"Hard Knock Life" Pregnancy Edition

It’s a hard knock life for ribs, It’s a hard knock life for hips

Instead of organ space, we get crimped!

Instead of deep breaths, we get kicked!

It's a hard-knock life!

Half a pound a week, he grows
It's the hard-knock row we hoe

Cotton panties

Instead of lace

Round belly
Up in our space
It's a hard-knock life!

Don't it feel like your bladder’s always howlin?
Don't you wanna just turn out the light?
Once a day, don't you wanna lay in?
Sleep the day away into the night.

No one's there when your dreams at night are creepy!
No one cares if you grow or if you shrink!
No one dries when your eyes get wet and weepy
From the crying you would think this place would sink!

Ohhhh!!!!!!!
Round belly life!
Cramped and hungry life!
Full of baby life!
Dreams of tomorrow life!

Little hands we can’t wait to see,
Little hands? What about eyes? And feet?

All anyone cares about is the smidge
But there’s no room between my ribs!
It's the hard knock life!

It's the hard-knock life for hips
It's the hard-knock life for ribs
All they care about is the smidge
While he’s widening out my hips
It's The Hard Knock Life!
It's the Hard Knock Life!
IT'S THE HARD KNOCK LIFE!!!

31 Weeks- Update

We're at 31weeks!!! Our little boy is head down, my sciatica is no fun most days, and we are growing like crazy! He measured at 30 inches so close enough! All our numbers are perfect and our doctor says we're so textbook it almost makes her paranoid- cross your fingers that we stay that way!

Supplies: We have the crib, the carseat, and a pack n'play/bassinette beside our bed. We have a diaper bag, a breastpump, and most of the little essentials (or at least samples of the essentials!)We also have so many adorable onesies that he's going to grow out of so fast! Our savings account is loaded with the average cost of a delivery and I have 9 weeks to put away the extra I can!

Nursery: Pretty much done, with much criticism on the neutral/earthy color palette from EVERYONE and zero f***s given on my part. 

Go-Bag: I recently started ordering stuff for myself for the hospital and will post separately later on my hospital go-bag.

Health: I've experienced some mild swelling primarily in my legs. I'm on my feet for 8-15 hours a day so this was expected and all my medical numbers are great. I've taken to wearing compression socks to work and putting my feet up for 10 minutes (on the back of the couch) when i get home at night. I do use a body pillow. I am attempting to add some light cardio into my life with short jogs. Not my favorite, but it does help with circulation. In addition to the absurd amount of water i drink (and always have), i started eating fiber wafers (apple flavor from metamucil) and start each day with a bowl of fruit.

Green Baby

We already are pretty green in our household. I have sensitive skin and food allergies, so there are some things we have to be conscious about and others that just fell into place.

I wear mineral makeup, and use all natural skincare. (silk naturals)
I use a commercial shampoo/conditioner free of SLS and parabens (Giovanni 2chic)
I use a natural based laundry detergent (used to use Berry Plus, but switch to Method for availability)
I use vinegar in my wash cycle (to keep whites whiter and eliminate odors)
We use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets (because they're reuseable)

We have not made the switch to natural dish detergent, but like that Dawn participates in animal efforts. Only about half of our cleaning supplies are natural. One step at a time folks!
We eat soy-free and also try to choose products with the simplest ingredients and without corn syrup (because why is it even in there half the time?) We buy our dog a premium dogfood (nutrisource).

So, as you can see, what we put in and on our own bodies has been a priority for quite some time. Why would it be any less so with our new baby? Our household tends to walk the line between what's best and what's also convenient (for example, choosing disposable diapers that are eco-conscious).

What are our choices for The Green Baby?

• Diapers: Bambo is natural, sensitive, top rated, and environmentally conscious
• Laundry: We'll be sticking with our Method, Vinegar, and Wool Balls approach
• Wipes: I got samples of pampers(free), huggies naturals ($1.98), amazon elements($1.90), and honest wipes ($.79), BUT I also ordered the starter kit for what the French swear by: Liniment Oleo Calcaire which is basically olive oil with calcium. It's oil so it cleans effectively and leaves a barrier on baby's bottom to seal in moisture and prevent rashes. I won't know what i like best til i use it, but something tells me the olive oil is going to win out. 
• Skincare: Again, I'm really not sure where we'll end up with this, but we've received lots of samples (burt's bees, babyganics) and registered for lots of kits (honest, california baby), so i'm sure we'll find a favorite. 

