my pregnancy: week 19

Oh baby!  Today’s all about the baby.  First you get to see my baby (look at that red tomato below!), then I get to hear my baby, and then I get to SEE my baby.  Little boy or girls parts and everything.  Yes, that’s today.  In about 6.5 hours I’ll have that wonderful warm gel squirted on my stomach to see our little one.  It’s going to be a glorious day, boy or girl.

How’s baby growing?

Your baby’s sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don’t be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid. — from babycenter

Winter produce is not doing any justice here.  While it should be a heirloom tomato, it’s just the biggest tomato I could find.  No heirlooms around.  Oh well.

The belly

The biggest change I’ve noticed this week, or really the last 3-4 days is the belly.  Before my stomach would feel bigger after I ate, now I have that feeling all the time.  It’s like a constant state of full belly and much tighter feeling.  And it’s only going to keep growing!

But me telling you this is no complaint, just an observation.  It’s not really in my way, just different than before.

I watched a bit of my body pump taping and let me tell you, the belly was front and center!  I guess I’m just used to looking in a mirror, but it really was popping in the video.  Maybe once I get it on my computer I’ll share a clip 🙂  Maybe.

The eats

This week my eating has been wonderful on the eating front once I decided to eat more fruits/veggies.  Here’s a glimpse into a day.

Pre-workout: handful of raisins + tiny cup of coffee with soymilk

Breakfast: custard oats + a little later an apple or cantaloupe

Morning snack: green smoothie

Lunch: usually leftovers from the night before or a sandwich + an entire cucumber

Afternoon snack: banana, almonds/peanuts and either crackers/cereal if I feel like munching

Dinner: this week pasta bake most nights and asian chicken + potatoes +roasted veggies another night

After dinner snack: the past few nights has been 2 sunbutter pretzel puff haystacks

That’s kinda the normal thing!

The hips

Or really, just my left hip has had a strange feeling to it.  It’s hard to describe, but every so often it’s like the nerves are moving over my hip bone, like sliding from one side to another.  It doesn’t really hurt, it’s just weird.  Is that a normal pregnancy thing?

The kicks

When I first started feeling our baby kick, it was usually just in the evening after I ate dinner and plopped on the couch for the evening.  Now it is all-the-time!  After breakfast, lunch and dinner I feel kicks, then randomly throughout the day too (probably because I’m almost always eating).  I wonder why food makes the baby kick more?

The emotions

This week marks the first entire week I haven’t cried, or even really felt sad.  My emotions have been a lot more mellow and my stress level has been down.  Our weekend away with family was soooo relaxing and fun, which I’m sure had something to do with it.

I know this could change at any point, hormones are the best ;), so I’m just enjoying my peace while I have it.

The moves

Jacob got me a heart rate monitor for Christmas so I’ve been trying to wear that during my workouts.  I don’t really subscribe to the whole, keep your heart rate below 140 bpm, because how is heart rate a one size fits all thing?  It’s not.

I’ve done a lot of research and reading into this, and am keeping my intensity at a moderate level.  For fun I calculated what I should be at working at 60% intensity (a moderate level).  I used the karvonen method, which is a little more accurate than just taking into account your age, and came up with a beat per minute of 155 to work at 60%.

My heart rate monitoring has showing this:

During running I keep it right around 140-145, during cycle I hover around 140, then get up to 150-158 during sprints + jumps, and during body pump… okay I always forget to look at it and haven’t figured out how to capture a whole workout, but I’ll get there!  My goal is to keep it below 160 bpm, and I’ve been good about doing that.

Moving on to my weekly workout roundup!

Saturday – 30 minute run with my mama (it felt GLORIOUS to run again) + walking
Sunday –  walking
Monday – cycle (45 minutes)
Tuesday – rest day
Wednesday – full body strength training (60 mins) + taught body pump (60 mins)
Thursday – taught teach cycle (60 mins)
Friday – full body strength training this morning (60 mins)

The lucky feeling

People have been so generous.  Really, pregnancy brings out the giving side in everyone it seems.   I showed you all the cute baby clothes we’ve received from family, but there’s more.  I’ve got loads of maternity clothes from a friend, and also received a ton of clothes from Jacob/mothers/aunts.  So far I’ve only bought 1 pair of maternity jeans myself, and the rest was given/borrowed.

A super sweet lady that comes to my cycle class gave us her un-used jogging stroller last week, then last night she brought me her favorite pair of maternity pants.  I feel so lucky, and I just can’t get over how giving people are.  Warms my heart. 🙂

No bloopers were taken this time!

The random bits

• How far along: 20 weeks, 2 days (I’m half way!)
• Total weight gained: 16 lb
• Days left to go: 139
• Time before we find out the sex: 6.5 hours to go!!!!!
• First class we’re going to take: on cloth diapering this month (hopefully)

Have a wonderful Friday!  I know I will. 🙂

Heather