Pregnancy Update: 33 Weeks

Hey all! Can't even believe I'm in the last weeks of my pregnancy. I know mamas say that the second pregnancy flies by, but this has gone at light speed. This past week has proven to be both encouraging and challenging. I have gotten back into my workout routine and am also settling nicely into our new home. We are loving our Nashville neighborhood; it feels as if at every turn or stop, I meet a new mama with kiddos who I could totally picture myself being friends with! The people here are so kind, and there are so many young families surrounding us. On the more challenging side, I developed a nasty 24 hour virus and struggled to get by being pregnant and also with little Linc around wanting to play. Suffice it to say, I tested negative for both strains of flu (praise God) and am feeling much, much better. Baby is developing at a healthy rate, weighing in around 5 pounds, although there is a minor complication that we have follow up appointments on in coming weeks. Thank you all for your support and for following. Check out my stats below:

Weight Gain: (These are my notes from a few days ago; I have an update below) 21 pounds ish. So I'm getting to the point in my pregnancy where I'm starting to feel like a big whale ha!  I'm not swelling a whole lot but for some reason I feel huge.. I guess that's what an extra 21 pounds will do to a girl. Because I am getting big, it has thrown off of my diet a little bit. I don't know about anyone else, but when I feel fat and sluggish, I actually eat worse. On the flip side, when I feel thin and svelte, I eat super healthy and feel amazing. Thus, I'm starting to get that sluggish whale feeling at this point in pregnancy and am not being great about my diet. That said, docs recommend we gain an average of 30 pounds during pregnancy, so I'm right on track for that. This time around, I hoped to stay closer to 25 pounds, but hey, you really gotta do what your body wants to do. 

Weight Gain Update & Flu / Virus Update: So I caught a nasty 24-hour virus Tuesday night. My stomach started feeling funny around 6pm ish. I had made salmon and Asian salad for Ry and I that night for dinner, and by the time I finished it, I couldn't stomach any of it. I started to feel not right AT ALL and bee-lined to the bathroom. After being in there for a long time, it's safe to say I caught either a virus or some sort of food poisoning. All through the night, I was literally in and out of the bathroom with a horrid stomach ache. I woke up Wednesday and felt like death with acheyness all over and that weak feeling, like you'd get with the flu. Lincoln and I sat around all day watching TV and laying on the floor reading books. Usually, we don't let him watch TV, but today had to be an exception because I couldn't gain the strength to do much else. Thankfully, we had my 32/33 week prenatal appointment scheduled at 2:30pm, which would not only get us out of the house, but would also help me understand what in the heck happened to me and how we could treat it. We arrived at the doctor and had the 32-week ultrasound first, I will go into more detail about this later in the post. I then met with the doctor who told me to get tested downstairs for the flu. She said that I was still early enough in my pregnancy to take Tami-Flu (sp?). I'm not one to take medication, especially while pregnant, so I asked her what the benefits of taking Tami-Flu are. She told me that they speed of the flu and the symptoms that go along with, making you less contagious to other and healing your body faster. She highly recommended doing so, if I in fact tested positive for the flu. They did a nasal swab in both nostrils for testing, which was SUPER uncomfortable, and I got my test results back today.... NEGATIVE! Yes! I tested negative for both strains of A and B flu. So that means the sickness with either a 24 hour virus or food poisoning. Retracing my steps back to what I ate, I can't recall anything different from what Ryan and Rhett also eat that I ate that could have given me food poisoning. Thus, I think it was a 24 hour bug. All of the said, because I couldn't eat for about 24 hours, I did lose a little over 2 pounds, which puts my at a total weight gain around 18.5 pounds. However, baby is still super healthy, coming in around 5 pounds!

Exercise: I've been pretty great at exercising, especially for where I'm at in my pregnancy. Last week, I exercised all but one day doing a combination of spinning class and step class. The step class is amazing because it's super low impact but I feel like I'm getting in some great cardio stepping on and off the box throughout the class. Not only am I getting cardio, but strength training as well. Step is definitely my favorite and is also the most manageable and comfortable workout at this point; it's comfortable on my body but I still feel like I'm getting a great workout in. Spinning is good too, but it gets a little uncomfortable sitting on the bike seat for an entire hour. I also feel a little uncomfortable in my lower regions on the bike, as if the babies head is super low (if you catch my drift). I've heard in second pregnancies, you can start dilating super early. I'm not sure if that's what is going on, but it feels a little uncomfortable. That said, I still like the spin workout to change it up during the week. I've been recommended prenatal yoga, so I may try to work that in as a progress in my pregnancy.

Nutrition: As I mentioned earlier, I've been a little bit off with my diet. Not super off, but just a little bit off. I was saying a few posts ago (and a few weeks ago) that my stomach felt so so tiny with not a lot of room for food that I was getting full super fast and also some acid reflux. Suffice it to say, that has gone away and now I feel a little bit more hungry than normal? Not sure if I'm imagining it but I feel like I can eat an extra snack mid morning and mid afternoon when I otherwise wouldn't. I've also  been eating a little more dessert at night than normal. If and when I do, I try to really watch my portions or opt for a healthier dessert option like non-dairy ice cream. In the mornings, I still am sticking to my warm lemon water and green smoothie. I sometimes have a mid morning snack, then a healthier lunch and a decent sized dinner. Dessert ranges from a few bites of non-dairy Ben and Jerry's ice cream to a few bites of Cookie Butter to a few bites of Soy Vanilla Ice Cream from Trader Joe's. When with friends and there is dessert, I will eat it but only a small portion. Hey, I'm pregnant!

