34 Weeks

| cheriarmour

Baby is the size of a:  Pineapple.  I’m drinking a tropical(ish) smoothie for breakfast, so I’m tying it all in.

Due date: Sept 3rd, 2016

Total weight gain:  I am not really super duper into being a crazy person about my weight right now.  I am just over 25 lbs, last doctor’s visit.

Sleep:  Sleeping a bit less because I’m getting up more like two times a night to go to the bathroom.  I try and make sure that I go the second before I fall asleep, but my bladder really can’t handle more than what seems like a teaspoon of of anything in it.

Best moment this week:  We went on our hospital tour the other day, and it looked good.  It was nice, on the tour I found out they have bathtubs to labor in, birthing balls, and squatting bars.  It was nice, it seems like I’m going to be able to labor however feels best instead of being strapped down to the bed.

Food cravings:  More of the same, not anything crazy.  And not a lot of everything.  Last night, I really wanted some ice cream cake, so me and Austin went and got one (speaking all in British accents).  I ate a slice, and I’m taking the rest to work so I don’t eat it all.

Food aversions:  Too much of anything.  I’ve said this about a million times before, but I cannot overeat.  The second I even think about it, I feel horrible and it feels like food gets stuck like at the top of my stomach/bottom of my throat.

Symptoms:  The pelvic pain is like omg.  I was able to get in the pool and that helps tremendously, as well as laying down with a yoga block under the small of my back, and continuing to avoid split-leg exercises.  That means a lot of faking while demonstrating lunges, and a yoga block for pigeon pose.

Looking forward to:  My baby shower is this weekend!  And Harry Potter and the Cursed child is out this weekend.  AND DCAC is the following weekend.  A lot in the next few weeks.  And a baby at the end of it all!

ICYMI…

32 Weeks, 31 Weeks, 29 Weeks, 27 Weeks, 26 Weeks, 25 Weeks, 24 Weeks, 22 Weeks – Changing it Up!, 21 Weeks (A little late), 20 Weeks – Halfway There, 19 Weeks…it’s a…, 18 Weeks, 17 Weeks, 16 Weeks, 15 Weeks, 14 Weeks, 13 Weeks, 12 Weeks

Explosion

| cheriarmour

There aren’t going to be any photos embedded in this post, and I think that’s really for the best.

So first off, how are you guys?  Hope you could glean something from the other days’ post on hydration.   I definitely am still on the hunt for a canteen that is a little larger than the Yeti, but prettier.  Sorry Yeti, I really do love you, you’re just not very feminine.  And I need all the help I can get.  I am just not that cute lately.  Well sometimes, but not today.  Today I just stretched a tee over the bump, and let me tell you what, that does not do anyone any favors.  Anyhoo, let me know if you have any suggestions.  I’m kind of eyeing the Corksicle 60-oz, or maybe even the Hyrdoflask?  I would love to hear what your thoughts are on these, or if you have another suggestion!  Think sustainable people!  No plastic water bottles if I can help it!

So after a loooong day on Tuesday.  And I mean long, cause I got up for 6am to practice the newest Body Pump release with a few folks, and then I came home and napped, headed into work, and then headed back OUT to a work event, I was not feeling very social.  The event ended up being much better than I thought it was – I mostly don’t want to socialize because I feel big and fat and I don’t drink obviously, but it was great, and there was food left over for us to take.

I took some home to Austin, and played Pokemon in the Uber the entire ride home.  But when I came into the house, it hit me.  The smell of like, a literal animal shelter absolutely slapped me in the face.  I was scared to look, and I peeked around the back of the couch, and the best way I could describe what I saw was that there was an absolutely atomic explosion.  All over the floor.  Over pretty much, every square inch of the floor.

I called Austin out to help me assess/recover the great room area, and the look on his face confirmed how bad it was.  I put Coco out (we determined pretty early on she was responsible), and started to clean up.  Until we realized that Coco probably needed some cleaning up too.

I grabbed a thingie of baby wipes (thanks kid), we put her in the bathtub, Austin sort of held her down, and we tried to scrub her.  Until we realize that the situation at hand sort of called for scissors.

Side note: I am really sorry, I am trying to describe this without going into a really vile level of detail.  

