24 Weeks Pregnant

As of Friday, I am 24 weeks pregnant. Slowly but surely plugging along! In this photo I'm wearing my first pair of maternity pants EVER and I love them! Last time around, I was too cheap to buy any maternity pants. Plus, I could still wear all of my pants if I unbuttoned them and used the belly-band to hold them up. These stylin' jeans are a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, Lynette. They fit perfectly, are cuter than some of my regular jeans, and they don't stretch out all baggy after wearing them more than once. Also, I love that the band is just a strip of elastic that doesn't have to wrap all around my belly to stay up.Very comfy! I think I'll wear these all year long . . .

This pregnancy has not been too different from my last one. I was only "evening sick" for six weeks (roughly weeks 8-14) , although I did throw up dinner a little more frequently with my every other day schedule. But I've been feeling great since then! Other than when I'm bending over trying to put socks or shoes on, I'm pretty comfortable throughout the day and can exercise 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes (still doing a modified version of Jillian Michael's twice a week and then random stuff). In looking back at pictures, (and my own memory, of course) I feel like I'm carrying about the same as I did with Ty--except getting bigger a little faster. I do feel like baby girl often hangs out deeper in my uterus than up front. When she moves (which I can usually only detect in the morning and at night), she feels way back there and even low around my cervix sometimes. Also, I have gained 15 pounds. Crazy to think I only gained 17 total with Ty! I knew I'd gain more this time around because I started off 15 pounds lighter than when I even became pregnant with Ty, and would have had to keep working hard to keep it there. So right now I weigh just as much as I did when I became pregnant last time. I'm curious how much I'll continue to gain! (For my records, I am at 153-ish these days. That's right.  As long as I feel healthy, I'm not afraid to post it!)

The only difference in my pregnancy so far is this weird groin and leg pain:
It started at 18 weeks with a groin ligament that felt like it had been pulled, causing me to limp off and on. Since about 20 weeks, I've been showing symptoms of Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction, which I had to research to understand what the heck has been happening this month! Long story short, the intense pelvic pain I'm experiencing is a result of "separation of the symphysis pubis which is a joint in the very front part of the pelvic bone structure". It definitely has that feeling of slipping off your bike and your crotch hitting the metal bar! Sort of that bruised bone feeling . . . There are some days when I can barely walk or have extreme difficulty putting on a pair of pants or sliding off the bed to use the bathroom, etc. Anything that requires abduction of my leg. Not every day is bad. In fact, the worst days seem to be within 24 hours of exercise so I'm trying to relinquish to the idea that I need to cut back even more with exercise. But I'm a little stubborn in that arena! With Ty, I ran until 27 weeks before it hurt my abdomen too badly. I've barely been running with this pregnancy but been doing more toning (like lunges and squats). Any time I've tried running this month, it kills me so I've called it quits for now. I don't think anything can really be done for SPD, if that's even what I have, but I'll ask the doctor about it when I go for my check-up on Tuesday.

Like with my pregnancy sickness, I try not to complain much because I think it just gives power to it! I mostly try and ignore it much of the time. It won't last forever and I still consider myself lucky for how the majority of my pregnancy is going. I just can't wait for the mommy-experiences again!