!

off to get ready to teach my classes!

xo

the transformation begins...

ok, so i was looking through my "bump" pictures and i was shocked to see how much i had grown...

this was taken at 5 weeks...aka my pre-preggo shape.

and this was taken today, at 16 weeks. not much of a bump, but, lots of thickness!

wee watson is growing ;)

can't help but include this photo too...bought a onsie today (because they are just too cute!) and decided to see what georgia would do upon seeing it...

she wasn't very impressed! haha! :)

a wonderful saturday afternoon...

after a long week of work, feeling a bit like a ping pong ball as things started to get revved up for the opening of the store, the trip hank and i took with some friends on saturday was just the ticket wee watson and i were looking for!

if you are a nashville local and you have yet to explore it, Cummins Falls is an amazing place about and hour or so outside of town.

Hank and I enjoying the view off the waterfall!

we had to hike a bit to get there, but it was so great to catch up with our friends Caroline and Adam :) nothing like some bud light (for everyone else), good friends and nature!

Caroline and i enjoying the view! and our company :)

after the hike, swimming and having woken up at 6am that morning for work, i was ready for some delicious food and bed. luckily, east nashville provides hank and i with some of the best food around. we grabbed some wraps and couscous from silly goose. SO delicious. they are one of the most unassuming restaurants in nashville, they cook with george forman grills! but, they make all their own sauces, and combinations. so yum! :) both wee watson and i went to bed happy that night!

speaking of food, i am SO enjoying eating right now. i thought i loved food before but since my second trimester began i have been enjoying food more and more. so, you might notice that i will be chatting about my relationship with food lately, because it is so much fun!

belly pictures to come...still just looking thick :)

lots of love to all.

xo

there is nothing like a good nap...

i am laying in bed, freshly showered and in my robe. dogs are cuddled up next to me. and it is 2:30pm. i LOVE naps. especially when they are so well deserved, aka running and pilates bootcamp today! i love the flexibility of my job, there is always some down time from 2-5, perfect when i really need a nap. oh, and i forgot to mention there is also a bowl of mini snickers next to me right now. i couldn't help myself when i saw them at the grocery! actually, i realize now two days ago someone told me a story about a snickers and i haven't been able to get them out of my head since. so, finally i am here, eating snickers right before a nice easy nap :)

didn't sleep well last night, had my first night of feeling really uncomfortable and uneasy. i don't have a belly getting in my way yet, but i always sleep on my stomach. i gave that up a few weeks ago as it was no longer the most comfy and settled on my right side and back. however, last night i was laying on my right side when i started to feel a tingling sensation inside, like my organs were going to sleep. weird i know. but i learned in my prenatal yoga teacher training that after the first trimester laying on your right side or back are not advised, not for long periods of time anyway. this is because your vena cava, a major blood vessel that supplies blood all through out your body, runs down the right back side of your body. so, as your baby starts to grow and your uterus expands, your organs have to find new space. when you lay on your back and gravity moves your uterus/baby/organs onto your vena cava, you can stop blood supply to you and then ultimately your baby. now obviously as your baby grows, you have to take more and more caution to avoid any numbness or tingling. so, i guess i felt that? anyway, it freaked me out a bit. we learned it really only happens about 8-15% of the time, so you don't have to say never lie on your right/back side it is just important to be aware of. anyhow, i was able to place a small pillow in-between my legs and lay comfortably on my left side. having the pillow there seemed to really help me relax. and now, i am just going to be more aware of that feeling!

so, if you are in a class, whether yoga, pilates or bootcamp, the goal after the first trimester (esp after 20 weeks) is to keep the head elevated in comparison to the heart, and the heart elevated in comparison to the hips. this way, gravity doesn't allow for the vena cava to have any pressure on it and you can do all the exercises you would do on your back, just propped up on blankets, a bolster or sitting up against a wall. :)

click here for a great prenatal sequence to do at home. ;)

off to rest before i head back to work. i will take more pictures of the belly when it looks less like nothing and more like a bump! :)

xo

ps. i have to share this blog, i met meg yesterday at a group interview we were hosting for the store, she is such an amazing girl who has this simple but genius idea to start a blog about the things that bring her joy each and every day. so, check it out, it is sure to bring a smile to your face: http://www.350lights.blogspot.com/

the in-between stage....