So I grabbed scissors, all the while Coco was miserably attempting to nip at Austin with the remaining teeth she has, and set about cutting out some of the more problematic areas on her tail.  Luckily, poodles don’t shed, and her hair grows like a crazy person’s, so she looks just fine.  In the process of all of that, we accidentally also turned on the shower, so mid-scrub/cut, water starting pouring onto both of our heads.

We topped it off by putting Coco BACK outside, and then mopping for a decade.

Austin didn’t really want the dinner I brought home after that.  I don’t blame him.  Not one bit.

Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me about your pets.  And tell me you didn’t spend your Tuesday night scrubbing their butts. 

Hydration

| cheriarmour

Hi!

I hope it’s perfectly fine with you if I talk about something other than Melania Trump, police brutality, Brexit, or Kanye West.  The news literally gets weirder and darker every single day.  With the exception of the Taylor/Kanye thing, which I fully plan to discuss my theories on that at some point this week.

However, let’s take a total right turn, and talk about something not awful and stormy, but something really really necessary for summer survival.  Hydration!

Okay, so I’ve always been pretty good about hydration, especially since I spent those summers at camp.  At camp, I was there before canteens really started coming out with any significant ounce-age (not a real word), so I started making a habit out of buying 101-oz Deer Park containers and just toting those with me to camp.  And then again when I started running seriously, water was crucial to avoid bonking on long runs and not damaging muscle terribly when I went for a run.

Now, I’m still super active, and lifting more, but my drive to stay hydrated isn’t just for the purposes of keeping me afloat (tee hee) in a long workout or during a long day of teaching classes, but it’s also to keep me from having contractions and to get into the habit of drinking constantly so that I can keep my breast milk supply up once the baby gets here.  Plus I think it helps with some of the headaches I was getting really badly in the first tri…which we can also chalk up to the first tri just being a miserable time in life.

First off, here’s the trick I was kind of given by a nurse 21 weeks or so in, when I was overdoing it, and ended up spending a day on the couch with my feet propped up.  On the phone, the nurse told me to try and get 30 oz. of water in before lunch, and then another 40 or so after lunch.  Sounds like a lot, but it’s plenty doable with a few tricks I’ve mastered over the past few weeks that totally help you get more clear stuff in.  Plus, with all that liquid in, getting diet soda in is harder.  My like main vice, even though I consider myself fairly healthy, and plenty active is artificial sweetener, but I figured at some point that that can’t be awesome for the baby, so I’ve backed off a lot.  Tricks to stay hydrated, especially in the summertime!

Get cute/large water bottles or canteens.  

I’m a big believer in keeping some sort of water bottle with you at all times, because there will never get to be a point in the day when you’re like CRAP, I’ve had nothing to drink all day long!  I tend to gravitate toward larger, double-walled ones that are pricier, but can keep things cold.  The thing about the price is that it’s something that you’re toting around daily, and you’re not reaching for plastic bottles consistently, which is really not great for you, or for the environment.  I have a S’well (24 oz.), another S’well (17 oz.), a Yeti (30 oz.), and  I’m in the market for a larger canteen since I’m drinking more lately.

Really quick.  The S’well is cute, and a fashion statement I kinda, think, but it’s hard to shove ice cubes in it.  I stick to plain water from one of those tappy things at the water fountain for this.  The Yeti is great because you can get ice in there and it can fit in most machines.  It’s not very pretty though, and I had to buy a separate lid with a straw in it so I wouldn’t have to sip out of it like a coffee mug.  I am totally open to suggestions for a slightly larger, double-walled canteen.  

12042775_730741657032428_5707260019942954025_n.jpg

Start early!

I do my best on water on days when I have to get up really early for class, and I have to drink to get through classes.  On Friday mornings, I get up around 5am to get to my 5:45am class, and typically can at least get a Yeti in during/after class.

Seltzer

I really love anything carbonated, but I can’t slam Diet Cokes all day.  Just no good.  So, when I’m really wanting  something super super cold and bubbly, I’ve done a few flavored seltzers, in the the form of Dasani Sparkling, but my absolute favorite thing is to stop by the Burger King and get plain seltzer out of their Coca-Cola remix machine.  It’s always super cold, and overcarbonated, so it really has the most delightful effect.

13709901_10100810954023613_7226617992003707719_n.jpg

Monitor your pee.

This is a sorta-gross trick I picked up, that I start using heavily whenever I’m heavy into a training cycle for a marathon. This trick sort of also depends on what supplements you’re taking – a multivitamin or a prenatal can turn your pee BRIGHT yellow, but otherwise, you should be operating in light yellow territory. The darker it gets, the more your eyebrows should raise.

