Wells Allan! He arrived into this world at 8:56 p.m. on March 30, 2016 - his due date! He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 inches long.
A not-so-graceful journey into motherhood
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wells Allan
Introducing...
Wells Allan! He arrived into this world at 8:56 p.m. on March 30, 2016 - his due date! He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 inches long.
Wells Allan! He arrived into this world at 8:56 p.m. on March 30, 2016 - his due date! He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 inches long.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Week 39 Anxiety
I think it all started with my weekly dr. appt. (the day before week 39 began). I just got this weird vibe from my doctor... which I am SURE was completely and 100% fabricated in my mind... but still... I feel this weird pressure to get this baby out before he decides to come. My doctor didn't even mention the word "induction" nor did she even really hint at that being a possibility at this point... but I just got a weird feeling about it... (I should also note that everything at this point still looks to be right on track and both mom and baby are healthy!)
An induction is just not something that I want for my body or my babies (unless there is a true medical reason for that to occur.) Ryan has several co-workers who are due (or whose wives are due) right around the same time as me. So each day (feels like every day) that he comes home and tells me about yet another one who has scheduled an induction "just because" makes me feel strangely pressured. (At this point, pretty much every one of those people already has an induction scheduled... some for before their actual due date! As suggested by their doctor! It blows my mind that doctors are not only okay with this but actually encouraging women to schedule inductions when they are not necessary AND because it fits their personal vacation schedules. Sometimes I just don't understand modern medicine...)
What's wrong with letting a woman's body do what it is designed to do? Why is that last week (or even extra week??) less valuable than any other week of pregnancy? I DO realize that there are some situations where it is actually very important to get baby out as soon as possible - and those situations are life saving! But I am just feeling so much pressure from... society? our culture? I'm not even sure from where... that this baby needs to be coaxed out of there (or even forced) if he takes "too long". Statistically, risks increase after a certain point, yes. But I don't want to base my decision off of statistics. I want to base if off of MY body. If my blood pressure is good, my fluid levels are good, my urine tests are good... if everything looks good and baby is healthy then I want him to stay in there as long as he needs. A few extra days of fat-layering or lung development or... whatever it may be... he's staying in there for a reason right?? I have been fearful that I am headed down a path where I will be forced into something "just because". (An emergency type situation or if there was an actual "issue" would be a completely different scenario. I would never make an unsafe decision just for the sake of sticking to my plan of a natural birth.) I have been allowing fear to take over and can't quite figure out how to push it out.
Please don't take this as me saying ALL inductions are bad. I know they are not. But for me personally - that is the last thing I want - unless it HAS to happen. I believe God and baby should be in control of that for me. I also strive to have natural births - something pitocin does not allow to happen easily. From what I have heard, induced labors affect the body so intensely that pain medication is almost inevitable. So for someone who wants ALL things to happen naturally.... pitocin doesn't sound like that beginning of that path that ends in a natural, drug-free delivery. (A lot of motivation for induction is estimated size of baby - but if my mom can deliver a 10+ lb. baby naturally then so can I! A weight guess is not enough by itself to convince me to induce - because I know that's probably what you were thinking ;)!)
What's wrong with letting a woman's body do what it is designed to do? Why is that last week (or even extra week??) less valuable than any other week of pregnancy? I DO realize that there are some situations where it is actually very important to get baby out as soon as possible - and those situations are life saving! But I am just feeling so much pressure from... society? our culture? I'm not even sure from where... that this baby needs to be coaxed out of there (or even forced) if he takes "too long". Statistically, risks increase after a certain point, yes. But I don't want to base my decision off of statistics. I want to base if off of MY body. If my blood pressure is good, my fluid levels are good, my urine tests are good... if everything looks good and baby is healthy then I want him to stay in there as long as he needs. A few extra days of fat-layering or lung development or... whatever it may be... he's staying in there for a reason right?? I have been fearful that I am headed down a path where I will be forced into something "just because". (An emergency type situation or if there was an actual "issue" would be a completely different scenario. I would never make an unsafe decision just for the sake of sticking to my plan of a natural birth.) I have been allowing fear to take over and can't quite figure out how to push it out.
Please don't take this as me saying ALL inductions are bad. I know they are not. But for me personally - that is the last thing I want - unless it HAS to happen. I believe God and baby should be in control of that for me. I also strive to have natural births - something pitocin does not allow to happen easily. From what I have heard, induced labors affect the body so intensely that pain medication is almost inevitable. So for someone who wants ALL things to happen naturally.... pitocin doesn't sound like that beginning of that path that ends in a natural, drug-free delivery. (A lot of motivation for induction is estimated size of baby - but if my mom can deliver a 10+ lb. baby naturally then so can I! A weight guess is not enough by itself to convince me to induce - because I know that's probably what you were thinking ;)!)
So this pressure I'm feeling... it's been affecting me in every way. My insides feel like an old rubber band that's being stretched and relaxed, stretched and relaxed...about to snap in half and fling across the room. I feel SO torn - because I want HIM to choose when he comes... but I'm worried that I won't be able to handle the stress and pressure that would come with it IF my due date comes and goes. Not because I would be stressed about baby or his health - but because I would be stressed about dealing with all of the external pressure to "get him out of there". I LOVE being pregnant and if he doesn't want to come until 10 days past my due date then so be it. I trust God to take control of that situation. But now I feel like I shouldn't be wishing baby to take his time so that I won't have to deal with having a "late" baby (a term I don't really even agree with using...) I think that because I am SO fearful of being forced into an unnecessary induction I have really gotten into my own head about it. Why should I even be afraid of that when my due date is still a week away? or 5 days away? or 2 days away? Why are people even asking me about an induction when my due date has not even come and gone yet?? Isn't a due date just an estimation anyway?
