Pregnancy-Dealing with feeling “Fat” and emotional…

So my baby is growing and unfortunately so am I. My last pregnancy I was not particularly fit and I didn’t have a healthy eating routine, I have since in the last three years taken up jogging and become fit, I have adjusted my eating to cut out sugar and refined carbs and worked hard on becoming sexy again. This Pregnancy was wanted, It was badly needed and wanted and planned for so very long that It is now a miracle that it happened after my struggles. When I started this pregnancy I vowed to continue with my healthy eating and fitness as far as I could as to not just pack on a seriously large amount of unneeded fat like I did the last time. I find it is not about what I look like or how big I am but rather more about how comfortable I feel in my own skin and at the moment it is not very comfortable at all.

Now before I carry on let me just say that it is in no way healthy to “diet” during pregnancy and it is not good to worry about staying skinny because that just isn’t going to happen anyways, this post is aimed at the self esteem and uncomfortable feelings pregnancy can bring on. My goals are more aimed at only putting on what I need and not falling for that mind trap that tells you to eat everything in site while being pregnant. Its a big myth that you have to eat for two during pregnancy and baby in the beginning only really requires about 300 extra calories a day from the second trimester.

All I have dreamed of is a pregnancy where I feel fit and healthy and confident with myself, If you have been pregnant before you will know that when you hit that second trimester and start feeling “puffy” all over , it is then difficult to not feel uncomfortable especially when your clothes do not fit anymore. So with my healthy eating plan and all that… Where did I some how go wrong in the last few weeks?

I started out well with my continued fitness routine and my eating was super healthy but as soon as the “I am dead tired” pregnant feeling kicked in I started eating more bread and junk food in search of energy and then one unhealthy week morphed into six and here I am a good few Kg heavier and feeling like I lost myself somewhere along the lines. Mostly not the weight that is bothering me but more the fact that I lost control of my routine and fitness I have spent the last few years building. It can be a big emotional adjustment to learn to not look at the numbers on the scale.

It is so important to remember to love your self no matter what you look like, Or tho it is hard to deal with feeling uncomfortable in your own skin. Here are a few tips to help you take back control of your routine if you find your self lost as I am, And with it bring back your confidence during pregnancy!!

• Make A food diary… Keep a diary of your daily eating, write down everything you eat and then you can review it and make changes for more healthier choices. Often seeing what you have written down then puts it into perspective.
• Research Food options or ask your Dr or Midwife which food groups are a healthier choice during pregnancy so that you are getting correct nutrients while not making bad eating choices.
•  Exercise! This is an important one. keep moving, If you are already a runner then keep running or If you are not then take up going for fast walks and do toning exercises such as leg lifts and squats, there will keep you toned and prevent feeling puffy. It is so healthy to stay fit while pregnant and even helps prepare for labour.
• Drink Water!!! Staying hydrated helps in so many ways and is also essential for baby! Drinking enough water prevents constipation (one of the main causes of feeling uncomfortable)  and also helps flush out impurities in your system so less puffyness!!
• Dress up pretty!!! Make use of maternity wear that is tight fitting to show off your sexy new curves but at the same time is designed for comfort. Take time to do your makeup and spray on some perfume, It does wonders for self esteem!

I would love to hear about how you felt when you were pregnant or how you are feeling now if you are currently pregnant. I am now 17 weeks, I will be posting pregnancy updates and my feelings and progress as I go along so if this interests you then follow me on social media and on the Blog.

Parenting lately.. Am I threatening my daughter too much.

Something Different on the blog today…

The heading here sounds a bit harsh considering I have a three year old. But you will get what I am saying, everyone does this but I somehow feel like my daily routine is one little threat after the other and its getting a bit hectic. All fine and given it is not an all day thing as Zoe does go to play school till 3pm but when 3pm hits and I go to fetch her its another story….

Fetching Zoe from school starts out calm and pleasant, I have had time to refresh myself, drink coffee and reach a stage of the day where I am not half asleep and feeling dead. when I walk into the school its all fantastic, she’s playing nicely and smiling and is the worlds most well behaved child. As soon as I walk out of that schools front gate it is like she senses that she has me all alone. Cry and nag at mommy mode begins. It starts immediately with resistance to properly be strapped in the car. NOW here is where the threatening starts, usually I start with like a “Lets hurry up and go home so we can eat something yummy”, This is me hoping she will fall for it and then by the time we get home forget that I promised her a yummy. When we get home its the same issue getting out the car….

This goes on through out the afternoon unless of course she is distracted by something she find entertaining and gives me the day off. I am pretty sure it has become a little game for her and she half enjoys torturing me. The hours between 3pm and 7pm when my husband gets home can feel like days at the mercy of my toddler. Getting her to eat her food involves threatening to take away a toy or what ever she is busy with, threatening to put the Ipad in the cupboard, threatening no more yummy treats for the rest of like forever!!!

This I am sure like every other little toddler tantrum stage will pass, but last night after an hour and a half of bed time battles I decided enough is enough. Being pregnant and exhausted at night and trying to talk Zoe into going to bed all ended up a bit much for me last night and lets just say I was the one crying in the end. Today I am going to try things differently… there will be no threats today. I will remain calm and just sit quietly while I wait for Zoe to eventually agree to do what I need her to do. It is easy to get into a day to day routine of bribing my toddler to do what I need her to do and often this bad routine isn’t noticed before it is too late, which is the case with me at the moment. This is also just a mommy and Zoe issue, she is fine with everyone else but obviously has mom wrapped a bit to much around her little finger!

Now I am assuming I am not the only over tired mommy with this problem? ..

 

 

Bio-Oil Hamper Giveaway for Pregnancy Education week.

