Wednesday, October 30, 2013

9 Week Pregnancy Update and Baby Bump Photos

Hey, Loves!
 
I can't believe my blog has turned into a Watch Me Grow blog, instead of a Watch Me Lose blog. God is so awesome, isn't He?!  Blogging about my pregnancy each month will be a nice way to keep my family and friends updated but also for me to have to look back on and remember my pregnancy. :)
 
That being said, I can't believe I'm 9 weeks pregnant already! Time is flying by so fast! My baby is now the size of a green olive and is about 0.9 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 0.07 ounces. 
 
I had my first appointment with my midwife on the 25th and she checked me out and said everything looked great and that my uterus felt just the right size for how far along I am. I get to hear the baby's heartbeat on the 15th. I can hardly wait! <3
 
I prayed that I wouldn't vomit and God definitely answered that. I haven't vomited at all, which I am so thankful for. I have, however, been nauseous (not awful but enough to be uncomfortable). I've found that the nausea hits me more when I'm hungry, so I have been eating more often to keep it in check. Speaking of hungry, I'm hungry pretty much all the time now. I wake up in the middle of the night STARVING and have to force myself to go back to sleep. Since I have been eating more often, I have to really watch what I'm eating. I'm still eating healthy and walking a lot. I'm going to get back into the gym next month but take it much easier than I was.
 
As for symptoms, besides the nausea and hunger, I've been noticing that I get out of breath a lot faster. I've been burping all the time (literally, I burp all through the day). I didn't realize that burping was a symptom of pregnancy (I hardly ever burped before becoming pregnant) and I told Brad a couple of days after conceiving that I didn't understand why I was burping all the time. I almost always have two burps back-to-back, too. Lol. In the beginning, I was cramping a lot. I thought for sure my period was going to start at any second for two to three weeks. I mean, it felt JUST LIKE period cramps. I hardly ever cramp now. I'm always tired. I have been sleeping for up to 12 hours sometimes at night and still wake up exhausted. I've even found myself going to bed around 8:00 because I can't keep my eyes open.  I'm always thirsty for water, especially lemon water; I drink a ton of it. I've always urinated a lot because I drink a lot but now it's even worse. I average waking up in the middle of the night about 5-9 times right now to urinate. My breasts have been really sore since the beginning, although I've noticed the past few days that they aren't as sore as they were. I've also had some breast changes (which I don't need to go into). I've had acid reflux a handful of times. Other than that, I haven't really had any other pregnancy symptoms.
 
As for cravings, I've been craving noodles and rice (I have to keep that in check, though), fruit (especially grapes) and salads. Nothing crazy like laundry detergent or anything. Haha.
 
Here are my baby bump pictures for the month. You can't see a bump or anything but you can definitely tell I'm bloated from last month's pictures. I'm in that awkward stage of being bloated but not looking pregnant. My pants still fit but are getting pretty tight. I bought a BeBand at Target but haven't had to wear it yet. I can't wait to start seeing an actual bump instead of bloat. :)
 
Oopsie wanted to be in the picture and say hi to everyone! :-D

 
Love,
 
 
 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Monthly Healthy Recipes - All Things Pumpkin!

Hey, everyone!
 
As most of you who have followed my blog for awhile know, Fall is my favorite season and I am obsessed with all things pumpkin. So, all of the new healthy recipes I tried this month have pumpkin in them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! :)
 
Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse - I used regular butterscotch pudding (sugar-free stuff is awful for you) and low-fat cottage cheese.
Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes with Dark Chocolate Chips - I used regular flour because I don't have whole wheat. Still really healthy.
Reese's Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups - I omitted the first three and melted chocolate chips.
Pumpkin Nut Butter - I used natural peanut butter.

Here's a recipe I made up. I call it "Fall Yogurt":

Vanilla fat free greek yogurt, 3 tbsp pumpkin puree, 1 tsp natural pb (optional), 1 tsp honey, 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg (1 tsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips optional). You can add more or less or all ingedients to suit your tastes. :)
 
PS: The pregnancy is going great so far. I'm loving every second of knowing a precious little miracle is growing inside of me. I decided to stop with the monthly weight-loss blogs that I was going to do the next couple of months and focus instead of continuing to eat healthy (not on losing weight ... being pregnant is not the time to try to do that ... I don't know what I was thinking). Anyway, so my monthly weight-loss blog will be replaced with a monthly pregnancy update and baby bump photos blog instead. :-D

Until next time,