My blog has comment issues from time to time, forwarding people to the wrong posts and such, and I could never figure out why.

Now I know!

The title of each blog has to be unique, otherwise it seems to forward people to the FIRST instance of that title occurring and keep them there. I've posted several blogs called 'Weekly Check-In", out of total laziness to think up another title, and apparently it breaks the brain of my precious little site and can't be handled intelligently by the index function.

Lesson learned - new and exciting titles to come, since the opposite is clearly forbidden ;)

I wish I had some news to report. I'm feeling very bla'se right now, in general, and nothing exciting is really going on. I have been having a TON of contractions that I hope are doing something, but they always seem to taper off or just stay the same, so I haven't moved into any active labor (which is a little obnoxious, but I have some time).

I am considered full term this upcoming Monday, which is exciting! Another exciting thing on the books is my baby shower, which is tonight at 7:00. It will be a nice way to break up a fairly blah week, I think!

Nothing new to note here, on the weight front. It is generally trending upward, but stayed the same as last week for my weigh day at 226.6. I'm feeling pretty hungry most of the time, so I just eat to that and note the calories for information only.

Activity is still null, everything (including sitting, some of the time!) makes me contract and I get more tired and bounce back more slowly these days, which is to be expected at this stage of pregnancy. I'm 36w2d, measuring 40 weeks, and considered full term next week! It's all coming along quickly and slowly at the same time. I am SO ready for him to be born, and yet dreading labor (it's hard work, no matter how many times you do it). My car finally sold and we transferred the title of my inlaws' Surburban, so the vehicoe situation is in order. The selling also allowed us the extra money we needed to order the rest of the baby items and price out wood for making the bunk beds for my older girls. The car seat covers is washed, clothes are folded, really all we are waiting on is the little man, himself.

As always, it is a bit surreal. Weight is, as you can imagine, a distant priority for me. I am still crossing my fingers that I will break even post-birth, but we'll see how it all breaks down. Being up 14-16 pounds right now is more than i have been before, but it is still perfectly respectable and controlled weight gain for this point in pregnancy, with my starting weight. I'm just going to keep chugging along and the weight will take care of itself.

One thing that WAS fun this morning, at my appointment, was the ultrasound I got. It's the only one I've had since 19 weeks and though I couldn't see the screen very well it was obvious he had grown immensely and was much more mature. My fluid level was perfect, he was head down, still very much a boy (whew! I'd been second guessing that, for some reason), and the only stinker of the whole deal was that his hand was up by his face, just like his sister. I am obviously hoping he moves it for birth, nuchal hands HURT (I speak from experience)! He was positioned anterior, that was great news, no back labor for me if he stays like that.

So that's all there is. We're just chugging along here as always, nothing interesting to say other than that my weight and exercise blogging will resume being interesting in October, so thanks for hanging in here with me until then :)

Hey all! I'm not dead, not off any bandwagon, and thankfully not too busy either! Life's just been chugging along, and I wanted to take the opportunity to share something else with you that is important in my life - child training and biblical parenting.

I won't give too many details other than to say that diligence in this area is more of a struggle than diligence in anything else, for me, including weightloss and fitness. Being consistent and faithful in my discipline of the kids, for their sake, is about the hardest thing I have ever undertaken. Fortunately for me, the Bible is all about parenting and families, and there are lot a of wise parents that have come before me who were thoughtful enough to write down the details of their parenting and the scripture behind it.

So in the interest of sharing, I want to give you all one resource that has been an amazing blessing to many Christian families, and one I am studying through myself: Raising Godly Tomatoes.

It's as wonderful a starting point as any for establishing consistent, Godly discipline of your children, and the more peaceful home that results :)

In minor weight related news, it went up again. Yup, I know, shock, right? Details in the sidebar. I can't complain too much, since the little human is gaining about an ounce a day. Only 2-6 weeks left, depending on how is all goes!

She won the primary last night, with 47% of the vote. Her competitors had 25% and 27% or so, respectively. We were all jubilant that the hard work paid off.

Unfortunately this means the work continues until November, for the general, but it was a great confidence booster to a neck and neck, stressful campaign. And for my husband and I, at least, most of our work has already been done to get things rolling for the primary, so the general should (we hope!) just be maintaining the website, adding donations, and a few events, instead of months of prep work we have already done.

