Baby #2 Second Trimester Recap

Although I can hardly believe it myself, I’m officially in the third trimester of my pregnancy! 

What everyone says about your second pregnancy going so much faster than your first is completely true, I feel like the time has flown. When I was pregnant with Henry, I’d look at my app tracking how far along I was almost daily and the weeks seemed to move slowly. I took bump photos every week, I was really consistent about posting regular “bumpdates” here on the blog, and I felt like I had so much time to think about the fact that I was pregnant. 

This time around, I really do feel like I forget I’m pregnant a lot of the time…ha! Henry is at such a fun age, but boy is he busy all.day.long. And even though life is less hectic in some ways since I’m no longer working, having a toddler is definitely a full-time job. But as I’ve said before, we’re no less excited for this little guy to join our family, if anything, I think I’m probably even more excited for this baby than I was with Henry. With your first, in addition to the excitement, there’s also a lot more uncertainty because you’re trying to figure out what baby stuff you need and you really just have no idea what it’s going to be like being a parent. This time around, we already have pretty much everything we’ll need baby gear wise and I feel confident about things like nursing and changing diapers and all the other baby care stuff that seems kind of daunting during a first pregnancy. But more importantly, I feel like now that I’ve experienced just how amazing it is to have a child and to get to see them grow and their personality emerge, I feel like I’m so much more excited about meeting this little person and getting to know who he is! I keep thinking about how sweet it will be to have a newborn to snuggle, but I also can’t help picturing what he’ll be like when he’s the age Henry is now and the two of them can really play together. It makes me smile just thinking about it!

I have a feeling that life isn’t going to slow down at all over the next twelve weeks or so before this little man joins our family…just typing out the fact that I really only have twelve-ish weeks left is completely surreal, that seems like no time at all! So even though I haven’t been doing regular pregnancy recaps, I thought it would be fun to do a little update on what the second trimester has been like with this pregnancy, so basically from when I announced I was pregnant here on the blog up to now! I was just going to write a more general overview, but I thought I might as well just go ahead and use the same prompts I used with Henry, for old times sake, along with a random collection of bump pictures from my phone 🙂

How far along:  
 

28 weeks today! (My due date is 10/20 for those curious!)

15 weeks at our friends’ wedding in Michigan

 Baby’s size:

I have no idea – ha! The first time around I kind of always went with the fruit/veggie comparisons it had on my app, but I was looking through it the other day and the order that they have the fruit in literally makes no sense. At 26 weeks it said the baby was the size of a scallion, which to me is pretty small. But then last week it said it was the size of a head of cauliflower, which can be pretty big? And then today it says that he’s the size of an eggplant, which to me seems smaller than cauliflower? I’m going off on a tangent here, but surely I’m not the only one who has noticed this? Ha! The app says the baby is about 2 1/4 pounds at this point, and only time will tell if he’ll be bigger or smaller than his brother! Henry was 9lbs 8oz when he was born, and I actually weighed the exact same amount when I was born. But Cameron weighed 10lbs 12oz when was born, so baby boy could be big!

16 weeks at my sister’s baby shower – she’s now about a month out from having her baby and my cousin (on the end) already had her little girl in June!

 Weight gain/Bump status:

Another bouncing baby boy! We didn’t do a huge gender reveal this time, but I’m so excited for Henry to have a brother! The only downside (or upside, I think) is that now any time I see cute clothes for Henry, I’m that much more quick to buy it since I know it will hopefully get worn twice – ha! 

 
Movement:
 

This time around, my placenta is in the front so I did not start feeling movement as early as I did with Henry. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly how many weeks I was when I first felt this little guy moving, but I know it was definitely after 20 weeks for sure. Even now, I feel like I don’t feel him quite as much as I did with Henry, but his movements are starting to get stronger and more frequent, which is exciting!

Camping at 20 weeks

  Food cravings: 

I’ve literally eaten so much gummy candy during the past trimester, specifically sour gummy candy, that it’s kind of gross…ha. I haven’t necessarily had intense cravings for specific things, but my diet has not been great. I feel like I don’t have that much of an appetite at meal times and when I try to eat just a normal healthy lunch or dinner, it’s almost like I really have to force myself to eat, especially when it comes to things like salads and meat. But then I’ve been very lax about indulging pretty much daily with the most random sweets and other junk food. So that’s probably not the best,  but I’m trying to be honest 🙂

Sleep:
 
Overall, my sleep in the second trimester has been pretty good! I actually haven’t even gotten out my pregnancy pillow this time around, and I haven’t really had to get up to use the restroom too much in the night. I think part of it is the fact that I’m more tired from taking care of Henry than I was from sitting at my desk job, so I sleep more deeply at night this time around…ha! Granted, Cam and I have been really bad over the past few months about actually getting in bed at a reasonable time so I probably could be getting more sleep than I have been, and that’s definitely something I’m going to try to work on between now and October!

Toddler wrangling at 22 weeks

Miss anything? 

I definitely miss being able to have a glass of wine or a beer, especially when it’s hot out and Henry is finally in bed. But overall, I felt really good over the second trimester so there wasn’t too much I missed! I actually thought I would miss nursing Henry more, but he still loves to snuggle with me and it’s so nice just being able to leave him and go out for a date night or whatever without having to worry about needing to nurse him or pump.

