1st Trimester Round Up!

Happy Friday, sweet friends!

I am so so SO happy to have shared our exciting news that our family is growing… Baby #2 is due August 2018, and we are so thankful to God for this blessing! Life is such a precious miracle, and it blows my mind every time I think of this sweet being that God is knitting together inside me in the most complex and precise ways, it’s incredible!

We do not know what the baby’s gender is quite yet, we will have to wait several more lonnnng weeks! I just finished up my first 12 weeks, ending the 1st trimester (woo woo!), so I’ll have to wait another 7 at 20 weeks! We can’t wait to find out!! I personally love finding out, because I love planning and preparing the nursery is so fun. I just love having a direction moving forward with names and general prep for baby :)!

The first trimester for me was very similar to Collins, except it went by a LOT LOT faster! I always heard the 2nd pregnancy always goes faster, because you’re so busy with another little one, and it’s so true! It flew by, although some of those middle of the trimester weeks seemed to go by slow when I was feeling so so tired. That was my biggest thing I had, which was similar with Collins. I am not a napper, looove waking up early and doing my daily routine of reading the word and working out before everyone else is up, but weeks 7, 8, 9 were pretty tough for me personally, because I napped almost daily, AND I struggled to even get up past 7:30 most mornings. I had a little bit of nausea in the mornings during those weeks, too. Never got sick, just felt off and needed to lay down on the couch.

Another thing during those weeks (similar with Collins again) is that certain things I usually love sounded disgusting! Example: coffee! Even the smell up until about week 10 I had absolute zero interest in (so crazy how pregnancy effects us!) if you know me, you know I am a coffee lover, but I didn’t even crave it much of the 1st trimester, which I consider a blessing! You’re not supposed to have a ton during pregnancy, and caffeine can promote pre-eclampsia (I didn’t have this with C, but wouldn’t want to get it this time around either!), so the fact that I did not crave coffee whatsoever is an overall good thing I think! Rest assured, my love for coffee is back! This timing of not wanting and wanting it again is very similar to the timing I had with Collins for this. I think this was another reason I was sooo tired during those particular few weeks, because all of a sudden I went from having 2-3 cups a day to nothing at all!

Other things like eggs, certain veggies, hummus, and just overall the smell of the refrigerator (yes it has a smell, ask any pregnant woman! 😂) turned me off. Again, all items I normally enjoy and eat daily. Thankfully all of that has come back also, and I’m back into my morning eggs with veggies routine with my little C! 😊

Because I was so tired for a few weeks, my workout routine was off, including several days in a row that I would not workout. This was just another piece to the puzzle that made me feel very out of my normal routine towards the end of December into early January. Many days I would force myself in the afternoons to just finally get on the treadmill or buzz up to the community center to do a little something at least, and even that little bit would help me feel better! I really just had to listen to my body during those weeks, as much as I disliked not working out, I clearly knew my body needed rest, because it was already doing a TON of work! I mean, it’s creating a human being, that alone is no easy task, so as I’d pray through my frustration of being “off” my routine, I would give myself grace and remind myself of the work that is going on inside me already, nonstop, round the clock, making this sweet little life!

I’ve found my routine once again, and as I enter the 2nd trimester this coming week, I’m feeling good overall! I reeeally didn’t even experience a tough 1st trimester with either babies, so I can’t complain, as I know many many women suffer from morning sickness (aka all day sickness) and worse, so I’m grateful for how both 1st trimester’s have went for me. Workout routine wise, I’m sticking with a mix of cardio, modified strength training (I still love Olympic lifting, which I was so used to in my workout regimen throughout high school and college soccer…gimme all the squats, hang cleans, and dead lifts, modified of course, 🤓 ha!) One thing I’m also focusing on during this pregnancy is preventing my diastisis recti from increasing. I didn’t have it really bad to begin with after I had Collins, but I’ve found how quickly everything goes back to its pregnant state this second time around (I had a bump sooo early!), and I’ve already noticed during any ab crunching exercises my little “mountain” as I call it 🙂 has started to pop out again! So…….

Side note: I told my best friend about our pregnancy before we announced and let her know I already have noticed diastisis recti, and a few days later she sent me a link with exercises to do daily to help with it and advisory to stay away from all crunching and no planks/suspended core exercises unless on the knees (love that woman!). I should mention, she is just months away from becoming a doctor!!! (of physical therapy, so proud of her!) and wants to specialize in women’s health, which includes under that umbrella postpartum therapy for mommy’s wanting to cure their diastisis recti! So after I had Collins, when she’d come to visit she would look at my tummy and evaluate me 😂 and also do some fun and simple PT things with Collins to see where she was at, and even then I trusted her completely, and not only because she’s my best friend! I can only imagine how amazing she will be… she is a very, very particular, type-a personality yet so gentle and calm, so whatever she does she’s going to make sure her patients do it well and do it right! Her patients will be blessed to have her! I’m so, so excited for her to be OFFICIAL!!!!

Although these two pregnancies have been so similar, I have zero inkling as to if Baby T #2 is a girl or boy. Last time I was sooo sure it was a boy, and Collins proved me wrong! So this time around, I’m not looking into anything, and just waiting for the surprise! Our next check up is the day before Valentine’s Day. We can’t wait to see how baby has grown, and seeing and hearing that little heartbeat is always so sweet and special! Thank you again for all the sweet messages and prayers for us and for Baby T! 💗