The second trimester was easily the best for me. It was also the longest. Emotions got stronger, my belly got bigger, acid reflux killed me, but I got to feel my little girl kick, and I found out she was a little girl!
23 Weeks
Dem Feels: Waterfalls from my eyes. Really, it wasn’t that I was having more frequent mood swings or anything, they just got more extreme. Around 22 weeks, I fell off my couch. We had TV trays set up in front of the couch and had dinner and Sherlock going, so I climbed over the arm rest and fell off, taking a TV tray with me. Somehow, I scraped my knee, but I mostly caught myself with my hands. The rest of the night I spent in tears, freaking out about the effect on the baby. I sobbed for at least two hours before I could calm down. Thank goodness she kicked or it may have been longer!
Getting Fat: It’s not the worst thing in the world…yet. I started buying some maternity clothes (which, Ross is the best! Super cheap, and usually pretty cute). My old jeans didn’t quite fit, and my belly was definitely pregnant. I even had people asking me if I was pregnant! I, luckily, have only really gained weight in my belly, and I definitely look pregnant, not fat. But it was cute. I got a ton of stretch marks, which is kinda stinky, but at the same time, not. I’m dealing with nine months of growing a human being, I deserve some battle scars.
Acid Reflux: Death takes a new form… I’d never really experienced this pain before. But I will say, without Pepcid, I wouldn’t make it through this pregnancy. No matter what I ate or drank, my throat was on fire all night, every night. To the point of waking me up. Taking a drink of water would set my throat on fire. The only things I’ve found that have helped are Pepcid and milk. (I checked with my doctor first about taking Pepcid, and she basically prescribed it to me.) So every night, and multiple times through the day, I was taking my maximum strength pill with a glass of milk. Thank goodness it’s gotten better, or I’ve gotten used to it. Either way, it’s a rare phenomenon now.
I made the frames for our announcement.
Gender Reveal: It’s a human! I’d been pretty back and forth on whether I wanted a girl or boy. It mostly depended on the kid I’d seen most recently or the pictures on Pinterest. Alex knew that he wanted a girl from the start. It was all about “Daddy’s Little Princess.” We had names picked and everything. Girl was Haylee; boy was Benjamin. And then we found out, and anxiety started. I’m not sure if people think of it the same way that I do, but naming a kid is a big deal. I mean, that’s what they go by for their entire life! I was seriously terrified of messing that up. So, we nixed that, and had tentative names that we would tell people. I don’t even know if we could remember all of them. We did finally settle on Lacey Ann, and that’s here to stay.
Baby Kicks: The weirdest gas bubbles ever. It took what felt like forever before I actually felt my little girl kick. I’d been told it felt like gas bubbles, so every time I felt that, I would get so excited, and then I would toot, and be sad. Eventually, the kicks got strong enough that they were very distinguishable. By the time I first realized that they were kicks, I figure I’d been feeling them for a few weeks. The best wasn’t even feeling her kick though. It was right around the end of the second trimester, when I could see my belly move when she kicked. And when Alex could feel her kick. It was definitely a precious experience for both of us.
20 Week Ultrasound
There was a day I was at school, and I was working with one of my favorite students. Lacey started kicking, a lot. I pointed it out to him, and he watched in amazement for a second and then reached to feel it. I’m pretty sure he almost died. It is kind of a weird thing to feel after all. He hasn’t stopped talking about my baby ever since.
All of my student’s have been super excited about the baby. Since I started showing, they ask me all the time how she’s doing and when she’ll be here. It’s probably my favorite thing, even if I do end up repeating myself a million times. I don’t think they realize that when I have her, they won’t see me until school starts next year. Some of them won’t even see me then. But we don’t have to think about that now. Instead, we’ll hope I make it through Pregnancy Part Three before I go into labor!
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