My daughter's appointment went well, she is perfectly healthy and in the middle of both growth curves, still. She was understandably angry at the nice nurse betraying her trust and stabbing her in the thighs with needles ;)

My appointment also went quite well, about as I expected. Blood pressure was good, weight was a half pound gain of baby per week, as expected at this point. Baby boy was head down (for the time being) and the next appointment in two weeks will include an ultrasound to verify his position and possibly an external version, if he hasn't settled head down by then. My doctor WON'T advise a breech vaginal birth, as they tend to have poorer outcomes for the babies, on top of my already slightly-riskier VBAC, so we really need him vertex (head down) for the birth to proceed as we would like. I will be doing positioning exercises and more chiropractic to try and encourage my pelvis to balance and ohm to settle as well, but my dr. says he is unconcerned about him being breech and thinks he will settle just fine, given that he hasn't chosen to stay malpositioned over the past few weeks but just keeps changing. He isn't a stubborn breech or transverse baby, so that should indicate he is more amenable to behaving himself in the proper position or staying there if we manually move him :)

My weight this morning was 223.2, keeping with the steady, steady, steady, JUMP! pattern my weight seems to like to stay with during pregnancy. Everything else is fine.

And now commences one of the busiest weeks of my year. Tomorrow, alone, is Lilah's 2 year checkup, my OB appointment, and the primary for state senate. Oy vey!

Part of the reason for my current bloggy silence is busyness, and not MY busyness, per se, but my mother in law's busyness that drafts us into service. She is running for state senate and my husband is her treasurer and webmaster, I help along with smaller tasks like her mailers, absentee lists, etc etc. The primary is next Tuesday, so right around the bend, and it is a close, very heated race among two of the three Republicans. Even if I wasn't related to her, I'd think she was a very strong, conservative candidate and knowing first hand how much incredible work she has put into this just makes it all the more impressive. She was on our local PBD show 'Running' last night, giving her introduction and a quick question/answer round with her fellow politicians (that got quite heated, it was amusing), and tonight we will all attend a candidate forum locally to see her hash it out with them again. That forum is the first one in this part of her district in years and years, if that gives you an idea of how unusually contentious this race is!

I will be thrilled when the primary is over (moreso if she wins!) because this has been a huge time draw for the whole family, just out of the necessity of things needing to be done. She also has the vehicle we will be bequeathed (a Suburban) post-primary so we can fit three carseats, and I don't get it until she is done using it is a campaign billboard ;). She will also be more available to help with the children if/when I go into labor, and the general election will send more funds her way for a lot less legwork if she gets the nomination from the primary process. Basically we get a lot of benefits, as a family and her individually, with a lot less stress. So be thinking good thoughts for us over the next week as things stay busy and a bit tense, and any/all good Super Tuesday vibes for her are much appreciated.

On a different topic, weight! This has been a pattern throat the pregnancy, and one I find very interesting indeed. My weight seems to be in a pattern of 'steady, steady, steady, JUMP!', with the jumps corresponding to a big increase in fundal height/belly size. My weight really leapt up from 219-220 to 223, and other than the VBS bump and correction it has stayed within the same general range for each day. The general trend upward has only been about 13 pounds this whole pregnancy, and I am almost at the end, so I am thrilled about that. But it SEEMS like I have gained a lot more, because I gain a bunch so quickly and then it levels out for a month or so. It has been a frustrating thing to see, making me second guess my eating habits when I see it leap, but now it really seems to be the trend line I am on and independent (mostly) of day to day consumption. My calories have been on the high side of what I want, but my overall gain is still very low for this point in pregnancy and I do think I will have held steady when all is said and done, post-baby.

This is just another benefit of logging food and weight during pregnancy - I still have accountability, but moreover, I have a log showing my body's response to the internal workings and external stimuli I give it. I am confident and comfortable with my gains because they aren't random pigouts, but a very consistent pattern that my unique body and baby grow at. I also understand how my activity and sleep patterns are affecting my daily totals, and it helps me see if something starts going really funky, like edema, because it WILL show up in my daily log. For my health, the logging has been great. It hasn't prevented me from eating a lot of ice-cream, but it DOES keep me accountable to measure me portion ;). And while it won't stop the normal gain of a growing human, it will give me a solid diagnostic tool for this pregnancy, and comparing pregnancies down the road. There are very few situations in life where less information is preferable to more, and weight is no exception. It could condemn me or stress me if I let it, but instead I am just viewing it for the tool it is and happy to have a logical pattern emerge from several months of confusing data!

This week find me feeling about the same as last, at 223.4, and about as comfortable as a heavily pregnant woman can get. My activity has stayed about where I want it, or maybe a little on the low side, as my husband has been volunteering to do a lot of the standing and kitchen work when he is home (wonderful man, that one!). So I got a nice, fairly relaxing weekend and didn't contract abnormally more than I have been. My eating has been, well, eating, and it's all being written down. I am still within the 2000-2300 range most days, though this would be lower if I didn't include a dessert in the evening.