Those are the best I can do on a few tips to stay headache-free this summer.

  • What are your tricks to keep your water intake up?
  • Any suggestions on a slightly-larger canteen that I can start to use as I try and get in a few more ounces throughout the day?

32 Weeks

| cheriarmour

Baby is the size of a:  Head of lettuce.

Due date: Sept 3rd, 2016

Total weight gain:  I have not gotten on the scale since the doc.  I believe I was right about 25 lbs.

Sleep:  Still sleeping, but getting up to go to the ladies room frequently.  TMI, but my uterus gets really really unhappy if I don’t empty my bladder often, and I’ll get some tightness.  Not quite full on contractions, but you know what I mean?

Best moment this week:  The girls from one of the studios I teach at threw me and another expectant mama a shower at the studio.  I was feeling a little like “omg no one is going to show and this is going to be so embarrassing,” and of course, it wasn’t like that at all.

Food cravings:   I have really been watching my sugar.  Even before getting pregnant, I think I developed a pretty wicked sweet tooth after consuming a LOT of artificial sweetener, especially when I was at fat camp. (Seriously, if you’re new here, I’ll tell you about it one day).  I think I could do a lot more sugar if I just kind of let it go, but I don’t want to put myself in danger of developing GD, especially after I passed my test and everything.  It’s so not worth it.

Food aversions:  Most anything else.

Symptoms:  After repeated visits to the chiro, I’m actually feeling really good in my lower back, but I’m not feeling particularly great in my pelvis.  It’s a little hard to explain, but some major vagina bone (technical term) has kept me from doing long distances, and has definitely made me change some of the exercises that I AM still doing.

Looking forward to:  You know, I didn’t make it to the pool this week.  I am really going to try and make the pool this week, like I was talking about last week.

ICYMI…

31 Weeks, 29 Weeks, 27 Weeks, 26 Weeks, 25 Weeks, 24 Weeks, 22 Weeks – Changing it Up!, 21 Weeks (A little late), 20 Weeks – Halfway There, 19 Weeks…it’s a…, 18 Weeks, 17 Weeks, 16 Weeks, 15 Weeks, 14 Weeks, 13 Weeks, 12 Weeks

The Elephant in the Room

| cheriarmour

First off, I think I’d be remiss in my duties as a human being if I didn’t talk about the big huge elephant in the room.

Our country is in a really weird time.  I think when I open my kid’s history book, it will be unreal – the book will talk about social unrest, racial tensions, and a certain Apprentice turned presidential hopeful that captured the hearts of an alarming number of people.  It’s going to sound really cool, and exciting, but living it?  Waking up to another incidence of police using deadly force?  It’s not fun.  It doesn’t feel fun.  And because social media is so prevalent, you get to hear every single person’s opinion on every single topic.  Which is really fun when you find out one of your acquaintances from high school is at best, misinformed, but at worst, flagrantly racist/sexist/homophobic.  (Not fun at all).

I don’t know what to say about all of this except that I’m ready to wake up one time, ONE TIME, and have it be a good news day.  With that, I leave you with this…

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ALLY TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY

I’ve always liked this woman.  I started looking at her blog when I was still in grad school I think, and she always seemed to have a really decent head on her shoulders.  If you’re someone who feels genuinely concerned for the state of things, but you wonder how you can help, or what us black folks are talking about all the time, this is a really good way to start.  Generally, I approach this stuff with a grain of humor, like “haha, white people, please stop asking to touch my hair all the time,” or “tee hee, no, I cannot braid your hair,” but I’m just not in the mood today.

Tomorrow will be a better day, right?

31 Weeks

| cheriarmour

Baby is the size of a:  Coconut.  That seems HUGE to me!

Due date: Sept 3rd, 2016

Total weight gain:  I go to the doc this week, and have really avoided the scale.  Not for any reason – I’m very much over the fact that pregnancy leads to weight gain.  It is what it is.  I’m just not obsessing over it.

Sleep:  I am definitely definitely sleeping, but still going to the bathroom constantly.  I got a suggestion a while back, that perhaps I should consider drinking less water.  I will classify that was potentially the worst advice I’ve ever gotten lol.

Best moment this week:  My brother and Austin painted the baby’s room on Saturday, and the color ended up being amazing.  My mom asked me “who helped you pick that out” and I was like…::side eye:: ME!

