The Good, the Bad, the Ugly-Second Trimester

Still on the bandwagon. Didn't actually get a chance to watch the movie, but still a HUGE Clint Eastwood fan. Here are the enjoyable, tolerable, and miserable things for both my husband and I for the Second Trimester.

The Good (for her)

There was so much good this trimester. You finally can manage to stay awake for more than about an hour at a time and you have the energy to actually get stuff done again. By this time also your breast are larger and most of the bloat from the first trimester has subsided so you feel like a normal human being again. It's quite nice. You don't have to eat as constantly as you did in the first trimester and any food aversions I had were now gone during the second trimester. So, I was able to eat anything I wanted to!

This is also the time you get to tell people you're pregnant. We wanted to wait until the second trimester to announce just in case their were any complications. Our families were so excited and I was finally able to share it with everyone and they all were able to share in our excitement. I still talked about it constantly and I'm sure annoyed everyone about it, but you it's hard to think about much else. This is also the time you get to find out the gender and we were able to share that moment with my parents who live in West Africa and aren't able to be apart of much else during this pregnancy.

We started really putting decorating chops into our nursery which made me cry just about every new thing added. It was becoming more and more real everyday.

The Good (for him)

This trimester was pretty much all good. There was much less whining. She was able to sleep through the night and was able to eat regular food (well mostly...more on that in the bad section). She became more cheerful again and had a lot more energy. She was able to get up and move around. She could even help in the yard until it got too hot outside. It was nice to see her smiling everytime she would talk about the nursery. It was also great to be able to tell people so this secret was not still weighing on my shoulders.

The Bad (for her)

Throughout the second trimester you begin to go from bloating to a real pregnancy stomach. Baby is growing so fast and so are you. Unfortunately, this means none of your old clothes are going to fit and you have to buy ALL NEW CLOTHES! Who can afford that, right!? I switched to maternity pants fairly early just because anything pushing against my pelvis region was painful, so the stretchy band of the maternity clothes was just what I needed. Not to mention, I am 6'0" tall and already had a hard enough time finding pants that fit before I was pregnant. What to do? I contacted the research guru herself, my mother. She found an online consignment store called swap.com which saved my wardrobe. We were finally able to find me maternity pants with a long enough inseam for even my legs that were a fraction the cost of buying them new! Instead of $40 for a new pair of work pants, the most I paid was $15.

Word of warning while you're buying maternity clothes, don't be afraid to get them a little big because you will grow into them. I also preferred the over the belly bands because they were more comfortable for me without cutting into my stomach. Skirts and dresses became my new favorite clothing items because they were lose enough around my stomach that they didn't cut into it at all.

Another word of warning, once you have experienced maternity leggings and maternity tank tops you will never go back to traditional clothes again. These are a must for any wardrobe and you should have them in several colors!!

The Bad (for him)

Her food aversions became a bit odd. While she was able to eat most things, she came to hate pork. One evening I prepared some delicious bone in pork chops. A few bites into it and she was wincing in dislike. From then on she refused to even be around any area that pork was cooking. Another issue was the heat. Since we live in the south it tends to get increasingly hot as the summer months arrive. This summer in particular seemed to be excessively hot and was also suffered a drought and rarely saw rain. For these reasons I had to take over all of the yard work. We have a pretty sizable yard too.

The Ugly (for her)

Ugly is a tough one. We had to go through so much heartache to get to this point that everything about this pregnancy has been amazing. All of the "ugly" things I heard about from other mothers I either didn't experience or it didn't bother me. My back and feet hurt occasional, but other than that I was quite pain free. As soon as my back started to bother me, my sweet husband got me a really nice pair of supportive running shoes and I wear them all the time with no more back or foot pain.

I think the thing that shocked me the most is the amount of stuff that you need for a baby. They need SO MUCH STUFF!! It's not just the big obvious stuff like a dress or a crib either, it's all of the little stuff you need for them. It's a small fortune you have to spend to get it all too. Thankfully we have amazing friends and family who have already had children and have given us a great deal of this stuff. It sometimes feels like it's never enough and can easily become overwhelming, but I relied greatly on the wisdom of previous mothers, especially mine, to help me through it.

The Ugly (for him)

The only ugly issue that comes to mind for me is the cost associated with a child before they are even born. We have dropped thousands of dollars already and she's not even going to arrive for months. Medical, supplies, clothes, etc. Yikes!!!