2nd Trimester Check In: Week of August 14th

LeFemmeViolette

Good morning!

This is a weekly check-in for those in their 2nd trimester: weeks 14 through the end of week 27.

Congrats to all the strong ladies who have made it this far! It's such a great feeling and we've all accomplished so much! We are now 1 week closer to the end of this especially long journey we call "infertility."

Please post below a little about yourself, how many beans you have growing inside, if you have found out the sex(es) and what your EDD is. Please also let us know how far you've made it on your journey and when your next appointment is and what for. If I'm missing anyone from this list, or you are new to the 2nd tri, please let me know and I will add you.

Please let us know when you have graduated to 3rd trimester so that I can update our list! 

Mommies to be:

@Joslynj11 EDD 10/26/17 with 1 girl!
@sasha92-2 EDD 11/08/17 with 1 boy!
@LeFemmeViolette EDD 11/16/17 with 1 girl!
@srh18  EDD 10/6 with triplet boys!
@hibiscus118  EDD 11/11 with 1 girl!

@Jeansis EDD 11/30 with 1 boy!

@PoeMasque EDD 12/8 with 1 boy!

@clovelyone EDD 12/16 with boy/girl twins!

@stella_700 EDD 12/17 with 1 boy and 1 girl!

@wabash15 EDD 12/25 with 1 bean!

@takethelongway EDD 12/28 with TWIN girls!

@mountainlady-2 EDD 12/8 with 1 girl!

@klake42 EDD 1/2 with TWINS!!

@ryannenikole EDD 1/8 with 1 boy!!

@caseyw8784 EDD 1/25 with 1 boy and 1 girl!

QOTW: How far along are you with getting the nursery ready? Do you have a theme picked out?

LeFemmeViolette

Hello! 26w4d pregnant over here. Man, where did the time go??

I'm doing pretty well as far as side effects go. Numbness in the hands/feet comes pretty often- especially while I'm sleeping and right when I get up. But of all the things your body can go through while pregnant, I'd much prefer this, haha!

Baby girl is kicking up a storm, and I've even seen my belly move a little bit a couple of times! She's estimated to be about 2lbs now. I'm very curious how long she'll be when she comes out, as I am 5'11 and DH is 6'4!

I would say the nursery is about 80% done. We went with a "Woodlands & Wildflowers" theme. Our glider gets delivered today (woo!) and then from here on out it's just organizing. Our baby shower is set for Sept 2nd, so we need to make sure we have places for all the things!

Here's a pic of the nursery as of this weekend. DH and I did the plank wall, I made the "H" initial, and we had a wonderfully talented gal on Etsy make the canopy.
 

sasha29-2

27+5 with our boy, I'll be leaving you guys this week and heading over to 3rd tri!  I can't believe how fast it went, how much has changed in six months, and how much more it's going to change in the next three.  One more appointment this Friday before we switch to 2 week intervals, which is going to drive me crazy at work, but whatever.  And at some point I have to find time for my glucose test, which I've heard is pretty annoying.  But I'm getting SO much movement now, it's crazy!

QOTW: We've got a lot done, but a lot still to go.  The furniture is all in, the room is pretty much complete.  We have a couple larger items, like the stroller/car seat/bases, but that's about it.  My big shower isn't til almost exactly one month before I'm due, which sucks that it's so late, I'm worried we won't have time to get things organized before baby comes, especially when it comes to important stuff like the co-sleeper and pack n play.  We also still have to tackle some life stuff, like I think we're getting me a new car, we need some house maintenance done, etc, and there's just so much other nonsense going on this time of year that I feel like we can't make any headway.  It's so frustrating, but exciting too.

ryannenikole

@LeFemmeViolette Beautiful!!!

@sasha29-2 Congratulations! 

I am 19 weeks today and going for the AS. We already know we're having a boy, but it's still really exciting. I've felt a few flutters very sporadically and I am really excited for them to be consistent. I've felt some anxiety leading up to the AS, so I've been using the Doppler more. DH thinks it's a little ridiculous but I ignore him. Lol. Otherwise I feel pretty good! Sleeping on my side is getting old quick though. I'm definitely a back/stomach sleeper!

