Dates: Oct 2012 – Jan 2013
Weight: 139 – 150 lbs
The “honeymoon trimester” was filled with a lot of great times, including sharing the pregnancy with the wider families and friends at the Budde Wedding in St. Louis, Thanksgiving in Charlotte, and New Years in Ohio, and a lot of great milestones, including feeling the first flutter of movement at around 15 wks (while listening to NPR talk about the fiscal cliff on the way into work), getting asked if I was pregnant by someone at work for the first time and finally switching to maternity clothes at 18 wks, and finding out we were having a Baby Girl at the 20 wk anatomy scan. I think she looks a little bit like my mom from the front, and Eric from the side.
I went through a couple phases of cravings at the beginning of the 2nd trimester – first candy, then cookies, then chocolate, then ice cream – definitely in keeping with the old wives tale that if you crave sweets you’re having a girl, and salty means its a boy. I also started craving alcohol again and was happy in my decision to request that Eric continue drinking as he had before the pregnancy, because it made me feel better to know that both of us didn’t have to give it up, and usually after a sip of whatever he was having, my craving was curbed.
Once it got too dark in the mornings to run outside I started putting in 30 mins on the elliptical at the gym 4 days a week, running on Saturday morning, and continued going to Cardio Barre on Sunday mornings. I even continued to do the ab floor exercises with my Dr’s blessing – perhaps that has something to do with why I’ve been so small throughout. Toward the end of the 2nd trimester, it started to be easier to sleep on my side, but mostly my belly wasn’t in the way and I barely felt it most of the time. For some reason, I expected pregnancy to feel like I did when I had excess fat – gross and big – but really it felt like my body was the same size, just stretched out a little bit.
I managed to pick up the head cold that everyone at work brought back from Thanksgiving travels. It lasted 3 weeks, but wasn’t much more than annoying, and coupled with the flu shot I got probably helped save me from getting the bug Eric’s family all had over the holidays.
In November, we also welcomed our furry daughter, Luna, into the family. I think she has been a great help in preparing us to have a real child – definitely tries our patience and restricts our schedule, but makes us laugh at all the silly/cute things she does 🙂
