26

Hey, hey 26 weeks!  We are nearing the end of Trimester Numero Dos and things are goooood.  I've felt a bit more energetic this week.  I'm still pretty pooped by the end of the day, but it's been an improvement from last week.  Instead of turning into a zombie by 4/5pm, I can hold out until about 9/10pm.  Woop!  I feel like a granny having to call it a night so early, but sleep is important!  Especially when I wake up every day anywhere between 2 to 3am because my bladder is about to explode.

One exciting development for this week is that we sealed the deal on a doula.  Doula?  I know, I didn't know what a doula was either before entering the world of baby.  Basically, she is someone who provides support to the mother and her partner in preparation for birth and during labor; a birthing coach!  I know, I knowwww; how hippy/yuppie/whatevs of me.  I don't personally know of anyone in my family or circle of friends who has used a doula.  I haven't even told my Mom yet, but I'm sure I'm going to get an earful from her.  The truth is, the baby will be born and many women have done it without the support of a doula.  Here's the thing.  I want a natural birth.  I believe that my body is capable of doing what it is designed to do.  However, I'm having my baby at the hospital.  The odds are stacked very much against my favor when it comes to actually having a natural, unmedicated, interventionless birth.  So why did I decide to birth at a hospital in the first place, you ask?  Well, I still strongly believe in science and have faith in the medical community.  Also, if something goes wrong, trained doctors will be there if I need them.  I am reluctant, though, to blindly trust the hospital and their decisions.  I don't believe in trusting much of anything blindly, so I've been doing a lot of my own research.  Reading, searching, soaking up as much information as possible to decide the best way (for me) to bring my baby into this world.
And holy hell, the cesarian rate in California is sitting at roughly 33% and has been on a steady increase for the past decade.  That, combined with epidural, medical induction, etc. rates makes for a sad prospect for the type of birth that I'd prefer to have.  (Disclaimer: not saying my preference is right/wrong.  It is exactly that: a personal preference.  I totes have respect for all mamas who bring life into this world.)

I guess my point is there is a world of knowledge to acquire in the birthing realm.  I am in no way an expert, nor do I expect to become one.  The plan is to arm myself with enough knowledge and preparation so that the birth experience is a positive one for baby, me, and husband.  Having a doula as part of our team is part of that preparation.  I've learned so much already from our first meeting.  Let me just say that the birthing process and the way the human body handles it at a chemical level is effing fascinating.  I'm so eager to learn more.  So, yeah, I'm already experiencing the benefits of working with a doula!  Knowledge is power, yo.  And when I'm at the hospital, in labor, acting all primitive and shit, I have the peace of mind that there will be a voice of reason to speak on my behalf, communicate my preferences, and explain to husband & I (in normal language) what the heck is going on when nurses/doctors are throwing around all this medical terminology.

Along with being a doula, she's a certified lactation consultant.  Double win!  In my ongoing pursuit of a natural health-based lifestyle in this over-industrialized society, I plan on using these mammaries for their intended evolutionary purpose.  And (surprise, surprise) the chances of me being successful with breastfeeding are equally as slim.  There is a lot I can do to prepare now, and my doula is helping me with that process.  So, I'm really happy to have this extra support as we prepare for baby.  Necessary?  No.  Beneficial?  Definitely.

Okay enough blabber for this post.  Photo time:

Symptoms: Itchy belly!  I didn't expect this one, but I guess it makes sense.  I've already been moisturizing with tummy butter 2x a day, but now I gotta start moisturizing more often.  That tends to relieve the itch.  
Thoughts on Food: I'm still whatevs on food.  Not too hungry recently.  
Cravings: I've been on another smoothie binge this week.  Tropical smoothies with coconut flakes.  Extra ice.  MmmMm
Thankful for: Baby kicks.  I used to be the one to initiate the "poke the baby" game.  Now baby likes to play "poke the mama" all day long.  I'll never get over how wonderful it feels.
Current weight: 119.  No change from last week.  Must be my lack of appetite.

