Second Trimester Reflections

Now that our second trimester has come to a close, I'm going to attempt to slow down time for a moment and reflect...I can't believe we get to meet our little angel in 11 1/2 weeks! I can't explain the excitement.

Our 23 week photo went missing :(

What I have learned in the past 12 weeks:

• A woman's body is truly an amazing machine.
• Feeling your baby kick and squirm around is THE sweetest thing in the world (at least until she is here!).
• I could seriously be entertained for hours just laying there and watching my belly move while dreaming about our lives ahead (and hearing the Jaws theme in my head from time to time). 
• I'm one of the lucky ones. Other than some fairly intense stretching pains on occasion, I have basically breezed through this pregnancy thus far. Despite having lower back pain in the past, I haven't during pregnancy. I don't get heartburn (which is awesome because I crave buffalo chicken at times...but that's nothing new). I haven't "gotten sick" once, although there were a couple of close calls. I do get in bad moods, but am able to recognize them and give Nick a warning (love you!), and those have subsided now...I think. 
• I love my husband. Of course I already knew this, but when he holds my belly and talks to the baby and I get to think about him being a dad wrapped around the finger of his little girl, it makes my heart melt.
• Having a cold during pregnancy can really stink. There is a list of meds you can take during pregnancy, but I refused. We like to live as purely as possible. A couple of days home on the couch with hot water + organic lemon juice + local honey nursed me back to health. 
• Building a registry can be as stressful as it is exciting. There is just so much "stuff" and it's hard to narrow down to the necessities and keep the somewhat minimalist lifestyle we live. Thanks to some awesome facebook friends' suggestions, I'm pretty confident in our registry. Gotta love Target! 
• I never thought I'd be so excited about diapers. But, we've been building up a cloth stash and I'm super excited for some reason. Maybe it's the thought of saving $1500 on diapers. (For those of you who are still picturing the old school cloth diapers...click the image below to have your world changed. Get it? I made a funny.)

• I'm pretty darn strong, but not as "independent woman" as I thought. A big thanks to the ladies I have reached out to for advice. The thought of hiring a doula to assist our birth has eased a lot of anxiety that built up after the hospital tour. I'm stuck in the middle of having a hospital birth and loving the idea of birthing at home, but we are doing a natural hospital birth because despite any anxiety a hospital may cause, I think it gives me more comfort than staying home. I'll do the majority of the labor at home, and we'll head to the hospital later on.
• That being said, I'm not afraid of the birth. We are shooting for all-natural and intervention free, but I am not afraid of the pain. That's not because I'm naive to what it may feel like, of course I don't know, but I am extremely motivated. "I am woman, hear me roar." So while I may feel a bit more dependent...I feel that much more brave and awesome for growing this little miracle. 
• Either I don't get out much or look mean, because I have not been attacked by women with their belly radar on in public. Yay!
• I used to think we'd be set with just one child, but being 2/3 through the pregnancy is telling me I'm going to miss it and want to have one more. I may whine about occasional discomforts, but I am one of those who LOVE being pregnant. 

My Miracle Belly Cream

Get ready folks...this stuff is amazing and super easy. First, go to the store (Woodman's, Jewel, Trader Joe's. etc.) and buy some organic coconut oil. Why organic? Because it's much better than potentially rubbing chemicals into your body. It'll cost around $10-15 for a 16oz jar...but a little goes a LONG way.

So once you get that coconut oil home, open the jar...use your fingers to take out a chunk the size of a marble. Rub it in your hands to melt it (it is a soft solid) and slather it on your belly. INSTANT relief I tell you. I've been having some serious stretching pains and this felt so good. I still have the pains now and then, but they are much more soothed now. I'm applying it three times a day, morning, when I get home from work, and again before bed.

Magical Lotion

My mother didn't have any stretch marks and they say it's genetic, but I will attest to this for helping with stretch marks this summer. They say that nothing prevents stretch marks, but I have to believe that staying nice and moisturized doesn't hurt either. It at least helps the itching/burning that can come with your belly stretching to hold a watermelon.

Could you add vitamin E oil and make it extra fancy? Of course you could. But we're pregnant and busy and this is so much easier. Even if you are not currently preggers, this stuff is amazing on dry patches and an esthetician friend told me that she puts it on her face every night. I am probably going to try this as well, at least on my forehead. Darn winter.

Disclaimer: Obviously, don't use this if you have any type of allergy or intolerance to coconut. I'd also recommend trying it on a small area first. It is about as pure as it gets and I haven't read anything about reactions so far.

Pregnancy Dreams : Issue 1

I decided my pregnancy induced, crazy vivid dreams were entertaining enough (at least to me) to start writing down. Before pregnancy, I would dream but they'd usually fade right away and I wouldn't remember them. Now, I remember every detail in the morning and they have gotten down right weird at times. Watching Revolution and Supernatural shortly before bed probably doesn't help.

12.3.12
Since I decided to write this down later in the day, I have forgotten all of the tiny details, but it was weird nonetheless.

Dream number one:
I was sitting on our couch watching TV and had a glass in my hand that was full of Bailey's, but I'd drank half of it. Then Nick walks in the room and seeing him flashed me back to reality and I flipped out. "Oh my God! What am I doing? I'm pregnant!" and so on. I believe it also involved me immediately getting online to research what half a glass of Bailey's would do. I woke up stressed out and very thankful that it was a dream! As I do with just about all of them.

Dream number two: This one is really fuzzy, but was so stressful and weird. We were somewhere (which looked somewhat like the Sons of Anarchy clubhouse) and were being held hostage.

12.12.12
Dream number one: 
We were at a town home for a party of some kind. And it was one of those dreams where no one looked like themselves. Like I was me, but didn't look like me. Nick was Nick, but looked nothing like him. Strange. And there was a neighbor that was out in his back yard dancing and was either actually a monster or just dressed like one. He sort of looked like the Maenad from True Blood. Then all of a sudden, one of the guys at the party got mad at him and ran towards him, leading to a tackle. Took him out right at the knees. Then of course the crazy neighbor started fighting back. It ended up in the garage of the town house (may have been ours in the dream) and I ended up calling 911 because I thought they were going to kill each other. The dispatcher sounded very uninterested and couldn't understand what I was saying. Eventually they just stopped and the Maenad dude ran back home....sooo weird.

Dream number two:
There was a woman who I apparently knew and she was very pregnant. I guess I'd signed up to be her midwife and deliver her baby at home. Through the whole dream I knew what I was doing and she was happy with me. Then when she went into labor, I suddenly knew nothing and the woman didn't want me around and called in another midwife at the last second who delivered her baby while she was on the floor of her bedroom. All I heard was one "push" from the midwife, a fairly quiet scream grouped with a sigh of relief from the mom, and then the baby cried. Suddenly Nick was there and we were just standing out in the hallway waiting. Again, strange. I don't remember ever seeing either of these women before.