Please pray for this sweet couple & their baby girl

Forewarning: do not read if you are faint of heart.

I do not know Kevin and Lindsey personally, but they are friends of a friend.  I came across their story and it really touched me.  The reason why I am writing about them this morning is because I know that they need as many prayers as they can get today.  So please pray for this couple and their sweet baby girl, Sophie.

Kevin and Lindsey had their 20 week anatomy ultrasound several months ago to find out the joyous news that they were expecting a baby girl.  On the same day they also discovered the most devastating news of their life: their baby has a condition that will cause her to die within minutes, hours or days of her birth.

Here are the details of the condition found on Lindsey’s blog: http://vaporandmist.wordpress.com/celebrating-life-with-our-daughter/

“Our little girl has what’s called anencephaly, where her brain and skull have not developed and will not develop unless God intervenes, there is no cure or treatment for this particular defect.  God has been so sweet to us over the past few days and used the body of Christ to minister to our hearts in such profound and rich ways.   He is GOOD.  He is KIND.  He is NEAR.  Our story with our daughter is only just beginning as the news of whats to come sinks in more and more.   There are so many people grieving with us, praying for us and our daughter that I decided it was time to write the things the Lord has been doing in our hearts and life, for my own heart and to declare the Lord’s goodness to us, to let you into our journey as we trust the Lord to walk us through this season.” –from Lindsey & Kevin’s blog

It is truly amazing how this couple has leaned on their faith throughout the pregnancy.  They are praying for a miracle.  They have prepared their hearts for Sophie’s death, but they hold out strong hope that God might intervene and perform a miracle beyond their dreams.  God can work miracles, so I ask you today to please lift up Kevin, Lindsey and baby Sophie today in prayer.  Even if baby Sophie does pass away (as medically expected), pray for the couple in their period of grief over losing their daughter.

At 42 weeks into her pregnancy, Lindsey was induced yesterday, and the most recent blog update this morning shows that labor is still progressing.  Please pray for the labor and delivery process as that is happening today (Saturday, August 31).  Pray for strength for Lindsey as she labors.  Pray for Sophie to be strong.  Pray for Kevin to be a strong supportive role to his gals.  And overall, pray for the couple and their family to accept whatever happens as God’s will.  God’s plan is perfect.

Again, you can find Lindsey’s blog here: www.vaporandmist.wordpress.com

UPDATE (9/3/13): Baby Sophia Kyla was born in the early hours of September 1, 2013 via c-section.  Her parents were so delighted to greet her into the world.  Sophie lived a full 10 hours before she passed on into the arms of Jesus.  The proud parents hopes of her living and recovering from her condition were shattered, but they will continue to glorify Christ through this storm.  They are so utterly grateful for the 10 hours they got to know her on this earth.  Please continue to lift their family up in prayer.

BUMP REPORT – 34 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 34

My age: 27

How far along: 34 weeks (countdown – 6 weeks left)

How big is baby: the size of a cantaloupe.  She is approximately 18 inches long and weighs 5 pounds.

What have you been up to: This week has been so much fun.  My sister Melody and her husband Andrew are currently here in Florida visiting us.  We have really been enjoying our time with them.  I will post more about that next week.  I’m a little delayed on writing my BUMP REPORT this week because it’s hard to pull away from the fun in the sun and spend time on the computer!  Thankfully it’s the morning so I’m the only one awake – so I have time to write.

This past week we had our ultrasound!  We were SO EXCITED to see our baby girl since we hadn’t had an ultrasound since 19 weeks.  It was really cool to see her and how much bigger she is.  Also, we were only expecting to see the regular 2D sonography, but the ultrasound tech occasionally would turn on the 4D imaging so we could see different things.  At first, I could barely tell what was what, but then when we saw her face it was such a crazy experience!  Our little girl has chubby cheeks, hair on her head and my nose!  We could see her opening and closing her eyes, and even making faces.  Eric and I agree that we are so excited to meet her in person in “real life” and see those features for real.

In the waiting room before the ultrasound.  We were so excited!

Post ultrasound with our photos of Baby Lute!

Proud momma!  Do you see the resemblance?  Haha, just kidding!

Exercise/Activity Level: I did 6 workouts like usual for this week.  3 runs and 3 cardio/weights days.  On my cardio/weights days, I’ve been using the rowing machine for cardio almost exclusively.  It’s interesting doing the rower with a big belly, but I make it work!  For weights, I’ve focused on free weights and kettle bells this week.