Our nursery isn't started yet and I'm struggling to find what I have in my head. I don't really want tribal, or woodland, or animals. The wall art is going to be quotes from big adventure stories. Harry Potter, Peter Pan, etc. Adventure is what I'm coming up with as a theme. Tribal is closest, but it isn't quite there. It also doesn't help that I'm working entirely in my head because his room doesn't actually exist yet! Lol. 

mountainlady

Wow @LeFemmeViolette - your nursery is a work of art!!

@sasha29-2 I'm finding it really hard waiting too!

@ryannenikole enjoy the AS!

I'M 23.5 weeks today - she's moving so much!

The last few days I've had the most overwhelming feeling of sadness - it's entirely irrational, I have absolutely nothing to be sad about. Everything is great! I'm guessing it's just hormones, but it's ridiculous. I cried in a yoga class when the teacher read a poem, I cried when DH makes harmless jokes, i cried at work... I spent 4hrs sitting on the sofa as I couldn't think of anything to do to cheer myself up... this is not good! Anyone else having this issue?

We can't make a start on preparing a nursery until Oct 6th as we've rented out our spare rooms until then. Patience is hard!

A friend did give me the most incredibly organised boxes of season-appropriate baby girl clothes. She had arranged complete (but not overwhelmingly large) wardrobes in boxes labelled 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months. What a star!

wabash15

Hi ladies. 21 weeks with a singleton here. Work and life have been busy but overall things are really good. We actually got a lot done towards the nursery this weekend. We had to get some new dressers for the twins room, so this weekend we rearranged their room with the new dressers and moved their old dresser into the new babies room. So now we have the chair and the dresser, we just need to find one more toddler bed before we can get one of the cribs from the twins room. DH spoiled me this weekend. Costo has these lamb wool rugs that are so soft and snugly... I really wanted one for the twins room but was being frugal and didn't get one. well they are back and I have been lusting over them for 3 weeks now, but I was still not going to get it. DH got it for me, so I am so excited to have this on the floor of the nursery. I'm not sure what we'll put on the walls yet, but maybe some animal themed art work done by the twins....

@lafemmeviolette I'm glad your baby girl is so active. its so reassuring to feel them wiggle and kick. The nursery will be beautiful
@sasha29-2 hooray for the 3rd trimester!
@ryannenikole try not to stress too much, while its fun to have a fancy nursery all they really need is somewhere to sleep, some diapers and cloths. everything else is extra. Gl with your US

sasha29-2

@ryannenikole  How about like a vintage map/travel type theme? Taupes and grays, you could get a vintage style map poster and frame it or something, airplanes, boats, that kind of thing?  Sort of an "oh the places you'll go" theme without the Dr. Seuss-y colors.  

Jeansis

Hi ladies! I am 24.5 weeks with one boy and due on 11/30. My heartburn seems to have subsided and I am thrilled! I had a red curry for dinner last night and had absolutely no heartburn last night or this morning. So glad! For a while there I could eat something bland like a plain yogurt and it gave me heartburn! Been walking more the past couple of weeks too and I am feeling stronger, healthier, and happier. I want to start incorporating some squats and lunges into my workouts as well because I have read that lower body strength is really helpful for labor. Anyone know of any other pregnancy safe exercises that are good to do? 

Nursery is coming along nicely, but we still have quite a lot to do. We have the furniture all set up and some things on the walls/bookshelf for decor, but we don't yet have the crib mattress, bedding, glider, or a number of other little items we want to incorporate. We went with a Harry Potter theme because we are both big fans, and I want to incorporate some touches from my house (Slytherin) and DH's (Ravenclaw). Might just be in the form of green, blue, and silver bedding for the crib though because I already have a Hogwarts banner up on the wall. Don't want to put too much house pressure on the little guy.

Love the nursery pic @LeFemmeViolette !!  Ours is not picture worthy yet. Still getting everything organized, and a few of the things we want to incorporate are on the registry, so we will have to wait a couple of months for those. 

Hope you are all having a happy Monday!

ryannenikole

@sasha29-2 That would be cute! I might have to look at that!

AS went great! The only potential concern is that my placenta is a bit low. Low enough to call it previa but they think it might resolve itself. But baby boy is doing great!

stella_700

We are rocking along ladies. 22+2 with the twins. Checking blood pressure at our college's nursing station daily as my 24 urine test came back borderline. Something we are watching but not serious yet. Feeling them move a lot more often but still waiting for DH to catch movement. My next appointment is the 24th with the MFM doctor where they will do another full growth scan.

