First Prenatal

I had the longest prenatal check up in history yesterday. It was actually scheduled to be that long anyway...but I never knew it would be that long (4 hours). The first hour I was schooled by a nurse about what to expect in this second pregnancy. A lot of the material was repetitive from what I learned being pregnant with Breanna, but she answered lots of my questions with my new changes. Then there was that long wait to be seen by the doctor, who was late from tending an emergency patient bearing twins. He was so courteous and apologized for being late and promised to spend a little extra time with me. How sweet. He was cute too =) Finally, the most uncomfortable part of the visit were getting the flu shot and bloodwork.

In my visit I learned some interesting things:
1. Research on mixed race children (particularly White with Asian) shows that these children are always born on the heavier side (around 8 lbs or more). In my case, Breanna was 10.7 lbs and I'm hoping for a less heavier, yet healthy baby.
2. Sometimes the uterus supports a baby that grows inward toward the spine rather than outward toward the belly button and will cause back pain and constipation.
3. I love sushi but during pregnancy I should stay away from the raw kind and stick to cooked fish. I might also stay away from shrimp since they are bottom feeders which eat all the muck and waste from the sea floor. Yuck! I'm safe with California rolls and unagi.
4. When the first trimester is over, I'll have to change my favorite cardio routine (jogging) to another less high impact one such as speed walking. Pooowheey.

How am I feeling this week?
Energy: I got really tired this Friday morning ~ probably from the flu shot
Mood: smug, but bored ~ it seems like I've been pregnant for a year already
Appetite: all right...not heavy yet
Cravings: none
Sickness: a little nausea...I'm glad it's tapering off

Measurements
Weight: 145

Just Work It Mama!

Since I found out I was pregnant my body has gone awry. I'm consistently tired from after lunch until the end of dinner. My head feels airy. I'm dizzy and spaced out. Nausea hits every now and then these days. All these symptoms and more are so uncomfortable...but the most notable is my energy level that drops heavily by midday. After analyzing my new pregnancy lifestyle I figured out something that was very important to me which I lacked in my change: aerobic activity.

Before I got pregnant for baby two, I consider myself a healthy, active exerciser. I'd spend 5 days a week for at least 20 minutes doing a cardio activity at at least 60-70% my target heart rate (114 bpm) and spend around 20 minutes weight training. If I did anything less, my body would get slumpy and sluggish...and that's just what happened to me when I found out I was pregnant a second time. I got so sick into my first two months of pregnancy that I couldn't exercise anyways and my body grew tiresome. I felt like an invalid.

As my body healed from the weeks of infection, upset stomach, fever, and general illness I slowly got back into a doable workout routine...but my routine was so bland and easy that my body didn't like it. I thought that as a pregnant person I shouldn't work out hard like I used to. Last night proved me wrong. I decided to work it a little harder like old times: jogging, ellyptical training, lifting moderate weights. My body felt so good that I'm going to forget all these old wives tales and just be like I've always been: active!

Note: Pregnancy isn't the time to start running, although it's fine if you jogged regularly before getting pregnant. After the first trimester, avoid sit-ups and other exercises done while lying flat on your back — they can make you dizzy and decrease the blood flow to your uterus.


How am I feeling this week?
Energy: increasing compared to first month
Mood: happier now that school is back in session
Appetite: heftier...hooray
Cravings: not much
Sickness: tiredness about midday

Measurements
Weight: 144 lbs