Brie Fit

Other possible subtitles: a study in growing out a short haircut; a tour of ugly bathrooms; or I can’t believe I used to think I was big.

Week 12 (and the first trimester!) comes to a close.  Whee!

I swear, the first few weeks of this pregnancy dragged on and on forever, but now that I feel like a half decent human being again, it’s starting to go by really fast. 

Symptoms this week:

• Lots of pulling and stretchy feelings.  I can’t feel the baby yet, obviously, but I can feel my general uterine area quite well.
• Minor nausea and food issues.  Nowhere near where I was before, but it still lingers a bit.  I had a few days this week where I had some morning sickness, and 4-6 pm is still a little iffy, but I can usually keep nausea away with frequent snacking.
• I pee all the time.  Except it’s different.  I feel like I have low water pressure, so to speak.
• But I still can’t poop.  I found some excellent fiber bars at Trader Joe’s that have been helping, but Tim took the last one to work and I seriously almost cried.  You don’t mess with a pregnant lady’s fiber supply, people.
• My face is breaking out like a teenager again.

But yeah.  Other than that, feeling good.  Thank God.

This week, I actually heard the tiny heartbeat on the Doppler, which was neat.  I also am back into a normal exercise schedule, officially, since I made it to CrossFit 3 times this week and loved it.

Cravings this week:

• Dairy Queen blizzards.  This has gone unfulfilled, since there is no DQ close to our house.
• Culver’s chicken tenders.  Unfulfilled for the same reasons.
• Deli turkey meat.  Unfulfilled this week because I’m trying to avoid it as much as possible, since deli meat is on the no-no list.  I’ve had it twice, heated, but for some reason I really want it ice cold now and the idea of heating it doesn’t sound appealing.
• Still with the dairy.  I love milk and yogurt and cheese so much.
• Homemade “egg McMuffins.”  My mom used to make these for us on weekends—a Bay’s English muffin, one egg, Canadian bacon, and a slice of good American cheese.  Fulfilled!  I’m happy about this craving because eggs used to be a huge staple in my diet, but I was pretty averse to them for awhile.  Hopefully this return is here to stay!

The 12 week, 6 day, post Crossfit bump:

(Shirt by For Two Fitness.)

With that…I think I’m off to have another egg sandwich for lunch.  Week 13 (and the second trimester!) starts tomorrow!

Today I had my second prenatal appointment.  It felt like a milestone in and of itself to make it here!  I am 12 weeks, 4 days today.  Second trimester is just around the corner.  (Though hell if I know when it really DOES start.  I’ve seen everything from 12 weeks to 14 weeks.  I’m going to call it at 13 weeks, so on Sunday.)

Exciting developments:

• I’m officially off progesterone supplementation, which I’ve been on since 3DPO.  So, ten weeks and one day of pills.  Taken orally, they made me drunk and exhausted.  Taken…the other way, well, we’ll just say that I killed a jumbo-size box of pantiliners with staggering ease.  I am so, so thankful that it’s helped me sustain this pregnancy, but I’m not sorry to say goodbye! 
• I heard the heartbeat!  We’ve only seen it on the ultrasound screen up until now, so it was cool to hear the little “pew pew pew” finally.  The official heart ratte was 165, which according to old wives’ tales, points to a girl.  (I still say boy, though.) When they had me lay back on the table…my heart was in my throat, since this was how we’d found out I’d miscarried back in October.  The nurse took a few minutes to find the baby, which scared the everloving shit out of me, but she said it was normal.  Turns out that the baby was just sitting way down low.  But man, this kid is grounded for being difficult already!
• I ordered new prenatals from Amazon and they can’t get here soon enough.  I am tired of gagging on my current ones.  Blech.  I hope they are delicious.

In the spirit of easing back into exercise, I plan to go to CrossFit tomorrow morning and Saturday morning, assuming I’m feeling well.  (I’ve had a relapse of nausea a bit the last few days.)  Three days of exercise this week is the goal, and I think I’ll shoot for four days from here on out.

