26 Weeks

How Far Along? 26 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: A little over 8 pounds

Have You Started to Show? Oh baby, have I ever! Our little boy went through a huge growth spurt this week. I can definitely tell that he is getting bigger when I look at myself in the mirror.

Stretch Marks? None so far thank goodness.

Belly Button? Depends on whom you ask. If you ask Nick, my belly button in still in, however, I think it has started to pop out a bit. When I look down at my belly button it is no longer flat but slightly raised. I’m not real happy about this but it’s just a part of pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes? I just bought a cute pair of Lilac Clothing black skinny maternity pants from Nordstrom. They are so comfortable and I know I will wear them all the time with my tall boots this fall and winter. They feel like wearing stretch pants but have pockets and a fake zipper so they are much more stylish. It’s so nice to be able to find fashionable maternity pants.

Symptoms: This week was sort of a funny week. I was really tired a couple different days and I also experienced a very tight and uncomfortable tummy at the same time. After a couple days of the tiredness and tight tummy I stepped on the scale and figured out why. I gained all my weight for the week in those couple days. It so interesting to see the correlation with how I’m feeling and how Baby Morelli is growing. I also had a couple random headaches this week. I know they are not caused from dehydration because I drink a minimum of 65 oz of water everyday, so I guess it’s just another random part of pregnancy.

Movement? This week was a really exciting week for movement! Our little man was as active as ever, but I experienced a few new sensations that I haven’t yet felt. Nick and I were lying in bed and I was propped up against my pregnancy pillow when I felt either an arm or a leg move across the top of my belly from the right side to the left. It was so amazing! I have felt his head or his bottom move across several times, but this was an entirely new sensation! I can also feel either his arms or his legs (maybe even both) stretching way out to the right side and the left side of my belly at times. He is taking full advantage of all the room he has right now. I did experience all the typical kicks, punches, rolling and twitching that I feel every week. I truly love experiencing all this movement from my son. I can’t wait to see if he is just as active after he arrives!

Sleep? Much better this week. Nick and I started listening to our HypnoBirthing relaxation and visualization CDs this week and they have really helped me sleep better and longer each night. I have been waking up around 1 or 2 in the morning to go to the bathroom and after I usually have trouble falling back asleep. Since we stated listening to the CDs I have been able to fall back asleep and stay asleep until 5 or 6 (HUGE improvement for me). I only make it a few minutes into the CDs at night before I pass out, so they really must work!

Exercise? I had my last prenatal yoga session Monday and now my instructor is off to Bali for 5 weeks. She has given us lost of exercises and poses to practice while she is gone and I think I will also sign up for the unlimited streaming yoga from GaiamTV. Nick and I also took the doggies on several 2-mile walks this week. We had to coax Addy every time, but she relented when she realized that I could be more stubborn than her.  

Food Cravings: Nectarines, cottage cheese, cheeseburgers and banana blueberry smoothies with coconut oil, peanut butter, chobani greek yogurt and my Nano protein and greens supplement. Our neighbors and really close friends, Greg and Kristi, have an amazing garden and several fruit trees. I ran out of organic nectarines from Costco on Friday and didn’t have time to go to the store on Saturday because we had our HypnoBirthing classes and I met my brother for lunch right after. When I got home from enjoying some really special brother sister time I saw a huge bowl of nectarines sitting on our table. Our wonderful neighbors picked them from their tree and brought them over while I was gone! They are so delicious-better than candy! I eat about 6 every day! I have also still been craving cottage cheese and cheeseburgers. I eat a 1-pound container in about a day to a day and a half. I also can’t eat enough beef. I want cheeseburgers almost every night for dinner. We recently split a half of a cow from the Selkirk Ranch with our friends Joel and Michele. It is the best organic grass fed, grass finished beef we have had! I also had a really great cheeseburger from the café in Pilgrim’sMarket-my favorite natural and organic grocery store. Now for the smoothies! Nick and I purchased a VitaMix from Costco a couple years ago and we use it daily for smoothies, soups, sauces, etc. We normally have kale smoothies in the morning, but lately I’ve switched it up to banana blueberry. Here is my smoothie recipe that we are currently enjoying:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup of frozen organic blueberries (just an estimate, I just dump a whole bunch in)
• 4 heaping spoonfulls of vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt
• 3 TBS of Nutiva organic coconut oil (again just an estimate, I just scoop a whole bunch out and dump it in)
• ½ cup Adams Natural Chunky peanut butter (I did just grind some peanut butter at Pilgrim’s Market yesterday so I will be trying that out instead)
• 2 scoops of BioPharma NanoPro Immune vanilla protein powder
• 2 scoops of BioPharma NanoGreens Strawberry vegetable and fruit superfood
• Almond milk to desired consistency

Blend it up and enjoy! I don’t add ice since I freeze my fresh fruit for our smoothies, but if I use fresh fruit I add a little ice.

Food Aversions: No change here – chicken still turns my stomach!

Happy or Moody? Happy, but emotional. I have been a little extra emotional this week and have cried a few times. One time was just out of frustration with some business stuff that I normally wouldn’t cry about and the other was at our HypnoBirthing class on Saturday. The tears at HypnoBirthing were happy emotional tears. Mary, our instructor had us go through a prenatal bonding exercise with our baby. Nick and I each read a list of promises to the baby while we rubbed my belly. I made it through a few lines and then I burst into tears. I was choked up reading the rest, but I made it through. Then when Nick had his turn to read to our son the tears just continued! I’m not used to being so emotional so it’s always tough when I can’t control my tears. I was just so overwhelmed with the emotion of bonding with our baby and thinking about how soon he will be in our arms. I know this last trimester will fly by!

Miss Anything? Coffee. Starbucks now has their fall pumpkin spice lattés and I really wish I could just pop in and grab one whenever the mood strikes me!

Nursery Progress: Nothing new this week, but I am getting very excited for our furniture to arrive. I also registered at Amazon and Target since my baby shower is quickly approaching. I love all the items on my Amazon registry! My Target registry has a pretty decent selection of organic and eco friendly options as well. I’m really excited to see what people pick out for our little man!

Best Moment This Week: Since our HypnoBirthing class on Saturday Nick and I have been focusing more on our prenatal bonding with our son. We were sitting on the back patio one afternoon this week just enjoying the beautiful late summer weather when Baby Morelli decided it was time to play. Nick had his hand on my belly and we were both just lying on the couch enjoying all his movement when all of a sudden he kicked really hard right where Nick’s hand was resting. Nick looked at my belly and said, “Wow, you’re really strong! What are you doing in there?” I LOVE it when Nick talks to the baby! I can’t even begin to explain the connection I feel when talks to my belly. It just makes me love him on a whole different level.

Looking Forward to: So many things! Our next HypnoBirthing class, our nursery furniture arriving, my baby shower and a possible trip to GreenBluff with my hubby!