2nd Trimester Update

I'm not sure what it is but I had no idea about all the crazy changes my body would go through during pregnancy.  More than half my friends have been pregnant, most already have their second and some even have three!  Maybe I just didn't ask enough questions or maybe it's that every pregnancy really is that much different from the next one but I cannot believe all the changes and weird things my body has experienced since the day I got pregnant.

My first and second trimesters really weren't that different from each other.  Everyone I talked to and all the research I did told me that you could tell the two trimesters apart almost immediately at the stat of your second trimester.  I didn't notice any difference.  I have been completely exhausted since the day I found out I was pregnant, but we'll touch on that later.  The very minimal nausea I experienced the first trimester did go away eventually but it wasn't this immediate switch at the beginning of second trimester.

So as I was saying, pregnancy is nuts...it's weird.  My body has gone through some crazy weird things...some I thought I'd share, some I'll keep to myself so that I keep the few readers that still follow this blog.  As for the ones I'd like to share...

• I literally cannot touch my toes.  This started a long time ago. I can understand not being able to touch your toes in the third trimester when you're huge but I had no idea that this belly would get in the way every time I need to put shoes on or bend over to pick anything up.
• My stomach looks like a forest...there is so much peach fuzz-like hair growing out of it.  They say its the hormones but I say it's plain weird.
• I feel the baby moving all the time at the weirdest time of the day. From what I've read he should normally be moving when I am sitting but this kid is kicking me all the time. I LOVE IT.  Love love love how he is always moving.  
• Headaches were such a common thing during the first trimester. I had them for days and had a few migraines.  During the first trimester I was really trying not to take Tylenol and obviously was staying away from caffeine until my doctor told me that both would probably help with the extreme pain.  She was right and thankfully now drinking a lot of water seems to keep them at bay.
• The headaches were almost always accompanied by extreme back pain.  Again, 3rd trimester...I get that I would have back pain.  But early on, when I'd barely gained any weight, I was shocked at how extreme the back pain was.  Have I mentioned how much more I love my chiropractor now that I am pregnant?!  I walk out of that office practically skipping. (Though now it looks more like waddling than skipping, but you can the point.)
• I touch my stomach all the time. I apologize now to all you pregnant people that I guess I used to judge in a way thinking you were just showing off your growing belly but wow, that belly is in the way and just begging to be touched.  I will find myself at work talking and my hand is on my belly like there's a magnetic force pulling my hand to it. And then when I am at home on the couch my shirt automatically comes up and I'm basically petting my stomach (or maybe I am caressing all the peach fuzz?) It's weird, but again...I love it.
• Before pregnancy most would agree that I have what may seem like a problem with my bladder. I pee all the time.  Well add pregnancy to that and I am peeing every 30 minutes!  Then while I was back in Chicago for the weekend I was concerned about the baby thinking something was wrong so went to the hospital and found out I was extremely dehydrated...so now I have to intentionally drink.  No joke, I am running to the bathroom every 20-30 minutes.  I'm not really running, but more like walking really slowly because if I walk fast I feel like I'll leak so there's definitely no running involved.  The slower the better but that doesn't work because one of these times I may not make it.
• I knew you couldn't sleep on your stomach for obvious reasons, but I didn't know you're not supposed to sleep on your back either.  That leaves me sleeping on my side...which I have never done in my life.  Sleeping on my sides has basically broken my shoulders. Because I am not used to this awkward position, I wake up many times in the middle of the night in pain or both of my arms are asleep from my shoulder to the tips of my fingers. In the morning I cannot lift my arm and basically feel like my shoulders are broken.  Again, I am so thankful for the chiropractor!  
• I am sooooo thirsty in the middle of the night.  Every time I wake up (which is about 20 times) I need water, my mouth is parched.  Drink water, pee more...it's a great combination in the middle of the night when all I want to do is sleep!
