Embracing the Grey

Seattle-Based Lifestyle Blog

Bumpdate: Second Trimester

Posted on 14,337 Comments

Well I’m officially in my third and final trimester, currently approaching 29 weeks!! The last seven months have flown by but I have a sneaking suspicion that the two few might feel like forever. I’m so excited to meet her! And antsy! By New Year’s, I’ll be able to go out on maternity leave so I’m counting the days until I can dedicate all my time to just thinking about my baby and what life will be like. The second trimester were some of the best months of my life – we found out the gender of our baby along with our families, was honored at a baby shower, had a lot of energy, and finally felt my baby kick, punch, flip, and squirm inside me! I figured it’s time for a #bumpdate as my second trimester has come to a close.

Boy or Girl
We are having a baby girl!

When are you due?
Our official due date is February 4 but every appointment we go to my OB tells us she is measuring a full week ahead in weight so it’s likely she will come at the end of January – or just be a big baby! For whatever reason though, the doc won’t change the due date. I love the idea of her being born in February (no clue why!) so I’m convinced she will be come in January. Haha. It’s going so fast!

Name
At the advice of literally every single parent-friends we have, we won’t announce the name until she is born.

Symptoms
This trimester has given me a few scares. After not feel well one evening, I woke up to a scary rash all over my belly and chest! It took everything in me not to keel over in sobs and worry. (Ok, there might have been a little of that). We saw a lot of doctors in those preceding days, and it was concluded that I had a viral infection which caused the rash. Praise the Lord there was no harm done to the baby – just my sanity! I really have started to feel the extra weight and have pain in my pelvic bones. It’s also hard to sleep fully through the night for a variety of reasons – you are supposed to sleep exclusively on your side, having to get up to use the bathroom, and general discomfort with a big belly in the way. 🙂

Excited About
In this trimester, I was absorbing any reading material that came my way. My favorite book, recommended my by SIL, was Bringing Up Bebe. I loved it and would recommend. The book is written by an American expat living in Paris and comparing/contrasting American and French parenting. We’ve registered for our hospital tour and signed up for a few classes such as infant CPR, childbirth prep (ahhh!!), and breastfeeding. And the biggest thing I have been most excited about is that I finally feel her moving around all the time! My placenta is in the front so my OB said I may not feel her movements for awhile. I’ve felt sporadic flutters and movement since 14 weeks but nothing even remotely close to consistent movement. Finally, finally I feel it all the time and E usually gets to feel lots of kicks at night! Also, I passed my glucose test a week or so ago so that was a relief!

Cravings
Sweets!!!!! So very typical of a pregnant girl-mom, huh? Give me all the sugar – pumpkin bread, chocolate croissants, donuts, cookies, watermelon Jolly Ranchers. It’s bad. Of course I’m monitoring myself but I am always in the mood for a sugary snack! Also, cereal and peanut butter sandwiches.

Things I’ve Given Up
I’ve given up all the typical foods that pregnant ladies are encouraged to avoid such as sushi, alcohol, regular coffee, froyo, deli meats, hotdogs, and soft cheeses. I talked to my OB about my beauty routine and she advised I also stay away from sunless tanning (including Jergens sunless lotion!) and gel manicures because there just isn’t enough research available to say if they are safe. In addition, I stopped using any face wash containing salicylic acids and/or benzol peroxide and face creams that had retinol/retinoids or ones that have “anti-aging” in the name. I put away all my beloved Essie nail polishes and switched to this one and this one since they don’t contain formaldehyde (and have since realized they are realllly nice nail polishes!). If you are wondering, I use this face wash, this for moisturizer, and this body lotion. I also use this on my belly and chest – and even sometimes my face! Lastly, we recently switched our laundry detergent to this one since this is what we will use to wash the baby’s clothes.

