Mommy Update…Coming to you from 3rd Trimester (32 weeks)

Can I just say that I have no idea where the time has gone! I mean everyone tells you that your second, third, fourth, pregnancies will go a lot faster than your first, but holy smokes! I never would’ve imagined that the time would go this fast. And I’m sure it has everything to do with running around after my very active 14 month old!

During your first pregnancy, there’s so much to look forward to. You never know what to expect and every new development is a game-changer. You anticipate what being a mother will be like and you handle the ebbs and flows of your pregnancy with a sense of new understanding and every development is monumental.

During your consecutive pregnancies, you are so much more distracted by everything else you already have going on that you may not notice the beautiful little things that come along with each new pregnancy. For example, I had totally forgotten what it felt like when your baby gets the hiccups! Once you realize it, all of those first-time emotions come flooding back and you take a second to enjoy the little life that’s growing inside of you.

I think it’s also really interesting to compare your pregnancies. While every one is different, I have found that there are also a lot of similarities. Who knows if it’s from both of my babies being boys, or if there is just a certain way my body responds to pregnancy, I have found that a lot of the same tips and tools I’ve used during my first pregnancy are making this one relatively breezy as well.

WEIGHT UPDATE

Now nobody likes to share their pregnancy weight gain with the world, but I think it’s important to understand that the concepts I’ve talked about in my Calling All Mamas and Mommy Update are important and do in fact work! So far this pregnancy, I’ve gained about 10-12 pounds, depending on the time of day. Considering my most recent ultrasound (yesterday) showed my baby boy weighing 3 lbs. 13 oz., that’s pretty good for not gaining a lot of additional weight.

Keep in mind, you do have to gain more than what your baby weighs because you have to account for the additional blood, placenta, fluid, etc. that is keeping baby safe, so this is realistically a minimum of what you need to gain. But the point is, you don’t have to pack on 50 extra pounds every time you get pregnant. Trust me, there are times I still feel like a whale and have trouble moving around like I want to, but all in all, I am much better off following the guidelines and suggestions I’ve written about in those articles.

If You’re Not Exercising During Your Pregnancy, DO IT NOW!

One point I have to reiterate is that if you haven’t been exercising while you’re pregnant, you need to start now! (Of course, that is only if your doctor has given you the OK to exercise). As much as I’ve talked about it, this is something that even I need to be reminded of from time to time. And trust me, my body has been reminding me plenty.

For the last few days, I’ve just been so busy that I really haven’t taken the time to exercise like I should be and I’ve let other things become a priority. Consequently, I’ve felt much more bloated, to the point where I wasn’t even hungry because I felt like I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday, I decided that regardless of whatever else I needed to do, I had to set aside even just a half hour to workout.

And I felt so much better!

That bloated feeling instantly went away and I seriously regretted not working out earlier in the day so that I would’ve felt better sooner. I committed to exercising first thing this morning as well and noticed that I felt so much better today compared to the last few days.

Don’t Forget To Drink Your Water!

This is another thing I tend to talk about a ton when it comes to the most important things to remember when you’re pregnant. But this past weekend, I was reminded in a very serious way why it is so important! With everything going on in my life recently, I’ve been running around so much and forgetting to drink enough water. I got out of the habit of consuming my usual amount and lost track of the days and exactly how much I was getting.

The first thing I started to notice was how tired I became. I started having to drink an extra cup of coffee midday, just to have the energy to stay awake until bedtime. And of course, coffee is a diuretic and therefore counters any water you are drinking. This vicious cycle left me dehydrated and I started to experience Braxton Hicks contractions like I had never felt before. I am usually very familiar with Braxton Hicks contractions. I have gotten them off and on during both of my pregnancies, but these were much worse than any I had before. I felt awful in general and so exhausted. I couldn’t get the contractions to stop and ended up having to spend the night in the hospital where they told me I had been dehydrated and had to give me a shot to stop the contractions.

After drinking over 100 oz. of water that night, I was released the next morning and good to go home. After about a day of recovery from the lack of sleep and plenty of water later, I was feeling like myself again. The last few days I have been focusing on drinking more water than ever and making myself focus on hydrating as one of my top priorities.

It seems like such a simple thing, but it really can make all the difference. You don’t want to send your body into baby-having mode early just because you forgot to drink your H20!

Key Take-Aways

I like to write these updates to let you know how my pregnancy is going and to encourage other moms out there that they are not alone in the issues they deal with. Pregnancy is one of the greatest gifts we can experience in life, but that doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and roses. Sometimes it’s really hard and you’re more exhausted than you can stand, but in the end, it’s so worth every freckle-faced, snot-nosed kid you get to call yours. Just remember to take care of yourself as well because you have to be your best before you can give them the best.

If you need any help or have any questions about pregnancy in general or how my pregnancy is going, please reach out. I would love to hear from you!