Baby Bump: 18 weeks

 

**How far along: 18 weeks 2 days! Time is flying by, I can’t believe I’m already almost halfway through this pregnancy. We find out gender in just over a week!

**Wearing: I bought a pair of maternity pants and maternity leggings as well as some bigger garment bottoms last week and my life is so much better. I spend the vast majority of my time wearing work out clothes and that’s about it.

**Cravings: Nothing consistent, I did crave In ‘N Out last week which is good because for the most part, red meat has been repulsive to me. I also consistently want edamame beans, strawberries, pasta, and water water water!

**Aversions: Meat, and up until a few days ago, sugary things. I would eat dessert and feel SO sick. I seem to have gotten over that which I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or not.

**Movement: I started feeling movement around 15 weeks and thought “no way, it’s way too early, I’m imagining it.” But we went to a concert in my 16th week and baby was DANCING like crazy to the music and I knew that what I had been feeling was definitely baby. Baby moves around a lot in the afternoons and evenings, especially on days when I’ve exercised a lot and then am relaxing later in the day. I also feel a ton of movement when I sing, we listen to loud music or Kevin sings to my belly. It’s pretty much adorable.

**Worse pregnancy symptom: Insomnia. Almost every night. I’ve never struggled with sleep before, but for some reason pregnancy is making it impossible for me to sleep normally. It’s actually gotten even worse in my second trimester which I don’t understand. I consistently wake up between 3 and 5am and can’t turn off my brain. Honestly though, as much as I don’t like it, I am getting used to it which I think is a blessing in disguise. I usually need at least 10 hours of sleep in order to function but I’m learning how to cope with waking up 1-3 times per night. It’s better to go through it now and get used to it so that {hopefully} it doesn’t shock my system so much when the baby comes.

**Exercise: I’m proud of how I’ve been exercising this pregnancy. For a month during first trimester all I could bring myself to do was walk 1 mile or do 30 squats and some kegels but I consistently did something every day. Once second trimester hit and I started feeling better I started hiking almost every day (if the weather is nice). I still do as much resistance training as I can at home, but mostly I’m loving hitting the trails for anywhere between 2 and 4 miles with plans to up my mileage.

**Misc: I had a lovely baby shower last weekend where we were showered with love and gifts (and money!). It was kind of awkward timing to have a baby shower because I was still two weeks away from finding out gender, and we are moving at the end of the month. But I’m so glad my mom and sisters threw me one. It was so nice to get the support and help with some of the baby stuff we will need to be buying in a few months. And it was great to see some of the wonderful women in my life before we move across the country.

**Feeling: So grateful, happy, excited and so much love for this little wiggler in my belly!