Pregnancy: Body Changes

Per my previous blog posts, Chris & I had never planned on becoming pregnant. I virtually never spent any time or energy on thoughts of pregnancy and it's effects on the body. I was always fascinating with how amazing a woman's body was and the changes it would go through that I learned in my classes, but never thought of myself ever experiencing them first hand. And here I find myself almost into my third trimester experiencing all the things & honestly loving life. 

Yes... I am that lady, I have loved being pregnant. At the 27 weeks mark, I am feeling strong, powerful, and albeit a little bit off balance. Next week I will be entering the third trimester, which simply blows my mind. Like how are we already in the midst of summer?! I have been so lucky to not have terrible symptoms or horror stories like I have heard from other moms. Knock on wood, being pregnant has really been no big thing for me and I know full well how lucky I am and also how privileged of a position it is.

Baby M has been a real ninja of sorts in my belly! My sleep has been interrupted each night between 130 am and 3am with flip flopping of the baby and lots of kicks/hits! This one is gonna be feisty... lord help us. But I really have loved this time feeling my baby inside my belly and watching myself grow knowing they are inside safe & preparing to come into this world to join us. Many moms experience negative body image during life stage changes especially when it comes to a rapidly changing body. It doesn't help with the constant media bombardment of thin bodies with round baskbell-esque mom bods being thrown in women's faces and the overarching idea that we celebrate these vessels of humanity and the day after the baby arrives we must jump onto the "Get your pre-pregnancy body back!", as if that lady was on vacay or something somewhere. Our society fails us in doing so, it breaks my heart. Every time I sit down with a group of women, inevitably weight gets brought up and a pissing match ensues. I hate all of it so I intentionally remove myself from this convo or just ignore it, I have had it happen now four separate times and I get better each time holding my tongue and ignoring the conversation. 

I am confident in knowing what health looks like to me and what I believe the true paramters of it are. As far as my body physically on the outside, of course my ever growing belly that I just love and adore. I really do love my belly and am amazed at what a woman's body can accommodate and develop. It simply blows my mind- us women ROCK! My breasts have gotten larger in preparation for breast feeding, I don't have any stretch marks yet or at least that I know of and I am absolutely unaware of how much I weigh because I simply don't care. My arms and legs have gotten more fat on them which is good and needed during pregnancy. I was asked a few weeks ago, how much weight I have gained. I responded that I had no idea, which followed with a sharp, "Oh.", and I followed and buttoned it up with a, "Yea and I could care less." It gets tiring listening to this dance and often I am receiving it from women in their 50's+. I get that it was a different time however, diet culture can GTF out & I will not allow it to creep into my mind. I have it guarded- heavily and ain't no body bringing me back to that miserable life. 

Like I mentioned, I know what health looks like for me and I have been focusing on getting in all of the things that Baby M and myself need right now. My eating hasn't changed too drastically. I feel that I have been eating more foods than I normally would such a red meat here and there (trying to get in some additional iron) and it's usually when we are out to eat because I just don't buy it. I also have been craving more fats such as avocado, hummus, and nuts lately. Dairy is one thing I was terrible at getting in unless in the form of whey protein however, since becoming pregnant I have been craving cereal and milk like no other, so that has been a great benefit for me and my calcium intake. 

Other things I have noticed since becoming pregnant is with my hair. My hair is a little thicker, but nothing super profound. A woman's hair won't shed as much due to pregnancy hormones, so that's where the thicker mane comes into play.  I don't notice my nails growing substantially quicker either like some women experience, or any stronger. 

I've been still getting plenty varied movement in at the gym and on walks. I am still running here and there, but I think come next week I may just start sticking to cardio machines like the stepper or elliptical due to how uncomfortable the push from my uterus is downward on my bladder and lower belly. It doesn't hurt, but is most definitely uncomfortable. I have been able to keep up with my cardio and heart rate, but I can feel now that I don't feel my lungs expanding as big as they once were able to- hahaha. Got a little friend in there taking up all the space. My lifting will probably evolve over the next few weeks as well to more full-body workouts. I have noticed with my current split, I am looking at my watch feeling like I have had enough for those muscle pairing after about 40 mins so I'm thinking a mix-up is much needed. It can also keep my mind occupied during the workout and less sore afterward hitting a little bit of everything each day. I have also been wanting to do more cardio lately, I'm not really sure why but my body seems to be craving it. So it will continue to change as we get closer and closer to September.

It is beyond frustrating and breaks my heart what most new moms have to go through when it comes to body change. It's even more frustrating that it's normalized & other people pray on women in these fragile and emotional times. If you are a new mom or expecting mom, I'm here to tell you to screw all of that and listen to your body. You are not defined by how it looks and your worth is most certainly not either. It's literally the LEAST exciting thing about you as a human and should be respected for all of the hard work it has done and will continue to do for the rest of your life. Be bold, be strong, and be true to yourself. Show your children what it means to be a good human being, demonstrate to them what is important in this life, and teach them how to love people for the real things in life. Above all, you have this- kick ass!