How far along? 24 weeks.
Total weight gain? I think like 12-13 pounds.
Stretch marks? None.
Best moment this week? Christmas with my family. It was one of the funnest I've had in a long time. Mom made a super yummy dinner, a trivia game that we all failed miserably at, and a fun way of stuffing our own stockings. She's the best. :) Also, going to the movies with Ashton as our Christmas treat. ♥

Our last day of 2013.

We had a berry crunchy (and delicious!) breakfast this morning. Multigrain waffles, chia seeds, flax seeds, vanilla almond granola, dried cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and maple syrup. Mmmm.

And celebrating my little girl one last time in 2013, I made a princess smore as a snack before work!

I worked a mid-shift that went by at a decent pace. Ashton came to visit on my lunch break and we enjoyed wraps and Nantucket juices together. After work, we went to my apartment to pick up some clothes for the next few days and now we are back at his place watching Top Gear. Or should I say, I am watching it and he is nodding off to sleep, lol. He's basically a grandpa when it comes to bed time. We do have champagne glasses with apple cider awaiting midnight's arrival, but I'm not sure we will make it!!

I had an appointment with my midwife today that was really pleasant. It was just a quick routine visit, nothing out of the ordinary. I was pretty excited to hear my little roo's heartbeat again; that will never get old! During my next appointment, I will have more bloodwork to check my levels against what they were back in October since the amount of blood in my body has nearly doubled! About two weeks ago I started taking an iron supplement, so I am not too worried about my red blood cell count this time. I didn't really want to take any prenatals or other vitamins, but to be extra cautious I decided to seek out a natural iron supplement. I ended up choosing Garden of Life's Vitamin Code of Raw Iron. It is completely vegan and all of the ingredients are derived from herbal sources rather than animal or chemical sources. This raw, unprocessed capsule also includes Vitamin C, Vitamin B12 and Folate as an added bonus!

Another issue that was only lightly touched on at my appointment, but I have been beginning to think about lately is where I want to give birth. Now don't be freaked about about me having a natural pregnancy and wanting a natural childbirth--that is true to an extent, however, I'm leaning towards giving birth in a hospital (as opposed to a birthing center or having a home birth). Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a midwife deliver my baby in a birthing center, but for insurance reasons and to keep my boyfriend at ease with putting up with me, I do think a hospital is the best way for us to go.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital vs. Brigham and Women's Hospital

So here's my dilemma: my OB practice only has privileges with Newton-Wellesley Hospital, but I am not sure I want to deliver there. I have looked into a couple of reputable hospitals in the area, and would really prefer Brigham and Women's Hospital. Brigham and Women's is closer to the South Shore area where we will most likely be living, as opposed to Newton-Wellesley being almost 10 miles further away (which could be a real pain, depending on the time of day and traffic). Brigham and Women's is also the leading hospital in the region for women's healthcare and has a separate pediatrics facility right next door--the buildings are actually connected by a bridge. The labor and delivery room looks extremely comfortable with a place for my boyfriend to relax (or sleep, if necessary), a TV, an option for playing music, a mini fridge, labor relievers (like stretching bands and a labor ball), and other things I know I am forgetting right now. They also have a very reputable maternity staff including nurses and lactation consultants, as well as the OB doctor who will be doing the delivery. It's not that Newton-Wellesley, doesn't have comfortable rooms or a knowledgeable staff, I just literally fell in love with Brigham and Women's online maternity ward tour video [here] as opposed to Newton-Wellesley's [here]. The biggest reason for wanting to give birth at Brigham and Women's has to be the fact that I really want to be able to bank and donate my baby's umbilical cord blood, and that is a service not available at Newton-Wellesley. You can read more about it [here] if you are interested, but banking cord blood is a great opportunity to help patients with diseases even as severe as leukemia to make a full recovery. Cord blood is stored for its stem cells that are the building blocks of the blood and the immune system and are often successful as transplants because they are immature cells that do not yet know how to attack foreign substances. Since this process would not interfere with my birth plan, poses no risks to me or my baby, and takes less than 10 minutes, I definitely want to jump on the opportunity to save a life. Who knows, my baby could benefit from a stem cell transplant one day!

