Can’t believe as I write this I’m already 26 weeks, that third trimester is right around the corner! Ever since my morning sickness subsided I feel like the weeks are flying by! Before we jump into weeks 24 & 25, here is a quick recap of babe so far!
I had a few questions about prenatal vitamins recently so I figured I’d share here.
But, first, please please please remember that what I take for myself isn’t always the recommendation I would make for a client. Generally, it is, but not always, and even if you were my nutrition client I’d still want you to get all my recommendations approved by your doctor. So make sure to share with your doctor any supplements you are taking while pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant.
Prenatal Vitamin
I’m taking Pure Encapsulations Prenatal Nutrients, you used to only be able to get them through a provider like an RD/chiropractor/naturopath etc. but the company recently got bought out by another company so I checked Amazon and they are now available! (affiliate link –> https://amzn.to/2tXmbfU )
Yes, I started taking them about a year before I got pregnant. I know the trend right now is more “whole foods” based vitamins but I prefer synthetic (which just means they don’t have any spinach/kale/berry powders in them) because they don’t make me nauseous.
Also, they have two types of folic acid in them and a significant amount of iron. Some women have an MTHFR mutation which means they can’t process the typical form of folic acid found in most multis and prenatal.
When I was tested for this my result was “slightly decreased activity” which isn’t usually a big deal. However, I decided to go with this prenatal because it carries both types of folic acid to cover all my basis.
Omega 3 Supplement
In the first half of my pregnancy, I was not taking as much Omega 3 as I am now. For the first half of my pregnancy, I used this supplement from Nordic Naturals. Now that I’m well into my second trimester I felt comfortable increasing my Omega 3 intake so now I take Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega.
Since I know I will get asked why I changed the amount I’m taking of fish oil I’ll keep this brief. I chose to lower my normal intake of fish oil (which is normally a high “therapeutic dose”) to decrease the chance of excessive blood thinning.
Which is often cited as one of the reasons NSAIDs decrease your conception/increase miscarriage risk. This is something I felt was the right call for me at the time, again, please run your fish oil/omega 3 supplement choices by your doctor (pre and peri-conception.)
PS just an FYI I just found out the official DHA supplement of the American Pregnancy Association is Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA.
Calcium Supplements
I’ll be 100% honest I take gummies, I tried to stop taking them and take real calcium pills and I ended up never taking them. So I take calcium gummies! (I usually get them from Costco.)
Magnesium
I’ve taken Natural Calm throughout my whole pregnancy. Although the dose I’ve taken varies significantly sometimes I take 1/4 teaspoon and sometimes I take 1 full teaspoon depending on what the sleep/constipation situation is like. I take it right before bed every single night, without fail.
Probiotics
I definitely take probiotics, more on these coming soon!
Week 24 – 6 Months!
(Dress is from Stitchfix, details are on my IG stories!)
This week is the first week I would say that I’ve started to “feel” real pregnancy. Not only am I receiving more and more comments but normal daily tasks like tying my shoes and getting up, are getting more difficult. I know, I know, just wait… ha ha it only gets harder!
Baby Size:
Symptoms:
- Shoulder/rib Pain- comes and goes basically the same. My doctor ruled out liver/gallbladder issues. Sleeping with a body pillow seems to have helped a lot!
- Fatigue: Definitely more fatigue this week, but again, THE HEAT! I’m not sure if it’s me or the heat. I feel like this is typical of how I feel in July usually.
- SI Joint Pain: Pretty minimal, just some stabbing occasionally when I get up and down.
- Also getting some kicks to the bladder occasionally so that’s fun!
Sleep: Getting up about one time a night, mostly okay!
Food Aversions: Nothing too terrible.
Food Cravings: Drumsticks (the ice cream brand), ice cream, and anything that’s cold!
Exercise: See Friday Fitness FFFF #72
PS for documentation sake it’s worth mentioning that this week was my 30th birthday and fourth of July! I shared the full recap of both days in this post in case you missed it!
Week 25
Baby Size:
Symptoms:
- Shoulder/Rib Pain- same as last week.
- I definitely felt a little better energy wise this week so that was good!
- SI Joint Pain: Had some real trouble with my SI joint this week! Lunges and split leg exercises seem to aggravate it a ton so those are out for a while. In addition, sitting on the couch seems to help my shoulder/rib stuff but aggravate the SI joint, so that’s been a fun little dance of trade-offs.
Currently Missing: Being able to stay up late! Bedtime is still 8 pm if I want to feel good the next day and not terrible. Even though I realize I’m waking up around 5:30 AM that bedtime still feels early!
Sleep: Same as last week, getting up about one time a night, mostly okay!
Food Aversions: Animal protein was hit or miss this week, but that’s normal. Nothing too terrible or out of the norm.
Food Cravings: Shrimp! I ate as much shrimp as I could and still feel safe last week. I also really wanted candy like all the time. I’d say this week was my first week of having a real craving. I wanted all types of candy like M & Ms, tootsie pops, and anything else. But, I don’t want just one candy bar. What I really want is a huge bag of Halloween candy so I can dig through it at random. I haven’t bought one, yet, haha, I’m just saying that’s what I want.
Exercise: See Friday Fitness FFFF #73
Looking forward too: A visit from family during week 27. (That’s next week!) Since we can’t really travel this summer (because we don’t want to risk flaring my previous back injury without being able to use medication) it will be nice to have the vacation come to us. We are already keeping a list of places we can’t wait to take them like the Donut Parlor and Aunt Chiladas.
That’s it for this Monday friends! See you back tomorrow with a new awesome giveaway!
