Tuesdays have become my favorite day of the week because I love moving to a new week of pregnancy. This is going to be a fun update because we had our anatomy ultrasound, which was so cool and also very reassuring.

First a note on pregnancy content, when I first announced my pregnancy, I asked if you guys would prefer updates on the main page or moving it to a separate area of the site. The vast majority (probably 99% of you) said keep it on the main page so that’s what I decided to do. That being said, I now can’t imagine having it on a separate page because it’s SO a part of my life right now and I can’t imagine compartmentalizing it.

Moving forward, I’ll be publishing these updates weekly because they’re really fun for me to write and I know I’ll love looking back and having these memories from pregnancy. Perhaps the biggest benefit of these posts is the connection that they’ve brought with you guys. I cannot thank you enough for sharing everything from your excitement to insights to personal stories. It brings me so much comfort and joy. I’ll also be peppering pregnancy stuff into my content as it applies (like the how I told my grandmother being part of my trip recap) and there will be a few more topical pregnancy posts as I go along.

If following along with my pregnancy is not your thing or maybe not the right thing for you right now, please feel free to skip the Tuesday posts. If you’re just not in baby mode and not interested, it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. And if you’re in a space of an infertility journey or a loss and anything feels like a trigger, I encourage you to step away as needed to take care of yourself. Thank you all for reading and please know I value each of you and support you on your own personal journey. <3

 19 WEEKS PREGNANCY UPDATE

• During this week the baby’s skin becomes covered with a slipper, white, fatty coating that protects the delicate skin
• The kidneys are developed enough to make urine which is excreted back into the amniotic sac
• Hearing is now well-developed
• Brain is continuing the develop millions of motor neurons and the baby may now be able to make conscious muscle movements such as thumb sucking
• Soft cartilage is hardening into bone, starting with the legs

Weight Gain/Body Changes: everyone at the studio has told me that I’ve definitely “popped” since arriving back from Florida and seeing this picture I finally have to agree. I was telling a fellow teacher the other day that I don’t really feel like I look that different but she pointed out that I’m in my body every day as it’s changing and they only see me a few times a week so it’s much more obvious. Makes total sense and when I see myself in photos/videos I see the belly so much more!

I’ve gained 10 pounds. I’m also seeing more cellulite on my body which I’m pretty sure is very normal as I’ve read that you store fat for breastfeeding. My breasts are also continuing to grow and change.

Workouts/Workout Modifications: all good on the workout front. Still a mix of running, walking, lifting and yoga. Took the bump on a five mile run today before sitting down to write this post! 🙂

Symptoms: I have a couple this week…

• Itchy skin. The combo of cold, dry weather + stretching skin has made for some itchiness this week, especially around my chest, belly and legs.
• Congestion in the morning. I’ve had this all of pregnancy and I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet but I am really stuffy in the morning. So much mucus and drainage. From what I understand, it’s pretty normal.
• On the mood/emotional front, I’ve been feeling much better and more normal the last couple of weeks. The anatomy scan last week greatly helped my anxiety.
• I’ve been tired. I commented to Tanner on Sunday night that I was so tired despite sleeping plenty both Friday and Saturday night and having relatively low-key days. I was like, “I don’t understand…I haven’t really done anything different or extra hard workouts.” To which he replied, “Um, you’re pregnant. Your body is growing a human!” It’s not the intense fatigue I had on and off in the first trimester but I’m pretty bone-tired by the end of the day.

Food Aversions: none.

Food Cravings: other than my Sunday morning I need a bagel moment, nothing to note.

Sleep: surprisingly really good but I need to start working on not sleeping on my back. It’s about that time. I asked for a body pillow for Christmas and a new memory foam topper to hopefully make side sleeping more comfortable. I like side sleeping but I usually go from side to back to side a few times.

Maternity Clothes: last week I packed up a big bag of leggings and shorts that there was no chance I was wearing again until after pregnancy. Jackets and vests are already starting to get a little tight zipped around the belly. I still haven’t bought anything maternity-specific yet but the time is probably coming soon.

Reading/Listening To: early in my pregnancy I was really focused on learning as much as I could about pregnancy and birth. About a week ago I had a realization that this baby is coming in May regardless and while I still want to have the best pregnancy possible and a solid birth plan, it’s time to shift my focus to learning more about infants and raising a child! Current focus is to start educating myself on breastfeeding, infants and child psychology. I would love any book or podcast suggestions that you might have for me.

Looking Forward To: hitting 20 weeks next week (!!!), sharing the gender with you guys soon (!!!!!!) and feeling movement! Stillllll waiting.

18 WEEK ANATOMY ULTRASOUND

What an amazing experience our 18 week anatomy ultrasound was. We got to spend about 30 minutes watching the baby as our ultrasound tech took all the measurements that she needed to and talked us through everything.

I am so happy to report that everything measured on track and baby weighs about half a pound. She showed us so much…

• We saw the four chambers of the heart and blood flowing through as well as heard the heartbeat at 136
• Feet and hands, fingers and toes. She was even able to count 10 fingers and 10 toes.
• Brain development – so freaking cool!
• Ribs and spine (you can see the ribs in the bottom right picture!)
• Mouth and nose (you can see this in the top right picture)
• Umbilical cord and blood flowing through it to baby

And so much more! The coolest thing was that the baby’s chest was moving up and down and I asked her what it was doing and she said “practicing breathing.” Well, shortly after the baby got hiccups and she said it probably swallowed too much fluid with its breathing exercise. 🙂

The baby was moving around like crazy and she said I should definitely start to feel movement soon. I still think it’s so incredible that all of this is going on inside of me and I feel pretty normal.

I will only have one more ultrasound in my third trimester and that will be to check on size and positioning of baby and fluid levels.

And that’s all I have for today (it was a lot!). Thank you for letting me share these. 🙂

Any baby/child development books to recommend? Breastfeeding educational resources? 

Any non-workout maternity leggings that you would recommend? I’m honestly on the fence about whether I even need maternity jeans because I wear jeans so infrequently anyway. I think I can just make it a few more months without wearing jeans and stick to leggings???

Did you use a body pillow or a pregnancy pillow (or nothing special)? I’m going to try a body pillow first because the U-shaped pregnancy-specific pillows look really intense!