Second Trimester

As my 2nd trimester started, I stopped taking naps because I was having so much trouble sleeping at night that I wanted to be as tired as possible. One night I counted how many times I woke up to change positions and I tallied up about 20 awakenings. (Granted, my math while I'm sleeping isn't that great, but I figured it was a lot even with a margin of error) So the next day, I put up a desperate plea on Facebook for advice about pregnancy pillows. From the responses, I discovered that it was a near miracle that I had made it through 2 pregnancies without having a special pillow. A wonderful friend let me borrow hers and from the first night, it was great - I only woke up about 5 times!

When the 1st trimester tiredness hit me, I couldn't work out as much as I wanted because it pretty much wiped me out for the rest of the day. But when my energy picked up in the 2nd trimester, I hit the treadmill again, training because I wanted to run in a 5K that supported Crisis Control Ministry, the ministry where I volunteer. The race was in October and I finished without needing to walk. Although my time was more than 5 minutes longer than my pre-pregnancy 5Ks, I really enjoyed it, and I was thankful for my friend who slowed her pace and ran with me. So then I decided to keep up with the running and race in the Turkey Strut 5K on Thanksgiving, 5 months pregnant. I was able to talk another friend into running at my slow pace, which helped me stay motivated to keep running. This course was harder - more hills - but I finished a little faster than the Oct. 5K, which surprised me. My brother visiting from NY also ran in the turkey strut and my parents and other brother came out to cheer us on. It was fun and we might try to get the other brothers to run next year and make it an annual event. But after that race, I decided I was done running and I started just using the elliptical machines at the Y.

As the belly got bigger, the boys have enjoyed interacting more with the idea of a baby brother. I love involving the boys in the pregnancy whenever I can, to help them feel connected to their brother as much as possible. Both boys came with me to the ultrasound appointment to find out the gender. (I brought some engaging toys to distract them in case the technician had any disturbing news, but graciously, everything looked fine!) Charlie was concerned that they were going to look at his belly too, but we assured him that they were only going to look at mine. Coulson was quite disappointed when the technician told us that it was a boy - he pouted for a while, but has since come to terms with a house full of boys.

Coulson likes to sing to my belly and hug the belly. He talks about what he'll do to help out when the baby comes and he's volunteered to change the baby's diapers and is looking forward to feeding the baby a bottle, singing lullabies when he wakes up at night and making him smile and laugh. Charlie hugs and rubs the belly and talks about the baby, but I don't think he understands as well as Coulson. I think it will be more real for him when he gets to hold the baby - last summer he got the chance to hold a couple babies and he just loved it. I am a little concerned about how he'll react when the baby gets here and gets a lot of attention and stuff. He's pretty easy-going, so I could be worried about nothing, but I am trying to prepare myself so I won't be surprised by some new undesirable behaviors.