Our Little Peanut: The 2nd Trimester

2nd Trimester (Weeks 13-28/Months 4-7)

Favorite Foods:

Chicken Salad sandwiches
Fresh strawberries and Nutella
anything with white QUESO
Spaghetti
tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots with vinaigrette dressing
scrambled eggs
Slurpees

Foods I Avoid:

Steak
Most seafood
Onions are moving up to the semi-ok list

Smells to Avoid:

Ground Hamburger cooking

How I feel:

Once week 17 hit I was like a brand new person. Not feeling ill and finally figured out that gummy prenatal vitamins worked for me.

I feel like I have so much to do for this girl to arrive, but feel clueless as to what to do and lack of motivation to do it. I still haven't done a hospital tour, birthing class, breastfeeding class, started looking into pediatricians, etc. It just seems like so much! I feel like I need to make time to do some of this stuff, but not sure how to fit it in with everything else going on in my life. Which is crazy, because a baby is a lot of work --- I better figure this out quick!

Sometimes it drives me crazy to be asked "how do you feel?" I'm not sure how to answer that.  Do people really want to know how I feel? In general I feel like I'm a little looney with rollercoaster emotions where I never know when I am going to start crying and then other times I feel like same old Kate. Often I feel lonely. I have lots of upper back pain and can't imagine what it will be like once the baby comes.

But I don't want to complain or talk about it. I just think, often daily, how we wanted to have a baby for so long and how I know so many other people that have really horrible and challenging pregnancies or have not been able to have children despite their efforts. How can I complain? It's like a cake walk compared to most, which makes me feel bad, but also makes it not feel real. I thought I would feel lots of joy and excitement with being pregnant. I think I have more worry and concern than anything. Will I be able to help this baby survive? Will she hate me? Will Omar and I be able to parent well? Will I have fun being a mom? That word is weird, "mom". It just makes me think it is better to just not talk about it...just let it happen so there are no high or low expectations.

Doctor Visits:

February 19th -- Doctor Visit 19 weeks as of February 20th...the day we received the reveal information (see other post)
Blood pressure was high for me --- 122/78
Gained 10 pounds since the last doctor visit --- 12 pounds overall for the pregnancy

You can clearly see the baby's spine

Baby cradling the head --- looking comfy

Another baby pic

First footprint

March 19th  (118 days until due date) --- regular doctor visit...1 day from being 23 weeks.
blood pressure...110/59
Gained 5 more lbs for a total of 17 for the pregnancy. Doctor said the goal is to stay around 30 pounds for the pregnancy.

The morning of the doctor's appointment was the first day I started to feel the baby move. The doctor put a machine to hear the heart beat and all you could hear was a lot of swooshing because she was going crazy moving around.

April 17  (27 weeks)  ---- gestational diabetes test.
Gained 7 pounds this past month for a total of 24 for the pregnancy.
Blood pressure...112/62
I feel the baby move around a lot more now --- she really likes kicking me.
My hormones have had me acting like a crazy person --- extremely emotional and often sad, poor Omar.
At the point now where I can't really bend over like I used to be able to and everything is a lot more work than before.
I took the sugar drink and ended up failing the test by 6 points. The doctor said that it is probably from my infrequent eating and that I need to eat more and more often. I now had the choice to do a 3-hour glucose tolerance test or I could take home a machine and prick myself about 5 times a day for 2 weeks and record the my blood sugar levels. I opted for the 3 hour test.

April 22 --- 3-hour glucose tolerance test
Talk about miserable. I had to fast from food/water for what seemed like an eternity. It was 17 hours that I hadn't had anything. Then they give you a bottle (not a cup, a bottle) of sugar drink and take a vial of blood 4 times within a 3 hour period. The phlebotomists response at the end of it was, "Wow! You look like you just ran a whole marathon!" Gotta love it. I was so tired and beat up I had to go home instead of going to work. Don't worry, I worked from home, but was a complete wreck from lack of nourishment.

I just ponder about the pioneer women who traveled across the plains while being pregnant. I complain about a meesly beverage and blood that I give and they walked and walked and walked and bore their children with practically nothing. Amazing.
Hopefully I passed the test because I dont' know if I will be able to handle gestational diabetes rigid eating schedule and diet plan

Baby Registering

I was very fortunate to go with some friends to register for our baby girl on March 21. It was a fun time, but who knew we would need about 4 hours to register. It is interesting to learn all the things out there to help parents and baby have a more comfortable and happy life.

I registered at Buy Buy Baby and then we went and ate at Olive Garden.

Christine, me, Allison, and Charlie at Olive Garden (not pictured Ashley Dutson)

Belly Pictures

Half Way --- 20 weeks!

Belly started to pop about 21 weeks

23 weeks

24 WEEKS (3 photos)

26 weeks

28 weeks