I Run Like A Girl

Hello blogging friends! These last few weeks have been productive. The main thing taking up my energy has been a home-related project. I’ll share more in a future post, but it’s been exciting to work on that. Between prepping for the baby, staying busy at work, and the home project, they’ve all been good distractions from each other, and I’ve enjoyed staying busy working on all these projects before we settle down for the baby.

Today also marks the start of my 3rd trimester (28 weeks). It’s cheesy to say, but the 2nd trimester just flew by. A huge reason was that I felt SO much better and was able to be more active/social. Being a busy bee again has done wonders for my mood and has made me feel like myself again.

Now that another trimester has gone by, I have a 2nd trimester recap to share today. 🙂

Is it a boy or a girl?

Starting off with something fun…we are having a girl! We found out early on through a blood test, and I’m excited to finally share here. I admit, I secretly wanted a girl. 🙂

We had a small gender reveal party with my family when we visited my parent’s home in New York at the start of my 2nd trimester. My mom’s friend made a cake, and the color of the icing inside revealed if it was a boy or a girl. Being around them and feeling their excitement was just what I needed coming out of a difficult start to my pregnancy. It was a very sweet celebration.

How did you feel physically?

If you missed my 1st trimester recap, I shared how I struggled with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of pregnancy nausea where I couldn’t keep down any food or water without medication. I do want to acknowledge that the first half of my 2nd trimester (~1.5 months) was basically an extension of my 1st, as I was still sick up until week 20. Once my nausea subsided, it changed my entire outlook.

Right when my nausea got better was when it became harder to move. Onto the next challenge! My belly got bigger, I was gaining weight quickly, and simple functional movements became difficult. I now get winded walking up the stairs, and rolling out of bed feels like an Olympic event. It’s hard to imagine that I have 3 more months of growing.

While my nausea calmed down, my motion sickness has gotten worse lately. I’ve had motion sickness my whole life, but it has really increased during my pregnancy. It has made driving and flying more difficult, but having dealt with this my whole life, I can manage it.

Something unexpected is that my hair and skin have never looked better! Apparently, it’s due to the hormonal changes. I am enjoying growing out my hair and taking these small wins.

How did you feel emotionally?

I cannot describe how much better I felt this trimester, which was 100% due to my nausea going away. I started doing more activities, learned the banjo, traveled (we visited Wilmington, NC and had our baby moon in Puerto Rico), had family visit us in NC, took on home projects, and even started making friends in the area.

Feeling the baby kick has been the best feeling. There are several moments of joy each day when I feel her moving around in there. The kicks have helped me stay present and enjoy some of this. Joe also feels the kicks each day, which is sweet family bonding.

The main thing I struggled with emotionally was feeling unprepared (expectation vs. reality). Almost every step of my pregnancy has been harder than I imagined. From the sickness to the lack of mobility, I was naive to how incredibly physical this would be. I heard the 2nd trimester is called the “golden trimester” or “honeymoon period” of pregnancy…I feel like this is a misnomer, as there are still many challenges! These terms gave me a false impression that I would feel amazing, but in reality, it has been the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done.

I’m sure future me knows something I don’t. Who knows, I might actually miss being pregnant, as many women say. 🙂

Did you exercise?

I started easing into exercising again after my nausea subsided. After not exercising at all for 4 months, I was surprised how quickly I rebuilt my strength. As they say, the body remembers. I enjoyed quickly getting back into strength training (with many modifications).

Over the last few weeks, however, my interest in exercising has decreased. As I get bigger and movement becomes harder, I have to motivate myself more to exercise. At this point, I’m down to 1 strength exercise per week. However, I try to walk ~30 minutes most days. Seeing how hard my heart works by simply walking, it feels like enough exercise for me. 😉

Any food cravings/aversions?

My biggest craving lately has been sweets. When I was sick, I had an aversion to anything sweet, and now my sweet tooth has come back with a vengeance!

Over the last few weeks, I have had more heartburn/indigestion, which is common as the baby grows and pushes on the stomach. Tums has been my best friend.

How will your blog content change?

This is something I’ve been thinking about lately…I created this blog 9 years ago because I always loved writing, and I wanted to document my life for fun. 9 years later, I’m very proud of the consistency I’ve maintained and staying true to the “why” of starting this blog.

Those who’ve stuck around know my content includes everything under the sun: fitness, travel, relationships, career, life reflection, and more. Now with a baby on the way, it’s natural for my content to include more on motherhood. However, I don’t see this ever being a “motherhood blog.” I’ve always tried to strike a balance between work, social, and family life, and I intend to keep that balance in life and on the blog.

While it wasn’t my goal when starting this blog, it has grown modestly over time. With more readers, I’ve valued privacy more lately. With that, I do want to keep parts of my family life private as I want them to be special for us. I don’t mean to sound dismissive as I still find so much joy from writing and sharing here.

Lastly, after some reflection, I’d like to let my child grow up and decide her presence on the internet, so I will probably limit the photos I share of her here. The internet has changed so much, and I learned that once content is out there, you cannot take it back. I’d rather share fewer photos of her now so she can own her digital footprint later in life. I’m not saying this is the right approach for everyone, but this is just what I’m leaning towards at the moment. I appreciate the support always!

Looking ahead

This last stretch is probably going to feel the fastest. I have some final work travel before my maternity leave, and we still have a lot of baby prep as well as finishing up this home project. I get overwhelmed looking at my to-do list for the next 3 months, but I’m excited to have many things to look forward to. If you made it to the end of this post, thank you for reading along!