Thank goodness tomorrow’s Friday, folks.  It’s been a long one!

This weekend I treated myself to some new lululemon under the justification that it will stretch and fit me throughout pregnancy.  I had Tim do a rough bump photo on Sunday night.

By the Kath and Caitlin standard, I can no longer suck it in.  It’s a bump.  If I lay on my stomach, it’s kind of like I’m laying on top of an orange.  And SOMETHING is growing in there because I pee at least twice an hour.  Monster baby!

(Sidenote: I can’t wait to dye my hair post-first tri.)

And the bump this morning.

Maybe this will incite me to clean my bathroom mirror and/or make Tim start taking real, cute posed bump pictures in a well-lit area. 

(Probably not, though.)

ANYWAY, it was a perfect morning for CrossFit.  It was in the high 50s during the WOD, which meant that running outdoors was somewhat lovely.

Today’s WOD was Nancy—5 rounds for time of:

• 15 overhead squats (I did 42#)
• 400m run

I finished in something like 19:52.  I don’t remember the exact time, but I do know I squeaked in just under 20 minutes.  The finisher was 2 minutes of timed abmat sit-ups.

As far as pregnancy modifications, today I changed:

• lighter weights on the overhead squats—Rx was 65#, which I can do, but I am dropping my weights a bit per the CrossFit Mom recommendations.
• jogging instead of sprinting the 400s to keep my heart rate manageable
• I started the abmat sit-ups but stopped early because I started having round ligament pain.

Even though I’m now bringing up the rear in the classes, I am so happy I know I at least CAN CrossFit pregnant.  I hope to continue for as long as possible!   I really hope that the “functional fitness” basis of CrossFit becomes REALLY functional and helps me have a smooth pregnancy and, eventually, labor and delivery.

How often do you clean your bathrooms?  Am I the only one who doesn’t really care about toothpaste on the mirror?

I hate to jinx myself, but this week has been pretty great.  For a few days, I still had some light nausea before bedtime, but now that the week is over, it seems like it’s gone.  (At least, I’ve had several good days in a row now.)

Adorable baby gift from my mom:

Now that the nausea is passing, I am regaining some interest for food.  For some reason, cooking it doesn’t interest me, but I have cravings and fixations and clean my plate these days.  Here are some things that really, really interest me lately.

• Brie cheese.  Cannibalism!  Seriously, love it.
• Specifically, turkey sandwiches (heated!) with Brie cheese on a pretzel roll from this place near my office.  Heavenly.
• Crispix cereal.
• Pasta.  Specifically, with meatballs, and vodka sauce.  (Can I eat vodka sauce?)
• Beer.  Womp womp.  I could totally go for a Blue Moon with an orange slice right now.
• Anything spicy, acidic, or salty.  Pickles, salami, Mexican food, orange juice…I love them all.
• Dairy.  I really like cheese, and milk, and yogurt.  This is not really anything new.

Foods that do NOT interest me much include sweets (unless they’re strawberry-flavored), chicken (un-shredded, I’m fine with it mixed in stuff, but I don’t think I could just eat a piece of chicken), and veggies (some combination of the texture and moisture level just doesn’t work for me).  The sweets thing is weird because I’m usually a huge chocolate fiend, but I’m pretty neutral towards it right now.  (Strawberry sherbet, however?  Love it.)

Also, I’ve started gagging on my prenatal vitamin every night, which is kind of randomly irritating, because that didn’t even happen when morning sickness was at its worst.  The fishy smell and huge pill size get to me, even though I’m usually a pill taking champ.  (I’m almost out—anyone have a recommendation for a non-fishy prenatal?)

