I am growing! Stretching and growing so quickly is a bit painful and exhausting. At the end of the day I can literally feel my abs splitting a little more down the middle and it's completely bizarre and unpleasant. Just one more crazy aspect of the experience of pregnancy, I suppose. I've been too tired to cook dinner after work every single night this week, but Ross has been great about picking up the slack. This weekend is the first full weekend I've had off in MONTHS and I'm really hoping to catch up on sleep!
That being said, night shift + pregnancy has really messed with my sleep schedule, and I've been having morning insomnia lately. I fall asleep the minute I get into bed, and sure I wake up tons to go to the bathroom (but to be honest, that was the case even when I wasn't pregnant), but then I wake up for seemingly no reason between 3-5am and CANNOT FALL BACK ASLEEP. It's driving me crazy, and driving me into bed exhausted earlier and earlier each night (that is, unless I'm working that night). During the first trimester, I would wake up at that time hungry and I'd grab a granola bar and chug some water and fall back asleep. Now, not even that helps.
Carbs remain my go-to for the constant hunger I've been having (I also notice a huge carb increase when I'm tired). They're not always the healthiest option, but they're certainly the fastest way to get food into my system when I'm hungry and busy! That being said, I inhaled two boxed of Peanut Butter Panda Puffs and one box of Trader Joe's gluten-free pancakes on top of normal meals this week, which isn't a habit I really want to get into (for $$$ and blood sugar reasons).
Buuut speaking of blood sugar, Ross and I tried Immaculate Baking Company's Gluten Free Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Cookies last week and we bought another pack this week. I mean, wow. They're good. I think I'd be craving these pregnant or not!
...Minsky's GF veggie pizza has been sounding really good lately, too...
Twenty Seven
I went to accupuncture regularly prior to pregnancy, and I went frequently during my first trimester. (I truly think that's why it went so smoothly). I felt pretty good going into the second trimester, so between that and major money and time constraints, I stopped going for a few months. I finally started again this week and I think it's helped my sleep! I only wake up about 30 minutes before the alarm now! Daylight savings time has also "helped" my insomnia. Now when I wake up at "5am" it's actually 6am which is much more reasonable! We will see how all of this changes after I work night shift tonight.
At the start of this week, I was nervous I just wasn't feeling as much movement as I had been. Of course, it's still a tad early for the "count-10-kicks-every-2-hours" drama, but he had just moved so much before, and Ross hadn't been able to feel movement for a week or so. I think the baby had flipped to face my back, though, because when I did feel movement, it was usually a kick or punch to an internal organ and not visible from the outside (by the way... feeling something kick your bladder from the inside is just weird). Thankfully, he started moving more mid-week again. Maybe he was just exhausted like I was?
This week also saw two huge milestones:
1. We closed on a house!
2. March 13 marked the official 3 month countdown to the due date! Yikes! As my friend Alyson recently said, "Seems like an awful long time to get bigger, but at the same time no time at all when it comes to welcoming an entirely new chapter of life!"
Second Trimester Recap
I completely cannot believe how quickly the second trimester went. It was a busy season with the holidays and winter blues and house hunting and lots of eating and lots of working, but yeah. I'm a little terrified at how quickly this little munchkin's arrival month is approaching. Before we know it, he will be here and flip our world upside down! I want to savor these last few months of pregnancy and of 'life as I know it.'
Random pregnancy things that happened during the second tri that I may or may not have mentioned in previous posts (some benign, some unpleasant, and one surprisingly awesome side effect of pregnancy):
-linea negra
-diastasis recti
-fatigue
-endless hunger
-endless thirst (I easily drink 5+ liters of water a day)
-morning insomnia
-nasal congestion
-My hands simply don't work sometimes. I drop everything. My hands don't hurt, they're not numb, and they're not swollen, they just don't seem to listen to my brain!
-swelling (but not in my hands or feet yet, thankfully)
-nesting (lots of making and urgently plowing through to-do-lists on the rare day off)
-hair and nails still seem to be growing quickly
-hip and back pain
-Apparently I'm just going to lock my car keys in the car once a trimester?
-There's supposedly a second trimester 'relief' from having to pee all the time, but I didn't get that. Then again, I've always been well-hydrated, so I'm used to the bathroom trips. And I can now say that kicks to the bladder aren't entirely pleasant and don't help matters.
-Braxton-Hicks contractions-- sometimes painless, sometimes not
-the complete irrationality and over-emotional rollercoaster of the first trimester has thankfully subsided in the last few months
-Some IBS relief! I have no idea if this is pregnancy related, or related to the fact that this is the longest I've consecutively taken probiotics, but it's AWESOME. I've been switching probiotic strands every few months, but so far Culturelle has been the most successful. Like, a night and day difference in my symptoms.
-Asthma seems to be at my typical winter level right now, which means it's great. The only good thing about winter, as far as I'm concerned, is the break I get from pollen! I'm curious to see how spring goes with a baby on board.
This really isn't a list of complaints. I just wanted to jot them down to remember. Most of these symptoms are a cause or effect of the super rapid growth experienced in the second trimester (especially from weeks 22-27 for me). That's a lot of change in not a lot of time!
Overall, the second trimester saw a gradual decrease in emotional discomforts related to pregnancy, and an gradual increase in physical discomforts. But I love having reassurance that there's a baby in there now!
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