Bye Bye Second Trimester

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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.

Woodland Themed Nursery

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My nesting impulse kicked in big time last week and I became slightly obsessed with getting things purchased for little girl’s nursery.

I decided awhile ago to go with a Woodland theme mainly because it made sense with where we live – in the mountains, surrounded by evergreens. That and it would work for any future babes regardless of gender (I don’t plan to redo a nursery with every child).

Here’s a look at some of the things we’ve purchased already:

Furniture:

Wall Art:

Bedding:

There are two more creative, crafty projects I’m going to take on (with the help of my artistic and awesome sister-in-law and maybe a few others):

The first is baby’s hanging letters. This isn’t her name or the colors we’re using, but gives you an idea of the look. I found the idea on BudgetForBaby.com. Time to go stick hunting!

The other project includes the creation of a “tree.” We have some wall space in a corner to fill and I got a wacky idea to make a tree out of paper poms after seeing some other nursery pictures.

The colors will be a mix of shades of green with pops of yellow, orange and red. We can’t paint or use a decal (grooved walls) so I think we’ll make the trunk out of cardboard wrapped in brown felt.

I have no idea if this will end up looking how I imagine or if it will look like a “giant, multicolored mushroom” as Luke put it, but Luke’s sister thinks we can do it and Lexi, the pom seller on Etsy has been incredibly helpful. So we’ll see!

The last thing I have my eye on for her nursery is this adorable mobile. But at $78 and an already blown budget, I’m on the fence as to if it’s really necessary.

I can’t wait to see how it all comes together! One thing is for sure, I am having a great time preparing for this girl to make her arrival.

Miss Independent

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Do you ever have those moments where you find yourself feeling a certain emotion but can’t pinpoint the cause? This happens a lot to me. And it normally takes some introspection to figure out exactly is going on.

Case in point – one day this week I burst into tears in my car. My mind was cluttered with all sorts of nonsensical worries about the future that A) I can’t control and B) might not even happen.

Anyway, once I dried my tears and scolded myself for being ridiculous, I used the rest of my 35 minute commute to figure out what exactly was causing my distress. And a realization sort of hit me – normally I quell my worrisome mind by talking with Luke.

Except he’s been working late almost every night for three weeks and when he is around he’s been too stressed because of work for me to even think about adding my worries to his mind. I started piecing together our history – Luke used to be a consultant and traveled a lot – and a pattern emerged… every time we are forced to spend time apart, my missing him subconsciously plays out in my emotions. I get anxious, lonely and a little sad.

Half of me feels like a needy, pathetic girl for saying that my happiness is tied to being with Luke, but the other half of me is grateful that I have found the person who is so right for me that when his presence is removed for a bit, it affects me so much.

I used to pride myself on being independent and fulfilled all on my own, but gradually throughout the course of our relationship, it’s become clear that I am the happiest when Luke is by my side. When he’s gone, something just doesn’t feel right.

But of course there will be times that we won’t be able to be together and I’ll have to put my big girl pants on. This next month is going to be even worse than July. I am going to Colorado for two work trips and Luke is going to Mexico for work twice as well. So we’ll be doing our own thing quite a bit.

I guess though, now that I know how us being separated tends to play out in my emotions I can be more aware and recognize that no, I’m not a crazy, emotional, basketcase (ok maybe a little with these pregnancy hormones)… I’m just a girl who misses her man.

What Are You Looking At?

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Being a tall woman (5’11) I’ve gotten used to the fact that when you are different than the norm, you’ll attract more eyeballs.  However since I’ve started showing a bit, the staring has increased quite a bit.

About five months along, I’m not quite to the point where it’s glaringly obvious I’m pregnant, so instead of getting people who look at my stomach and then smile, I’ve been getting looks with a confused expression. People are desperately trying to figure out what exactly is going on … am I a thin woman who happens to have a big gut or am I pregnant?

The confused-look-staring reached an all time high this weekend when we went to Las Vegas for our friend’s joint bachelor/bachelorette party. We got to the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday at midnight and walking through the casino to our room, I couldn’t help but feel like every eye in the place was on me thinking “why is that pregnant chick here?!”

Luke says it was all in my head, but I quickly resorted to holding my purse in front of my stomach and hunching over in a way that would hopefully remove some of the attention my stomach was commanding. Normally I am not the type of person to shy away from attention (let’s be real, I publicly blog about my life), but I among the throngs of partiers, I felt sorely out of place.

After getting some sleep, I decided to ignore my self-conscious thoughts and put on my newest, cutest pregnancy outfit for brunch and to see the Batman movie in IMAX.

I could handle day-time Vegas. Or so I thought.

After the movie, I met up with everyone at the pool while Luke worked in our room. The pool party at the Hard Rock is no joke and as soon as I walked in wearing my one-piece, rocking the bump, my insecurities resurfaced. I walked through this crowd clutching a towel across my stomach and keeping my eyes down.

I met up with our group as soon as possible! Luckily they are all so sweet and made me feel comfortable. The girls made a point to gush over my “little” bump and the guys gave me props for being “a trooper.” A few hours into hanging with my friends and I was feeling back to my confident self.

Thinking about it now, I feel sort of silly for making such a big deal in my head about being pregnant in Vegas. The weekend wasn’t about me after all … it was about supporting my friends and their upcoming nuptials.

That being said, I don’t think I’ll be heading back to Vegas until this belly is gone and I can blend in at least a little. :)