Category: Pregnancy

On Sundays We Meal Prep

On By Jenni C.In Black women, Family, fitness, Health, Healthy Living, Pregnancy, resolution, Running, Working momLeave a comment

And once again it’s Sunday. Tomorrow starts my first full week back to work, and I need my life organized ASAP. Another goal that I have for 2020 is to increase organization and efficiency. Do you know how many mornings I have made a cup of coffee and completely forget to drink it? More than should ever be possible. I feel crazy. Am I losing my mind?

I remember a time when I only had to plan for me. Wow, I didn’t realize how simple that was until now. I only had to worry about my own schedule, feeding only myself, and deciding what I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it. The best part, I could nap whenever I wanted! I feel like I did not take full advantage of those opportunities. Silly me.

Then I got married, I had to plan for the hubby and myself. Ok, yes it was little bit more challenging but I made it work. I was working to get us in sync, decrease chaos, and organize our home. Then I get pregnant. Everything went out the window. I feel like I am starting from scratch and really need a road map to stability.

I question, how do we take care of a newborn, take care of ourselves, take care of our marriage, go to work, increase self care, date each other, organize our home, and keep a level of sanity in the process? Good question, I have no idea. In true Jennifer form, as with everything else in my life, dive in head first and just make sure you learn how to swim. I am treading water at the moment.

Prior to my year long pregnancy we were on a healthy living kick. Clean living, and training hard so we both could live healthy lives. I was weight lifting and training for races, the hubs was kayaking and doing century rides on his bike.

100 mile bike ride, go baby go!
Train hard, Love harder

We were going pretty strong. However, pregnancy hit and through us both threw a loop. My pregnancy cravings were grilled cheese, and pizza, or basically anything with cheese and bread. Lots of bread, and lots of cheese. Oh, and don’t forget the strawberry milkshakes. I have a slight lactose intolerance, so PP (pre pregnancy) I was never a big dairy fan, and would only indulge when I felt like giving myself a stomach ache. Yet, baby loved dairy. I could have all the dairy I wanted and it was no problem. So bring on all the strawberry milkshakes and all the cheese! I remember one time googling where I can find the best strawberry milkshake in Maryland. Then I drove around looking for it. Yeah, I was pregnant.

Now that baby is here, the holiday baking season is over, and I am back I work, I can once again find a sense of balance. So we are starting with clean eating again. If you remember a few years ago we did a plant based diet. When I pregnant we went back to eating meat because I just could never seem to get enough food, and my iron levels were off. So for now we will continue to eat meat, but probably not too much of it.

Today is meal prep Sunday. If I can pull this off, my week will be awesome. The plan is to prep breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. If we can have food ready, then we can really get on a schedule and not be two hangry people!

I have started ordering my groceries and having them delivered, full disclosure…I was doing this way before the thought of a baby because I hate going to the grocery store. Groceries were delivered this morning, and now I get to cook for the week. I made a menu before hand so I know what groceries to buy, and limit waste. I am tired of throwing away food. As an effort to save money and time in 2020 I will attempt to stay dedicated to meal prepping.

If all goes well with having my weekly meals prepared, maybe I will actually remember to drink my coffee in the morning.

Time to start training for our next race!

What’s on deck this week:

Egg muffin cups and Greek yogurt for breakfast

Turkey and quinoa stuffed peppers, and chicken fried cauliflower rice with a sweet potato side for lunch.

Salmon and sauteed veggies for dinner.

Wish me the best of luck!

A Birth Story to Remember

On By Jenni C.In PregnancyLeave a comment

You never know what labor actually feels like until it happens.

I figure now is a good time to inform you all of my birth story. Nico is now 3 months and 1 week old. He grew up so fast. When he was born he was a somewhat tiny 7lbs, 6.2 oz, 19 inches. Awww how I miss him being so small.

Baby Nico, 7lbs 6.2 oz, 19 inches

So let’s go back to the day, or better yet middle of the night that he was born. Nico was born at 38 weeks, 4 days. I had no idea I was going into labor. In my head he was going to be a late baby, I was mentally preparing myself to be induced at 41 or 42 weeks. In my head he was not supposed to come when he did. Remember, his due date was October 7, so I was prepared to have an October baby. Luckily he came in September and now he is a September baby.

At 38 weeks I was still working, still actively going to crossfit and yoga. I had stopped running pretty early into my pregnancy due to pelvic pain, so crossfit and yoga were my main sources of daily activity. The plan was to continue to do everything I was doing until he popped out, and that I did.

36 weeks preggers!

Two days before Nico was born, my husband and I went to the doctor for our 38 week check up. At that time I was 1-2cm dilated. I didn’t think much about it. I made the next appointment for the following week and returned to work.