@LeFemmeViolette That turned out beautifully! I really love that crib.

mountainlady-2 I'm not having feelings of sadness but I definitely feel like some additional hormones kicked in, as I find myself crying for the strangest of reasons. YES to the free baby clothes. We got some also and it really helped kick start the first year at least for our girl. Still need more boy clothes but I'm thinking that won't be too much of a problem with the baby showers coming up.

QOTW: We are going with a star/astronomy/space theme but we decided that we wouldn't be super coordinated with it and if there was something else we liked we'd buy and use it also. My nursery flooring is in the house acclimating before we install it not this weekend but the next! Once that happens we will be doing quite a bit of work and organizing. It will make me feel so much better to get that done. I also think we will need to rearrange our bedroom to create a nursing corner or something for this first couple of months. I bought some upholstery fabric to recover the cushions on my great grandfathers swivel wooden rocking chair. It wasn't too expensive and it looks neutral enough to go in the twins nursery if we eventually put it in there. I've got a foot stool with Queen Ann's legs that I'm going to recover in the same fabric. I think it will work nicely. These small projects plus crocheting a couple of blankets help keep me feeling like we are making some small progress towards preparing for their arrival.

srh18

Hey everyone! 26+4 with my triplets today! Yesterday I hit the five week mark I've been on bedrest (two weeks in the hospital). It's actually been going by much faster than what I thought it would! No real updates-the boys are doing great! Today my bp has been randomly high--it was 90/60 when they took it this morning and it was just 140/95!! That seems like a crazy fluctuation. I have had some issues with intermittent high blood pressures, so I'm hoping it's either just a fluke or the large cup of coffee I drank just before they took my bp. I definitely don't need to develop pre-eclampsia!!! No other signs of that though-urine is good, no swelling (which all of the nurses here are shocked by!), bloodwork is all normal. So fingers crossed it stays that way!

QOTW--as a rule I don't really do themes! We picked a color palette--gray, aqua, and yellow--and are basically using that as a theme. I painted large alphabet letters to hang up and we have incorporated the color scheme into our minimal decor. With three cribs we just don't have a ton of space for cute decorations but we're making it work!! 

@LeFemmeViolette what a gorgeous nursery!!

@sasha29-2 congrats on your pending graduation to 3rd tri!!! What an exciting milestone!

@ryannenikole what if you just went with a color scheme and the quotes/other things you like? Like I said in my QOTW, I'm not really a themey person so that's what we did. It gives me a direction for what to do so everything can coordinate but also gives me freedom to just pick out what I like!! So happy your AS went well! Hope the PP fixes itself. 

@mountainlady-2 I'm sorry about how you're feeling! Do you feel like it's hormone type stuff or a little more serious than that? Maybe you could mention it to your OB and see what they think. Those boxes of outfits sound amazing!!! 

@wabash15 what a sweet thing your husband did for you! I also love the idea of having your older kids make artwork for their new sibling-what a sweet way to include them in baby preparations!

@Jeansis LOVE the HP theme!!! DH and I are not ashamed to put House pressure on our boys lol. (No Hufflepuffs in this household!!!! Hahahaha)

@stella_700 hopefully your bp and urinalysis stay in the safe zone!!

wabash15

@stella_700 it was so helpful for us to have a baby nook in our room with the twins. They were in our room till they were 6 months (in a pack-n-play which thankfully had a built in changing station) it was great for the middle of the night diaper changes or feeds so we didn't have to go so far. GL with the flooring and you'll have to post a picture of the chair when your done with it.
@srh18 wow I can't believe your nearly 27 weeks, time is flying!!! I'm so glad those boys keep cooking away. Fx that the BP was just a fluke. 

sasha29-2

@ryannenikole I was actually thinking of that theme for a while before we switched gears to an under the sea theme, HomeGoods around me always has a lot of cute stuff that would fit it. 

PoeMasque

Eep! I know why the second trimester seems to go so fast, there's too much to do!! We had our echocardiogram on Monday and got to see the first 3D images of baby boy's face ❤️ He was smooshing his face against the placenta though so the tech said it wasn't the best image. Still so cool to see though. We signed up for the L&D tour and birthing class, I have glucose test on the 31, and we are trying to get a small home equity loan to do a bathroom reno before baby arrives. I have a million small projects I want to get done in the next 4 weeks and we still have to reseed our yard before the rain really starts....this is all why I've been so bad at posting on here lately, too much to plan and do! 

