It’s pretty amazing to me how quickly the second trimester has flown by. It feels like just yesterday I was sharing the news of our expected little one with all of you! It helps that in April and May we were taking quite a few trips, so the weeks went by fast. I thought it would be fun to give you an update on how things have been going for me to date while I’ve been carrying this little one.

Firstly, at the end of May we visited family on the East Coast and were able to have a gender reveal and baby shower all at once! It was so much fun to have the little one showered with so much love already. I’m going to be having another baby shower in Oregon in August, but I knew this was my only chance to see my family, so it was important to make it count! 🙂 Plus, we found out that that our little one is a BOY!

Total weight gain: as of my doctors appointment Tuesday, I’m up about 19 lbs.

Maternity clothes: It took me until about 20 weeks before I was really ready to wear maternity clothes full time, particularly maternity pants. Now I’m dealing with a lot of my shirts getting too short! I only have a couple maternity shirts, and it might be time to do some more shopping to get me through the summer. I also so far haven’t bought maternity shorts, and instead have been wearing running shorts whenever I need them. I’ve been wearing more maxi skirts to work, which are great for this hot weather we’ve been having lately!

Sleep: Overall sleep has been fairly sound. The last week or so I have started to get a little more uncomfortable. It takes a lot more effort to roll over in the middle of the night now. I’ve been sleeping with a pillow between my legs for some extra support. So far I still haven’t had to make too many mid-night bathroom trips on a regular basis.

Symptoms: Baby L is always moving around and wiggling. I’m prepping for a busy little boy. Overall, I feel like I haven’t had too many major symptoms. In the last few weeks, a couple things have been picking up, including some heartburn, a couple calf cramps, and a sore left foot. I think the foot issue is due to relaxing ligaments, and increased weight along with my continued running. Luckily, after a few days of rest, the foot pain has been great. And the calf cramps are pretty intermittent, and seem to be a bit related to dehydration. Helps remind me to stay on top of the water consumption!

Cravings & favorite foods: Nothing really major, but I’ve been all about all the fresh fruit lately! I have gone strawberry picking and blackberry picking recently, so I want to eat lots of them! Next

Food aversions: none. Still haven’t figured out what exactly causes my heartburn to flare up, so if I figure that out, I’ll probably avoid some stuff. But until then, all foods are good foods in my book. 🙂

Exercise: I have been running about 3 days per week, except for the week my foot pain flared up about two weeks ago. I had typically been running 5-6 miles each time. The last couple weeks I’ve been shortening them up a little, but have still been in the range of 3-6 miles per day. My pace has definitely slowed, especially in the first 1-2 miles while I’m warming up. I’d say that I typically am running around a 10-10:15 minute/mi on average. Sometimes I move a little quicker running with other people, but I continue to just see how my body feels and do whatever feels best on each day.

I also recently went to the pool to swim for the first time since the end of last summer when I started marathon training. I have gone three times so far, and it has been fun to swim outdoors in the summer sun after work! This weekend I ran the Butte to Butte 5k in Eugene, OR. It was awesome to run another race with my little running buddy — I’ll have a recap about it up shortly!

Mood: overall I’ve been pretty happy and enjoying this pregnancy. The week my foot pain flared up I had a few breakdowns. I was feeling overwhelmed by the changes in my body – the increased weight, aches and pains, and effects on exercise. Pregnancy is hard and sometimes crazy, but it’s also exciting and such a happy time.

Missing: sometimes I’m missing doing hard workouts, the feeling of accomplishment after gutting it out around the track. I haven’t been biking and I miss that too. But I am so thankful for the exercise that I have been able to do. I’m also occasionally missing having a drink on a hot summer day with friends, and I would love to go out for some sushi!

 

Best moments: our gender reveal with our families was really a special occasion. It was so much fun to not know and to share the announcement with our family.

I love feeling the little guy moving around. He’s always wiggling around and rolling. It is so strange and surreal to me still to see my belly moving around or to be able to feel from the outside.

Right now we are starting to work on the nursery! I can’t wait to show you how it turns out in a few more weeks as we get it all together. We have finished up painting, and built the crib!

Looking forward to: We have a few friends and family coming to visit on the next couple months. And of course I’m really getting excited to finally meet our baby boy! This week I scheduled out all my doctors appointments through the end of the pregnancy, which makes it feel a lot closer!

{On the left is my tiny bump at 18 weeks. On the right is a much bigger bump at 26 weeks. It’s still growing and changing every day!}