GUYS! I am so touched at the feedback, support, and the conversations started from my blog post on my First Trimester! Tearing up thinking about it and I am not sure if that is because of the pregnancy hormones or because it was just so special to hear from so many people about their own journeys, issues, and ups/downs.
Let's chalk it up to both!
With that being said, let's talk about my SECOND TRIMESTER. Once again, I am going to be super up front about it all and I welcome Instagram messages, emails, etc. No question is too weird for me! My guess is this blog post will be slightly different than my first trimester as instead of feelings it might be more about changes in my body and the growing of the bump! Once again I am writing this throughout my second trimester and that ranges from weeks 14- 27. FYI for people who don't know, pregnancy is usually 40 weeks!
14- 15 weeks
Is it just me or did you do a happy dance when the second trimester began? I didn't have a bad first trimester but milestones in pregnancy are THE FRICKING BEST! Also the first trimester feels like its 20 years long because most of it is in secret so it will a breath of fresh air and I wanted to yell "I AM PREGNANT to the world"- I refrained though.
Observations
The top of my stomach and the bottom are hard. It is still slighlty squishy but I am obsessed with touching it and making Jesse too as well
I am still in regular clothes (although I have ordered maternity ones on standby from Pink Blush- love their stuff!) but let's just say I have to undo the button of my jeans after a big meal and baggy fall sweaters are wonderful
Energy is great, appetite is back to normal most of the time, I feel bursts of nausea every so often, growing pain/cramps are a thing and I know this little guy or gal is getting ready for a serious growth spurt
I am focused on my diet again, and making sure I get plenty of healthy fats in and clean protein sources. The better I am with both of these, the better I feel! FYI we should try to aim for about half of our body weight in protein each day
Other
I am obsessed with looking up bump pictures of the week I am in so I plan to share them with you in case anyone out there feels the same way. Every night before bed I find myself looking up hashtags like #14weekbump #15weekspregnant. Also, I am loving all the online forums and have been even since before my pregnancy! There is quite the sisterhood and support system out there so if you are ever feeling alone, check them out!
16-20 Weeks
This is when the fun stuff started to happen.
At around 16 weeks I felt what I call "tickles" along my belly and kind of felt like air bubbles tickling my stomach. I dismissed this for about a week not really thinking much of it and then realized OMG this is what people call "flutters". Everyone describes it differently so I just dismissed it thinking it was nothing (even though I have never felt this type of sensation in my life). With that being said, pay attention to your body and do not get caught up on what other people are feeling as that is what confused me! It truly was such an exciting moment when I finally put two and two together!
Around 18 weeks is when the "tickles" changed to kicks/flips. For me these weeks fell over our holidays (December- early January) so as you can imagine, I was not eating as clean as I usually do which meant a lot more dairy! I find this next part quite funny. I dismissed baby movement once again because I was caught up thinking it would feel a certain way. I thought what felt like stomach turning (or being on a roller coaster and going down a cliff) and stomach spasms were because I was eating too much dairy. NOPE, once again, I was wrong! You think I would have learned my lesson two weeks earlier but on Christmas eve (what a special occasion to first make the connection), I felt the baby "flip". To me it felt like a fish flipping in my stomach. From that point forward, baby has been quite active, especially when I have anything with sugar (refined or natural) which helped me realize sugar can really affect the baby (and not in a good way, even though it is nice to feel him). YES, HIM. That brings me to my next point...
19- 20 weeks. We found out the gender! We are having a boy! We had a gender reveal party where we found out the same time our family and friends did. Our lovely ultrasound technician was nice enough to secretly write it down for us and we sealed shut. As my husband is an avid golfer, we decided to find out by him hitting a golf ball and it exploded either blue or pink. In case this confuses you, we ordered a "gender reveal" golf ball set on Amazon which comes with both a ball that explodes blue and one that is pink (there is a sticker on it). One of our family members got the job of reading the secret envelope and handing us the corresponding ball. It was SO much fun! For anyone looking to actually find out their baby's gender before birth, I would highly suggest finding out at the same time as your family and friends. I will cherish that moment forever and tear up just thinking about all the love, support and excitement we shared that day. It really did not matter if that ball exploded blue or pink (even though my husband cheered aggressively loud when it was blue...), we just want a healthy + happy baby! On a side note: I knew it was a boy all along. I just knew! I would tell everyone who would listen it was a boy and that I was 99% sure of it. Turns out, I was right! Let's see if my other predictions come true (date and weight!). We have already decided on the baby's name as well (it was actually decided upon before we even got pregnant)!
