I am MORE than happy to have the FIRST trimester over... It was such a dark and lonely place in all of the transition, the moving, the never-ending nausea, and the dreaded throwing up night after night... Praise the Lord for His grace in the midst of it all.
I will have fonder memories of the second trimester. We found out our little nugget was a boy (or a girl giving us the middle finger), we painted the nursery a dark navy color that I had been envying on Pinterest for a while, and I started feeling MUCH better around 20 weeks. (My heart goes out to all of you sweet moms who have to endure sickness through the WHOLE pregnancy. My, my... I am praying for you!) Food started tasting good again, and my loves for coffee (decaf, these days), ketchup and Mexican food came back! I have never loved them more. Mark and I celebrated our second anniversary, I started to take part in the outside world again and my life became more than cable TV and the porcelain throne. I transitioned from a chunky tummy to a real, live, baby bump. I learned a few things about "dressing" the bump. Long shirts, stretchy jeans, cardigans, skinny belts, leggings and boots have become everyday staples. I soon found out that our little guy was going to be rowdy and rambunctious, given how much he kicked and squirmed and jumped around. Mark even felt the baby give him a "high five!" We started reading lots of books, lots of articles, talking to lots of friends and processing all of our options when it comes to birth and caring for a newborn. More on this later, but, as you can probably expect, I'm turning out to be sort of a tree hugger in the pregnancy area, too. Surprise, surprise. I am cherishing "happy" and positive birth stories and trying to weigh and toss out the more negative ones I hear. Call me idealistic and naive. I'm okay with that...
So far the third trimester seems to be characterized by extra sleepiness, which leads to more naps, of course...some heartburn...and trying to figure out how to sleep without kicking Mark out of the bed or being super-high maintenance. Really, though, I'm feeling good and looking forward to meeting our little mister. The month of April is looming...with lots of excitement, lots of unknown, lots of...well, just everything.
Ready or not! Third trimester, here we come.
I had both of my kiddos via au natural! I sat in the jacuzzi tub at the hospital and it makes a lot of the labor pains tolerable. I read a pretty great book by a famous midwife too about all kinds of stuff to expect and how to have a positive natural birth!
ReplyDeleteMy best to you guys! And your sweet little boy!
My favorite books were Birthing from Within, and any books by Ina Mae Gaskin (Full of positive birth stories). If you lived closer to Elkader I would have some excellent people to introduce you to (midwifes and doulas and such.)
ReplyDeletecan't wait for Lil man to show up...and your extra family is literally just a few blocks away!
ReplyDeleteDusti - NICE! I'm so glad to hear others have gone natural and made it through with flying colors. Send up a prayer for me!!! :)
ReplyDeleteShannon - Ina Mae! So funny. I just finished watching a documentary on her. She is a genius! We have a great midwife here in Sioux Center, so we're blessed!
Niki - Love it.
Liza and Shannon -
ReplyDeleteI totally used her book! I was stumbling for the name last night when I posted, but it was such a wonderful read! She left nothing to the surprise and it totally helped me mentally dring the last little bit.
Plus, your nurse/midwife is also the other big part. Of everyone is on the same page, they become a great coach and encourager.
Be careful on the coffee. I would rather give birth again than have 3rd trimester heartburn, I really would.
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