mythbusters: the glow of the second trimester

What I read tells me that I should get this burst of energy, this magical glow of warm happy mommy feelings, in my second trimester.

No burst of energy for me. For the last two or three weeks, I’ve been at least as exhausted, if not more exhausted, than I ever was during my first trimester. When I get home after eight or nine hours of work, I feel like I’ve done all I can possibly do for the day. But it’s not just that. I’ve been more cranky. Sometimes I see a baby or toddler and suddenly start crying for absolutely no reason. And my back aches, everyday. I don’t know if it’s just adjusting to this new distribution of extra body weight, if it’s too many hours at a computer, or just weak muscles. I constantly THINK about doing yoga, but by the time I get home from work, yoga is the last thing I want to do. I just can’t wait to be skinny again!

unless it’s kicks

I feel her all the time.  At least three times a day, she moves around.  Probably more often.  She moves a lot right after I eat, as if the food coming down the tubes has woken her up.

I’ve gained 15 pounds.

My back hurts.

Haagan Daaz chocolate peanut butter ice cream.  Runnerup: HD Pomegranate Chip.

The 14 year old Korean boy, every day in class, to my stomach: “What’s up, baby?”

I get out of breath going up and down stairs.

We’re more than halfway there.  In our room, piles of “baby stuff” are growing taller.

We’ve whittled the name list down to about a dozen, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to choose before we meet her.

And I need my sleep.

maternity jeans

So last week I bought a $25 pair of maternity jeans at Motherhood Maternity. I tried them on, they fit well, they looked cute enough, I purchased. The next day I wore them, and after five minutes, I realized I had made a big mistake.

The elastic “secret fit belly” isn’t strong enough to hold the weight of the denim. All day, I’m pulling up on these jeans to keep them from falling off!

Buyer beware. Motherhood Maternity has good prices on pretty decent clothes. I wear my two MM t-shirts all the time. But these jeans are a bad idea. So bad they’ve got me thinking suspenders. And MM will only let you make exchanges or returns for store credit, and only within the first ten days after purchasing.

I’m gonna check out Gap maternity jeans.

(Eight hours later: Yes. The Gap jeans. A big improvement. And cords, too.)

nursery colors

So, we’re not really doing an all-out nursery…just cleaning out the room across the hall and putting a borrowed crib in it, basically.  But we are, as I said, going to attempt some wall art, and if I’m ambitious enough, I might also make a little quilt.  Here are our “colors”:

And here’s a site with very basic instructions for an infant quilt.

camera timer

bring on the pink

Highlights of the fourth and fifth months.

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled south to meet our first niece four days after her entrance into the world. I half expected the baby in my womb to leap when I met Giana, but I guess the cousins aren’t quite that bonded (or spiritual) yet. While we were there, my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law threw us a surprise shower with all the extended family, and we got our first onesies and plush toy and blanket. Not to mention the petit fours.

The most eye-opening aspect of our trip was watching Jack with his 20 month old nephew. Jack was totally taken with him. I’ll show you the video to prove it. I’m now a little worried that after our baby is born, I’m never going to get any attention from him because he’s going to be so enthralled with baby girl!

A few days after our trip, we saw our baby for the first time. The ultrasound was way more interesting than I thought, from my vast knowledge of ultrasound scenes in movies, that it would be. And, the moment I had been dreading — the moment of shockingly cold goo squirted on my stomach – wasn’t dreadful at all. The goo was warm.

You don’t just get to see your baby. You get to see every part of your baby. There’s the head, the spine, the heart pumping away. There’s the stomach, the bladder, the arms, the legs, the hands, the feet, the nose, the mouth. And then there it all is again from a different angle. And see those three dots? That means you’ve got a girl.

We didn’t cry, we just smiled and felt happy and nervous and made Juno references.

Two nights ago, we were in bed, probably eating frozen blueberries – either that or cookie dough – and probably watching the first season of Get Smart – either that or the new JJ Abrams show – and baby girl was kicking up a storm (she moves a lot when I eat chocolate, so it was probably the cookie dough). I put Jack’s hand on my belly, and a few minutes later she gave one of her hardest kicks to date, shocking both of us a little bit. His first chance to feel her move.

Yesterday I made what was, I think, my first purchase for the girl. A cradle. A wooden craig’s list cradle. Baby girl will sleep in it in our room for the first couple of months. I probably didn’t bargain hard enough for it, but I still saved at least fifty percent off the price of a new one. Here’s the craig’s list picture:

And, I’ve found my inspiration for any nursery decorating we do. I’ll admit, I’m not proud that it’s a pottery barn inspiration, but there you have it.

But I’m not buying this. Jack and I are taking it on as our next arts and crafts project. We’re going to make it, and we’re going to make it better. For instance, check out the bird in their tree. It’s got horns! Our tree is going to have an owl instead. And no apples. Maybe pears. We’ll see. Apples are soooo one hundred years ago.

I’ll try to scan the ultrasound pic, and post it as well as a picture of my little belly soon.