The other thing that makes all of this SO hard for me... I got lucky with Heidi. I never really had to play the "waiting game" when I was pregnant with her. That being my first pregnancy... I NEVER expected her to be early. I just assumed I would at LEAST make it to my due date - if not way past that. So this time... this waiting game has really got me inside my own head. If I HAD made it to (or past) my due date with Heidi, I would assume this time around that I would have roughly that same amount of time - or maybe just a few days sooner. But since she was 3 days early... will he be 3 days early? Will he be earlier than that? What if it's tomorrow? What if it's 2 weeks from tomorrow? How common is it for your second to be late if your first was early? What are the chances of that?
I am so incredibly stressed. My hormones are going INSANE and I am constantly up and down... so irritated, angry... I have been struggling HARDCORE so far this week to choose peace, faith and trust over stress and anxiety. I know getting out of the house and keeping my mind off of things helps... but I am also sooo tired at this point that all I really have the energy for is laying on the couch. Again - just another thing I feel so torn about! Resting/relaxing/driving myself insane vs. putting forth effort/going somewhere/doing something/getting my mind off of "things".... ARGH!! But what I have learned is that I am much more "stable" when I am out of the house and around people. That being said... I suffer dearly when a forego a nap. Naptime is still pretty crucial.
I never expected this "waiting" part to be so hard - and I know it's only hard because I am making it hard on myself. It is so hard and can feel so lonely - like I'm the only one in the world who feels this way.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Week 36, 37, 38 and 39
Week 36
Major events: Friday night wedding in Austin! Last run until after baby...
Size of baby: Head of romaine lettuce
Sleep: Fine,but starting to wake up to pee much more now due to MAJOR pressure...
Cravings: None
Aversions: None
Movement: Yes! So strong and painful! (Especially when he stretches me SO far sideways!)
Belly button in or out? In
Weight gain: 30 lbs.
Missing: Champagne??
Best part of this week: Getting to spend so much time with Ryan.
Hardest part of this week: Just dealing with stress and crazy emotions.
Looking forward to: Being done with all of the meal prep/cooking/baking and being able to focus on baby!
Emotions: Starting to feel SUPER stressed out that nothing is ready and with my hormones ramping up BIG time this week I am a wreck. I usually start the day off feeling pretty good (emotionally and physically) but by the time evening rolls around and I start getting tired and uncomfortable... that's when I start to REALLY freak out. Lots of tears have been shed over how much left there still is to do and how there just isn't enough time to do it in. I feel like a time bomb... guaranteed every night no matter what is going on, usually by 9:30 or 10 a major meltdown is occurring.
Signs of labor: Lightening (aka baby "dropping") and feeling the need to pee every second! Lots of Braxton Hicks! Although Braxton Hicks contractions feel completely different to me than labor contractions they are still annoying as heck!
WOWZERS SOO much has changed this week!! Week 36 started off as a normal week, but I could tell that on day 5 of this week my body started to making some BIG changes. Baby definitely dropped, which caused me to feel an enormous amount of pressure in my pelvis/bladder area. I started to feel the urge to pee ALL the time (even if nothing much comes out) and can even feel when his head rams up and down on my bladder. (On the bright side I can breathe a little bit better now and my chest cavity feels less crammed!) Heartburn has been horrible the last few days of this "week" and it pretty much makes me feel like crap all the way around.
Major events: Met with our doula for the last time! Baked a zillion breakfast items
Size of baby: Swiss chard
Sleep: Not great... just waking up multiple times every night to pee.
Aversions: None
Movement: Things got NUTS this week yall... during my first pregnancy, Heidi was very active and there were lots of kicks and strong movements, etc. but this baby... my GOODNESS it is absolutely freaky.
Belly button in or out? In
Weight gain: 30 lbs.
Missing: Nothing!
Best part of this week: Buying all (most) of the remaining items we need for baby, washing his clothes and starting to feel a little bit prepared for his arrival and seeing my grandma for her birthday
Hardest part of this week: Day 1 of this week I suddenly started feeling very uncomfortable. I was very crampy all day and just felt yucky. This caused us to freak out a little bit (thinking there was a chance he could come any day!) and made me stress out a LOT about not even having our bags packed. I think this day was enough to convince me to kick it into high gear... so we packed our bags and got a few more things ready. The hardest part is just not feeling ready yet...obviously he is not here yet (as of week 37 day 7) though so we're still chipping away at our to do lists.
Looking forward to: Getting excited to meet my little buddy!
Emotions: HUGE relief finishing all of the cooking/baking, but pretty stressed after a rough day 1 of this week
Signs of labor: Crampy with lots of tightening (mostly on day 1 of this week); as of the last day of my 37th week I am officially 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced!! (Which is just NUTS to think about because with my first pregnancy after laboring at home for 8 hours I was only 2cm. I'm already farther along than I was when I walked into the hospital to deliver Heidi!)
Week 38
Major events: Ran a 5K (what?? I had signed up for a 10K but by the time the race rolled around I decided it was just best to walk the 5K. The plan was to just jog a bit at the start and then walk the rest but I felt good enough to run it - slowly!!)
Size of baby: Leek
Sleep: Sleep got real bad this week. The pubic pressure (and
bladder pressure) makes sleeping very difficult and quite uncomfortable.
Cravings: None
Aversions: None
Movement: Yes, he is
still kicking the crap out of me, but I will say that movement seems to have
decreased a bit – I assume due to the fact that he has much less room in there
are this point
Belly button in or out? In...ish...