The next day was a Wednesday, it was like any other Wednesday, I went to work, went to crossfit, completed the crossfit workout, went home, ate dinner, showered, and went to bed. A little after 12:00 am on Thursday, September 26, I woke up out of my sleep because I had to pee, I heard a small pop. I thought that I had urinated in the bed a little, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and felt a major pain in my back. I also felt incredibly constipated, so I tried to continue to use the bathroom. Nothing happened, but the back pain became worse. My husband heard me moving around so he came upstairs, I had him massage my back thinking that the pain would go away and I would go back to bed so I could go to work tomorrow. The pain never went away. My back was KILLING ME! As he rubbed my back the pain would lessen and then it would come back after a few minutes. Hubby figured they were contractions so he started timing them. I told him let’s just go to the hospital. He was hesitant, but I was adamant that we needed to go to the hospital right now!

Hubs and I pre baby

Luckily my hospital bag was packed, best advice I received, pack your hospital bag early! He started moving stuff to the car and I got dressed so we can go. Now, I was in a lot of pain and just wanted it to be over. The husband on the other hand was not moving with a sense of urgency. We laugh about it because he was moving in slow motion and baby was on his way out with the quick motion. We got in the car. Just so you know, my husband is a very careful driver. And this where we differ. At this time I would be speeding down the highway, I mean I speed down the highway to get to work because I am always late, so if a baby is coming out, lets just say that you can call me NASCAR. But, my lovely husband decides to put the car in cruise control and use navigation to get to the hospital. He has been to the hospital over 100 times, and I work at the hospital! We were not going to get lost on the way to the hospital…At all!!! He says that he wanted to make sure he did not miss the exit. I say ok drive faster.

We get to the hospital about 1:45 am, I am still in pain. We get a wheel chair and go upstairs to the labor and delivery unit. Now while we are checking in at the desk, I am trying really, really, really hard to hold it together. Like I wanted to scream and say give me the pills!! But first, I had to show them my insurance card and ID. So yeah I had to hold it together. The funny thing is that another woman and her husband walked onto the unit right after I arrived, she was not in a wheel chair, and she did not look like she was in pain. I wondered, why wasn’t she in pain? I am over here hurting, and she looks like they are just on an evening stroll. What in the heck was going on here!

Well finally the nurse took me back to triage, she checked my cervix and I was 9 cm dilated. I thought, HOLY CRAP, this baby is about to come out of here. She asked if I wanted an epidural, I immediately said yes. Previously I was uncertain as to if I wanted an epidural or not. I was leaning against it because I was afraid of the side effects and having residual back pain. I really didn’t want to deal with that. However, I just wanted the pain to stop so at that moment I would have taken anything.

Now, here is the part that I never knew. Before you can get an epidural the hospital has to to lab work, and you have to have a saline drip for a liter and a half. You have to wait for the results to come back, and you watch the slowest saline drip in the world. It was miserable. I wanted to drink that saline drip just so it could get in my body and we can move on to the main event.

I would tell you how long that all took, but honestly I really don’t know. In my head it was a life time. Finally, the labs were normal and the saline was moving along, next step get the anesthesiologist for the epidural.

Well that is where this story goes left. After another long period of time the anesthesiologist finally came. I sat up on the bed, she started to numb my back and then the phone rings. The nurse answered and tells the doctor they need her for an emergency C-Section in the operating room. Am I wrong for thinking that she would finish my epidural before she left? As I look back on it today, I know this was all God’s working plan. God has always been the comic relief in my life. I live life, and God laughs. I have gotten used to him joking with me. But, I always trust in his plan, and his plans work. Remember I was always unsure about the epidural anyway. I was just in pain and had no idea when it was going to end.

The doctor left to go do the C-section, I had the beginnings of an epidural on my back but no epidural. They said they would send another doctor. No other doctor came to administer the epidural.

The pain continued, the nurse checked my cervix again, this time I was 10 cm, and baby was ready. I was going to have a natural birth. I guess that was going to be my birth plan, let’s do it! My actual OB was not on call that night, so another OB was going to deliver my baby. No problem I thought, well…not so fast. Remember that emergency C-section that stopped me from getting an epidural, well the OB was in that delivery too. The nurse tried to reach her, but she was preoccupied. My Nico waits for no one and he was ready to come out!

Two other nurses came into the room, one held my hand, told me to push, and out came baby Nico. One push, at 3:27am on Thursday , September 26, I became a mom. Wow, that was fast. I would have never thought that would happen so fast, but I’m glad it did. It was painful, but not anything I couldn’t handle. I’m actually pretty bad ass. No doctor. I am grateful to all nurses everywhere.

And we have a baby!!!

That’s my story, quick labor, no doctor to deliver my baby, and no epidural. Not like I would have imagined, but I absolutely have a perfectly healthy, happy, baby boy. Thank You God.

My growing family

Side note: In August my husband and I went to a birthing class, there was another couple who also saw my original OB. We would see them at the doctor a few times. Our kids have the same pediatrician and we saw them at Nico’s 1 month doctor visit. Ironically, it turns out that she was the emergency C-section. They had a baby girl. Our kids were born on the same day, about a few minutes apart. It is always so funny how life works out.