But I am someone who is very in tune with her body. I knew I was pregnant before I missed my period (my gums felt sensitive and my sense of smell was like a vampire’s, so I knew something was up!) I also felt this baby move at 13 weeks.

Nay-sayers, say what you want. In general, first time mamas aren’t supposed to feel the baby until closer to 20 weeks, but I know I felt her move. Every single day between 13 – 16 weeks. Those bubbles are unmistakable.

I stopped feeling those movements a day or two before we heard her heartbeat on the doctor’s doppler. Her heart was beating, all right. Why did I stop feeling her move? Self-diagnosis: Anterior placenta.

A few weeks later, my ultrasound confirmed that I do, indeed have Anterior placenta.

Anterior placenta is not placenta previa (or low-lying placenta). All it means is that my placenta decided to develop on the front wall of my uterus, not on the back or side.

And this is exactly the reason why at 22 weeks I don’t feel my baby move as much as other women at this stage might. When I feel my baby move, it’s mostly in the lower part of my womb. Soon enough, she will be big enough that I can feel her kick near my ribs as well.

As the doctor explained today, my placenta is like a big pillow covering the front of my uterus. Baby’s kicks are cushioned and I can’t really feel them.

My anterior placenta is also the reason why during today’s appointment it took the doctor a long time to find baby’s heartbeat. She was hiding behind my placenta. A fun game of hide-and-seek?

But then we heard the galloping and the doctor said, “There’s the little troublemaker!”

With a mama like me and a papa like Mike, I would not be surprised if our little one is, indeed, a little troublemaker. She will be an Aquarius, a sign notorious for doing things their own way.

Oh, I can’t wait to meet this little one!

The post What's Anterior Placenta and Where's my Baby? appeared first on NaturallySavvy.com.

On to Nova Scotia, we camped for two weeks. The nausea and fatigue that plagued me in the first trimester had dissipated. Because I’m pregnant, we brought along super comfy foam mattresses, and it turned out to be the most comfortable camping experience ever! We decided if it was too much for me, we would spend the trip in hotels and B&Bs, but I had no issues while camping pregnant.

The issue I did have, however, was making sure I wasn’t ingesting too many pesticides. It’s a little harder to make sure your fruit is as clean as possible when you don’t have a nice big sink to soak it in. Sometimes I soak my food in the sink with salt and lemon juice. Sometimes I add a little vinegar. (I pretty much wash everything in my house with vinegar!)

Even if we aren’t trying to remove pesticides, food was grown in dirt, and is handled by many people before it makes it to our fridge so it should always be washed.

When we’re camping, often the only thing we have access to is a sputtering tap of cold water, and that’s not too effective in washing fruits.

When we can’t do a thorough job of washing our fruit, we must especially be careful with what’s known as the “Dirty Dozen.” The below list was compiled by thedailygreen.com where you can see their slide show and read about other dangerous foods to eat.

With the following foods, whether you’re camping or not, organic is always the best choice, especially when you’re pregnant.

• strawberries
• peaches
• blueberries
• celery
• nectarines
• apples
• peppers
• cherries
• potatoes
• grapes
• celery

The dailygreen’s list also warns us against non-organic meat, milk, tomatoes, coffee, pears and carrots.

I don’t know about you, but I eat a lot of the above food. I admittedly don’t always buy organic. The other day we took my fiancé’s goddaughter apple picking and ate an apple or two straight off the tree. I try not to drive myself crazy over rules about pesticides and toxins, but I do try to stay educated and do my best to avoid the bad stuff.

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