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Hey, guys! Hope you’re having a great Wednesday and doing all the things that make you happy.

I am in my blogging chair, with my Klean Kanteen full of fresh water, listening to the new AWESOME Blink-182 album and editing some photos from last week.

As I wrote in my last post about non-maternity maternity clothing, I have found a few maternity companies that made me think differently on the whole clothing situation during pregnancy. It’s easy to hate maternity clothes, exposed to the ordinary all-too-familiar brands when you’re used to buying clothes off of more obscure trendy online shops, so with some looking around I found a few places I liked.

So I want to start a series of posts, featuring certain maternity brands ( and maybe some giveaways) that I’ve tried out and approve of.  These will not be your run of the mill Gap, Old Navy, Target clothing. We all know about their maternity lines. It will be shops you might have never heard off that have either GREAT styles or offer unprecedented comfort. Because those are the only  two things that matter when it comes to maternity clothing.

When I got pregnant, I knew right away that when it came to exercising, I will have to get a whole new wardrobe. If boobs that grew two sizes weren’t enough to convince me of that, the ever expanding belly did. None of my stretchy tight sports bras fit anymore. My work out pants, while stretchy, pressed uncomfortably when I put them on mid-belly, and felt like they’d fall off if I roll them down.

It was very clear that if I wanted to continue exercising outside, I needed clothing designed specially for  pregnant bellies.

This brings me to THESE PANTS

3 in 1 Maternity Yoga pants by Oceanlily sold at MaternityActivewear.com

When I first put them on at home when they arrived, I refused to take them off. I spent hours wearing them around the house. The pants are made out of a thick and taut fabric, which made me think that I was going to die from Florida heat in them, but surprisingly enough, after about 30 minutes of taking pictures in the scorching sun, my upper body was wetter and hotter than my lower body. So apparently, they stay cool and dry better than my skin.

My favorite part, though, is that they are super versatile.

Everyone will tell you that the worst thing about buying maternity clothes is the understanding that you might never wear it again for the rest of your life, or if you do, it’ll be for a few months. So I’ve always LOVED the idea of maternity clothes that transitioned with you into mommyhood and beyond.

Not only can you wear them post-partum ( to hold that belly jiggle), but you can also position them 3 diffferent ways ( hence the 3 in 1) below the tummy, mid-tummy and over the tummy.

This  was my first pair of pants with the over-the-tummy option and it felt strangely comfortable and secure. When we went for a walk later that evening, I found myself pulling the band up over the tummy, even though it was still hot and humid. There’s something about the tautness of the material and the support that makes your belly feel secure. Do you, other preggos, ever find yourself holding onto your belly while walking, sort of to protect it for the movement? Well, I do and these pants totally do the job for me.

During the day though, I usually opt for the below the tummy option, especially if I am wearing a short top, which feels really good and firm too.

Another bonus is they come in 4 lengths: short, regular, tall and extra tall. Unfortunately, I got tall instead of extra tall, so they’re a bit short on me. But that’s a huge plus for tall girls like me, or shorter than average, since getting pants to fit right lengthwise is usually a big pain. You can get these yoga pants and other maternity activewear here

Maternity Activewear has quite a few retail locations in US and Canada, but if you’re an online shopper like me, feel free to check out their website: www.maternityactivewear.com for more maternity yoga pants, leggings, sport tanks, tees , shorts and more.

There’s no sales tax and free shipping over a certain amount.
And just for a limited time just for my readers,
you can use code 144698 to get 15% OFF at www.MaternityActivewear.com (valid till Sunday night, October 2nd)

And since we are on the fitness topic, I’d like to post something that I should have posted A LONG TIME AGO:
(Pre-) Pregnancy Fitness Test.
It’s a test I found in Pregnancy Fitness book and mentioned in one of my old pre-conception posts before I was even pregnant. I’ve had quite a few people ask me to publish that test, so here we go.

