Just a quick pregnancy update: I am feeling great! This has been by far my best pregnancy and I’m thankful. I endured two awful pregnancies where I felt sick and disabled the entire time, and one where I felt sick just most of the time! All three of my previous pregnancies have left me with terrible hip and back pain, especially in my right hip. It got chronically tight to the point where I started hobbling around and cry out in pain every time I would get up or sit down. This time, however, I have tried to prevent that and so far so good. I have been stretching every day and have focused a lot on my hips and those muscles that wrap right around the pelvis that get really tight in pregnancy. I can feel a huge difference in my strength this time around.

When I quit doing Insanity workouts at 20 weeks, I was nervous that I wouldn’t find anything to keep me feeling strong, but the prenatal workout that I chose has been excellent. I am still doing Suzanne Bowen’s Slim and Toned Prenatal Barre workout 5-6 times a week and love it. It hasn’t made me sweat until this week – where I’m starting to get bigger and things are getting a little harder, I’m working more for it. I feel that my abdomen and pelvic floor is really strong because of this workout. She constantly reminds you to “zip up your pelvis” and I love that reminder. My back hasn’t hurt AT ALL – which is a miracle and I attribute it to working out every day and stretching a lot.

My diet has been better than any other pregnancy, hands down. Mostly this was because of going off of gluten in February. I didn’t gain any weight from 20-27 weeks. That was the exact same time that I went off of gluten. Now that it’s feeling more like spring, I am eating a lot more fresh produce and I can tell the difference it makes. I’m still drinking my smoothies every morning and eating a lot of eggs and meat for breakfast, which gets me going and feeling good right away. I have found that getting a lot of protein is key for how I feel during pregnancy (or any time) and I really try to ensure I’m getting enough . . . but honestly, it’s not hard for me to do! I eat my eggs and sausage or whatever in the morning with my smoothie that is protein packed – spinach, banana, hemp seeds, chia seeds, kefir, frozen fruit, and water. For lunch I make meat and veggies and we have fruit for dessert. I snack on a banana with peanut butter or cottage cheese with fruit or string cheese with almonds in the afternoon, then have a really light supper in the evening.

I drink a lot of herbal tea and have been starting to drink more of my red raspberry tea since entering the third trimester as well. I really did notice a difference in the amount of bleeding after my last baby was born and attribute that to the hoards of red raspberry tea I drank that last trimester. I have been naughty and have given in to my Easter candy cravings lately, but I think I’m doing pretty well considering everything else good I’m eating! Easter candy is probably my favorite (especially in Canada, where I’m from). I crave those mini eggs and starburst jellybeans and bags full of ONLY black jellybeans (genius, I tell you). My skin is breaking out because of it and I’ve recently vowed to stop . . . after Easter?!?

Another thing I have noticed with the way I have been eating this time around is that I haven’t had heartburn! It’s tried to flare up just a couple of times, but I quickly rub some digestzen oil on my chest, and it soothes it. When I do eat sugar in the evening I notice it more, but it’s nothing like I would normally be feeling at this point.

Overall, I can’t complain. This little boy has only recently made himself known by rolling around and kicking like crazy (which seriously makes me nauseated from the inside out). Up until this point, I have forgotten I was pregnant most of the time. I’m busy, my baby is still a baby, and I feel normal so it wasn’t something I thought much about. However, as this belly grows and baby boy decides to move around more, I’m starting to realize I’m pregnant more and more! If I can continue working out for the next 10 weeks and keep feeding my body what it needs, I am hopeful that it will be smooth sailing from here on out. It’s nice to finally enjoy being pregnant!