We’ve been cruising in the second trimester for a while and I’m quite happy to be here. There are actually quite a few perks of being in this sweet spot.
- Less nausea and no throwing up (at least for me)
- Starting to feel kicks and movement
- Not yet the size of a house
- Actually being able to wear cute maternity clothes
- Beginning to get excited about baby #2
- Finding out the gender
Speaking of gender… we had our 20 week sonogram a few weeks ago, which was quite fun.
It always makes things more real when you get to see the little face and hands and feet that are wiggling around just below the surface. We found out a couple of interesting things. Typically with 2nd pregnancies, you tend to feel kicks and movement earlier on. However, I really didn’t. In fact, I didn’t feel much for a while to the point that I was getting a little worried. However, come to find out, the placenta is front and center, which according to the technician can often muffle the feeling and prevent feeling them early on.
Of course, the other interesting thing we found out is just how little we can predict! The technician asked us if we wanted to know gender, and of course, we (I mean, I) couldn’t handle not knowing. So after all the measurements and things they have to do, she was trying to see. But apparently baby just wasn’t cooperating well. I had been so sure it was a boy because of the drastic difference from Avie’s pregnancy to this one. But then again, I was certain Avie was going to be a boy too. The thing is that they really couldn’t get a good look. However, I will say, from what little I know of sonograms, I didn’t see any boy parts. The technician said she was about 90% sure it was a girl, but she called the doctor in to see what his thoughts were. He, of course, couldn’t get a better view and was even less sure at 80%… so we split the difference and called it 85%.
I’m actually remarkably calm to know that we don’t know 100%. I feel like I should be freaking out, but I realize that newborns need very few things. And life doesn’t stop after baby comes. We can always go shopping once he (probably she) is here if we need boy clothes. The good thing is that with “the girls” room being gray, if it happened to turn out we were all wrong and something was hiding in there, it wouldn’t be too difficult to swap out a few colors and make the room be a little more fit for a boy (on one side). But more on the girls room another time.