For running, two of the days were treadmill-based and one was outside (it was overcast, yay!).  Running continues to be hard, but I keep having really empowering/successful runs each week, so I feel really fulfilled!!!  This week I had a new 8-months-pregnant accomplishment: I ran for 36 minutes STRAIGHT without a single break for walking.  3.1 miles (5K distance) took me 36 minutes (a far cry from my pre-pregnancy pace)….I really felt on top of the world.  Go me!  I know this won’t be possible too much longer.

My sister and I post-workout yesterday….I can’t believe how big this belly is!

Maternity clothes:  All maternity.  Still swimsuits.  Only one more week left in Florida, so I will probably never have opportunities to wear those swim suits again this pregnancy.  I am looking forward to wearing more fall-like clothes…leggings with boots and cardigans.

Stretch marks: None.  My sister is going to jinx me though, she is shocked that I don’t have any.  I told her, “heyyyyy, I still have 6 weeks, hopefully I’ll still be ok!”

My belly is pretty huge, but thankfully still streak-free!

Belly Button: It’s out.

Sleep: Sleep is great.  My no-drinking-any-water-past-9pm rule is working flawlessly!  I average one trip nightly to the bathroom.  Otherwise I sleep like a rock.  I’m sleeping better now than I have in my 1st and 2nd trimesters.

Newest baby milestones this week: Baby continues growing rapidly!  She is putting on lots of body fat to fill out her frame.

Best Moment of the Week:   We had our hearts melted watching her on the ultrasound this week.  As I mentioned, we were not there for a 3D or 4D ultrasound, just the normal 2D sonography.  But the ultrasound tech turned on the 4D imaging multiple times to “double check” something.  I think she just wanted to give us a thrill so we could see our baby’s face….and I admit, it was really crazy to see our baby.  She is pretty squished in the womb, so her arms were covering part of her face.  But we could clearly see her open and close her eyes and even scrunch up her face to make a pouty-face!  So neat!!

Worst Moment of the Week: Getting into a fight with my poor husband….  I can’t wait to get these hormones back to normal.

Food cravings: My eating is still really healthy.  Still no dessert/sweets or junk foods consumed in over 3 weeks.  I’m pretty to the book on eating.  My snacks I crave are apples and peanut butter or greek yogurt.

Food aversions: None.

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks contractions.  Trouble rolling over.  Feeling heavy.  Feeling like my belly is huge.  Can’t touch my toes.  Need assistance to get up from the couch.  Hip and joint pain (that has DEFINITELY kicked in!!)…I think it is starting to cause me to walk a little differently (uhhhmm, waddle?)

Movement: She moves so much.  My entire belly gets mis-shapen when she rolls around, lol!  She still gets the hiccups a lot too, sometimes as much as 3 times per day.

Gender: It’s a Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to this last week in Florida.  I want to enjoy every last drop of time we have left!!

What I’m nervous about/praying for: Our 28-30 hour car trip back to Denver next week.  I think it will be fine, but I am slightly nervous with how much more frequently I have to pee now compared to the drive out here.  We did a 3-day drive here, but our plan for the way home is to shove it into 2 days.  It will be hard, but we think 2 15-hour days will be better than 3 days.

What I miss: Simple things…like tying my shoes without struggle or painting my toe nails.

Next appointment: Friday, August 30 at 9:45 am.

BUMP REPORT – 33 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 33

My age: 27

How far along: 33 weeks (countdown – 7 weeks left)

How big is baby: the size of a durian.  Hopefully not as spiky as a durian. 🙂 Baby is 17.5 inches long and weighs approximately 4.5 pounds.

What have you been up to: Florida beach life.  This week was more of the usual.  My days consist mainly of going to the beach, going to the pool, exercising and reading (and I throw in some cleaning and laundry on a regular basis too).  Honestly I couldn’t be more content.  I thought I might be bored of this trip by 4 weeks in, but I am far from bored.  I feel so blessed and grateful for this time to relax and grow this baby!