Healthy Baby Home Parties

You know I'm all about trying before buying and that green products=good to me. I have sensitive skin and started transitioning to green a long time ago. Makeup, skincare, and quite a few cleaning products are just some of the things we go green with. There's mixed reviews on every product for everything and the companies that let me touch, feel, and otherwise try before i buy have an edge on those that don't. Seventh Generation doesn't send out free samples(though they offer a pretty awesome trial kit on epantry) BUT they do offer healthy baby home party boxes for women to try their products as a group (and everyone leaves with a kit of free stuff to try).

I went through the process to "become a host", and thought i'd describe it here.

Step 1)Join Generation Good- you're going to want to build some points so try to do the first few challenges presented. My account is ~150pts so not hugely active, but active enough. Eventually one of your missions will be to host a healthy baby home party. (i also signed up to be notified)

Step 2) Your first mission to get selected is going to be writing why you would like to be host and sharing the blurb below:

I joined Generation Good largely because i'd love to try their products, even if it means getting some girls with babies together and talking about what's in the box (i would probably just open the box up at my baby shower), but they still choose hosts at random. I've heard mixed reviews on several of their products and would love to see for myself! Wouldn't you?

Step 3) Once you've been selected as a host, they schedule 2 online "parties" you have to attend where they basically talk about what's in the party box and how a party normally goes. I attended the generation good party today. The twitter party is in 2 days

Step 4) During all this, your mission will be to share the party on social media, invite friends, and wait for your box.

Step 5) Take some pics of your party/kit

Full size bingo prizes: 7gen Dish Detergent, A Bobble, a green toy (elephant), a large pack of diapers, a large pack of wipes

Literature and samples: There's flyers for all the companies repped in the box, coupons, and samples of 7th generation products and zarbees

My party is small so here you see my giftbags filled and stored for the party

Belly Shaming

I read an article this week about a model who photo-chronicled her bump (a lot of expecting moms chronicle their bump!) and all the criticism she received for how small it was. It struck a bit of a cord with me as i also carry quite small and while these days i usually feel huge, i still frequently get stares of shock from people who didn't immediately realize i'm pregnant or can't believe i'm 7 months along.

I took this series of photos to demonstrate how much a baby bump changes throughout the day:

As you can see, the photos are within a 36-hour time frame. They're affected by the time of day, how much i've eaten, what i'm wearing, whether or not i'm flexing my abs (middle photo), etc. The "biggest photo" is the first one, and the second one was taken 24 hours later, right after i read article, both after a long work shift. The third i took in the "morning" right after i got up for the day.


There are a lot of reasons why women carry differently:

• Physical State Before and During Pregnancy 
• The model in the article is a MODEL. She had a six pack. I am a waitress, I had a soft six-pack (the verticle lines are there but the horizontal ones are less defined). I am sure she was probably a runner and continued running during her pregnancy, which is perfectly healthy and even encouraged. I'm still on my feet, speedwalking and carrying heavy trays, for 8-15 hours a day. A co-worker is naturally VERY slim, and got pretty vocally annoyed when someone told her she "didn't look pregnant" the other day. She's ~7 weeks behind me, and at 22 weeks, i was still pretty flat bellied too, but it kind of sucks sharing your big news and then feeling like no one knows/cares because you don't "look" the part. If they didn't care, they wouldn't comment, but it still feels kind of alienating. My customers just started feeling confident enough in the size of my belly to acknowledge it in the past 2 weeks, and probably because- as the first photo shows- mine is a soccer ball, it looks out of place, but what if it didn't? what if i were fatter?
• Heredity
• My mom carried small, my sister carried small, i carry small. A lot of this probably has to do with the genetic makeup of my pelvic bones and length of my torso. Your baby is going to stretch out where they fit. Sometimes the room is on the inside, but when it isn't, you see it on the outside.
• Placenta Placement
• I've mentioned before that my placenta is on the back instead of the front. The placenta is basically a big nutrient cushion. I had clearer ultrasounds (because they weren't trying to see through my placenta), I felt my baby move very very early (13 weeks with nothing between him and my muscles), and I see him move very clearly (because he's just kicking abs and organs). That cushion isn't going to poke out as much when it's sandwiched between my spine/hard back muscles and the baby and enclosed by ribs as it would just under my ab muscles. 
• Eating Habits
• I've mentioned before that I have a food allergy and we generally eat pretty healthily in our house. I also always have drank an absurd amount fluid- usually water. I've gained ~12-15lbs which is appropriate for my stage of pregnancy, but not everyone eats so great and there are other health complications that cause more weight gain. 
• Constipation is a big part of pregnancy. My excessive fluid intake and added fiber mean i try to tackle the constipation, but you look more pregnant constipated or even just after eating or drinking. The food and waste have to get stored in there somewhere. 
• Photo Magic
• I'm not talking about photo shop here. I'm talking about angles, friends. There are angles that make your belly look bigger or smaller and most of us don't flex our abs all day long. Just because my belly looks tiny in a photo doesn't mean it looks that way all day long.

