Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This month was crazy-hectic! I had to give three different presentations for work, one in front of 300 people. And I traveled to CO for work twice while Luke went to Mexico and Vancouver. So needless to say, it’s been a busy, busy month.

Anyway, this week I hit the 28 week mark, meaning my second trimester is officially behind me. I was thinking about how I wrote a post about my honest thoughts on the first trimester, so why not do one about the second?

The past three months couldn’t have been much better in terms of how my pregnancy progressed. I had a ton of energy, no sickness and generally felt great. I could be pregnant forever if it was always like the second trimester!

Sticking with the “things I love and things I hate” theme from the first trimester post, here we go:

Things I love about the second trimester:

- Finally looking pregnant! My bump is definitely out there and I have to admit it makes me smile when people see it and wish me well, or tell me that I’m glowing. Here’s a photo from the beach recently.

- Feeling healthy. I honestly would sometimes forget I was pregnant this trimester because I felt so good. I no longer felt nausea or tired all the time. In fact, last week we went for a six mile hike AND I hit golf balls. Here’s my prego swing.

It’s pretty funny seeing the reaction from all the men at the range as I walk by carrying my clubs with a bump. :)

- Finding out the baby’s sex. We found out around week 20 that we were having a baby girl and from my post about it, you can tell I’m pretty excited about it.

- Getting kicked. Ha that sounds like a funny one, but I really love feeling her move these days. At first it took some getting used to, but now it’s comforting to know she’s doing alright in here. Sometimes Luke and I will “play” with her by poking one side of my stomach and feeling her kick us back.

- Picking a name. We have decided on a name for baby girl and I’m in love with it! It’s not really a secret, and I’m planning to do a post announcing it here soon. Everyone we’ve told has said they love it just as much as us, so I’m feeling good about this decision.

Okay now onto the “thing I hate,” which is more like “things I could do without.”

- Heartburn. I don’t have it nearly as bad as some women do, but I have had some nights where sleeping sitting up has been a necessity. I’ve found that eating pineapple after a meal helps a lot. It has this enzyme called bromelain in it that causes you to digest food more quickly so it doesn’t sit in your stomach and cause an increase in acid.

- Spending money. This is the trimester we really started getting things ready for baby girl’s arrival. That meant dropping some dough on a crib, mattress, changing table, rocker, stroller etc. Seeing the money fly out of our bank accounts definitely brings some anxiety to the surface.

- More worrying. I think this is just a part of becoming a parent, but my worries these months include: worrying about not feeling her move enough, worrying about child care when I go back to work, worrying about breastfeeding and finally worrying about the whole giving-birth process.

- Dental Problems. I am learning the hard way about what being pregnant can do to your teeth and gums. Apparently the increased blood flow causes gum issues and your teeth can leach important minerals to the baby, making them weak. I chipped a back molar, which caused some decay and now it’s possible I will need a root canal! I am seeing my dentist for the third time in two weeks next Thursday.

In general, I will look back on the second trimester very fondly. One week into the third and I’m still feeling great. Here’s hoping I can avoid some of the discomfort I’ve heard women experience these last three months.