so i have been reading a bunch of pregnancy books, and none of them have mentioned this awkward in-between stage that i have been in for the last few weeks. its like my midsection has doubled in width, but not in any particular place, just all around...love handles included! the books also all say you "pop" around 13-15 weeks. well, we celebrate wee watson's 15th week of growth tomorrow and i have yet to pop. so, i am embracing this new middle that i have grown, trying not to dream of the days when i can fill out maternity clothes and waddle down the street. for now, i will celebrate the fact that my maternity jeans are darn cute, my thighs have yet to expand too much and loose fitting tank tops are in style!

the one perk is i have begun to get more and more compliments on my new ladies. yes, my boobs. they are huge! well, for me. and they don't hurt as much anymore, so lets just say everyone is much happier :)

i have been able to get back to my normal routine, eating included. my appetite has curbed itself a bit, eating more normal meals, having less and less cravings. and i have gotten back to running and swimming, as well as keeping up with my yoga. my energy is much better and i have been sleeping through the night (unless i have to pee, which is not uncommon anymore). the heat here in nashville is unbelievable and it is the main things keeping me from feeling like myself- other then that, i have been feeling great! the second trimester is SO much better then the first! as our midwife said, the second trimester is the time to sit back, relax and enjoy being pregnant. so, we are taking her advice and just celebrating the fact that we are going to be parents in the new year!

my sister-in-law is overdue and being induced tomorrow, thinking lots of her and excited to meet wee watson's cousin and my Goddaughter! :)

goodnight for now...

xo

here come the hormones...

i hear from a lot of women that they are hormonal in the first and the third trimester. well, seems like second trimester hit and my poor husband just got home- to me hormonally charged. granted he got to miss all the nausea and laziness i experienced in the first (for those of you who don't know he had an internship this summer in DC) but i think he might take that over some of my outbursts lately.

i have always been a very stubborn person, sometimes to my benefit but mostly to my detriment. thank goodness for my amazing hubby, because he deals with it, but this is like stubbornness and tears on steroids. poor man. i do love him so :)

hear is an updated picture!

(hank (the hubs) says this picture doesn't do the bump justice)

it is kind of blurry, but my whole midsection is much thicker and the bump is starting to show. especially when i am in my lululemon tanks (which i had to buy up a size yesterday, SO much comfier now!) the boobs have seemed to slow down, although i am sure that won't last long :)

haven't worn my maternity jeans yet, but, am looking forward to them. it has been unbelievably hot here, so jeans are just out of the question. my bikini and the pool have been my favorite accessories these days!

so maybe it was the hormones or maybe we just finally felt educated enough to make a decision, but we switched doctors, or i should say midwives. we were going to the women's health center at 100 oaks, and it was OK. as you all remember, our ultrasound wasn't the greatest experience the first time and although our second visit was better, i learned some key things (thanks to my mom!).

a. they are a mixed practice, so if i went into labor at night, only physicians are on call then and so we would not have the option of a midwife.

b. they offer a "centering program" which they automatically signed me up for when i got there. while there is nothing wrong with this program, it wasn't the one-on-one educational experience i was looking to have with my midwife.

c. they use residents in their practice, so a few strangers might show up while i am laboring, not really my idea of a good time. what if i ran into them one day?! awkward!

SO, they were very nice about referring me to the Vanderbilt Nurse Midwives Clinic, the only hospital based nurse-midwife practice in Nashville. I called them up and they do a free consultation so you can come in and learn about what they do before making an appt.. I went on Thursday and felt right at home. It was a much smaller practice, focused on intervention only with reason and making sure the whole experience was educational and amazing for mom, dad and baby. smile. i was so happy. this is exactly what i was looking for and am so thankful i realized i had the power to make that decision and do it! so, we have switched over! thanks to electronic records, it was a seamless switch. and even better, they are letting hank and i come in on monday to hear the heartbeat again, since he couldn't be there the first time!

midwives are not for everyone, but this is exactly what i was looking for, so if the natural route is your path or not- i highly recommend checking this practice out :)

off to yoga and work :) looking forward to my first class at yoga country tomorrow- yummy deep and stretchy!

have a great saturday!