Anyway, when I casually mentioned different hospitals today, my midwife basically said that I would definitely be delivering at Newton-Wellesley since that is the hospital they are affiliated with. I was distraught and stressed about this and began madly googling it as soon as we got in the car. While it is recommended that patients deliver at the hospital where their OB has privileges, I have decided that I love my midwife and do not want to switch practices, so I will be keeping my current OB, and I also feel that delivering at the hospital where I feel most comfortable and that I feel is right for me and my baby is also important, so I will stick with my decision of giving birth at Brigham and Women's. I know my OB or midwife will not have privileges to aid in my delivery, but the person delivering my baby is probably who I will be seeing the least of anyway and I won't mind it being a member of the Brigham and Women's staff. When the date gets closer, I will have my OB fax my patient file to the hospital and I will have a printed copy of my birth plan to bring in my hospital bag on the day of delivery.

There we go, problem solved! (a special thanks to google and all the moms who asked a similar question!)

...while she is still in my tummy!!

Okay so today will be the fourth day in a row that I have had a salad similar to this one. I usually just mix up the type of greens, dried fruit, nuts, and dressings for different flavors and textures. But honestly, this is so yummy AND so healthy! Here is a peek at my typical work lunch:


Today's salad was made up of mix spring greens, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, strawberries, pecans, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, nutritional yeast, and a pear vinaigrette!




And my drink of choice today was a bottle of G.T.'s Kombucha in Cosmic Cranberry!


Both were so delicious and packed with about a billion vitamins and nutrients. A meal like this always leaves me feeling happy and refreshed, and I'm pretty sure baby likes it too!! :)

I am working on one of the most important things in my entire life: growing a baby!

My body is extraordinary. It has welcomed another tiny human to build it's own little nest inside of it and has promised to love and care and provide nutrients to it for as long as it grows--until it is able to sustain itself and is ready to enter the world on its own.

I have been just gliding through my pregnancy--literally skipping around at work, singing loudly to music in the car, joyfully cleaning my apartment, and proudly pampering myself with new boots, sweaters and make-up. I've had extremely mild symptoms--no morning sickness whatsoever, no real trouble sleeping except when I had my cold last month, no extreme weight gain or feeling huge (130ish lbs), no pain or discomfort from baby's movements, no heartburn or terrible gas, and no negative effects on my performance at work. In fact, the only symptoms I've had (aching boobs, bloating, moodiness) have been long gone for about eight weeks now! Currently, I'm only battling acne and lightheadedness (successfully, though!).

I feel exceptionally lucky. I am thoroughly enjoying a truly magical occurrence, and am lucky that it's happening right in my own body! I am loving every moment of being pregnant. I never thought it could be this pleasant and that I would feel this radiant! I love going through my day knowing I am carrying my little girl with me and it always brings a smile to my face when I feel her tumbling around in my tummy. She makes me feel important and invincible. If I can do this, what can't I do? I have a new responsibility and a new purpose, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. She is the greatest seed I've ever planted and I can't wait to see how she grows. She is going to change my whole life and I am so ready to let her.

With all of that being said, I really can't understand why other mothers don't want me to feel this way. I'm not saying people are wishing the worst for me or my baby, but I hate all the negative comments that come my way. Take these for example ---

Comments like these are not at all what a first time mum wants to hear! I know some women have a rough time during their pregnancy(ies), but we are not all alike. I'd really like to enjoy this short time I have with my little girl inside of me and not hear how she is going to turn into the devil at any second! It's like veteran mum's can't stand to hear about how how delighted I am or how smoothly my pregnancy is going. They don't want to hear that I don't have any complaints, or they are hoping to hear something awful because that is what they experienced. Even people who have never had children (every single day at work!) constantly ask how I am doing like I am going to break down and shout about how miserable I am! That is honestly not the case. I feel great, even better than at other points in my life. I really wish I didn't have to hear all these "warnings" from other mums. There is nothing anyone can say or do to make me love this journey any less or wish that it was over or make me worry that I am doing something wrong. There is nothing wrong or disheartening about enjoying the duties of creating life.

