I’m nearing the end of my second trimester and thought it would be fun to give you a few updates on how this pregnancy is going. I honestly love the second trimester. My morning sickness is gone and I got clearance from my doctor to run/workout again around 20 weeks.
If you missed my pregnancy announcement and first trimester recap, you can read about it in this blog post.
NEEDLE & THREAD GOWN (runs small, wearing a UK size 10, non maternity)
HOW I’M FEELING
I really feel amazing about 95% of the time. I feel like I have my normal energy back and I’m so grateful for that! I have noticed that I need more sleep at night. I go to bed earlier than normal (usually around 10:30) but still have a really hard time getting up before 7. I look forward to going to bed early every night and I usually have my face washed and get in jammies right after we get the boys to bed.
There are occasional times (like right now as I’m laying in bed typing this) where my body feels worn out by the end of the day. This usually happens about twice a week. My stomach is super hard and tight and my lower back hurts when I stand. Garrett knows those nights when I’m spent and takes over cleaning up dinner and getting the boys in bed.
Most mornings I wake up with energy, workout, pick up the house, play with Eli, get my work done, etc. I almost always take a 26 min nap around 2pm right before I have to pick up the big kids. The after school hours with sports, piano, homework, dinner, projects, etc, are tiring whether or not you are pregnant!
What I’m eating
In my first trimester I just tried to eat anything that would curb my nausea. I felt zero guilt for eating noodles and tacos in my bed at 10pm because it brought a little relief!
Now that I don’t feel sick, I’m pretty much back to my normal eating habits. I usually make a green smoothie or Dave’s Killer bread with almond butter for breakfast, some kind of veggie bowl with turkey sausage or a fried egg for lunch, apples, nuts, or chips for a snack, and dinner usually varies. I’ve been trying to stick to salmon, brown rice, and veggies but I also had chick fil a tonight.
I try my best to eat healthy but I don’t beat myself up for having pasta or a burger! I do try to stay away from too much sugar because that really gets me in the end of my pregnancies. So I just do my best…and then some days I eat a whole bag of TJ’s Scandinavian Swimmers!
Do I know the gender?
Still no. It’s funny…I kind of thought I would want to know a little more than I do this far along into the pregnancy. I just have zero desire to find out the gender still! I’m really loving this time to connect with and love this baby growing inside me. I thought I had to know the gender to do that, but I actually feel closer to this baby than some of my others when I was pregnant before.
When people ask what I’m having, being able to tell them “I don’t know” feels like a breath of fresh air to me. This might make a little more sense if you have read the post I wrote years ago about having 3 boys. Some of the reactions I got when I told people I was pregnant with my third boy made me cry. It was a very weird/hard time for me and I just didn’t want that kind of pressure this time around.
Do we still want to be surprised?
I think so. Part of me wants to find out at delivery but also part of me wants to know right before I deliver. We have the gender written on a card in a big envelope in Garrett’s car. It’s been there for weeks and neither of us have been tempted to peek. I think I’m just taking things week by week. If I have this crazy desire to find out right before maybe I’ll look…but maybe I’ll always feel this way and just be surprised at birth!
I told Garrett I didn’t want to get pregnant unless I would be 100% okay with a fourth boy. It took a bit, but I got to that point. I’m still at that point. Sometimes I think about the possibility that I might never have another blonde little boy toddler and it makes me sad. So I’m in a great place of genuinely knowing I will be happy with either gender.
Dreams.
Speaking of gender, I swear to you I have ZERO intuition on the gender of my baby when I am pregnant. I had no inklings when I was pregnant with Bradley or Cash. I had a dream that Eli was a girl and there were lots of different things in his pregnancy that made me think he was a girl. After that I basically gave up hope on somehow knowing what I’m having.
Garrett had a dream a few weeks ago that it was a girl, and then I had a dream last week it was a boy. I’m also starting to get the weird vivid pregnancy dreams…like ones where I’m stuck on a tiny cruise ship with a psycho doctor that won’t stop talking about the Revolutionary War and I’m being chased by a group of ex boyfriends and I can’t find my shirt. Weird stuff.
Exercise.
I’ve gotten back into working out out daily and I love it! I have the most energy in the morning so it’s a perfect way to start the day. I usually only run about a mile, and do squats with light weights, leg lifts, or kneeling push-ups. Nothing crazy and I don’t work up too much of a sweat, but I still love the time to get my body moving and listen to a podcast or get lost in my own thoughts. It always gets me in a good headspace for the rest of the day!
Body changes
Pretty sure my hoots are the biggest they have ever been…even when I was nursing. No idea why they would be bigger this time around..but they are it’s just all a bit much. I’m wearing the same size bra that I do right when I start to nurse and TBH it scares me for when my milk comes in this time around!
I feel like my stomach got pretty big pretty fast and it just kind of sits at the same size for a while. I think it’s starting to get bigger and I’m definitely feeling the strain in my lower back by the end of the day!
What I’m wearing
I’m really loving a combo of maxi dresses + cardigans. Dresses feel easier and more comfortable to wear. I love a good ruched dress as well. I’m narrowing down some of my favorite pregnancy leggings and will be sharing them all in a post soon too! In the meantime, here are a few pieces I’ve been loving so far…
SHOP MY MATERNITY FAVORITES:
I LOVE that you aren’t obsessed with gender. As a mom of boys, i 100% feel you on this. Public comments about having all boys are just too much. Certainly too much for something that is out of your hands. Being able to say “i don’t know “ is the perfect way to enjoy your pregnancy 💗 If you have all boys, you know how sweet it is. If you know, you know.
I didn’t find out with my first and I’m currently pregnant and we are keeping this one a surprise as well. I feel like I get to experience so much with my baby being inside me and not finding out the gender until delivery is a special moment for my husband. He got to catch my son and then tell everyone “It’s a boy!”. Such a special moment for him. I also love having a fresh blank slate as far as expectations go with my baby. Loved reading you experience with it too!
It’s hard deciding to know or not. For me I wanted to know, especially the first time around. Both if my pregnancies were hard in their own way do knowing the fender fave me something to focus on. My SIL and I had our Firsts (girls) 2 weeks apart. Her daughter was born before ours. It was really hard. Probably sounds dumb but there were family issues with it. Second pregnancy with my son, I had pre term labor at 30 weeks and bed rest the rest of the time. So knowing the gender helped me at least plan while doing nothing lol
Waiting until delivery really is so worth it, especially if you have already made it this far! I have 2 littles and we waited both times. Best surprise ever! You really do love them no matter what!
You look beautiful!!