PREGNANCY UPDATE : 2nd TRIMESTER

I can't believe our second trimester is over! This pregnancy (so far) is FLYING by and as excited as we are for Hudson to be here we are soaking up these days of preparing our home and life for him all while trying to soak up every second that it's just the two of us. Pregnancy emotions are weird...sometimes I get a little emotional about thinking that it's not going to be just me and Matthew anymore. It's been just the two of us for almost TEN years, so I know things are going to look different and change is coming....all the emotions these days, but we could not be more excited about our sweet boy's arrival!

I recapped my first trimester, here. 

- Movement: The most exciting pregnancy update...I felt Hudson move for the first time on May 16th. I was laying down that afternoon after getting home from work and I thought I felt it, but wasn't sure since I had never felt anything like that. It wasn't very much movement or very strong and didn't last long so I didn't think too much of it until the next night I felt the very same thing! There was no denying it then that it was him moving. I was absolutely overjoyed and thankful to feel him move, I was 19 weeks and did not think I would feel him until around 23 - 24 weeks since I have an anterior placenta. I have felt him move just about every day since then and the movements are getting stronger and more frequent. I am absolutely LOVING it. Sometimes when feeling him move around I can go from laughing to how funny it feels to crying for how thankful I am for feeling him move all in about 5 seconds...we'll blame that on the pregnancy hormones! Matthew has felt him move and sometimes we just lay in bed and watch him move all around my stomach, such a surreal thing to experience!! We are so incredibly thankful for every little kick and jab we see and feel. He has also been getting the hiccups every couple of days for the past few weeks....so stinkin' cute!! I love when he gets them lol. 

- Shortness of breath: I know this is completely normal, but this is something I have certainly noticed over the past couple of months or so. We take frequent walks around our neighborhood and I have noticed that I am getting out of breath quicker than normal, or walking up a set of stairs (LOL).

- Back and hip pain: Back in early May I had about 2 weeks where my lower back and hips really started hurting. It would take my breath when trying to get up or sit down. Bending over to pick something up or squatting was almost out of the question. I did many stretches those two weeks and took A LOT of walks throughout the day. I noticed that sitting still for too long (working during the day) would enhance the pain, so I took frequent breaks throughout the day to make sure I was moving around and not getting too stiff. I also scheduled my first prenatal massage back in May...it was absolutely glorious and helped with the back and hip pain! I have noticed small twinges of lower back pain here and there, but nothing like it was in early May, thankfully! When I first started experiencing back and hip pain a few friends recommended a U shaped pregnancy/body pillow. I ended up buying this one and it was an absolute game changer for my pain and sleep during the night! I admitted on Instagram awhile ago that I used to think these pillows were silly, but I openly admitted to taking every negative thing I ever said about them back...ate my words on that one for sure! I still use this every.single.night and any naps during the day. I actually love it so much we bought my dad one for Father's Day, since he has bad hip pain from arthritis. 

Reagan is also LOVING my new pillow!

- Father's Day: Matthew got to celebrate his 1st Father's Day in June!! I had my sister make him a Nashville Predator's shirt and put "dad" on the back!

- A growing belly: Matthew and I have been so amazed at watching my belly grow over the past couple of months. I certainly look pregnant now and not just like I had an extra cheeseburger lol. It is absolutely incredible and some days I feel like my body is changing every single day. I have not noticed any stretchmarks yet, but I am sure they are coming. I have been using this belly butter pretty consistently and LOVE it.

24 weeks from my view!

- Glucose Test: I had my first glucose test on June 25th. It definitely wasn't as bad as I had heard. My clinic gave me the orange flavor drink and it wasn't bad at all. Thankfully they refrigerate it so maybe that's why it wasn't so bad?

 I ended up failing the first test so I had to go back for the three hour test. I went back on June 28th for round 2. I was definitely dreading that one as I had to stay at the clinic for the full three hours. The first hour was r-o-u-g-h. I was very nauseous and weak feeling, but after that first hour I was a lot better! I had to go into the lab every hour on the hour and let them take my blood to test. 

Matthew came along to wait with me and we both brought our laptops to work and pass the time. After I was done we booked it to one of our favorites for lunch, Slim Chickens. Since I had to fast since midnight the night before I was absolutely starving. Thankfully I passed the three hour test and we were officially able to put that behind us. So thankful!! 