Basically, it’s a very simple, very basic flexibility and strength test to make sure that you’re at least in the minimal shape before getting pregnant. Or if you’re already pregnant, it might give you a clue as to what you should work on to prepare for future pregnancy challenges and labor. It really helped me identify my weak points ( ankles? lol) and motivated me to work on my Kegels more

CLICK TO VIEW THE FITNESS TEST HERE (PDF)

I’d also recommend buying the book. I’ve been doing their 1st trimester and 2nd trimester exercises and really enjoy them.

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I just found this picture and realized I will soon be right there, I’ll be the one with the baby and the balloon. In that very hospital. WOW!

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I’ve been spending these past few days thinking about a lot of things. Trying to digest my feelings and imagine the future.

The first part of the pregnancy has been perfect from the emotional standpoint. I spent these 5 months taking care of myself, taking it easy, being calm and at peace. I’ve tuned into my inner self and paid all the attention to the baby growing inside of me. Thinking about her, feeding her, day dreaming, planning. Never in my life have I been so in tune with my inner self, so focused on myself. Though, it’s funny because it never felt like I was focusing on myself per se, but more on the baby inside of me. Everything I do, I do with her in mind. I hear that is normal once you become a parent, that all of a sudden the world revolves around this little person in your arms. Except, the world is spinning in a different direction already and I still have 4 months to go.

At the same time, with everything that I am paying attention to ( nutrition, her kicks, singing songs to her, resting and not overextending myself even when I want to), I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever feel like my normal self again. I know I will have this bundle to take care of with a new set of “sacrifices” and constant attention, but will I ever get to be selfish again. Will I get to do things I love doing, but with Alexis in tow? Will I still see friends often? Will we travel? Will we have constant house guests like before? Will we go to the beach all the time? Will we drive up to Disney every 2 weeks?

I feel that once Alexis comes, it’ll be all about her in a way I can’t even comprehend right now. But has anyone out there been able to integrate babies into their life, while never sacrificing the quality of their care? I hope so- I want to share so many things with her:

I can’t wait to take her for a stroll in the park.
I can’t wait to spread a checkered blanket on the beach and have her soak up the sun and the sea.
I can’t wait to go shopping with a stroller ( weird, huh?).
I can’t wait to take her out on a boat.
I can’t wait to show her off to all my friends.
I can’t wait to host a baby party after her birth.
I can’t wait to take her to Disney over and over and over again.
I can’t wait to breastfeed.
I want to see her first happy emotions.
I want to go out for sushi ( finally) and this time have my daughter (wow!) next to me.
I want to spend typical Floridian days like I used to before pregnancy and this time, I want her to enjoy and experience them with me.
I want to sit on a hammock with her sleeping in my arms, drinking lemonade and reading a book.

I also like the idea of not feeling like anything and everything I do and put in and on my body has the potential of hurting her in some way. I feel like her life right now is dependent on my body doing the right thing and on me making the right judgements about what I do. It hurts me so bad to read about premature deliveries and incompetent cervices and stillbirths, because right now if my body decides to do something wrong, she won’t have a chance of survival. At 24 weeks, the viability, that chance goes up to 50%. But that’s not good enough. I want her safe in my arms, so that I could protect her from “myself”. Does that make sense?

I also hope I can have time to do it all. I hope life doesn’t kick me in the ass and takes the wind out from under me. I have girlfriends who do it all, who have amazing daughters, and fulfilling careers, they have fun, spend time with their kids – somehow they manage. I’m grateful that I have these women to look up to. I am grateful I have my mom. She’s the most amazing example of a mother one could ever have. Most of these women didn’t have help, they did it all on their own.

I am grateful I have a devoted husband to help me. With his help, I know it will be possible to be the kind of parent I’ve always wanted to be. The attentive, loving, caring, selfless, fun parent.

And at the same time I can’t wait for the curve balls life with a newborn will throw me. I am ready, I welcome it! Is it strange to look forward to sleepless nights, to diaper changes, to labor and delivery?

Here’s to the rest of the pregnancy, here’s to learning, here’s to taking life as it comes.

