29 weeks, 2 days

 I like to move it, move it


This week I thought I'd talk a little about moving and grooving.  Both me and Muppet.  In terms of my movement I haven't slowed down this pregnancy.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  I've been able to keep up my pre-pregnancy fitness routine, but the routine itself has actually slowed down.


During first trimester I didn't get the typical fatigue or nausea, so I was able to keep up with my running. In fact, I was training for a half marathon.  Which meant I was running 5 miles, 3 times a week and 7-8 miles during the weekend.  When the half marathon sold out before I could sign up, I decided to give my body a bit of a break by shortening my runs, and just doing them more often.  I cut down to 3 miles, 5 days a week and a 4-5 miler on the weekend.  But I was getting slower and it was taking me longer and longer to run those 3 miles.  Currently I'm running 2 miles a day during the week and 3-4 miles on the weekend.

Last week I ran my first race since finding out I was pregnant.  I'd actually run a half marathon the week before I got my BFP and based on how I felt during the race I was pretty sure I was pregnant by the time I crossed the finished.  Technically that was the first race I ran pregnant.  But this is the first one I've run since then! 

Given how I'd slowed down, I wasn't expecting much from myself for the race.  Especially as I was running and kept falling behind.  By the time I finished there were only 5 people behind me.  So you can imagine my surprise at seeing my finish time - only 9 minutes slower than my typical 5k time!  And 7 minutes faster than I was hoping to run.  And 17 minutes faster than I was expecting to run!

When I'm running, it's typically Muppet's quite time.  And frankly, that seems to be Muppet's only quite time.  For the rest of the day and into the night Muppet is moving like crazy in there.  Sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night.  Sometimes when I get up in the middle of the night I can feel Muppet twirling away down there.  Last month, at my appointment I asked my Nurse Practitioner about a new movement Muppet had picked up that kind of felt like a giant drill. 

 

I was assured that there is no movement indicating distress and any movement that I felt was "good movement."  Muppet must have taken that as a sign to kick it into high gear.  Now we have drilling, kicking, pushing, and even digging.  I fear this kid is trying to find a way out through any means possible.  The nurse at the latest appointment told me that's probably not entirely accurate, and that there is no such thing as too much movement.

I read this week, and had it confirmed at my appointment, that the baby's movement doesn't necessarily correlate with sleep/wake patterns.  Babies move even when they're sleeping.  And Muppet must be a very restless sleeper.  As soon as I stopped running the race, Muppet was up and at 'em again, kicking and pushing letting me know that just because I stopped moving, doesn't mean baby had to. 

We started doing kick counts this week.  Basically I have to count 10 movements in an hour.  The past 3 days I completed these kick counts in under 10 minutes. Yeah.  We've got an active baby.  And today for the first time I got to see it!  It was another "new" movement feeling - as though there was some crazy dancing going on in there.  In reality I'm sure it's because Muppet's getting bigger and doesn't have as much room to flip, spin, and twirl, but I looked down and my stomach was jumping up, down, to the right, to the left.  Shaking, rocking, and rolling.  I texted J and asked him if he thought it was possible for Muppet to have invited some friends to a party inside me.  Thank goodness we registered for a swing and bouncer because I don't think this child is happy unless moving around.


Total weight gain/loss: +15
Next Appointment: Wednesday, August 10
Maternity clothes? Still on and off, but I think I'm really going to need to pick up a pair of maternity work pants.  I seriously contemplated pulling off my pants and sitting in my underwear at work the other day, but figured that could end up being a bad thing.
Stretch marks: nada. 
Sleep: Not as bad this week - even though I'm currently hitting up the restroom about every half hour during the day, I seem to be doing okay with one bathroom trip a night.
Best moment this week:  Seeing the time when I crossed the finish at my 5k.
Movement: I think this post pretty much covered it, but this child never stops moving.
Food cravings: Nothing 
Food aversions: Nothing 
Gender: Tell you in October! 
Belly Button in or out: in.  The general consensus has determined that it probably isn't going to pop - just stretch out.
What I miss: This week I've missed a nice after run shower beer.  Something so nice about a cold beer in hot water.
What I am looking forward to:  We've started planning our babymoon, so I'm really looking forward to that!
Contractions: Nope. 
Milestones:
- Seeing movement instead of just feeling it.
Baby Names:
Boy:  Mungo
Girl: Morag