Monday, October 5, 2020

Baby Hollingsworth | Second & Third Trimesters

Well, I've had my baby now so now is as good a time as any to get the rest of my pregnancy documented...we'll see how much I remember about the second and third trimester. 

Cravings/Aversions: My lack of craving carbonation lasted through almost the entire second trimester and it slowly came back as time went on. I wasn't mad about it. I missed pop! I basically craved any food that people talked about or shared pictures of haha. It all looked and sounded good! I was also never a fan of apples until the second trimester so that was new! And let's just say that baby girl liked her baked goods and sweets........ just like her mama! And still, no morning sickness so I was sooooo grateful for that!

Gender Reveal: We found out that we were having a GIRL! And both of us were utterly and completely surprised. We were both so convinced it was a boy. Parker couldn't come to the anatomy scan ultrasound because he had to work so I got an envelope with the results and we opened it after we both got home. We found out on our anniversary and it was THE BEST way to celebrate being married for 6 years! Here's the IG post of our announcement <3


Anatomy Scan: Our baby looked great on the anatomy scan and it was so fun to see her wiggling the entire time. She literally did not stop moving - our little dancer to be :). We got some adorable photos of her cute profile and I could have watched that screen all day. After the ultrasound, I met with my doctor and she let me know that I had a low-lying placenta and that if it stayed low then I was more likely to have a c-section when it came time to deliver our child. Apparently, its common for low-lying placentas to move up and away from the cervix as the baby grows. It just needs to be at least 2cm away from the cervix to have the option of delivering vaginally. Mine was about exactly 2 cm away during the anatomy scan so that meant that they would watch my placenta throughout the rest of my pregnancy. If it moved closer or completely covered the cervix, that would be full placenta previa which can be pretty dangerous and require bed rest and guaranteed a c-section delivery. 

Here are the photos from ultrasounds done during the second and third trimesters!


I can't handle that pout!!!

Glucose Test: I was really nervous and had myself convinced that I had gestational diabetes but I passed the glucose test and actually enjoyed the drink. That probably just shows how much sugar I regularly consume because it really didn't even phase me. 

Horrendous photo but YUM! lol

Sleep: I got so dang tired of having to sleep on my side. I wanted nothing more than to just lay on my back or stomach but luckily I had a pregnancy pillow that I liked so that helped! I also experienced the dreaded calf cramps about 3 or 4 times throughout pregnancy and I could directly attribute them to my water consumption. After it happened the first time, I was super careful about drinking lots of water every day because OW! I woke up in a panic, hitting Parker to help me rub out my calf every time it happened which I'm sure he appreciated haha! 

Aches and Pains: My feet got SO SORE! I wasn't expecting that but by the end of each day they hurt so bad and I just wanted to sit and not move. I think a lot of this pain was due to the fact that with the pandemic, I was nervous to ride public transportation so I started walking to and from work every day which was a little over an hour of walking each day, not to mention the time I spent on my feet during work and at home. The exercise was good because other than walking I wasn't super active but boyyyyy was I happy to start riding the train again closer to the end of our time in Boston. I also started to get some "lightening crotch" or "symphysis pubis dysfunction" near the end where it felt like my pelvis was being torn apart haha. That sounds dramatic but I don't know how else to explain the feeling. There were certain things like standing on one foot to put my pants on or digging my heels into the bed to roll over that really caused this pain. I also kept having so much heartburn which led me to believe that our baby was going to have a stellar head of hair. You'll have to check for posts after this one to see if heartburn meaning hair is truth or a myth for us! 

Baby Shower: There were a lot of factors that made it really difficult to have a baby shower - the pandemic, living in Boston for such a short period of time and knowing very few people, having most of my family and friends super far away and scattered all over the world, moving in the middle of a pandemic right before having the baby and having virtually no way to meet people in our new location, etc. I have awesome friends and family, though, and my childhood best friend threw us a virtual baby shower over Facebook where I shared our registry in a private group and then people sent gifts to our address. On June 15, I went "live" in the FB group and opened all of the boxes that arrived so the gifters could see me opening things. It was actually so much fun (I was worried I would be super awkward haha) and we were spoiled rotten!! 

Showing off my massive bump and some darling shoes we were gifted to the shower attendees haha little did I know baby girl would be born a week later! 

My Changing Body: I LOVED watching my body change. It was so exciting to see my belly grow more and more each week and every time I swore I couldn't get any bigger, I somehow did. I didn't get any stretch marks on my belly except one tiny little one but I got lots of them elsewhere which I didn't really know was a thing. Dressing my changing body on the other hand, was a challenge I wasn't entirely prepared for. I expected that dressing the bump would be a lot more fun than it actually was but it was mostly stressful. I hated not knowing what size I would be and didn't want to spend money on clothes that would only fit for such a short time. It was quite frustrating. Luckily, my sister-in-law, Rylie was kind enough to lend me some of her maternity clothes so that was a huge help and so nice of her! 

My Sunday bump photo tradition totally got interrupted when church got canceled due to the pandemic so I missed a few weeks here and there but here are the photos I did take of my bump!
Last bump photo in our Boston apartment!

^A glow-up of sorts lol^
This is the only swimsuit that I could find on short notice that worked with a bump and also the first time my bare belly has ever seen the internet. Our last beach trip pre-baby! 
We bought a house and this is one of the last photos we took of the two of us before baby time!

I truly loved being pregnant and I know that I was really fortunate to have had such a smooth pregnancy and to have enjoyed it all so much. It didn't come without aches and pains, as I mentioned above, but overall it was an experience I don't take for granted and will cherish forever. I'll be sharing our birth story next and I can hardly wait to get that most special event documented!! 

xoxo, Chelan


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