Workouts:

I went to prenatal yoga once during my second trimester, and honestly haven’t done any other workouts besides walking and chasing Henry around…but that can be quite the workout! Thankfully though, I’ve felt good and we’ve been able to continue camping and hiking and enjoying being active this summer!

On a hike at 23 weeks

 Maternity Clothes?
 
Oh yeah 🙂 I started wearing maternity clothes much earlier on in the second trimester than I did with Henry, mainly because I owned them all already so why not? I was actually kind of happy to get all my maternity stuff out again, I really liked the stuff I got the first time around and I haven’t had to really get much else since the seasons I was pregnant were pretty much the same. (I have bought a few new maternity pieces though) When I was nursing Henry, I almost never wore dresses, so I’ve really been enjoying wearing dresses again this summer!

Symptoms:
 
The first symptom that comes to mind that I didn’t have with Henry is melasma, or the darkening of skin pigmentation in the center of the face. I know it‘s super common during pregnancy, but since it didn’t really happen before, it’s a little weird! I have this brown splotchy situation in the center of my forehead that just appeared a few months back – hopefully it fades! And then as a result of craving/eating so much sugar this pregnancy, I’ve also had more yeast infection type issues that I don’t remember having with Henry. I know is another super common pregnancy symptom, but it’s annoying. (Also, sorry if that’s TMI but there are some not so glamorous parts of pregnancy that people don’t always talk about so I’m just being honest…ha!)  Other than that, I haven’t had a lot of noticeable pregnancy symptoms in the second trimester! I’ve felt really good and I’m thankful I’ve had the energy to keep up with Henry!

4th of July at 24 weeks

 Mood:

I’m a little annoyed at the moment because I have pink eye (which I think developed out of the fact that I caught Henry’s summer cold and now I have to wear my glasses for a week, mehhhh), but other than than, I feel really happy! I don’t feel the anxiety or sadness some second-time moms talk about experiencing when they think about their first child not being their baby anymore, I‘m more excited about the thought of Henry having a little brother. And even though I don’t know how I can possibly love another child as much as I love him, I know that my heart will expand when that day comes and I’m excited for that love to multiply. But I do think that I‘m a little bit in denial about just how soon we’re going to have a newborn in our house, this summer is flying! Also, I feel like my attitude towards my midwife appointments this time around is different; before, Cam would come with me to appointments and each one seemed so exciting. This time around, I’ve definitely gone longer between appointments and I honestly feel like I could not go to another one before I go into labor and it would be fine. Don’t get me wrong, I love love love hearing the little guy’s heartbeat, but other than that, it’s mainly just taking my blood pressure, making sure I feel ok (which thankfully I do!), and asking if I have any questions. I’ve met all the midwives at this point, and it’s just funny how much more relaxed I feel about things this time around 🙂

25 weeks at the Painted Hills

Best moments from the second trimester:

Our twenty week ultrasound was exciting, just getting to see this baby moving around and knowing that he’s developing on track was great. It was also nice to get confirmation of the gender since they told us at our initial ultrasound they suspected it was a boy. And then finally feeling the baby move more over the past few weeks has been awesome, it’s such a cool feeling. Henry doesn’t really get what’s going on and hasn’t felt the baby move yet, but he does point at my stomach and say “bebe” which is the sweetest 🙂 Also, my sister is pregnant with her first and due next month, so it’s been really cool to be able to go through this experience at the same time.

Outfit repeating at 26 weeks in Michigan

 Getting started on the nursery…because as of now, we haven’t done a single thing. I’ve mentioned this in other posts over the past few months, but Cam is in the process of finishing our basement so until that’s done, we can’t really get going on the nursery since the basement is where Cam’s office is going to be and then we’re going to move our room into what’s now his office so we can make our room the nursery. With Henry, I really wanted his nursery totally done before I went into labor, but this time around, I’m not as worried about it since we didn’t really use Henry’s nursery much at all the first few months. But still, it would be great for Cam to get the basement done so we can start moving rooms around and at least get the nursery painted before he’s born 🙂 And then I’m excited for my nephew to be born soon too! But once my sister has her baby, I feel like time will really fly until my due date!
 

The other two questions I’ve received most often from friends and family over the past few weeks are 1) do we have a name picked out and 2) am I going to get an epidural this time around…ha! As far as the name, we do have a name that I’d say we’re like 90% sure on? But like with Henry, I do think we want to wait until he’s born before we share it, especially since we could still change our mind. (But I don’t think we will) And as as for the epidural, I didn’t get one with Henry and the pain of that experience is definitely still pretty vivid in my memory. So if it seems like it’s going to be a longer labor, I’ll most likely get an epidural this time around. But I know sometimes second babies come a lot faster, so I may not end up getting one depending on how quickly things go. We’ll just have to wait and see!

The last bumpie I had on my phone, taken on Snapchat at the Detroit airport last week 🙂

So there you have it, the second trimester of my second pregnancy! I’ll hopefully take a few more bump photos here and there over the remaining weeks, so be sure to follow me on Instagram (@inthepinkandgreen) for those updates because I don’t know if I’ll really be doing too many more pregnancy posts before he’s born! 

But if you have any requests for posts you‘d like to see – either pregnancy/baby–related or something else, definitely let me know in the comments! Hope everyone’s summer is going well 🙂