You can always tell if I am having a good day or not, based on my weekly bump photos lol
How do you like my Dr Seuss socks?
STATS:
Baby size: A size of a rutabaga (huh?) and growing… In the next few weeks the brain development will explode and in just 3 weeks 90% of babies born at that point survive without any lasting health problems- always a good thing.
How far along:Â 25 weeks ( Is it me or are these weeks going by SO SLOOOOWLY?)
Total weight gain:Â Nada. I’m still at 152 lbs, still eating really well and hitting my calorie goal, but I guess considering that Little Alexis has been very active this week, not much growth was happening. Let’s catch up next week, little girl! {update: this morning I got my 1lbs for the week so I am at 153lb now)
Sleep: Good, good good! It’s good all around. I wake up 3 times a night to go pee, but it hasn’t been bothering me in the least. The 5 pillows are difficult to manage and by the time I get back into bed after my bathroom breaks, my husband is always hogging at least 3 of them, which means I have to wrestle them out of his death grip in the middle of the night. Â I keep telling him that if he still hears me fidgeting, I am not done arranging the pillows- so back off. But since it takes me a few minutes to get comfortable, by then he’s already on the other side of the bed sleeping. So I have to drag his arms to me, so that we could snuggle. It’s really quite hilarious.
Maternity Clothes: Dresses when I go out, and maternity bras at home. Otherwise, I wear a lot of stretchy pants around the house. I am really looking forward to getting some nice maternity pjs to wear around the house and all my “stretchy pants'” are getting too tight.
Food cravings : Fruit, always fruit.
Food aversions: None
Symptoms:
Heartburn – I’ve been lucky to not have any heartburn this whole week until today.
Rash – Less itchy but man, it’s all over my boobs.
I have really felt great this past week. Energy is decent, symptoms are almost non-existent. So far this pregnancy I have not had any back pain, no real round ligament pain to speak of, leg cramps, constipation or any of the other nuisances that usually pop up as your belly grows.
Exercise: Ok, I’ve been bad. Busy and bad. I completely ignored my evening walks and my pregnancy exercises and my kegels this week. It makes me feel super guilty. In my defense, it’s been really busy, but I gotta really learn to manage and fit it all in: work, blogging, photography, nursery set up, online shopping, research, friends, exercise, cooking. Thank God, cleaning is the one thing that’s off our hands now.
Movement:
Alexis keeps bouncing on my cervix and it freaks me out sometimes ( wrong door, girl!). I don’t want her to even think there’s a way out yet – settle down, girl! Oh and I have not felt hiccups yet, or maybe I can’t recognize them.
Belly Button: An innie with a Napoleon complex.
I thought you might like to see the front of my belly when the light is right and shows some definition. In even lighting my belly looks almost non-existent in the front view, but if I position myself right where the light falls from the side, it looks HUGE! I just had to photograph it in this lighting.
Gender: GIRL!
What I’m looking forward to:
Doing a Nursery update. I know I’ve been promising it for a month now, but it’s moving soooo slow. Every weekend we do a little bit, and since I can’t help with painting or refinishing, my hubby has to do it all. Well, he’s taking his time, forgetting to pick up paint, not getting enough of it, blah blah blah. We’ll still have it ready in time, but I wish I could just do it all myself. So hopefully after this weekend, I’ll have something to show you. We assembled the crib, the walls are painted, the closet  and molding should be painted by then. Not much progress to report, but at least you’ll see the direction we’re going in.
What I miss:
Being/feeling productive.
I get a lot done, but I feel like this pregnancy fatigue and all the care I put into food preparation and making sure I take care of myself ( rest, interact with Alexis when she’s awake, read to her, floss and brush after every meal, moisturize twice a day, plus the constant bathroom runs, agh!) derail and distract me so much. These are all important things and I do them because I believe in the benefit, but I’d like to spend more time doing work stuff, and blogging, and catching up on everything I’m behind on. I guess I realize it won’t improve, it will only get busier. The cooking will continue because of breastfeeding ( oh I loved those days when it didn’t matter what I put inside of my body lol), time with Alexis will multiply as she grows ( and I love that idea), but at least I won’t be as tired because I will no longer be growing a human being, and I won’t need to be so diligent in my skin care routine to prevent stretchmarks, or take care of my gums like crazy because I am pregnant and most importantly, I will be able to push myself even when I am tired, which I don’t do now, because that would mean taking the precious energy away from Alexis who needs it to grow her big beautiful brain and develop the rest of her organs (wow, is that a massive sentence or what?).  So whenever I feel tired or overwhelmed, I relax, which is not something I would allow myself to do normally.
