14 Weeks - Yay Second Trimester

Hello 14 weeks! Baby is now the size of a cute little lemon awww. I have felt so good this week! My workouts have been amazing, I've been sleeping pretty well at night, my appetite is back, morning sickness has faded and I'm having no problem eating my clean meals again. If it weren't for the sore boobs I would say I don't even feel pregnant I feel like hyper energetic ME. I wonder how long this will last haha. I really hope the second trimester continues to be this good to me.




I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for blood work and to hear the baby's heartbeat again. We also get to find out the gender of the baby next Sunday. It’s going to be an exciting week for us!



We are in the process of selling our house right now and buying another. It’s time for something bigger for our little expanding family (3 dogs, 1 macaw and a baby on the way lol). We are having an open house this weekend and our realtor has just informed us that his phone has been blowing up like crazy over our house. This makes me happy, sad and scared all at the same time. I'm going to miss our little home we built together and all the wonderful memories we created. On another note, I am praying we find "the one" (house that is) very soon! I’m being extra picky in what I want in a home this time around. After all, this is where we plan on raising our family and living for the next 10+ years. Once we find the right home I cannot wait to put together a nursery with my husband. We are going to have so much fun creating his/her little room.



How far along: 14 Weeks



Symptoms: Nothing really, tired the first hour in the morning and tired again after lunch but what's new : )



Clothes: In my normal clothes, although they do make me feel a little fat. I'm a size 0/00 and my 00's do not fit anymore (they won’t go over my butt haha). My 0's are a little snug and my shirts are a bit small because my boobs have grown so much. Needless to say I have a ton of leggings and dresses I plan on wearing anyway.



How I’m feeling: As of Monday I have been feeling great, no more all day sickness finally (knock on wood), YAY! I've had some tailbone pain but it seems to be easing up a bit. My siatica pain has went away for now and my food aversions have also went away. I can pretty much handle anything this week : ) So far I am loving this week of being pregnant.



Cravings: Hmmm nothing really. Italian food I suppose. I made spaghetti for the week and it hits the spot every night! I also had a glaze donut craving the other day and my wonderful husband surprised me with one when I woke up in the morning. It was so good!!



My Fears of late: Stretch marks! Praying I grow slowly and do not get them! I've been using cocoa butter oil and cocoa butter lotion daily and drinking a ton of water!



Movement: I think I have another month or two before I feel anything.



Excited for: Finding out the gender on Mother's Day! Less than 2 weeks from today yay!



Missing: SUSHI and my nightly champagne : ( Although I do have to brag that I have the most amazing husband who has decided to not drink/eat sushi during my pregnancy. He says it’s only fair that he give up the two things we both enjoy and love if I have to give them up. Where did I find this man hehe…I am very blessed. He is making this pregnancy so enjoyable for me.



Sleep: Some nights I sleep great and some night I get no sleep at all because my boobs and back start hurting. I must invest in that pillow you have all told me about : )


And here I am at 14 weeks.  The first picture was taken yesterday and the second was taken right when I woke up this morning.  No baby bumb yet, abs are still there just a little bit softer : )

13 Weeks Today!

Today we are 13 weeks pregnant and baby is the size of a peach! We are almost out of the 1st trimester, YAY! I can't complain about the 1st trimester too much because I've felt pretty good. It wasn't until these last few weeks that I started feeling a bit of morning sickness all day long. No throwing up, just nauseous throughout the day. Aside from that I have had a lot of back pain. It started with my sciatica which was also affecting my right leg and now it’s my tailbone that hurts the most. The back pain interferes with my sleeping quite a bit. It’s so hard to get comfortable at night when my back hurts no matter how I’m laying.



I’m still not showing much yet. I just look bloated and it makes me feel uncomfortable in my clothes. I really need to go shopping and get some bigger shirts, dresses, leggings and a belly band! When I wake up in the morning my stomach looks flat and then as the day goes on and I eat more I start looking bloated. By the end of the night I feel like I ate way too much and it looks like I have somewhat of a belly. I give it a few more weeks before that belly becomes permanent. As for now I feel the weight gain most in my butt and hips. I tend to carry any weight I gain on my hips aka love handles, not cute!