We had an O.B. appointment on Friday.  The doctor said everything looks great with the baby.  Her heartbeat was 151 bpm and belly fundal height was 34 cm.  34 cm, WHOA!  That is a jump from last visit two weeks ago when the fundal height was 30.5 cm.  Guess this baby is growing like a weed!!  My mom and sister both speculated that different individuals’ measurements may vary though, so take the number with a grain of salt.  The measurement was taken by the nurse practitioner last time, whereas the doctor did it this time.  Also, exciting news: the doctor ordered an ultrasound for us!  She thinks it would be good to check on baby and make sure everything looks good before another 30-hour roadtrip.  We go on Thursday for the ultrasound.  We are so excited!!

On Saturday we drove down to Fort Lauderdale to visit an old friend from college.  This friend is someone I hadn’t seen in over 6 years since we live in different states!  It was fun to see him and meet his wife and their 3 kiddos.  We spent the day hanging out in their pool, taking the dogs to the dog park and fishing in their pond (well, I didn’t fish, but Eric did).  It was fun.

Exercise/Activity Level: I did my usual 6 days of exercise this week.  100% of those workouts were INSIDE!  This Florida heat and humidity is unbearable to try to brave an outdoor workout, unless I wake up early (which we know isn’t happening these days), so the gym it is!  I did 3 days of running and 3 days of weights/cardio.  Doing my running in the gym on the treadmill has been kind of a nice change of pace.  I feel that running on the treadmill gives my joints a bit better cushion than running on concrete or asphalt.  Plus, a perk of running inside is temperature control!!  The gym is not only air conditioned, but there are also fans that you can blow directly on you!  Heaven!

My running felt very successful this week.  One of my runs I felt really accomplished when I ran 16 minutes straight before breaking for a walking bout.  Then on my run on Sunday, I felt even MORE accomplished when I ran for 26 minutes straight before breaking for a walking bout.  I feel so proud of myself!  On my runs this week I ran an average of 3 miles and walked 0.5 to 1 miles, totaling about 3.5-4 miles.

Maternity clothes:  Swimwear 90% of the time.  Funny story…on Friday I wore a maternity shirt that I will not be wearing again.  It no longer fits my belly.  It kept creeping up and exposing the lower part of my bump.  That was frustrating!

Stretch marks: None.

Belly Button: It is fickle…in or out depending on how I’m standing, lying or sitting.

Sleep: I’m sleeping great!  I have a rule that I am not allowed to drink any fluids past 9pm to potentially avoid a million pee breaks in the middle of the night.  I usually gulp down a few last drinks of water at about 8:45pm, trying to get in the rest of my allotted water for the day!

Apparently I did a weird thing one night during my sleep.  Eric said I jumped up and stood on top of the bed.  He panicked and asked if I was ok… (in my sleep) I responded with: “I’m just putting these things on this shelf.”  (There is NO SHELF above the bed!)  I have zero recollection of this incident.  Poor husband, he thought something was wrong!

Newest baby milestones this week: Baby keeps her eyes open during wake periods and keeps eyes closed during sleep periods.  The amniotic fluid is maxed out by this point in pregnancy, providing less cushioning.  Her immune system is continuing to develop and perfect itself.  Her bones are hardening – getting ready for life outside the womb!  Our little girl is hiccuping at least once per day if not two or three times per day now.

Best Moment of the Week:  Spending a lot of quality time with my husband over the weekend was so refreshing.  It was fun to go out on the beach and relax together!  I do a lot of beach & pool time by myself (or with Eric at night after work), but the weekend is just more fun to spend the ENTIRE day together!

Worst Moment of the Week: I can’t recall anything negative from this week.

Food cravings: I am doing really well with my eating goals.  So much so that the number on the scale at my doctor visit showed a bit of improvement (that is a great feeling!).  I haven’t had strong sugar cravings and I still haven’t eaten any sweets in 2 weeks!  I find myself going for peaches, apples with peanut butter and vanilla greek yogurt.

Food aversions: None.

Symptoms: Braxon Hicks contractions are becoming more of a regular thing now.  My belly is growing rapidly, I pee a lot, have trouble bending over and getting up from sitting, and I rarely get mild heartburn.

Movement: Lots of rolling, twisting and stretching going on in there.  I can tell she is running out of space.  She still loves my right side — she pushes her whole hips & butt into my right side all the time.  It’s to the point where I have to lean to the left so my ribs don’t feel like they are going to pop out on my right side!  She just loves her spot!

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m excited that my sister Melody and her husband Andrew are coming to visit for a week.  They arrive on Wednesday night.  It will be fun to spend time with them!