{ As I got done writing this post, I realized that I had’t “tuned” into Alexis in a few hours, haven’t consciously talked to her or listened to her inside of me. So I lay back for a second and put my hands on my stomach and said: “Hey, little girl! I’m here and I miss you!” And as if she knew what I was feeling or heard me, she gave me a strong kick, and then another and then another… I gotta tell you, I’m getting to love this secret communication between us}

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As you might have already noticed I did a minor re-design of the blog. I felt I needed something bright and happy, now that we are squarely in the pregnancy territory.

Once Alexis arrives, I’m thinking about completely re-doing the layout and possibly going with two sidebars and of course lots of pictures with our little girl.

Aside from the design, there are a few other changes to make life easier for you and me.

SIDEBAR

1. Along with subscribing by email or through an RSS feed, you can now subscribe to my blog through BlogLovin’ if that’s what you use to read blogs.  See the sidebar for the links.
If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, you’re always welcome to say hi and follow.

2. If you’d like to include our button on your blog, feel free to grab it from the sidebar.

3. The biggest change that is bound to make your life easier is the addition of Google Friend Connect.

You can now sign in and comment through your Google ID as well as add this blog to your account for easier access.
Please see the sidebar and connect.
To comment with your Google ID, just make sure you’re signed in ( there’s a little sign-in button at the bottom of the comment form), that way you won’t need to enter your information.

4. I also added 3 sections on the sidebar with the sites I frequently use: FOR MOMMY, FOR BABY and HOME DECOR.

4. I’ve never pointed it out before, but if you’re pregnant, TTCing (TTC= trying to conceive) or about to start TTCing, there are a few pages I put together with the research I’ve done going through the journey myself. That way you don’t have to search out the blog to find needed information.

The top bar has a page, called PRE-CONCEPTION RESOURCES. It lists ALL the steps we took in preparation for TTCing with links to appropriate posts, as well as some useful items, including THE BEST BOOK you could possibly read before trying to conceive.  Our actual TTC phase didn’t last long. Well, technically, we didn’t even have a TTC phase, since we got pregnant the first month, but I feel that a year of preparations was like spending a year TTCing.

The other useful page is called PREGNANCY RESOURCES. Since I’m only half way into this pregnancy, there is only some information there ( will be updated as I get further along). You can find a list of harmful herbs , all known teratogens ( substances that cause birth defects), water filters, pregnancy safe skin routine, maternity sleeping bras. I also listed ALL the pregnancy books I’ve read and which ones are a MUST and which ones are a PASS ( Like Bruno says “Nicht Nicht! or Ja! Ja!”)

And finally, NUTRITION. This page contains all the posts I did as a part of GET FIT GET HEALTHY challenge. This blog is not meant to be about nutrition, but I didn’t want those few things that were written about nutrition to be lost in the maze of this blog’s archives.

This blog was started as a way to record all the things we were going through to prepare to start TTCing. I spent about a year in just preparations, and I didn’t want all the information to be wasted. So the blog was started as a way to give women, who were going through the same phase, all the information I’ve gathered, save them time and headache. And while it morphed into a more personal blog about our journey, I would like to continue putting together all and any useful information I come across in the meantime.

5. Finally, please feel free to contact me via email (contact {at} prebabyblog.com) I love getting emails from you guys and will be happy to answer questions or just say hi!

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My Journey to finding comfortable and stylish maternity clothes.
Chapter 1: Buying non-maternity clothes for maternity wear.

{above: maternity style shoot we did for one of the Selfie Saturday.
These photos were taken by my hubby.
I posted the ones I took on my photography blog here.
Note: the dress is not that see-through.
I pulled the lining up to let the light come through and show the shape of my baby belly}

Those that have been following me from the beginning might remember that I started this pregnancy with a massive aversion to maternity clothes. As a newly pregnant girl who likes to look cute, I just couldn’t come to terms with the fact that being pregnant had to mean suddenly having to buy clothes at Old Navy or something equally tragic. And while some might argue that Old Navy isn’t the epitome of cheap unattractive clothing, their maternity line is definitely nausea inducing. {note: I do have admit that Old Navy has improved greatly since last time I’ve been to their store/website, which was about 5 years ago, but their maternity line is still pretty horrible).