I can't feel too guilty about it, it's portioned out and planned for... plus the taste washes away the last remnants of 'not broccoli!' guilt I may feel. Hot chocolate just tastes extra special with a dose or hormones ;)

My goals for this upcoming week remain largely the same - do a good job at basic stuff, don't stress over extras, and get some baby things together. I think it will work out just fine :)

I met with my doula on Tuesday, the same day I had my 32 week OB appointment and my first chiropractic in two months. She is as lovely as ever and I am very much looking forward to her attending me during labor. Her rates have gone up in the past two years (she was bargain basement cheap before, and now she is charging more of what is standard) which we weren't counting on, but she gives all repeat clients the opportunity to pay at the rate their first birth was OR pay her new rate (which is double). This is such a blessing for us, we have no qualms about paying her what she is currently charging but our finances have been tight lately and if, for some reason additional funds don't come through, having the chance to still use her at a rate we can afford is wonderful. At this point, barring unforeseen catastrophe, we'll pay her the current advertised rate. She's worth every penny for the help she gives me in labor!

The OB appointment went well enough. Our little stinker was breech, as I'd suspected he'd been for about a week, but they won't be concerned about positioning until about 36-37 weeks, when they'll begin discussing things like an external version to turn him. Fortunately for me he seems to have turned back yesterday with some coaxing, and I am pretty sure his feet are once again firmly lodged in my ribs. Yay?

My blood pressure was solid at 120/78, his heartrate was beautiful. Unfortunately for my heartburn and hips my fundal height (uterine size) is measuring in at 37 weeks, or full term. That is over a MONTH ahead of where it should be measuring, and a little jump in relative size from last month's appointment. I always measure a week or two ahead during pregnancy, but five is a bit excessive. However he is moving and seemingly in perfect health, so I am just bracing myself for him to be squishier and chunkier than his sisters by a pound or two. They were 8 lbs 14 oz and 8 lbs 4 oz, respectively, at 42 and 40 weeks gestation, and I would not be surprised if he was well over 9 lbs on his due date (unless he comes early). I like chunky newborns, they are less fragile feeling and generally tolerate the first few weeks better than their younger, lighter, less mature counterparts. I'll take a little longer stretch between feeding for pushing out a bigger baby, thanks!

So despite being 32 weeks, my body is essentially at full term. This makes me feel a bit better about feeling SO pregnant and 'done', in terms of physical side effects I am! I would love for him to bake to 37-38 weeks, minimum, as much as another month or so sounds SO far off, but I will be a little surprised if he comes post-date, like his sisters. The downward pressure, alone, I hope will precipitate a timely labor. It's wishful thinking on my part and I am fully prepared to go to 41-42 weeks before any talk of inductions, but a little earlier wouldn't bother me at all ;) My doula will be out of town from my 39-40 week stretch at a conference, so I would have to be seen by her backup doula, and that further incentivizes going the second or third week of September as opposed to the end of the month. We'll see, as with all things God has a plan for this, too!

We posted my car for sale on Craigslist and have had lots of interest but people keep flaking out on viewing/testing it. Any good thoughts you could send our way to sell that sucker would be appreciated, and also insure my doula gets her full due. Other than that, this week is just ticking by the same as ever. My health and weight are not on the forefront of my mind, but they are automatic in the periphery of life. I don't think about weighing each morning and recording it, I just 'do'. I don't debate whether to log my meals, it's automatic. In fact, it is jarring when I am in a situation where it isn't convenient to do so, because I've been doing it so long now! While I am eager to get started on moving and weightloss post baby, to try and make my year-end goal of 189.0 for our insurance switch, I'm also feeling okay right where I am. I am pumped to get healthy, but unless something catastrophic happens I can honestly say I am pretty proud of myself for how I have maintained throughout this pregnancy. I didn't take the easy way out and 'eat for two' without caring or counting, and I made a concerted effort to keep up my activity until it wasn't prudent to do so anymore.

Effort and attention to my health is the best I can ask for, and I am where I need to be. That's enough for the time being :)

Little late on this, sorry everyone! My weight this week has been predominantly in the 222.8-223.2 range, which is holding steady for the time being. Activity has been low, as is normal for me now, given that I contract at a moment's notice. I've mostly been able to maintain my same household cleaning schedule, though I have been fudging the schedule just a bit on the before-breakfast routine and after-dinner routine, I am still functioning about where I need to be to get things done, which is the best I could hope for right now.