Weight gain: 33 lbs.
Missing: Bending, putting pants
on, etc… Every Time something slips out of my hands or starts to topple over I think to myself "Please don't fall on the floor! Please don't fall on the floor!"
Best part of this week: Going on my REAL last run (promise this time that's for real), having a
fabulous day with my girl and finally reaching the week 39 point – which means we
are finally at the “relax and wait” point and no longer scrambling to get a
zillion things done!
Hardest part of this week: Feeling really stressed after my dr. appt...(see my next post about Week 39 Anxiety!)
Looking forward to: Having (almost) nothing to do but just sit and wait :)
Emotions: Still not feeling quite ready for this pregnancy to end, even though I am getting more and more excited to meet him and hold him! I have just been trying to enjoy each and every moment I have with my baby inside of me, but I am now feeling SO much stress after my dr. appt...
Signs of Labor: 3-4cm dilated!
Major events: Easter Sunday
Size of baby: Personal sized watermelon
Sleep: Ooooh fine. Waking up frequently just to pee but really not in any pain or anything...
Cravings: None
Aversions: None
Movement: Yes - I am SOO going to miss feeling him roll around inside of me. This pregnancy went by SO fast it's hard to think about not being pregnant anymore!
Belly button in or out? In but very flat and strange looking... it looks as though it WANTS to pop out but can't
Weight gain: 33 lbs.
Missing: Not feeling like I have to pee every second of every day
Best part of this week: Feeling SO relieved after my dr. appt at 39 weeks 7 days. (Everything looks good and my doctor was super laid back and supportive about continuing to give baby time in there and allowing things to happen on their own. We still have plenty of time before we even start to talk about induction yay! I am feeling great and WAY less stressed.) I feel so much more "ready" now that I did even just a few days ago.
Hardest part of this week: Being so stressed!
Looking forward to: His arrival any day now...!!
Emotions: Soooo stressed this whole week (see my next post: Week 39 anxiety)
Signs of Labor: At my appointment (39w7d) my doctor performed a "membrane sweep", which essentially is when the doctor uses his/her fingers to separate the amniotic sac from the cervix (see here or just Google "membrane strip" or "membrane sweep"). Previously, I haven't been quite sure how I felt about this being performed, but since she was already checking my dilation when she asked I thought "might as well"! (It was not painful or uncomfortable and honestly I didn't feel a thing. I am grateful that she still asked for my permission though. I have heard of doctors just doing it without asking which would make me very uncomfortable.) The reason this is done is to encourage labor to begin - it triggers the release of the hormone prostaglandin (also found in semen in case anyone was wondering - a reason why they say sex can potentially help labor begin! Prostaglandin softens the cervix.)
Wells, we have officially made it to your due date!! I'm finally back in a place where I can just relax and wait for you to decide when you want to come. Can't wait to meet you baby boy!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 2
If you haven't seen part 1 of this post yet... check it out here: Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 1!!
Many of you have asked for my specific plans, recipes, spreadsheet, etc. I am SO excited to pass this info along to others! Please note: I am not a professional! I realize that there are a lot of imperfections and inconsistencies on the spreadsheet (and yes, as a type A, OCD person this drives me NUTS) but at 9 months pregnant AND hanging out with my almost-2-year-old (what!?) I simply do not have 17 hours to spend perfecting the way I want this to look, so it looks a little janky. Sorry friends ;).
Hopefully, you can use this more as a guideline rather than an exact plan and alter it to fit your own needs/likes/desires! Feel free to comment with any questions.
Meal Prep Spreadsheet
If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place here is a link to a Pinterest board where most of the recipes I used are located!! Meal Prep Recipe Pinterest Board (I apologize for some missing images on my own recipe pins!)
This past week, I also prepared a bunch of breakfast items as well!
The sandwiches and chai muffins I did one day, french toast sticks another and the 6 remaining items were all done another day (probably took me about 5ish hours??) To be honest, it was REALLY easy doing all of the baking at one time. I just had a bowl for dry ingredients that I reused (without washing) for each recipe, a measuring cup for breaking eggs in (and measuring oil). I really didn't have to break to do a bunch of dishes between each recipe or anything, it really was a matter of waiting for whatever was in the oven to finish! I would definitely recommend doing as many of the baked things at one time as you can. Luckily, I was able to do most of this while Heidi was at MDO, however I do owe her a playground day for being so patient with me while I spend so much time in the kitchen (she may or may not have watched her favorite,"Elf", about 25 times in the last 3 weeks....oops!)
To freeze, I quartered the breads (so we could change it up more frequently - instead of eating banana bread for 6 days straight!) wrapped them in plastic wrap and then wrapped them in foil and labeled them. For the muffins, I just dumped those guys into a ziploc bag.
Thanks for hanging in there with me! I hope you find this useful and it helps you prepare some tasty somewhat-healthy meals for the future!
Many of you have asked for my specific plans, recipes, spreadsheet, etc. I am SO excited to pass this info along to others! Please note: I am not a professional! I realize that there are a lot of imperfections and inconsistencies on the spreadsheet (and yes, as a type A, OCD person this drives me NUTS) but at 9 months pregnant AND hanging out with my almost-2-year-old (what!?) I simply do not have 17 hours to spend perfecting the way I want this to look, so it looks a little janky. Sorry friends ;).
Hopefully, you can use this more as a guideline rather than an exact plan and alter it to fit your own needs/likes/desires! Feel free to comment with any questions.