Pregnancy Symptoms: My lower back is a bit achey as of late. I attribute this to the weight gain and the stress of carrying a baby. Not a shocker at all. I am also starting to get a little bit of a tingly feeling in my left shoulder blade. This has happened about three times in the past week. Not sure what it's from? Maybe more stress on the body. I have a recurring injury in my upper left groin area in between my hamstring and glutes - when I was running in the beginning of my pregnancy it started to flare up again. After I stopped running, it went away but now with the extra weight gain and relaxed ligaments, it has returned.  Not sure what to do as a remedy at this point. My acid reflux is pretty much non-existent. My skin is looking great but a little bit of hyper-pigmentation that I attribute to the hormones. I don't have the line down my belly yet and I haven't noticed any stretch marks - hooray! I do feel a little bit more sluggish at this point, and am sleeping like a champ through the night. Literally, the deepest sleeps ever. Getting up to go to the bathroom at night is a chore because I am so tired and my back aches as I get out of bed. When peeing, I literally feel as if I could fall asleep on the toiler (TMI) because I am in that deep of a sleep!!

32 Week Ultrasound: Ultrasounds at this point are becoming harder, in my opinion, simply because we aren't finding out the gender of the baby. I so badly want to look at our cute little one on the screen to see how he/she is developing, but at this point, I really don't want something to slip and to see something on the screen that would give away the gender. For those who didn't find out the gender of the baby, you probably totally understand! Now that we have gotten this far, I really don't want any subtle hints as to what the little baby could be. So, at the ultrasound, I spent the majority of the time looking away, unless she told me to look. There were some cool observations, including baby's hair!! The tech said that baby has a TON of hair. This came at no surprise since Lincoln had a lot of hair, as well -- and black hair too -- as did I. I expect this little one will be the same. It's funny because people often equate a baby having a lot of hair at birth to the mother having intense heartburn. I had intense heartburn with Lincoln, but haven't barely had any this time around. I'm here to debunk that myth! See image below of baby's hair:

We also saw a very prominent little foot, which you can make out here:

Just some fun new updates to share. As I said earlier, baby is measuring at a healthy, healthy 5 pounds. This weight is given with a plus or minus 15% accuracy. The ultrasound tech said that baby is about 2 weeks ahead, given the weight. She also said it's great that baby is on the heavier side at this point, but is also not too big, which might indicate a more complicated birth for mama. Since the last few ultrasounds, the doctor has been monitoring baby's kidneys. The kidneys are slightly dilated and have been since development. Sometimes this goes away as baby develops and grows, but unfortunately in our case it hasn't. The doctor wasn't too concerned because this is something that can be treated after baby is born. Often times, baby can get better developmentally, with antibiotics or with a minor surgery. At this point, we will be in one of the three camps. Asking for thoughts on prayers on this matter, although I am very confident in how God is going to protect and grow our baby! I see a urologist on February 3rd to determine how high risk we are, and at that point we will have a better idea of what will proceed. Doctor said she wasn't worried that we needed to induce labor or anything like that, but she said it's good that we caught it and that it is indefinitely treatable. All in all, baby is super healthy and wait can't wait to meet him or her in less than seven weeks!

Fetal Movement: A healthy amount of fetal movement. Baby is moving and grooving in there, but not an abnormal amount which I am happy to report. I am drinking caffeine (one latter per day) with this baby, staying within the allocated amount. Last pregnancy I drank caffeine but only in the form of green tea lattes. So, I was a little worried that the espresso caffeine would hype this baby up. At first, baby moved all of the time like whoa, but not the movement has gotten to a more normal cadence, thank goodness. Baby is hiccuping more and more, which I here is a good indicator of healthy lung development and function.

Predictions About Baby's Gender: Hmmm... I don't know!!! I literally have no clue. Some women say they just knew they were having a certain gender and knew the moment they got pregnant. Nope, not me. I am not one of those women that knows the gender, and I'm not one of those women that knows that she is pregnant before taking a pregnancy test either lol. I don't attribute this to being a bad mom or out of tune with my body because I am certainly super in tune with my body and would like to think that I am an exceptional mother, I really think it's just the fact that some women don't know! The more to be surprised about at the birth of our babe...

Thoughts About Delivery: I'm actually getting more and more excited to give birth this time around. I have this anticipation for what this baby's birth story will be, not to mention I am so excited to see what a new family dynamic will be like with two kids. Most importantly, I am so excited to feel that unreal love for baby number two. It seems almost impossible to love another like we love Lincoln, but I keep hearing that your love just expands twofold, so that'll be fun to experience. I am also praying that baby is head down and ready to go. I have an ultrasound tomorrow and will report how baby is positioned. I am pretty confident that I will have a vaginal delivery and pray for that daily, however, I am open to the possibility of other things happening ... after all, we can't predict or control our birth stories! All I know is the benefits of 

​Preparation for Baby: The nursery is still being assembled, but we did purchase an adorable piece of artwork to hang above baby's crib. It is from Restoration Hardware (go figure), and it is a gold metallic zebra! I can't wait to share it with you all. The nursery is coming together wonderfully and we are excited to welcome this sweet little angel.

Until next time!

xx,
​ILA