21 weeks
It is true what they say, belly pops overnight and I feel like I woke up one morning and it was much bigger (still not extremely obvious) but definitely a bump!
Sometimes I struggle with saying this next part because:
1. I don't want to jinx it (silly me)
2. I feel guilty and do not want anothers to compare their journey to mine, feel bad or even think I am one of those obnoxious pregnant people painting the wrong picture (silly me again)
but...
I LOVE pregnancy! I feel really great and have pretty much the entire time (minus some annoying food aversions in first trimester). I realized though that these stories also need to be told. I need to speak my truth and not avoid sharing it for the above fears. Every body is different, every pregnancy is different, every experience is very different. That is all your really need to know! It does not make you better or worse of a person, it just makes you a person. I have been very lucky and have (so far) had a great pregnancy. I do not know what is to come and if this feeling will last until child birth but right now all I can say is, this experience has truly been amazing. One thing I definitely think has made a positive impact is me tracking and being aware of my protein intake. I have been very diligent about making sure I get enough protein each day while minimizing sugars. Full disclosure: I have not been great with taking supplements every day (minus b12 and some iron tissue salts I got from my homeopathic practitioner)
22 + 23 weeks
Apparently the baby sleeps 12-14 hours a day (according to my pregnancy app, "the bump") which makes total sense as the moment I lie in bed (8pm-ish) to start winding down for the night, I feel this little guy start going crazy (apparently we have opposite sleep patterns- hopefully this changes at birth! ha). This is also probably paired with the fact that its when I get the most quiet during the day and can recognize these feelings better. When I drink something cold, eat something sugary, or if a cat lies on my stomach and purrs (he feels the vibration), he goes even more wild which is the best feeling EVER!
24 + 25 Weeks
$#*@ is getting very real. This baby is strong and I feel him kicking more frequently and much stronger. With 15 more weeks to go I cannot believe he will get even stronger and bigger. I went into pregnancy thinking I would have a bump right away which is not true at all (for some people it might be!), but mine didn't really start showing until 23 weeks.
So many people ask me what my weird cravings are or what feels different and I feel like I am disappointing them when I say not much! My appetite is not very different at all (the odd time I feel hungrier), I don't have any crazy cravings, and the only thing that has really changed is my belly size and the ability to bend down.
This may be TMI but at 24 weeks a tiny bit of breast milk/colostrum came in. This is very normal! It was very shocking and amazing at the same time. My body is getting ready for breastfeeding and that is incredible!
26 + 27 Weeks
The last two weeks of my 2nd trimester! HOLY where did the time go. Nursery is set up, name is picked. Bump has grown a lot, but the craziest part that is starting to make it more real than anything- when I lay down, I can feel (and somewhat guess) how he is positioned! When I wake up in the morning I usually have his bum in the air on my right side or his leg in my right rib.
One thing I forgot to mention throughout this trimester is in regards to my skin. I have a couple broken capillaries underneath my left eye from this pregnancy. I have been told it is quite common and a few of you have reached out to me to tell me you had/have it on your chest. I have been told some go away on their own but facial ones usually have to be lasered off post pregnancy.
These past few weeks I have been craving hamburgers more with all the crunchy toppings but no other cravings to report. I usually like having beef once a week. My appetite has not increased at all either. A lot of these pregnancy rumours I have heard about are not true for me: i.e. hunger, energy, swelling, (so far!), sleeping issues, etc. I feel incredible and hope that continues for my last trimester!
Other things that happened this trimester: we enrolled in prenatal classes (that take place in my third trimester), we finalized our baby registry (most of mine is from Amazon because it has everything and I am obsessed with it), we set a shower date (in third trimester), we started researching doulas (more to come on that one!), I started reading the book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, we went on a "baby moon" to Bahamas since it is one of the only tropical places that is Zika free, I had multiple pre-natal massages, we took a second mini baby moon to Niagara on the Lake where we stayed at Pillar and Post (I had one of my massages in their spa there, heavenly). Jesse and I have also created a "baby bucket list"! It is not like our life is going to end but we know for a while it will change a lot (at least for a while)! So ours mostly consists of restaurants we want to try out and sleep as much as we can.
Stay tuned for my 3rd trimester journey that will come to you in a couple months (baby is due May 23rd)!
PS- the leggings I am wearing in these pictures are Lululemon's Align in 25" length. I was told by countless woman they are a godsend for all stages of life and even grow with you while pregnant (shocking but its true!), and they are so right! I bought two pairs and love them! They are not maternity but are so lightweight and do not have any pressure on your stomach at all (which a lot of maternity or regular leggings do)!