Last week — my final week in my twenties! of pregnancy, that is — was exhausting. We’re still getting settled from the move (and will totally get furniture eventually…), plus I spent two long days at the BlogHer Creators Summit conference in the city and went to a wedding on Saturday. I’m feeling equal parts sleepy and energized, and am definitely feeling like time is moving way too quickly right now.
Here’s what else is up.
ELLIE, YOU ARE SO GOOD AT THESE PHOTOS. YOU ARE PERFECT EVERY TIME.BABY IS THE SIZE OF…
a butternut squash! I know what that is! It’s big! At this point, baby is almost fully grown length-wise, but still has some plumping up to do. (Same.) My next midwife appointment is this Friday, so we’ll get a good look at how she’s growing in there, and a rough estimate of her weight and size. (After this appointment, I’ll start going every two weeks instead of every four, which is nuts. I can’t believe we’re already at that point!)
HOW I’M FEELING
Aside from this lingering Crohn’s flare (annoying! I wrote about it for Women’s Health, here), I’m still feeling great. Definitely tired, but manageably so. I do feel a growing need to prioritize a bit better, though. Soon after getting pregnant, I said I was going to say no to as much as possible — namely social engagements and things for other people. Of course, I have failed at that. I feel like I “should” go to things and do what I can to support people, but I also feel time ticking before baby gets here, and I need to start prioritizing myself. And, I suppose, accepting that not everyone will understand my need and desire to do that, and I need to be OK with that. (Translation: I still want to be invited, but I am going to say no. I hope you’re OK with that. And if you’re not… Bye, I guess.)
The flower wall was very pretty! Very Instagrammy!WHAT I’M EATING
Eggs! Deviled, quiche-d, omelet-ed. I’m all about ’em right now. And lots of watermelon. Trader Joe’s has the best watermelon right now.
ON THE WORKOUT FRONT
Five Orangetheory workouts, and one kinda-lazy-but-glad-I-got-moving workout at the gym before the first day at BlogHer. (I ran a total of three miles on the treadmill, broken up into shorter, more tolerable sections. The treadmills at OTF are so wonderful that any non-OTF treadmills feel terrible to me. So for Wednesday morning’s gym workout, I ran half a mile or so, then did some arm stuff with weights, and repeated until I ran out of time and had to go shower.)
These are my friends Mark and Prudence! We work out at Orangetheory together and the day I met them, I started referring to them as “my best friends,” hoping it would stick. It has. They don’t often say it back to me, but I think they think it.Also, on Tuesday night, I did prenatal bedtime yoga! I found a 20-minute video on YouTube and set myself up in the baby’s room. It was lovely and relaxing and I promised myself I would start doing this every night…but I haven’t done it since then. (“Prenatal bedtime yoga,” I have learned, is code for “sit down, do a few easy stretches, and then fall asleep.” It’s awesome.)
WHAT I’M WEARING
Saturday wrapped up the 2018 wedding season for us. That’s three weddings for Baby Cristiano, and she had fun at all of them. (Probably. I know I had fun at all of them! I’m crushing the designated driver game, and actually love not being hungover the next day!)
How will I pose when I’m not pregnant anymore???The dress I wore to the wedding was not a maternity dress. Brian and I went to a wedding in Miami a few weeks after we got back from our honeymoon. I had definitely gained a bunch of weight on our honeymoon (so much amazing food + zero exercise for two weeks = no regrets, best trip ever), and I packed a bunch of options for the wedding without trying them on. We got to Miami and none of the dresses fit. So I had to run to the closest store and buy a dress, and three years later, bam, it functions as a maternity dress! I want to say it’s Marciano? And it’s stretchy, so that’s a win.
Anyway, the wedding was lovely, and all my girlfriends were cute and kept trying to feel the baby kick. I like when people (certain friends, at least) touch my belly. It makes me feel loved. The baby was generally pretty chill throughout the night, but she did give two big kicks for two of my friends. Good girl.
This is Lucy — you know her! — and she is cheers-ing the baby!WHAT I’M READING
Strong by Kara Goucher and Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow by Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky. Neither are about how to raise a happy baby, but it’s fine.
HOW I’M SLEEPING
Like a rock. I’ll actually be a little sad when I’m not pregnant and my dreams go back to being “normal.” Right now, these nightly cinematic masterpieces are so entertaining.
This is how Brian found me on Sunday afternoon. I passed out hard (in Ellie’s bed) when I was supposed to be getting ready to go furniture shopping. We need a couch… Clearly. And some clothes.WHAT I’M WONDERING
When, exactly, the baby will get here. I know I can’t predict that, but all the women in the pregnancy forums keep posting about how they went into labor at 29, 30, 31 weeks! And that terrifies me because I am not ready or even a little bit close to being kind of ready. So stay in there for a while, baby.
TINY CLOTHES ON TINY HANGERS!!!Also, when I read those posts from those women (all their babies are in the NICU and are doing well!), I got a little sad thinking about pregnancy almost coming to an end. Theoretically I still have 10 weeks to go, which, I know, is a good amount of time! But time is really flying by, and I like being pregnant. It’s been a really nice experience for me (again, insert sentiment about feeling incredibly lucky, grateful, and fortunate for all of this), and as excited as I am to meet the little chickadee behind all these swift kicks, I’ve really enjoyed this time.
That’s all for now! Week 30 will include another daycare tour, a midwife appointment, and hopefully a haircut. Very exciting!
MATERNITY PHOTO INSPIRATION.More Baby on the Run:
6 Responses
Love reading your updates, so honest and loving, can’t wait to see your little one!!!
Allie, is there a way to subscribe to your blogs?
Excellent question — there used to be, and then during a WordPress upgrade it disappeared and I haven’t been able to get it back! So for now, your best bet is subscribing through the RSS feed or a blog reader like Feedly. Hoping to get a new website sometime soon, though, and will make sure it has a subscribe feature.
Loving these updates, your self-awareness around all of the changes, hormonal shifts, and fleetingness of pregnancy is so refreshing. But I’m really commenting about your podcast (which I LOVE); I’m subscribed, but every time I try to download the recent episodes with Emily Halnon and Kara Goucher I get a “episode temporarily unavailable from the Ali on the Run Show” message 🙁 I’m excited for both episodes so I really hope the technology starts cooperating!
Weird! They both work fine on my end, but I’ve received that notification for other podcasts. Usually going off WiFi and then reconnecting makes it work again and I can download them. Have you tried that? (And what platform or app are you using?)
I don’t know that you are ever truly ready! My doctor told me at fully 40 weeks that we needed to induce, and even though I was the most uncomfortable I had ever been in my life, and even though the car seat was installed and the nursery stocked, and even though I longed mightily to see this person I made, I heard myself beg through tears for just one more week!