Oh, hello third trimester.
I am 28 weeks today. Phew. Just these last few days, the extent to which I 'feel' pregnant has really stepped it up a notch. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to record what this pregnancy has been like so far. (Wait, you weren't wondering? Feel free to just 'x' right out of this post.) But I'm often trying to remember what I experienced while pregnant with Addie-girl compared to this time around... and if I'm ever 28 weeks pregnant again, I think it might be fun to look back and compare. So, I found these little prompts about what to record while pregnant. Here it goes.
Total weight gain: approx. 20 lbs at 28 weeks. I'm really hoping to gain less overall compared to pregnancy #1. Considering I gained 45-50 total with the first, I'm optimistic about the probability of not gaining an additional 25-30 pounds these next 12 weeks. It was rather uncomfortable to carry around all that extra weight. We'll see. must.keep.exercising.
Maternity clothes: my pants were tight very early on, but overall, I've done with fewer maternity clothes this pregnancy. Perhaps because the novelty has worn off? And rather than being very eager to look pregnant, I have been very eager to look the least amount of pregnant possible. Also, most of my maternity wardrobe was professional clothes because I was teaching full time when pregnant with my first. This time around, there are many more days of leggings, yoga pants, and comfy tees & cardigans. There is a lot of rubber-banding my regular pants this time around. Just today, it was uncomfortable to sit down with my regular pants rubber-banded. Guess it's officially time to move into maternity (aka: 'toddler') pants full-time. Gotta love an elastic waistband. Shirts can go either way. Some of my non-maternity shirts still look cute, some are less than flattering. A couple of plain maternity t-shirts and tank tops are going a long way.
Sleep: I had a few stretches of sleepless nights early in the 2nd trimester. Waking up at 2 or 3 am and not being able to get back to sleep. But, thankfully, I sleep decently most nights now. There is almost always at least 1 trip to the bathroom, but I'm generally able to remain in a sleepy stupor long enough to fall back asleep quickly.
Best moments so far: Telling Ben we were pregnant again. (You can relive that moment here.)
Finding out we were having another girl.
Deciding on her name. (We'll announce when she's born.)
My bump is not far from Addie's eye level when she's in the grocery cart, so she occasionally leans forward to kiss the baby while we're grocery shopping. She does this at home too... always when prompted, and sometimes just on her own. It's very sweet.
Baby movement: I could feel bubbles (aka: "quickening") pretty early this time- around 11 or 12 weeks. I can't remember when those little bubbles turned into kicks that Ben could feel. Now, she is movin and shakin in full force. We can sometimes see big waves across my tummy. She especially likes to kick when I sit down to relax. For the first time last night, she woke me up from so much kicking. I told her to settle down, but it didn't help. Guess we'll have to work on that whole 'listening and obeying' thing when she's on this side of the womb :)
Mommy movement: I've been slowing down the past couple days, but up until then, was totally normal! I have been able to exercise regularly this pregnancy compared to last time, and it has made a world of a difference. In the last week, I've slowed down from some pelvic joint pain and general largeness, but I'm hoping to still hit the gym regularly... even if it just means walking on a treadmill. You might catch me waddling towards the end of the day. Although, it's more likely you'll catch me sitting with my feet up, a heating pad on my back, eating a girl scout cookie.
Food cravings: Pizza pizza pizza. I could eat pizza any day, any time with this pregnancy. But I like pizza as a non-pregnant lady. A lot. So, I don't know if that counts as a craving. I described my baking urges already, but other than that, no weird food stuff. [Again, this could be a side affect of trying not to gain quite as much weight as with the first... when we lived up the street from Culver's... and had a lot of impulsive emergency-concrete-mixer trips.]
Labor signs: No labor signs yet, thank goodness. I have been having Braxton hicks contractions for a while now, but they don't really count as 'labor signs.' They have picked up, in frequency and intensity, the last couple days. It's a good workout. And also a little annoying.
Mood: These 2 situations describe my mood well.
1. A couple at our church is in the process of adopting their first child - a 3 1/2 year old. They already know his name and have met him once. She comes to our play group each week, and every week we sing to him during the 'hello' and 'goodbye' songs. And every week, I tear up just a little. She told me a little bit about their first trip to visit their son, although they couldn't bring him home just yet. As I relayed their stories to Ben, the tears filled my eyes. Well, a few days later I ran into her at the gym. And told her we were praying for her, and that my husband and I were both very teary as we talked about their story. As I told her about us being emotional, I felt teary. I tried to hold it together. Then I told my mom all this. And was again, you guessed it, a little bit teary-eyed.
2. We went to Chicago last week, and that was probably the latest I could fly with sweet Addie by myself. Hard to bend over and pick up all the dropped cheerios with her on my lap... in the middle seat. God bless the people on either side of us - they were so nice. Actually, I started to say 'thank you for being so accommodating' on our way off the plane & the tears filled my eyes. I pulled it together though. Until another nice stranger at baggage claim offered to get my bag off the belt. And then another nice stranger offered to walk my bag where ever I was going since I was also pushing the stroller. So by the time I met up with Ben (who raced from his class to pick us up), I gave him a hug, got in the car, and burst into tears. Happy to be home, happy to be with Ben, so appreciative of the nice strangers, so tired and not feeling well, and in so much pelvic joint pain. Talk about a range of emotions.
3. Bonus situation: I was heading to meet a friend for dinner during the aforementioned Chicago trip and had a conversation on the way there that had a very small amount of tension in it. Meaning, a very very small problem that would definitely be resolved with very little issue. Of course, I burst into tears over it, and just couldn't pull it together. So, I walked into the jam-packed Cheesecake Factory, trying to pretend I hadn't been doing the ugly cry in the car (over nothing) and as my dear friend smiled, hugged, and said "hey, how are you?" I once again, burst into tears.
So, would you accurately describe my mood as emotional? Good gracious.
Looking forward to: a stay-in movie date night with my main squeeze.
Having all the details of our move worked out.
Addie being able to efficiently get DOWN the stairs by herself (she's goes up on her own).
My mom coming to Cambridge in May.
Temperatures above 40 degrees & walking outside.
Well, people. That about sums it up. Even I'm tired of writing about my own pregnancy now, so that's probably a good place to end. Happy Friday & have a great weekend.
