Second Trimester Overview

I am officially in my third trimester.  Somedays I think the second trimester was extremely long, but other days I think it went by really fast.  Either way, I am done with the second trimester and moving onto the last third of the pregnancy.  I feel like most things started happening during the 24th week.  That is when I started to REALLY feel the emotional roller coaster, hot flashes and of course the baby.

Movement
I first felt the baby move around the 18th week, but I really didn't know it.  I initially thought the weird movement in my abdomen was just IBS issues because that is what it felt like to me.  After about a week of this and no other IBS symptoms I assumed it had to be the baby moving.  I really started to feel the baby move about week 20, but week 24 is when Andy got to feel him move since it was a lot stronger.  He was waiting and waiting to feel the baby and I kept telling him to be patient.  When it finally happened for Andy to feel the baby move, it was so nice to see Andy's reaction.  It was really sweet to see him in awe of the movement.

Hot Flashes
I know in an earlier post I was excited for the hot summer to arrive and the winter to go away.  I now take that back.  I have never experienced hot flashes before and I have never, ever been so hot in my entire life.  I am hot All THE TIME.  It's ridiculous.  This summer is absolutely making me miserable.  I am just doing my best to keep my body cool, but when it's 110 degrees outside and heat warnings it's becoming more difficult.

Emotional Roller Coaster
I am not an emotional person, but you put a baby inside of me and all of a sudden I am riding the emotional roller coaster with both hands raised high.  I am so up and down and all over the place that I don't even know me anymore.  Poor Andy!  He is not sure how to respond to me.  I had one complete emotional breakdown about week 26 that included all out tears.  This really just stemmed from me being hot ALL DAY LONG.  The heat got to me and I was just upset at how hot and uncomfortable I was.  Andy had never seen me so out of control before that he was just lost and did his best to try and calm me down.  It didn't work.  After my cry fest I felt a lot better and was ready to continue the evening.  Andy didn't even know what to do but ask if I felt better after crying.  Of course I did.  I told him that I am sure that will not be the last one.  Poor guy!

Exercise and Weight Gain
I have gained 16 pounds so far and the doctor says I am right on track with the 25 - 35 pound weight gain.  If I continue with the way I have been going I am looking at a total weight gain of 28 pounds.  I have continued my workouts through the second trimester, but I definitely had to change it up to fit my new uncomfortable body. I quit hiking the mountain about the 23 week mark as it just got way too hot outside and just too difficult for me.  I am doing my pregnancy DVD's by Tracy Anderson and those are really good.  I am also still doing spin classes on Monday nights, but I just keep it light.  I don't go too hard. I listen to my body and slow down when I need to.  I also do my step DVD as well just to mix it up during the week.  My workouts always make me feel better and that is why I continue them throughout the pregnancy.

Food Cravings
People always ask me about any weird food cravings that I have.  I guess the only really weird thing is that I want peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch.  I crave fruit and chocolate.  I have never had a sweet tooth before, but now I do.  Chocolate sounds good quite often and I like to kill that craving with chocolate frozen yogurt or little Dove bites.  Other than that, I really don't crave anything strange like I have heard other women have.  One thing is that I found I can tolerate foods that I never really could before.  I could not eat anything spicy whatsoever.  What I call spicy is not spicy to other people so most of my food is bland.  For some reason the baby allows me to tolerate spicy food without my stomach getting upset.  It's really weird.  I have also been trying a lot of new foods.  Usually I have to stick to what I know since I have such a sensitive stomach, but I always want something new and never want to eat the same thing over and over again, unless it's a peanut butter sandwich.

Headaches and Heart Burn
As I have said before, I am prone to daily headaches.  I only had two headaches in the first trimester and I have not had one headache in the second trimester.  This is crazy to me, but I am very happy that I don't have to deal with daily headaches too.  I now assume my headaches pre-pregnancy might have something to do with a hormonal imbalance.  Heart burn...where do I start?  I didn't even know what heart burn was until a friend explained it to me last fall when she was pregnant.  I started to feel the same symptoms around week 24.  Pretty much every day at 5pm.  I started to pop a tums as soon as I experience this awesome pregnancy symptom and it goes away.  Hopefully heart burn is only a pregnancy thing and goes away after Fred is born.

Well, I am chugging along towards the finish line and I have approximately 12 weeks to go unless Fred decides to come early.  He better not come late because I will be ready to meet him and get him out on September 1st, if not before hand.