I seem to be suffering from a condition called irritable uterus (syndrome), which accounts for all my braxton hicks and contractions while standing. It is linked with a higher chance of preterm labor but doesn't cause it, in and of itself. Basically any downward pressure or stretch of the muscle/exertion causes it to clamp down like a giant charlie horse, or go into real contraction patterns. There isn't any cure and no known cause, while it can be treated with muscle relaxants and tocolytics, those all have side effects. Since these contractions don't seem to be dilating me at all (I am effacing a bit and very soft, but still at my same dilation) those treatments would be overkill and unnecessary, unless labor were actually gearing up. So the only other treatment is self-imposed bedrest when they kick up and generally staying off my feet.

For exercise purposes this is a bummer, but when I go an hour on the couch with only a minor braxton hick contraction here and there, and then move to stand up and have a real contraction that lasts over a minute, my desire to exercise understandably dwindles ;)

My only real goal for the remainder of this pregnancy is to stick to my eating plan (I've been doing well on this), get more protein, and try to continue with my basic household duties so my poor DH doesn't have to pick up the slack. For the time being, these all look like very realistic goals.

I admit, I have absolutely nothing of consequence to blog about that has to do with weight and health, but I did have some fun times that I can share.

My husband was gone fishing in Chitina with his best friend from Tuesday to Thursday, and I was alone with the kids. However when he came back I discovered they had limited out (caught as many as our family permits would allow) and we have the best salmon in the world (Copper River Reds) packing our freezer for the year. I think between his two trips we caught 65 salmon, which is 130 filets (we eat one filet per meal, as a family). The Lord really blessed us with a great provision of free meat for the year and it will be a help in lowering our grocery bill. It was also good for Peter to get some time with his friend, who he rarely sees because he and his wife live in Fairbanks.

That evening, we went to a picnic for the local Republican Party. My MIL had a booth there (her senate primary is in three weeks!) and the girls got the spend some time with her, which was fun. We also got Callie to ride a pony that was there, and she loved it! Now this is a kid who is afraid of puppies and bunnies, and refuses to pet any animal or even be close to them. She had to be OUTSIDE the fence of the petting zoo at the fair because the lambs were too scary for her. So for Callie to not only pet the pony but ride it was amazing and we were thrilled. There was photographic evidence and everything :)

The same picnic had a raffle for a few prizes, that both of us (hubby and I) entered in, and I wasn't listening when the prizes were called. Mind you, I never win ANYTHING, so I rarely even bother entering these things and wouldn't have done this one, were it not for Peter asking me to. Well, imagine my surprise when my FIL came up to me and told me they were looking for me, because I had won the $500 grand prize in the drawing! I was thrilled and surprised, and given that our finances have been extremely tight and we have baby/kid things that need purchasing with no way to do so, it was a wonderful and completely unexpected blessing for us. There had to have been over 500 people in the raffle, so the fact that I was drawn for the biggest of the prizes was great. This has enabled us to get our remaining baby items soon, and pay for new big girl bunk beds for the girls (so we can use one of the cribs for the new baby when he is out of our bed). The whole thing was fabulous and really made my week!

Today we were out pricing out these bunk beds and I am pretty sure we decided that Peter can build a better set with much better materials, for the cost of buying one. Tonight we will be calculating the amount and types of lumber we will need to make this and make our final decisions on how feasible it is for us. After we hit the furniture stores and the lumber yard, we went out for a nice dinner and a movie before coming home to the girls (who were babysat by the grandparents). It was the first out-of-the-house date we have had in months and I really enjoyed the whole thing. The movie was actually great (we were shocked), and it was so nice to really get out and spend some time together before another nursing baby comes along!

We have lots to do tonight for the aforementioned primary for Grandma, as well as me brining up some of the salmon in preparation for smoking it tomorrow, so it's been a busy day, but overall I've had so much fun this week and the whole thing has been refreshing for DH and me. I'm still contracting, quite uncomfortable, and less than patient these days, but things are just plugging along around here.

And that's my weekend wrap-up, see you Monday for a weigh in!

This has been a week for crazy weights! The standing and salty lunchmeat eating during VBS made my weight skyrocket into the 225 range, which was quite disconcerting. My belly had another growth spurt, so I wasn't surprised to see some gain, but that definitely made my eyes bug out. Sushi on Sunday and a delicious (but salty) pot roast yesterday also didn't help the scale matters, keeping me at around 224. Since I logged my food and KNOW I didn't eat an extra 15,000 calories somewhere (not to mention my activity was much higher last week) I felt fairly confident that at least some of this weight wasn't fat gain or even baby, but a factor of major water retention.

