Baby #2: Weeks 14 & 15

Week 14:

I'm in the second trimester now and things are pretty uneventful.  Weird smells can get to me and I'm still gagging once in a while brushing my teeth or swallowing my prenatal, but otherwise I feel pretty normal.  I am fairly tired on a regular basis though, but that could also be a product of doing too much... which is the story of my life.

We had Michelle's bridal shower on Saturday so I started my day at Produce Junction at 8 am to put together floral arrangements.  Then I headed to my parents with Vienna and a car full of shower stuff.  The shower was lovely and I was very happy to celebrate Michelle... but I'm glad the bachelorette party and shower are both over and I'm done planning parties until #2's first birthday.

After the shower I hung at my parents for a little and then headed out for a sushi dinner with the gals to celebrate Leah's bday.  I was a naughty preggo and indulged in some raw salmon.  It was delicious and so worth it!  We stayed at dinner for 3 hours until we were the last people in the restaurant at 10 pm.  To say I was pooped was an understatement...

So then Sunday I woke up at 5:50 am.  No alarm, no baby, just my body being a jerk.  Then at 8 am, I hit the gym and completed the hero WOD Murph.  This was my 5th Murph and my second one pregnant!  I followed the same modifications I made last time: 1.5 miles on the bike (instead of the 1 mile runs) and I did the push ups on my knees.  I thought about doing a half, which I did last year because I wasn't going to the gym super consistently, but I felt like I had more in the tank after I finished the half and had some regret.  Plus I wanted to match what I did during my last pregnancy, especially since I was 22 weeks pregnant last time!  I thought a few other people were going to show up to do it with me (the gym typically does it on Memorial Day, but we're always down the shore, and I usually do it at 6 am the Friday before but the coach who usually runs that was getting married that weekend), but nope!  Just me!

The first half was pretty uneventful.  I chipped away at the rounds (20 rounds of 5 push ups, 5 pull ups, 5 push ups, 15 air squats) and I felt pretty good.  The biggest challenge was the pull ups.  It was pretty warm and I guess humid because the pull up bar was very moist and hard to get a good grip on.  I love using chalk, but my coaches encouraged me not to use it to avoid ripping my hands.  

Around round 13 I feel like I hit some kind of wall.  I had more than a few rounds left and although my muscles felt ok, I just felt exhausted overall and really had to fight through mentally.  I knew I finished in 58:11 last time, so my biggest motivation to keep moving was to beat that time.  The pull ups were getting very difficult so I finally got into the chalk on round 15 and ripped both hands immediately!  At least I only had 25 pull ups left.  I kept counting down each round in my head... only 20 left, 15, 10, 5... done!  I got on the bike and the 1.5 miles seemed to take forever, but I finished and flopped onto the floor at 50:25!

Sometimes I think I'm so out of shape and dream of how fit I could be if I could ever actually commit to going to the gym 4 or 5 times a week, but I have to say I felt super strong throughout the whole workout!  In previous years my muscles have been super fatigued, my quads have cramped, and I haven't been able to walk for days after.  This year I completed all the reps without much struggle and my legs were barely sore at all.

Between the events of the day before and completing Murph, my Sunday was pretty much shot.  I ended up feeling pretty crappy and had a dull headache for the second part of the day.  I would've gone to bed super early, except I had to stay away for the end of Game of Thrones!  Still wish Jon and Dany just got married and lived happily ever after lol.

Week 15:  

I can't believe how big I am already.  I knew I'd show earlier this time since my body had already done it once, but geez!  I'm trying to avoid gaining 60 lbs this time around, but I'm not sure it's working lol.  I had really big gains from 16 to 20 and 20 to 24 weeks last time, so I guess it's a good time to focus on those veggies.  I finally pulled out all my maternity clothes and I could not be happier.  Everything is so much more comfortable and I forgot how cute everything is!

I skipped the gym completely this week.  I was so exhausted from last weekend that sleep took priority and I felt like completing Murph last week gave me a pass.  We also spent a good chunk of the week in Cape May for Memorial Day weekend.

Vienna was such a beach babe, the weather was awesome, and we had a wonderful time.  My in-laws are great, they help so much with V and spoil us with delicious food.