Meal Prep Spreadsheet
If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place here is a link to a Pinterest board where most of the recipes I used are located!! Meal Prep Recipe Pinterest Board (I apologize for some missing images on my own recipe pins!)
This past week, I also prepared a bunch of breakfast items as well!
 |
| Breakfast sandwiches! Egg, ham and cheese. |
 |
| Wrapped up and ready to go! |
 |
| Chai muffins - YUM! |
 |
| French toast sticks. |
 |
| Coconut banana bread. |
 |
| This was probably my favorite of all - lemon raspberry muffins. They are SO good!! |
 |
| Chocolate banana oatmeal bread (I may or may not have also added chocolate chips to the batter...) |
 |
| A few items in this picture not mentioned above...middle rack is regular banana bread and orange chocolate chip muffins; right rack is oatmeal cups! |
The sandwiches and chai muffins I did one day, french toast sticks another and the 6 remaining items were all done another day (probably took me about 5ish hours??) To be honest, it was REALLY easy doing all of the baking at one time. I just had a bowl for dry ingredients that I reused (without washing) for each recipe, a measuring cup for breaking eggs in (and measuring oil). I really didn't have to break to do a bunch of dishes between each recipe or anything, it really was a matter of waiting for whatever was in the oven to finish! I would definitely recommend doing as many of the baked things at one time as you can. Luckily, I was able to do most of this while Heidi was at MDO, however I do owe her a playground day for being so patient with me while I spend so much time in the kitchen (she may or may not have watched her favorite,"Elf", about 25 times in the last 3 weeks....oops!)
To freeze, I quartered the breads (so we could change it up more frequently - instead of eating banana bread for 6 days straight!) wrapped them in plastic wrap and then wrapped them in foil and labeled them. For the muffins, I just dumped those guys into a ziploc bag.
Thanks for hanging in there with me! I hope you find this useful and it helps you prepare some tasty somewhat-healthy meals for the future!
Monday, March 7, 2016
Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 1
In preparation for baby #2, I decided that this time around I wanted to do a better job of having some meals and food options on hand for us. (How was it that I didn't even think about that with baby #1???) Well, this idea QUICKLY got very out of hand...and I decided I wanted to prepare a full MONTH of meals!! Yes, I am insane. Yes, everyone already knows this.
So the goal was to plan roughly 30 meals and we are hoping that between leftovers combined with meals prepared by friends/family this would last us OVER 1 month... hopefully closer to 2 months if we're lucky.
The benefits of preparing meals in advance are obvious, but I'll go ahead and share ALL of the reasons why I chose to do it this way...
a.) To keep me and/or hubby from having to do major weekly grocery trips (worse case he runs to the store for a few items or stops on his way home from work)
b.) If someone else who happens to be on their way over to meet the new baby asks, we can provide them with an exact list of just a few items they could potentially pick up at the store for us
c.) To eliminate as much meal prep as possible, so if hubby or someone else (or me) is the one actually doing the cooking there is no guess-work, no measuring ingredients out and minimal slicing and dicing required - just following a recipe and using the provided ingredients
d.) Lastly, from what I remember postpartum is NOT a time where you want to be standing/working/thinking about anything. AT ALL. That, plus recovering physically from childbirth AND throwing the physical effects of breastfeeding into the mix makes for one RAVENOUS (not to mention hormonal/hangry) mama. With my first post-partum experience, I would freaking lose my mind if I couldn't find anything to eat... or if I had to work too hard to find or prepare food or if I had to put too much TIME into getting meals ready for myself (even simple meals like breakfast)! With a newborn in the house, there just is no time to go spend 20 minutes preparing yourself a nice meal of eggs, toast, bacon, etc. etc. You need to be able to grab and go (go and sit back down on the couch I mean).
Preparing so much in advance... it really is for the state of my own mental health!
I have broken this down into 6 different "phases", because it took a lot of time and preparation before even heading to the grocery store! I'm hoping that by breaking it down this way it will be as easy as possible for someone else to understand... well actually for myself too because I know one month from now I will have no idea how or what I even did! Okay so here we go!!
Phase 1
- Determining WHAT to make: I went through every recipe I have ever used and then some. Pinterest seemed WAY too overwhelming when the search was for "crock pot dump meals"... also it's really difficult and stressful to try and sift through hundreds of thousands of those meals to find ones that aren't 90% canned/preserved goods. I always seek out recipes that contain lots of veggies, meat and "pure"/unprocessed ingredients... all of which are even MORE important to post-partum recovery and breastfeeding, so I tried to stick with what I already knew. As I sorted through hundreds of recipes, I would save recipes if they either a.) required very few perishable ingredients OR b.) if they could be prepared 100% ahead of time and frozen. I call the recipes that fall under the first category "shoebox meals", because most/all ingredients can be measured out and separated ahead of time and placed in their own labeled shoebox (or in my case, shopping bags because I didn't have many shoeboxes on hand and didn't feel like seeking any out).
Phase 2
- Creating an excel spreadsheet: Once I had picked out around 30 meals (I ended up with 13 shoebox meals and 15 whole freezer meals) I sat down to put all of this into an excel spreadsheet. I started with shoebox meals and then made my way down to whole meals. (See image below for this explanation to make some sense!)
- Determining ingredients needed and separating into columns: Once I had typed out all of the meals, I went through each recipe and wrote out basic ingredients (some with actual amounts of ingredients if it was larger amount), separated by how the ingredient was to be "stored". I did this for a few reasons... a.) to make creating the grocery list easier. I can easily see exactly how much of which items I need to ensure we have on hand or purchase (especially meat)! b.) The "perishable" ingredients are already listed out so if hubby gets sent to the store (or anyone else for that matter) all we have to do is just pick which meal we want to have and boom! We already know exactly what we need and how much.