So you better believe I felt vindicated and a little less 'freakazoid' when, after a normal day of activity and food yesterday, I weighed in at 222.0 this morning. It's a gain, sure, but the baby is gaining half a pound a week, ALONE, at this point, in addition to increased amniotic fluid volume, my own body's storage mechanisms, etc etc. The last time my weight was below today's point was on July 21, when I was at 221.0. It has jumped all over the map since then, coinciding very nicely with all my VBS prep, Lilah's 2nd birthday, and a whole lot of random eating whenever I could get the time.

I am GLAD to be done with all of that and back to normal! I feel fine, expect for lots of contractions and some ongoing pelvic pain. My husband i gone fishing again (for the last time this year) and will be back Thursday evening. I miss him terribly but he deserves a break every once in awhile as well! Let's see.... I haven't fallen off the face of the weight blogging world due to any issues (though I will definitely need to be less liberal with my calories when it comes time to lose again, maintaining has spoiled me!) but just due to boredom. I have VERY little to say, things are to point where I am busy with life, kids, baby prep, etc etc, and weight is just a background concern I manage every day. This is a good thing, it just makes for a boring blog!

Now that the shame of massive salt weight gains is behind me (yay!), I want to hear from all of you - what's the worst salt bump you've seen on the scale? I think seven or eight pounds was my max, after our April vacation.g

It's been a rough week, very busy and not with the best food. I was the snack coordinator for my church's Vacation Bible School this year (as I have been for three years running) and it is a lot of hours both at the church during the day and back again for evening prep. I have been on my feet running around for literally six or more hours each day, taking sandwiches when I can and trying not to contract too much.

My weight, coincidentally, has skyrocketed this week something ridiculous. Some of it is genuine gain, I am absolutely HUGE right now, but given the swelling in my face and legs I can only assume a good amount of it is water retention from sore muscles, salt, stress, what have you. The VBS is certainly fun, but I have arguably the most physically demanding job in it, and this pregnancy is not treating me well at this point. I am thrilled it is over and have the next few days to try and get back on track with sleep, food, chores, and everything else that took a major back seat the past six days.

I'm exhausted. The blogging has taken quite a back seat when I can't barely find time to check my email!

Let's just get the weight thing out of the way (weigh?): I was at 221.8 this morning, after being at 219.6 Saturday. The reason for the jump? I was in the hospital yesterday, being pumped full of fluids!

Oh yes indeed, after being almost sure that staying at church yesterday morning would equal a Taryl on the floor, I had my husband take me home in the middle of service. I was dizzy, breaking out in cold sweats, couldn't catch my breath even though I was sitting and barely moving, and yet my heart rate was very low. This has happened before when I try to sing hymns, the combo of standing AND singing generally commands more air than I can get at this point in the pregnancy, but this is the first time it wouldn't go away. So at home I gave the OB triage nurse a call and she told me to come in.

Cue monitoring!

I got in around 11:30, if I recall, and couldn't leave until 4:00. My poor kids were good the whole time despite being late for their nap. Basically they took a strip on the baby, who was moving a shocking amount, and on me, who was moving less but in essentially perfect metabolic health. Heart rate was 60-63 BPM on average, blood pressure was 114/75, no signs of a UTI, ketones, etc etc. The ONLY thing that was off was my blood sugar, which was at something like 72, on the fairly low side of normal. I had eaten breakfast that morning, so the nurses advised me that the awful symptoms I was feeling could very well be a hypoglycemic response, and thus i had to be fairly strict about eating every two hours. I was also so dehydrated (despite drinking water) that it took three tries to get the IV into me for fluids and two tries for a blood draw. I felt like a pincushion, and the entire thing was extremely unpleasant. But after two bags of IV fluids I was indeed feeling much better. So the lesson for the day, apparently, is that church does a number on my eating schedule AND I drink less water there than at home!

My health is good, the baby is fine, and the scale is showing some water retention and poor eating choices from the evening (after a healthy dinner I ended up mindlessly munching on a bunch of junk, somewhat out of stress/exhaustion). I was mad at myself for eating without being very hungry and not controlling my intake better, but today is another day and I am committed to eating as on plan as ever. The stress and pain of yesterday is behind me, today is a GOOD day, and the scale? It'll take care of itself.

As for me, I have some water and protein to snarf, so I'm on my way :)

I am glad it was nothing more serious, but I hope this doesn't mean my blood sugar isn't regulating well. I still havent heard back on my glucose tests so I will assume no news is good news, but I need to give them a call and schedule an appointment to update them on what happened yesterday.

