22 Weeks Pregnant!

Twenty Two Weeks ends tonight, and I must say, I'm happier than I have been in a month or so :)  People always say your emotions are kinda on a hiatus when you are pregnant, but I thought "oh never me".  Wrong!  I can go from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in just a day.  I try to focus on the happy days, but you have to admit to yourself, pregnancy and life in general can be tough.  So combine any pregnancy emotions with any work or relationship stress and holy cow are you (and others around you) in for a rude awakening!

I'll be honest, I can be a big ol' B word.  It's sometimes the best thing that I work from home.  Around Wednesday of last week (the first day of week 22), I don't think ANYONE would have wanted to be around this foul, angry little woman.  I am talking crying uncontrollably and being TERRIFIED about having a child because of the impending changes to my job, my relationship with Neal, my relationship with others, my body, even our location where we live.  Everything was a trigger.  From a harmless work email, to a sale on Etsy. Everything was making me angry.

It wasn't until Wednesday night when Neal talked to me about all my outside stressors and really took into account how incredibly stressed I am about work that I made a turn for the better.  My job is different than most in that it is contracted.  My team and I never know how long our contract will last because even though it's "contracted" I have never in my time here seen a contract.  Each month we wonder if our jobs will end the next month.  We don't have insurance benefits, but I do have the benefit of working from home and making my own hours.  However, our boss is changing this coming Friday.  My current boss and another employee on my team no longer have positions within the company.  Now my team is down to two, myself and one of my best friends.  The new boss wants us to make more specific hours and it will, of course, be a change in leadership style.  That makes me nervous.  I have stayed with this job because the work is fine, I understand it well, I feel like I'm very good at what I do (IT/User Security), and I truly am blessed to work from home and not have to drive anywhere or get fully ready each morning (hair, clothes, makeup).  But again, it is stressful to not know how long it will last, especially with the introduction of a new child into our family.  Neal and I have discussed the possibilities and the options if I were to lose this job and I feel MUCH more confident going forward.  I am incredibly lucky to have Neal as my husband!

How far along: 22

Gender: Little one’s a girl!!!

Weight gained: 11.4 lbs

Inches gained: About 6 inches around biggest part of belly (I know, no changes in size/weight since last week...)

Working Out:  Yes! I did a lot on Wednesday and Thursday, and then had normal active days over the weekend at Funk in the City and cleaning up the house, and Monday started the Tone it Up Bikini Series!

Clothing Choices:  None of my shorts fit well, I may go get a band for them but am not sure…it’s getting warm, so I’ve resorted to wearing stretchy longer skirts.

Stretch marks:  Only those from soccer years ago on the thighs.

Belly button: Inny, but just barely.

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty terrible.  Being outside all day on Saturday for Funk in the City has got my allergies, or something, going pretty badly.  I barely slept Friday night due to excitement, and then Saturday and Sunday I couldn’t sleep well because I was so hot, had a sore and dry throat along with an earache and stuffy nose…then during the day, my eyes are just sore/dry. Ugh.

Best moment this week: There have been some great highs lately!  The start of the week (Wednesday) was SUPER hard for me, but then I did a 360 and started looking at all the positives.  I did amazing at the show, Funk in the City (Lively Happenings best show yet!), I really enjoyed yoga on Thursday and even sorta made a new friend :-D, I bought baby girl some super cute clothes with a paycheck I found from last year that needed to be deposited (oops!), all the posts on Instagram for the #BikiniSeries and #TIUteam are SO inspirational, and yesterday I got the rest of my fabric in for baby girls nursery décor crafting I plan to do!!!

Hardest moment this week: I was SUPER emotional on Wednesday morning. I had a difficult Tuesday night and woke up grumpy Wednesday and could just barely get out of the funk.

What I’m missing: Sleep

Movement: When I’m not active, I feel her a lot, but when I’m really active I don’t notice her moving as much.

Cravings:  Burgers! I love when Neal makes burgers….mmm

Queasy or sick: Sickness from allergies, which is noooo fun

Looking forward to: Making baby some crib sheets & a crib skirt!

Strange Dreams:  I totally remember waking up this morning with a strange dream where Neal and I were supposed to be scientists somewhere super top secret for the President and we were also secret lovers, Neal and myself = lovers…not the President & myself…  Anyways, one of the things I remember in the dream was walking into a lab where my mom was working and there were all these deceased bodies sitting in chairs at a table, they all looked exactly the same.  They weren’t like scary bodies, more like wax figures.  My mom then showed me how the eyes are stuffed with cotton balls so that they look more ‘lively’…umm yea…what the heck!  Is that even real?  Did I see that on TV once or hear that thing about the cotton balls and cadavers!?  Now, let’s backtrack to reality about 18 years. I remember walking into a lab once when I was pretty young; my mom was in college finishing her degree and was in an anatomy class, she had dissected a cat and the cat had kittens inside.  From that day forward, I knew I could not be a medical professional.  I even tried taking anatomy in high school because I knew if I was good at it, when it was time to go to college, I may pursue a nursing degree since I knew those jobs would be in high demand upon graduation.  However, I dropped out on day two once the teacher gave us a heads up about dissecting turtles, and eyeball of a cow, and a brain of another animal.

Week 21 Workouts

• Wednesday  - AM = Knocked Up Fitness, the first 3 routines: Core War-Up, Prenatal Fitcamp, and Pilates Arms and then PM = Worked out with the hubby doing Biceps and Chest! (I was a total crank and needed that PM workout with him!)
• Thursday – Tone it Up Summer Sizzle x 1 and Short and Sweet Arms x 3 for my AM workout, a 25 minute walk with my puppies (separate walks) right after work, and then PM was 1hr 15 min of Power Yoga!
• Saturday – I call this a active ‘normal’ day – loaded and unloaded the car 2 times for the show and stood most of the day for Funk in the City, Lively Happenings did awesome!
• Sunday – another active ‘normal’ day.  The dresser that holds a lot of Lively Happenings supplies was moved from the guest/craft room into the office. So I cleaned up the whole office and guest room to adjust for the changing house – the Guest Room will now be Guest/Nursery and the office is now Office/Craft Room (and some of the craft supplies are now in the garage!) things are changing up around here, and I can’t wait to do the nursery!
• Monday – FIRST DAY OF THE BIKINI SERIES!!!! Yay!!!  Cowabunga workout 1 time through (modifying the last move so I wasn't on my belly and doing tricept pushups frollowed by squats), the "Three Moves for a Sexy Upper Back" x3, and a 35 minute dog walk that put me 1.75 miles towards my #100bySummer
• Tuesday - AM - got up and did 24 minutes of cardio with Knocked Up Fitness DVD's Core Cardio routine 2x's through (hello now 4 miles towards my #100bySummer).  I took a 25 minute break in the later afternoon when work was SUPER slow and did the Bikini Body routine by Tone it Up (modifying some of the ab moves at the end to make for a more pregnancy safe workout), and now I'm about to take the dogs on a walk (because they are so cute and deserve one) before it gets dark outside!