29 weeks pregnant: a crazy week

Pregnancy week 29 was definitely a wild ride. Neil had a race, was also on-call throughout the week, and I got hired on in a new department in my job. Yes, we’re apparently crazy. With my new appointment, I’m excited about the opportunity to work on some special curriculum projects and new course developments for the college and hopefully continue to put my skills to use there. I absolutely love my job and after the wild (read: horrible) ride I had with my old company, it feels so good to be where I am and making a difference.

Neil’s race was in Tulsa, OK which was about 4.5 hours south of where we are. We watched the weather, and although we were hopeful it would be mild, it was unfortunately forecasted to be hot — too hot for a 3rd trimester pregnant me to tough out. I was really bummed, I’ve never missed a race, and I was looking forward to checking out a new track with Neil. But I decided to make the best of it with some quality time with the pups, plenty of reading and relaxation, and a fun cheat meal.

Oh and Twizzlers…

Still my favorite pregnancy treat to date.

Food

Food this week leading up to my cheat meal has been pretty standard. I’ve incorporated a few more carbs in the form of my English muffins, and those continue to keep breakfasts a little more interesting (I ate nothing but Greek yogurt through 2nd trimester). I haven’t honestly been noshing on all that much fruit, but lots of green vegetables and lean protein. I really really try to keep protein above 100g, but as it gets hotter and my stomach gets bigger, there seems to be less room and appetite to work with. My SFH protein shakes have been a saving grace in this area.

My cheat meal was Annie’s mac and cheese. This marked the first and only time I’ll probably have it this pregnancy, but it’s a tradition that when Neil leaves I eat it (superstitious much?), so I decided to stick with the tradition.

I did add two chicken breasts and peas to it, as well as some dill and a squirt or two of ketchup (weird, I know) to church it up a bit. It was tasty but, I don’t know, mac and cheese just doesn’t have a hold on me anymore. This clean eating has done that with a lot of things I used to like to have more frequently. Definitely not a bad thing, especially when you get more excited about the load of fruits and veggies your husband brings home from the in-laws. Check this out:

That is an entire shopping bag of green beans, asparagus and peas — more than a weeks worth of eating for us. I was SO excited. And the blueberries straight from the garden! Heaven!

Neil then made me a mocktail and we grilled on the deck. My hero.

Reading

Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery was mentioned to me by a friend at CrossFit early on, and it eventually came up on my reserves (the library is full of saints for putting up with me). It’s not really so much a practical guide, just kind of a history of Ina May’s journey to become a midwife and some of the earlier births they attended in the community. I think for many women, preparation for birth takes them a lot of different places, and I’m happy I picked this up. It coincides with a lot of the approach and mindset taken by my Hypnobabies class.

I obviously have no way of knowing what my own experience will be, but I’m determined to enter it with the right mindset. I believe mindset plays such an important role in outcomes. Sure, it’s a book about a bunch of hippies giving birth, but they were excited, positive, and genuinely grateful about their opportunity confident in those around them, and it affected the outcome.

It also impresses upon anyone who reads it the importance of support — whether it be your spouse, partner or just who you choose to have in the room.

Feeling

Honestly, a little nauseous. Her movements have stopped being the cute little kicks and are now full-body rolls. Coupled with the heat, it kind of gives me the feeling of being motion sick. Don’t get me wrong, still the best part of pregnancy by far, but man, they throw my stomach for a loop — whatever is not being squished.

Other than that, feeling okay. The heat definitely has killed a lot of my appetite, which is rough, but I’m trucking through. I’m definitely entering the phase of wanting to be on the other side.

CrossFit

Workouts from the week below. As you can see, I’m still doing class WODs at 29 weeks with some creative scaling. The best part is that the scale doesn’t feel like it’s cheapening the workouts for me at all, a combination of finding good comparative movements and just being naturally a bit slower at this stage.

I definitely had hoped to get in the gym more, but like the title says, it was a CRAZY week for us.

Tuesday

Strength: Back Squat
7×2 (2-4-0)

WOD: 20 Minute AMRAP
5 Toes to Bar just did kipping knee raises, getting my knees to about my armpits each rep. I’m calling these the labor prep movement, as that’s what they literally look like.
10 Thrusters (95/65) Completed at 55 lb.
20 Jumping Lunges Completed half jumping/half static
250m Run Completed! With some walking…