The Golden Second Trimester

Sometimes I almost forget I'm pregnant.

It's not that I forget that, Lord willing, we'll have a new little baby boy in our house when September comes.  Oh no, he is never far from my thoughts; and my conversations as well as my daydreams reflect that.

Tobin asks, "When will choir start again for me?", and I answer, "Very soon after the baby is born."  Moriah wonders why she won't be sleeping in the crib for much longer, and I tell her that the new baby will be needing it.  I see the as-yet unlabeled white bin in the laundry room that I'll put the baby's clean clothes in and make a mental note to print out his name for that sometime.  I think about what food I'll be able to can or freeze this year and remind myself that I need to make applesauce during the summer instead of waiting for the fall, and also when the sweet corn is coming in, I'll be preoccupied with other things and won't be available to help with that harvest.

A dozen or more times a day, I think about him; and joy and anticipation accompany such thoughts.

But even still, I forget I'm pregnant.

That's the beauty of the second trimester.  :)

For me, the fatigue in the first trimester is so often overwhelming that I can't possibly forget for long that a brand new baby is growing in me and zapping all my energy.  And then as the end of the pregnancy draws near, the physical changes are so attention-grabbing that it's impossible to ignore the cause.  But here in this second trimester, I've been feeling so good that it's easy to act as if I'm not even pregnant.

But then, from time to time, reality kicks in; and I'm reminded--usually forcefully--that there is indeed a living being within me who has changed me from head to toe.  Sometimes that reminder comes in the form of Braxton Hicks contractions; and in this pregnancy, I've noticed that they often grab hold and DO NOT LET GO for quite some time.  I try to shift my position and stretch and push on my belly and otherwise convince my muscles to relax; but often, the contraction lasts and lasts and lasts.  It's not that it's so painful, but it is noticeable!

Once in a while, heartburn will be the affliction that reminds me that I'm pregnant; at other times, it will be dizziness.  Still other times, it will be the clumsy way I bump into things, forgetting how big I've grown!  :)  I suppose the most frequent reminder comes when my energy level takes drastic dips.  I can be going along through my day, feeling energetic and inspired; and suddenly it's like a train coming to a crashing halt.  I completely run out of steam; and when I do, nothing really revives me until I give in and lay down for a nap.  Fortunately, even if I only get 30-45 minutes of sleep, that usually does the trick; and then I'm ready to be on my feet again, able to function.  But this is different from how I was before I got pregnant, since in those days, besides Sunday afternoons which are just made for napping, I rarely took afternoon naps.  Now the tables have turned; and it's a rare day that I don't try to sneak in some moments of horizontal rest in the afternoon.  :)

At my appointment this past Wednesday, the midwife I saw was Ann, whom I happen to know through our boys taking violin lessons together, as well as through the midwife practice.  We had a delightful time chatting--most of which had nothing to do with this pregnancy ;-)--and we talked about what a blessing it is to have an uneventful, "boring" pregnancy.  I really am grateful from the bottom of my heart that everything has been so routine and normal during this pregnancy with no real bumps in the road or hurdles to cross.  Indeed, it is a huge blessing!

At that appointment, my weight was up to 169 pounds, my blood pressure was 124 over 66, and the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong at 151.  In a month, I'll "get" to do the lovely one-hour glucose test (which I actually did early in this pregnancy because of my age--the first time I've ever had to do it twice in one pregnancy); and a few days after that, I believe I'll be getting the rhogam shot that I've had SO MANY TIMES because of my blood type.  And so, time rolls along; and even though it currently feels like there is oodles of time left until our new little guy makes his appearance, I'm probably going to blink, turn around once or twice, and then it will be time for him to be born.  ;-)

Early on, when people found out my due date was in September, they warned me about having to endure the summer heat at the height of my pregnancy; but because I'd MUCH rather be hot than cold, I'm not too concerned about that.  The past few days have been pretty warm; and by suppertime, the kitchen has been heated up higher than is comfortable.  But one of the wonderful features of this house is an attic fan that does a terrific job of drawing cool air in through the windows and lowering the temperature in the house, without resorting to using the air conditioner.  My parents sure were smart when they decided to have that attic fan put in.  ;-)  The past couple of evenings, I have been so happy to sit down at the supper table and feel the cooler air from outside blowing in on my face.  I'm glad my spot at the table faces the open window.  :)

One really good thing about being pregnant in the summer is how easy it is to dress.  Since my last baby was born in April, I didn't even get a chance during that pregnancy to wear my most-summery maternity clothes; and to tell you the truth, when I first pulled out my boxes of maternity clothes this time around, I initially thought that I liked my winter maternity clothes better than my summer ones, and I was a little disappointed that some of my warmest maternity clothes--sweaters, for example--I wouldn't be able to wear at all during this pregnancy (and since I'm pretty sure this is my last, that means I wouldn't be able to ever wear them again).  But as the temperatures have risen, I have discovered that is it so wonderfully easy to throw on a pair of maternity capri pants and a sleeveless shirt, for example, and be done with dressing!  Oh, and maybe a pair of flip-flops, too.  :)

So as you can tell, I'm enjoying very much this golden stage of pregnancy and giving thanks frequently for how good I feel!  But the best part of all in this second trimester is the feeling of my baby moving inside me.  Not yet strong enough to cause pain but already big enough to be noticeable very frequently, this little boy's motions are bringing me much delight.  Is there any other feeling like it in the whole world??

~ photos of me were taken last Sunday, when I was 24 weeks along, by my favorite five-year-old photographer...ummm, that would be Shav, in case you weren't sure to whom I was referring  ;-)