I am sitting here writing this post after just witnessing my 21 month old break down in a complete tantrum. Starting from the basement of our house, she threw her body on the ground screaming and crawling all the way to the second story of our home. All while dramatically pulling off each piece of clothing until she made her way into her room, naked, and all because she was needing an early nap. Wow… the struggle of not being able to say exactly what you want or need is legit y’all.
That being said, let’s talk about baby number 2 and the first 20 weeks of pregnancy! There are certainly pros and cons of being pregnant the second time around. For example:
Pros: This pregnancy is going by in the blink of an eye! There is none of that sitting around daydreaming about what baby will look like, how life will change, how long until they arrive. Not having the time to focus on these week to week milestones really makes the entire pregnancy feel like a fast blur.
Cons: It is still 9+ months without wine. I have never needed (not wanted, but needed) wine more than ever right now. Having a toddler shouldn’t be done without the nightly glass of decompressing red wine. Now that I sound like a full blown alcoholic, lets continue!
The first 20 weeks for me was a rollercoaster. I went through a phase of nausea and migraines that I never experienced with my first daughter. I had a few visits with my OB regarding the migraines, and we decided to wait it out and see if they subsided after my first trimester. Since they continued for several weeks beyond, I ended up going to see my general physician who advised it was likely being caused by allergies and swollen sinuses. They gave me a pregnancy safe allergy medicine and that helped significantly after a few weeks of allowing the medicine to build up.
In the meantime we started to prepare the house and Kennedy for a baby. We purchased “I’m A Big Sister” from Amazon and began reading this to Kennedy every evening. People often ask if she understands what is going on. The answer is heck no! Does she respond accordingly if you ask “Where is baby?”… sure, she will point to mommy’s belly. But no way she has any idea of what to expect or what is about to enter this home and rock her world in so many ways.
One of my favorite parts of this pregnancy has been how quickly I was able to recognize the first movements and kicks. With my first pregnancy it took almost 22+ weeks to really know that I was feeling baby move. This go around, I was able to recognize that familiar feeling MUCH faster at only 14 weeks! Since then girlfriend has not slowed down. She does flips and kicks at what feels like all hours of the day and night.
At my 20 week ultrasound all was good with baby girl! They did notice that my cervix opened for a brief moment while I was having the ultrasound conducted. In other words, I was contracting and that raised a few eyebrows. The doctor was not too concerned because my cervix was still measuring 6cm which is well above the normal thickness at that point in the pregnancy, but it was odd that they saw it fluctuate so the doctor wanted to make sure I wasn’t having what they call a dynamic cervix. A dynamic cervix is essentially one that will go from being healthy and thick to opening and thinning quickly, causing labor. I had 2 more ultrasounds in as many weeks. Thankfully all appeared healthy during those followup ultrasounds and I was cleared to continue with my normal appointment schedule going forward.
Throughout all of this I have continued to grow… literally. I feel as if I am currently at the same size that I was with my first pregnancy well into the third trimester. It is amazing how the female body knows what it is doing, especially the second time around, and does it with such ease and speed! While this pregnancy has certainly been a bit more difficult, I am excited that it is going by quickly as I am eager to add Adeline to the family. Kennedy is going to make sure a great big sister, and we cannot wait to meet her and have another sweet girl to snuggle and love.
