Pregnant Running

For the last few years running has been "my thing."  It helped me through infertility and was my outlet for stress.  I have come to love it so much more than I ever thought I could love any form of working out.  Even with my doctors restrictions in early pregnancy (with this being an IVF baby), I knew that I wanted to continue running as soon as I could get my doctors to release me.

Now that I'm 21.5 weeks pregnant and still running 2.5-3 miles per outing, I am starting to see how difficult this is going to be going forward.  Heck, it's already pretty hard.  I have noticed with each passing week a little more discomfort both during and after my runs.  It also  becoming more difficult to get myself motivated to run as frequently as I would like.  The general aches and pains that I feel during my runs have increased marginally but the real discomfort comes after a run.  It seems to take my body (mostly my pelvis) a couple of days to fully recover now.  Running 2 days in row has pretty much ceased at this point.    

Nothing at this point is unbearable and I still generally enjoy going for a run, but knowing that my running time is most likely coming to end is really bothering me.  I love that I can still workout at the pace I've been keeping and knowing that it's allowing me to stay healthy (especially on those days when I have indulged in classic pregnancy cravings of any type of cake, chocolate, candy, pizza, fast food.....the list goes on).  And I know that staying active will also most likely help ( I hope this is the truth) to ease labor when she's ready to come out.  I guess I'm just sad to know that the therapy I find in running will be ending at some point in the near future.  I'll just have to be okay with walking and only walking....after all it's not the worst thing in the world.

At this point, I'll just have to continue to listen to my body and make my decisions based on what "feels" right.  As long as this baby girl is healthy, that's all I care about.  And since everything at each doctor's visit has been right on track, I feel very confident that my running has been for the best so far.

In my head I have an imaginary goal of being able to run until I'm at least 6 months pregnant....that's about 4 more weeks and I think it's very doable.  In the meantime, I just keep telling myself that even if I have to stop running tomorrow, I will be happy with running to the 5 month mark. :)

For all of those women that run through the entire 9 months of pregnancy, I can honestly say that I have an extreme appreciation and respect for your dedication!   

Half Baked!!!

Wow, I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy seems to have gone!  I know in the beginning that it felt like time was moving at a snail's pace, but now looking back, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I am half way through this pregnancy!

I'm sure things will start to go even more quickly as the holidays get closer and we have more on our schedule for baby planning purposes.

This past weekend, we painted the nursery.  After painting it once and deciding that it was too light, I went back to home depot for the next shade darker, convinced that it would be perfect.  Well, it's still too light and I am not pleased.  Brad and I decided on yet another color last night that I will probably go it pick up sometime this week and start by painting an accent wall (just to make sure the color is what we want).  Hopefully, this will be our last attempt at painting the nursery.

In other nursery news, I ordered the curtains and am making the final decision on what vinyl tree decal we want to order.  Oh my gosh, I am absolutely loving decorating this nursery!!!!  Next up this week is picking out the fabric to recover the glider cushions we have.  They are currently denim....not exactly my first choice.

Hopefully, I'll have some progress pictures in the next couple of weeks.

Now for the usual:

How far along? 20 weeks 3 days

How are you feeling? 
Still trying to kick this cold.  Since Saturday I have been able to sleep through the night with the exception of pee breaks and I'm really starting to get some energy back.  I'm still congested and coughing but this is a walk in the park compared to where I was last week.  I'm hoping to get a nice run in tonight but it might not go well if I can't breathe. :)

Cravings? 
Last week I started craving fruit more often.  We'll see how long this healthy craving lasts before I get the urge for some fast food, lol.

What are you missing?
Not much lately.  Last week sucked not being able to take anything to help relieve my cold symptoms.   

Maternity Clothes?
Ever since my broken zipper episode last week, I have been officially converted to maternity pants....That is until I found 2 pairs of jeans that were too big on me before pregnancy.  I am wearing those as well, for now.  I'm thinking I'll start wearing my maternity shirts soon since most of my tops are getting borderline too short.

What are you looking forward to?
Getting the nursery finished.  I know that this is going to be several months in the making but for now I just want to have the basics done: paint, curtains, wall decal, other wall art, and furniture.

Baby Purchases?
We ordered the changing table last weekend and are waiting  until the dresser goes back on sale to get it ordered. 