Well, it was entirely uneventful. I am still up just under ten pounds for the whole pregnancy, though still measuring hugely ahead at 33 weeks (relative) fundal height. It didn't jump significantly from last appointment's size, so they aren't concerned, but I definitely wonder if he is going to be a bigger baby than his sisters or just pees a lot of amniotic fluid :)

My blood pressure was stellar at 120/70, and my glucose test was uneventful (no dizziness or nausea). I should get the results of my sugars in the next few days, with any luck, but I am not too worriedly. If I could pass at 50 pounds heavier and a lot junkier eating, I'd be intensely surprised to NOT pass when I am in such better health. Age does increase insulin resistance during pregnancy, but with baby #3 I am STILL younger than many women are with baby #1, these days! Thus I don't think age will be a factor until I am well over 30.

Let's see, they didn't have anything epic to say about the intense pelvic pain and pressure other than that it sounded like really bad round ligament pain, coupled with the pelvic symphisis dysfunction I already knew I had (get it every single pregnancy). Her only recommendation was pelvic support from a girdle, so I'll be looking into that. A sweet friend offered hers to me and I'll give that a shot first, and if that doesn't fit I may have to bite the bullet and go get fitted for one at the pharmacy. We'll see, but I am both relieved that its no major issue and bummed that there's no solution. Her advice was to not exercise if it was hurting, she wasn't concerned about my weight gain or health enough to recommend that exercise was more important than rest.

If I feel good and want to move I will, otherwise I have official permission to loaf around on the couch :)

Nothing more to tell. I have another appointment on August 8th and then I go every two weeks for a month, before my appointments move to once weekly. Not too much longer to go now!

Well this will all be very boring, but that's okay! My weight this morning was 219.6, which I am happy about, after some food *cough*pizza*cough* kept it higher with sodium for three days. I was in a parade at our local fair this past Saturday and was thankfully driving the vehicle instead of marching out in front, because there was no WAY I could have walked at that speed and distance without pain (fast walk for over a mile, with hills, darting back and forth to either side of the road to hand out candy and fliers). As it was, my husband and I walked through the fair to look for some lunch afterward and I almost couldn't make it. I had to stop every few steps to try and get the tightness and pain to subside. It wasn't full on contractions, but the ligaments in my pelvis as well as my poor, useless abs protested the whole time. We walked VERY slowly but it was quite a painful and intense chore.

In light of that and my last exercise attempt, I do think that I may try to do a few videos but I am not going to keep persisting through pain. If I have a day where I feel great and the exercise isn't hurting I'll do it, but right now I just have NO abdominal support or strength, and my hips are a mess. I am really sad too, that our budget right now has disallowed continued chiropractic visits, because my pelvis is definitely slipping out of alignment and causing more pain.

My eating has been fine, my target calories, without exercise, are at around 1980 right now, and that is for a pound-a-week loss. I generally overeat those by about 250-500 calories, depending on my hunger and food choices, and I figure that's fine as well. I am essentially maintaining on the food front and the scale will do whatever it wants. Some days I eat more, some days I eat less, I am generally feeling strong and satisfied at the end of the day and so I will continue on in this eating pattern until postpartum makes me re-evaluate my plan, based on my hunger and weight loss goals.

I have an OB appointment tomorrow with the midwife of the practice and I will be bringing up my pain during exercise and general discomfort. I have had a huge, tight, swelling feeling lately, and I think our son had a massive growth spurt to have pushed my uterus so high, so fast, but I want to double check it isn't something amiss. Either way there has been a TON of pressure and general discomfort that comes with being huge and getting bigger, and that is definitely limiting what I feel I can do. For now I am focusing on keeping up with my daily schedule, more or less, and trying to fight my nightowl tendencies to get enough rest. Unless the midwife encourages me otherwise, I will probably shelve exercise again, unless it is necessary or feels okay to do. The ligament pain is just intense and not something probably worth enduring at this point.

Every pregnancy I say I will look into belly support and every pregnancy I don't do it, despite needing it. Maybe it's finally REALLY necessary now! I see what I can find in the way of pregnancy girdles/belts that may help my back a bit. I really appreciate all input and comments on the subject of exercise, and I think my conclusion, especially after this weekend, is that the benefits of exercise right now probably don't outweigh the disadvantages of the strain it is putting on me. So I will try to maintain my daily activities, sans intentional exercise, and hope that keeps me in decent enough shape to be flexible and resilient for birth.

I'll report in after my OB appointment is anything is interesting :)

I'm actually stumped here, dearest Internet.

I really can't figure out if I should be exercising or not.