I also color coded all of the recipes based on the type of meat and how it was to be prepared. (For my recipes, the different "colors" were frozen raw chicken breasts, cooked chicken breasts, shredded chicken, shrimp, ground beef, ground turkey and no meat/other.) This was MOSTLY helpful to do for the "whole meals" as it was just to help me prepare all "alike" meals at once - Example: If you look at the image below, the 3 meals in blue all require pre-cooked shredded chicken. So, I will cook ALL of that chicken at once and prepare all 3 of those meals at the same time... as opposed to cooking chicken, shredding chicken and making one meal. Then another day cooking chicken again, shredding chicken again and making another meal. Once the meal was done, I would turn the row back to white - my way of "checking" it off the list. (Which is why the image below most things are white except those 3 blue lines you see - At the time this post was written I had not yet made those 3 dishes.)
I also plan on preparing some breakfast items (like banana bread, pancakes, etc.) to freeze once I am 100% done with all of these other meals, I just haven't had time to sort though that idea yet ;).
Okay hopefully this is still making sense...
Phase 3
- Making the grocery list: In order to spread out the COST of doing all of this (essentially cramming in the cost of 2 months worth of groceries into 1 month) I initially intended to evenly spread out the meals over the course of 4 weeks. That did work out pretty well for the shoebox meals, but for the whole meals what actually ended up happening was I just planned on preparing certain meals on certain days that were free and then adding those items to the grocery list that week. (This also had a lot to do with the meat and how it was prepared! Like my 3 shredded chicken meals in the image above...) I still managed to be right on budget MOST weeks, but went over by about $50 this past week with a lot of the whole meal ingredients... (so much chicken!!) You could also choose how to approach this part too based on just how strict your weekly grocery budget actually is.
- Go grocery shopping! The complicated part is over! Now it's just about getting the goods and organizing everything that you buy.
Phase 4
- Separate and measure out non-perishable ingredients: Once I unloaded all the groceries, I grabbed my shopping bags and labeled them based on the number of the meal on the excel spreadsheet (don't start with #1 or you will get thrown WAY off!) Then I measured out spices and put those into a snack sized ziploc and placed all other non-perishable ingredients into their corresponding bags. After the first grocery trip, I had bags #3 - #9 prepared!
- Freeze meat: All meat was then labeled with it's corresponding meal number and placed into the freezer. To make life even easier, I trimmed the fat off of each breast of chicken and placed the number of breasts into a labeled ziploc bag. Yes, this made for several INTENSE sessions of fat-trimming but now that part is already over! (Again, less guess work or trying to figure stuff out in the moment.)
- Prepare all freezer meals: Once the shoebox meals were "complete", I moved on to the whole meals. At this point, I still have about 8 or so more to go before I am completely done. Also, as I mentioned above, it is way easier to break down the whole meal prep into HOW the meat is prepared, so you can knock out as much at one time as possible.
Phase 5
- Have a baby!!
- Pick a meal from the menu: Each morning (or day before) we plan on referring back to the "menu" (excel spreadsheet) to decide what to eat that evening. If it's a shoebox meal, then Ryan will pop into the store (or we provide friend who asks) with list of perishable ingredients for that specific meal. If we pick a whole meal then obviously we would just pull it out of the freezer, thaw and cook/heat up!
Phase 6
- Snuggle new baby (and/or take naps) with all of this time you have saved yourself!!
WOW. Okay well there you have it. Many hours of brain power (and my head swirling around trying to figure out how to execute this idea) condensed into one blog post. I hope you were able to stick with me!! I am happy to answer any questions at all that you might have so feel free to comment below with any thoughts!!!
I would also LOVE to provide some of the recipes I used for this "project", but I just haven't quite figured out the best way to do that yet...(nor have I actually had time to put a lot of thought into it yet). This is mostly due to the fact that my recipes come from all over the place! Random websites, word documents, email text and Pinterest links....any suggestions you have to make this happen please let me know ;). I hope this is helpful to all of you future mamas preparing for baby - or just for anyone crazy enough to do some intense meal-prep just for fun!!
***Update! If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place as well as my spreadsheet, continue on here: Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 2
So the goal was to plan roughly 30 meals and we are hoping that between leftovers combined with meals prepared by friends/family this would last us OVER 1 month... hopefully closer to 2 months if we're lucky.
The benefits of preparing meals in advance are obvious, but I'll go ahead and share ALL of the reasons why I chose to do it this way...
a.) To keep me and/or hubby from having to do major weekly grocery trips (worse case he runs to the store for a few items or stops on his way home from work)
b.) If someone else who happens to be on their way over to meet the new baby asks, we can provide them with an exact list of just a few items they could potentially pick up at the store for us
c.) To eliminate as much meal prep as possible, so if hubby or someone else (or me) is the one actually doing the cooking there is no guess-work, no measuring ingredients out and minimal slicing and dicing required - just following a recipe and using the provided ingredients
d.) Lastly, from what I remember postpartum is NOT a time where you want to be standing/working/thinking about anything. AT ALL. That, plus recovering physically from childbirth AND throwing the physical effects of breastfeeding into the mix makes for one RAVENOUS (not to mention hormonal/hangry) mama. With my first post-partum experience, I would freaking lose my mind if I couldn't find anything to eat... or if I had to work too hard to find or prepare food or if I had to put too much TIME into getting meals ready for myself (even simple meals like breakfast)! With a newborn in the house, there just is no time to go spend 20 minutes preparing yourself a nice meal of eggs, toast, bacon, etc. etc. You need to be able to grab and go (go and sit back down on the couch I mean).