What I’m nervous about/praying for: Nada.  Just praying regularly for a healthy baby.

What I miss: Being able to bend over and pick things up off the floor.

Next appointment: Thursday, August 22nd at 1pm for an ultrasound.  I am SO EXCITED to see baby girl!  We haven’t had an ultrasound since 19 weeks, so this feels like a huge deal to us.

BUMP REPORT – 32 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 32

My age: 27

How far along: 32 weeks (only 8 weeks to go!)

How big is baby: the size of a jicama (some sort of vegetable I had never heard of before).  She is approximately 17.25 inches long and weighs 4 pounds.

What have you been up to: This past week we had my family visiting us in Florida.  It was so much fun!  My dad, mom, and two youngest siblings were here for an entire week.  For the first part of the week I was still fighting off a cold, but we still managed to get lots of fun and sun at the beach and the pool.

Also, we have finished our prenatal classes.  We took a 2-hour breastfeeding class and we took an all-day 8-hour birthing class on Saturday.  It was fun to see other expectant couples (mostly due in September or October) and to be educated with some helpful information.  The childbirth class was very thorough and we feel like it was a great asset to be more prepared.

Aside from all of that, I have been reading a lot since I have a lot of built-in beach time!  I finished a couple of books.  I really loved On Becoming Baby Wise.  I definitely recommend that one.  We will try to follow the guidelines this book teaches on putting your baby on a 3-hour routine.

Exercise/Activity Level: I completed 6 days of exercise this week.  Of the 6 days I did 3 runs (2 were outdoor runs and 1 was inside on the treadmill) and 3 gym cardio/weights workouts.  I have still been reaching my goal of doing 40 minutes of cardio (40 minutes for 40 weeks) during my gym workouts.

My runs sure are getting interesting….some days I feel “great” (whatever that really means at this point!), and other days I feel like I can barely run for 3-5 minutes at a time before breaking into walking.  My calf muscles have really been acting up for me.  They get extremely tight and it forces me to take more walking breaks.  If it weren’t for my darned calves, I’d probably be running the entire distance straight-through!  Well, maybe:)  Eric ran with me on Sunday, and I apologized to him that I had to stop to take walking breaks and his response was: “Well, I’m pretty sure it’d be a lot harder to run in this heat/humidity with a watermelon strapped to my belly!”  I appreciated his kind words.  It’s the truth, though!  Anyway, we are living in gated community, so when I run outside, I just run around the perimeter of the grounds.  I see lots of palm trees and peacocks.  Speaking of the peacocks, some of the female peacocks have brand new BABY PEACOCKS!!!  They are so adorable!  Wow, I am getting on a tangent:)

A photo I snapped at the gym of this 32 week belly.

Maternity clothes:  Still wearing mostly swimsuits.  Since all I do is go to the beach & pool, workout and sleep, I rarely wear normal clothes.  Sundays for church give me a reason to wear something nice.

Stretch marks: None.

Belly Button: It fluctuates between flat and out.

Sleep: My sleep is flawless.  Until last night where I woke up 3-4 times to go to the bathroom.  I think I drank too much water too soon before bed.  Aside from that, I really am basking in the blissful world of great sleep.  I know one day this will end.  For eternity 🙂

Newest baby milestones this week: Baby is hiccupping like crazy!  Since I first felt/saw her hiccups last week, she continues to get the hiccups on a regular basis.  The frequency seems to be about every-other day.  Eric really enjoys feeling her hiccups, but he said he feels bad for her.  I explained that babies aren’t annoyed by hiccups the way we are.  Speaking of Eric, he has been talking to the baby a lot lately.  It really melts my heart when he rests his head on my belly and has a conversation with our baby.  He keeps expressing his excitement to finally meet her!

Best Moment of the Week:  My best part of the week was getting to spend an entire week with my family!!  It was such a blast!  We went to the beach, went to the pool, watched a launch, went to Titusville to see my late grandparents’ house, church and grave, played games and ate mom’s home cooked meals.

Me with Mark and Christine.

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool.

We spent even more time hanging out on the beach!

Christine built a sandcastle.  She is about to start college next week with an engineering major…hmmm, we have so many family members who enjoy building things!

Eric fishing and Mark (attempting) skinboarding.  You can see one of the cruise ships in the background that just departed.

