Brie Fit

So!  Now that we know it’s a boy, we’re actually DOING stuff to prepare for said boy.

Last weekend, we registered.  Which, I might add, was totally frigging overwhelming.  We’re going with Babies R Us and Amazon, so we spent Saturday wandering around the store with the scanner gun.  (Then, I spent the rest of Saturday changing everything.)  I wish I could have you guys review, but, you know, privacy and all. 

Basically, I registered for one of everything.  I’d rather have too much stuff than not enough.  We have a crapton of storage room, and can re-evaluate priorities after any shower/showers that take place.

We also (I think) settled on some sort of design for the nursery.

This is going to be our rough color scheme:

(Source.)

I think the plan is…

• Light aqua blue walls, like the chevrons in B and the dots in D
• Either this crib in white or this crib in gray
• Use either the chevron or dots fabric for a crib skirt
• Dark gray valance and/or curtains
• A gallery wall with white frames and children’s book artwork/prints in the rough color motif of aqua/white/gray/red/black
• This dresser?  Maybe?  Can you have a dark wood dresser with a gray or white crib?  Is that weird?  Should I get a dark wood crib then, too?
• Neutral-colored glider, perhaps with a fun red quilt.

Discuss.  I have no idea if this will look crappy or not.

Other stuff:

• I now have to hoist myself off the couch.  My “core” as I knew it is totally gone.
• Had a check-up, baby was good and we were both called “perfect” by the doctor.  He seems to enjoy making the nurses chase him around with the Doppler wand.
• I’ve had some serious shortness of breath lately, primarily after meals.  I think this baby is squashing my lungs.
• My skin feels super sensitive.  TMI, but I’d go naked 24/7 if I could.  Bras and underwear irritate the crap out of my skin.
• I got my first two stranger comments this week, both “When are you due?”…once from a meeting at work, and once from the lady at the DMV.
• Movement is pretty regular now.  I’ll go most of the day without feeling him, but he seems to go nuts in the evenings and before bed.  I feel him the most after eating and before bed.  Nothing that’s like “that’s a kick!” yet, but I can feel him rolling about and generally doing things.

And finally, le bump:

I can’t believe this baby is half baked on Sunday.  Whoa.

We started out CrossFit today with some strength work.  We figured out our one-rep max for either a push jerk or a split jerk. I do love me some Olympic lifting (just ask Tim how much I love the Olympics.  I’m so excited!) but it’s not quite the same when you can’t REALLY push it.

I maxed out at 95 lbs.  I attempted 105 but didn’t totally make a full extension so it didn’t count.  Boo.

Today’s WOD:

• 200m run
• 50 kettlebell swings @ 26 lbs.
• 5 knees-to-elbows
• 40 kettlebell swings
• 10 knees-to-elbows
• 30 kettlebell swings
• 15 knees-to-elbows
• 20 kettlebell swings
• 20 knees-to-elbows
• 200m run

Finished in 14:30. 

I called this post ch-ch-ch-changes because I’m really starting to feel my pregnancy all the time in my workouts.  It’s not so much that I have to skip the sit-ups or lower the intensity a bit like before, but it’s that every single move, even if pregnancy-safe, feels somehow weird.

Instead of running today, I felt like I was waddling.  I have to hoist myself up off the floor after stretching.  Kettlebell swings totally used to be MY THING, because I was really good at them and could knock out 35# ones like mad, but now, I can’t really engage my core to help with the swing like before.   Push-ups feel really bizarre.  And I can feel the baby moving about, which is always a little startling when attempting a lift.

(I could never really do knees-to-elbows anyway, so that’s nothing new.  But let’s blame pregnancy for that, too, shall we?)

Anyway, I hope this doesn’t sound like a complaint, because it’s not!  It’s just startling how different things feel as pregnancy progresses.  As I approach the halfway point (!!!), I’m really thankful to be exercising at all given how crappy I felt for so long.  And I really hope I can keep it up for as long as possible, no matter how different it may feel.

This morning, we revisited Cindy!

As a refresher, Cindy is a very simple workout.  20 minutes, AMRAP:

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats

The first time I did Cindy, I got 16 and 2/3 rounds.

The second time I did Cindy, I got 14 rounds “and change”.

Today?

Sooo I feel pretty good about almost matching my best Cindy result at close to 20 weeks pregnant, while pushing less hard than I did pre-pregnancy.  Still not Rxed, but one of these days I will be! 

(I think my favorite part was that we had a different instructor than usual this morning, and he kept shouting, “Use the baby power!” at me.  Baby power, indeed.)

CrossFit mornings make for long days, though.  I think I’m just about ready for a snooze on the couch before dinner!

