and the daily chaos our family generates. Welcome to our ways of choosing joyful living, attachment parenting, and seeing Christ in it all. We hope you stay a while!
I'm looking forward to teaching vinyasa yoga at TUF this evening. I teach on Thursdays as of now, and am looking forward to adding more classes to the schedule. As for my own practice, yoga is keeping me sane and feeling great! I did 2 classes yesterday, as well as one this morning at Inspire... can't get enough right now. :) It will be sad when my teacher training freebies run out in just 2 days.
Also, here is a wonderful video about delayed cord cutting and lotus births that I find extremely fascinating. It is a great explanation on why it's a good idea!
It's Tuesday, which means that we have officially reached week 26. I LOVE Tuesdays. :) Before I dive into this week's updates, I want to clear something up: People keep asking me how I'm feeling, and when I say "great!", it seems like sometimes that annoys people. Okay listen... Yes I'm young, and yes I believe that my body is handling being pregnant like a boss (lol), but that does NOT mean that I'm not experiencing aches, pains, less-than-lovely bodily functions, sleeplessness, etc. The difference is, I FREAKING LOVE being pregnant! This is such a huge gift from God, a gift that so many women out there do not get to experience. I have NO room to complain in the slightest bit about the "normal" things women go through with pregnancies. It WILL be stressful and uncomfortable, but those are internal things that I can control. Pain to one person does not equal the same pain to another. It is all relative, and I completely believe in the power of our minds. How we think about something totally defines the external outcome. There is a baby in here!! I am so beyond blessed! Yes, she kicks me in organs that don't love being kicked. I am having round ligament pain on a daily basis. If I don't do yoga and self massage every day, my right sciatic nerve shoots some lovin' down my leg every time I move. My ankles turn into cankles when I don't do enough inversions. I have about 40 stretch marks (none on tummy yet!)... And the answer is YES. Things are so great. :) So pretty please don't get annoyed when I tell you how amazing I feel. I am experiencing pregnancy just like the majority of women. Everything is relative.
How Far Along: 26 weeks today!
Weight: I'm at 169 as of this morning. Seem to be gaining steadily.
Innie or Outtie: Still goes between both, depending on the day.
Maternity Clothes: I bought a couple of new yoga workout shirts, but they are not maternity. Larges work great for now!
Sleep: Having a little more trouble staying comfortable these past couple of weeks. I find myself sorta sleeping on my back- and then I feel super guilty because of blood flow to my uterus. I don't know why I'm favoring my back. I have a GREAT snoogle pillow and everything. :/
Stretch marks: Besides the ones from weeks ago, not really any new ones. None on my belly.
Movement: She is in this awesome somersault stage right now, I love it! Turns, rolls, kicks, jumps!, and hiccups. I noticed more movement today than usual, so I took a little video.
Food Cravings: I'm not craving lemons nearly as much as I was about a month ago, and I'm not sure if I have any real cravings right now at all, actually.
Food Aversions: The thought of eating Chinese food right now grosses me out... Which is kinda weird for me.
How’s Mama? Feeling good. Happy and healthy. And maybe a little more stressed than usual... Yoga teacher training test is this weekend. :)
Size of baby: length of 15 inch cucumber. Wow!
What I am looking forward to: Getting my Birth Plan finished. I'm in the process of writing it out, and I can't wait until it's completed. I think it will really clear up my views, do's, and absolute will-not-do's on how I want this birth to go. Some people close to us seem confused about our plan for a natural home birth, and doubtful that we can do this, so I'm looking forward to having my plan up for everyone to have access to. It is really important to me that if they still do not agree with our decisions about place, style, or finances after reading our wishes, that they keep it to themselves... At that point the most helpful thing would be to just pray for us. So much of birth is in our heads. [I just want to state again that everyone chooses to birth their own way. Our opinions look one way... this does not mean that I am saying that other's views are wrong. To each their own! Informed mothers will do what is best for them and their much-loved babes.] We want to birth at home. As long as health and safety do not become an emergency, I will not step foot into a hospital to have this baby. When it comes to our family, I strongly believe that the healthiest way to welcome baby into this world from a low-risk pregnancy is outside of hospitals. God-willing, I will do everything in my power to birth naturally, healthily, and happily for the well-being of our daughter!
Unfortunately, John and I have yet to set a reoccurring weekly date night. Work seems to keep us from making one. But good news, tonight is one of the ones we were able to wing! After my daily nap that I got to share with my lovely husband, :) we decided to grab some food out at Fuddrucker's, mostly because we got a gift card from the Cluff family... (Thanks guys!)... And because it has been a while since we've been!
We are in the car on the way there, listening to classical music 101.1 FM right now. Norah honey, soak it up!
24 weeks is here!!! John just reminded me that today is Tuesday (I forgot!) so we got to "upgrade" once again! She is now as big as an eggplant, so roughly 9 inches. New stuff baby related: I felt her get hiccups 2 times in the past week, so cute. I am also definitely getting mild Braxton Hicks contractions. Apparently that's normal, so no worries. :) A full bladder makes them more obvious. It was great seeing Sherry this past week, and I'm so thankful that all is looking good with Norah.
It's our first snow of the year, but second snow of this winter season (also snowed on Christmas)! How exciting. John woke me up and told me to look outside... This is what I saw over our apartment balcony.
Norah is insane. :) She kept me up until like 2am kicking me... So hard! She is also in this funny pattern of rolling and leaping when I sit down, not sure why- but it's funny! I love her dearly, can't wait to officially meet this kid.
I can see it now... "Hi Norah, I'm your mom! Nice meet you!"
Her favorite foods in this 23rd week:
Oranges, all flavors of frozen yogurt, and cucumbers! I never felt her so active as when I did eating that stuff. I have been feeling really good, minus the annoying little back spasm that wants to take over my life. Thank God for yoga and massages. They keep it at a minimum, and it's actually almost gone now. But pregnancy is still a joy!! I have gained about 13 pounds since my pre-pregnancy weight... And it has been steady for a week or two there. I eat really consistently, but my weight is all over the place! At least I'm gaining and baby is growing, right? :)
A few things that I need to catch everyone up on... I officially teach yoga classes at Transform U Fitness. I am on the schedule for Thursdays, but am hoping to add a few days to that in the near future. I am loving it! Also, Johnny and I planned two Babymoon trips for January, one was to Pine Cove last week for a marriage conference weekend (IT WAS AWESOME. SERIOUSLY CHANGED THE WAY WE DO LIFE.) and the other will be next week! We are seeing the Lion King on Broadway in Austin, and then traveling down to San Antonio to sight see and visit Kristin and Tyler. It will be so fun.
