39 Weeks

Ready to pop!

I'm literally watching the clock these days, impatiently awaiting the arrival of our second little munchkin. I've been ready for weeks now, both mentally and physically, and I really just want this labour to start so I can get it over with and hold my baby girl!

How I'm feeling 

Last week I finally reached the point where I'm "done" being pregnant: I'm tired, my mobility is limited, my belly is heavy and sore, and my body is achy. Sleep is more annoying than it is restful as I can never seem to get, or stay, comfortable. At this point I feel weak and somewhat helpless in my own body, and I don't like that feeling. I do recognize, though, that I'm very fortunate to only have gotten to this point now - I'm sure many women feel like this much earlier on in their pregnancies, or even the whole way through. So I am thankful that my amazing body has carried me through to this point.

Workouts

This week marked my last workout of this pregnancy; I've been losing interest in the gym lately, and it's been taking me much longer to recover from each session. I don't want to be dealing with muscle soreness during labour, so I want to take this week to just stretch and rest. I will continue to take long  walks though - I've been averaging about 90 minutes per day lately. Now that the weather has cooled down here we spend LOTS of time outside taking walks, playing in the leaves, and just looking at stuff (toddlers always find cool stuff to look at, don't they?) lol. So although I'm not in the gym, I'm still getting plenty of exercise!

My last workout was a really good one. The thoughts and images that usually fuel my workouts are generally very competitive, assertive, confident, and sometimes even angry in nature - I save the "feel-good" emotions for my cool-downs. It just works for me. But yesterday I went into the gym and couldn't seem to tap into any of those familiar emotions. So I went to a quiet room and took a second to ground myself and gather my thoughts. I started to think about how amazing it is that I made it 39 weeks without missing one single week of workouts. Sure, there were some weeks I only got in one or two sessions, but fitness has been a big part of this entire pregnancy, and I can both feel and see the results of that effort. So for every rep and set yesterday, I focussed on being thankful and in awe of all that my body is capable of doing. It was a "feel-good" workout, and it felt great :)

At this moment the song "Take Me to Church" by Hozier was on, which I feel is a very appropriate soundtrack for my relationship with the gym: it's where I go to be alone, to think, to get in touch with my body, and yes, even to pray. Can't wait to get back there in a few weeks :)

Nutrition

So this past week and weekend I kind of let my nutrition slip. Ok, it didn't just slip, it fell down and broke itself. There were some days I only got 1-2 servings of vegetables and all of my carbs were processed, and then I ate some sort of fast food probably 4 out of the 7 days. Yeah, bad. Then last night, after eating some chicken wings, I started getting some mild contractions. At the same time, my stomach started reacting pretty negatively to the wings I had just eaten (likely not a coincidence). I felt like absolute YUCK for a solid 2 hours, and was nervous that I was going to be in labour with a belly full of fast food. Message received, body. Message received. I decided then and there that I would re-devote myself to clean eating this week to ensure that I gave my body every possible advantage going into labour. It's going to be tough enough as it is, and I need all the energy and help I can get!

Having said that, I did manage to cook a week's worth of dinners and freeze them in anticipation of baby's arrival. Hopefully I can cook a few more before I go into labour. I found some great freezer-ready crock pot recipes online, and I especially like the ones on the Six Sisters Stuff website: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/02/10-slow-cooker-freezer-meals-in-less.html

They may not be the absolute gold standard in clean eating, but they're complete meals and they will fill the belly! 

Note: For all you first-time moms, I HIGHLY recommend cooking and freezing some meals (and snacks) ahead of time if you have the resources and inclination to do so now. There will honestly be days in the beginning where all you eat are granola bars and juice boxes - cooking a dinner won't even be on the radar, and on those days it will be sooooo nice to just pop a meal in the crock pot and have something warm and delicious ready to eat at the end of your exhausting day. 

Well, hopefully this is my last blog post before the baby arrives! (Hah. Now that I've said it, she'll probably be 10 days late.) 

Yours in health and maternity,

Tess