Pregnancy Recap at 35 1/2 Weeks

In the past, my blogging time has typically been while Matilda is napping in the afternoon, but for the past several months, I have found myself needing a nap even more than her during this time, so my blogging has suffered. One of the reasons that I have been needing the afternoon naps is because I tend to wake up anywhere between 3 and 6 AM and can't fall back asleep due to Baby Girl also waking up and me realizing that I am desperately hungry, so I have decided to use these hours of lonely wakefulness to my advantage by blogging and not just watch 30 Rock on Hulu.

When I was pregnant with Matilda, I never wrote anything about how I was feeling or reaching the various milestones. I think we only took one "belly shot" when I was around 22 weeks and then my sister-in-law took some pictures when I was 34 or 35 weeks. As I have been going through Round 2, I try to remember different details from before, but my memory is just not very accurate. I am dedicating this post to my pregnancy so that I can actually remember in the future. Plus, we have even remembered to take some (albeit irregular) belly shots this time, so I will include those pictures for those who have yet to see the bump.

FIRST TRIMESTER

• Morning sickness: basically nonexistent. With both of my pregnancies, I have been very lucky to not get sick. I have had some nausea, but it was more like feeling a little car sick and never prevented me from doing things. The worst of my "morning sickness" this time around coincided with a short trip to Vermont that we took in May. Unfortunately, whenever I think about the trip, I just feel car sick. I was still able to have a lot of fun though!
• The first trimester seemed to take forever. I just wanted to start feeling the baby inside of me and see the physical changes that say, "Hello, I'm pregnant." I kept thinking about how I had already done the whole pregnancy thing, so I just wanted to skip ahead to having the baby. Patience has never been my strong point.
• I was a bit more tired this time, but I think that had something to do with my responsibilities as a mother to Matilda more than any major differences between my two pregnancies. I didn't have the freedom to take naps whenever I wanted or to just sit on the couch and watch movies. Tilly definitely helped me stay more active and forced me to have energy, which I suppose is good practice for when I am a mother of two busy girls.
• Sean and I decided to go with a midwife instead of a doctor this time. Not only that, but I'm not going to deliver in a hospital. I will have the baby at some "birthing suites" in Orem, which will basically be like a home birth, only not at home. I will not even have the option of getting an epidural so we looked into a few different pain management methods and decided to give HypnoBirthing a try. Basically, you use self-hypnosis (really deep relaxation) to overcome your fear of pain and let your body take over the birthing process. We are really excited to have a new type of birthing experience this time around!
• Basically, my first trimester was great, especially compared to so many other women's experiences. I felt good, I graduated from BYU, and I had enough energy to teach dance/be a mom and wife/fulfill my church callings/etc.

SECOND TRIMESTER

• I felt the baby move for the first time around 14 weeks (with Matilda it was around 19 weeks). I think I just knew what to expect and could recognize the tiny flutters as movement earlier. Finally, some proof that I was pregnant!
• I never got the energy boost that some women get in the second trimester, but that is probably because my first trimester wasn't that bad. While I was still tired, any sign of nausea was gone, with the exception of a nasty bout of vertigo I woke up with one morning in July. I strongly recommend that you avoid vertigo. I woke up and the whole world was spinning. Sean had to help me walk around (very slowly), and even though I knew that I wasn't moving or being tossed around on the ocean, my body wasn't convinced and I would lose control and start vomiting and flailing around. It was really scary to lose all control of my body like that. Even when I had an epidural, the nurses were incredibly impressed by the amount of control I maintained on my legs, but then when I had vertigo, there was nothing acting on my body yet I couldn't sit up without eventually falling over and vomiting. Luckily, my dad has had inner ear problems for several years so he was able to reassure me that I was ok and I would get better soon. It was bad for about two days and completely gone within a week. I later asked Sean what I looked like, so he showed me a video of an incredibly drunk person on youtube. Ha!
• I had an ultrasound at 23 weeks and we found out that "it" was a girl! Those ultrasounds sure are amazing. Sean was only disappointed that it wasn't for about two seconds and has only been excited ever since. His only concern is that since Matilda is such a perfect little girl, anything different could only mean less than perfect, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel that way anymore, although I don't think either of us are naive enough to think that we will have another baby who sleeps through the night by 6 weeks or has the sweetest cry that is nothing like a screech.
• As is typical, I started showing earlier than I did in my first pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Matilda, I didn't announce that I was pregnant at church until after we knew she was a girl, so probably around 22 weeks. Several people were completely shocked that I was pregnant because I wasn't showing at all. I would say I started looking pregnant around 24 weeks. With this pregnancy, I think I started to show around 17 weeks, but then I didn't grow very much after that and I've been roughly the same size as I was with Matilda. 
• Once I started showing, it was much easier to explain to Tilly that there is a baby in my belly. Matilda loves "playing" with Baby Sister (aka my belly). When I am lying down, she loves to pull my shirt off my belly and put a blanket over it so Baby Sister can go night-night. She cuddles with my belly and always gives it kisses and hugs. She also thinks it is hilarious to tickle Baby Sister.
• Even with more movement and other physical proof that I was pregnant, my second trimester didn't go any faster than my first trimester in my mind. Time still seemed to go very slow. I have never been so anxious for summer to end, nor for winter to begin. Bring on the snow! (which did, in fact, come yesterday)