• There was about a month of time that I was waking up wanting to eat my hand off I was so hungry.  I am assuming the baby was going through some kind of growth spurt but wow, I was starving the second my eyes opened in the morning!  Hunger has also struck out of nowhere in the middle of the day too. I'll go from being totally fine to starving, needing food immediately.  Very weird.
• Everyone says they have weird cravings or aversions...I haven't really had any cravings though I like sweets a lot more than I ever did.  I think this is just because I am missing my wine and beer ohhhhh so much and I allow myself the extra sweets because I am so deprived of my wine and beer.
• So have I mentioned how much I miss wine?  And beer. Of course I wasn't much of a beer drinker until moving to Colorado and Jason got me into all these craft beers so now all I want is a dark beer. Thanks Jason...couldn't you have waited until after we had our kids to get me into beer? So beer and wine are really really missed. Oh so missed! Like I can't even put into words how much it's missed.
• Which goes along with skiing. Part of why we moved here is to ski. Now I had to give up my season pass so no skiing for me this year. No skiing, no hot tubs and no beers.  That sort of became our weekend routine last winter.  Things are slowly changing for this soon-to-be mom!
• I've heard people cannot handle different smells while pregnant.  I haven't had any real issues with this. I have, however had a major issue with the smell of gas (from people bodies) and boogers...especially eating boogers.  I work with kids with special needs.  4 boys entering early puberty, so to say they release a lot of VERY SMELLY gas throughout the day (then laugh about it) is an understatement!  I gag, continuously.  When one picks their nose (also a very normal and regular occurrence) I gag, repeatedly.  When they actually eat their boogers I pretty much have to walk away to keep myself from vomiting all over.  But hey...no other smells or bodily functions bother me so it's not too big of a deal. ;-)
• I posted a while back how excited I was that my boobs were growing.  While they actually may still be growing, they look teeny tiny compared to my belly.  They almost look non-existent. Having them grow was fun while it lasted.  Now all I really have to look forward to is them hurting like crazy after the baby's born and my milk comes in. 
• I get so winded walking. Before pregnancy I got winded walking up stairs from the altitude.They say after a year you should be fine withe altitude but I wasn't. Add to that a baby crushing my lungs and I cannot breathe after walking up a flight of stairs or trying to walk any short distance. At work, our main office is up a flight of stairs and I literally have to walk up them, them take a break to catch my breath before going into the office because I know I won't be able to talk without gasping for air. To think I used to be a runner!  HA!  That seems so far away now.  (but oh do I miss that soooo much too!)
• Sneezing hurts. Unless I am sitting perfectly upright, sneezing really really hurts.  Its so odd.
• I miss sleep.  Everyone says I should get all this sleep now because I won't be able to get it when the baby gets here.  It is impossible to get any sleep. Since about week four of the pregnancy I have had to get up to pee in the middle of the night.  As the pregnancy goes on I pee more frequently. I can't sleep and to say I am exhausted every day is putting it mildly.  I am tied (ready for bed tired) at 1:30 every day.  Bedtime had become 8:30 and that's pushing it.  I'm exhausted.  Wish I could take a bunch of naps during the day.  

So this is my 2nd trimester post. (even though I am now into my 3rd trimester...I only wrote about things that were affecting me through the 2nd trimester.) Been wanting to post this for a couple months now but as I was just saying...I've got a lot going on with my body, especially exhaustion and writing hasn't been my favorite thing to do after getting home from work. All in all - pregnancy has been the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I really had no idea your body goes through all these crazy changes and just how tired you could get. In all honesty, I always knew I'd miss the wine, a lot...but wow what a super small sacrifice and all these crazy changes my body is going through is just the best thing in the world to be able to literally be making a little human being inside of me. I cannot even begin to put into words how excited  I am to meet this little guy who has taken all of my energy away. And just for the record...the amount of energy he's taking  must mean he is going to be one cute little guy! Love love love that I get to experience all this!!