Other stuff this week:

• I have a serious, undeniable bump.  By the start of week 12, I am officially unable to button my pants, and the ponytail holder trick is starting to feel precarious.  And my shirts are already tight.  I am definitely showing, and it’s almost…scary?  There’s no hiding this anymore.  (I forgot a bump picture, but maybe I’ll add one later.)
• What I didn’t expect was the body image issues that would come with this.  We’re so conditioned to feel like tight pants are bad that I just find myself really self conscious lately.  And as much as I hate to admit it, I find myself doing the comparison dance, as in, “She’s 20 weeks and I’m almost as big as she is already!  You must be pigging out too much!”)  At my NT Scan on Monday, I SHOULD have been measuring at 11 weeks, 1 day.  Instead, our monster baby was measuring at 11 weeks, 5 days!  So maybe I’m just ahead of the curve.  I don’t know.  But either way, it’s jarring to see your body change so much, so quickly, and not have control over it, you know?
• Acne.  I’m breaking out like a teenager and the good zit creams aren’t pregnancy-safe.  Which adds to the self-consciousness as described supra.
• Need to snack frequently.  If I don’t, I get nauseous.  Except I don’t really enjoy snacking these days, it’s mostly out of necessity.
• Middle of the night peeing is out of control.  3-5 times a night is standard.

For the record, I’m still on team “it’s a boy” and Tim is firmly on team “it’s a girl.”  Only 7 weeks until we find out!  I can’t wait.

Here’s hoping week 12 is as kind to me as week 11!

This has been such a happy day for me.

For the first time in probably a month (or more?) I made it to my beloved 5:30 am CrossFit class.

Yeah, okay, I’ve CrossFitted a few times in the last month, but it just wasn’t the SAME.  The 6 o’clock class is nice and all, but they’re not MY class.  You know?

Anyway, this week I’ve felt pretty amazing.  I haven’t taken a Zofran in three days!  So, I set my alarm for the early class today.  I was worried I’d have trouble getting back into the routine today, especially after Milhouse decided to give us parenting lessons by throwing up all over our sheets at 2:30 am (necessitating an entire bedding change).  But it was no trouble.

Today’s WOD was:

• 100 thrusters (Rx at 42# for women)
• rest 5 minutes
• 100 box jumps (Rx 20” for women)

I did the thrusters, Rxed, in 11:02.  I took lots of breaks, and I could definitely tell that my fitness was suffering after being mostly off for the last 4-5 weeks.  Oof.

For the box jumps, I did step-ups on a 24” box in 7:52.  My legs are still pretty sore from Monday’s WOD!  Total working time was 18:54.

A few things I’ve been doing differently at CrossFit lately:

• With the morning class, I usually go without eating anything.  That won’t fly now.  After being awake awhile without food, I get nauseous, so today, I had some nuts and dried cranberries in the car on the way to class.
• More breaks.  I go by the advice from the Mayo Clinic on heart rate, which says that the talk test is the best way to judge exertion these days.  For me, this usually means I need to keep my heart rate under 160 in order to be able to speak a complete sentence.  This is harder than it seems, but I’m wearing my heart rate monitor and watching it carefully.  My resting heart rate is even higher these days, which is also tough.
• I modify movements that I don’t feel safe doing.  Box jumps are the big one—instead of jumping, I do step-ups instead.  I’m klutzy enough that I’ve fallen while doing these before; I don’t want to do that now!   I also plan to avoid, you know, things that involve medicine balls flying at me, or other totally obvious ones.  In the next few weeks, I’ll stop doing exercises that involve lying flat on my back or stomach.
• I probably won’t be on the same old 5 days a week schedule I was before.  My goal is 3-4 days a week.  I need more sleep these days, and CrossFitting 5 days makes my body tired.

But mostly, it’s the same old delicious torture that I love.

I can’t even explain how good it felt to be back today.  I have honestly felt like something was missing from my life these past few weeks, and I can’t wait to get back in shape again!

Are you a gym regular?  Do you have gym friends?

So, today was a pretty good day.  (Aside from the fact that I was nauseous all day long.  OMG come on second trimester where are you?)

We had our NT scan!

The NT scan is an optional first trimester ultrasound plus bloodwork that helps determine your risk of Down’s Syndrome and Trisomy 18, among other things.  We opted to do this because we’re of the opinion that forewarned is forearmed—if Lumpy had any health issues at all, we’d want to make sure the best healthcare would be in place immediately after his or her birth. 

