No denying the bulge!
We’re officially over half way to B day, my friends! We now know the little being inside me is kicking for the Girl’s Team and she weighs around a pound…and Trainer Mama has gained about twelve times that. Bring it, scale! I’m not afraid of you. I can say that easily now because I feel like myself, just with a coconut under my shirt.
I will say my closet needs some restructuring now that I’ve torn everything out of it just trying to dress for the day. Last weekend it was one sweater cape after another (I own three and rotate them on the weekends); I’ve got a love-hate relationship with two pair of maternity jeans because I’m neither small enough to fit into my normal jeans nor big enough to keep the maternity ones from making my butt sag like a bulldog’s mug; T-shirts are either too tight or too short (kudos to those of you who rock the bare momma belly but this girl doesn’t row that boat); shoes are super uncomfortable and the long sweaters I got away with for the first 20 weeks now make me look like a wholly mammoth. I heart you, yoga pants! And summer, where are you? I have so many plans for you that do not include stuffing my abdomen into long pants…
With that said, this pregnant thing is pretty neat, and here I’ll share why! For those of you expecting or just super-interested in the fact that some day you will be, I dedicate this post to you…
Things That Make Pregnancy Enjoyable
- Food! Hearty, whole, healthy, and delicious food! I’ve found a new reason to experiment with new recipes, a favorite past-time of mine! Tonight it’s baked zucchini chips and tomato soup (no cream necessary, this recipe rocks my household’s world without it). Another recent fave: Banana walnut bread, although I used pecans instead of walnuts and had to decrease the baking time by about 5 minutes to avoid burnt edges.
- Workouts that don’t make me feel like pregnancy is a disease. It amazes me how many DVDs are out there that treat the expecting woman as though she’s ill and can’t exercise very hard. Granted you should keep it within your limits and own personal fitness level and should definitely not push your heart rate like you may have before, but there are other things you can do besides floor exercises! I’ve already reviewed one of my favorites, so I’d like to add Erin O’Brien’s Prenatal Fitness Fix to that list of Workout DVDs for Pregnant Women That Don’t Suck! There’s even a 20-minute workout for post-natal fitness when you’re ready to get back into shape (once your doc clears you after the baby’s born).
- Massage. Okay I understand this one may be out of the budget for some people, but if you can get a prenatal massage sometime during your pregnancy, DO IT! I had no clue massage could actually get even better. Plus with all that low back pain and ligament tightness and sore, achy feet, your body just responds well to massage. Hint to your partner or baby shower attendants that you’d really like a massage from a therapist who’s experienced in prenatal technique. Better yet – have a massage therapist you trust on call for when it’s Labor Time (if the situation works out – I’m not advocating you call her or him at 2am as you’re headed to the hospital), and check with your doctor first to OK it. Mine was all for it.
- Glowing skin…..I had you there for a second, didn’t I? Glowing skin my keister! No one mentioned to me that “glowing skin” would really only occur about one day a month and usually it was due to obsessive oil glands that make me break out like a teenage boy the next day. No, my skin does not GLOW at all but I do have red itchy bumps on my legs if that’s what the experts meant by “glowing skin.” I’ll tell you how to get glowing skin – Go spend a couple months in Hawaii! And bring me back some pineapple while you’re at it…