Mom and Christine relaxing on the beach.

Me with my youngest siblings, Christine and Mark.

Mark and I.  I can’t believe he starts college in a few days!

Christine and I.

Where are Mom and Dad?!?  Oh, there they are, making friends with strangers as usual 🙂

We got to see Grandpa and Grandma’s graves.

Dad, Mom, Mark, me and Christine visiting our grandparents’ graves.

Eric, Mark and Koda hanging out on the patio.

Waiting to see the launch!

Me with my family right before we saw the rocket launch.

Worst Moment of the Week: Yelling at my mom.  I regret even having to write this because it is bringing me to tears just thinking about it.  My mom is the sweetest and most loving woman anyone could ever meet….and I yelled at her over something so silly and stupid.  Under normal circumstances I would not have said hurtful things, but in my hormonally pregnant state, I irrationally criticized her.  Thankfully it is in the past and she forgave me, but I still regret letting my hormones get the best of me.

Food cravings: Last week I wrote a post about my 10 pregnancy health goals because I totally revamped and cleaned up my diet.  I have been eating healthy for an entire week and feel SUPER great because of it.  The first few days I was having strong sugar cravings, but now those are under control.  My go to foods are: fruit (peaches, grapes, apples, watermelon, cherries and blueberries), greek yogurt, string cheese and granola bars.  These snack foods are essential when I’m on the beach.

Food aversions: None.  Although I’m avoiding all sugar and desserts (as well as processed foods).

Symptoms: I got my first Braxon Hicks contractions this week.  I can barely touch my toes (hard when I keep needed to repaint my toenails), mild heartburn and growing belly.

Movement: This baby is definitely growing like a weed.  Her movements are constant but the type of movements I am feeling has changed drastically.  Where I used to feel a lot of kicks or jabs, I am now feeling more wiggling, rolling and stretching.  I think she is running out of room in there!

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to our doctor appointment this Friday.  When I was there 2 weeks ago, the doctor mentioned that we might look at scheduling an ultrasound to see baby before we make the big trip back home (which is still a few weeks away).  I’m excited to see how baby is doing and also excited about possibly getting that ultrasound scheduled for within the next couple of weeks!  We thought we were done with ultrasounds, so this will be so fun if we do get to see her again.

What I’m nervous about/praying for: Nothing really.  I’m so content.

What I miss: My family now that they are gone. 😦

Next appointment: Friday, August 16 at 9:45 am.

10 Pregnancy Health Goals

 

For the majority of this pregnancy to date I have felt that I try to “stay healthy” as a whole.  Faithfully I exercise 6 days per week and I generally “eat healthy” for the most part.  I am happy with my exercise performance, but I feel that my eating habits have slowly gone downhill and I would like to revisit what my health and eating goals look like.

My goal is to keep my pregnancy weight gain at a slower pace.  It’s mentally tough to watch those numbers on the scale go up to a weight I have never seen before.  My goal for pregnancy weight gain is to cap off at around 30 lbs gained (plus or minus).  At the beginning of my pregnancy, my doctor informed me that healthy weight gain for pregnancy should fall in the range of 25-35 pounds.  30 pounds puts me right in the middle.  By eating healthier, it will help me achieve that weight goal, as well as eat more nutritious foods to help my baby’s growth, instead of eating junk that has no nutritional value for my growing baby.

My 10 Pregnancy Health Goals:

1. Drink lots of water. When I say lots, my goal is to be drinking at least 10 glasses (or approximately 5 nalgene water bottles) each day.  The more hydrated I can stay, the healthier baby and I will be.  When you become dehydrated, sometimes you can mistake dehydration for hunger. Rather than grabbing for a snack, I want to try to always go for a drink of water first to see whether it’s really hunger or if it’s thirst.

2. Eliminate sweets (for a while). So far this week I have eliminated sweets completely since I was eating ice cream, cookies or other dessert/sweets on a daily basis for a period of time.   Now, I want to completely eliminate sweets to get those cravings under control.  Once I feel ready, I would like to change this goal to eating a dessert/sweet one to two times per week (max).  An example of this would be: eating an ice cream cone on a Monday night and having a brownie for dessert on Saturday night with dinner.  For now (the next week or two weeks), I am making a goal to eat zero sweets.

