18 weeks

This past Monday was the 18 week mark of my last pregnancy. It's a bit bitter sweet but I'm so glad the first trimester is OVER. I'm not one of the lucky ones that skips any of the miserable parts of early pregnancy. All day sickness hits between 7 and 8 weeks and last into my 2nd trimester. With my first, its was until 18 weeks!

 This pregnancy has been similar to my second. When I was pregnant with Elly, I caught a horrible stomach bug and lost about 8 lbs. That was on top of the 4 I had lost from morning sickness. Truthfully, I had the lbs to spare. I never came anywhere near losing the baby weight after Jocy. I was in the upper 170s when I got pregnant with Elly.

 This time wasn't much different… well I was no where near my old weight! LOL. But I had picked up some lbs eating all the yummy bread! But when we decided to start trying again, I got my butt in gear and dropped 7 lbs. I was kind of surprised how many people noticed. It like I cross that 165 mark and start looking chubby. Which I guess I kind of did. Again, the morning sickness hit me. I was useless for 5 weeks. At one point, I was napping twice a day and going to bed at 9pm! Then I finally had a few days of feeling great. Yea for the 2nd trimester! I lost a few more lbs and I was feeling great! But then came the stomach bug. 5 days of misery. And the funny thing about this and the last time with Elly, Joel was out of town for both! He likes to torture me. Thankfully, this time I had a sitter come in and watch the kids and clean. It was wonderful! LOL. She even tried to get me to eat. Which I'd barely been managing a bowl of Cheerios every day. By the time I started feeling better I jumped on the scale just to see how bad it was. 153. In my first 13 weeks, I was down 10 more lbs. Luckily, I had an OB appointment in a few days. The sad thing is, she basically told me that I could use the weight loss. What? LOL I was just hoping it was bad translation and she meant my body could handle it. But I could be wrong.  You see very few overweight people here. And the ones that are, are the old people that don't get around well. It's a status thing with the well off. If you are stick thin, then it shows you have the money to pay someone to raise your kids and do your work, so you can live at the gym.

 I'm not saying I'm overweight. I have a healthy BMI but still have my jiggly bits. And I know 10 years ago I weight 135lbs, so I could definitely lose a few. I have been doing really well with Pilates over the last 6 months. My core is the strongest its been in years and it really thinned out my middle.

 Anyways, this has to be the smallest I have been in any of my pregnancies! I didn't take pics of myself with my first. I had a really hard time getting fat. I know I wasn't just getting fat, I was growing a baby. But I had always been the skinny girl, so it was a really hard thing for me. 18 weeks was about the time I started bed rest with Jocy. From then on, I packed the lbs on for a grand total of 54lbs. Now I will say that I have NOT gained that kind of weight since. I have also not been on bed rest for 16 weeks again. Knock on wood, it will continue that way!

 One great thing about being pregnant in Istanbul, you don't have the processed crap to eat. I mean you can find some things. We do have McD's and KFC and a few other fast food restaurants. You can find Pepperidge Farm cookies, Pringles and Doritos. But that's the expensive stuff. The selection of fruits and veggies is twice what you'd find in a grocery at home. I haven't even made it to the local Pazar yet (our Saturdays are too busy) but I'm sure its so much more! When I make my drive to Zek, you see truck after truck on the side of the road selling Watermelons, tomatoes and other veggies, eggs, and even yogurt! And these things are so inexpensive! I find myself having a salad for lunch everyday. It's finally green bean season here! They have other green beans but I'm talking about the kind we have in the States! They taste so different from what we've been eating. With Beef being so expensive, our meat portions are small and our veggie servings are bigger. It's just so much easier to eat healthier. I do give in and buy Pringles as my one little cheat. YUM… so good. And its funny, because I rarely bought them at home! Maybe its more of a comfort food because it is from home.

 So here is me at 18 weeks….

I thought I knew where a pic of me 16 weeks with Nate but my photos seem to be less organized than I realized! Anyways, I was at least double this size! So I'm going to continue the healthy eating and hope they FINALLY get our gym open. Sadly, my pilates instructor has returned home. She gave me a referral, so I will have to check her out. There is a prenatal yoga class in Istinye but its the same time as gymnastics. I'm still keeping up with my plan to be skinny when I come home! LOL. Hmm… Joel just might have to buy me a treadmill after all.