Preparing so much in advance... it really is for the state of my own mental health!
I have broken this down into 6 different "phases", because it took a lot of time and preparation before even heading to the grocery store! I'm hoping that by breaking it down this way it will be as easy as possible for someone else to understand... well actually for myself too because I know one month from now I will have no idea how or what I even did! Okay so here we go!!
Phase 1
- Determining WHAT to make: I went through every recipe I have ever used and then some. Pinterest seemed WAY too overwhelming when the search was for "crock pot dump meals"... also it's really difficult and stressful to try and sift through hundreds of thousands of those meals to find ones that aren't 90% canned/preserved goods. I always seek out recipes that contain lots of veggies, meat and "pure"/unprocessed ingredients... all of which are even MORE important to post-partum recovery and breastfeeding, so I tried to stick with what I already knew. As I sorted through hundreds of recipes, I would save recipes if they either a.) required very few perishable ingredients OR b.) if they could be prepared 100% ahead of time and frozen. I call the recipes that fall under the first category "shoebox meals", because most/all ingredients can be measured out and separated ahead of time and placed in their own labeled shoebox (or in my case, shopping bags because I didn't have many shoeboxes on hand and didn't feel like seeking any out).
Phase 2
- Creating an excel spreadsheet: Once I had picked out around 30 meals (I ended up with 13 shoebox meals and 15 whole freezer meals) I sat down to put all of this into an excel spreadsheet. I started with shoebox meals and then made my way down to whole meals. (See image below for this explanation to make some sense!)
- Determining ingredients needed and separating into columns: Once I had typed out all of the meals, I went through each recipe and wrote out basic ingredients (some with actual amounts of ingredients if it was larger amount), separated by how the ingredient was to be "stored". I did this for a few reasons... a.) to make creating the grocery list easier. I can easily see exactly how much of which items I need to ensure we have on hand or purchase (especially meat)! b.) The "perishable" ingredients are already listed out so if hubby gets sent to the store (or anyone else for that matter) all we have to do is just pick which meal we want to have and boom! We already know exactly what we need and how much.
I also color coded all of the recipes based on the type of meat and how it was to be prepared. (For my recipes, the different "colors" were frozen raw chicken breasts, cooked chicken breasts, shredded chicken, shrimp, ground beef, ground turkey and no meat/other.) This was MOSTLY helpful to do for the "whole meals" as it was just to help me prepare all "alike" meals at once - Example: If you look at the image below, the 3 meals in blue all require pre-cooked shredded chicken. So, I will cook ALL of that chicken at once and prepare all 3 of those meals at the same time... as opposed to cooking chicken, shredding chicken and making one meal. Then another day cooking chicken again, shredding chicken again and making another meal. Once the meal was done, I would turn the row back to white - my way of "checking" it off the list. (Which is why the image below most things are white except those 3 blue lines you see - At the time this post was written I had not yet made those 3 dishes.)
I also plan on preparing some breakfast items (like banana bread, pancakes, etc.) to freeze once I am 100% done with all of these other meals, I just haven't had time to sort though that idea yet ;).
Okay hopefully this is still making sense...
Phase 3
- Making the grocery list: In order to spread out the COST of doing all of this (essentially cramming in the cost of 2 months worth of groceries into 1 month) I initially intended to evenly spread out the meals over the course of 4 weeks. That did work out pretty well for the shoebox meals, but for the whole meals what actually ended up happening was I just planned on preparing certain meals on certain days that were free and then adding those items to the grocery list that week. (This also had a lot to do with the meat and how it was prepared! Like my 3 shredded chicken meals in the image above...) I still managed to be right on budget MOST weeks, but went over by about $50 this past week with a lot of the whole meal ingredients... (so much chicken!!) You could also choose how to approach this part too based on just how strict your weekly grocery budget actually is.
- Go grocery shopping! The complicated part is over! Now it's just about getting the goods and organizing everything that you buy.
Phase 4
- Separate and measure out non-perishable ingredients: Once I unloaded all the groceries, I grabbed my shopping bags and labeled them based on the number of the meal on the excel spreadsheet (don't start with #1 or you will get thrown WAY off!) Then I measured out spices and put those into a snack sized ziploc and placed all other non-perishable ingredients into their corresponding bags. After the first grocery trip, I had bags #3 - #9 prepared!
- Freeze meat: All meat was then labeled with it's corresponding meal number and placed into the freezer. To make life even easier, I trimmed the fat off of each breast of chicken and placed the number of breasts into a labeled ziploc bag. Yes, this made for several INTENSE sessions of fat-trimming but now that part is already over! (Again, less guess work or trying to figure stuff out in the moment.)
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| Preparing for chicken trimming! (You can also see some shredded chicken thawing for our dinner that particular night in the background next to our crazy fake cardinal who keeps me company in the kitchen!) |
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| All done - WHEW! (At least for today!!) |
- Prepare all freezer meals: Once the shoebox meals were "complete", I moved on to the whole meals. At this point, I still have about 8 or so more to go before I am completely done. Also, as I mentioned above, it is way easier to break down the whole meal prep into HOW the meat is prepared, so you can knock out as much at one time as possible.