Honestly, this was the coolest thing ever.  It actually looked…baby-shaped, as opposed to a gingerbread man.  The place we went was really nice and had a special screen where we could both see what was going on.  Lumpy was kicking, and stretching, and waving his or her hands in the air.  (As Tim said, “he’s waving his fists because he’s mad about the Mizzou game!”)  The craziest thing, I think, was that when I laughed, the baby would kick off the bottom of my ute and bounce a little bit.  Ba. Nanas.

We got about 343425 pictures to take home. 

(Also excellent?  Getting promoted to abdominal, on the belly ultrasounds instead of the far less pleasant other kind.)

Today was also momentous because…

I sweated!

Now that I’m knocking on second trimester’s door, and I have three good ultrasounds under my belt (literally), and the bleeding scare is over, and the nausea is slightly more tolerable, I headed back to CrossFit tonight!  I miss my usual morning class, but mornings are still rough around here.  My goal is to go 3X/week for the time being.

I definitely felt rusty tonight, but I made it through at a nice, easy pace.

Warm-up

• Push-up progression (5 each of wide, narrow, regular, planche, staggered push-ups)
• 3 rounds of 10 pull-ups (with green band) and supermans (modified, on my knees instead of the belly)

WOD

• 100 kettlebell swings for time (5 burpees for every rest you take)

Finisher

• 4 minute squat tabata

I finished the WOD a hair under 8 minutes, doing it Rxed at 35 pounds, and taking care to keep my heart rate at a manageable level.  There is a veritable baby boom going on at our box now (6 pregnant women!), and modifications are common and encouraged.  I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, but right now I’m riding the endorphin high for the first time in awhile.

(Unfortunately, I have NO appetite today, so dinner is buttered noodles.  And a pickle.)

What was the highlight of your day today?

After a few really horrible days of nausea, it looks like I got a preview of second tri today! 

For a solid twelve hours (6 am to 6 pm), I felt GOOD.  It was seriously awesome.  I didn’t even need my morning Zofran today.  Okay, I had very minor queasiness, but I felt great otherwise.  I wasn’t exhausted, and most foods actually sounded semi-appealing.  If I hadn’t been having some other aches and pains down low, I would actually be nervous!

But then, 6 pm hit, it had been six hours since my last meal, and I started feeling crappy again.  Oh well.  Tim made a frozen pasta meal out of a bag, we ate, and of course I felt better.

And then I made muffins that taste like donuts.

Having the energy to bake is a HUGE step.  Seriously.

I think I’ve said it before, but it is nice to have occasional good days.  I’m hoping that within the next few weeks, the good days will start to outnumber the bad!

Our NT scan is on Monday, and if I’m still having good days then, I plan to return to CrossFit.  Ever since my scare last week, I’ve been continuing the pelvic rest thing just in case.  But I think that if we have a third good ultrasound, I’ll finally be able to relax a little bit.

What a freaking day.

Last night, around 9:30, we discovered our water heater was gushing water all over our utility room floor.  So that was fun.

When we finally made it to bed, I started to get majorly nauseous with horrible stomach cramps.  I don’t think I fell asleep until after 1 am.

I thought I’d turned a corner with the nausea thing last week, but this weekend and today has been ROUGH.  Like, the worst days yet, despite the Zofran.  Whoever coined the term “morning sickness” should be throttled.  Because if you’re me, it’s all day sickness, minus an hour or two immediately after meals.  If I can eat a meal.

You know, one thing I didn’t anticipate about pregnancy, because most of the pregnancy blogs I read are written by those who are self-employed and/or stay at home already, is that it is really freaking hard to pack yourself lunch and snacks for work.  I WISH I had the luxury of kitchen access all day long.  Instead, I usually wind up packing something, and hating the idea of it by lunchtime.  It’s not fun.

Two things that are usually okay, though:

Plain, natural applesauce cups, and…

Easy Mac.  I feel like kind of an idiot eating Cars-shaped pasta in a grown-up office, but whatever.  I’m at a point where if anyone gives me flak about it, I can return with the evil pregnant eye and blame it on the baby. And then maybe vomit on their shoes.

