Weeks 13-26 were spent cooking/eating new healthy recipes, some travel, organizing random parts of my house, lifting weights & sunbathing on a pool float.
Weeks 13-18
April 4th - May 15th
For the whole month of April, I was getting use to feeling like myself again. Aside from knowing I was growing a tiny human & its organs and also knowing not many people knew the big news yet, I was feeling pretty great!
I got myself back to regularly scheduled program. I thrive with routine, a plan and a system. Not just at work, but with my daily life! I wanted to feel “normal” because I knew at some point I was going to be treated differently. (this didn’t show up until the end of this trimester.)
I do wonder if one of the reasons I waited so long to tell the world about our big news was the fear of being treated like a fire hazard. Like anything I did, ate, attended … literally anything would “potentially sabotage the life of my baby”. Of course I had my own morals and beliefs that I stuck too, and truly did everything that I believed was right and safe for me and my pregnancy.
To feel what I call “normal again” was getting back to my weekly workout routine, cooking fun dinners, linking up with friends for food and some night life activities and of course having the energy to fold neglected laundry and other adulting tasks I put off in my first trimester.
Needless to say, I truly felt like a superhero. The kind of superhero where no one knows your superpowers (in this case my ability to grow organs & other little baby body parts) but you’re just vibing through life like everything is normal, but things are in fact not normal because you’re PREGNANT!!! I’d say I handled things well. Not being much of a drinker before pregnancy helped with keeping our news on the DL until we felt ready to share.
The love and support we received from friends & acquaintances from the internet were overwhelming in all the good ways. Finally sharing our news and not wearing baggy gym clothes everywhere was nice! Even though I wasn’t showing much, it felt nice to let it all hang out!
Weeks 19 - 23
May 16th - June 19th
Part of doing life the way I always had, despite growing a tiny human, involved traveling with my husband. Chris and I love exploring, eating and resting in new places. We spent these weeks preparing for travel & enjoying travel. My first flight with a baby on board was an anxiety packed 1.5 hour flight. I sat in my seat with my legs crossed the ENTIRE time. I didn’t even get up to pee! Chris was impressed. But the way my anxiety was set up at the time … if I don’t get up, he won’t fall out. Now obviously this isn’t how that works, but try explaining that to a hormonal first time pregnant lady. You’re better off just nodding your head. No comments necessary.
We explored the mountains of Asheville NC for a week with our siblings that live local. The food, outdoor activities and nightlife made us crave the Ashvillian culture when we came home to FL.
Just a few weeks after that we took sail on a Cruise with 5 of our best friends to celebrate Chris’ 32nd Birthday! Let me just say aside from all you can eat food ALL DAY (honestly lived my best pregnant lady life plate by plate) … the nightclub had my heart. To shake my tush to some of the best jams with my best friends with this baby bump & not a care in the world who is watching was so much fun. I might have shaken my rear a little too hard because the next morning I felt nauseous for the first time since my first trimester. Worth it!
Weeks 24-27
June 20th - July 17th
Final weeks of trimester 2.
Symptoms: Always hungry
Ice cream night caps without any guilt! Mint chocolate chip or butter pecan were my top picks!
And of course I believe in balance. The 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you’ll find me eating whole foods & 20% of the time I’m face first into a tub of ice cream.
This was one of my daily go-to recipes. I ate this every morning for like 6 weeks plus! Oat & yogurt bowls with fresh fruit and various other toppings like seeds, nut butter and honey to top! I was & still am obsessed with this meal. For to drink: Decaf banana milk latte.
My second trimester was more than a blast. We spent many evenings out at breweries with local performing artists (I drank water or Kombucha), going on foodie road trips with friends to try new eats that I’ve seen and obsessed over from TikTok, floating in the pool for hours and just enjoying life with my favorite people. I had an amazing amount of energy these last 13 weeks and if I could go back and do anything differently, it would be documenting my journey through pictures a little better and more baby prep before the third trimester sleep-a-thon began …
I did receive some feedback about my activity levels from numerous people. Some were other moms, or just nosey nelly’s … I thanked them for their unauthorized suggestions/ comments and assured them that I am doing what I believe is safe for me and my baby & will continue to do so when he arrives.
There isn’t a book, blog or podcast with all the answer on how to do any of this “the right way” but so far in my journey everything I have done that has gotten us this far has been RIGHT FOR US.