See that in the photo? That is the most wonderful little girl in the world. This entire pregnancy I’ve been focusing on establishing a foundation with Chick Wrestler and the Women's Wrestling community, bonding with my wonderful husband (which, to be honest, warrants another blog), making extra money and taking a much needed outside look at my support system.
Today I want to talk about the pregnancy. To this date, I’m 30 weeks. It’s crazy for me to think that in just 7 more weeks I will be full term and so much closer to meeting the love of my life (next to Ben and Olympic Female Wrestling, of course). I’ve gained 35 pound so far which is the maximum I was supposed to gain the entire pregnancy. Opps! I totally expressed these concerns to my OB and she said that I am supposed to gain weight during this trimester versus at the end and my weight will begin to plateau. She was right, I have only been gaining a few ounces here and there, but I’ve started focusing much more on nutrition and exercise just to be sure I remain as healthy as possible for my baby.
Around the second trimester, I started to see a layer of fat developing all over everything…sexy right? I’ve seen this fat before spending Christmas in Wisconsin during my knee surgery where butter complemented all of my meals. I’m pretty sure that fat has always been there and I’ve just been wrestling it to the ground and beating it with a stick my whole life competing in a weight class sport like Olympic Women's Wrestling. During pregnancy, I say, fine…fat you win for now, but I expect a rematch in a few months!
One extreme benefit during pregnancy is that my hair is growing fast. This was really important to me because I actually cut it completely off last winter and was wearing weaves/extensions for months. It was a tragic dark moment for me and I’m so glad my do has recovered. A weird symptom for me though is that my head itches like crazy. When this happened in the first trimester, I serious thought there where bugs in my hair…it is awful. Ben had to check my head for me because it was driving my nuts. He said there was nothing there so I looked it up online and sure enough, some women get itchy heads during their pregnancy. I guess I’m just that lucky…sigh.
During this term, I have to admit, nothing has been really that bad past the super sickness of the first trimester and the emotional ups and downs are more stressful for Benjamin than me. I’m very fortunate that I have the man that I do because he has been here throughout the entire process, trying different method of taking care of me and pleasing me, which is not easy. He has grown as a father-to-be and we have grown tremendously close especially in the past few weeks. We really are a team. I love the way he talks about our babe and her potential to compete in Olympic-Style Wrestling like her parents.
I’m not swollen yet…though I heard from an older lady that if it does occur to drink loose-leaf green tea. I’ve had a few Charlie horses and there’s a faint line darkening at the bottom of my belly. All test results for genetic disorders or complications have been flawless and our baby girl is a perfect little 2.7 pounds.
I have a few more weeks of training at the Olympic Training Center with Amber and Heather before the big day. It’s extremely important for my to stay the course, even if it’s a little strange for me to be “training” in this environment during this time. Sometimes I have to look down and remember what I want my daughter to emulate, so I follow my path.
Time is so precious. I’m eager to meet our girl and then expose her to the amazing world of Women's Wrestling. She already knows the new rules and will be cheering mommy and daddy on as we take on the challenge of preparing for the Rio Games.
Twitter Handle: Leigh Jaynes @Chick_Wrestler
