Twenty Weeks - Halfway!

Today marks twenty weeks of pregnancy for me....so happy to be at the halfway point! The "teens" were sounding early and like I had FOREVER still to be pregnant. I wanted to take some 20 week maternity shots and a tropical storm hit Texas so I thought, why not get pictures in the rain!

With pregnancy one of the biggest adjustments for me has been my workouts. I'm used to be able to push myself, whether it was running, swimming, crossfit, cycling....I could kick it and I loved the feeling of being nasty sweaty, completely exhausted, and knowing I'd done my best. I haven't biked since the day I was pregnant because of the risk for crashing. Running hurts and causes contractions now (I guess because my belly is growing so much faster with two...) so that is out. CrossFit I can do some things, modify some moves, and can never push it and get my HR up like I'm used to. Swimming is the only exercise where I feel "normal!" I love swimming and can still do my triathlon workouts I have printed up and in ziplocks in my swim bag :) Using the kickboard, pull buoy, paddles, doing intervals, working on my stroke....can still do it all and I barely feel I'm pregnant! So that is my new favorite exercise! Walking is also good, I can go fast, and often get weird looks by people driving by, haha. Just grateful to be able to do those few things and not be on bedrest yet! What a huge blessing! I'll take every day I can get.

Eating has been MUCH better. No nausea, no heartburn (unless I eat junk or chocolate), and although my appetite has never been huge like most told me it would be, working out helps amp it up and I just try and focus on what the babies need. Right now I'm juicing veggies every morning and making a green salad trying to get more veggies down which are the hardest thing to make myself eat. I average between 120 and 140 grams of protein a day thanks to shakes and meat! Although meat is also SO HARD for me to get down....I'm sick of chicken and have been doing beef lately. My goal is 150g daily so I'm still tweaking my diet trying to reach that.

Some things are uncomfortable....picking things up off the floor, putting on shoes, and sitting for more than a couple hours. My back is starting to hurt so I think soon it'll be time for me to start my chiropractic adjustments. Work has been fine so far although I'm normally pretty tired that night and the next day. But I'm still able to do full 12hr shifts and will continue to do them as long as I can get away with it! The babies move all the time which I love! My precious little girl is the most active and her brother is catching up (he's lower so I think I'm just now feeling him more since he is getting bigger and therefore moving up). Today I felt them on the outside for the first time! Hopefully Mark will get a chance to feel them kicking when I visit him this weekend.

We are pretty set on our little girls first name but still deciding on a middle name. The boy's name is growing on me...it's different and Mark likes it and I'm liking it more every day :) Not completely sure on his middle name. We still have time!

Most of all I'm just unbelievably grateful for being able to experience twenty weeks of pregnancy....wow, what an amazing gift. Way more than I ever deserved! Thanking Jesus for every day with my precious little ones. And thanking Him also for an amazing husband and daddy who loves all three of us unconditionally! Love that man. And love my babies :)