25

Back to reality at 25 weeks.  The past three weeks were like a dream.  It made it hard to come back to daily life as usual.  I've been super tired this week, too, so that has also put a damper on my mood.  I'm not sure if it's a jet lag thing or what.  I slept most of the day Sunday when we returned, and I've been getting plenty of regular nighttime sleep this entire week.  But for some reason as soon as 5/6pm hits I get so fatigued.  I'm looking forward to this weekend so that I can sleep in a bit for two days in a row.  Hopefully that will solve my sleepy-headedness.

Despite being sad about having to end our vacation, we did come home excited to start doing some solid baby space planning.  I think the correct term is "nesting?"  Yes, we can't wait to start nesting!  The plan is to dedicate these upcoming weekends to de-cluttering and getting rid of some furniture.  Our little loft is not baby friendly at all right now, so we have a lot of work to do.  But we are super excited to get started on it and make room for this child.

I've missed my fun weekly survey, so let's get back to that.

Symptoms: Tired.  So tired. I feel like a zombie as soon as 5pm hits.  Like I said, I'm not sure if my body is still recovering from crossing so many time zones or if I'm just being a tired preggo.  I'm hoping this will resolve itself next week after getting some extra Zzz's this weekend.
Thoughts on Food: Why do I still not have a raging appetite?  That whole thing about your appetite returning with a vengeance during the 2nd trimester is lies.  All lies.  I have no more food aversions, but I'm not necessarily hungry either. I was a little disappointed during our vacation that I couldn't eat more. The options of delicious foods were plentiful during our travels, but I just couldn't eat more than a small portion at a time. It's like my stomach has gotten smaller or something. 
Thankful for: Coming home safely from a fantastic vacation.  I can't wait to travel more as a family of 3.
Current weight: 119!  The last time I weighed myself was at 19 weeks, and I was at 115.5 lbs.  This baby is growing!  Hooray!

24 In Thailand

This time around we're celebrating week 24 in Phuket, Thailand. It's our final leg in our mini "tour de Thai."  After Bali, we packed up our backpacks and spent a few days in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and now Phuket. Each Thai region has been so unique and beautiful in its own way. I'm a city girl, so naturally Bangkok and its energy was my favorite. Chiang Mai, serene and boutiquey, was a welcomed relief from the hectic atmosphere of Bangkok. Phuket was like hitting the Pause button. The pristine beaches are the best I've ever visited. Our guesthouse is in a small Thai village far away from the touristy areas, so the local beach is nothing but peace & quiet. Husband, baby and I had a blast splashing around in the Thai Indian Ocean. 

Besides this growing belly, there isn't much new to report from last week. Baby is still kicking up a storm, I'm feeling great, and husband appears to be enjoying making fun of my disappearing belly button. I can't believe how well this trip has been going. I'm sure some people think I'm absolutely crazy for deciding to backpack for 2.5 weeks through 3 completely foreign countries at almost 6 months pregnant. I had my reservations as well, but figured that I'm feeling as well as I'll ever feel. And this was the last time that husband and I will be able to travel this way in a long time; all on our own, semi-planning things, mostly figuring it out as we go. So why not, eh?  We have managed just fine and all has gone swimmingly. 

I can't explain how thankful I feel for all of this. I use the Baby Center app to read up on the baby's weekly developmental updates, and one of the app's features is a "Birth Club" message board. Other women using the app are automatically placed in a certain month's Birth Club, depending on their due date. I'll usually browse the message boards for fun when I have down time and wifi. Most of the posts are fun or silly, like "today I cried because my husband ate the last bag of Fritos."  But some posts are scary and almost make me want to cry. For example, one woman, also due in July, who posted a picture of her son who was born prematurely. Or other women posting about how the have been put on bed rest due to premature labor, severe preeclampsia, or some other serious complication. It makes me so sad to come across these posts. Here I am, on the other side of the world, doing yoga in Bali, canoeing through caves in islands off of Phuket, bargaining for goods in the Chiang Mai night markets. I feel almost...guilty?  I don't know. All I can do is remain positive and be really, really effing grateful for all of this. And send positive vibes to all those mothers and their little ones being born early. 

We have one more AirAsia plane to catch before our journey back to the states. We'll land in Singapore, spend a night, and then board our Cathay Pacific flight to LAX. I'm looking forward to beig back in the comfort of our home, but will forever be thankful and happy that we took this trip as a little family of three. 

