My 24 Week Pregnancy Update

It’s been a month since my last pregnancy update and I’m inching closer and closer to my 3rd trimester, I can hardly believe it! Check out a recap of my 1st trimester here and my 20 week update here!

HOW I’M FEELING:

I’m feeling pretty good overall but I’m starting to have less energy and my body is starting to get uncomfortable already, much earlier than with Piper. My bump is pretty significant (or so it feels to me!) and I’ve been struggling with some sciatic nerve pain on the right side of my lower back. It seems to come and go and funny enough after my prenatal massage last week it’s been flaring up worse than ever. I’ll be back to doing my stretches daily this week! I definietly know my limit when it comes to physical activity and standing, something I haven’t had to think about until this week. I know when it’s time to rest.

Mentally, I’ve been pretty emotional lately! With everything going on in the world right now, it’s pretty hard not to be. We have so many big life changes coming up in the next few months, first of which is happening this week with our nanny’s last day. She’s been with us since Piper was 8 weeks old and though I know it’s time for her to go embark on a new career and for Piper to go to school I can’t help but feel really sad. I’ve also been noticing that I’ve been spending as much time as I can with Piper since our vacation, staying up late to work so I can just be with her more, hanging onto these last few months where its just us and she can have all of my attention. I talked about my thoughts on having a second baby before (in this post) and I’m sooo excited for Piper to be a sister and to welcome our new baby but I’m feeling pretty emotional about it all right now.

I’m also starting to get anxious about giving birth and have started reading my birth books.

We had a medical scare with Piper earlier this week  (I’ll share more soon) and she’s 100% fine but I was so shaken up and upset by everything that it has me starting to worry about newborn nerves!

HOW I’M SLEEPING:

Sleep is ok, it could be worse. Luckily I’m not getting up in the night to pee yet, but I do find myself tossing and turning and never feeling like I got a solid night’s sleep. I’m still using my Bump Nest pillow but I’m thinking about getting one of the pillows from this post to add to try out. Heartburn has been rough lately too and I’ve been reading about wedge pillows that can help with it. I’m trying to make a few lifestyle changes and if they don’t help I think I’ll splurge on one.

We recently got a diffuser and I’ve really been enjoying blending different oils at night to help with sleep and I now can’t sleep without our sound machine that we recently started using again! I think the combo makes a huge difference in lulling me back to sleep when I wake. I’ve NOT been good about reading before bed and instead have been working (as I type this at 10pm).

WHAT I’M EATING:

I’ve started meal planning again (you can see my plans for the week here + here) and it’s been great. I’ve tried to be realistic about what I have the energy to cook after a long day and not plan anything too complicated, otherwise I find myself reaching for the frozen pizza and mac & cheese.

I’ve been eating a lot of carbs as always. A few favorite meals below…

Breakfast: Puffin’s Cereal + Almond Milk, Ezekial toast with almond butter and sliced bananas or greek yogurt with sliced fruit, granola and a drizzle of agave maple syrup — and for a treat bagel and cream cheese (trying to limit this to the weekends but doesn’t always happen). This week I’m going to make overnight oats a few days.

Lunch: When I don’t have leftovers I’ve either been eating a handful of olives, cheese, crackers, hummus, carrots and sugar snap peas OR a whole wheat tortilla wrap with hummus, cucumber slices, spinach and sliced turkey ( I stick it in the microwave for 15 seconds).

Snacks: Peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joe’s, cottage cheese, string cheese, apples with almond butter (I have this practically every day).

I also eat unhealthy things like CHIPS (about to embark on a no-chip rule in our house), ice cream and lately my craving has been fruity gummy candy.

EXERCISE:

I’ve been trying to do yoga videos as much as I can, usually a few nights a week. I also just got Aaptiv and am going to start their pregnancy workouts tomorrow!

WEIGHT GAIN:

I’ll admit I’ve been struggling a little bit with how much weight I’ve been gaining so quickly with this pregnancy. I’ve gained 17lbs so far (7 last month!).

WHAT I’M WEARING:

I’m really ready for fall! Around the house I’ve been living in these sweatpants with this twist tee or tanks and cardigans (just got this one for fall and it’s amazing).

These Target leggings have been great for running errands and yoga.

I love my new Sonnet James dress (pictured above) – it’s not maternity but works great with a bump. They are having a big summer sale right now, too!

CHANGES THIS MONTH:

My bump is getting muuuuuch bigger!

I have reached the point of knowing my ‘limit’ – when my body needs a rest, up until now I could keep going and going all day but I definietly need to rest more now.

Lot’s of back and sciatic nerve pain.

I finally have a (small) list of baby girl names, though my husband is not on board with most of them!

My hair! It seems to have completely stopped growing, I got a bad hair cut months ago that hasn’t grown out at all and I have lost hair on my forehead and now have baby bangs again (I got them a few months postpartum with Piper)!

 

WHAT I BOUGHT:

These underwear have changed getting dressed, seriously! I never had this issue last time but none of my underwear is comfortable and these are great.

I’ve started shopping for baby girl! I got her a few organic onesies on Amazon (1,2, 3, 4) and baby booties from Zara

This Mustela stretch mark oil is amazing – it absorbs super fast which is great for early mornings.

And… I’ve started working on the nursery! We got this rug from Pottery Barn and I got this sweet little mobile from Anthropologie I’ve been eyeing forever.

HOW PIPER’S ACTING:

No changes really – she talks about her baby sister ALL the time – still likes to carry around her ultrasound picture, hug and kiss my bump and has started talking about sharing things with her sister!

FEELING NERVOUS ABOUT….

The baby being breech – she was at my 18wk ultrasound but hopefully she’ll flip! My OB does an ultrasound at 36wks to check, so I’m anxiously awaiting that day.

BABY PREPARATIONS

I’ve made great progress in planning out the nursery design! We are going to have hardwood floors installed in the next few weeks and start ordering everything.

I have a small list of baby names.

I’ve started to think about what we’ll do for Piper in the hospital and what I’m going to put in her big sister bag present.

And I’ve started to make a list of hospital bag stuff + postpartum essentials to shop for.

I’ve also started pinning freezer meals to make!