3. Don’t count calories – rather focus on healthy foods & portion control.  If I count calories I already know I’m going to drive myself crazy.  This is not the time to count calories since I am pregnant.  I know that I only need to consume an extra 300 calories per day due to pregnancy, but I haven’t counted calories in years.  I’m not about to start. But, with that being said, I want to choose HEALTHY foods to eat my calories with, instead of non-healthy foods.  I want to consume reasonable sized portions.

4. Avoid processed foods – eat mainly whole or natural foods.  I’m trying to avoid things like crackers, chips, etc, but find that okay snacks are things like: fruit, string cheese, greek yogurt, granola bar, hard boiled egg, natural dried fruit, almonds or veggies.

5. Consume a lot of fibrous foods. IE fruits and vegetables.  I already eat a lot of fruit, but I want to try to make it a point to eat vegetables with dinner every night.

6. Eat healthy snacks and don’t allow my sugar to drop.  A mistake I’ve been known to make to save calories is to try to limit my food intake and get in a bad mood because my blood sugar drops.  This makes me an angry person who yells at people for no reason.  I want to make sure I am regularly consuming healthy snacks to avoid this pitfall.  Snacks could be: string cheese, fruit, granola bar, almonds, yogurt, etc.

7. Eat fruit or greek yogurt in place of dessert. I do like the idea of “having dessert” at night.  The past few days after dinner, instead of going for actual dessert, I have been eating a fruit flavored greek yogurt to satisfy my sweet craving.  Another option could be to chop up some strawberries and eat those from a bowl or something like that.

8. Continue with 5-6 days per week of exercise.  Currently my typical exercise routine includes 3 gym days and 3 outdoor running days.  The running on some days is starting to be at the gym in the air conditioning rather than outdoors.   Maintaining 6 (or 5) days per week is my goal.  I want to continue doing 30-60 minutes per day of exercise throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.  Ideally I like to complete at least 40 minutes of cardio (40 minutes for 40 weeks!)  On non-running days, I usually find myself doing the elliptical trainer, the rowing machine or the bike.  Plus some weight training.

9. Don’t stress if I’m not perfect. If and when I slip up, don’t beat myself up about it. Just move on.  I cannot expect myself to make perfect choices 100% of the time.  I am a human, after all.  But if I do make a mistake, I don’t want to let the mistake spiral out of control—I want to move on and continue with healthier choices.

10. Allow myself one “free meal” per week. Right now I’m not going to do this quite yet since I’m trying to stabilize myself after eating less than perfectly.  But I want to note that I think it’s realistic for me to have one meal per week where I’m not overly worried if the meal is healthy or not. This will be saved for more special occasions such as: going out to eat for dinner with my husband or going to a barbeque at a friend’s house.

With these guidelines, I hope that I will be able to keep my pregnancy weight gain in check and have an overall healthier pregnancy.  I also realize that it will allow the transition of post-natal weight loss much easier if I am eating in a healthful way NOW, rather than eating terribly and then having to fix my diet after the baby is born.

Note/Disclaimer: These are simply MY THOUGHTS and opinions for my personal pregnancy health.  I am not a registered dietitian or an MD.  These are simply how I plan to stay healthy for the remainder of my pregnancy.  Thanks for reading.

BUMP REPORT – 31 Weeks

PREGNANCY WEEK 31

My age: 27

How far along: 31 weeks

How big is baby: the size of a pineapple.  She is 17 inches long and weighs approximately 3.8 pounds.

Exercise/Activity Level: I was sick all week long (booo!!!  It’s fun to have a head cold in the summer!).  Despite being sick, I pushed myself to still workout 6 days this week.  The one day I did give myself complete rest I was pretty darn sick that day and NEEDED to rest.  On the days I did workout, it was mainly at the gym in an air conditioned setting.  I still completed 3 days of running.  Only one of those runs was outdoors, the other 2 were in the gym on the treadmill (with A/C and a fan blowing on me).  The heat and humidity of Florida are enough to about kill this pregnant lady!  I realized that if I am going to do any outdoor runs, it HAS to be early in the morning.  Even going at 8:00 am is WAY too hot and humid to safely run outside here.