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| Italian sausage day (actually it's "Italian seasoned ground turkey day" technically). Pictured is lentil soup on the left and then the two pots on the right are both for lasagne rolls. |
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| (Yet another) chicken day... this particular day I literally trimmed the fat off of TWENTY EIGHT breasts of chicken (half-breasts actually if you want to get technical). |
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| Cooking 8 half-breasts... |
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| Preparing 6 "dump" meals... meaning raw chicken and ingredients all get thrown into one bag and placed into the freezer. Then when we're ready to eat them, they get thawed and then contents of entire bag get tossed into the crock pot! |
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| Ready for the freezer! Also, a bag of frozen broccoli to use as a side for some yet-to-be-determined meal. There are also 2 extra breasts that didn't have a home that I will save just in case as well. I have a little section on my spreadsheet for "extra items/side items" that we have in the freezer so we don't forget about them. |
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| The cooked chicken placed into it's designated casserole - on the left is spinach artichoke chicken and the right is a chicken/broccoli type casserole recipe of my mom's! |
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| Shredded chicken day! 3 different casserole dishes. |
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| The aftermath - lots of CLEAN dishes (thanks to Ryan for that) and lots of recycling! Also some jars of leftover broth from boiling chicken that we will pop into the freezer to use in recipes down the road. |
Phase 5
- Have a baby!!
- Pick a meal from the menu: Each morning (or day before) we plan on referring back to the "menu" (excel spreadsheet) to decide what to eat that evening. If it's a shoebox meal, then Ryan will pop into the store (or we provide friend who asks) with list of perishable ingredients for that specific meal. If we pick a whole meal then obviously we would just pull it out of the freezer, thaw and cook/heat up!
Phase 6
- Snuggle new baby (and/or take naps) with all of this time you have saved yourself!!
WOW. Okay well there you have it. Many hours of brain power (and my head swirling around trying to figure out how to execute this idea) condensed into one blog post. I hope you were able to stick with me!! I am happy to answer any questions at all that you might have so feel free to comment below with any thoughts!!!
I would also LOVE to provide some of the recipes I used for this "project", but I just haven't quite figured out the best way to do that yet...(nor have I actually had time to put a lot of thought into it yet). This is mostly due to the fact that my recipes come from all over the place! Random websites, word documents, email text and Pinterest links....any suggestions you have to make this happen please let me know ;). I hope this is helpful to all of you future mamas preparing for baby - or just for anyone crazy enough to do some intense meal-prep just for fun!!
***Update! If you are looking for recipes for the dishes I prepared all in one place as well as my spreadsheet, continue on here: Pre-baby Meal Prep - Part 2
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Weeks 33, 34 and 35
Week 33
Major events: Ultrasound; follow up doctor appt; Ryan out of town most of the week
Size of baby: Pineapple
Sleep: No complaints
Cravings: None
Aversions: None
Movement: Yep! (See below for more on movement during this pregnancy.) This guy usually goes the most crazy in the evenings! I have also reached "watermelon-thumping" stage... my belly is so hard and there are spots that sound insanely hollow! It sounds like when you thump on a watermelon or cantaloupe (often, when I'm in the shower I think "what's that noise??" Then I realize it's just the water hitting my belly haha! One day, I noticed that for the FIRST time EVER this whole pregnancy, his feet were on my left side. I really didn't like it only because it was NOT what I was used to! (Also, weird that he still has room to roll from side to side?? I do think that he is head down at this point, so I guess he is just swinging his feet from side to side!) He really only spent a few hours like this before switching back to his usual position.
Belly button in or out? In
Weight gain: 25 lbs.
Missing: Bending. With Ryan being gone most evenings this week, all of Heidi's baths have been in a bucket on the bathroom floor because I can't bend over into the tub. This week has been tough on my body... either that or my body has been tough on the week!
Best part of this week: Got the nursery painted!! (Hey, it's a start at least!) and getting all of my "restrictions" lifted by my doctor as everything seems to be going the way it's supposed to.
Hardest part of this week: This belly gets so painful in the evenings. I don't recall the "pain" so much with my first pregnancy, but this time by the end of the day my stomach (think upper abs) HURT, especially if I haven't had any time to sit/lay down during the day. (It just feels as if gravity is YANKING my belly down!) My abs are painful to the touch and I am not able to get any relief from this pain unless I am lying down/reclining. It's tough! I am assuming that my abs are just separating more this time around than the first. Also, being alone/not having Ryan here to help has been very hard. He has been super stressed with work lately and I am stressed trying to get the house cleaned and ready for the shower at our house this weekend (!!!!) by myself. My worst moment was when I realized the vacuum that we thought was fixed broke again which resulted in me as a crumpled, sweaty, crying mess on the floor and Ryan receiving some pretty explicit text messages ;). Sorry babe!
Looking forward to: Baby shower this weekend - getting to see my mom, sister and so many friends!
Emotions: Very up and down... been feeling down a lot more but I think that's just because both Ryan and I have been stressed and I have felt very separated/alone... especially with him being gone.
Signs of labor: Possible Braxton Hicks contractions every now and then
At my ultrasound/dr. appt., we were able to confirm that baby is head down (woo woo!). The ultrasound was insanely boring, as he is really too big to see much on the screen at one time. Also, this whole pregnancy I have assumed that the chances of him coming early are good as Heidi came 3 days before her due date, but I wasn't sure if that really had any bearing on this pregancy or not. I was able to ask my doctor about this, and she did confirm that my chances of him coming early are pretty high, although obviously not a guarantee! Aaaaaa!
Week 34
Major events: Baby shower (or "sprinkle" if you will!)
