34 weeks; The Zelda Post

At 34 weeks pregnant the only thing I really think about anymore is sleep and how much I just want to be doing that. So why then am I awake at 3 am? Because my husband and I just spent an hour dealing with "middle of the night Zelda drama" and now I'm just wide awake, although I have to admit that scrolling through everyone else's Facebook photos is starting to lull me back to sleep. 

In preparation for the new baby (and because it just needed to happen sooner or later) we finally moved Zelda out of the crib and into my old twin bed, she was very excited about it yesterday when Daddy was setting it up in her room, so I was hopeful it would be an easy transition. And for the most part it was easy, for example she stays in it simply because we told her that was the rule. Except for at almost midnight the first night when she rolls out of it and lands on the carpet floor like a sack of potatoes. Daddy who was downstairs (still awake playing video games) hears the loud "Bang" from the upstairs and knows exactly what it is, goes up there and finds a still sleeping child on the floor, scoops her up and puts her back in bed. It's not until after he has left the room that she finally wakes and up and is quite upset. The part that gets me is that most of why she is upset is because it is Daddy who goes back into her room to help her and not Mommy. 
By now I'm awake because I hear her screaming "Mommy!" although I still have no idea that a few minutes earlier she had fallen out of her new bed. I am simply upset that Mommy is being demanded even though Daddy is already in there trying to help her. Long story short she just needed to go potty so I help her with that and my husband and I decide we need to put her mattress on the floor for the rest of the night. 
So that brings me to today, today Zelda was a bit of an emotional wreck all day probably due to not sleeping well. After church we went to Babies R Us and bought a guard rail to put on her bed. It seems to be working, it's secure and she has not fallen out of the bed. So why did she wake up tonight? Because again, she needed to go potty, why? Probably because we let her take a spill proof water bottle to bed every night. It was great when she was younger, it was part of what helped her sleep through the night in the first place but now with potty training it seems to be creating a whole new problem. The other problem is when Daddy went to her to help her, she again screamed because she really wanted Mommy to help her, there are so many layers to our problems. At first I refrained from getting up, I had hope that Zelda would get over it and be gracious to her Daddy, but she didn't. Instead she continued crying and saying she needed to go potty despite the fact that Daddy already took her and she already went successfully. It was time for drastic measures, I got up and I told her that the consequence for making up stories (a nice way of saying she was lying about needing to go potty) was that she was losing her water bottle. You would have thought I had just slapped her across the face the way she screamed about this. This reaction from her stirs up several different feelings in me, one I am just so annoyed I want to leave the room and let her scream all night, and two I feel really bad because I know how attached she is to that stupid water bottle and part of me wants to give her a second chance, or just give her the bottle because it is a sure fire way to get her to calm down and be quiet. But often times as a parent if we want to truly teach our kids it means taking the long way instead of the easy way, sometimes this can feel like we're punishing ourselves because it isn't what we would prefer to be doing at that moment. Also if there's anything I've been convicted about lately it's that as a parent I need to stick to my word. 
Zelda's a smart girl and although the concept of lying is a maybe a difficult one, I figured if she is old enough to be lying to us about things like needing to use the potty (because the truth is she does use it as a way to delay bed time, asking to go 3 times in a row, things like that) then she is old enough to learn that lying is wrong. I took the time to talk to her about this and was even able to get her to admit that she had lied. She was still upset about the consequence of having the water bottle taken away so I took the time to pray with her that Jesus would help her deal with that consequence and help her sleep. THAT was when she finally relaxed, while I was praying with her. Woohoo I feel like I had a small Mommy victory and although I know this bedtime, potty battle probably isn't over I feel like I had a huge step in Zelda's development as a person. It's difficult right now when she demands Mommy despite the fact that Daddy is right there trying to help her, she is incredibly head strong and seemingly small things send her into a screaming tantrum when she doesn't get her way (one annoying epiphany is when I realized that she totally gets that from me), but we're dealing with it and we've just learned that we have to respond quickly and very consistently with her. I have learned a lot from being Zelda's Mommy, it's a challenge and it pushes me to become stronger and to be better. Although I can completely imagine how easy life without kids might be, I wouldn't trade the things I'm learning through parenthood. I wouldn't trade the way it brings me to my knees daily in prayer because I finally realize I cannot be the kind of parent I want to be without God's strength and grace every single day. I wouldn't trade the way it's brought Michael and I closer as we face the challenges and grow and reap the rewards of it together. 
I don't know exactly what new challenges will come with this new baby and being a mom of two, but I'm finding that the challenges we face in life can all be traced back to our minds. What are we thinking about throughout the day? What is our perspective? Am I choosing to see every little aspect of Zelda that needs correcting, or am I choosing to focus on the small victories? When I pray with her and she relaxes, or when she says "thank you" without being prompted, those are my victories and I will give God all of the glory for those! 