The walking is not exacerbating my pelvic symphisis issues at all, those actually seem to improve/abate for a bit after working out, but my belly is really painful for the walking and that has NOT been abating through the course of the exercise, it actually gets worse. Imagine two Charlie horses in the front of your hips that draw tighter and tighter the more you move. Sharp, burning pain. That is round ligament pain, during pregnancy, except usually it is just a twinge from a funky movement and goes away. Unfortunately it seems through the course of my twenty minutes working out that it just persists.

It is excruciating, but I really enjoy the exercise overall, I just can't seem to get a handle on those ligaments. With how short I am my belly gets huge and pendulous fast, and that puts a strain on those ligaments as they bear much more weight. Walking is a shock to those shock absorbers, and every step hurts when they decide to act up.

Now, as to where I am torn (figuratively, not literally thank goodness!), round ligament pain is USUALLY harmless, if really, really, uncomfortable. It isn't a sign something is 'wrong' and while pregnancy is the time to take it easy and not overdo it, I can't figure out if the muscular, cardiovascular, and energy benefits of moving outweigh the disadvantages of this pain. I don't know if it is something I should head or push through, because it is a common pain and not indicative of a problem with my body like a contraction would be.

I've had a few contractions working out as well, and you CANNOT mark or walk through those! I definitely have to pause and wait for them to pass before moving again. It's nothing regular or too strong so those don't worry me, but nonetheless I am really struggling with finding a light activity to do that won't cause me pain.

I need to verify but I am pretty sure I have an OB appointment next Wednesday (for my 28 week check and glucose test) and I will bring it up then. In the meantime, I am honestly stumped - the more active one is during pregnancy the better labor usually goes, the faster the recovery, the better positioned the baby, etc etc. I honestly have no clue where the equation gets tipped and one does more harm than good by moving, especially when the pain signal is explainable and not related to preterm labor. I have honestly never been very active during a pregnancy, I am a couch slug, and walking has generally been very painful at the end of each pregnancy. But this time I WANT to move and I am not sure if I should. What do I do?

As promised, here is a shot of how I look today, at 219.8 and 27 weeks pregnant, so about six-ish months and nine pounds heavier than where I started. My bathroom lighting is absolutely awful in this shot, but oh well!

My underbust is smaller than prepregnancy by about an inch, and my belly is measuring several weeks ahead. And yes, I have carried every single pregnancy very high, which makes me look like I have swallowed a beach ball. On the upside, I am happy that I definitely look pregnant, as opposed to just fat! Our son should be weighing in at a little over two pounds and fifteen inches long. He is flipping around like crazy and has very obvious sleeping and waking cycles (usually the opposite of me, of course ;) ).

I have always thought looking and being pregnant agreed with me, I honestly love it, even with the aches and pains. Given the size of family we want, it's a good thing I like all of this!

If you would like proof that I am not actually bald, there's a hastily snapped progress shot WITH hair in my album. I just dropped it out of the updo, so it's not combed, but it does indeed exist!

Off to go workout now :)

Well, my weight is up slightly this week, to 219.8. I feel pretty good and haven't had any major contracting episodes. I will be trying to work in a mile of Walk Away the Pounds as well, after lunch time today, so wish me luck!

My eating has been pretty good. I'm still splurging a bit here and there (those evil M&Ms are ALMOST gone, thanks to feeding them liberally to my kids and in a more measured fashion to myself) but really not doing anything crazy. In fact I am really quite proud of myself for staying pretty much on plan when I have a million excuses not to!

I am officially in my third trimester now, as counted by my OB (27 weeks), so new belly pictures will be coming. I look pretty good, if I do say so, myself!

As always, I am hoping I am losing some weight through my slight calorie restriction during pregnancy, but if I end up at around 210 after a few weeks postpartum (to let the swelling and water retention settle) I'll be a happy girl as well. Maintaining is what I've been aiming for, and hopefully that is what I'll achieve.

Off to another healthy week!

Well I did manage to get off my lazy butt for the first time in over a month to do a structured workout and used one mile of a Leslie Sansone DVD. I definitely couldn't throw myself into it, I couldn't lift my leg high enough without pain and just felt way too unstable moving frenetically. So I dialed it back to maybe a 6-7 on the 10 point scale of effort and managed to do the warmup and mile with no serious issues.

Beginning it, I had a lot of pain and twinges on my right side, which I know was round ligament pain. It almost feels like a stitch in your side from running, but it is deeper, lower, and in the front of the hip, not above it. That hurt, but it did subside and only certain movements caused it. I also contended with pubic symphisis pain from overly relaxed ligaments holding my pelvic girdle together. Basically it feels like a hot poker being shoved into your hip or pubic zone from the bottom up. It is a shooting, burning pain I've had the joy of contending with every pregnancy, I doubt it will go away in the future as it has nothing to do with weight and everything to do with hormones and my own physiology.