Food cravings:   Ew…food.  Lol, for me pregnancy has never been a time of insane hunger and appetite for me.  The smaller my stomach physically gets, the less I can eat, and if I try to force it, I either get reflux, or this feeling like there’s food sitting in the bottom of my throat.  The key is small, frequent meals, and I generally avoid foods that would irritate my stomach in real life.  Fried things and dairy in particular are a no for me.

Food aversions:  See above.  🙂

Symptoms:  Eh.  Nothing too drastic.  I’m telling you what, the chiropractor is KEY.  If you’re thinking about getting pregnant, put your little money aside so that you can go to the chiropractor and get a prenatal massage.  Pregnancy isn’t meant for you to feel like shit 24/7 for the duration.  There are some enjoyable bits.  Like my skin finally looks really nice.  There are others, but that’s the first one that came to mind.

Looking forward to:  The pool this week.  I need to get in it.  The baby is gaining weight, and I need to get some of this weight off.  You never realize the difference a few pounds can make, or a few pounds in a certain area of your body, but it definitely shift things.

ICYMI…

29 Weeks, 27 Weeks, 26 Weeks, 25 Weeks, 24 Weeks, 22 Weeks – Changing it Up!, 21 Weeks (A little late), 20 Weeks – Halfway There, 19 Weeks…it’s a…, 18 Weeks, 17 Weeks, 16 Weeks, 15 Weeks, 14 Weeks, 13 Weeks, 12 Weeks

Questions I have after finishing OITNB

| cheriarmour

I hope you guys had a really good 4th weekend.  I did.  We just had a bunch of horrible weather, so my brother and Austin painted the baby’s room, and started setting up some more stuff in there.

That would be great, except now, with a fresh, beautiful coat of paint in the baby’s room, I hate the way the rest of my house looks, and I really want the rest of the house painted, the nasty old couches gone, and the carpet ripped up and replaced with hardwoods in the back of the house.

IMG_8805 (1).JPG
Every single one of our three pets sleeps like this on the couch.  It’s foul.  When we get a new couch, I don’t know what we’re going to do.  

That’s not a tall order, is it?

Ok, so over the weekend, we finally finished season 4 of Orange is the New Black, or OITNB.  If you have not yet finished, I need you to stop reading.  I’ll post a pregnancy update separately later today, but I don’t want to spoil things for you.  So stop reading.  STOP READING.

Ok, so I kind of want to go back and watch all the seasons straight through, and that might be my next watch while I’m on the treadmill, when I can’t trick friends into hopping on and gossiping with me.  But it started off lightly enough to the point where I secretly thought that Litchfield seemed kinda like camp.

This season however, it because really really apparent that Jenji was moving more into the realm of social commentary, similarly to what she did with Weeds, and things got terrible.  Like way too real.  So here are the questions that I have.  Some of these are observations.

  • Linda, Caputo’s gf is a terrible human being.  This is not a question.  But an observation.  She is awful.  I hate her stupid haircut.  I hate her disregard for the inmates.  I HATE that she pulled a gun on Sophia’s wife.  She is awful.
  • Speaking of awful people, when I got a sense that something bad was going to go down, I was kind of hoping that something would happen to Piper.  She absolutely sucks.  Now, I did feel terrible for her when she got burned, because it was really mean and I get why Ruiz was upset, but I feel like it knocked her down a peg or two.  I mean, she unwittingly (ish) started a white supremacist group in prison.  I knew she was selfish before, but this is just awful.  (Also reminds me of how selfish Nancy Botwin was.  And we all still rooted for her because it’s Nancy, and she always lands on her feet).
  • Is Daya gonna do it?  Shooting someone, execution-style, makes you an awful person.  But that guard is disgusting and brought a gun into the prison.  But her mom would be heartbroken from outside of the prison, right?
  • What did Piscatella do that landed him at a women’s low-security facility after working at a men’s max.  It had to be bad, right?  I also didn’t realize how badly he sucked.  But he is just awful.
  • What’s going to happen to Judy King?  Things weren’t looking food for her there at the end.  And when the inmates quickly figure out that she was on her way out (she was wearing a jacket and holding her belongings in a box), they’re not going to be happy.  Especially since they didn’t get their payout from the photo yet and Judy got the Martha Stewart treatment at camp cupcake.  Which I know to be a fact – while I was in social work, one of my clients was at camp cupcake and told us how Martha was lovely and would cook using hair straighteners.
  • Poussey.  😦
  • How is MCC going to cover up a dead guard AND a dead inmate?  Looks like the “secret” about the dead inmate is out (I call it a secret since it took them forever to report it to local police).  Will the guard thing every be revisited or are we all going tot pretend that they didn’t dig a body out of the garden?

