Pregnancy week 19: Our baby kicked!! + Nutrition during pregnancy

Hi Everyone,

Chris and I came back from our babymoon yesterday. It was very relaxing and we had a lot of fun eating great food in Vancouver. I’ll share a little bit more about our trip later this week with pictures.

I'm in week 19 and I’m noticing that my belly has been growing rapidly. Now I can't fit into my jeans because it's really tight around the belly.  I also hate wearing my bras because the wire is so uncomfortable. Chris get's upset because I keep complaining but not buying a new bra. I really need to go buy one soon. I've been wearing a lot of dresses since it's comfortable especially in the CA heat. I haven't gained too much weight except for around my arms and my thighs. The extra weight gain has been stressing me out a little so I'm continuing to remind myself that I'm pregnant.

I have some exciting news to share. Our baby kicked for the first time in Vancouver. It was so exciting. I kept wondering when our baby was going to kick then finally our baby did. It feels like little air bubbles popping inside my tummy. Some people say it feels like tiny butterflies. When I first felt the baby I thought it was my stomach growling but the movements started getting bigger. Then, that's when I realized it was our baby kicking. I immediately told Chris and he jumped up with a huge smile and placed his hand on my tummy. He seemed more excited then I was.  He looked incredibly happy when he felt the baby kick for the first time. I've always pictured what it was going to be like when I was pregnant. I pictured how my husband was going to react when our baby kicked for the first time and It was exactly the way I pictured it. That moment was priceless.

Chris and I at the airport on our way to Vancouver. I was 18 weeks in this picture.

Nurtiriton:
Today I wanted to share a little about the importance of nutrition during pregnancy. After reading several books and articles I learned what “eating for two” really means.  Doctors say that most women think eating for two means eat twice as much as you use too and eating whatever you want.  What it really means is for us to consume twice the amount of vitamins and minerals for us and our developing baby.

I read in a book called “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” by Dr. Joel Wallach that baby calves were born with birth defects due to lack of minerals and vitamins. They traced it back to the mother and realized that the mother wasn’t consuming enough vitamins and minerals which created imprints in their DNA. That imprinted DNA was passed onto their babies which caused birth defects. Nowadays we hear a lot about kids with eczema, allergies, and many other things we didn’t have to deal with while growing up. Thank God if your kid doesn't deal with this now but I believe we can prevent them from occuring in the future through better nutrition.

Although it's important to eat healthy it's also important not to deprive ourselves of some treats occasionally. I'm not the most healthy eater but I do control my cravings. I also take organically made vitamins to make sure I get my daily servings of vitamins and minerals for me and my baby.

I personally take a really high quality organically made vitamin. Nothing can be 100% organic but  through some research I found that the one I consume takes the best of nature and the best of science to make the supplements.  Synthetic vitamins are chemical based and made by duplicating the vitamin structure. Due to this reason it's hard for our liver to process synthetic vitamins so it can be more harmful then helpful in the future. Organically made vitamins should be made from certified organically grown fruits and vegetables. They  extract the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients straight from the plants and compress it into a pill form.

I’ve also read that we should be consuming about 300-400 calories more than our average intake (based on our body) during our pregnancy. My regular caloric intake is about 1300 calories per day (if I’m not active) based on my height and body size. Then that means I should consume about 1600 calories a day during my pregnancy.  If you work out your calorie intake will increase. I'll talk about prenatal work out's in the future.

Hope this helps you all mother to be's~

My Pregnancy Week 18 + How I'm avoiding stretch marks

Hi Guys,

I started my week 18 on Sunday. I've been feeling really sleepy and tired after every meal. I've been fighting to stay awake at work. Our baby is now the size of a sweek potato. I'm so excited to find out what the gender of our baby is in 2 weeks. I can't wait to share with you guys.

I'm in my second trimester now so I'm doing much better since I had a really hard first trimester. I had morning sickness until my 16th week. I still get it here and there but it's not nearly as bad. I'll share a few things I did that helped my nauseousness on my next baby entry. Today I want to talk about how I'm avoiding stretch marks.

One of the things I was concerned about when I found out I was pregnant was stretch marks. I did some research and found a really great cream called the Tummy Rub by Mama Mio. I've read that celebrities loved it and some youtube guru's reviewed about it saying it worked extremely well. I was a little skeptical but hopeful so, I decided to give it a try. I've been using it since week 9 and I haven't gotten any stretch marks yet. I've been applying it all over my tummy, back, sides, thighs, and my butt. I don't want to miss any spots.

I love that it's free of nasties such as parabens, sulphates, and fragrances. Also they don't test their products on animals.  The smell is great as well. It's very fresh and not too over powering. It containts Omega 3, 6, and 9 which builds the skins strength and elasticity.

Hope it works for you as well!

Love,

Sandy

I'm living out my dream

Happy Friday!!

I was listening to this song by Taylor Swift called Mean and I wanted to share this music with you guys. If you haven't heard this song yet I would like to highly recommend for you to at least listen to it once. It'll give you a great smile or give you a great laugh thinking about all those people who were mean to you when you were trying to live out your dream.

I've had a big dream since I was really young and I had an opportunity to take control of it when I was 22. Since then I've been learning and living to accomplish my dreams. Some people thought I was crazy, out of my mind, and sometimes weird. A great speaker/ pastor name Mark Gorman said there are 3 things that'll try to take your dreams away from you. The first are the people who geniuely love you. They don't want to see you get hurt and go through struggles so they would rather you chose a easier path. So, we may have an outrageous dream but all they think might be exactly that, just plain outrageous. That's what happened to me when I told my parents my dreams and goals. They thought I was crazy and thought it would be better for me to pick a more common path. I believed in myself and had faith that my visions weren't solely just from me but some part of it was from God. That kept me strong throughout all my struggles. I had so much to learn and still do but through all the great friends and mentorship I was able to become a much stronger person inside and out.

This song caught my attention because she talks about this person who's just plain mean because they do and say whatever they can to hurt her. Then she talks about how that person will always stay just as a mean person and she's going to rise to the top. This can refer to many different people. You can be 5, 15, 21, or 50 years old. In any time of our life their may be a certain person or people who continue to hurt us or treat as if we're not good enough. If we're referring to us striving for our dream I would like to say continue to focus on your dreams because you'll achieve it and all those that laughed or hurt you will probably still be where they were when you make it to the top. Here's my favorite part of the song:

Well you can take me down,
With just one single blow.
But you don’t know, what you don’t know,

Someday, I’ll be living in a big old city,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean.
Someday, I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me,
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean.
Why you gotta be so mean?

These lyrics aren't necessarily for my parents but it spoke out to me and thought it may speak out to someone who's dealing with something similar. Also, sometimes the biggest meany in our lives is ourselves. There's that tiny voice telling ourselves that we're not good enough, we've failed before, who do you think you are, and many more. Sometimes we just need to tell ourselves to stop being mean to me.

I would just like to say to never give up on your dreams and don't ever let anyone else take your dream away from you. We won't be loved by everyone no matter what and I hope that's not your mission in life. If we want to do great things we can't be loved by everyone. I had to learn that the hard way. Let's just try to remeber that the only opinion that matters is from above.

P.S Please let me know one thing you would like to share with others who's living out their dreams. I would love to hear from you guys as well.

If you liked what you read please share with others.
Love,
Sandy