I like structure and right now I lack that structure.
Oh and I am not even close to being half way done with the nursery but I am already mapping out in my head the playroom we’re going to create for Alexis. We have this room downstairs that is just a placeholder for furniture ( literally). I cannot wait to create a whole play area out of it, with reading spots and easels and kids tables and chairs for activities and all kinds of stuff. Yeeek!!!
I know you think you will have energy after baby is born , but expect that you will have less time and be more tired! It is just a different kind of tired. Good luck!
Kate
idreamloudly.com
I would just hope that I won’t have the unnatural, “no-reason” kind of tired, you know?
I will be tired from lack of sleep and taking care of the baby, yes, I expect that. And I know it won’t feel any better than the pregnancy fatigue, but at least I’ll feel like it’s ok to sometimes push myself when I am tired. While now I am trying to be careful not to overexhaust myself.
I love the Dr Seuss socks! You look fabulous!
LOL! Thank you! I’m a huge fan of fuzzy socks 🙂
Aaaaaaaaaaaa! You look pregnant! hahaha I haven’t seen your bump for weeks and look at you, girls! Looking good!
I now can tell that I had far more energy and time back when I was pregnant. When I had my baby, I wanted to be productive, but no time & energy… 😉
And now? Is it better now that she’s a toddler?
You look great, as always!
What? Still not in labor??? hahahaha! I’m just messing with you! 🙂
Elena, you look amazing! I hope I look half as good as you whenever I get pregnant (hopefully soon!). I’m so excited to see Alexis’s nursery!
Wow! Thank you! I’m enjoying the golden age of this pregnancy 🙂 Good luck on the TTC!!!!!
Finally! I see a tummy! Oh you are the cutest little thing – love the belly shot in the “now i look pregnant lighting” – LOL! Looks like a TONED pregnant tummy to me! Can’t WAIT for the nursery pics – seriously! 🙂 YAY!
Oh I like the idea of a “toned” pregnant tummy 🙂 Maybe my ab exercises are paying off 🙂
Don’t get your hopes up too high on the nursery pics. Not much has been done to it so far.
I just found your blog earlier this week and I have spent the last week going through all your posts ( I’ve been a total slacker in the work department)! Congrats on your baby! You and your husband are such a beautiful couple and I am just dying to know how you met, and how you fell in love, and the story of ” you” that got you to such a wonderful place. I feel like I stumbled upon the climax of a story without knowing the beginning!
Thanks, Adrianna ( love the name btw)!
I guess eventually I’ll write our story, but it’s so incredibly long and intense that it’s something that would take me days to write. It was love at first sight- that I can tell you.
You look so great! It’s definitely obvious from your pictures that you are just feeling good and happy. Love it! Oh, and I agree with the toned pregnant tummy comment. Your belly totally still looks toned! I’d say the ab exercises truly are paying off! About the hiccups, you will know them when/if you feel them. My first baby had them maybe a handful of times. My second had them every day! It was crazy, but super fun. It’s such an interesting feeling, like a very slowed down, repetitive heart beating inside your belly haha. Then when she was born, she still had them daily the first month or so of her life.
That is one awesome baby bump!!!
What a crazy thing,today morning I was watching “The Cat” on TV hahaha I love that movie! I can tell you that you look pregnant by the front side now 🙂 So happy for you,E!
By the way,those belly shots are taking in your hall? What a great light!
I’m loving that you are posting “mostly” daily now,but i hope you can organize your activities and relax! 🙂
The shots were taken in the movie theater room looking into the bathroom. It has one window and the light was falling perfectly.
You look fab! I love it! Congrats!
