About the Bump: The Third Trimester Begins

Goodbye honeymoon, hello pain! 

Maybe it’s true that a lot of women love the second trimester just because they feel relief at the end of the first. Let’s face it, for most of us the first trimester sucks (btw, I will never understand how some women just don’t know they are pregnant! It’s amazing how different we are. I knew even before my missed period… I’ll spare you all the fabulous details/symptoms that clued me in, but there was no mistaking it), but I thoroughly enjoyed my 2nd trimester. It’s when all the cool stuff starts happening. Baby actually looks like a baby via ultrasound, rather than a squiggly mass. You get to feel his or her first movements. Also exciting is the transformation from “Has she put on a few pounds?” to “Oh my, you are obviously pregnant now!”

The most amazing part for me was seeing J change. I wrote a post early on (before anyone read this blog really) called “Differences of Opinion” where I talked about our different reactions to the pregnancy. Beneath the initial excitement that J exhibited, I could feel a lot of uncertainty. After all, he wasn’t ravenous and pukey at the same time. He wasn’t falling asleep from sheer exhaustion every day by 3pm. Oh wait… he does that every chance he gets. But you know what I mean. All he had was a pee stick with that second pink line for proof (and my, was ours ever dark pink…). The physical connection just wasn’t there. Now that Baby H has very obviously turned turned his sexy girlfriend into a sexy mama (my body definitely looks like a mama’s these days), now that he can see those changes taking place in my body, now that Baby H responds to his voice and even kicked him in the face  the other day, I think he gets it. He’s a Daddy. Sure, there could be another freakout sometime before baby gets here; heck, maybe I’ll have one of my very own! After all, 10 weeks from now, were I to go into labour, the baby would already be considered full-term. 10 weeks is nothing! NOTHING! Freakouts aside, I think we’re both feeling the excitement now, and it’s just awesome.

And now, without further ado, I give you details about the bump:

Medical stuffs: Well, we’re measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule. I may have to apologize to all the people I threatened to kill for commenting on my largess. I still, however, do NOT look like I’m about to drop a kid. Give me a break people. Three weeks ahead at this point is just 30 weeks, not 40. Slow down please. I go for my glucose test next week and I’m a little scared that sugar might be the culprit for his hugeness. Strangely, I don’t look like I’ve massively expanded, just the baby bump. We’re currently debating a 3D ultrasound so that we can see his little face (not to mention get another peek at his stuff, just to make sure that he’s without a doubt a he), but I don’t know if I really want to.

Cravings: Nothing major at the moment, although I did finally find Liberté’s coconut mediterranean yogurt at Longos and I ate the whole tub in a day. That stuff just tastes like summertime. Ahhhhh-mazing.

Symptoms: Still continuing my love affair with tums…

1. I’ll have what he’s having… and what she’s having… and what they’re having… and oh, that looks good too. I’ll try some of that. Yeah, don’t invite me over. I will eat the entire contents of your fridge. And cupboards. And pantry. And that secret cookie stash? I’ll find it with my super preggo nose. Trust me. Keep your distance. Or come over and relieve me of some of my food for my own good! Yesterday for breakfast I had a massive bowl of granola with milk, bananas, peaches, blueberries, raspberries and almonds. Then for second breakfast I had a two egg omelette. Several lunch and dinners later, I was in bed with heartburn cursing my lack of control.

2. Somewhere along the line I lost my right ankle. Yup, it’s gone. Also on my right side, my thumb ring suddenly fits much better on my ring finger. And by ‘better’, I mean it fits over my knuckle. On my thumb it now would hang out somewhere around the middle of my nail.

3. Baby H is rocking my belly. Not only am I feeling him, I am seeing him! He’s getting stronger, which makes sense since this week muscle development begins to accelerate and brain activity picks up. This makes for more coordinated and powerful movements.

4. More dreams, my favourite of which was the one about my thesis defense (coming up on August 30th!). Instead of the research and writing that I’ve been working so hard at for the last two years, I got up there for my defense and presented an in depth critique of the Lord of the Rings movies (which I’m not even a huge fan of), complete with three hours of video clips. I got cut off right after the clips were done because I’d gone overtime. I’d barely said anything. Well, not only did I pass, but they absolutely loved it. If only it were so easy…

5. I can’t sleep through the night at all anymore. I’m having so much pelvic pain that even rolling over is excruciating. And guess what? I’m only getting bigger. Le sigh. 2nd trimester, I already miss you.

BUT, I wouldn’t go backwards for the world. In 10-14 weeks I will be meeting my baby boy. I couldn’t be happier.