That is ever present, whether I am laying down, walking, whatever. If I lift my leg it hurts, when I sit it hurts. It's life, and not a pain that will be better or worse if I baby it. So I pushed through that as well, and surprisingly, as my joints got warmer and my alignment got better (my muscles pulled my skeleton back together, I think ;) ) eve that pubic pain stopped a bit, which is AMAZING! So yeah, it wasn't as easy at it was prepregnancy, and I didn't exert myself as much as I used to, but I still got a lightly elevated heart rate, a good stretch, and warmer muscles and joints. Warming them up did indeed help the daily aches subside just a smudge (at least here in the immediate after), so I consider the whole prospect a win.

Given that it didn't make me contract at all or aggravate anything I can think of, I will make a more concerted effort to do a mile a day until my body says 'stop' again. Even with how pooped out and sore I am, this did seem to help me out, so I think any movement I can do will benefit me at this point,

My lazy side is pouting at this revelation, but the rest of me feels pretty darn good ;)

Well my weight has been all over the place these past two weeks but it seems to be settling after another jump again. My belly is also huge, so I'll forgive the scale any indiscretions against me ;)

From Friday to this Wednesday my weights were: 220.0, 219.8, 221.0, 221.2, 221.4, 219.4, and today's weight was 220.4. No particular reason for any of these, just fluctuations of food, sodium, baby pee, who knows. It can be maddening, but overall I think I can say finished this month up by about three pounds, and most of it will fall off in another few months.

Onto fun stuff! I will be doing another belly picture in two weeks, when I hit the third trimester, but I happen to have a preview of it since a dear friend of mine threw a birthday party for herself with a fabulous henna artist and I got some arm work done. She posed me very nicely for the shot and both the henna AND belly look pretty awesome, if I do say so myself :)

The glitter only lasted for a day as it was just a pretty filler, and the dark brown henna flaked off to reveal the orangey/brown stain that is still very dark, even four days later. It was a good batch of henna.

Here's a picture of me with my friend Deanna (left) and the birthday girl Elizabeth (middle), who also happens to be the owner of these photos:

Consequently, you think I'd realize after so many obnoxiously bald-looking pictures that having my hair in buns for pictures just isn't all that flattering on someone who is round like me. Another more weight related realization of these shots is that, though I have arguably gained ten pounds now (at 26.5 weeks pregnant) it really isn't in my face or anywhere else but my belly, that I can see. My face looks about the same as it did in my prepregnancy pictures, with no major bloat. And since I show ALL my weight and water retention in my chin(s) this gives me additional comfort that this weight will completely or mostly drop off post-birth. I just keep having to do MY part and watch that if I AM hungrier than my daily calories, I am eating healthier than not.

My hips are killing me, as they do by this point every pregnancy (it keeps getting a few weeks earlier, but I blame that on my body settling into pregnancy earlier each time), and so even rolling over in bed or lifting my leg to get up another stair is stabbing pelvic pain. Even if I was trying to exercise each day (which I haven't been), I honestly don't know if I could do it. At this point I can barely sit on a normal couch, it bugs my back and hips so much. So I have been confined mostly to a stability ball for a chair and standing. My plans for exercise have thus essentially been shelved. If I get an urge and feel good I may do it, but right now it's just too much to bother with.

My only concern with shelving the exercise is that I can already tell I am losing some muscle tone, and I NEED that muscle tone for an easier birth. So right now I need to seriously weigh the mental priority of going easy on myself vs. forcing myself to do SOME exercise and try to maintain tone in my legs, back, and abs. Birth is harder than a race in a lot of respects, and going into it without some training is asking for problems (as I have experienced in the past). So I can't quite decide if I should make a serious effort to overcome this pain and my laziness or keep taking it easy. I can persist in my normal household duties for the most part, needing more sleep now, but I am hesitant to exert myself any more.

I continue to mull over this and other things. In the meantime, I'm just plodding along in stasis, eating the same and watching the scale slowly move up (or rather, stay stay JUMP, stay stay JUMP). I am probably eating 2200-2400 calories most days, as I am not eating SUPER healthy (some higher fat foods and desserts) and have been hungrier. But for the most part 80% of my eating is quality and I am writing it all down. I will need to tighten back up for weight loss mode post-baby, but for now I am enjoying a higher calorie, more lax way of eating without any inexplicable gains :)