Parkinson's 5k at 28 weeks

Okay this post is out of order but I forgot to write about the 5k I ran last Saturday. In short, it was tough, a lot tougher than the race I ran at La Cantera at 25 weeks. I guess part of what was tough was that it wasn't as cold as it was the day of the La Cantera race, it was a lot more humid. But it was one of those races where instead of feeling good after the first mile it just became more and more difficult to keep a good pace and eventually I did walk for a few seconds in the third mile. I still ran it pretty fast in 30:23. I was however a lot more sore after this race and I was exhausted for about 3 or 4 days after the race so it took a lot out of me. It was fun but I will not be doing any more races this pregnancy. At this point I need to focus on running for enjoyment and not competition, and I want to do more weight lifting and yoga/stretching. 

Pre race photo!

Speeding past my husband, if only it wasn't blurry

29 weeks Good visit with Nurse Midwife

Well this morning I had my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. It will be several days at least before I get the results, but I'm not too concerned that I have it although I realize that sometimes people with no risk factors get it anyway. But after I drank the orange sugar drink and was waiting the hour before having my blood drawn I got to have my prenatal visit with the newest Nurse Midwife at Lonestar. She was great! I had heard great things about her and I definitely liked her. She was a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years before studying the 3 years to become a nurse midwife and now here she is! I asked her about all of my concerns with whether running while pregnant was going to cause extra damage to my pelvic floor or uterine ligaments. She didn't think so although she did say to listen to my body of course. She explained that pelvic floor problems are often due to genetics (hence why plenty of women who do not run while pregnant still end up with problems, it simply happens due to pregnancy and a genetic predisposition for it). So anyway I am happy to have my anxieties relieved! I can keep running, although I do probably need to scale back and slow down, no more 5k races they make me too excited and then I run faster than I probably should and hurt myself. 
I was also proud of myself because I only gained 3 pounds since my last visit 5 and a half weeks ago, but my uterus height is 28 inches which is about where it should be now! Yay! 
I also asked her to check baby's position and  he is head down, woohoo, with basically all of his body resting on the right side of my uterus. This is nice to know because when I run I do feel some weird pain in my right abdomen, I have had this for a while now, since about 23 weeks actually and it's nice to finally understand why. It's because his little body is just sitting there in my right side, guess he likes that spot, silly little dude! 

28 weeks update, ego aside do I need to stop running?

Well I am certainly feeling the effects of the 3rd trimester now. The pregnancy tiredness has returned and I just feel like I could sleep all day. Something new this pregnancy I am craving coffee on a daily basis now. With Zelda I drank nothing, not even decaf, but this pregnancy I have had decaf here and there throughout the week. But this week I am wanting full strength coffee! It's weird, I am proud to say I have not given in to that craving however today I think I will be finding me some decaf coffee somewhere.

My belly is starting to feel a little uncomfortable which I hate to admit because I still have several months left and it's just too early to be feeling uncomfortable so I will do my best to ignore it. Eating smaller meals helps with that but also I think so does that fact that I have gained less weight with this pregnancy. In a lot of ways I feel stronger this time than with Zelda, for example I think my low back was hurting a lot more by now. with this pregnancy my back feels great most of the time, if it starts to feel tight I just rest or enlist the hubs for a massage.

I am starting to wonder if I need to stop running or at least cut down a little mostly for the benefit of my uterine ligaments and pelvic floor. It's not an obvious decision because I am not having any pain or problems in these areas when I run, and I do wear belly support. I won't stay on the topic of the pelvic floor too long but after doing lots of research on the effects of running while pregnant and pelvic floor disorders I have decided that running while pregnant is not necessarily always the cause of pelvic floor disorders. However because there is definitely a possibility that running while pregnant is a contributor it is worth my time looking into some physical therapy exercises to strengthen the area, and try to be in touch with my body enough to know when it's time to put my ego aside and quit running.  Here is a link to a website I found with good information on strengthening this important area of our bodies. http://hab-it.com/videos-preg.html

All that said I have a 5k race tomorrow so I am obviously planning to run it as hard as this big belly will allow!

28 minute 5k while 25 weeks pregnant!