- Low Iron: I did find out around the time of my glucose testing that I have low Iron. This came at no surprise as I have had low Iron some throughout my life and it runs in my family. Thankfully it wasn't insanely low, so I have been taking an over the counter Iron pill once a day since then. This would explain my obsession with ice though ;) 

- Dry Skin: I have heard this is normal, but forgot about it until I was consistently itching. I usually get a little dry skin in the winter months, but never in the summer, so I have been lathering on the lotion every morning and every night before bed. My arms, legs and back are usually the areas that need the most lotion. I pulled our humidifier back out and will probably start using that again at night. We usually only use this during the winter months, but it's looking like I will need it soon!

- SO Thirsty: I am constantly filling up my tumbler with ice and water and carrying it with me everywhere, which I know is recommended during pregnancy, so I think my daily water intake is pretty well covered! I usually have at least two tumblers of water around...one with plain water and one filled with water, lemon juice and some lime juice. Matthew says I am basically making homemade lemonade with lime in it because I make it so tart lol. Give me allllll the sweet and sour!

- Maternity Clothes: I am officially out of my regular jeans and wearing maternity jeans. I realized it was time to buy some maternity jeans when I was wearing my normal jeans one day (using the ponytail trick to keep them together without having to button and zip them) and I sat down at a restaurant with some friends and the ponytail went flying off and landed by another table lol. I stocked up on a bunch of maternity shirts/tank tops for the summer from Old Navy and Motherhood Maternity over Memorial Day Weekend when they were having a great sale. I also bought some nursing tanks for after he is here. They were on major sale so I stocked up and put them away for when he arrives and I am wearing them daily. When I am home or not having to dress up for any occasion or event I am usually in my maternity leggings or non-maternity athletic shorts and a t-shirt or maternity v-neck I bought. Now that summer is here I have been finding myself wearing dresses frequently. I bought this dress from Old Navy and fell in LOVE with it. It is so flowy and not restricting at all. It is also nursing friendly so I can wear it after he is here (in the winter months I'll just throw a cardigan and legging on with it). I ended up buying it in two different colors and I am waiting on another color to restock. You can kind of see it in the picture below. If I know I am going to be outside for a significant amount of time or it's just really hot one day, you can probably find me in this dress!

- Nursery: Our glider delivered over Memorial Day Weekend and our crib delivered the week after! We decided to use the Ikea Dresser for the "changing table" and we ordered that with the rest of the furniture when we moved in. We also ordered a bookshelf and small side table that delivered this past week, so all of the nursery furniture is here! We have been brainstorming a "theme" for his nursery and I think we have finally decided on what we want to do in there, so now we are just deciding what decor items we want! 

Reagan thinks we bought the glider just for her...

My dad and I are making a few signs to go above his crib and I can't even wait until we are finished with them!!

- Registry: We started our registry over Memorial Day Weekend and decided to register at Amazon and Target. We went to Target to "start" the registry and were pretty disappointed with the selection. We were able to register for a few items in the store, but did majority of it online once we got back home. We also went to BuyBuy Baby and tested out some of the bigger items (car seats, strollers, etc.) and that was a lot of fun! We purchased our diaper bag while we were registering at Target and I absolutely love it. 

- 25 Weeks

- Babymoon: We went back to one of our favorite places in the world, Charleston, for our babymoon. Once I have those pictures downloaded and organized I will write a whole post on our trip! We took a short trip to Charleston a couple of years ago for our anniversary and absolutely LOVED it. There is so much to do there and we were excited to get back and to take one more trip, just the two of us, before Hudson arrives! I was 26 weeks on our trip.

- Birthing Classes: We started a 4 week birthing class on July 1st at the hospital we are delivering at. It is once a week and we have been enjoying them! We got a tour of the L&D floor one week which was nice. We have one class left and it is all on breastfeeding, which I am looking forward to! During our second class we were learning all about the epidural and that process and had just finished watching an animated video of a mom getting the epidural and a poor dad in our class completely passed out. It was quite the scene for a few minutes, but he was okay, just squeamish.

Our third class we got dolls to practice swaddling, burping and diaper changing. Matthew is now a pro at all three!

- Position: This ultrasound picture below was at our 20 week anatomy appointment. The SWEETEST profile and little hand- I absolutely love this one! The past month or so he has been head down (fingers crossed he doesn't flip on us!!) and all we have been able to see are his little feet. And actually in this past week I have felt, what I am assuming, is a little foot in my right rib cage :)

When I hit 30 weeks the bi-weekly appointments will start, so we are looking forward to that! We are still chipping away at our to-do list before Hudson arrives, but we are getting closer!!

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PREGNANCY UPDATE : 2nd TRIMESTER