Pregnancy Reads

With all of the overwhelming advice regarding pregnancy and babies out there, the resources are limitless.  

If Mister and I are anything, it is information gathers.  We like to know all of the possible information and details there are to offer.  This is good and bad for parents to be. 
I will admit I have scaled back my Googling lately (not that it doesn't still happen...) but it's quickly easy to see that there's no way to know or read alllll of the things.

To combat that, I've turned to friends and blogs I love that have read books and articles that have really helped them.

Currently I am pacing about 1 pregnancy book a month paired with a fun book and a book tape in the car.  I am trying to be very conscientious of swapping back and forth between pregnancy and non pregnancy readings. 

Before we were expecting a couple of my best friends suggested I read Bringing up Bebe.  They loved the book and how it explains parenting.  Once we found out we were expecting, I immediately ordered it.  I really, really enjoyed this book.  The author does a fantastic job of explaining how the French parent and the slower, calmer approach they take to parenting.  

The methods and suggestions in this book really resonated with me.  I will most likely re-read/skim this book closer to my due date. 

Mister is also reading Bringing up Bebe and also enjoying it ;)

Baby Catcher was another book suggested to me.  While we are in no ways planning on a home birth, this book was incredibly interesting to read.  I love reading labor stories and this book was full of them.  The book follows Peggy, a midwife, through her career and the deliveries and families she encounters.  It is incredible to me to read over and over again how each and every single birth story is different.  It really hammers home the idea that women birth babies every single day and that it does not have to be a scary experience but a beautiful one.  

I saw Expecting Better on a website of pregnancy books to read and I am glad I did.  The tag line on this book reads 'Conventional pregnancy wisdom is wrong and what you really need to know'.   That spoke to me immediately.  With all the information out there it is hard to decipher what is wrong/right good/bad but this book does a good job of breaking down a lot of information.  It does get a little deep into research and details for me but the overall theories and knowledge are really great.

Happiest Baby on the Block also came highly recommended.  I will say the first few chapters of this book are a bit fear mongering but the underlying information is good.  The book focuses a lot of the 'fourth trimester' and how newborns are trying to adjust to life outside of the womb at all times and how to compensate and deal with those growing pains.  The biggest take away would be the 5 S's holds which I will definitely be going back to for a refresher for when we need some suggestions on getting our little guy to sleep.  

Belly Laughs was loaned to me from a friend and it was a quick, great read.  It was so funny and I often found myself laughing and nodding along with just about everything Jenny was saying.

Anne raved about Waiting for Birdy and she was totally correct.  Even though the story focuses on a family adjusting to life welcoming their second child it was still a great read for moms.  I enjoyed how the author talked about how her parenting approach differed between the first and second child.  

Regardless of how many children she has, it was nice to read a memoir from a mom going through pregnancy.  There are so many funny, strange, amazing things that happen during this time and it is nice to read and reflect that you aren't the only one on the journey. 

Up next on my docket is Operating Instructions and Babywise.
Any other ones I should add to my list??

So Many Choices

 “This post was sponsored by WaterWipes as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

Having a baby requires making approximately 47.5 million choices.

There is no shortage of opinions, advice, reviews, articles and general knowledge out in the world concerning having a baby, products to use and items to invest in.

At this point it feels as if I've read all of them but I know I have only skimmed the surface.

You should see my Google search history...

One thing that I know for certain is that we want to use items that are the healthiest, safest and best for our baby.

This starts with anything that will be touching the baby's skin including diapers and wipes.

While at Target recently, I was perusing the baby aisles (as I do often) and one of that days missions were baby wipes.

 I'm telling you, every single thing needs researched...

In the wipes aisle, I stumbled upon WaterWipes and after a quick read of their label, I was very quickly sold.

 WaterWipes only contain 2 ingredients!  Um yes please.

They are made up of 99.9% pure Irish water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract.

 And because WaterWipes does not contain any chemicals, they provide a much safer option for our little babe and his bottom.  

This all makes a mama extremely happy and confident in the choices we are making for our baby.

