I admit it. I am a sugar addict. I can eat cookies, candy, chocolate, cakes, pastries, or ice cream all day, every day. My biggest downfalls are the sugary treats that people generally think are healthy, but are not: such as muffins! A single muffin can have more calories than a chocolate donut, believe it or not. They are filled with sugar, which is probably why I love to eat them.
Yesterday, I was watching The Hungry Girl cooking show. Hungry Girl is the brand that generally gives healthy alternatives to your favorite foods. I bought the first cookbook they came out with a few years back and wasn't too thrilled with some of these "healthy" options because they tasted like cardboard, so I was a little iffy with this recipe, but I tried it and found it's edible and even enjoyable. It's no cupcake, but it gave me the chocolate/sugar fill I needed for the day without going overboard.
Plus, IT'S EASY! You only need 2 ingredients. How perfect? And each muffin is less than 200 calories since you don't add in the fat from eggs and oil. Here's the recipe:
1 box of Devils Food cake mix
1 can of canned pumpkin (make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling)
Mix the two ingredients together. It should get thick and hard to stir towards the end. Scoop into muffin tins. Bake for 20 mins at 400 degrees. Voila!
I FINALLY (after 3 weeks of waiting) had my first drs. appointment at the women's health clinic on Monday. It was exciting to finally ask some questions that have been haunting me since I first heard the news. Even more exciting: being with my husband, getting to see our baby move around and watch the heart beat. Probably one of the coolest things we've done together. Well, that and picking out each of our puppies (they are still all my babies).
I was a little disappointed with the appointment. I originally scheduled the appt. thinking I was 10 weeks along only to find out that I am now only 7 weeks and 5 days along. I feel like I regressed, even though nothing about me has actually changed. My due date: Sept 12!
I still feel like they didn't really give me too much info-what I can or can't do, so I'm grateful for the books I've been reading, the Facebook groups I'm in, and the moms that are in my life right now. They have been the best resources.
I feel like my body is getting bigger. Not fatter, but bigger, like my rib cage is expanding front and back ways. I feel thick. Maybe it's just my imagination.
I. AM. HUNGRY. My cravings have been nonstop, and extremely ridiculous. I feel like I can barely go an hour without eating. And I have been craving foods I never eat. I don't eat red meat, but my two biggest desires have been:
Burgers
Hotdogs
Followed by junk food I usually avoid
French fries
Potato chips
Tots
Mashed potatoes
Doritos
Cheesy bread
You know something is wrong with me when I actually want McDonalds over pizza. I haven't given in to the fast food industry yet, but G is taking me on a date this weekend to Red Robin for the first time to get burgers and fries. He's so good to me :)
It never occurred to me that I am supposed to be eating more until I read in a book that I should be ingesting about 2300 calories a day. For me, that's a lot! Considering I'm always working out, it's no wonder why I'm always starving. I only have to work on what kind of calories I'm putting in my body. I'm working hard to stick to fruits, veggies, and protein, but let's just say my diet has not been ideal.
For me, pregnancy is a work in progress. Even though I feel like I just added an extra 3 weeks of waiting for my second trimester, I'm glad I won't have to buy some new pants just yet.
I still can't believe I'm a week away from my first appointment. It seems like too much time is passing for me to go with questions unanswered. It also seems like there are things they should have told me not to do until my appt., for ex. drinking caffeine (luckily, I already knew this one and cut back on my own), however there are things that I keep finding out that I'm doing, that I shouldn't such as using acne medication. Who'd have thought? My appointment is on Monday and I have a WHOLE list of questions for them.
Week 9 is already different from week 8. I had no morning sickness last week. This week, I'm not so lucky. I always pictured morning sickness playing out like this:
You wake up feeling great. Start your day. After about an hour, you feel nauseous, run to the bathroom, and dry heave a bit. Nothing happens. You feel miserable. 20 minutes later, you finally throw up. And then you throw up a few more times before noon and then you're better.
With a name like "morning sickness" I thought it would be designated to the whole morning. Well, my morning sickness is different. This is how my days have been playing out.
I wake up. Feel sick. Eat breakfast, and feel better. 30 minutes after I eat my stomach kills. Everything I eat goes right through me (not coming up) and it lasts all day long. I walk around with constant stomach aches and eating only helps me feel better for up to 30 minutes if I'm lucky. Also, I crave foods, and when I put it in front of me, I feel sick to the point of throwing up. Take it away, and 15 minutes later, I'm craving it again. Go to sleep feeling sick.
I would so much rather have the "morning sickness" I imagined. That way I can tell people I'm out of service until about noon everyday. This thing I've got going on, I never know when I'm going to keel over or have to run to the bathroom. It SUCKS.
My solution: write down everything I eat and how I feel afterwards. That way, I can start eliminating the foods that make me feel worse.
Enough about that. Last week I rented a whole stack of books from the library. I've read two: the book of baby names (we already have our list written down of ideas!) and The New Mom's Manual by Mary Jeanne Menna. This book is awesome for first time moms. It basically gives ideas and opinions from other moms. And it's completely unbiased. One mom will say she loves a certain product, another mom will say she hated it. It's great because it gives you different aspects of situations which allows you to think of what will work for yourself, rather than being told what to do.