So not knowing any better ( and I’m sure it’s going to be a recurrent theme, now that I’m on my way to mommyhood) I swore to NEVER buy/wear maternity clothes, except for when absolutely necessary. I figured I’d continue to wear my pre-pregnancy clothing as long as I can and then buy only a few pieces.

So I was pretty excited to buy a few non-maternity items in my “new” size that I can hopefully wear post-partum. One morning while obsessively checking the new “offerings” at MYHABIT ( a 50-70% off designer and non-designer sale site by Amazon), because the damn things sell out faster than Zulily, I saw a maternity line as one of their sales. I don’t even remember the name of the line, but it was cheap enough and I was curious enough to try it out. So I quickly added a few items to my cart and hit check out.

To make a long story short, I had to return 4 out of 6 items. Why? Because it was exactly what I expected. The pattern that I thought “maybe maybe maybe” could be cute in person was, in fact, exactly what makes maternity clothing so horrible. The shorts that I assumed just looked “funky” on the model were, in fact, the typical “mom shorts”. The dresses made me look like a whale, a whale covered with the most unattractive old lady pattern.

So needless to say, this cemented my decision to NEVER EVER look at maternity clothing again :)

Fast forward to today, and I gotta tell you, I did manage to find a FEW maternity clothing companies that I actually get excited about! And I finally see the reason to buy actual maternity clothes, especially if you’re working during pregnancy. I cannot wait to hold a few giveaways for all your pregnant and TTCing readers and share these discoveries with you.  So stay tuned!

But for now, I’d like to show you, guys, what I bought on my quest to find non-maternity maternity appropriate attire.

Before we proceed, I have to tell you, I’m obsessed with dresses. When I go shopping, I buy dresses. I don’t know, whether it’s my lack of styling abilities or the girl within me but dresses are my favorite things to wear. They’re comfy, easy to put on, and easy to match up, no mess and easy to fit in when you’re pregnant ( seems like easy is what I am digging these days). So you’ll be seeing a lot of dresses here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Dress #1:

Ok, this is not an everyday dress by any stretch imagination. My hubby bought it for my birthday for several reasons.

1. I LOVED IT and showed it to him ( and he actually remembered)
2. It’s so feminine…
3. It will accommodate my growing belly

Once I received the dress, I quickly realized that there will be very few occasions where I’ll get to wear this one during pregnancy and only with leggings, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still love it. And the bonus is I’ll be definitely wearing it post-partum.

Dress #2

You’ve seen a little bit of this one before. My friend Elena sent me a gift card to VS for my birthday and I bought two non-maternity dresses that I’ll be able to wear during pregnancy.  This was one of them.

Dress # 3

Dress #4

Dress #5:

Are we seeing a pattern here? A lot of red, right? Why am I drawn to red all of a sudden? I don’t know, probably compensating for lack of stylish clothes that fits.
So super cute dress… very loose  and romantic. I love it.

Dress #6

Dress #7

Maternity Shirt:

Non-maternity shirt and jeans :

Shirt: After ordering it, I realized i had a similar shirt from a NYC designer I worked for who paid me in clothes (yeah, how fair is that?), but yellow is just such an irresistible color, I HAD to keep it. It makes me happy.

Jeans: I got these as a part of a non-maternity order, they were cheap- I figured I’d throw them in, for the time when I am so big  I need them or so cold I have to wear them.
So maternity jeans, huh? I’ve heard a lot about them! I gotta tell you though…. Do you think it’d be weird if I wore them when I am not pregnant?… and… Why don’t they make jeans with stretchy bands for non-pregnant people?

More red:

And finally,

WHAT IS THE ONE MATERNITY ITEM THAT YOU COULD (HAVE) REALLY USE(D) ?

AND WHAT IS THE HARDEST MATERNITY ITEM TO FIND?

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Hey, preggo friends!

I wanted to share this super useful chart with you. If you’re like me, then the ultrasound technician’s “Your baby looks good” is far from enough for you.