P.s. are those socks not the most adorable things you've ever seen?!

Along with adorable and useful baby things, we all know that Target a lot of other great items.  Lucky for you I have a giveaway for you today that helps you get a lot of those great things!

WaterWipes Target Giveaway

I-C will randomly select winners from all program entries and will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes (5 winners)

  

Bumpdate : 19-21

It's that time again and things are realllly bumpin along!

There's no denying the bump these days.

I even had my first 'are you....?' at work the other day and I was proudly able to say yep! Not just too many tacos, actual baby in there.

(Warning we took these photos before work and my eyes were not totally functioning...)

 Mango | Banana | Endive

Due date : November 25th 

Baby size : Mango, banana and endive  

Gender : BOY! Listen, little boy clothes are SO cute.

Cravings : Mainly cold fruit and always french fries.  I could eat an an entire watermelon at any given moment.

Aversions : Nothing!

Maternity clothes : Here and there I have been wearing more and more.  I mainly try to stay in dresses are skirts, they are the easiest and most comfortable.

Best thing so far : Planning the nursery, narrowing down names and just talking about Little Mister ;)

Looking forward to : Mister being able to feel kicks!

Work outs : Still going as strong as I can...some weeks are better than others but doing the best I can. 

Sleep : Going pretty well, still have to get up to go to the bathroom.  I do get slightly annoyed throughout the night that my only options for sleeping are on my right or left side.  I have also gotten some TERRIBLE charley horses.  These can go away at any time. 

Movement : He is moving and grooving in there.  He seems to really like when I eat grapes.

Nursery : I ordered some fabric samples for window treatments and hoping to narrow those choices down this week.  Mister finalized the closet system and I started hanging up tiny little things in it and they are precious.  

Mood : Going well!

Running While Expecting

While it always isn't the easiest, I am thankful that I have been able to continue to run up until this point in my pregnancy.

My plan is to run for as long as I can and as long as it isn't too hot out.

I'm proud of my body for being able to run this long and hopefully can continue.

Running is my release, my favorite (and least favorite) cardio and is ingrained in my workout regime.  

One of my very first questions to the nurse on my first phone call to the doctor's office was if I could continue to run.  I was actually in the midst of training for a half marathon (which I later cancelled) but I needed to know if I could still run.  Thankfully, the answer was yes, with a few cautions but yes none the less.

I then did further research (because Google is my best friend these days) and further confirmed my ability to run.

Here are the top 3 things I've learned so far:

1.  Take it slow : At the beginning this seemed somewhat silly but that quickly changed.  I quickly learned how much harder even being a few weeks along made it to breathe and have the same stamina as before.  While this was initially frustrating to me, I knew it was my body telling me to take it slow and for the best.  One of the biggest cautions is to not get your heart rate up too much (or too quickly).  This is always on my mind as I run and my main focus.  

Along these lines, I've changed what music I listen to in order to slow my pace down.  I am a person that the faster the music is, the faster I run and the opposite.  So I've taken to listening to slower tempo (while still upbeat) music while I run so that I know I will go slower.  

2.  Hydrate :  While drinking water and staying hydrated is extremely important during pregnancy.  This is taken to another level while exercising or running.  While I used to reserve wearing my water belt to realllly hot days or really long runs, now I wear it every single run.  Even for my little 3 mile runs.  

Once I am home I make it a point to also drink a lot of water and usually a fruit filled protein shake to confirm I am fully re-hydrated.  

3.  Revise your routine :  It used to be nothing for me to run 5-8 continuous miles without stopping.  However, in an effort to not over do it or overheat myself I've had to revise how I approach my runs.  Instead of running without walking, I now incorporate walking into every run.  Typically I run .50-.75 miles and then walk .25 miles.  And repeat for 3-4 miles.  Of course this takes longer than it used to but it certainly makes me feel better that I am doing the right thing for my body while still doing something I love. 

With that, I'm off to waddle down the sidewalk for my next run! 

Hopefully wearing this tank I've had my eye on.