Anyway, I don’t anticipate getting back to CrossFit any time soon with the way I’ve been feeling.  I spend my days sitting quietly at my desk, willing the nausea to go away without much luck.  I miss it, and I feel insanely guilty for not being that healthy, exercising pregnant woman I’d always envisioned, but I’m trying to remind myself that I just have to go with what my body is telling me right now.

And right now?  That’s extra rest, and low-quality refined carbs.  I just hope I don’t have too much trouble getting back into it come second tri. 

Well, this week started with quite a scare.

On Monday, I experienced every pregnant woman’s worst nightmare—a sudden gush of blood.  Bad, bad, bad.

I called my OB immediately and they brought me in for an ultrasound 90 minutes later, bless their hearts.

Tim met me there and we were both freaking out a little.  They did an abdominal ultrasound first, and couldn’t see much since I apparently have a tilted ute.  So…then they went in, you know, the other way, and immediately we saw Lumpy’s little heartbeat, thumping away at an adorable 178 beats per minute.

He/she looks much bigger than a few weeks ago already!  And he/she even waggled his or her little hand paddles at us.  They looked like jazz hands.

Anyway, they determined that the bleeding was probably caused by a small uterine bleed, unrelated to the baby, that was irritated by the insane constipation I’ve had for the last several weeks.  (See that black spot to the left of Lumpy’s head?  That’s the source, apparently.)

So, the prescription of the week is pelvic rest, which means nothing goes up there AND (dun dun dun) no exercise until I’ve been bleed-free for three days.  And also a chaser of Miralax, nightly.  Considering I was finally getting back into CrossFit last week after some time off for extreme nausea…it makes me a little bit sad.  I miss exercise!  But obviously, whatever it takes to keep Lumpy happy.

(The bleeding tapered off Tuesday and was basically nonexistent Wednesday.  Thank God.)

We’re officially for real public now as of Valentine’s Day.  It’s even on Facebook!   I’m still a little tight-lipped about it at work, although my boss and two department members know.  I wouldn’t care if the news came out, it’s more a matter of “how do you tell random co-workers that you’re knocked up without being awkward about it?”  There is no good answer to that one, friends.

My pants are no longer buttoning, and I definitely feel bigger than usual.  Maybe it’s the fast food, maybe it’s my backed-up colon, maybe it’s a baby!  Perchance I’ll take a bump picture soon.

Symptoms:

• Nausea, still…though I actually have good days and bad days now, instead of them all being bad days.  I actually managed to make dinner twice this week!  (There were also two nights that involved Tim picking up dinner on his way home—Chipotle and Steak n’ Shake chicken tenders.)
• The last few weeks I’ve hated food so much I haven’t had any cravings at all.  It’s been more like “eat the one thing that sounds okay.”  But this week, they’re starting to creep up on me!  Notable cravings include:
  • Fresh strawberries with Stonyfield vanilla yogurt.  Of COURSE I’m craving fresh strawberries in February, but the imported-from-God-knows-where variety actually isn’t bad. 
  • Chicken tenders from Culver’s.  (I substituted with the aforementioned Steak n’ Shake, because Culver’s is too far away.)
  • Nuts.  Peanut butter is still kind of grossing me out, but I’ve been very much enjoying Trader Joe’s trail mix with almonds, cashews, and dried cranberries for a healthy snack. 
• My boobs hurt.  Enough said.  They have for weeks.  This week is no different.
• Tiredness.  Not as bad as it could be, but I’ve been sleepier than I have the past few weeks this week.
• Middle of the night bathroom trips. 
• Round ligament pain, maybe?  I’m having weird stretchy/pully feelings down low.  Maybe it’s just gas.

So, now week 9 is over.  I’m ready to hit the double digits!  Week 10 starts tomorrow!

(And that marks the last of my backlogged pregnancy updates for now.  These posts will be once a week from now on!  For real.)