On Being Pregnant: Second Trimester

And so we move onto the...

2nd Trimester:

Brenden and I decided to announce our pregnancy to the general public the first day of the second trimester. We had decided on this day long before we realized that my second trimester began on April Fool's Day. We considered waiting to announce it until the day after April Fool's Day because we didn't want people to doubt us but then we realized we didn't actually care if people doubted us. We thought it would even add to the fun of the announcement. So on April 1st, the first day of the second trimester, right around midnight, I posted a little puzzle to announce the pregnancy. We loved the responses and congratulations. 

My morning sickness mostly subsided during the second trimester. I did discover my gag reflex is much more sensitive than before. But I'm glad I don't feel like throwing up every day anymore.

The first time I was sure I felt the baby move was right around the middle of 17 weeks. I was attending a trumpet recital and as soon as the performers began, I could feel the baby moving. The baby kept moving throughout the remainder of the recital. I don't think the baby's hearing is developed enough at that point to be the explanation behind the sudden and sustained movement for the duration of the recital but it's fun to think about. Baby continues to be super active and makes sure I know about baby's existence; I get good kicks and punches pretty regularly. At every ultrasound and heart tones check up, Baby is constantly moving around, sometimes making it difficult to get a good heart rate reading or a good ultrasound picture. When I first noticed Baby's movements, I would burst out laughing because I found the sensation so strange and exciting. Brenden joined in my laughter because I apparently looked like a crazy person. I've grown used to the movements now but I still find them exciting every day and enjoy the sudden reminder that I have a sweet baby growing inside me.

At 18 weeks we had our big exciting ultrasound where we could find out the sex of our baby. Brenden and I were adamant about keeping it a surprise but when we saw our little baby on the screen we realized we had to know. We took back what we said to our ultrasound technician and asked the doctor if he knew what we were having. He told us and we told our family. Everyone else will have to wait until we do a big gender reveal at the baby shower. Be excited! It's either a boy or a girl! 

Near the end of the first trimester, I started expanding. Now in the second trimester I feel like I am ballooning. I have three pairs of maternity pants and a few shirts I can wear in public. I wear drawstring and yoga pants and Brenden's t-shirts while I'm at home. I think the only pre-pregnancy clothes I can still wear are my socks. By the way, I love my maternity jeans. I think I might wear them for the rest of my life. 

I think my biggest struggle during the second trimester has been getting comfortable enough to sleep through the night. Since Brenden has been away at Philmont for the last two weeks, I've been able to utilize our entire queen bed and all EIGHT of our pillows. For the first time in a long time, I've been able to sleep through the night on a semi-regular basis. We'll have to see how things change once he returns.

I'm not sure if the concept that Brenden and I are going to have a child has fully settled in my mind yet. I feel like I should be more scared than I am right now. I expect some of the fear will show up in the third trimester and certainly once we take our sweet baby home from the hospital. I guess right now I'm purely excited for this new chapter in our lives. It's a feeling I want to soak in as long as I can.

On Being Pregnant: First Trimester

I am 27 weeks pregnant this week and our baby is somewhere around the size of a rutabaga, apparently. I get weekly email updates about my pregnancy and in each one some item of produce is used as measurement for the size of my growing child. I just thought I should mention this for anyone who doesn't get weekly updates like these. They're not very good measures. For example, it could easily say:  27 weeks: "This week your baby is the size of a rutabaga!" 28 weeks: "This week your baby is the size of an even larger rutabaga!" Or like the week when I was told my baby was the size of an avocado-- okay, well is that an avocado from Walmart or the Mexican food market? There's quite a difference.

Anyway, I thought I would give a little update on my exciting experience of growing a human being inside of me. Next week marks the beginning of my third trimester and I figure I should share some of my experience with the blogosphere.

Here's a little recap on what went down this first trimester:

1st Trimester: 

Brenden and I found out we were expecting a baby on January 26th. I took a few different pregnancy tests to confirm it and Brenden laughed at my excitement with each positive answer. It was a wonderful day! 

I contacted an OB/GYN in Athens the next Monday. Because of my chronic illness and other exciting health things, I'm considered a high-risk pregnancy. I've had more check ups and ultrasounds than a normal pregnancy would. I had an amazing rheumatologist in Atlanta who took great care of me and stuck me with needles every single visit I had to keep track of basically anything and everything. We learned our baby is at risk for fetal heart block. This is something we are currently keeping tabs on. Also, I have a particularly large uterine fibroid which is basically a noncancerous tumor. It can grow during pregnancy so my doctors are keeping track of that as well. Luckily, its location shouldn't be a problem for a normal delivery for me. It just takes up a bit of space that the baby could use so I get to grow especially large and uncomfortable during pregnancy. It could become particularly painful sometime during the pregnancy but it isn't likely.  

I experienced quite a bit of morning sickness during my first trimester. I learned to be okay with throwing up. I became adept at distinguishing when I was just feeling sick and when I was about to expel my last meal. I prided myself on always knowing the exact right time to run to the toilet. 

Even though I didn't throw up ALL the time, I did feel sick almost all the time. I had plans to volunteer and work during Brenden's last semester at UGA. Those plans fell through as I spent much of my time in bed, feeling miserable. But happy miserable! After my illness and stint in the hospital last year, being pregnant sick was awesome. I had a wonderful reason behind my sickness.

While being sick, I was unable to hold down a lot of my favorite foods so I discovered some "comfort" foods that I found tolerable. I stockpiled those particular items. I am opening myself up for judgment here but I don't care. All I could eat some days were cheap pizzas from the frozen aisle at the grocery store and Spaghetti-o's. I literally mean "all I could eat" since there were days I would make myself healthy meals with all of the nutrition and nourishment the baby needs to grow big and strong just to throw it all up while the only thing I could hold down at the end of the day was a can of Spaghetti-o's or a Totino's pizza. I tried my best to be healthy-- I bought the calcium enriched Spaghetti-o's. I figured not starving while pregnant was a better alternative to starving while pregnant. I think in general not starving is a better alternative to starving but particularly so whilst pregnant. 

So first trimester I was sick a lot and ate junk to stay alive. I had doctors' visits and blood tests galore. The End.