This week has been all about team blue!

I know people debate whether to find out the sex of the baby during pregnancy or not, and a lot of people really want that delivery room surprise.  Well, I can confidently say now that we absolutely made the right choice by finding out.  Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this, but I feel so much more bonded and motherly thinking of our SON, a sweet little boy, and not just an abstract genderless baby.  You know? 

I couldn’t stop grinning for the entire ultrasound.  Boy, girl, we didn’t care—I’m just happy to know a little bit more about Lumpy.

The other thing we learned is that this is a BIG baby already.  They measured all his bones and such, and they all measured closer to 20 weeks than the 18.5 I actually am.   And their weight estimate had him at a whopping 12 ounces already, when Babycenter and other websites say he should be in the 7-8 ounce range!

It was so fun telling our family, too.  I called my mom immediately, and said, “Guess what?  The baby’s healthy!”  She said, “Annnnnd….?” so I made her give a last minute guess.  She said, “Girl!” and I said “Nope!  It’s a boy!” and she was shocked.  My mom only had girls, and works with women, so I think she’s adjusting to the idea of a new man in her life. 

Tim’s parents were both thrilled to have their second grandson on the way.  He also told me to “Keep in shape!” which, well, okay.

My sister responded, “Darn, girl clothes are better.”  But…oh well.  I know she loves little boys!

The night we found out, we went to dinner to celebrate and each picked out an outfit for him.  Can you guess who picked what?

(Tim prefers the formal baby look, obviously.)

I also bought a super cute blue striped cloth diaper.  But aside from that, we’re mostly going to hold back on buying baby stuff since there will be a few showers this summer.  I think we might start a registry this weekend!

I’m also starting to think about the nursery.  And then I get overwhelmed and stop thinking about it.  I have no decorating sense whatsoever, but I will be getting a crafty friend to help me!  Hopefully she can help me get something set up.

• The back pain and sciatica is still around.  My massage last week did help for a few days, but it’s not a permanent solution.
• I’ve had a touch of morning sickness this week, particularly when I’m up early for CrossFit.  It’s nothing like first trimester, and usually a snack gets it under control.  My appetite’s been so crazy lately, I almost wonder if it’s because I get too hungry overnight?
• Craving of the week is Panera breakfast sandwiches (specifically, the Breakfast Power Sandwich on an Everything bagel) with coffee (decaf).  I did have this one morning this week, but the craving lingers.  I also tend to see things and want to steal them from people who are currently eating them.  This happened this week with a Pop-Tart (haven’t had one since college!) and a chocolate milkshake.
• Movement this week is becoming more real.  I have felt a few good thumps.  It’s not regular, but I usually feel something shortly after I eat a meal or snack.
• Baby names: we’re so, so screwed.  We had our girl list narrowed down pretty well, but the boys are all over the place. 
• And finally, the belly.  I texted this to my mom, who hasn’t seen me since Christmas, and her response was “Holy shit” which cracked me up.

Week nineteen starts tomorrow!  And we’re off to register today—any tips?

The moment I’ve been waiting for is finally here!

We are thrilled to announce that our baby…

…has ten little fingers, and ten little toes….

…a healthy heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, and a sweet little profile…

…and is ready for a nap.  (Me too, baby.  Me too.)

Oh.  And…

It’s a boy!

(And there’s no doubt about it.  I’d post the picture, but I think it’s weird to post a picture of your kid’s nether regions on the internet.  Lumpy was NOT shy.)  He spent the ultrasound trying to nurse on the placenta, giving us jazz hands, and eventually being VERY BORED with the whole thing and yawning.

We are so thrilled to be team blue.  I can’t stop smiling.  Once I do, though, I’m going to raid Baby Gap and buy a cloth diaper with robots on it.

Last week, I had two VERY VIVID dreams that our baby was a little boy.  I’d always had a hunch, but after that, I just knew we’d be saying hello to our son very soon (even though Tim tried to convince me it was a girl).

Names?  We have no idea.  Girl would have been ten times easier, but boy…it’s going to be awhile before we come to a decision here.  Oof.

Oh, and this morning’s WOD, while I’m at it:

It was a fun one, and several of the men in the class predicted that baby was a boy.  Tiny CrossFitter, coming right up!

I just keep telling myself, “we’re going to have a SON!” and I can hardly believe it.

Catching you up…I’m finally back to what I’d consider a regular CrossFit schedule. Hooray!

Last week I hit my goal of 3X/week for the first time in quite awhile, thanks to morning sickness, pelvic rest, two car accidents, and family in town.  It felt good.