We are finding out the gender in a few short weeks and get to share the moment with our whole family! It’s crazy how early they can find out what you’re having now! We are so so excited. I literally do not want to look at any baby stuff until I know what we are having, so once we find out I can start shopping : ) We already have names picked out for both a boy and girl but don’t want to say any names until we know the sex!



Aside from all this exciting baby stuff we are also getting ready to sell our house and buy a bigger one for this growing family. We are having an open house next weekend so we have to be away from our house both Saturday and Sunday so that they can show it, which is exciting, but stressful at the same time! Hopefully everything falls into place and we find our dream home soon!



Now a few questions for all the moms/moms to be out there: Do any of you have a pregnancy blog I can follow or have any recommendations of a few blogs I should follow? Did/do any of you have back pain this early on is there anything that helps? Any clothing recommendations as I continue to grow without having to buy ugly maternity clothes? Is the belly band a must have? Would love feedback from you all

: )



Stephani

Working Out While Pregnant

For those who have asked what my workouts consist of since being pregnant, they haven’t changed much. The only thing I have really adjusted is my speed on the treadmill and I’ve decreased my weight a bit when lifting. I listen to my body and take rest days when needed (sometimes that’s once a week, sometimes it’s two or three times a week). I’ve been very fortunate thus far in my pregnancy and haven’t had a whole lot of morning sickness. Aside from having some days where I am so tired I can hardly stay awake at work and the back pain I’ve had from my sciatica, I have felt pretty good every day and have been able to work out and continue with daily activities without any problems. It’s important to listen to your body, workout when you can, workout with caution and remember this is not a time to try and lose weight or gain muscle, it’s a time to be as healthy as possible for both you and the baby. Anyhow, here is an example of last week’s workout schedule: I’ll post my shoulder workout as an example of the weight I’m lifting. (You can Google any of the workouts I have listed for an example of how to do them or go on Bodybuilding.com)


Monday – Cardio on treadmill for 30 minutes (Jogging at 7.3 as opposed to 8.5 before pregnancy)

Weights for about 30/40 minutes– Shoulders/Biceps:

Arnold Dumbbell Press (3 sets of 15 – 15 lb dumbbells)

Superset with

Front Plate Raises (3 sets of 15 – 25 lb plate)



Side Lateral Raises (3 sets of 15 –10 lb dumbbells)

Superset with

Bent Over Reverse Flys (3 sets of 15 – 10 lb dumbbells)



Front incline dumbbell raises (3 sets of 12 – 10 lb dumbbells)

Superset with

Barbell shoulder press behind neck (3 sets of 12 –20 lbs)



Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateral (3 sets of 12 – 20 lbs on cable machine)



3 sets of 21’s with barbell (20 lbs)

Incline dumbbell curls (both arms at the same time 3 sets of 15 - 12.5 dumbbells)



Tuesday – Chest, triceps and abs for 45 minutes.

Wednesday – 30 minutes of cardio (uphill, inclined at 10.0 run at 6.0 for 30 seconds, walk for at 3.0 for 30 seconds, repeat for 20 minutes) followed by 30 minutes of back and biceps.

Thursday – day off

Friday – Cardio (40 minutes of running steady at 7.5)

Saturday – 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill running at a steady 7.5) followed by 20 minutes of arms (biceps and triceps).

Sunday – 20 minutes of cardio (uphill, inclined at 10.0 run at 6.0 for 30 seconds, walk for at 3.0 for 30 seconds, repeat for 20 minutes) followed by a light 30 minute leg day. I’ve decreased my weight for leg day the most since being pregnant just because I feel it’s not sage to lift that heavy.

