PBF Baby: 21 Weeks

Another week has come and gone and I’m popping in today to share my 21-week pregnancy recap!

Past updates:

• Weeks 8, 9 and 10
• Weeks 11, 12 and 13
• Weeks 14, 15 and 16
• Weeks 17 & 18
• 19 Weeks
• 20 Weeks

Baby Updates

Baby is as long as a carrot or about the size of a pomegranate!

Weight Gained

Didn’t weigh myself.

Workouts

BodyPump made a comeback in my life this week! I took two classes and was reminded of just how much I love the class and how strong it makes me feel. Coupled with a few barre workouts and the classes I teach, I had a pretty great week on the workout front! I’m hoping that my April teaching schedule will allow me to incorporate more BodyPump classes into my routine again (I don’t love doubling up workouts and always take a complete rest day from all strength training after a BodyPump day) because it’s simply the best!

The only real cardio I’m doing is spinning during the spin classes I teach twice a week. I’m also trying to include longer walks in my day-to-day routine (listening to Serial makes it easy to feel motivated to get out there for a long walk with Sadie!) and this week I’ve noticed myself start to feel a little out of breath when walking up inclines that used to not faze me in the least. I just take them slower than usual and that feels much better.

Symptoms

Hallelujah!! The acne that has plagued my face and chest for weeks seems to be lessening and this is happening right at the exact same time that my pregnancy app decided to tell me that my face will begin “producing more oil and acne may occur.” Shhhh. Do not freak out the face and the chest!

I was about to swear off the Belli brand of skincare which probably wasn’t fair because I hadn’t been using it for all that long (ummm, it was supposed to make my zits go away immediately), but I’m thinking that after a couple of weeks of continuous use, it may be starting to work its magic. I actually thought the spot treatment was a bunch of bologna at first, but my mind is changing. I’ve been using it on my chin (the worst place for acne for me so far) and even on my chest and I think it may actually be making a difference. Either that or my body decided to give me a little reprieve from pimples. I’ll take it!

Nausea isn’t popping up daily anymore which is pretty stellar, but there were a few afternoons this week where I felt some pretty intense fatigue.

I am also experiencing some uncomfortable feelings of heaviness down there. Truthfully, it’s pretty darn miserable and I notice it most when I’m walking uphill (running is definitely not happening!) and doing certain stabilizing exercises (even putting on my pants one leg at a time). I’m just trying my best to avoid anything that exacerbates this feeling right now.

Food Aversions

Tomato-based soups, most plain cooked vegetables, anything cooked with cumin

Food Cravings

Hard boiled eggs, frozen yogurt, apples (and all fruit in general), anything sweet and carby

Sleep

I am convinced that the Snoogle is saving my sleep! (Sadie is trying to hijack my magical pregnancy pillow every single day now…) I know I’ve talked about the Snoogle on the blog about 5,000 times since I started using it a little more than a week ago, but it is such a game changer! My hips and back feel better and I’m not nearly as uncomfortable or restless.

Looking Forward To…

• Ryan feeling our baby move
• Picking out bedding, getting two pictures from my mom’s childhood room reframed for the nursery and figuring out a good layout for the nursery furniture
• Figuring out a name for our baby… This is a tough one and I’m thinking we may not really commit to a name until we meet our baby after he’s born

Any Baby/Pregnancy-Related Purchases?

Okay, Zulily, you can stop featuring a bazillion maternity/baby-related sales every day because you’re kind of killing me. This week I ordered a few more things for our nursery, including a set of Trafalgar’s Square animal prints to hang on the wall and a light blue stuffed elephant because it was $6 and adorable.

Stretch Marks?

Nope. Still religiously applying a combination of Mambino Organic Oh Baby! Belly Butter and Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter to my tummy and boobs.

Belly Button In Or Out?

In-ish. Flattening out more and more by the day. I just know I’m on my way to having a giant outie.

Happy or Moody Most Of The Time?

Happy! My good friend Leah had her baby boy two weeks ago and every time I see pictures of him and hear how happy she is with her new little guy, my heart fills with joy. I’m so thrilled for her and she’s definitely making me all the more excited to meet our little boy when he’s ready.

Aside from feeling mostly happy, I am also still experiencing some bouts of anxiety that continue to pop up daily. Though I’m definitely feeling better than I was in my first trimester with regard to anxiety, I wish I could just sit back and relax and trust everything will go well, but it’s hard not to worry. It’s the weeks in between doctor’s appointments that make me worry most but when I feel our little guy move, it helps me feel a little more secure.

Any Movement?

Yes! There were actually a few days this past week that went by where I didn’t feel our little guy move at all and I didn’t realize how worried I was until I felt him move again and started tearing up out of nowhere. Feeling him move around is apparently way more reassuring to me than I realized! I feel him most when I’m working at the computer and right before bed at night.

Any Fun Stories?

This is a rather random one, but when Ryan and I have discussed middle names, we always end up laughing because our baby’s middle name is still very much up in the air. (We still aren’t ready to commit to a first name either, but at least we have a pretty solid contender!) Anyway, Ryan isn’t really into middle names and even though he has one, he said he doesn’t really care either way if our little guy has a middle name or not. I’d like him to have a middle name, so we’ve had a few conversations about it and the one that made me laugh the hardest was when Ryan joked that we should make our baby’s middle name “Oh.” Like Baby Oh Fagan… Or Baby O’Fagan. Our little Irishman. That’s definitely not happening, but we have been joking about our little Baby O’Fagan ever since.