My pregnancy: 18 weeks

So, the heat index reached 117 degrees this week.  Did you know that pregnant women have to add an additional 10 degrees to the index? It’s true.  We just run hotter.  After living in Phoenix for 7 years, you’d think that I’d be used to the heat.  I am, but this heat+humidity is downright oppressive.  I’m practically melting over here.

Besides being hot, it’s been a roller coaster week.  Let’s get right to it.

How I’m Feeling

Still feeling good.  I had two unfortunate throwing up incidents, both triggered by horrid smells.

The first was when I was forced to use an outhouse.  Tim and I had a night away for our 5th anniversary and were hiking at a state park.  The only available bathroom facility was an outhouse and the smell made me vomit.  Literally.  Lesson learned:  don’t be afraid to pee in the woods.  I hate how I look in this video, but it’s funny so I thought I’d share.  Tim taped me coming out of the outhouse after listening to me yak.  Here it is:

The second incident was when I was trying to do laundry.  I was getting ready to clean Tim’s baseball uniform that he’d worn the night before in the sweltering heat.  It sat in the laundry room all night and was still soaking wet and smelled of sweat and dirt.  I picked it up and again, the smell made me vomit.  Tim wasn’t home, but Meghan thought it was hilarious.

I also learned this week that the nausea will still rear its ugly head if I don’t eat often enough.  Sometimes there is too long of a stretch between my afternoon snack and dinner time, and that’s a bad thing.  No one wants to get nauseous in the middle of preparing dinner.

What’s Happening with my Body

No huge changes this week, but I do feel like my belly grew a little.  This biggest news is that I finally felt some movement! Early in the week I felt a few flutters here and there, but still wasn’t 100% convinced that it wasn’t just gas.  😉  Then, yesterday, I felt what I knew was more than gas.  There really is no better feeling than the sensation of another life moving inside you.  It’s incredible.

The Exercise Quandary

Last week, I reported that I was taking baby steps towards exercising more.  I was feeling happy about my progress and loved that I was able to feel good exercising again.  Then, I read this post on the blog Clean Eating Chelsey.  I’ll give you the lowdown in case you don’t feel like clicking over to read it.  It was a guest post written by Katie from Yes, I Want Cake and it was titled “Baby Bounce Back”.  I’d never read Katie’s blog, so this was my first introduction to her.  The topic was how she quickly bounced back into her pre-pregnancy shape after having her baby.  Here’s an excerpt:

I exercised hard throughout my pregnancy. Not just walking (although I did a lot of that, too), but lifted heavy weights, ran fast, and pushed myself – I never consulted my doctor about it, because I didn’t think she knew what my body was capable of like I did. I can’t say that exercise is the reason that recovering from pregnancy/childbirth has been such a breeze – but I know that it helped tremendously.

She described how she exercised all 3 trimesters, and lost the 25 pounds she gained in pregnancy immediately after giving birth.  I know I shouldn’t compare myself to other people, but reading this was hard for me.  It made me feel like my being happy with my exercising baby steps was ridiculous.  Like I should be doing more.  I started doubting and questioning myself.  Am I not doing more because I’m lazy?  Am I being too easy on myself?

I’m trying to focus on staying positive and not dwelling on my self doubt, but I want to be honest with you and this is how I’ve felt this week. Like I’m not doing enough.  Here’s a peek at what my exercising has looked like since my last update:

Friday:  Walked 45 minutes at a good pace.

Saturday: Hiked ~2 hours (with stops to take pictures and throw up in outhouses).

Sunday:  No exercise.  We drove back from our getaway destination and had to go directly to Tim’s baseball game on the way home.  So I got to sit for 2 hours in the heat and watch him play.  🙂

Monday:  Did 10 real pushups.  Not sure why that’s all I did.  Lame.

Tuesday:  Walked for 30 minutes, followed by 3 sets of 15 reverse lunges and 3 sets of 15 squats.

Wednesday:  Planned to do an indoor workout of some kind after putting Meghan to bed, but had a terrible headache.  No exercise.

Thursday:  No exercise. Only excuse is that I was too hot.

My goal is to take these negative feelings and turn them into motivation to do better next week.  I would like to fit in 4-5 days of real workouts next week (meaning more than just doing 10 push-ups).  I’ll keep you posted if I reach my goal!

Question:  Next week, we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl.  Any guesses?