Most weeks I only run 5 days a week and only one day I run longer than 30 minutes (the day I’m not lifting). I switch up my workouts often by adding supersets, performing them in a circuit, etc… I’m trying to continue to eat as clean as possible (I always keep breakfast and lunch clean but have splurged with a few snacks and dinners – dang pregnancy cravings). Luckily most of my cravings are for salads, fruit, veggies, smoothies, basically anything cold, refreshing and fresh. I am also addicted to cheez-it’s right now and soup too! I’m grossed out on Chinese food, Mexican food (except salsa and chips) and anything greasy. I have become a very picky eater when it comes to dinner and sometimes can’t even stand the thought of food (I’m sure I drive my husband nuts lol). There has been a few times within this past month where I have had dinners all planned out for the week and then couldn’t stand the thought of any of it when dinner time comes around and my poor husband has to run to go get me a salad or soup from somewhere nearby LOL.

Well that’s all for now. Hope this helps with some of the questions I’ve gotten re: working out while pregnant.

Stephani

Shot celebration for the new daddy to be with our family on Easter.  I took the picture.  I sure miss my champagne lol : )

Excited brother and sisters to be below : )

Why I have been MIA these past few months....

I wanted to further explain to everyone why I have been MIA. Warning, this is long. By the way, welcome to my personal blog…

It all began on Friday, January 4, 2013. I woke up around 12:00 a.m. in major pain. I had been having a little bit of abdominal pain that whole week and had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Monday, January 7, 2013 (it was the soonest they could get me in). I spent hours trying to diagnosis myself the day I made my doctor’s appointment by searching for every symptom I had on Google (typical, I know lol). At first I thought maybe I had a hernia from lifting weights, but hernias don't cause cramping and I was cramping bad. Then I stating thinking it was something horrible like ovarian cancer (I pretty much freaked myself out, thanks Google). Anyhow, the cramping started out light (it felt like I was on my period but I wasn't) and then the cramping intensified but only at night when I was dead asleep. Anyhow, that night I woke cramping so bad that I could hardly make it to the bathroom. Once I made it to the bathroom I just sat on the floor in pain, holding my legs close to my chest hoping the pain would stop, but it didn't. I started sweating really bad but my entire body was cold, my heart started racing, I was light headed, I couldn't hear anything but a loud ringing noise in my ear and I felt like I was going to puke. I felt like my body was shutting down. Somehow I managed to pick myself off the floor, go into the kitchen, grab a bottle of water and sit on the kitchen floor. I downed as much water as I could, it was the only thing I could think to do. Water helped the light headed feeling go away, but the cramps were still there and they were intense. I had lost all my color, I looked like a ghost. I finally made my way into our bedroom, woke up my husband and told him I needed to go to the ER, something was not right.



We got to the ER around 12:30 a.m. that night and I was starting to feel better. I told my husband never mind, I wanted to go home, I didn't want to sit in the hospital for hours and that I thought I would be ok. Josh refused to listen to me and we checked in moments later. We were there until 7 a.m. and neither of us had more than 2 hours of sleep so we were both drained. After 2 ultrasounds, blood work and a pelvic exam we were told I had a large cyst on my ovaries (almost 6 cm). Bad thoughts immediately took over my mind. I started thinking "Will this prevent us from having kids?" "Is the cyst cancerous?” “Will I need surgery?” As we sat there waiting for the doctor to come in and further explain neither of us could say much, we were so drained. Finally the doctor comes in and for what felt like the millionth time asked "Are you pregnant?" and for the millionth time I said "No, not that I know of, I took a home pregnancy test about a week ago and it came up negative". Well, apparently the home pregnancy test was not accurate. The doctor said I was pregnant and had a large cyst on my ovaries. I started tearing up right away thinking the cyst may cause me to miscarry or not have a normal pregnancy. I started asking as many questions as I could. The doctor further explained that cysts are completely normal when pregnant and the reason I am in so much pain is because the cyst is pretty large and it’s pressing against my ovaries. She also explained that it could be getting ready to rupture. If the cyst didn’t rupture she said the swelling would just go down as I got further along in my pregnancy. This completely eased my mind….until she said that my hCG levels were at 135. Based on my last period she said those numbers were pretty low and that I needed to be checked for an Ectopic pregnancy aka tubular pregnancy (for those of you who are not familiar: An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy where the fertilized egg settles and grows outside the inner lining of the uterus (not in the uterus). The uterus is the womb. Most ectopic pregnancies occur in the Fallopian tube - known as a tubular pregnancy - but they can also occur in the cervix (neck of the womb), abdominal cavity and ovary.) The doctor said I wasn't far along enough for them to know if this was an ectopic pregnancy or not and that I was to follow up with my doctor in the next two days for more blood work and another ultrasound. They released me from the hospital with a bunch of paper work and pain meds.



