M-EFF, OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER: Second Trimester Happenings

{Making a human being is STILL really hard. Like REALLY hard}
Wow I can't believe our second trimester is already over!! I feel like I was just updating everyone on how the first trimester went. It's like everything has kind of been such a blur. Now don't get me wrong I remember everything that has been going on, it's just going so fast that it doesn't all seem real. There has been a little baby girl cooking away in me for the last 27 weeks. A real live little girl.

Now there are a lot of people that I know that are pregnant right now or that I know that have just recently had their babies. I think the last time I counted I was up to 14 people! I love to read about their journeys and hear about what they're going through. Its great to share "battle" stories. One of my favorite people to follow though was a celebrity. As many of you know I have a major girl crush on Olivia Wilde, so when I found out she was having a baby I was so excited. One because it's going to be the most adorable baby ever probably and two she's going to be a super rad mamma! What I loved about her though was how she handled pregnancy. Right before her and her main squeeze announced that they had their little man she was quoted as saying, “I just thought, Oh, I’m going to hide this forever. But I ended up getting kind of excited to show the bump as a badge of pride. Like, ‘I’m a woman! Look at me making a human! I am a goddess!" I honestly feel like I've said the same things in my head lately. In the beginning if I wanted to I could have gotten away with people not even knowing I was pregnant for a while. Little lady took a while to really start saying oh hey I'm in here. Ever since we really started popping I actually am getting more excited. Don't that excitement as oh this is so easy, no big deal, because it's not. It's exhausting, draining, and emotionally the hardest thing a woman will ever do. But I do get what she was saying now though about feeling like a goddess, or maybe even a super woman. I get to make a baby! And that is crazy!

Side note, since Olivia Wilde had a super cute baby boy, is it too early to hope that baby girl and him meet up one day and fall madly in love and I get to be "related" to Olivia??? :)

Moving on to a little recap though of the happenings.

Odds and ends of the second trimester
"All day" sickness/nausea lasted until about 16 weeks. I was able to get about a one week period of feeling really good and then at about the start of week 18 the first real signs of this belly growing started. I began to have pains that ran along my sides and into my back. It was horrible. The pain in my back got so bad that I could barely sit at work. I would slouch a little to try and get comfy one way and the pain would shoot down my leg. If I tried to sit up nice and tall, the pain would shoot all the way up my back. Lying down didn't bring any relief either. I gave in and decided to go see the Chiropractor. After about two visits I felt some minor relief. On the third visit I spoke with their massage therapist and we decided to do pre natal massage. That ended up doing the trick big time! Going into the massage my back wasn't feeling horrible, however the pain I did have had turned into a knot that literally was in the middle of my right butt cheek. Upon going into the massage I just remember telling the therapist, "before we get our zen on I just was wondering if you could spend a good amount of time trying to rub out the knot in my butt". She laughed and said I'm here to help get rid of whatever is wrong. I think she easily spent about 15 minutes rubbing that knot out. But man oh man she did and I was like a new person.

I think we were at about 21 weeks by that time and I was really just feeling like a million bucks. I felt like I finally got into that period in your second trimester that everyone talks about where life is just really really good. I had really started showing my first signs of actually popping out and there was no more hiding. I think that since I had finally really been eating more like a normal person versus the diet I found myself on during the first trimester it was easy to see why. With that I guess everyone was wondering what I was craving and eating all the time. The truth is, nothing really strange. I still found that I enjoyed pastas. I think mostly because they were just easy to make. I was still trying to keep it semi healthy, although I did find myself splurging a few times here and there with a cheeseburger. About two weeks ago though I did finally get what I will call my first legit craving. Watermelon. OMG I literally couldn't stop eating it. I cased almost an entire on over a two day period by myself. I found that I was frequenting the store to buy it because I just had to have it. It's still my go to food. I guess there could be worse things though right?

