Progress.

Week 33- (playing catch-up AGAIN...but here goes! :-)

7 Weeks left.  Just 7 weeks until this little bundle makes her grand entrance and would you know that I still feel SO completely underprepared?  I am still anxiously awaiting for the last jolt of energy/nesting instinct to fully kick in to get some of the things done that we have been putting off for some time and this week there did seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel; both Chris and I had energy and motivation to accomplish some tasks that we have been putting off for far too long. 

With loads of laundry stacked up (this is my all time least favorite thing to do) I found it a good excuse to begin putting away some of my pre-pregnancy clothes and inviting into the closet, in a more organized manner, the maternity clothes that I had been putting off getting for so long.  I had no problem wearing the bella band in the beginning of my first trimester, why then did it take me until month 8 to finally acknowledge that yes Katie, it is necessary to have maternity clothes!  Perhaps it’s because I had been fortunate to still be able to wear the bella band with about 3 pairs of my pre-pregnancy pants thus far, but it is getting to the point where it just isn’t as comfortable and the giant elastic band on the maternity pants feels much better around the belly when it is actually attached to the pants.  It’s a wonderful feeling though to accept the changes that have occurred in my body and be able to accept that someday soon I’ll be back in my ‘normal’ clothes (hopefully by January!)  Right now though, the longer and more belly conforming the shirt the better and the looser in the butt/thighs/belly the pants are the better.  Thankfully I have no complaints over the maternity clothes I have acquired thus far and they fit perfectly with my style still.  I know I may be recanting this statement in the next month or so but fingers crossed that I can still fit into at least a week’s worth of clothes by the end of term!

Chris was in the field this entire week and therefore things were a bit quiet/lonely around the home front.  The dogs were in full-force protection mode to the point that one night what I thought was an intruder in our back yard by their reaction was actually a poor baby opossum shaking for its life on the top of the fence.  I refer to this as a proud moment in Jack’s life where he finally found his inner pit-bull-his bark was ferocious and he was bound and determined to catch the little rodent!  Needless to say it escaped without harm, but it kept them entertained and pacing in the yard for some time. 

How Big Is Baby Autumn?

Is it even possible that I have a baby the height of a pineapple inside my belly?  It doesn’t even seem possible but at the same time I believe it!  She is growing like a little weed it seems and noticeably more active than EVER this week.  Quarters are cramped in there and she is making it known!  Her wrinkled looks are beginning to disappear, so the resources say, and her skeleton is beginning to harden a bit more.  That being said they won’t harden too much because the bones still have to be malleable enough to make it through the birth canal. And speaking of birth, that part of this experience is getting ever more real for me lately...the end is so near! Exciting but frightening at the same time!

~it never fails I seem to ALWAYS have something spilled on or near my belly as of lately!~

Running and Pregnancy

While it feels AMAZING still to get out on my walk/runs, the joint pain is noticeably increasing and has been something that I am now dealing with on a daily basis.  I have always been someone who pushes through pain, every ounce of my body could be saying stop but over the years, starting in middle school track with Coach Altobelli coaching me on distance ‘ladders’, I have built up the mental fortitude to ‘Just. Keep. Going’.  Of course during pregnancy, that attitude has had to change, and from the beginning it did, when I first began backing off my mileage and backing off my pace.  I have always found homeopathic ways to get rid of any aches/pains I have felt and I am treating this joint pain no differently but let me just say that it has been a BEAST.  Every day at the office I know my co-workers look at me like I’m crazy when they walk by and see me doing  yoga every hour, just to stretch out my tight hamstrings/hips for the most part.   That and short walks are the only things that get me through a full day at the office anymore and I find myself jonsing to get home, throw on my running shoes and get outside.  Even if it does bring on more soreness/tightness, it feels good at the time and I know is still excellent for both myself and little Autumn. 

My runs have now simmered down officially to more walk/run than even run/walk if you know what I mean.  I am envious of some of the other moms I read about on the running blogs that are still striding out for 5k’s with little stopping.  Between having to pee every .5 miles as well as the weight of the belly beginning to be felt (which leads to abdominal tightening/intense side stitches) I am running .25 miles, walking .25 miles at this point at about an 11-12 minute pace for the jog portion.  It is better than nothing I keep telling myself and I have read that sometimes you hit peaks of discomfort, get over them, and then improve.  I definitely noticed this throughout my first and second trimesters where I would have bad weeks, my body would then adapt/overcome and then all of a sudden I was back in more of a routine stride.  I will say that I am going to try the treadmill a little more this week than I have been.  While I love getting outside and beating the pavement/trails, maybe tying in a few walk/runs a week on the treadmill with my lifting will provide more cushion/stability.  Even as an avid vibram five-finger runner pre-pregnancy, I know that running with an extra 25 lbs of weight added in matter of 8 months requires some TLC for joints and feet, that which possibly the treadmill could provide (as much as I despise it.)

The Weekend.

This past Saturday was a blast as Alaina, Lauren and I headed out for a 6am shopping spree at Belk for a charity event.  We all found a few good items we had been looking for and also finally got our rain boots that will complete our ‘work’ ensemble.  We can’t wait to wear them at the next wedding, they are incredibly comfortable!

Even though I had a very early morning, waking up at 4am, I decided to tough it out and venture out to Destin with Chris.  We had a few errands to run, plus we wanted to watch the K-State game somewhere and meet up with a couple of his buddies that were down from Kansas in training at Hurlburt.  We ate dinner at Bonefish Grille (still one of my all time fave places to dine in this area) and then headed to Poppy’s Crazy Lobster Bar in Harborwalk Village to watch the Cats take on the Pokes.  Even though we didn’t come out with a ‘W’, it was by far one of the BEST college games I have witnessed, and literally was down to the last second, 4^th and goal, but no one could get open for our quarterback Klein to throw to.  2 losses in a row to Oklahoma and then Oklahoma State, I’m hoping for a BIG W against the Aggies this weekend~ We NEED it!

We spent part of Sunday organizing the nursery from all of the wonderful things that friends and family have given us and beginning to inventory just exactly what we still need to purchase before her arrival.  The list isn’t huge, but it’s not super short either.  Good thing is, there isn’t a whole lot you need in the first few weeks, so we’ll have time I know to acquire things even after she gets here before we need them.

Our cloth diapers arrived and we are stoked!  I thought this gave a good run through of how they will work.

 We still have about 16 more we want to purchase (we hear 2 dozen is the magic number) and we also need to order disposables online as we know for the first few weeks we will be tired/getting into the routine of things and need to be able to change her quick until we figure out how the cloth system will work best for us. 

I also made sure Chris had a ‘daddy’ diaper bag that was a bit more outdoorsy/manly than the JJ Cole one I scored at TJ Maxx and that arrived this week as well.  He was secretly excited about it even though he said he didn’t need one.  It’s a Kelty, which means its extra durable, and I think will last through a couple kids I hope!

While we still have progress to make in the nursery, the goal is by week 36 it is complete and ready for her arrival.  That’s 2 weeks, which I think we can manage, just in case she decides to make an early entrance.  Hold on tight little Autumn, Mom and Dad still need prep time~we want everything to be just perfect for you!