Pickles and Macaroni & Cheese

No joke, pickles and mac & cheese are high on my cravings list. Luckily, I have no urges to mix the two together... my brain thinks that would be horrible. Baby D on the other hand is thinking really hard about considering the combo.

I had my most recent doctor's appointment on Friday. Baby's heartbeat is 153 BPM and quite literally sounds like a galloping horse. When I first heard the heartbeat at 12 weeks, it was much quieter and harder to find. It was neat to hear that first time but so much more life affirming this time around. It's pretty cool to hear the baby moving around and trying to get away from the doppler. I actually starting giggling (yes, like a small girl) during my appointment and it caused the baby to start moving like crazy AND I FELT THE MOVEMENT. Oh my goodness! It was, for lack of a better or more Melanie-esque word, freaking magical. MAG-I-CAL.

Downside of my 16 week appointment is that I feel like I've already gained so much weight. Honestly, I'm about 12 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight. Thank goodness I didn't lose weight from morning sickness because that would have been miserable. My doctor is not worried and says this is not the time for me to feel worried about my weight. One of my pregnancy books says that weight gain is gradual. Another website resource says I've gained an excess of six pounds based on "where I should be". My doctor disagrees with both and told me that I will see my weight "stair step" upwards and that I need to expect to gain 25-35 pounds. Her normally nice demeanor changed when she sternly told me, "Don't you dare listen to anyone but me on this matter." She then returned to normal and told me to *walk* at least 30 minutes a day and to consume 300-ish calories more than usual per day. She said my choice of freeze dried fruits and veggies were excellent (I think so too by the way... fat-free, low sugar, crispy, crunchy, yummy...mmmmm).

To make myself feel better, I have walked the dog for 40 minutes a day since that appointment. I have the energy and the motivation to do it, so I am taking advantage of that! My legs are definitely sore and the whole dynamic of exercising feels so... different. For instance, when I got home from my walk today, I could have eaten an entire pig. (Sorry, I just wasn't hungry enough to eat an entire cow, so pig was the next best animal choice.) I had crackers and a few snack sized pickles instead and felt much better. Then within minutes, I was already feeling the burn in my legs. Yes, I walked three miles... but really? Sigh... it's OK, it's just different. My running app told me that I went six miles instead of three (I've checked the route on Map My Run in the past) which is hilarious since I was done in less than 40 minutes. :) Either I've gotten WAY faster with pregnancy, my app is taking pity on me, or the app is malfunctioning. I'm going with the last one, just in case you couldn't guess.