Those are my questions for now.  Let me know if you have any thoughts/answers for me, I’m dying to hear what others think.

Thoughts on Season 4 of OITNB?

What did you do this weekend?

29 Weeks

| cheriarmour

Baby is the size of a:  Small cabbage.  I know what this vegetable is, at long last!  I’m looking at you rutabaga!  Still have little to no clue about what I might do should I encounter a rutabega.

Due date: Sept 3rd, 2016

Total weight gain:  Still holding it down at 22 lbs.  My mom was really surprised when she saw me last Wednesday – she was very sweet and said I didn’t look like I’d gained much at all.  But there’s definitely a belly in my way so I’m not really bending over to paint my toes, if that makes any sense to you.

Sleep:  I am sleeping, but starting to have some pain when I sleep on my right side, like I’m smooshing something important.  I’ve been sleeping with something called a Snoogle (weird name, I know), that I can shove between my knees to make sleep more comfy.  And bathroom breaks are always a must for me.

47043042833666p.jpg
Fun fact – I already got makeup on my Snoogle.  

Best moment this week:  I went shopping with my mom and sister and registered for a lot.  I am cleaning up the registry now and am actually getting things done.  The house/nursery is next!

Food cravings:   Always sparkling things.  Lots of smoothies still because they are SO easy to digest.  And this past weekend, I sought out a monster slice of coconut cake from a local restaurant and it was perfect.

Food aversions:  I just can’t eat a TON.  The more I grow, the smaller my stomach gets squished, and the harder it is for me to eat anything but small, frequent meals.  Huge meals or things that are heavily fried or heavy on the fiber are really difficult for me to digest.

Symptoms:  I’m going BACK to the chiro tomorrow.  My lower back is still a mess, but the visits seem to prevent me from descending into completely lower back/pelvic obliteration.

Looking forward to:  A bath this evening.  Hopefully some warm water will help my back 🙂

ICYMI…

27 Weeks, 26 Weeks, 25 Weeks, 24 Weeks, 22 Weeks – Changing it Up!, 21 Weeks (A little late), 20 Weeks – Halfway There, 19 Weeks…it’s a…, 18 Weeks, 17 Weeks, 16 Weeks, 15 Weeks, 14 Weeks, 13 Weeks, 12 Weeks

Lately…

| cheriarmour

I think I’ve figured out what’s happened to ALL of my good running/working out socks.  After class this morning, like the phenomenal housekeeper I am, I threw my socks on the floor to dry, and when I came home, the dog was literally tossing the sock into the air and catching it.  Not sure where the other one was/is.

On Wednesday night, I arranged to have someone take my classes, and I headed to my parents’ so that my mom and I could go to Buy Buy Baby and register for some stuff.

So when I got there, I headed straight to the Y to catch a Zumba class.  I was kinda exhausted, as I found out once I got moving, but since the class was only 50 minutes, I sort of bargained with myself to stay til the end.  Once I got to my parents’ house, my dad was all excited about a recipe he found on Facebook for strawberry ice cream.  It was really really good.

IMG_8536[1]

We balanced our our healthy dessert with a green smoothie, which I made in my parents’ Vitamix. I really need a blender – I make about a smoothie a day, but my Oster won’t get through kale and sometimes my morning smoothies are a little chunkier than I’d like.

IMG_8538

The next day, my mom, my sister, and I went to the baby store to register for stuff which was fun because my mom hadn’t been around baby things in like 20 years, and I think she liked seeing what the new developments are.

The trip was really short – I had to head right back up to teach my 5:45am Friday BodyPump class, and I needed to get back to work – I need to save my vacay for when the baby comes so I can get paid out some of it.  I managed to catch the Cavs/GSW games, which was pathetic – but it spurned a lot of these memes.

IMG_8552.PNGIMG_8553.PNGIMG_8551.PNGI’m so done with Twitter – no chill whatsoever.  I laughed out loud in my office for a good 10-15 about these.

So that’s me lately.

What have you been up to lately?