THIRD TRIMESTER

• This little girl is incredibly active! I think that she is more active than Tilly was, but since I never wrote anything down, I could be remembering incorrectly. Whenever the midwife listens to her heartbeat, she has to move the monitor several times because the baby moves around so much. I love feeling her move! After I had Tilly, I remember feeling so empty for months. There have been several times in the past two years when I have felt something in my stomach (i.e. gas) and my first thought was that it was a baby. And then I remembered I wasn't pregnant. I'm pretty sure this baby is in the exact same position that Matilda was in because I feel movement in all the same places. Feet right under my right ribs; shoulder in the lower left side of my abdomen; punches from little fists below and to the right of my belly button.
• I'm carrying this baby a little higher than I carried Tilly, but I still look rather small. Many people have been surprised that I only have about a month left. Sean, Tilly, and I got some lunch at the Costco food court last week and had a conversation with a nice man, whom Tilly called grandpa, for about 10 minutes. About 5 minutes into it, I mentioned how we are having another girl at Christmas time, and you could see the surprise on his face! He hadn't even noticed that I was pregnant.
• I have been fairly comfortable, even with just five weeks left. At my last appointment, my midwife asked how I've been sleeping and I told her that I have been sleeping just fine on my side, even though I am normally a stomach sleeper. She said, "Oh good! Do you just use pillows to support your belly and back?" I said, "No..." I really have been sleeping well (except for these early mornings). Even though I go to the bathroom a million times per night, I am able to fall back asleep immediately. I am still teaching four dance classes each week right now. Do you know how difficult it is to teach a tour jete while eight months pregnant? It's pretty darn hard. The moms have all been pretty impressed with how much I do in class. Sean is impressed that I've been able to sit through two BYU football games the past few weeks, one of which was in the bleachers.
• Heartburn. I hate heartburn. With Matilda, I started having bad heartburn right at the beginning and I went through many bottles of antacids. This time, I was able to manage it really well through the first and second trimesters, but now it is hitting me hard! I'm just glad to know that once the baby is out of my abdominal cavity, the heartburn disappears immediately.
• The baby has been head down since about 30 weeks and last week the midwife said she is anterior (facing my back, which is good). This means she is in the correct position for birth and is getting ready to make her grand entrance! While it is possible that she could move out of this choice position, it is unlikely this late in pregnancy. 
• One thing that I have been very grateful for during this pregnancy is that I have felt prettier and healthier than I did in my first pregnancy. I have focused more on eating good foods and staying a bit more active, which has caused me to gain less weight than I did last time. I have also focused on drinking more water, which I believe has helped my water retention and swelling stay down. I have gained about 20 lbs at this point and my BMI is still in the normal range (barely). Don't worry, I haven't been dieting or anything silly like that, I have just been making healthier decisions. Another plus has been that I have much less acne, although I still have plenty more than I would like. Last but not least, I have been lucky enough to once again not have any stretch marks. I put lotion on like crazy, but I think it has more to do with genetics than keeping my skin hydrated since my mom and sisters have never had stretch marks either. I hear my friends talk/complain about their stretch marks sometimes, and I realize how lucky I am. Believe me, ladies, I do know how blessed I am!

All though this ended up being a bit long, I'm glad I wrote it because now I have something to refer back to when I am pregnant again. I'm sure only other moms or women who are planning to be moms soon read through the whole post, so thanks to anyone who stuck with me through the whole thing! Here are some of the baby bump pictures Sean has taken of me. I'll try to get a more recent one up soon.

14 Weeks

24 1/2 Weeks-Excuse the outfit. I had just returned home from teaching.

26 Weeks

32 1/2 Weeks