As you may have seen either by the image on this post or the post I did on Instagram (or Facebook if you are a friend on there!), our family is growing.
We are expecting a baby (gender to be a surprise) late July 2020! It’s been an interesting ride so far, I’ll say that much.
I thought I would mostly continue day to day as per normal, just getting a bit bigger and maybe a little bit more tired as the weeks and months went on. I expected to feel uncomfortable and tired and over it in the third trimester, that seems to just be a given. I had planned on continuing my training the whole way through (and was advised I could continue to do so, just listen to my body) but my body and this baby had other plans.
I was almost 100% sure I was pregnant when I took the pregnancy test (I had my Jadelle removed and we had been trying) as I was randomly finding food smells disgusting and just not feeling 100%. I figured if I wasn’t pregnant then something was wrong and I should probably see a doctor anyway as I just wasn’t feeling myself.
Two pregnancy tests (had to make double sure!) later turns out I was pregnant. After telling Kyle the news the first thing I did was organise a midwife as I had heard they were getting booked up quickly (one of our lovely Bootcampers is a midwife and I am using her!).
The first 20 weeks of pregnancy were pretty sh!t if I do say so myself. I was nauseous 24/7 – the only time I didn’t feel sick was when I was asleep and didn’t know any better but as soon as I woke up it was back to nausea. I was throwing up regularly and often at least a few times a day and whilst I was mostly keeping food down there were very limited food items I could eat as the food aversions were STRONG!
Prior to being pregnant my staple was chicken, salad and some form of carbs – lately it had been lotatoes in the air fryer. Pregnant Amanda can’t stomach any of those things, let alone the air fryer even being used in the house. Pregnant Amanda couldn’t stomach water either and used all the tricks she knew to try and stay hydrated but still failed a few times, I had to get a drip at the hospital once (probably should have gone a couple of other times too but I’m stubborn). I was super happy to be pregnant but NOT enjoying the actual pregnancy thing.
Training wise, it pretty much went out the window. I’d either feel far too nauseous to even get started or have to run and be sick part way through. It was exhausting me so much that I decided to just listen to my body and stop. A 20 minute stroll around our neighborhood (at a much slower pace than usual) was making me so tired I’d nap for 2+ hours and still not feel recovered. I was still doing a little bit of movement with the Bootcamp warm-ups and the little bits and pieces I demo before and during each of my Metafit & Metapwr sessions but it was nowhere near what I was doing before and powerlifting movements were gone.
Trying to pretend like I wasn’t going to throw up around Christmas time when Kyles parents came to stay was fun (not) but we gave the grandparents the news on Christmas Day which was exciting when a few more people got to know our secret! I lost 3.5kg over a 2 week period during the holidays due to just not being able to eat much and being sick so often. I could have almost competed as a 52kg competitor without doing a water cut – which is UNHEARD of for me! My numbers would have been terrible though given the lack of training!
We also went to Hawaii for a week when I was 14 weeks pregnant and by that point I was taking anti-nausea tablets which were a bit hit and miss, some days they worked just enough to take the edge off and some days they didn’t seem to do anything. We had a pretty relaxing trip (Kyle surprised me by popping the big question after a hike up Diamond head in the dark and rain!! So safe to say 2020 has been a big year for us so far), in part because I was too tired to do much.
Fast forward to week 21-22ish and I started to feel ever so slightly better, enough so that I don’t look like the walking dead most of the time anymore. I am currently 27 weeks and whilst I’m still quite nauseous in the morning and evening during the middle of the day I’m feeling a little bit more myself. I’m being sick a few times a week instead of a few times a day and I’m eating a lot more variety of foods (chicken is still off the menu and the smell of Kyles meat and potatoes cooking still make me gag) which is much nicer! I’m still tired a lot more than normal but a 20 minute walk doesn’t require a 2 hour+ nap anymore which is nice! I’ve done a couple of small training sessions and whilst they are only short and mostly kettlebell based work rather than barbell it is promising that I can do a mini workout without ruining myself. I’m aiming to increase the number and length of these sessions to help keep some of my fitness.
As we head towards the third trimester things are starting to feel a bit more real, the baby bump is well and truley here. The baby is kicking up a storm I’m a bit nervous how painful it’s going to be as we get into that ninth month and the baby is bigger! We cleared out the babies room which was a bit of a storage/junk room a couple of weeks ago and it’s nice to have a dedicated space that is just for baby stuff. We are still needing quite a few bits and pieces we’ve been unable to get due to lockdown but are slowly gathering the things we need either through online orders or hand me downs/borrowing from friends who have had their little ones already.
I don’t intend to turn this blog into a mummy blog but in a few months I will be a Mum and this blog is a little bit about my life so there will be some baby related stuff pop up every now and again! Now that I’m eating a bit more and a bigger variety of foods (and not dieting for a change at this time of year! Usually I would be prepping for Worlds and watching what i’m eating!) I’ve got a few different things I want to try and if they are successful I will be blogging the recipes.
I’ve spent A LOT of time over the past few months (and even a few months before we conceived) setting things up to reduce the amount of admin time I spend on bits and pieces for Bootcamp and this blog. This blog has been neglected as I haven’t had the time to devote to the social media so I just kind of decided not to blog, then it got hacked and then I just felt sh!t BUT I’ve almost sorted the social media out and will be back to regular posting over on Facebook, Insta will still be a little sporadic no doubt but there will be posts every now and again.
So let’s try this blogging thing again, I have no excuses until the end of July 😉