Weight Gain/Loss?
Still up about 9-10 lbs

No fancy picture this week:

Yesterday was amazing!

We had our anatomy scan and found out that we have a precious little baby GIRL!!!!! 

The scan took almost an hour and the tech had me get up and go to the bathroom because she couldn't get see the goods. That's all it took!  We had her write it down so we could open it up together when we got home. 

Well, of course we couldn't wait!  We ended up opening it up in the parking lot while sitting in Brad's car.  I cried a little when I saw the news....I'm not sure why, I think I was just so happy!  Immediately after the appointment we went to BRU and bought some cute little pink shoes/booties and proceeded to tell our families and friends.  I picked the ones on the left and Brad picked out the ones on the right. :)

Just finding out the sex has somehow made this even more real and I feel like my bond has grown significantly since yesterday.  Oh my gosh, I'm so in love!

Could it be????

I think I may have finally started to feel some movement!!!!  I noticed it twice yesterday afternoon and then again this morning.  It's definitely like a light tapping sensation (coming from the inside of my belly) and I really don't think it's gas.  Yay!!!!

Other than that, I feel like death warmed over because of a cold that reared it's ugly head late Sunday night/Monday morning.  Ugh, it's really wearing me down and it doesn't help that I can't sleep at night.  Feeling my sweet little baby moving around in there makes me feel better though. :) 

18 & 19 Week Update

So I missed last week's update...whoops!  Honestly though I feel like not much has changed in the last couple of weeks.  I feel like my bump is still the same size and I'm hoping for a growth spurt here shortly.

I finally made the decision to start buying some maternity items.  I was able to find a few tops at Macy's and Old Navy but I'm waiting to wear them for a few more weeks when my belly will fill them out a little better.  Plus, they are all long sleeved or 3/4 length which it's still a little warm for these days.

Not a whole lot going on lately, which has been a nice change of pace from the last couple of months.  We spent our Labor Day weekend doing fun things for the most part and even took the following Tuesday off.  Our garage was jam-packed and in need of some organization so we tackled that.  I can now say that there is adequate room to get a child in and out of the car while its in the garage.  Yay!

This past weekend we had a wedding with a bunch of friends and had a really nice time.  I was surprised how much energy I was able to muster up and ended up on the dance floor the majority of the night.

And here's one with the bump in all it's glory:

However, I woke up today feeling pretty crappy with a sore throat and a cough.  Let's hope it's just a little cold. 

I'm getting super anxious for Thursday to be here....that's when we have the a/s and hopefully find out if this little one is a boy or girl.  So excited!!!

Here's the latest and greatest for the 18 & 19 week update:

How far along? 19 weeks 2 days

How are you feeling? 
Pretty good except for this possible cold I developed sometime overnight.  Still getting 3-4 runs in throughout the week although I think I pulled something in the arch of my foot.  It's not too bad when I'm running but hurts more when I'm in sandals.

My newest symptom is the tailbone pain that started on Saturday.  It's very odd...When I'm sitting at a particular angle or on any seat thats not my couch, my tailbone gets really sensitive and feels alot like it's bruised. 

Cravings? 
Just food in general.  Most things sounds good to me these days.

What are you missing?
Still missing a glass of wine or even a dirty martini here or there. 

Maternity Clothes?
Still in all my regular clothes.  Every pair of pants now requires a hair tie but it's doing the trick for now.  I have some maternity jeans waiting in the wings when I'm ready (or sick of trying to make my regular pants work).  I still have a few weeks on shirts (I think). 

What are you looking forward to?
Our anatomy scan is this Thursday.  Brad and I think we picked out the nursery paint color, so we'll probably paint it this weekend and add a few gender specific accents to the room.

I'm still waiting for movement and I'm getting so impatient.  I keep thinking to myself, maybe in a couple of days....but those days keeping dragging on into weeks.  Fingers crossed!

Baby Purchases?
Nothing really.  We are hoping to change that pretty soon.  I think we will buy the dresser here shortly and maybe some clothes after Thursday's appt.

Weight Gain/Loss?
A couple of weeks ago I stopped weighing myself everyday because it was driving me crazy.  As of yesterday I was up 9lbs.