I am a few weeks away from my third trimester and I can’t wait. Third trimester means closer to the date obviously, but this third trimester means the start of fall! I have gotten a good idea of what it’s like to be pregnant in the summer in 90+ degree weather and it is not fun! I feel bad for the women who give birth in these hot summer months. I am counting down the days till fall starts and the temperature drops to the 70’s.
At this point I am realizing even more that this pregnancy is totally different than the last. At first I thought it would just be the first trimester that was way different, but even well into the second trimester when I am supposed to be in the “honeymoon phase” of pregnancy there are still bad days.
I felt like my whole pregnancy with Ava was the honeymoon phase till the very very end, but this time being pregnant with a boy it is totally different. Here are a few difference between my body growing a girl vs a boy that other people may notice too.
Girl: No fatigue, no irritability( not kidding, you can ask my husband), little to no nausea, not having to pee every hour so early on, no aches and pains till the end, stomach growth was smaller (this may because she was my first), no heartburn, no uncomfortable feelings of having a baby in me till the end.
Boy: Extreme fatigue, nausea for 8 weeks in the beginning, insomnia that results in feeling nauseas the next day even well into the second trimester, heart burn, very uncomfortable at different times because of the babies positioning, irritable, legs aching at night, stomach muscle pains, peeing all the time, belly is a lot bigger at this point.
26 weeks now with a boy versus 26 weeks with my first who was a girl One thing I have noticed which I find interesting is that you carry a boy lower than a girl. I swear he is so low sometimes that it freaks me out and almost always around 4pm he burrows way down to the point where I feel so full that I barely want to eat dinner. There have been nights that I just feel so full and uncomfortable that I don’t even eat dinner. Let’s just say I am glad this is the last one and I feel blessed that I got to experience an amazing pregnancy with my first because I guess what I am experiencing now is more of a normal pregnancy that you always hear about.
Even though this pregnancy hasn’t been the easiest I am still sticking to my exercise and healthy eating routine. Exercise is the one thing that really helps my irritability and I highly suggest that if you have anxiety, depression issues or irritability you should start incorporating some kind of physical activity at least a few times a week. Any kind of physical activity even walking releases endorphins and releases stress and anxiety resulting in a natural mood booster.
One huge difference with this pregnancy that has actually surprised me is I am able to do more high intensity cardio training then I could with my first event though this pregnancy is harder for me. I resorted to low intensity steady state cardio with my first pregnancy pretty early on because it was just too hard and I just could not catch my breath. This one however, I am still going strong at 26 weeks with HIIT on the stair stepper and plyometrics. Maybe it is because the baby is lower and not up against my diaphragm as much, who knows.
Here is a workout channel on YouTube that I have been doing when I don’t have time to make it to the gym: Fitness Blender. It has all different kinds of workout with and without equipment. Some are 20 minutes and some are an hour which is a great variety to choose from depending on how much time you have. These are great for moms who don’t have a lot of time.
Now on the left at 26 weeks looking like I did at 34 weeks with my first on the right I have already gained 10 lbs more this pregnancy than the last and that happened in the first trimester due to the nausea. I needed to just eat what made me feel good which consisted of a lot of ramen and bean burritos from Mexican restaurants and on top of that I was not getting to the gym as much because of the fatigue and nausea. I think the recommendation that you only gain about 5 lbs in the first trimester is a bunch of BS and women should just realize that the first trimester is hard when you are sick and you need to just do what you need to do to get by and then get back to your healthy eating once you feel better and it will most likely even out in the end if you eat healthy 70%ish of the time and get in some kind of physical activity a few days a week.
At my 20 week ultra sound they let me know that this baby boy on the bigger side, so I am even happier that I am getting a c-section. Honestly, I pushed enough last time to have at least 4 babies, so I welcome the c-section even though the thought of a surgery and recovery is nerve wrecking, but I know my experience will be better than last time.
Changes I am experiencing: Aversions: Just meat now! Thank god I am back to drinking coffee. I stick to the recommended 200 mg. Cravings: None really Mood: Irritable Weight gain: 26 lbs Sleep: If Ava will let me I get 8-9 hours Other: My hormones must have balanced out because my face is a million times better than it was a month or so ago. I did start to get eczema on my legs though pretty early on with this pregnancy which I never had before.