Wow, I blew away my goal for my 5k race Saturday! I was just hoping to run it faster than the 33 minutes it took me to run one by myself two Saturdays ago so I decided on the goal of 30 minutes, which even seemed a little steep to me.
It was a cold, rainy morning but I'm sure the cold helped. The first mile was difficult, that's when my body's basically warming up and being that I'm pregnant it takes longer for my oxygen intake and muscles to catch up to my heart rate that I'm sure shoots up into the 180's or so. That first mile is when I'm fighting to catch my breath and my quads are often cramping up, I just kept telling myself to push it because eventually my body would catch up with what I was asking it to do. Then in the second mile there was some relief which was pretty cool. I actually had a few minutes where my body was pain free and I was just running, but it felt like I was flying, and the fact that I could feel like that while pregnant was spectacular to me! This is always the mile where I try to just relax and ride the pace like a wave but I always have to be careful not to relax so much that I slow down too much. Then during the last mile I just had to dig deep and fight to keep up the strong pace, that's when I started to hurt a little again. This is where I tell myself to go to that place where it hurts because that's how I know I am running hard, that's how I know I'm doing a good job, I just kept telling myself I was brave enough to push into the pain. Somewhere during this mile I looked at my watch and realized I was keeping a pace fast enough to beat my 30 minute goal, I was so excited I almost cried! And sure enough I crossed that finish line, feeling very tired but strong, in 28 minutes and 22 seconds! It felt amazing, endorphins are great!
This is basically what I go through mentally in any race even when I'm not pregnant, the difference here was that the pace I was trying to maintain was slower than normal obviously. I loved being able to experience pushing myself like this while pregnant. I really didn't push myself quite like this when I was pregnant with Zelda, I was a lot more cautious then. I hope people don't think I'm not being cautious this time because I really still am, it's just that this time I know my baby and I are not fragile.  (There are things you and your OB or Nurse midwife in my case, can check on to make sure exercise is safe). I'm still feeling this little guy move all the time, so I know he's fine. I know that his heart rate rises when I work out and therefore he probably needs time to recover from that race just like I do. But it's good for him and it's good for me and I can't wait to see how much easier recovery and getting back to running will be after I have him.
One thing that I am dealing with this time is varicose veins, only in my right leg. It's interesting because I think normally running helps prevent them, however pregnancy can cause them. I escaped them with Zelda but I have them now. Exercise does make them worse because of the increased blood flowing through the veins, so I've started wearing compression tights anytime I work out. Yes it's a pain, but wearing the tights really does help, once I'm not pregnant my hope is that I won't need the compression tights anymore. Plus the tights I got really help support my belly when I run so that's good!

I LOVE lettuce wraps!!!

Okay this blog is supposed to be about healthy nutrition as well as exercise, time for a recipe post. One of my favorite foods is lettuce wraps! Take about any kind of meat, put it in lettuce and voila, you've got a healthy, and hopefully delicious meal right there! It's so simple and so healthy I just get excited thinking about them! 
Tonight I made chicken lettuce wraps, I seasoned half of the chicken with lemon pepper and the other half with "chicken seasoning," and then broiled it. 
Put it in the lettuce and then for toppings I used cilantro, mozzarella cheese, avocado, and cucumber. Put a little dressing on it, I recommend Creamy Avocado, although Italian works well too. And there you have it, easy, delicious, low carb, gluten free (unless it's in the dressing, I didn't check), and most importantly yummy dinner!
I served them with a side dish of homemade Pearl Cous Cous cooked in Chicken broth with lemon juice, peas, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

Cilantro, avocado, cumber, and mozzarella.

Large cubed chicken, broiled both sides about 5 minutes each side. Broiling keeps chicken nice and tender.

Dinner is served!

Zelda approved (her lettuce is full of cous cous).

I love this shot of her eating her cous cous wrap.

25 weeks and 5k Ready

I am 25 weeks pregnant today! It's crazy to be over half way already, time is definitely flying faster with this pregnancy than the first. I am feeling pretty good, there isn't much to complain about (although I still do). I still have days I need a nap and my low back is a little achy but it's not bad. I have continued exercising at a higher intensity this time by doing Insanity which I did not do when I was pregnant with Zelda. I have a 5k this coming Saturday so I will be resting for the next few days leading up to it. Last weekend I ran a 5k on my own to see how fast I could go, I did it in 33 minutes so for Saturday my goal is to beat that time! The race atmosphere always helps me go faster! Not gonna lie, running is not easy right now, it took a lot of effort to push myself last weekend, my legs and back cramp up a lot and I have to stop and walk often. It's okay though because pushing myself always feels good and I need this race to stay excited about running! 

I am feeling this baby boy move A LOT everyday, I love it!

I have Braxton Hicks quite a bit but I'm pretty sure I had that a lot with Zelda as well. 

This pic was taken at 24 weeks