You need details! How good? What’s good about him/her? Is EVERY PART of my baby is good, or there could be a problem somewhere? (lol)

And if you’re like most pregnant women, you might have wondered what those funky numbers on the ultrasound pictures stand for.

You know, these ones: AC, BPD, FL, AFI, CRL

I’m going to translate it for you and then give you a way to check these measurement against percentiles

AC means abdominal circumference. Basically your baby’s belly. It can indicate growth restrictions, or the opposite gestational diabetes problems and a large baby.
BPD is bi-parietal diameter, which is your baby head size.
FL is femur length, the length of the largest bone in our bodies. It can predict your baby’s height and also possibly show growth restrictions  by comparing it to AC.
AFI is the Amniotic fluid index, and shows how much water you have. A good thing to measure half way through the pregnancy to show any problems, and pretty important towards the end.  A normal AFI amount can also show proper liver function in the baby.  A good number would be around 12, with normal range being between 8-18.
CRL- crown to rump length. This measurement is seen in the beginning of pregnancy, where the baby can’t be measured head to toe.

{I never got around to posting Alexis’s last ultrasound picture. It looks like she’s giving us a finger! Haha!}

Alexis's 19 week ultrasound

So this awesome website I found actually lets you plug those numbers in and give you a percentile that your baby is measuring in, much like what the doctor will give you when you take your baby for its check-ups after birth.

What’s considered normal is a fetus between 10th and 90th percentile.

So here you go: ENJOY THE CALCULATIONS

And of course, a disclosure: I am not a medical professional, I am not here to give any type of advice. This is posted purely for personal use, derived from personal research of available online resource and could be inaccurate or misleading.

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I’ve been asked to post our usual meals multiple times. There are quite a few reasons why it took me this long to get around to it, and why this post is far from what I imagined to be.

1. Up until recently I hate food with all my soul ( thank you 1st trimester) and the prospect of thinking about food, let alone writing about it would send me into gagging spells.
2. I hate photographing food. First of all, it’s BORING! Secondly, when I’m in the midst of my craziness where I try to cook, cut, saute, bake and prep 3 different meals at the time (multitasker+perfectionist=crazy person), the last thing I want to do is bring down my DSLR and attempt to get good photos of every step. NOT. GOING.TO.HAPPEN.
3. Since I can’t get around to photographing food, I resort to quickly snapping some pictures with my iphone. And those photos offend my sense of beauty. Yuck!
4. Most of the time, our meals are simply things I come up with or throw together out of whatever available vegetables/whole grains we have. So there are  no real recipes for what we do. We just come up with it on the go. I can remember only 1 or 2 occasions where I actually managed to PLAN for a meal (i.e. buy ingredients and actually make it before said ingredients went bad in our Florida humidity)
5. If I didn’t take a picture, I don’t see the point in posting a recipe- how on earth would you know what you’re cooking.

That being said, I have put together a tiny example of SOME meals we’ve made that I managed to take a picture of.

Before pregnancy, I was a vegetarian who on occasion had smoked salmon (my weakness), almost no diary and eggs. So basically, I was almost a vegan. With pregnancy that had to change to make sure I get an adequate amount of protein, so I went back to drinking milk, eating cheese and eggs, and making an exception for 1 fish for its nutritional value and almost complete lack of dioxins and mercury (sardines). My husband is a vegan and has been that way since October 2010. So basically whenever we cook for both of us, it’s always vegan, and then I add whatever I need to for myself ( cheese, sardines,etc).

Just for the sake of full disclosure, I really think cheese is “evil” and I will be happy to drop it again once I don’t need as much protein, but for now, I need its evilness for the calories and protein punch.

THE ONLY 1 RULE I have while cooking is IT HAS TO BE HEALTHY AND MAKE SENSE NUTRITIONALLY. If I am cooking something relatively “empty” in nutrition, I always add extra vegetables or greens.

Let’s start with SPICY KALE STEW

I found the recipe on Epicurious a long time ago and we would make this stew ALL THE FREAKING TIME. It’s not bland at all and it goes great with rice or stand alone.