The model in the article gave birth to a healthy 8lb baby boy, but she never looked super huge in her photos. People criticized her for being unhealthy and unnatural- maybe out of jealousy or low self-esteem. I've been fortunate that most of the time people just say "Well, you look fantastic!", and once my belly popped at all, friends were just excited to watch it grow. 

But I still get the "are you pregnant? No!" or "your belly doesn't look very big in person" and "are you eating enough?" so i understand and empathize, both with the 22 week co-worker who is so sick of hearing that you can't tell she's pregnant in her chef's coat, and the 38 week model who was tickled pink by the baby under her six-pack that everyone thought would be too small. 

And unequivocably the bigger bellied moms hear it too. From "Are you sure there's just one in there" to the standard "Are you eating healthy?" or people constantly just assuming that they're fat, mom's to be just want to hear that we look fantastic.

I may be a first time mom, but I say with absolute certainty that there is no cookie-cutter pregnancy, so just do you. Cuz "the haters gonna hate"

It doesn't feel "Real"

I've read a lot of pregnancy articles and blogs, and the one topic that has never come up is how much being pregnant doesn't feel real.

I know I'm pregnant, I am both terrified and excited to meet our baby, I can see my reflection in the mirror, am acutely aware of both my full bladder and squished stomach, and our baby is super active so i spend a very large part of everyday being punched and kicked- i've been able to feel him from 13 weeks on and we're coming up on 30. But it still doesn't feel real.

I still feel startled (and sometimes amused) when i look down at my round belly. I'm still railing against those stretchmarks on my boobs and my itchy belly. I still try to pretend the back pain doesn't bother me. For the most part though, it's all just a new normal. My life really didn't change- i get up everyday, maybe a little more tired. I go to work everyday, and tip someone out to carry the heavier trays (but there was already someone who carried the trays, i just let them carry more of them). I wear the same clothes I always wore in summer, and have very few maternity pieces, and while I would be lying if i said i am perfectly blissfully comfortable all the time, neither am i miserable all the time. I got lazier and more forgetful, but vegging out isn't a huge deviation in life.

Our baby was planned and I have fun with the nursery and the free baby stuff and picking out little onesies that everyone tells me not to buy (but he's my first -and in theory only- baby and i'll do what i want!) I look forward to the 3 months of maternity leave even knowing my whole world is about to change. I'm even hopeful that our unique situation (i wake up ~9-10am and go to bed ~2am, my husband wakes up ~12-1pm and goes to bed ~6am) will make this whole new baby sleep schedule thing an easier adjustment than it is for many others.

But...
What if he wasn't planned? What if I wasn't "ready" to accept the responsibility? What's it like to be the dad without the constant reminder inside you of what's coming? Even I can sometimes forget in the day to day grind that he's there, so what's it like not to have people commenting and your internal organs rearranging? It must be so easy to forget and so startling to remember- even when you're happy and especially when you're not. It's all a little surreal and I can totally understand how many women go into shock (postpartum depression) when their baby is finally here. I don't think you ever feel ready for what's coming. I don't think you can ever really be prepared, because imagining something is just not the same as experiencing it...

Free Breastpump through Insurance

I discussed in my "Choices" post about breastpumps and which one i was choosing and why. The full disclosure is that as the 3rd of 4 sisters, one is passing down her very nice medela pump, which we really left me free to explore my options on my free/insurance-covered pump.

 I used the Aeroflow website and was very pleased by the experience. Aeroflow offers discount pumps for the uninsured, but more importantly, you fill out your information and they call your insurance company for you, communicate with you via phone and/or email about what pumps you are eligible for with your insurance as well as the cost difference if you'd like to upgrade to a nicer pump (which insurance will only partially cover). I filled out my info and had not heard back in 7-10 days so i sent them an email. Within 24 hours i had been contacted, was presented my options, my pump shipped the next day, and i received it AT MY DOOR a day later. I did all of my stuff over email. Some things to note:

• I use a Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. I do not know how the process may differ for other types of insurance
• Most insurance companies do not approve pumps until at least your third trimester, so if you're not there yet, just put it on your to-do list
• They will ask for a breast pump prescription. Breastpumps were brought up and addressed by my doctor at my 27 week appointment and she wrote me a script then. 