24 weeks in Phuket

23

We're still in Southeast Asia and welcoming week 23 in Ubud, Bali. This town is so charming and bursting with spirituality. There's a Hindu temple or statue every 50 meters or so. Every home or establishment leaves a handmade offering in front of their place every day, making it tricky to walk down the sidewalks (you don't want to step on them!) There's a spot to practice yoga on every corner, and even in the middle of rice paddie fields. If you need to stop for a massage or reflexology session, there are no shortage of spas and wellness centers either!  Husband and I took advantage of this by booking a 75 minute traditional Indonesian massage (him) and prenatal massage (me). The Uma Spa at the Como hotel was the only spa that I could find in the area that offered (or at least advertised) a specialized prenatal massage. It was a bit pricier than spas off the streets, but very cheap compared to American standards. The place was an oasis and the experience heavenly. Baby and I enjoyed it very much. 

Baby experienced its first yoga sessions this week. Our hotel happened to be located just next door to The Yoga Barn, a yoga retreat center unlike any other. Husband and I started off our mornings in Ubud with a 1.5 hour morning flow class at 7am. With its sense of movement now developed, the little one kicked, twisted, and turned throughout my Down Dogs and Warriors. It was a lot of fun feeling it respond to my poses!  Of course there were certain poses I had to refrain from doing. But I listened to my body and modified as needed. The instructors were all very supportive and helpful, too.  The Yoga Barn is an amazing facility with several studios and classes & activities running all day long. I wanted so badly to take a specialized class, like acrobatic yoga!  I'll just have to wait until this baby is safely out of my body. The light morning flow classes offered at least the perfect yoga fix for me. 

In general, I'm feeling healthy and great during month 5. Most of all, EXTREMELY fortunate and grateful for this experience. It is wonderful to be on this trip with my husband right now, with our baby, learning more and more about the world and ourselves every day.

The bump: 23 weeks

22

Hey!  Here we are at 22 weeks celebrating it in Singapore!  Pre-baby, husband and I agreed that our next adventure would take us to Southeast Asia. We didn't have plans to go for several more months, though. Well, baby decided to make an appearance and so we made the decision to move up this trip and plan it before baby was born. 

Planning it at this stage of my pregnancy turned out to work perfectly. I'm still very mobile, have energy, and feel great in general. I've noticed that I need to take it a lot more easier, though. Maybe it's the humidity and 80+ degrees F weather in Singapore, but my feet were killing me after day 1 of exploring the city!  This has never happened to me before. I usually love exploring a new city by foot. So I've taken day 1 as a reminder that I need to slow down, get lots of rest, and stay hydrated! 

22 weeks at the Singapore Botanical Gardens

Clearly, this child is growing fast. The most exciting development as of the past 2 weeks is movement. What used to feel like tiny gas bubbles has turned into a full-out ninja session inside of my belly. It's the single most coolest feeling ever.  My favorite thing to do as of late is play Poke the Baby. I'll give it a little poke to make it move around. It is awesome to feel it respond. Even more exciting is that husband is starting to be able to feel our baby's kicks if it's positioned correctly.  It is truly a beautiful thing. 

Halfway Point and Embarrassing Things

Hi.  I'm twenty weeks pregnant today.  Holy shit.  This baby is halfway ready to make its appearance.  I'm halfway done being pregnant.

I still can't quite wrap my mind around this whole experience and what's to come out of it all.  I don't like to be overwhelmed.  At all.  So much that when something starts to overwhelm me, I just brush it off and convince myself that it's not really a big deal.  Things will be resolved eventually, so why worry?  That's it.  I just try to not allow myself to worry about things.  Because it will stress me out, and stress is bad.  So that's my attitude about life in a nutshell.  And throughout this pregnancy, I've just been going with the flow and allowing nature to take its course.  Recently, though, I'll have moments where I sit and think about what this all really means.  There's a human being inside of me that is going to depend on the husband and I in order to survive.  Survive.  That's a huge responsibility.  Eventually it will grow up and be self dependent.  But us, we are going to depend on this thing forever.  It's an extension of us.  We'll always be worried about it, what it's up to, how it's feeling, the choices it is going to make in life.

