Weeks pregnant: 16 & 17 weeks.
Weight Gain: No idea. I haven’t been on the scale.
Size of the baby: Week 16 – About the size of an avocado. Yum! Week 17 – The size of a turnip – but since that doesn’t help anyone imagine, about 5 inches crown to rump and weighing around 5 ounces.
Emotional stuff: Life is SO much better now that I’m not feeling sick all the time!! I still have bouts of exhaustion periodically but overall my spirit and body feel renewed. It’s been a good few weeks. We’ve seen family a lot and enjoyed the summer weather. We’ve taken Q to the pool twice and she just loves it. Taking my kid to the pool is a part of motherhood I had always imagined so doing that for the first time was really special for me. We’re very fortunate to have a great pool nearby and we are members so we can go whenever we want! Some people love the beach, I love the pool. 🙂 I like to look at the water on the beach and I love being by the ocean and watching the waves crash but when it comes to swimming, I’m a pool girl.
I definitely don’t look pregnant from the front!
The BIGGEST news of these weeks is that I can now feel T-Rex kicking around in there. It started at 16 weeks exactly and with Q it was 16 weeks 5 days so not too much of a difference there. Feeling him move in there makes this baby a LOT more tangible and I’m less likely to forget than I’m pregnant! The movement is really low and went from just a few taps on the first day to full on dance parties multiple times a day. I’m kind of amazed how much I feel this baby after no feeling anything for so long.
Physical stuff: I kind of touched on this already but I’ve been feeling good. I’ve had a few headaches but nothing debilitating. NO PUKING! YAAAAAAY!! And only a few upset stomachs. I’ve had pretty good energy and I’ve enjoyed walking more again. Q is appreciative of my energy for sure. She loves to go for walks and would be out playing all day if we could.
I feel like my bump is really small for 17 weeks but when I compared photos of this pregnancy versus last time I’m about the same size. I definitely am not experiencing the phenomenon of being a lot bigger or showing sooner with the second pregnancy, and that’s ok with me. I have a pretty long torso and lean physique so I have a feeling this is just how I’m going to carry my babies. It’s ok by me!
Also physical, kind of, I finally got my hair cut and highlighted this week and I LOVE it. I can’t get over how much I love it. I was kind of freaking out about the change for a day or so since my hair hasn’t been this short in a long time but it’s fantastic and I feel like I look better than ever, with minimal effort!
I can’t stop eating: I had my first really intense craving this week, for chicken wings from my favorite wing place, Gators. I had to wait a few days to fulfill it but I was able to go with some friends over the weekend. YUMMMMM!!!! Besides that I’ve been eating a lot of frosted mini wheats. They’re great for a quick snack when I just need to eat SOMETHING.
I can’t even look at: Most things that I ate during first trimester are now off the menu and anything that I ate before throwing up is a no-way.
Fitness: I’m back to walking a lot. I love how close we are to downtown so we can walk pretty much anywhere we want to go! I’m also hoping to get some solo pool time this summer and do some lap swimming. We’ll see about that though.
Birth prep: Continuing our doula search and I checked out four natural birth books from the library so that’s going pretty well.
Baby prep: Not much. I went through some clothes and cloth diapers trying to pick out the gender neutral stuff. Having a girl would make life easier in the clothing department! A baby boy will still be wearing girly hand me downs for jammies and diapers at least. We’ll probably spare him dresses and pink ruffled pants but any boy of ours will still be wearing pink and purple diapers!
Breastfeeding: We are still going! 23 months today! I’m fairly certain my milk has dried up since Q keeps asking for water afterwards and she actually stuck her straw sippy in her mouth WHILE breastfeeding the other day so she was getting water while nursing! That was bizarre and hilarious.
Even though she isn’t getting milk anymore, or at least much milk, breastfeeding is still a huge comfort to her and sometimes the only thing that can calm and quiet her so I’m going to continue. Besides, now that I’m so close, I REALLY want to make it until she’s two! What a cool milestone!