My husband and I didn't know how to feel, what to say, to be excited, to be scared....this is not how we expected to find we were pregnant and this was not our picture perfect moment at all. We got off birth control in October 2012 and got pregnant in December 2012. Never did we expect to get pregnant that fast, we thought for sure it would take months.





Monday, January 7, 2013 I went to my doctor to get a referral to an OB/GYN. That night around 10:00 p.m. the cyst on my ovaries ruptured. I have never been in such awful pain in my life! I sat up in our bed with my knees to my chest for nearly 15 minutes before I felt like I was going to puke. I spent another 20 minutes hanging over the toilet. My husband brought me water, gave me my pain meds and asked if we should go to the ER again but I just didn’t want to sit there for hours to be told the same thing. Eventually I started the bath and sat in a hot bath for about 45 minutes while my husband rubbed my back. The pain gradually ceased. I went back to bed and didn’t sleep much that night. My lower abdomen had cramping for another 2 days but it was nothing compared to the cramping I had experienced when the cyst ruptured. By Friday I was pain free, thank god!



Thursday, January 10, 2013 I saw my OB/GYN. I was nervous, but glad Josh took the day off work to go with me. She said based on my last period I was about 6 weeks pregnant, she did a PAP and I had blood drawn. She scheduled me for another appointment Monday, January 14, 2013 to have more blood work done. They needed to compare my hCG levels to rule out an ectopic pregnancy. Blood work took a few days and the anticipation of my doctor calling with results was killing me. All I could do in the meantime was pray this was a healthy pregnancy. All Josh and I wanted were answers so we could finally be excited about our future.



I received a call back from my doctor on January 16, 2013 and her exact words were “your hCG levels have increased, so the pregnancy is still there, we need to continue to monitor you”. My hCG levels were now in the 1,000’s when they should have been far over that. We scheduled another appointment for Monday, January 21, 2013 so I could talk further to my doctor about what this meant. Friday, January 18, 2013 I started having light bleeding and cramping. The blood was brown so I thought it was maybe just implantation bleeding (I was hoping that’s what it was). By Saturday the bleeding became heavier and the cramping increased. Sunday I felt drained, the bleeding turned into small clots and I was cramping pretty bad. I refused to sit in the ER for 6 hours again when I had a doctor appointment the next day, so I waited until Monday to see my doctor. Monday, January 21, 2012 I went to work in the morning, the cramping in my back and stomach became unbearable and I sat at my desk in tears until it was time for my 11 a.m. doctor appointment. By the time I made it to my doctor the blood clots were huge and I couldn’t even walk without hunching over because I was in so much pain. She did a pelvic examine and confirmed I was having a miscarriage : (. I was so upset and so disappointed. I had to go in hours later for a D&C. The surgery didn’t take too long, they put me under and I was awake an hour or so later. However, it was something I never want to go through again, it was painful on my heart and my mind.



My body healed incredibly fast after the miscarriage. I was back to work a day later and the bleeding stopped the day after my surgery. The doctor told me I needed to allow my body two weeks to heal, no baths, no intercourse, light activity as far as working out, etc. Two weeks later I had a checkup and she said I was healed and everything looked great. She reminded me that God has a reason for everything and not to be sad. It was hard, the whole thing was hard emotionally and physically.