So which pump did I choose? I chose an Ameda Purely Yours Ultra Tote.

Why did I choose this one? 

• Firstly, I knew i was going to have access to a high end medela pump regardless, so i decided it made sense to try something different. 
• Secondly, it turns out Ameda parts and Medela parts are largely interchangeable. I have already screwed a medela bottle onto the ameda pump and can attest that the bottles at least ARE interchangeable. 
• From reviews, Medela and Ameda run as the top brands. The biggest differences between them listed were that Medela is less comfortable and has an issue with milk backing up into the tubes which leads to mold. Ameda has no milk backup, but runs louder and its lightweight design feels a little cheaper. The milk backup issue was a big swayer for me. Among other options, i read that the lasinoh pump also has no milk backup issues
• Accessories: Among my fully insured options, the Ameda pump was rated well and comes with EVERYTHING. It came with a nice, insulated carrying bag (i would prefer a backpack but that wasn't an option), a cooler with 3 ice packs and 6 bottles, pump flanges in 2 sizes plus adjuster flanges and extra pieces as well as a drawstring bag to hold them, and some sample breast pads and storage bags. It can run on batteries but also came with a wall charger AND a car charger. Additionally and to my surprise, i received a separate package a day later from Aeroflow with 6 Medela pump bottles (which are compatible with the Ameda pump)

The whole thing came in the box shown, shipped in an outer Aeroflow box. This is the bag, which seems waterproof/wipeable, insulated, and has an extra pocket on the outside (i put 6 extra batteries in a zipbag in this pocket, since the Ameda uses 6AA batteries)

This is everything that comes in the bag. The cooler also came with a storage guide (temp guides, when to store, when to toss). You can see the pump is very small and lightweight

This is the inside of the bag "fully loaded" with everything it came with. I actually will only keep 1 set of flanges in here instead of the 3 sets it comes with, and i probably won't keep the user guide with it. There are two mesh pockets on one side and a velcro pocket on the other side in addition to the zippered pocket on the outside of the bag. The cooler and pump take up half the bag and currently i have all the attachments on the other half, but i would say there will still be about 1/4 of the bag freed up when i take the extra flanges out. 

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ETA: I wanted to add that i had contacted my insurance company about the covered breastpump process via their web app (because i hate phones) because your doctor recommends contacting your insurance provider first,  and I didn't get a message from them until 2+weeks AFTER i received my breastpump from Aeroflow. Aeroflow calls your insurance for you and communicates with you however is convenient for you (phone or internet). I didn't have to make calls, i didn't have to go pick it up, and i cannot rave enough about how happy i am with the ease of the whole process. There are other companies that do the exact same thing and some of them are region specific, but I had a very positive experience with Aeroflow. 

Nature Box

We've done quite a few subscription boxes: Graze(Snacks), Klutch Club which became Bestowed (Health Box), The Spoiled Rotten Box which is now BarkBox(Dog Box), Honey of the Month Club, and one of my friends reviews Tea Box Express every month for a discount. I'm not going to lie to you- all of them are fun to get.

The one we have kept most consistently is Nature Box. Nature Box is a monthly snack box and we love it because the portions are big (we choose a box with 5 portions of each snack -25 snacks per box-, but you can buy larger), they offer filtering (i can limit my options to only soy-free options without having to read each thing), and in general, all of their snacks really are healthier with less random crap in them. You can also "pre-stack" your pantry so your favorite things are in every box.

Why am I mentioning this snack box? Because I am pregnant which means i am frequently a combination of hungry and tired (read: lazy) and food goes down better in small portions as my stomach gets shoved sideways. It is so nice to be able to grab a pack of fruit snacks (made out of fruit puree!) or a whole grain fruit bar without having to think about my food choices or the effort to prep something.

When we have a toddler running around, these go-to healthy snacks will be convenient for him too. We currently pay $19.95 a month for our box (you can pay ahead at a discount- we just don't) and occassionally do the $1 add ons for things like oatmeal cups . It's only 50% more ($29.95) to double that box which we might consider when there's a toddler in our stash ;)

I am going to pack some of our next box in my hospital bag (or possibly ship a box early)

*While I am not paid or reimbursed for this-I just really like this product and want to share something i love with you- i am compelled to point out that they do feel trials for your first box(which we used for our first box a very long time ago!) and if you wanted to help me out, i can totally send "invitations" to your email- you get a free box, and i think i do too. Share10off will get you $10 off your first box