For Pregnancy education week Bio oil is giving away this really beautiful hamper that is perfect for pregnant women or even those with a small baby. Pregnancy Education week runs from 13 to 21 February, The aim of this is to highlight how childbirth education enables you to make informed choices about your pregnancy and what is best for you and your baby. This years theme is  “Date and way of birth – what would baby choose”.

This is such a stunning hamper, every item in the little basket is good quality and super cute, the hamper is worth over R1000!!!! The hamper consists of:

1. Basket
2. 3 bottles of Bio-Oil (60ml, 125ml and 200ml)
3. Cuddly rabbit with silky ears
4. 100% cotton babygrow
5. 100% cotton blanket
6. Soft grey & white striped cotton blanket
7. Bio-Oil’s ‘Tips for Moms from Moms’ booklet & Baby scan album

Bio-Oil is the skincare brand most recommended by doctors, pharmacists and midwives to help prevent pregnancy stretch marks. Bio-Oil is a passionate advocate for childbirth education, to give parents the knowledge to make informed choices.

Here is what you have to do to Enter, I have kept it east at 2 simple steps:

1. Comment Bellow on this post and tell me what the most interesting fact about pregnancy is that you have learnt.
2. Share this Giveaway post Using the Hashtag #InformedChoices AND make sure to tag me in your post so I can see you have shared/entered (you can share on Twitter or Facebook just make sure you are following me and tag me in the post using the Hashtag)

This Giveaway will run till The 21st February and The winner will be announced Monday the 22nd, The Giveaway is only open to South African Residents. You do not have to be pregnant to enter.

Remember you can find all the information on pregnancy education week and Childbirth Educators and events in your area on:

www.expectantmothersguide.co.za Or Visit their Facebook Page Expectant Mothers Guide

You can also visit www.parent24.com during pregnancy education week for expert pregnancy and skincare advice

Pregnancy Education week Plus a Bio-Oil Giveaway coming up!

Bio-Oil is in support of pregnancy education week that runs from 13 to 21 February, The aim of this is to highlight how childbirth education enables you to make informed choices about your pregnancy and what is best for you and your baby. I find this especially important for first time moms because I remember feeling half lost in the world of pregnancy and not always being sure about choices that needed to be made. I think we can all agree that spreading awareness and correct information about pregnancy would do the world a whole lot of good! I will be posting a bit about pregnancy awareness week and also there is a stunning Bio-Oil Giveaway coming up (*hint *hint the lovely gift I received the other day )

I am now currently 13 weeks pregnant with my second child and I am still learning things about pregnancy and child birth that I never knew. The theme of this years pregnancy education week is “Date and way of birth – what would baby choose” , This is an important topic for me because I have to again make these decisions and for a long time thought after my c-section I would be forced to have another but have recently learnt a lot about safely having a vaginal birth after a c-section.

Bio-Oil has teamed up with childbirth educators and hospitals around the country to create awareness and to offer various talks and pregnancy-related activities.

You can find all the information on pregnancy awareness week and Childbirth Educators and events in your area on:

www.expectantmothersguide.co.za Or Visit their Facebook Page Expectant Mothers Guide

You can also visit www.parent24.com during pregnancy education week for expert pregnancy and skincare advice.

PLUS!! Keep an eye on the blog as I will be running a stunning Giveaway for a beautiful Bio-oil hamper just like the one I am enjoying!!! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with this.

A Look at my life behind the blog -My exciting start to 2016

I have never written a personal post on my blog before, up until now I have never felt the need to or possibly just had nothing personal to write about that I felt was worth mentioning. I have always kept a clean blog focusing on Beauty products and reviews but here is a bit of a personal update on whats happening my side lately.

So as some of you know I have a 3 year old daughter and me and my husband have always planned to have our children close together so that they would grow up together with not too big of an age gap. I didn’t fall pregnant easily the first time and also suffered two miscarriages. I never gave much thought to my first struggle to fall pregnant cause it did eventually happen, now looking back I wonder if it was just luck. When my Daughter was 6 months old we decided to start trying for our second child and I never thought it would drag on so much. I just couldn’t fall pregnant, I felt like it was never going to happen.

If you have never struggled to fall pregnant then you will never know the massive emotional roller coaster it is, it can feel like the end of your world and months can feel like years with waiting and bad news after bad news while watching all your friends fall pregnant and have bundles of joy, it is a pain you will never know unless you have suffered it. I found it was easy for people to tell me to relax about it and forget about it then it will happen but this advice just frustrated me because it is not something you simply forget about, I mean how?!  After a few Dr’s appointments and tests I eventually ended up in hospital for a Laparoscopy surgery to remove Endometriosis tissue and make sure everything was clear with no problems on the inside of the womb. The operation went well but I have to admin it was more painful and unpleasant than the dr made it out to be. In the end it was all well worth it because here I sit 3 months after the operation and I am now 9 weeks pregnant!

I never thought I would start my 2016 year with such great news but when my visit to the gyni confirmed that I am pregnant and I could see my little miracle with its beating heart on the screen I just felt complete again. I am only 9 weeks and 5 days pregnant so not completely out of the danger zone yet but I do have faith that this baby is going to be just fine 🙂 , I also now sit with emotions that I am not sure about, it is like I struggled for so long that now that it finally happened I am not sure how to feel. I know I am over the moon excited and happy but it half feels unreal or too good to be true, its been a good few weeks of emotionally adapting to my new pregnancy.

I will still be blogging fully as usual 🙂 so I am not at all going anywhere! over the last year my Blog has become my other little baby that I have put all my love and creativity into and I am definitely planning on doing great things with the blog this year!!!!!

I am considering doing a pregnancy post or two on the blog over the next few months, or maybe a mommy post here and there to adapt to my current situation lol, let me know what you guys think of this idea? My blog will still remain mostly a beauty blog with maybe a different post here and there.