Two weeks later my husband took me on a surprise trip to Napa for my birthday. We needed this trip after everything we had just gone through. It was one of the best trips we have ever had, so much fun! Two weeks after returning home we found we were pregnant!! I made an appointment with my doctor right away. She could hardly believe it was true. We started blood work and this time my hCG levels were already around 60,000 and two days later they had more than doubled! Now here we are 12 weeks pregnant and baby is doing sooo good! We had an ultrasound done and saw the little heart fluttering like crazy and yesterday we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! Such a bittersweet moment! Doctor says everything looks great, this made me so happy!



Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know what’s been going on with me and I also wanted to introduce you guys to personal blog that I will be using during this pregnancy. I’ll be back with more pregnancy updates soon!



Stephani – Fit Life Happy Wife

Fitness Blog

I have not blogged in FOREVER! Work is so busy and so is working out and making dinners and lunches. Last year I added so much to my workout routine. I have learned a ton more and have incorporated so many new things into my daily routine. I have finally hit my ideal boy fat percentage at 14% as of today (my body fat ranges from 17% - 15% normally). I managed this while still having my champagne every night too : ) This does not mean I'm going to slow down now, this just means I am doing something right and I'm going to keep pushing myself even further! With that being said, I have gotten so many messages from people asking me what my workout routine is and how I eat etc..I've written out workout plans for people and diet plans for people too. I'm thinking about starting a fitness blog logging my workouts, eating, etc....for those who are interested. That way I don't have to write the same email a million times to different people. I have to think more about how I want to put this together, but this is definitely something I'm going to try and make time for. Okay back to work now : )

RIP - Brielle Murray

Please pray for the Murray family. Yesterday they lost their 13-year-old daughter Brielle to cancer. She had been battling RMS cancer for 3 years but through it all she was faithful to the Lord, seeking him when she was hurting or scared for comfort and never stopped thanking him for all of his blessings. Such an inspiration this little girl was. Although Josh and I do not know Brielle or her family personally, a couple of our friends do, and brought her story to us. My heart goes out to her family, I cannot imagine the pain they are feeling to have lost their precious daughter who brought so much joy to their lives. She is home now with the one she belonged to all along. If you want to read about Brielle's battle, please click the link below:
http://web.me.com/terrypeiffer/Brielle/Welcome.html

Valentines Day with an unexpected guest..

Valentines Day is a day Josh and I celebrate every year. We make it a weekend rather than a day and we ALWAYS do something special together. It's so important as a married couple to keep things alive and exciting.

This year we booked a room in Palm Springs. This place was probably the most beautiful, romantic hotels we have ever stayed at. I actually found this place by googling "top romantic hotels in Palm Springs" and Andalusian Court came up as #1. Behind the hotel were huge mountains, the sky was so clear and the weather was perfect. Our room was like home. We had a kitchen, living room, bedroom with a fireplace, bathroom with a huge shower and huge tub and our own private patio with a fire pit and jacuzzi tub. The room was so beautiful and cozy that I didn't even want to go out for dinner, I wanted to cook dinner there and just enjoy the room.

We arrived in Palm Springs around 3:00 p.m. Sunday. After checking into our hotel, we drove around looking for a local grocery store to buy champagne and stuff to make breakfast the next morning. After getting everything we needed we started looking for a good place to have dinner that night. We came across a place called Chop House, they had exactly what we were craving for dinner and the setting was dark and romantic, we decided to go there for dinner that night. We went back to the room and exchanged gifts. Our gifts to each other for Valentines Day are always something we can do together. This year we will be hiking Mt. Whitney together and seeing our favorite christian artist in concert (Chris Tomlin). I am beyond excited to do both. Mt. Whitney is every hikers dream to accomplish, I love setting goals like this and knowing I will do anything to complete something I set my mind to. Chris Tomlin has an amazing voice and his songs really touch me...I cannot wait to see him live!!! Josh is so thoughtful when it comes to gifts. He listens to me, remembers things I don't even remember and surprises me every time.