I do have a couple of questions for this group though: 1. Are you planning on cutting back work hours (or did you with previous kiddos) prior to delivery? I have a full time job and then pick up 5-10 extra hours as an ER nurse per week (usually a 8p-1a shift), but I'm feeling like I may have to stop doing that soon. 2. Have you had any boob leakage yet? Or when did it start if you've been pregnant before? For some reason I'm super anxious about leakage (I've been carrying pads with me everywhere lately even though I haven't had any issues!) 

QOTW: we finally got the nursery cleaned out, crib is in, closet done and organized, but still need to paint it all (including crib!) and get everything else. We are doing a polish folk art theme (primary colors as accent colors with light grey half painted walls). I think we will focus on yellow as the primary accent color, so I will paint the crib yellow. I'm going to make a screen door for the nursery so we can keep the cats out without closing the door....that is my project for this coming weekend, kind of excited about it! 

*edited for spelling

srh18

@wabash15 I know! Time is going by so fast! 27 weeks tomorrow and I couldn't be happier about it.  

@PoeMasque what a cool idea for the screen door! How did you decide about keeping the cats out of the room? I was all set on that, but I've been reading articles lately that say it makes the transition for cats harder and they may act out more. I don't know what the right answer is anymore!! 

LeFemmeViolette

27 weeks today! Last week of the 2nd tri!

@PoeMasque I have been having very light boob leakage- nothing that would soak through a bra and shirt yet, but those reusable cotton pads def provide some peace of mind!

PoeMasque

@srh18 our cats aren't allowed into that room anyway, so it won't be strange for them, I figure with the screen door at least they can still get baby's smells? Baby is going to sleep in our room (which cats have and will have free reign in) at first anyway, so they will have plenty of exposure. I've read exposing them to baby crying noises beforehand is helpful, but I'm not sure we will actually try that.

@LeFemmeViolette congrats on entering the 3rd tri!! good to know it hasn't been a large amount. I will keep my little pack of cotton pads with me....just in case

wabash15

@PoeMasque and @lafemmeviolette I really liked bamboobies. they are bamboo based, super soft and very low profile so its not obvious you have pads in. 

srh18

@LeFemmeViolette I just hit 27 weeks too! It's so exciting to be headed into the third tri! 

@PoeMasque that's a great point about the screen door! I may have to try the baby crying sounds (haha but that sounds like it would drive me crazy as well as them!!). 

Jeansis

@srh18 and @PoeMasque  Some friends of ours brought their one month old to our house for a holiday party last year and one of my cats (he's 10 years old and has never been around babies) walked into the room as they were getting ready to leave and the baby was crying loudly. My cat just completely froze in midstep! He looked terrified and he didn't move a muscle until they left! So after that experience I am definitely a little worried about how he will adapt, especially to the sound of the baby crying. I think it will just take some time though. One thing I read about and I am planning to do before we bring the baby home is a a scent handshake, which is when you bring a piece of clothing or a blanket that the person has been wearing and let your cats/dogs sniff it and get familiar with it. Hoping that will help!  

mountainlady

@PoeMasque 1. You work long hours - & that's not a mellow a job! The team i work with have agreed I can cut down hours gradually from now on - i havent felt the need to this week, but I'm grateful the option is there! I'm aiming to be off work completely no later than mid-Nov.
2. I have a weird bits of dry discharge on my nipples at the end of the day - nothing that would be visible through clothes, but kind of disgusting/fascinating!

@Jeansis hooray for curry again! 

@stella_700 & @srh18 thank you for the support  I had such an awful 3 days of being miserable about everything. Then poof! Back to being stoked about life, my bump and everything to come. It makes me think I'm definitely susceptible to hormonal blues, so going to make sure my DH and support people know... hoping I don't feel like that again!

PoeMasque

@mountainlady-2 I have also noticed some signs of depression the last week or so. I work in a mental health heavy field, so I'm pretty aware of signs/symptoms. I've also been waking up at 3am and not able to go back to sleep, but in general, I just feel pretty negative/apathetic lately. I am sure it is hormonal, but you make a good point about making sure others are aware and can intervene if needed. This has definitely made me worry about PPMD.