Saturday’s WOD was something we’ve done before (and something you can do at home, too!).  Dustin shuffled a deck of cards.  Each suit had an exercise assigned to it (squats, push-ups, kettlebell swings, and sit-ups), and the number on the card represented how many of each exercise we’d do.  (I did planks instead of sit-ups, using the number on the card as the number of seconds I’d hold it.)  Face cards=10 reps, aces got us a 200m sprint, and jokers got us 30 seconds of rest.

Saturday was CRAZY humid, but it was still a fun time.  I was lagging behind the group a bit, but I got it done!

This morning’s WOD was called The Chief.  We did 5 rounds of 3 minutes work, 1 minute rest of:

• 3 power cleans (I did mine at 52#)
• 6 push-ups (knees)
• 9 air squats

I don’t remember my exact numbers, but I know my best round was the last one and I hung in there with the rest of the class.

Anyway.  It’s exciting to be doing real work again,

Tomorrow is the big day!  I am so nervous baby won’t give up the goods and we won’t be able to tell if it’s a he or a she.  (If that happens, I have a feeling we will spring for an elective ultrasound, and also I might cry.)  It will be so nice to see little Lumpy again, too, and to know he/she is healthy—I’ve been feeling him or her thump around lately, which is pretty cool.

Can’t wait!

Because I know we’re finding out the sex of the baby next week, I bought a whole bunch of gender-neutral cloth diapers this week.

I’m not sure why I consider blue gender-neutral but not pink.  Go figure.  Either way, it’ll be hard to NOT go definitively girly or boyish after next Wednesday!

Symptoms and stuff:

• Back/sciatic/hip pain.  My lower back feels crunchy.  I can’t bend or twist without serious pain.  My hips ache.  And I have constant pain that radiates down one buttcheek.  I’m going for a prenatal massage today and I hope that helps, but if not, I may have to look into a chiropractor.  Ugh.
• Fatigue.  I don’t have the magical second trimester energy everyone talks about.  I’m sleepy a lot and I sleep HARD.  I can go 8-9 hours and still be exhausted by 8 pm the next night.  It also makes getting up for 5:30 CrossFit tough.
• My skin is terrible but my hair looks great.  What gives?
• I’m not totally sure if I’ve felt the baby move yet.  It could be gas.  I kind of have this weird feeling like I KNOW something is going on down there, but I can’t say “that is a flutter” or “that is a kick” yet.  It’s odd.  Kind of like my stomach is grumbling or churning, except…not my stomach?  Is that the baby? 
• My belly button is disappearing rapidly.  It’s kind of freaky.
• Cravings: Um, anything that isn’t nailed down?  I have been cooking tons of awesome dinners lately because I want to eat them.  Tim is a lucky man.  Particular obsessions this week are PICKLES, orange juice (with ice), milk, pineapple, and yeah.  Pretty much everything.  I even saw a Red Lobster commercial and started drooling over some lobster.  This is especially odd because I am very much allergic to shellfish.  (Don’t worry, I won’t eat it!)
• The big anatomy scan is next Wednesday, April 18th.  I absolutely cannot wait to find out if we’ll have a baby boy or a baby girl!  I am convinced this baby is a boy, but I’m generally about as perceptive as a doorknob so take that with a grain of salt.  The heartbeat old wives’ tale says it’s a girl, the cravings thing (since I’ve wanted salt) says it’s a boy.  (Of course, I’m also looking forward to just seeing Lumpy again, and verifying all things are still going well.)
• We haven’t done any major baby shopping yet, but I am beginning to feel the nesting bug come over me.  I can’t wait to paint the nursery, and buy a crib and other furniture!

Poll: will we be on team blue or team pink?

Today’s WOD was mystifying.

I know, right?

Eventually, it was explained that we would be doing TWO WODs today.  Both girl WODs.  For the first, we picked a name out of a hat—either Grace, Fran, or Elizabeth—and for the second, we would all do a revised version of Annie together.

I drew Elizabeth, which is funny because that name always reminds me of a very sweet old lady calico cat I worked with at a shelter long ago.  But anyway.

Elizabeth is 21-15-9 of:

• Cleans
• Ring dips

I did the cleans at 52# and box dips instead of ring dips.  My triceps already feel all wobbly, so it was a good workout, for sure.

The version of Annie we did was called Pushing Annie.  Normally Annie is 50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit-ups, but today we subbed push-ups for double unders, and because I can’t do sit-ups anymore, the pregnant crowd did air squats.

So basically, this workout was not like actual Annie at all.  It was 50-40-30-20-10 push-ups and air squats for me.

(Push-ups feel SO WEIRD.  I feel like I’m landing on a balloon every time.  I know they’re okay to do during pregnancy, but I may have to sub soon because they just feel strange.)

