Pretty Much Half

What's in this box? (Hint: Not a carseat!)

Right around now (19 and a half-ish weeks), I am at the halfway point of this pregnancy, based on my experience last time and the general medical plan right now.  Of course, I was "given" a few weeks in the beginning due to the way these things are calculated, so this half will probably feel long...

...Or maybe not.  The first half was spent being very tired, very aversive to many things, and was nausea-ville.  Not to mention, most of it was spent in triple-digit, mosquito crazy weather.  So although I'm already feeling big, kind of tired, ache-y, and still not completely back on the food wagon yet, I think better weather and the upcoming holidays will help distract me as things progress.  Cooler weather will also allow me to cover up more!!

I know I haven't been very good about documenting this pregnancy, though I don't think I documented much the first time, either.  I have some pictures, but I haven't done any direct comparisons with last time in terms of my size or anything.  I DO feel like I got bigger more quickly, and I am fairly certain I will be much bigger at the end than I was last time, as if that wasn't already big enough!

I finally was able to put on the weight expected for this point in the pregnancy after holding steady for pretty much the first 17 or 18 weeks.  I blame that on the food aversions, but the baby is measuring a few days ahead just like my last and had the same estimated weight at the anatomy scan that my older one was (and he was close to 8 lb at birth).  This just tells me that babies will suck up whatever they need, regardless of what I do or don't do.  I was slow to gain last time, too, but I caught up... and then some!

Workouts have been a challenge.  Being a working parent is challenging, and now that I am trying to sleep a bit more (in preparation!) and am drained by the evening, my windows of exercise have shrunk.  I don't have any more restrictions from a medical standpoint, but most forms of activity are off the table now because my chiropractor told me some of the things I was doing was going to undo the stuff they are trying to help me treat.  Besides general hip alignment, I am having issues that I had my last pregnancy and trying to get on top of that before it limits my mobility even more than now.  Also, I started going in hopes that it would set me up for a better birth experience.  Yes, I know it didn't guarantee that last time, but every moment is another chance, right?

For now, some prenatal workouts, walking, raising an almost three-year-old, and cleaning/errands are probably my primary forms of exercise.  I'm okay with this, mostly because all I can focus on are how busy and tired I am.  I figure that when I finally hop back onto exercise, anything will feel like a challenge, and my body will benefit from things that I thought were "nothing" before in my fitter days.  And since I'm nearly certain this is going to be my last pregnancy, I'll just enjoy it and then focus on my best self after it's all said and done.

The baby's getting a workout, too -- I've felt distinct movement since Week 17, and sometimes they are STRONG.  I don't think I got a head start feeling movement this time as I've heard can happen in a second pregnancy, so I did spend a week or two worrying.  Now that I can feel the baby daily, I am a lot more relaxed.



This was 18 weeks. Yes, shameful work bathroom
selfie, but the main reason I took this picture
was because this mirror was just put in out
of seemingly nowhere.

I glazed over the fact that I've had the anatomy scan done already.  We opted to find out the sex of the baby this time because with my anxieties about having two kids, I just wanted one less unknown.  Of course, I was already relieved/elated that things were looking good with the baby so far.  So finding out the sex was just icing on the cake, and if for some reason the baby did not cooperate, I would take it as a sign to wait to know like last time.

I went to the scan alone since we didn't have child care arrangements for Baby Tuesday and kids aren't allowed in there for some reason.  The technician was really great and printed way more pictures than I got last time, probably because she felt sorry for me.  When she asked if I wanted to know, I said, "YES," and told me that she peeked a few times during the actual medical part of the scan.  She zoomed to the area of interest and told me matter-of-factly what she was pretty sure it is and showed me as well.  Given that I didn't have this experience last time, I am a touch paranoid about a wrong guess, but I guess would be a pretty interesting story to tell at some point!

Since I was the only one who knew besides the technician at that point, I decided to do a little reveal for "The Ukrainian" and Tuesday when I got home.  That is the picture you see at the top of this post, screen-shotted from a video I took of the moment.  This is where I annoyingly have to stop, since we have kept the news to ourselves as a family unit for a couple of weeks now and will slowly be telling family over the next couple of weeks, pretty much on an "if they ask us" basis.  I will definitely update once they know and talk about some of the preparations that are (and aren't) in the works for going from three to four.

Any guesses before I post? ;)


**Edited to add: I had to go back and edit this post a few times because "pregnancy brain" is real!