We opened a bottle of champagne, had a glass and started getting ready for dinner. The plan was to go to dinner and then come back and light a fire by our private outdoor jacuzzi and relax in the jacuzzi with Champagne. As we were getting ready to head out to dinner, I heard the jacuzzi jets on. I opened the patio door to find someone in our jacuzzi, closed the door faster than I could blink and told Josh "someone is in our jacuzzi". Josh said "no way" and opened the door to tell the guy he needed to leave. The guy was fully dressed sitting in our jacuzzi (full of water)with a fast food bag sitting next to him. Josh told the guy that we paid for that private jacuzzi and he needed to leave and be gone by the time we got back from dinner. The guy said "okay, I'm really sorry" and we left for dinner.

Dinner was sooooo good!!! Josh got king crab legs and I got lobster. As we were eating dinner we couldn't help but laugh and wonder what the the heck that guy was doing in our jacuzzi fully clothed. He didn't seem drunk and he was completely coherent. It was just really weird but all we could do is laugh.

We got back to the room and Josh checked the patio area only to find the same guy, still fully clothed in our jacuzzi!!! What the heck?!?! This guy was huge and hairy and there was my husband once again telling him to leave before he calls the cops. The guy keeps apologizing, says he has a problem and starts standing up as if he were finally going to leave. Josh asked him if he was okay and he responded that he was fine so we went back into our room to give him some time to leave once again. At this point we are full and irritated that we can't do as planned. Josh goes back outside ten minutes later and guess who is back in the jacuzzi again?!?! Big ol hair dude! Josh calls the hotel manager and it goes to voicemail, so he called the cops. At this point, I'm pretty sure this guy knows Josh is on the phone with the cops and any normal person would have left...but he didn't he stayed, in the tub, with his clothes on and his fast food bag. W.E.I.R.D!

The cops came pretty fast. Apparently this guy was arrested a week prior for the same thing. They said he was completely harmless but had a mental disorder, schizophrenia perhaps? They asked him a few questions, he did everything they asked and they came in and told us there was no point in arresting him as he was completely harmless, but that they were going to take him to the hospital for a 3-day mental evaluation. I felt kind of bad for the guy, he was so nice but so not all there to think what he was doing was normal. After an hour of chaos, Josh and I were still trying to comprehend everything that just happened..it was just so bizarre. We continued about our night, relaxed in our hot tub and stayed up till nearly 1 a.m. just having fun. I swear, no one can make me laugh like my husband, I have so much fun with him. It's like being with your best friend and just being able to completely be YOU with nothing to hold back. It's an amazing feeling to have someone you can connect with in every was possible.

The next morning we woke up and planned on making mimosas and enjoying them in our jacuzzi. I was making drinks and Josh went out to get the jacuzzi ready. All of a sudden he walks in the room and says "What the heck, that guy is back in our jacuzzi fully dressed in a different outfit" No way!!!! Sure enough, he was back and he was fully dressed, wallet and all, in our private jacuzzi! What happened to him being admitted to the hospital for a 3-day evaluation? This was just so odd. Josh called the cops again and this time he was arrested.

We sat there listening to everything the cops were asking him. The guy seemed so innocent, so honest but yet so lost. I felt awful for him but something in his head was not right. He said he would hop over the brick wall of the villa we stayed in and just sit in that jacuzzi for hours (he lived across the street), but it was private and he had ALL of his clothes on, I don't get it. He said he was depressed, the cops told us he lost his job not too long ago and I couldn't help but feel for him but at the same time wonder, what was so special about this dang jacuzzi to make him not want to leave once the cops were there (they gave him every opportunity to just leave, but he didn't want to). They arrested him that morning, he complied with everything they told him to do, he was so big they had to use three cuffs on him. I just felt so bad for that man, mid-30s and to be that depressed and to sound so alert yet so not all there just made me sad for him. The only conclusion I could come to is that he wanted help, he wanted to be admitted to a hospital, he wanted someone to notice him and help him...

Although we had a crazy twist in our vacation, it was still so much fun. This is the kind of stuff we will look back on and laugh about, these are the memories I hold dear to my heart no matter what the situation was because we know how to make the best out of anything : ) As I always say....our life is so much fun together.