For my non-running days, I have consistently been doing at least 40 minutes of cardio followed by weight lifting.  I swear the other people in the gym have never seen a pregnant lady working out before!  I feel like they are all looking at me funny when they see me on the rowing machine or ellipital trainer or (GASP!!!!! Heaven forbid!) running on the treadmill!  Having others around actually gives me even more motivation to keep pushing myself!  I want to give them something to talk about at home to their spouses. “Dude, I saw this pregnant chick was at the gym and she just kept running and running on the treadmill.  I hope she doesn’t go into labor right there in the gym!  I don’t need to see her water breaking.”  Haha!

Maternity clothes:  Mostly my swimsuits.  Since I live in a beach condo for another month, I doubt I’ll wear much else.  Swimsuits, workout clothes (to workout) and pajamas (to sleep)!

Here I am in one of my swimsuits.  I have several that I bought from Motherhood Maternity.

Stretch marks: None. I even got a compliment at the doctor’s visit on how nice my skin looks on my belly.

Belly Button: Out.

Sleep: Sleeping continues to be excellent.  The only hiccup in my sleep was due to being sick with a head cold all week long.  There were at least 2 nights in a row where I was absolutely miserable because I was congested, coughing or blowing my nose.  Aside from the sickness causing ill nights of sleep (pun intended!), I am sleeping wonderfully.

Newest baby milestones this week: Baby girl is head down!!!!  I had my first Florida doctor visit on Friday and our little girl is bottoms up and head down.  I’m so excited about this!  For the past week and a half, she has found a new favorite spot in the womb.  She pushes her whole back and butt into my right side and stretches out.  She does it everyday.  A few times she has pushed so hard that it nearly takes my breath away and I have to stand up to “make more room.”

Best Moment of the Week:  I love living (temporarily) in Florida.  Last week it was so much fun to have my friend Kristin here with me!  She is such a doll—-she actually did the 3 day drive with us and then stayed in Florida for a week.  The 10 days were such  blast.  We spent lots of time on the beach, many hours soaking in the pool, went to Disney World Magic Kingdom for a day, went running together and she even helped me find a doctor (which consisted of us driving around to 5 different O.B. offices to drop off my medical records before a doctor would even consider letting me schedule an appointment!!)  What a hassle—but Kristin went along and supported me that day.  Anyway, it was so much fun having her.  She left mid-week and then my parents & siblings arrived the day after she left.  So now I’m enjoying my time with my family this week.

Kristin and I at the Florida state line on our 3 day drive!  Thanks hunny for taking the pic:)

Kristin and I enjoying the beach!

We tried to stay in the shade as much as possible — this Florida sun is strong!

Kristin’s last night in Florida.  We went out to dinner at Coconuts on Cocoa Beach.  It was a neat place.  She and Eric split a bucket of beer on ice — this pregnant lady just got to jealously watch.  Fun times!

Worst Moment of the Week: Being sick.  It was a full week of sickness, yuck!  I had a sore throat, head congestion, runny nose, stuffy nose, cough, etc.  No fun.  I just tried to tough it out until Friday when the O.B. told me it was ok for me to take Tylenol Cold & Sinus.  I started taking it on Friday and it helped me feel better the past few days.

Food cravings: I’ve eaten TERRIBLY this week.  Ice cream, cookies, fruit roll ups, etc. I’m motived to start a new week with fresh goals for eating better!

Food aversions: None.  Just hungry.

Symptoms: Pregnancy symptoms.  The usual!  Mild heartburn, trouble bending over, trouble getting up from the couch, growing belly, peeing a lot, etc.

Movement: My entire belly changes shape.  The other morning Eric and I lied in bed just watching her move all over the place.  We could be entertained for hours doing this.  Also, on Saturday morning I felt & saw baby’s hiccups for the first time!  That was so neat!

Gender: Girl

What I’m looking forward to: My family is visiting right now for several more days, so I’m just looking forward to continuing the fun with them while they are still here!

What I’m nervous about/praying for: Praying to stay healthy now that my cold has tapered off.  It’s no fun being sick!

What I miss: I miss being able to reach my toes.

Next appointment: Friday, August 16 at 9:45 am.  I did have my first Florida doctor visit on Friday, August 2nd.  I love the doctor’s office I chose!  Everyone is really nice there and I felt like they spent a lot of time with me.  The nurse practitioner really seemed to care about me.  It was fun to be able to take my mom along to the appointment since she is here visiting.  She got to hear her grand daughter’s heartbeat (which was 156 bpm).

Here are just a few more for fun!  We took a few watermelon pics…inspired by Pinterest, of course!