Size of baby: Cantaloupe
Sleep: Fine fine
Cravings: None
Aversions: None
Movement: Tons of movement... legs/feet flipped sides again but it seems this was only temporary. I also had one scary morning where I hadn't felt movement between about 4:30 a.m. (got up to pee) and almost 9:00 a.m. I am not someone who keeps track of kicks or records how much it happens per hour or whatever (I think that's just a good way to really stress yourself out!) but I was aware that 4+ hours is a very long time to go without feeling movement, even in the morning. I started getting a little worried but by the time I had dropped Heidi off at MDO and had time to actually think about it he woke up and started rolling around again.
Belly button in or out? In
Weight gain: 25 lbs.
Missing: Hmmmm nothing!
Best part of this week: The shower was the highlight of my week! Also, spending some time with my mom and sister and SO many good friends at the shower!
Hardest part of this week: I have been feeling really lonely and very stressed...and not getting to spend time with my husband has made this week a thousand times harder. Things finally started looking up about halfway through this "week" just in time for the shower thank goodness! (My "weeks" are Wednesday - Tuesday btw!)
Looking forward to: NYC next weekend!! Eeee!!
Emotions: Struggling with "down" feelings this week BIG time, but once the shower was here I was feeling much much better (Ryan and I also finally had a big talk which needed to happen and this really helped me to feel so much more myself again.) Sooo basically I am consistently inconsistent emotionally! Expecting it to be this way for a while...(esp. knowing that post-partum is a crazy time hormonally as well!)
Signs of labor: None
Week 35
Major events: Took myself on my own little babymoon to visit my college roommate in NYC!
Size of baby: Honeydew melon
Sleep: Still somewhat decent surprisingly... I think the main issue here is just going to bed at a reasonable time - something that I am super bad at! I have always been a night owl and am the most productive at nighttime, so it's hard to get in bed early. I feel like by this point in my pregnancy with Heidi, I was getting up 2-3 times at LEAST per night, whereas this time around it's more like 1-2 times (and if I go to bed late enough then I can make it all the way through until morning haha).
Cravings: Yogurt/granola/fruit parfaits - I saw a lady carrying one around in the airport and I just couldn't get it out of my head!!
Aversions: None
Movement: Tons of movement always. His kicks hurt me a lot and it seems like he's trying to bust out of my right side!
Belly button in or out? In
Weight gain: 30 lbs.
Missing: Clothes that fit
Best part of this week: Hangin with my soulmate in NYC duhhh! SO nice to just get away and forget about all of the things that are currently causing me to be stressed and anxious.
Hardest part of this week: This week I had 2 pretty rough days (and they were back to back which makes it worse). Rough in a physical and hormonal way. Exhaustion has definitely set in and my body just felt so... uncooperative? I outgrew my maternity clothes several weeks ago and I started to let that frustrate me. I dreaded each time I had to bend over to pick something up and each time I had to go up the stairs. My belly hurt and was so uncomfortable and squished and full. The pressure on my bladder/front lower abdomen was so unbearable it made falling asleep difficult these last few nights. I also felt a ton of pressure upwards into my rib cage, and (those 2 days specifically) breathing felt impossible. I was always short of breath, winded and just struggling to get enough in to fill my lungs. Also, having a hard time emotionally (see below) and suddenly feeling SUPER stressed about how little time we have left. (If he's early - that means that this time 4 weeks from now we could be at home with a newborn. YIKES!!)
Looking forward to: Hopefully checking some things off of our "To Do" list!
Emotions: All OVER the place (this is an extreme understatement). You name it - I've felt it. I am also having a SUPER hard time coming to terms with the fact that this pregnancy is almost over. I'm ready to meet my baby... but I'm not ready to not be pregnant. I'm not ready to part with this belly. The house is not ready. His room is not ready. I just feel like nothing is ready!! (I do realize that IF he were to come tomorrow everything would be fine and we would survive. He probably won't even use his room at all for several weeks/months, but it DOES make me sad not having it prepared for his arrival.) I have been anxious, stressed, angry, depressed, excited, happy, sad, mad, disappointed, joyful... just to name a few. I can FEEL the hormones surging through my body and at times it feels like more than I can handle.
Signs of labor: None other than (maybe) some braxton hicks contraction here and there...
Some more notes on feeling movement throughout this pregnancy...
Feeling this baby move inside of me has been different this second time around. With your first pregnancy, each roll, kick, hiccup and movement is something to announce. To your spouse, friends, family... Call them in from the other room to come experience. But going through his experience for the second time, it's different. Not that those incredible moments are any less important or exciting (not in the least!) but the second time, it's just... different. Less public, maybe.
Throughout everything that I do the entire day, I am almost always feeling another life moving and shifting inside of me simultaneously. Whether I'm laying in bed, standing in line at the grocery store, washing the dishes, having a conversation with family or friends...but this time...it's more like a little secret that's just between me and my son. His movements are much more often something that only he, God and I are aware of in that moment. And no one else in this whole world. I do LOVE to share his movements and kicks with others but I also love those times where it's just he and I. I love bonding with him in this way.
And here are just few more pictures from these past 3 weeks...!
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| This is a MATERNITY shirt people. I thought I had reached this point waaay later with my last pregnancy (as in the last few weeks of pregnancy)... but I'm only 8 months pregnant (in this picture)!! Ugh! Frustrating that they don't make maternity shirts longer... what the heck!? |
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| Seriously?? Sometimes I just leave the house like this anyway... because honestly how much am I REALLY supposed to care??? |
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| Baby shower!! |
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| A HUGE thank you to these 2 ladies (and ALL of our friends and family) for making our double stroller dreams a reality!! |
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| Baby Wells does NYC!! |
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| 35 weeks at 35,000 ft!! |
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