The bliss didn't last forever though. In the last week I've lost that happy, I feel awesome feeling. I'm pretty sure we're going through another crazy growth period. The pains in the sides of my tummy are back. The pain in my back is back and totally with a vengeance. Needless to say even Wesley can see that I've been a little miserable lately. On top of the pains my body just in general is feeling like a hot mess. I'm getting cramps in my feet that are out of control and with the sitting at work all day my legs just get so restless. I try to take at least 3-4 good walks throughout the day outside. This all on top of the at least 8 trips up and down the stairs to the bathroom through the day. I feel like I'm doing as much as I can to keep moving but as I said before....I get home and I'm completely toast. I literally could crawl into bed at 7PM every night and not feel bad about it. Of course I don't because it's kind of nice to maybe get at least an hour of time with Wesley everyday.

Milestones of the Second Trimester
Well I'd say the biggest thing that happened in the second trimester is that we found out that Baby Frederic is a Baby Girl!! That appointment was one of the most surreal moments of my life. By the time this appointment came along we were exactly 20 weeks. With where our other Ultra Sound appointments fell we didn't get to find out as early as I thought we would. I mean if we really wanted to we could have went somewhere on our own and found out anytime really, but looking back I'm ok that we were patient. She had grown so much since the last ultra sound we had, and was just moving around so much that it really finally sank in about how amazing everything was that was going on inside my body. I think it really hit Wesley a little more too. We're so excited for a little girl to be running around here!

A very close second best thing that happened during the second trimester is that I found out that I'll be going on The Ellen Show for her Mother's Day taping!! Back at the end of March I submitted on her website to be part of the audience for the taping. She was looking for first time expecting mothers as well as any expecting military moms. I figured, what the hell, I might as well at least try. Never in a million years did I actually think I'd get picked. I'm fairly sure that Baby Girl is going to get UBER spoiled by "Auntie Ellen". Yes, she will be Auntie Ellen now. I can't wait to tell Baby Girl all about the experience some day. Taping is May 8th, airing May 9th. Coming so fast!!! SOOOO EXCITED

Another big thing that happened is that we have decided on a name for Baby Girl. And yes, sorry to get your hopes up we are still keeping it pretty secret. It is still exciting to be able to talk to her by name now though when we're hanging out. We did however surprise our parents and grandparents on Easter Sunday by letting them in on knowing what her name was. I think it's a big hit and they are all even so much more excited now for her arrival.

That's about it really for any of the big happenings during the second trimester. All of our appointments have been really basic. Go in, pee in the cup, get weighed, get measured, listen to her heart beat. I did have the Glucose Tolerance Screening done last week. That was good times. Actually it really wasn't even that bad. I'm not sure why everyone made it out to be like it was going to be horrible. I think the worst part about it was that the Quest Diagnostic waiting room I was in at the time happened to be full so I literally had like 20 people staring at me as I downed the bottle of stuff I had to drink. It didn't even taste bad though. It was like drinking cold flat orange soda. No big deal. But that is about it. We're fast approaching the bi-weekly appointments which is cray cray!

Ok ok...and just for shits and giggles.....

Here is the 27 week Pregnancy Journal {still think these are lame-ohh}

How far along? 27 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Up 23 pounds from my lowest weight during pregnancy. Wowsers...that's actually finally a drastic change.

Maternity clothes? I just want to live in them forever. Between the Gap Maternity Tanks, the Maxi Skirts and my Preggo leggings, I don't think I ever want to wear anything else ever again.

Sleep: What is that?

Best moment this week: Easter Sunday we told our parents what we're naming Baby Girl. They all love her name and are now ever more excited to meet her!

Movement: So yeah about that. I'm convinced she's moving about 75% of the day. Literally this little monster is rolling, punching, kicking, all the time. And I love it.

Food cravings: I finally think I can say that I have a legit first craving. Watermelon....oh Watermelon. I could eat it everyday, all day. I guess there could be worse things to want to eat all the time.

Symptoms: Peeing all the time. Sleep is pretty much non existent. Some back pains are coming around again, {I think it's because we're definitely in another growing phase, and my we I mean this stomach of mine}

Have you started to show yet: Um yeah, so Baby Girl is not playing Hide-n-Seek anymore. She's clearly there, loud and proud, poppin and dropping like it's hot.

Mood: Still really good. It's still been a great couple of weeks. Even with being really exhausted from working 9 hour days and the lack of sleep, I'd say I'm still generally a happy person.

{A little photo recap}