No, not my age, unfortunately… the big 2-0 means that I am officially now in my 20th week   I am halfway there to meeting Baby!  Not too much has changed since my last post except for the fact that several weeks have passed by (oops!)…I have to get better at taking milestone pictures though, I have been horrible, but now I am determined to take a picture every Sunday!  I will post it later on for you all to see my “progress” thus far

Exercise

In terms of exercise, I have been walking a lot.  I had mentioned before that I purchased a Nordic Trak treadmill for our house and quit the gym.  I was getting really frustrated with my gym because it has become very overcrowded, machines have been broken, and I’ve had to wait for cardio equipment.  So far, I am loving having the convenience of a “home gym”… I have been walking at least 5 times a week for around 40 minutes and have been feeling great… I think exercising more regularly has made me feel great lately, I have slept more soundly, felt more alert and less sluggish.

One thing I need to work on though is incorporating more yoga into my routine though… I just purchased my first ever yoga mat, I had been using towels/blankets when doing yoga in my house and using the gym’s mats whenever I have done it in a class… but now I am looking for a good prenatal yoga video.  Do you guys have any recommendations for good prenatal yoga dvds?  If so I would love to hear them because I am desperately in search of a good dvd!

Sleeping

As I mentioned above, lately, I have been sleeping great.  There are a few things I noticed though… In the beginning I was not sleeping so well… I am typically a side sleeper but if I can’t sleep I usually lay on my back, which during pregnancy is a big no no because it restricts oxygen flow.  This was a slight adjustment for me.

Another problem was that I was eating late at night and going to bed shortly after, I realized I cannot do this because I would wake up wide awake in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep… I never had this problem before but once I stopped eating right before bed, I found I was sleeping so much better!

Also, I was waking up with hip soreness to the point it had felt like I had broke my hip!  I solved this by pillows – lots and lots of them!  I went out and bought a $10 body pillow from Target and have myself wedged on that and then I use a small decorative pillow between my two knees.  This relieves a lot of pressure and I don’t have any soreness whatsoever.

I’m hoping my sound sleeping continues throughout the remainder of my pregnancy, but I know this is not usually the case so we’ll see what happens!

Eating

Lately, I have been proud of myself because I feel like I am eating a really well rounded healthy diet with the occasional sweet / dessert thrown in the mix of course… Here is a sample of what my daily eats have looked like:

• Breakfast ~ old fashioned or steel cut oats made with 1% milk, with mashed banana, cinnamon, and walnuts mixed in; Sometimes a glass of 100% OJ
• Mid-Am Snack ~ Nature’s Choice Multigrain Blueberry Cereal Bar
• Lunch ~ Arnold’s Healthy Multigrain or HealthNut bread with sauteed spinach, dijon mustard, sliced hardboiled egg, slice of cheese and sliced red peppers; Chobani yogurt on the side
• Mid-PM Snack ~ Clif Z Bar and a Peach or Apple
• Dinner ~ Chicken sausage, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Mixed green salad
• Evening Snack ~ This really depends on what I’ve had throughout the day and whether I am hungry or not, sometimes I will grab a piece of fruit, yogurt, pretzels, nuts, or dry cereal… sometimes I will grab dark chocolate

Baby

• We have been hard at work on working on the baby registry and planning out the baby’s room and pattern… I have to say it has been just as fun as the wedding registry, but it was a lot more difficult because I think it is much easier to figure out what you need for a house than a baby!  There is so much to learn   Luckily, I am surrounded by great experienced sister-in-law and friends, so they have been my go-to resource for questions about what you really need compared to what all the websites and stores tell you!  Once we get it finalized, I plan to share a listing of the “must-have” items because it is something that confused me a lot!!