Thoughts like these are scaring the shit out of me!  There, I said it.

So I'm just gonna do what I always do and convince myself to stop worrying about it.  This baby will come (in ~20 weeks!?!), and we will have no other option but to be its parents and guide it as well as we can.  Things will be fine, yes...they will turn out just fine.

On to other topics.  I'm starting to feel much more preggo.  Not just by how I look, but by my capabilities which I have realized are becoming increasingly limited.  Along with that come some embarrassing moments.

Example #1: I wasn't able to make it to the gym one night, so I decided to do a quick 30 minute workout in our building's fitness center.  I took my jump rope with me because I wanted to practice double-unders for a few minutes.  After about 20 mins of light stretching and weights, I took out my jump rope and started jumping.  For my fellow females who are familiar with double-unders, you know what that means.  Jumping up and down repeatedly with extreme focus and effort to not lose that rhythm, all while trying to hold it in.  But the longer you jump, the less control you seem to have and sometimes you have a little accident.  It happens to all of us.  Well, the feeling was the same during my quick 5 minute double-under session.  Except what I thought was just a little slip was actually a full-out "I peed my pants."  Luckily, no one else was in the fitness center to witness Embarrassing Moment #1.  I ran upstairs and practically cried to my husband about how I no longer have full control over my own body.

Example #2:  This time, it happened at the gym.  No, not double-unders.  Stand ups.  The workout of the day included stand ups.  "Oh easy!," I thought.  "I love stand ups."  I set up my equipment and eagerly waited for the 10 second countdown for workout to start.  Didn't even do a couple of warm-up stand ups because, duh, stand ups are easy for me.  Silly me.  The workout starts, everyone is racing to complete their 4 rounds of "something something, stand ups, something something something."  I get to the stand ups, attempt one...and I couldn't do it!  I tried again and again, and I kept rolling back from my stand up attempts.  WTF.  Have you seen those videos of the puppies lying on their back trying to roll over to get back on all fours?  Super cute, right?  Me..not so cute.  I was the desperate pregnant woman trying to stand up on her own two feet, but clearly no longer had that capability.  I was embarrassed.  Eventually I gave up and had to borrow someone's station where I could do a scaled version of a stand up.

I realize that these may not be the most embarrassing of moments.  Things could always be worse.  They just really caught me 100% off-guard about how much my body is truly changing.  It's an indication that I will need to continue to modify how I proceed through my day.  It started with simple things at the beginning of pregnancy like "don't eat this, stop drinking that."  Now all of these physical impediments are really starting to  become a reality.  It's all good.  Shit is getting real and I like it.  :)

19 weeks

Could it be that we are almost halfway through?!  I continue to be in disbelief.  I wake up grateful every morning to see that belly and know that we are one day closer to meeting the little one.

This week we went on our first international family outing.  It was nothing elaborate; we just drove two hours south to Tijuana for...you guessed it...baby shopping!

I've been wanting to start a book collection for the baby, and where else could I be sure to find books written in Spanish but in Mexico!  We came back with a nice starting collection of really cute baby books.  One of the things that I am most excited for is reading to our baby, even while in the womb.  It's one of the simplest ways I can think of to connect with our baby, especially now as it is starting to develop its sense of hearing.  Sure, it can't understand anything and won't for a while even after birth.  But the plan is to keep communicating with it and foster a love for reading early on.  With that, we successfully made our first baby purchases!

Symptoms: Nothing bad still!  My nose has been runnier than usual, and sometimes slightly bloody (gross, I know.)  I read that swelling of mucous membranes and surrounding blood vessels is common during the 2nd trimester.  So I guess that's normal.  Whatev, it's nothing I can't deal with.
Foods I can't stand: Nada!  I am still eating well and enjoying every bite.  I don't have the appetite of a hungry, hungry hippo.  In fact, I don't ever really feel very hungry.  I've been eating about the same amount as I did pre-pregnancy and I generally feel satisfied as I go through my day.
Cravings: Nope, not really.
Thankful for: Movement!  I'm so sure that I've been feeling this tiny creature inside of my belly squirm around.  It's a natural reassurance that the baby is growing and thriving, which I am so extremely thankful for.
Current weight: 115.5 Finally some solid weight gain!