We had the option to do a specific type of blood work test around 10-12 weeks and we could have found out the sex of the baby during those tests but we opted out for it. We decided to only stick with the necessary tests (basic blood work and the 20 week anatomy scan) and not much else. In my opinion, I was going to love and care for this baby regardless what the tests showed so why have the added stress of additional tests.
The blood work and anatomy scan came back perfect and we got to see our little baby grow so much from weeks 6-8 to week 20. It's absolutely amazing! We asked our technician and ultrasound doctor to keep the results a secret and place them in an envelope so we could find out with our family members. We decided to do a gender reveal party when we went to visit my husband's family down in Vero Beach for Easter.
Symptoms - Not much to report. Pretty symptom-less compared to most things you read! I started feeling random bubble feelings around 20 weeks. I wasn't really sure what I was feeling but during our 20 week anatomy scan, we saw the baby kick the same second I felt that bubble feeling. Once I saw that, I knew exactly what I was feeling! I loved feeling little baby! Around weeks 24-25, the bubbles started gradually turning into kicks. I don't remember a specific day or week this started happening, it was just a gradual transition to kicks.
Even during the second trimester I never felt nauseous. The only thing I really started to notice was one minute I would be so unbelievably full and then SERIOUSLY 3 minutes later I was STARVING. Give me some food. PRONTO! I remember my husband picking up lunch for us (literally 5 minutes from the house) and I was thinking, "how am I going to eat? I'm so full!" and by the time he got home, I could barely wait for him to open the bag because I was absolutely starving.
Mood - At the beginning of the second trimester I was feeling pretty unprepared. We were living at my parent's house for 7 months while our house was under construction. All of our belongings were in storage and I couldn't really buy anything for our little guy. I ended up buying a few little boy outfits just because I wanted to celebrate since we finally knew the gender! But other than that, we really didn't buy anything. We weren't able to start getting the nursery ready since we didn't live in our house. This is major for me since I'm usually Type A and have everything planned out and ready to go WAY ahead of time.
As the weeks started going by, I was beginning to have this calm feeling take over me. Maybe it's the pregnancy but I'm officially starting to realize that I can't control every little thing. Things will have a way of working out. I wasn't feeling as stressed about everything little thing.
Cravings - No extreme food cravings or aversions. Towards the end of my second trimester I started craving pancakes and waffles. I don't usually eat a heavy breakfast but baby boy was HUNGRY some mornings!
Exercise - I'm continuing my normal 5-6 days/week workouts. Definitely less intensity and using modifications throughout my Bar Method workouts. I found [this website] to be super helpful in learning all about the Bar pregnancy modifications. The instructors at my studio were also super helpful and taught me everything I needed to know around 20 weeks of my pregnancy. My doctor kept saying I can continue to do workouts as long as I listen to my body. Around week 24 or so I started noticing my usual exercises were becoming more challenging. I started doing push-ups and planks on my knees and taking more breaks just to catch my breath. I stuck to the elliptical, random upper body workouts I found on YouTube, long walks with my pup, and about 2-3 Bar classes throughout the week. I'll do a separate post on some of my favorite pregnancy workouts!
Sleep - I wouldn't say I'm uncomfortable while sleeping but it's definitely becoming more challenging to move from side to side. I was still using the pillow between my knees but started to notice my legs and ankles were becoming restless towards morning. I was getting up about 1-2 times/night to use the bathroom and drinking lots of water to stay hydrated. I always keep a water bottle next to my bed but before my pregnancy I rarely drank from it. Now, I'm almost drinking 12-16 oz of water overnight.
Looking forward to - Getting back in our house and getting things ready for our baby boy! We moved back into our house during week 28 of the pregnancy. At this point, I felt such a relief to be back in our home and able to get the nursery set up. There's still a lot to do but I'm just feeling so happy that our pregnancy is going so well and baby boy is growing so healthy!
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| 20 Weeks |
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