When I found out I was pregnant with Julia, I couldn’t wait to have that really cute pregnancy belly. It took until 15-17 weeks before you could tell I was pregnant and didn’t just have a “beer” belly. With Hannah, again, I couldn’t wait to have a cute pregnant belly. And with her, it came pretty soon. Partly because that’s what happens with consecutive pregnancies, but mostly because I still had “baby weight” from Julia.

With this pregnancy, I’ve been pretty excited about having a cute pregnancy belly, but I’ve been less than thrilled with increasing weight and realizing the hard work it took to lose two babies worth of “baby weight”. After meeting with my midwife, I came away feeling more empowered about food and have gone on a “diet” of sorts. While I don’t monitor my caloric intake, I monitor what I’m eating.  I focus on eating 60+ grams of protein, cutting back on simple carbs and limiting my sweet intake to once a week.

Then, there is exercising. I promised myself that when we got pregnant again, I’d maintain my fitness goals. Yeah… I didn’t take into account just how tired and sick I’d be. So, for about a month, I didn’t lace up my running shoes. Then two weeks ago, I was gifted with a double jogging stroller, and take the girls running when my energy is highest in the day {which varies from morning to afternoon and day to day}.

With the amount of running I had been doing, weight I had lost, I figured it’s take a little longer for my belly to “show”. Turns out, the third time around, you don’t stand much chance of hiding that baby. By 10 weeks, I had a nice little belly showing, and by this week {12+ weeks} I’ve clearly got a belly. Now, whether it’s viewed as a pregnancy belly or a “beer” belly, is debatable. Well… why don’t you tell me?

Pregnant or not?

Now, I will bare my soul to y’all for a moment.

Since Julia, my stomach has been less than, how shall I say this, perfect. And when I got pregnant with Hannah, I noticed that my stomach expanded in a very strange way. It’s flat in the front, where my belly button is, but then everything else bulges. Frankly, it looks really, really weird to me. And honestly, I’m a tad bit self conscious about it. I don’t know why… but it just sort of makes me feel a little weird. With Hannah, it always stayed flat right there at my belly button {and I assume it will this time around too}, so I just always thought it seemed odd.

There you have it. My soul baring moment. Mind blowing, huh? Well, now you know that I’m not always the most confident of women, despite my good looks. Haha! 😉