Exercise
Now that I’m in my third trimester, I can definitely feel a difference when I work out. I’m feeling the extra weight and moving slower. I’ve stopped running because it was causing joint pain in my right hip but I still take Flywheel classes. I try to do something active each day but sometimes that might just mean taking a few laps around my building at work. Living and working in a city definitely helps because I walk everywhere instead of driving.

Body Changes
I can’t even get over how much my chest has grown! I complained for years and yearssss about my small chest and how it wasn’t fair that my friends were so much bigger. I have no idea now what I was complaining about! I honestly miss my small boobs. I have gone from a size 34B to a 36D! I’ve also gained a fair amount of weight – almost 20 pounds. They weigh me at my monthly appointments and it’s weird to see numbers on the scale that I’ve never seen before but I really don’t give it a second thought. I feel like mommas pregnant with girls always get extra leeway when it comes to weight gain anyways…though I don’t feel like I’ve gained anything more than I would have if I was pregnant with a boy. From now until the time I deliver, I’m expected to gain one pound every week so that would be (at least) another 13 pounds.

Wardrobe
I think I’m an outlier when I say that I’ve been so excited about maternity clothes. It’s probably just the idea of building a new wardrobe. I can still wear my regular jeans with a hair tie attached along with the Bellaband (and MUST get!!!), but maternity jeans and dresses are definitely in the rotation. Most of my tops are still non-maternity. My go-to maternity brands have been H&M, Asos, and Old Navy. My most worn maternity pieces have been this, this, this, and this (in a variety of colors). Also, since I am now wearing dresses as often as possible, these tights have been the best purchase I made in the last few weeks (you can pick them up in any maternity store, or of course online).

How were you feeling in your second trimester? What were your highs and lows?

We can’t wait to meet our little girl! The countdown has begun!!

Related Posts

Comments

  3. Hey There. I found your blog the use of msn.
    This is a really neatly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and
    come back to learn extra of your useful information. Thank you for the post.
    I’ll definitely comeback.

    Reply

  4. I’m really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog.
    Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to
    see a great blog like this one nowadays.

    Reply

  5. Hey terrific website! Does running a blog like this take a massive amount work?
    I’ve no knowledge of programming however I had been hoping to start
    my own blog soon. Anyways, should you have any ideas or tips for new blog
    owners please share. I know this is off topic but
    I simply wanted to ask. Thank you!

    Reply

  6. Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before
    but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
    Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!

    Reply

  7. Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored to death at work so I decided
    to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.

    I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone ..
    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, wonderful blog!

    Reply

  15. Definitely believe that that you stated. Your favourite reason seemed to be on the web the easiest factor to
    be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked at
    the same time as folks consider concerns that they plainly
    don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest
    and outlined out the whole thing without having side-effects , folks could take a signal.
    Will probably be back to get more. Thank you

    Reply

  18. I’m not sure exactly why but this blog is loading incredibly
    slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end?
    I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.

    Reply

  65. I like the helpful info you provide in your articles.
    I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here regularly.

    I’m quite sure I will learn a lot of new stuff right here! Good luck for the
    next!

    Reply

  655. Hello, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one
    and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam comments?
    If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
    I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any assistance is
    very much appreciated.

    Reply

  1728. Great goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too excellent.
    I actually like what you have acquired here, really
    like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
    You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it sensible.
    I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is actually a great web
    site.

    Reply

  1749. jungle scout discount

    It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy.
    I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you
    few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you can write next articles referring
    to this article. I wish to read more things about it!

    Reply

  2442. A fascinating discussion is definitely worth
    comment. I think that you ought to publish more about this topic, it
    may not be a taboo matter but typically people don’t talk about such subjects.
    To the next! All the best!!

    Reply

  2529. hey there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely
    picked up something new from right here. I did however
    expertise some technical issues using this web site,
    as I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could
    get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK?
    Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will
    often affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
    Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out
    for a lot more of your respective intriguing content. Ensure that you
    update this again soon.

    Reply

  2768. Hey there, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues.
    When I look at your blog site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
    I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!

    Other then that, superb blog!

    Reply