I did struggle after a late night out on Friday when we got back from the bars at 1 am and V was crying on and off, which is not like her at all.  I wasn't sure what to do because she would cry for a minute and then stop and she never really looked like she was actually awake, so I didn't want to rock the boat even more by going in.  But after a few times I took a bottle in and went to change her diaper and her arm felt ice cold.  I think the poor thing was just cold in the pumping AC, so I put her in more layers and that was that.  Then I finally got in bed and was almost asleep when Dave had a sneezing fit!  I think I finally got to sleep around 2:30.  Thankfully Vienna slept in a little, but 7:30 still came way too quickly and I was feeling rough.  After breakfast Dave took V for a bike ride and I went to take a nap.  When I woke up, I didn't feel super refreshed so I thought I slept for 20-30 minutes.  Turns out I took a 3 hour nap!  I still didn't feel 100% until I went to bed fairly early and got a decent night of sleep.  We stayed out kinda late on Sunday night too and I felt pretty good until the end of a long car ride home, entertaining a cranky baby who stayed on the beach all day instead of taking a real nap.

I'm looking forward to being home this coming weekend and not compromising on sleep, although I think we are finally going to start working on V's big girl room.  She's getting evicted from the nursery (so I can utilize the queen size bed again with baby #2) and we're going to redo the office.  We didn't really do much with that room when we moved in and quite honestly it's turned into a dumping ground for boxes of diapers and bins of baby clothes, so it's time to clean it out and do some painting!  Dave's so excited (lol he's not).  I have a few ideas for her room, but I'm not sure what color to paint it.  I'm anti pink, Dave's anti purple.  The man is crazy if he thinks there will never be a purple room in our house.  I'm thinking maybe a mint green with white and gray accents, maybe even some pink.  I don't think Dave's a fan of the mint walls either though.  I really feel like he just wants to paint every room in our house a nice neutral gray, but I think we all know how that's going to work out for him :)

Baby #2: First Trimester Recap

Yup, it's happening again!

3.5 Weeks

3/4/19 - I tested yesterday at 8 days past ovulation knowing it was probably too early and got nothing.  I figured today would be too early as well, but couldn't help myself.  I swore I saw a faint line!  I prayed all day that it wasn't just my imagination and couldn't wait to take another test when I got home.  There was another line!  My sister's fiancé Alex had a dream that I was pregnant and Michelle asked me yesterday if I was... apparently he knew before me!

3/5/19 - I woke up at 3 am and could not fall back asleep!  I laid there until 4:15 and then finally got up excited to test, another nice looking positive.  I had some light cramping throughout the day, but otherwise haven't had any symptoms.

I stopped at Barnes & Nobles on my way home from work and picked up a big sister book.  After dinner I handed it to Vienna and sent her over to Daddy.  Dave picked her up, plopped her on his lap and got ready to read to her, just like every other night, when he suddenly realized what book she had!

4 Weeks

3/10/19 - I spent the entire day with my mom, my sister, and Leah and somehow managed not to blab my big secret.

3/11/19 - We put Vienna in a big sister shirt for dinner at my in-laws and thought they'd notice right away, but after a few minutes we got antsy and told them to check out her shirt.  They were surprised and excited!

3/13/19 - We went out to dinner with Jeff, Liz, Hannah, and Mike and I felt like it was glaringly obvious when I didn't order a drink.  They probably all knew right then and there, oh well.

5 Weeks

3/15/19 - We told my family on my dad's birthday!  I was so happy we were able to get everyone together, because I wasn't sure it was going to happen and I was chomping at the bit to tell everyone.  We put V in her big sister shirt and everyone screamed when they saw it!

3/16/19 - Leah and I had breakfast and when I told her she handed me a gift for the baby.  She definitely knew lol.

3/21/19 - We attended a childbirth seminar at The Birth Center at Lifecycle WomanCare that is required before your first appointment with the midwives there.  I really liked it.  Dave is still a tad hesitant, but I think he's coming around.

6 Weeks

Based on how I felt last time, I expected some awful morning sickness to settle in but it hasn't been too bad.  I've been a little nauseous on and off, feeling like I'm hungover, but I've still been able to eat mostly normal.  I'm super exhausted, which isn't great considering I have a crazy work deadline and I'm prepping for my mom's 60th bday party at the house.  I was avoiding coffee for a while, but I think it's making a comeback.

