2nd Trimester Thoughts

That's right, I've made my way out of the first trimester fog and have found myself in a place of lots of thoughts, and little energy.

Today, I'm 17 weeks and with the exception of peeing 16 times per day, I'm feeling pretty good. The first trimester with Baby #2 was not so kind to me. Lots of nausea, lots of food aversions, lots of random vomiting with no forewarning (yeah, I never had that with Charlie and it was loads of fun). Last pay period was the first time I worked a full eighty hours because I've literally been sick for about the last three months. So consequently, I'm completely pooped from actually working full-time. 

I feel like this baby is already coming into the world as the classic younger sibling. Charlie had weekly bumpdates and letters written to him. This kid? Not so much. Which doesn't mean that there's not a lot of excitement surrounding their impending arrival. It just means that Mama is a lot more tired this time around with working and caring for a 1 year old, so documenting the bump and updating the blog have fallen to the wayside.

However, after a good, long Saturday afternoon nap while Daddy took over Charlie duty, I decided the time had come. So here are some thoughts on Pregnancy 2.0:

1. Gender predictions | I mentioned it before, but everyone is completely convinced this baby is a girl. Chuck has already started referring to "her" by the girl name we have picked out (which we aren't sharing- see #2). I feel like I have to constantly remind him that we don't actually know the gender yet and won't for a few more weeks!

2. Baby names | Obviously, we have landed on a girl name. We have super different styles when it comes to baby names. Chuck thinks like an old man and loves old-timey, classic, traditional names, whereas I am drawn to unique, hippie names. If he would let me, I swear to goodness that I would name this kid something like Sunshine or Rainbow. (Actually, my all-time favorite is Whimsy for a girl, but I've given up hope of that ever happening). We have some boy names in circulation, but haven't spent too much time thinking about it, because, like I said, everyone is convinced we're having a girl. We decided this go around not to share our name choices. I found that people are just too opinionated when it comes to what you should name your kid, so we decided to keep it between the two of us. The only opinions that matter are ours, so we're going to share once baby is born.

3. Birth plans | I'm using the same midwives' office that I used before and am planning to delivery in the same birthing center. Yup, going au natural once again. And can I be honest for a second and say that I am so much more scared for labor this time?! I know everyone says the second birth is generally quicker, so I've found some consolation in that. But now that I know how much labor seriously sucks, I can't say that I'm looking forward to it.

4. Two under two | Charlie will be about 20 months when this baby comes along. Which I think is a blessing and a curse. I'm excited that my little ones will be close in age and will be able to play with each other growing up, but I've heard that the first year with two teenies is incredibly difficult and I'm pretty dang nervous as to how I'm going to do with no sleep. Charlie has always been a good sleeper, and was sleeping through the night by about 8 weeks (please don't hate me) so I'm holding out hope that #2 will hopefully be as easy on us. But I know that the whole adage of "sleep when the baby sleeps" will not be super easy when I have a little toddler running around to keep tabs on. 

5. Childcare | I am a wreck thinking about how we're going to pull this off once I return to work from maternity leave. The cheapest option I've found thus far is a daycare center in our town that will cost us upwards of $1,100 a month. I'm praying for some kind of miracle from the childcare gods that will allow us to make something work. 

Hoping to make the bumpdates a more regular occurrence around her, but be sure to follow me on Instagram in the meantime!