I guess it's safe to say that I'm not very good at posting in blogs consistently, but at least it hasn't been *too* long. I mean, I haven't had the kid yet, and all.
So, how are things going in my second trimester? All-in-all, I'd have to say that things are going quite well. I am currently at 25 weeks and 2 days, so when people ask, I say I'm in week 26. I definitely look pregnant now, which is actually kind of nice. I get a lot of compliments on how great I look, which is particularly nice at the end of the day at work when I'm exhausted and can't walk without waddling because otherwise my back starts to hurt. Weight gain hasn't really been a problem for me, though, as I'm just now back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was even told at one of my OB visits that I needed to gain a little more weight. As someone who has been chronically overweight despite my fairly active lifestyle, that was actually kind of fun to hear.
How's the baby? He's doing well, as far as we can tell. We had a second ultrasound around 20 weeks, and learned that it's a boy! My husband is quite proud of himself (though I did have to convince him that the baby does not, in fact, already have a 6 inch endowment, as the baby at the time was only about 6 inches long. He was kidding, of course, but it was still funny). We have a name picked out and everything, and now that we know the gender, I am quite happy to not have to refer to the baby as an "it," which I was never really comfortable with doing.
He is kicking quite a lot, which I've been able to feel since about 18 weeks, though it's much more frequent and obvious now. Our little boy was shy and hid from his father for a while, but last weekend he finally felt the baby kick as well. He even had his first case of the hiccups earlier this week, which was quite an interesting experience for me. It took me a few seconds to figure out why he was moving so regularly, but that may have been at least partially because it was 5:30 in the morning.
The only really uncomfortable symptoms I've had to deal with so far are heartburn, a bit of backache, and the fact that it's getting more difficult to either get up off the couch or to bend down to pick things up off the floor (which I need to do a little more frequently than usual as I've started dropping things more often). Compared to some of the things my sister went through when she was pregnant, and what I've heard some of my friends dealing with, I think I've been really lucky so far when it comes to discomfort. Yes, I have to get up frequently at night to pee, and last night I had some pretty wicked heartburn that had me searching for the Tums in the dark, but that's really it. Not that I'm complaining. I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes as smoothly as this.
In terms of costs, that first ultrasound ended up costing us the entire deductible we had to pay, because after the initial $300 we paid for the physicians part of the ultrasound, we got a bill for another $300+ from the hospital for the facilities. The plus side to that is that, with the 80/20 coverage I have in my insurance, the second ultrasound ended up only costing about $75, which is much more manageable. Unless something goes wrong, we should need to go back to the hospital until delivery, except for our tour of the maternity ward and for labor classes, which I really need to remember to schedule. I've had the book out on my desk to do so for at least 3 weeks now, and I can't seem to remember to do it. That is definitely a symptom of pregnancy that I thought was an old wives' tale but is quite real. I also always thought the pregnancy waddle was more an exaggeration on the pregnant woman's part to show off the belly, until I realized how much more comfortable it is to walk that way, especially when you're tired.
So...next appointment is in a week and a half. Hopefully everything continues to go well. My son has decided to kick me in the bladder, so it's time for me to sign off and go pee...