And I will say that I am so thankful that I can have this experience, because I know there are so many women out there that can't. While others are complaining and trying to worry new mums, I will keep my spirits high and soak up every joyous second of these precious moments. I never want to take this opportunity for granted, especially knowing that other women would give anything to have a glimpse of the possibilities that I have. My heart goes out to all of you.

To my sweet daughter-to-be, please know how much I love you already, and that I promise to do my best for you always, xoxo.

I made these giant 3d paper snowflakes at work to decorate above the coffee bar and thought I’d share how to make them. They’re super easy to make and look great hanging up!


Step 1: Cut out 6 squares of the same size and fold them in half to form triangles as shown below. They can be any size depending on how big you want the snowflake to be, but smaller pieces are harder to work with.

Step 2: Fold each triangle from top to bottom, as shown. Then make three parallel cuts from the edge up to the center fold. Make sure not to cut completely through the fold!

Step 3: Open them all the way up and they should look like this!

Step 4: Roll the edges of the inner diamond toward each other and fasten with tape. Skip the second diamond and also fasten the third diamond in the same way.

Step 5: Flip the piece over, face-down, and tape the remaining diamonds the same way as the first two. It should end up looking like this:

Step 6: After making three of these, pinch the ends and staple them together.

Step 7: Repeat step 6 with the remaining three pieces, then pinch the stapled ends together (shown below) and fasten these two together using a third staple. A mini stapler works best here.

Step 8: Roll small pieces of tape inside out (shown below) and place them between the arms of the snowflake. In the circled areas below you will see arms taped and not yet taped.

That’s it! You’ve successfully made a 3d paper snowflake!

Now try experimenting with different colored paper and different sizes. Also try using a glitter or shimmer spray on them to add a little sparkle! Enjoy!

How far along? 21 weeks
Total weight gain? 9 1/2 lbs
Stretch marks? None

I had my first maternity support appointment today and now have a lot of things to think about! The maternity nurse asked a lot of questions and went through a checklist of things that I should be thinking about at this stage in my pregnancy. There is so much to learn and remember and do, it's mind boggling! At first it was just a lot of intro questions about my health and my pregnancy that my doctor and midwife have also asked. Then she got me thinking about all kinds of things: scheduling a trip to the hospital to tour the maternity ward, creating a birth plan (which in itself gives me a million things to think about!), planning my maternity leave from work, infant immunizations, making a trip to the dentist, signing up for classes (labor & delivery, breastfeeding, childcare, infant health and safety), scheduling a glucose screening..... and the list goes on. Seriously, my brain was wiped out!

I did make a list of goals after we got off the phone though:
1) exercise for at least 20 minutes a day
2) make a dentist appointment
3) drink even more water and add cranberry juice to my diet
4) google TDAP because that is the next immunization my doctor/midwife will ask if I want (between 27-36 weeks)

My welcome packet with the samples and books should arrive in a few short weeks and my next maternity support appointment will be during my 28th week of pregnancy. I will probably ask Elizabeth during my next appointment about the TDAP and glucose screening and get her opinion.

The maternity nurse also expressed her concern about me not having gotten the flu shot. Oh, well. Overall, I'm glad I took advantage of this program because every little bit of information helps!

How far along? 20 weeks!!!
Total weight gain? 8 1/2 lbs
Stretch marks? None
Maternity clothes? None.
Best moment this week? Finally signing up with the Maternity Support Program that my work offers was great, but the best time I've had in a while was playing trivia and bringing out surprise cupcakes at Thanksgiving dinner with my family!!


Keeping my little banana baby in mind this week, I decided to feed her a yummy and healthy banana breakfast!!
Actually blueberry pancakes, but topped with nutritional yeast, chia seeds, flax seeds, of course maple syrup, and obviously bananas! With a side of the rest of the banana. :)