pregnancy journal entry 4

This is day number 120 and you're 17 weeks pregnant!
You have 160 days or 22 weeks left, and are 42.9% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 106 days or 15 weeks. You are due on 8/10/2008.

Fetal Development
Your baby is approximately 4.8 inches long and weighs about 3.5 ounces, and he or she should weigh more than the placenta from this point on. Since your baby's hearing has become more finely tuned, he or she may respond to loud noises and you may feel movement at the sound of large trucks passing or a slamming door. Epidermal (skin) and fatty tissue are developing all over your baby's body to protect it after it is born and a substance called vernix is beginning to form on the skin tissue to protect it from the long exposure to amniotic fluid.

awesome. wow, and i am sorry i have taken THIS one for granted: my nausea is ALL GONE. actually i haven't been taking it for granted, but i realized i hadn't written it down as a praise report yet! as soon as i'd hit 12 weeks, it totally disappeared, and my energy came back too! i still get a bit weak when i don't eat for a few hours, but luckily i don't feel like i have to eat all the time.

AND i have been working out every day (except sat.) for a whole week! it is still challenging in that sparrow usually notices when i get up, so it is a toss-up whether it will be worth it for me to wake up at 5 am or not. i admit i get crazy frustrated when i've planned to wake up at 5 and then she wakes up too, and cries at me! luckily she's been going back to sleep... usually. sunday she didn't, but i insisted on doing an hour of exercise after breakfast, and she just played happily and quietly without whining the whole time! that is seriously a miracle for her. i was so pleased.

i have still been doing melissa's pilates dvd mostly; i really really enjoy doing that in the quiet of the peaceful morning living room when the sky is just beginning to lighten outside. it is the "10-minute solution pilates" dvd and i LOVE it. it is challenging and moves fast enough so you don't get bored. plus, the 10-min. segments really make it more interesting.

i also got a "15 minutes to fit" dvd for pregnant mothers--it was like $3 on amazon! the only one on my long wishlist that i could afford. when i did that one for the first time, i thought the exercises were sooo easy, and i was a bit disappointed. best stick with regular pilates! BUT today i am SO sore--pecs, arms, legs, butt--that i guess it was working after all! hahaha. this is good. i thought i was going to have to try to scrape together money from somewhere for a gym membership--ideally, a gym with a pool and with childcare. i wanted it so bad! when i was pregnant with sparrow i went swimming 3x per week or more during my last trimester, and i really feel it helped me to be more fit afterward, lose the weight faster, etc. but i've found out i am quite happy doing pilates videos! (but you've gotta find the right tapes. the one i was using during my 1st pregnancy before the pool membership was soooo easy and sooo boring, i now realize!) also, maybe it is a blessing in disguise that i can't pay for the pool this time. i realized later how much chlorine they put into that water, and how bad for you it really is! it absorbs into your skin and into the bloodstream, and is not even filtered out by kidneys or liver, as when you eat or drink! see more on that here: http://www.pacifichealthcenter.com/updates/50.asp
and here:
http://www.science-writing.org/id75.html

but back to exercise: some books will tell you ('girlfriend's guide to pregnancy') that there is no point in exercising during pregnancy since you can't go all out. the idea is that "moderate" exercise doesn't do much anyways, and besides, the only exercising that will help you in labor is something that will tone your uterus, and there are no exercises for that, so just do your kegels and don't bother with the rest. however, the logic of that is way off. what about all the other benefits of exercise? even if it isn't the kind that will burn a lot of fat, it will help improve posture, circulation, digestion, muscle tone, and--VERY important for pregnancy--energy, and endurance. the endurance was a big thing for me to work toward the first time around. you have no idea how long your labor will be, and what if you are not used to any physical strain; you have just let yourself get lazy and comfortable for 9 months? sure, the birthing hormones will kick in to help--IF your birth is unmedicated--but say your labor is 24 hours? or 44? or 72? or--as in barbie's case--13 days!???!!? hm. methinks it would be better to have built up good endurance, at least!

this time around i am really stoked on the energy/renewing qualities of exercise. rod (the boss) has said with great ardor, that exercise "improves quality of life IMMENSELY!" and i was feeling schlumpy, tired, and guilty when he said it, so tuned him out a bit, but i guess it stuck with me, and now i fully agree! i have found that my naps are shorter and i get up out of them easier, i don't feel like i need caffeine in the afternoons, and i have reduced my morning cup of tea from 2 teabags to 1. (yes, i had started on the caffeine again...of course!) i also hear that exercising can help reduce the back pain that kicks in during pregnancy, and i think i have noticed that too, although i am still a bit under the shadow if sciatica. ah, and tracy schmidt (one of my top real-life heroes) says that a good birth experience is a 3 legged stool, the 3 legs being good personal support, good nutrition, and good exercise.

oh and not to speak of the perceived benefits! as soon as i start exercising, i look in the mirror the next day and already think i notice my hips have shrunk. or i feel my bum and think it is tighter. etc. etc. obviously it could not work that fast. but it does make you think so! hahaha, and here's one more benefit: it improves your resolve to eat well! i was seriously eating so much cake and bread and cookies and ice cream for the 1st 3 plus months that it became a vicious cycle: oh well, one more piece of cake won't matter. i had one yesterday, i might as well eat another. really! then i finally told myself, ok, i won't stop making myself eat cake every day, but i at LEAST have to exercise! no more desserts until i start exercising! but then naturally, what happens when you start exercising? you want to fuel your body with good things like quinoa and bananas in the morning, and not ruin your hard work by eating chocolate ganache! i still let myself eat it sometimes, but mostly i just don't want to! yaaaaaaaay.

so i encourage all you preggies out there to exercise. even if you have to get up at 5 and stealthily slip out so your other kids don't notice you are leaving them. pilates at home is a great, free, and time efficient way of exercising, faster than walking and can still get your heart rate up, and certainly more time efficient than the gym. if you CAN afford a gym count yourself blessed.