Ohhhh, that’s some really cute and obvious belly 🙂 Love it!
I know what you mean, the time seems to go so sloooowly while pregnant! I am enjoying remembering the feeling while reading your blog. It now seems like such a distant memory to me (all my 24/7 nine months of nausea, etc…) even though I only gave birth four months ago! You look terrific! 🙂
quite honestly you probably wont have any energy to “push” yourself until the 2nd year. The best piece of advice I can give you is to sleep when she sleeps and give yourself a pass on things. Keep the housekeeper (trust me). My laundry doesnt get folded because I would rather sleep when I can. Both of my kids slept thru the night early (#1 slept thru at 2 months 3 days and #2 slept thru at 2 weeks. Its not typical for that to happen) Because I work midnights I didnt get any benefit from them sleeping thru the night so young. My husband did. He never got the whole “twitchy tired” thing (I got 4 hours of broken sleep in a 24 hour period. By day 3 I was a serious mess) ……If you are planning on exclusively BFing you will be even more tired than someone who doesnt. You are going to be the one soley responsible for getting up in the middle of the night…..while your husband blissfully snores away. Talk yourself out of smothering him.
I have a 9 month old and have bad news for you: your tiredness and productivity are going to get worse, not better. I hated being pregnant because I felt so fat and sick and exhausted, and that did improve almost immediately after I gave birth. But newborns don’t sleep for more than a couple hours straight for many weeks, which means that you won’t either. I didn’t get more than 4 hours sleep in a row for months due to breastfeeding. Even if you “sleep when the baby sleeps” (which I did, I am great at napping), you are going to be totally exhausted because of the broken sleep. Also, your body doesn’t fully recover for a few months (can be longer for some people): I had an easy, normal labor and still didn’t feel fully up to par for at least 2 months.
Also, you talk about looking forward to pushing yourself again. But just surviving the day with a newborn is going to be pushing yourself. Unless you have a full-time baby nurse or something like that, you won’t have any energy to spare. Even talking with your husband is going to be a big effort. There is no such thing as structure with a new baby; every day is different, and just when you think you’ve got it, they do something new (like stop sleeping) and you’re back to square one.
I recommend the book Life After Birth by Kate Figes. It’s a little dark (I absolutely love being a mom despite the downsides, and didn’t experience everything she describes) but very accurate and, I think, a great preparation for what having a baby is really like. Your life is very easy and relaxed now, and I feel a little worried for you that reality with a baby will be a big shock.
You are really beautiful BTW and the best looking pregnant woman I’ve seen!
I hear you! People keep saying it’s hard with kids. And unfortunately until you give birth to one there’s no way to truly understand that. So I accept the fact that it’ll be hard. The good thing is I’m very flexible. I might be dreaming of the time when I can “push myself” again but I’ll be happy doing whatever it is I need to do. I’m ok with all outcomes- all types of babies- high needs, quiet, colicky etc. because I realize I won’t have a choice.
I know women who thought the newborn phase was a piece of cake and women who thought it was the toughest three months of their lives. So everyone’s experience is different.
So I don’t feel like I need to “mentally” prepare for my new life because I’m already open to whatever experience my little girl throws me. I don’t have preconceived notions of how things SHOULD be.
Hopefully my mom will be here in the first 4 months to help while we are trying to get a handle on the whole parenthood thing. And otherwise, I’m taking it one step at a time.
It will be nice though not to check everything I put in my body abc on my body and limit what I do, because of Alexis being inside of me. I feel I can’t push my limits because that’d be taking energy away from her. That part I’m looking forward to.
Thanks for your comment- its very helpful!
Oh and as far as reality being a big shock, I’m sure I’ll be talking about how hard it is, however if you don’t have expectations, then you don’t have disappointments and shock. I’m open to whatever experience I’m going to have- no expectations. I do have wishes ( like I hope we can go places with the baby in my sling or I hope we don’t have too much trouble breastfeeding) but I’m perfectly happy with a prospect of not being able to go anywhere cuz little A hates the sling or cries a lot, or a prospect of her needing us at all times and not going to sleep without me. I’ll deal and I’ll adjust. I’m totally ok with that.