Final roundup:

6:20 on Elizabeth, 12:05 on Annie.

I felt really strong today, despite the fact that my sciatic pain is through the roof lately.  I feel like I’m learning to work within my limitations a little better and have fun with it, rather than get frustrated.  It’s nice that there’s usually at least one or two other pregnant women in class with me—there’s total baby boom going on at the box and I like it!  We tend to take things a little less seriously together.

The major side effect of the double WOD was a double appetite today.  I’m starving!

Have a great weekend!

You know it’s a bad morning at CrossFit when your posted whiteboard score looks like this:

Yes.  I gave myself the “participant” trophy this morning.

The WOD:

At first I was like, “hey, cool, I’ll get to rest between sets.”  Then I was like, “crap, it takes me a full minute to do one round.” 

I’m PRETTY sure I did 10 rounds at the 5/10/15 level.  (Green band pull-ups, knee push-ups, regular squats.)  Then I went to 5/10/however many squats I can fit in before the minute beeps again for awhile.  Then I went to 5ish/7-9ish/maybe I’ll fit in a few squats.  Then I gave up counting altogether.

SO, yes.  I gave myself the “participant” trophy and my pregnant CrossFit comrade Sara agreed with that designation.

But I made it, and that’s what counts.

In other news, we bought Tim a car tonight, so we are back to being a two car household.  I’m exhausted from spending our spare time hoofing around car lots.  Also, I have developed seriously unpleasant lower back/hip/sciatic pain.  It feels seriously crunchy.  I can’t bend at the waist, slouch, or twist without cringing and/or screaming, and my round ligaments ache constantly.  Maybe the baby’s having a growth spurt or something?  

Oof.  Just gotta keep on keepin’ on, I guess.  I think I’m treating myself to a prenatal massage this weekend…I can’t wait!

I took a break for one round, and maybe half of another.

I have the world’s ugliest work bathroom, but at least the mirrors are clean.

This was an uneventful week, which makes me happy.  No car accidents or other major property losses!  Woo!

Symptoms-wise:

• Fatigue.  I have had pretty good energy levels throughout pregnancy, but this week I’m dragging a bit.
• Sciatic pain.  Left buttcheek aches and feels numb and tingly at the end of the day, pretty much every day.
• Crazy hunger.  Especially on days I work out, I’m starving.  I don’t feel too bad about it now, though, because I’m eating pretty healthy again—lots of salads, fresh fruit, hummus, chicken and the like this week.  Still having major salt cravings that necessitated Gardetto’s snack mix out of the vending machine at work (which I’ve used maaaybe twice in three years).

I’m feeling generally great, for which I’m thankful.

So, now I’m going to ruminate on a pregnancy topic that isn’t really super relevant to me yet, but has been on my mind nonetheless.  Birth plans.  I see discussions of them popping up all over the place on pregnancy blogs and in books and on TV.

I feel like someone should take my mid-twenties semi-crunchy liberal card for this one, but…I don’t really believe in them.  Here’s why.

• I’ve never given birth.  How on earth am I supposed to know what I’ll want?  I can’t even plan a weekly dinner menu without experiencing deep regret at least once.  Sure, going med-free and not having internal exams sounds fine and dandy now, but who’s to say I won’t change my mind?  I don’t want to be married to a piece of paper and to have people saying, “but your birth plan says you don’t want drugs!” when I request them.  I want flexibility.
• I don’t want expectations.  I’ve read too many birth stories where women have built childbirth up to this magical, drug-free experience in their heads, only to be disappointed or apologetic when things didn’t go their way and they wound up with various interventions.  I don’t want to be worried about living up to the expectations I’ve set for myself (or I’ve told others about) when I’m in labor.  My goal is to leave the hospital with a healthy baby, and that’s it.
• I’m not in control.  I believe that labor and delivery is largely the baby’s show.  I can be informed, and I can know what my options are, but if the baby is positioned incorrectly, or in distress, there’s nothing I can do about it.  I don’t want to make a plan when it’s not my rodeo, you know?
• I want to go with the flow.  Maybe this means I’m crunchier than I think?  To me, a birth plan seems very rigid.  I want to decide what I want in the moment, and not rely on decisions I made months in advance.  I want to do what feels good and what feels right to me at that time.  That’s it.

Honestly, before I had my first miscarriage, I was much more rigid in how I envisioned my baby’s eventual labor and delivery.  But I guess, now, that all seems less important somehow?   I don’t really understand, but as long as there’s a healthy baby in my arms at the end, I don’t so much care how I get there.

On to week 17.  I can’t believe I’m 17 weeks pregnant—for some reason, that sounds REALLY pregnant to me!  Weird.