7 Weeks

I'm slightly nauseous and getting a little more picky about food, but I know this time last time I was living on carbs and cheese and that is not the case.  It's actually making me sorta anxious that something is wrong, but I just keep trying to remember that every pregnancy is different.  Maybe I'm having a boy!

8 Weeks 

I finally had my first appointment!  Last time we got to see the baby at 8 weeks, but I knew we weren't going to get an ultrasound at The Birth Center, so I was just really looking forward to hearing the heartbeat.  When the nurse practitioner told us it might be too early to detect it with the doppler, I was worried I would leave without any reassurance, but she found it!  160 glorious beats per minute.  She also measured my uterus and said it's right on track.

I made it to the gym twice this week and although I was feeling super winded, I felt really strong!

9 Weeks

I'm still in awe of the contrast from last time, specifically regarding food aversions.  I am giving myself some free passes on extra carbs (mini bagels in the morning, a little pasta and bread), but I'm cooking and eating fairly balanced meals including veggies and salads, which was definitely not a thing last time around!  I'm nice and bloated but have only gained 2 or 3 lbs so far, I'm really looking forward to a real bump.  I'm definitely exhausted and still feel kinda hungover on and off throughout the day, but overall it's business as usual.

Update: I threw up.  The locker room in the gym smelled like poop and apparently I couldn't handle it.

10 Weeks

I think I "popped" on Easter.  My stomach still looks mostly like a beer gut, but it's definitely bigger and harder to hide.  My boobs are suddenly giant.  We got to get some face time with this cutie and Shayna gave us the world's tiniest onesie.  I'm honestly not sure if Vienna was ever this small!

11 Weeks

I've been fighting a little bit of a cold this week, but it's pretty mild and I haven't really been nauseous, so that's nice.  I've also been getting some mild headaches.  I've been missing from the gym for about 2.5 weeks, sleep and rest have just been taking priority.

12 Weeks

WE SAW THE BABY!  After a bit of a runaround at the hospital (nurse practitioner gave me a script for an early ultrasound, not the 12 week one I scheduled which happens in a different department, just a miscommunication but made us spend an extra hour at the hospital, plus we had Vienna with us), we finally got to see the baby.  Everything measured normal and on track and I'm just SO relieved.  It's such a nice feeling to know everything is going well.

I made it back to the gym and hit a 130# overhead squat.  Heck yes.  I'm feeling pretty good, sometimes I get mild headaches at the end of the day or just feel overdone, but overall I'm feeling somewhat normal.

I also had my 12 week appointment and they took the blood for my NIPT genetic testing.  They said we should get the results within a week, which I was not expecting!  I was thinking we'd announce right after we saw the baby but now I think I'm just going to wait until we know the gender.

13 Weeks
I have a small bump and it's getting hard to hide.  Waiting for the test results is HARD.

I made it to the gym again and hit a 145# split jerk.  I didn't have any numbers in wodify because I think most of those lifts were done at barbell club and we didn't plug things in.  But I found a blog post that said I did 115# so I'm fairly certain 145# was a nice PR!

I was trying so hard to be patient, but the end of the week was approaching and I still didn't have any test results.  I called on Thursday and they told me Labcorp was super backed up.  They said it seemed like the back up was just for result reporting because they had been getting calls about irregular results, so at that point no news was probably good news.  I decided I couldn't wait any longer and we announced on social media!

I got a voicemail on Saturday while I was down in Cape May for Michelle's bachelorette party that everything looked normal!  Yay!!!!

I think I did a pretty good job hanging in there with everyone drinking and staying up late all weekend, but when I woke up Sunday I legit felt hungover.  Driving home in the wind and rain was pretty rough.  Thankfully I got home to a clean house (and car), some cute Mother's Day cards and a hanging basket of flowers.  And Dave let me take a nap so I could make it through Game of Thrones.  I also did not get any headaches all week!

I called Lifecycle back on Monday to ask them to leave me a voicemail about the gender so Dave and I could listen together... and we're having another baby GIRL!  I was pretty shocked because I swore it was a boy based on how different this pregnancy has been, but Dave said he knew all along.  He was rooting for a boy who would carry on the family name so he's a little disappointed, which I get, but I can't say I'm sad about sisters!  Plus now we don't have to redecorate the nursery and we can fully reuse all the pink crap we already own.  I guess Dave is just destined to be surrounded by strong willed women!  He's already told me our next dog will be a boy haha.

And now the first trimester is over, huzzah!