dianaschnuth

It occurred to me that I’ve been doing my readership mother a disservice by not blogging more about my pregnancy since I announced it to the world. I guess I just got in such a habit of keeping everything to myself (we learned about it at 10 weeks and didn’t say anything for another month and a half) that most of my internal pregnancy banter still went straight into my private longhand journal.

I’ve gotten away from the journaling a bit, though, and more into micro-blogging on Twitter. Granted, my tweets do get published here (and on Facebook), but condensing feelings and experiences down to 140 characters can lose a little something in the translation.

So, I’m going to take my first few public micro-blogs on the topic of pregnancy and expound on them a bit. We’ll see how far I get…

My fellow #weightwatchers may be finding my tweets less relevant to their interests in the coming months… since I’m 16 weeks #pregnant! 🙂 (Thu 14 April 2011, 10:41AM)

I knew that I couldn’t be on Weight Watchers while pregnant. It was a surprise to me that they actually offer a refund for pregnancy!

It was really sweet, actually: I announced my pregnancy via e-mail to the ladies I usually sit with during my At-Work meeting, just because I’ve been a regular for about three years, and I guessed they’d be wondering where I was. See, I’d been planning to keep my pregnancy on the down-low for as long as I could, but I could only fake the meetings for a couple of weeks. So, I just stopped going (after telling my leader, of course, who swore to me that she hadn’t heard a word I’d said).

When I sent the e-mail announcement to my WW ladies, I copied my leader and the fitness coordinator at my work (she oversees the fitness center and all programs, including WW At-Work). I got the requisite congratulations from my friends (all older, with grown children of their own) and the fitness coordinator, but was surprised to get an e-mail from my leader, as well.

“We’re having a potluck at this week’s meeting,” it said. “Come join us, and I’ll have your refund form ready for you!”

Wait… refund form?

I pay via payroll deduction, but that was no problem. All I need to do (and I still need to, since I’m such a procrastinator) is copy the last paystub with a WW deduction on it, pack the form and the photocopy and my membership book in an envelope, and ship it off. I’ll get my money back in a couple of months.

Rock on.

A quick search of bittorrent tracker sites tells me that expecting moms with fitness on their minds are not a subset of torrent seeders. (Thu 14 April 2011, 7:56PM)

Yeah, it’ll probably be a bit of a challenge to teach Junior Schnuth about how stealing is wrong, yet still have a bittorrent client installed and downloading various copyrighted media.

I was foiled this time, though: the particular prenatal workout DVD I was looking for was nowhere to be found on the illicit intertubes. It may have been available through NetFlix, but via disc only, and Aaron’s current subscription is instant only. So, I did the responsible thing and ordered it through Amazon. I put it on my wishlist first, just in case the Birthday Fairy decided to get it for me, but ended up just buying it for myself a couple of days ago. It should arrive later this week.

May ask my OB next week if I can try going out for an easy run. Walking is nice and all, but I miss #running. I never thought I’d say that. (Thu 14 April 2011, 9:09PM)

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

I know I need to keep in shape, not only so I can get through the epically long birth process (preferably unmedicated), but also so I can get back on track to getting and staying fit post-partum. Running, however, isn’t currently in the cards for me, thanks to some leg pain due to my spreading pelvis (which is normal, so I hear).

I was really enjoying running, too, but January was ridiculously cold and icy, and I was sick with a nasty cough for a couple weeks in February — then we found out I was pregnant on February 28, and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the pregnancy. I’d read that any activity a woman was previously engaged in can be continued during the pregnancy, but I was already feeling like I’d taken a break from running, and getting back into it would involve taking a step backward in my training level. So, I just stayed away from it entirely.

I’m planning to get back to running after the baby’s born, although it’ll be logistically a little more challenging. No more just bundling up and heading out the door on a chilly (or frigid) autumn or winter evening. I may end up getting a membership at the fitness center at my work and hitting the treadmill in the morning. We’ll see.

Unfortunately, though, I don’t think I’ll be making a return to the Jingle Bell Run this December; that’ll be way too soon after the birth for any sort of 5K training, I’m afraid.

Huh! Guess my #pregnancy #weight gain isn’t so far off, after all. I was worried I was gaining too fast. (Sun 17 April 2011, 10:50AM)

After being on Weight Watchers for three years (and losing 25 pounds over that time span), and after years of dieting and obsessing over my weight before that, I’m understandably a little concerned about how much weight I should or shouldn’t gain during pregnancy. Since I started out a little on the overweight side, the generally accepted range of weight gain for me is 15-25 pounds; for a normal weight person, it would be 25-35 pounds.

According to BabyCenter, I was on track at this point in my pregnancy, and I still am. My OB told me this past visit (only after I asked) that I’m currently looking at the higher end of the normal range of weight gain (for a normal weight person, not overweight). What she doesn’t know, though, is that I lost five pounds in the two months between conception and us finding out I was pregnant. So, my actual pre-pregnancy weight is a little higher than where I weighed in at my initial nurse’s visit. No worries!

Ever get a few words into writing a blog entry, then realize that no one would really care? Yeah, my OB appt really wasn’t that interesting. (Mon 18 April 2011, 8:21PM)

This was in reference to not my most recent OB visit, but the one before that. Looks like they’re all going to be this interesting, though: I pee in a cup. Nurse weighs me and takes my blood pressure. OB comes in, looks over my chart, discusses the results of any tests I’ve had since last time. Asks if I’m feeling the baby move. Listens to the heartbeat (via doppler, so Aaron and I can hear, too). Asks me if I have any questions. Tells me about any upcoming tests. Takes me out to schedule my next appointment. The end.

I’m still on a four-week schedule with the OB visits, but as I progress, they’ll go to every two weeks, then once a week during the last month.

The really exciting stuff was going to get ultrasounds. I’ve had a total of three so far: One at 10 weeks, one at 12 weeks, and the anatomy ultrasound (it’s a boy!) at 21 weeks. I guess the next batch of excitement will be once my OB starts checking my cervix for dilation and effacement (basically, how ready am I to give birth), although that sounds more uncomfortable than exciting.

Although that doesn’t really catch me up to the present, that’s good enough for now. Rest assured that I’ll post more frequently between now and the end of September…