For example, there's a section in there about disposable diapers v. reusable. I never would have even considered reusable diapers until I read the benefits (keeps baby from breaking out, more comfortable, etc.) and how they are used. I had no idea that there were liners that you flush down the toilet, they came with snaps rather than pins, and how much less they cost. I totally would have considered this option (because let's face it, I'm going to be doing that much laundry every week anyway, what's a few more diapers to throw into each load?) except for one part that really turned me off. Many mothers mentioned with reusable diapers, you usually keep a pail of a baking soda mix by your changing areas to soak the soiled diapers. For me, keeping a pail of water in the house seems gross, tacky, and a recipe for disaster when baby starts moving around. That there made me realize that I want to use disposables, but I'm glad I was able to assess each side first before deciding.
With disposables being our options, I have already started clipping out coupons, joining the "Pampers exclusive" list for discounts and savings and we're going to start buying diapers now (7 months out) to start stocking up so when the baby gets here, we won't have to worry about that spending money and can use it on other last minute items we'll probably need.
My biggest challenge that I need to start working on (other than getting through the day without cringing pain) is the dogs. We have three very, very needy pups who always try to get up in my lap and jump on me in the middle of the night to cuddle. It's going to be hard telling them "no" when it's my favorite part about waking up to balls of fluff in my arms, but I don't want any harm to the baby when I start ballooning up. Also, it's going to be a work in progress when the donut baby gets here to make sure they don't get jealous or angry.
There was one VERY exciting part about my week last week. I went to an ultrasound appointment to have a cyst on my ovary checked out (I made this appt before we even knew we were pregnant and I waited almost a month for it, so I was keeping it!) and at the end, the girl said, "I'm really not supposed to do this but..." she turned the screen and showed me the baby! It was so little! I had a little round head area and a tadpole body. So exciting to think that this little bugger is causing me so much grief! I love every second of it :)
Twelve days ago my life changed. January third was the date that I found out that I was pregnant. Well, more specifically, January third was the day I had my first of three positive pregnancy test.
Of course, being a married women, I am extremely excited to get this news. There is no better news I can expect at this point in my life, other than maybe winning the mega million lottery, which we don't even have in Alaska, so this news was the peak. However, even though we were trying, I don't quite think I'm ready for all that is going to get thrown at me.
I am a fitness instructor. I teach Zumba 4 days a week and was trying to add an extra class to my schedule this season. Working out is usually the focus of any given day in my life. Being pregnant, I know that things are going to get even harder for me, and will eventually have to come to a halt for a while, which to me, is unthinkable.
Another thing I'm worried about is my eating. People think I'm a healthy eater because I'm a thin instructor, but they're wrong. I do not eat fast food and I avoid red meat, however I do have a sugar obsession and snack foods always get to me in between my meals more often than not. My husband and I can go through an entire large bag of chips in a weekend, easily. And that doesn't even include the chili cheese dip that we dip them in. I can even eat an entire pizza in one sitting if I wanted to. In fact, it was done about 3 weeks ago.
Now, I'm stuck trying to watch everything that goes into my belly. I'm no longer eating for 1, rather for two so it's going to take a lot of commitment and creativity during these next 7 months or so.
So how far along am I? According to the "when was the start of your last period" I should be about 8 weeks along. I have no idea, though. I took a pregnancy test two weeks before we found out and that one came out negative, which means it was either not showing yet (5 weeks after this said date) or I wasn't pregnant. My first appointment is on the 27th and I'm hoping to gain some insight then.
The only people who know right now are close friends and family. I'm waiting until I have an actual due date to announce. And, if you know me at all, I like being creative with communicating. At week 7 I told my family, and this is how it went down:
P.S. Don't mail a pregnancy test to your parents when their thermometer just broke and they needed to buy a new one.
At 8 weeks, where am I?
~My boobs have grown HUGE overnight as of week 6 and they hurt. But they do look hot :) I'll enjoy this while it lasts.
~No morning sickness! Hooray! I apologize to all of you mommies out there hunched over the toilet every morning. Really, I feel it for you. My biggest fear was getting sick during one of my classes. I can cross that one off of my giant list of fears.
~I am WIPED. Exhausted. I still work out 5-6 times a week as I usually do, but it takes a little more out of me to get it going. In fact, I can tell that my boobs aren't the only thing bigger. My legs are thicker, which is my motivation to stop using couch days as an excuse and kick pregnancy's butt, in a healthy way of course.
~Everyone pisses me off. I'm easily angered. I think I honked and flicked off everyone I passed in traffic yesterday on my way home. Of course, people were driving 50 on a 65. But still, the little things I usually shake off are not so easy to ignore these days. Thankfully, my amazing hubby had flowers and Reese's cups at home waiting for me, knowing I was very upset about the traffic. As mentioned above, sugar is a great way to my heart.
This post is my introduction to my whole journey. Why read my posts? I am an army wife, living in Alaska with three dogs, a baby on the way and loves to work out. There are so many women out there in similar situations and I know reading their personal blogs have helped me stay calm. Plus, the internet has multiple opinions on everything, yet sources are not always reliable. I love personal testimony over an article which may or may not be true.
Comment if you have posts, input, ideas, or even comments. Support goes a long way and I could use some other ladies to keep me going!
Lots of love.
