Second Trimester, I Love You!

I'm starting to see why folks refer to the second trimester as the easy one. 

Remember that time I listed all my good, bad, and weird symptoms of the first trimester? Yeah, well after that 14 week mark, AKA the official end of the first trimester, most of the symptoms just disappeared. It was like magic! 

While you're living through the symptoms, you're basically convinced that they're never going to let up. But then one day, you wake up, and things are a little easier, and then a few days later, they're even easier, and finally, regular food becomes appealing again and WHAM, just like that, symptoms are (mostly) gone. 

Sure, they haven't all gone away, but most of the harder-to-live-with ones have: the puking, nausea, cramps, desire to sleep every minute of every day, food aversions, acne, migraines. All gone, gone, and gone! 

Though, there is one symptom that's made an appearance the past few weeks. 

Ladies and gents, I give you: THE BUMP!

Look at that belly growwwww!

I've also been blessed to feel tons of baby kicks and punches starting around 17 weeks. I may have felt them before then, but I never could tell if it was a faint little kick or a gas bubble or a gurgly digestion, so I wasn't quick to assign anything to baby. At this point, though, I'm mega certain it's the babe. This little character is a ninja, I tell ya! I never felt the "flutters" or the "quickening" as it's called, where you feel butterflies in your belly or something like that. Nope. Baby went straight to very strong and adorable kicks to my gut. And a week after I started for sure feeling movements, John started feeling them from the outside too. Strong baby, I tell ya!

Other than that, I've been feeling a liiiittle bit of reflux lately, and as of this week, sleep is starting to get uncomfortable. (Good thing I bought one of these ridiculous pillows 2 months ago. About time to put that bad boy to good use.) I always wondered why sleep was so difficult for a pregnant woman, but now I've discovered that it's basically because flipping from one side to the other is a lot of work when there's a watermelon on your stomach. And you only have a choice between right side or left side. Tummy sleeping (my fave) is obviously off limits, and back sleeping is supposedly bad too, because uterine arteries get compressed or something sciencey like that. Anyway, you only have two positions to choose from and add to that at least one bathroom trip per night and suddenly, sleep gets weird.

I've also had some leg cramping, starting as of yesterday. And my belly button is in the process of jumping out of my body. Oh, and I have trouble sitting up without John around to pull me up. Ha! It's quite the sight.

And at our 22 week ultrasound today, we found out I'm apparently growing a basketball player. Baby is measuring more than a week ahead, weighing 1 lb 5 oz (+ 3 oz) and is in the 90th percentile for size.

Your "grow, baby, grow" prayers are definitely working! :D

See the face on the right? And the little hand up top?

Just not too big, kiddo... k? At least try not to be as big as your newborn dad was: 10 lb 2 oz. Eek!

Seriously, though, I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. This second trimester has so far been a breeze! And no matter what the circumstances, chances are, there's going to be a hyper-cute baby on the other end of all this.

Worth it.