This is my final week of the second trimester! I keep saying that pregnancy is the fastest and slowest time of my entire life and it is so true. I can’t believe I’ve been pregnant since December and I also can’t believe I have to get through the whole summer yet! I thought it would be nice to do a little summary of where I’m at now and my feelings about pregnancy so far.
Biggest accomplishment: Making it to viability was pretty significant to me.
Biggest Surprise: Just how drastic the baby movements can be already. My stomach bounces and contorts with the kicks and punches.
Most unexpected symptom: The constant nausea until well into the second trimester. I expected morning sickness but I didn’t think it’d be so relentless.
Most difficult experience so far: Making decisions. There is so much information out there and so much research to do for everything.
Activities that are difficult: Sleeping, weeding/gardening, bending over in general
Current symptoms: sciatic nerve pain, leg cramps, round ligament pain, out of breath
Things I’m looking forward to: finding out if it is a boy or girl, seeing Jon hold the baby, eating a sub, seeing what the baby looks like!
Things I feel prepared for: soothing the baby, postpartum recovery stuff (this is major because this really scared me before), becoming a family of three
Things I feel unprepared for: labor (I expect this to get better once we get further into our classes), breastfeeding, changing diapers (I’ve only changed wet diapers, never a poopy diaper- crazy right, I baby sat many times as a teenager and some how always managed to miss the poopy diaper!)
Favorite Girl names (I’m giving multiple because I don’t want to reveal the name fully until the baby is born, plus our choices are not 100% yet.): Addilynn, Marie, Scarlett
Favorite Boy names (I’m giving multiple because I don’t want to reveal the name fully until the baby is born, plus our choices are not 100% yet.): Luke, Nash, Tucker, Weston
What I think will be the hardest part of parenting: making decisions on behalf of another person- it’s already such a hard thing to do just during the pregnancy, raising children that are not consumed by material things.
What I think will be the easiest part of parenting: Loving our child
My predictions (this is just my thought as of today…don’t put too much faith in this, I change my mind almost daily ): Boy, 8lbs 11oz, 21 inches, DOB 9/27
Just for fun, what are your predictions? Boy, Girl, Birthday, Weight???
It’s amazing how fast a body can change! Check out my first 26 weeks of pregnancy bump pictures.
I enjoyed reading this!
I look at your thoughts on what will be the hardest part of parenting…and I would just repeat to you, what my Mom told me…”Remember, you don’t raise a child to age 18 in just one day!”
It can be overwhelming, looking ahead…and no, it’s not easy…but I think if your child sees you and your husband happily modelling a life that’s not consumed by material things, that will be a tremendous help! You will do great, I’m sure!
That’s a really good point! I kind of forget that there is a whole lot of time to in between potty training and adulthood that my mind really hasn’t grasped yet
I love all of this! Any questions, let me know. You’ll be great!
I’m sure you will definitely be hearing from me
Anytime!
Alicia’s right. One of the best ways of parenting is modeling the behaviors you want your kids to learn. The biggest problem I had in trying to raise my Girlie so that’s she’s not a consumerist monster, was keeping my in-laws in check. My MIL was a huge “gotta have stuff” person, and she had these crazed ideas of Kid being a “Princess”. She was horrified to find out Kid was more interested in the garden, getting dirty and animals than pink and frilly dresses! I don’t think you’ll have that problem though.
The best advice I got was from a woman who is like a Mama to me…she told me to stay true to myself. As a Mama you’ll have all these people around you wanting to make decisions on how you should raise your child. Some will have good intentions, others will think they do. Stay true to yourself, and what you want your child to grow into, and you’ll be fine. No, it won’t be easy, but, you’ll sleep better at night, knowing that you’ve done what you believe is right for your child.
Oh, and poopy diapers aren’t that hard to deal with.
As much thought as you’ve already put into how to raise this child, I’m sure you’ll do fine. I don’t think I could add to the comments above. Well…the hardest part for me was not making decisions. It was getting other people (my parents) to support those decisions. Just make sure you two talk about those important things beforehand. Like I said, you’ve already thought so much, you’ll do great!