Pregnancy #2 Almost Over!

I’m two days away from being 39 weeks pregnant! When did that happen?

This pregnancy has just flown by. Second time around has been a completely different experience than the first. With a toddler running around, I just haven’t had the time to think about being pregnant.

My days are busy caring for Jude  and it’s only been in the past few weeks that I have turned my mind to preparing for this baby. There hasn’t been to much to do since we have all the gear already, including a ridiculous amount of baby clothes. It was just a matter of washing, folding and finding places for everything.

Having the experience of a giving birth and caring for newborn under our belts certainly makes us a lot more confident. I’m not nervous about giving birth like I was with Jude. Having been through it, I know it’s totally doable (especially with the help of an epidural). It’s still going to be painful as all heck  – especially contractions and the days following birth. But I’m not really nervous about things like breastfeeding or settling the baby. Of course, there is always the unknown – I could end up with an emergency c-section or a baby with colic!

What we are nervous about it when exactly this baby is going to come. My due date is 7 Oct and my parents will be arriving on the 3rd. I just cross my fingers that baby boy stays put until then. It would be really tough if he decides to come early and we don’t have them here to take care of Jude.

This time round, I have had two showers! I really didn’t want one for the 2nd as we didn’t want any gifts but our friends insisted. The first shower was a joint one, shared with two other pregnant ladies, all of us due within a few weeks of each other.

We played a few games, ate a lot of food and were all given a ton of diapers (including in the above diaper cakes).

My second baby shower was thrown by my other mommy friends.

We attempted a few games but soon realized it was pretty impossible with all the toddler chaos!

Everyone brought a dish so we spent the afternoon snaking and playing.

My other pregnant friend (with her first), came around and we chatted about pregnancy and birth stuff.

I asked for no gifts but was given more diapers! The most useful presents to give expectant  an Mom!

Apart from showers fun, Jude and I have continued getting out and about several times a week to play. I know that once baby arrives it will be awhile before I can take him to play so have been keen to do this with him, even though it’s been pretty exhausting for me.

Because of all this daytime activity, I have pretty much stopped doing dedicated workouts. The last time I went to the gym was three weeks ago. I swam once since then but have otherwise just been too physically exhausted at the end of the day to do anything but put my feet up. I feel like I am going into birth not nearly as in shape as I was with Jude. At 39 weeks with him I was climbing 18 flights of stairs, now I huff and puff up one! I know it will take sometime after birth to regain my normal fitness level  – especially as it will be even harder to find time. I am hopeful though that I can start training for a half marathon or some other sporting event to motivate me once I’ve been cleared for exercise.

I’ve managed to get a little bit of ‘me’ time thanks to our nanny. One day when she came to help out with Jude I decided to go out for a big breakfast. It was so nice and relaxing as usually I scarf down my breakfast while helping Jude with his. It was especially nice not to have to share with anyone!

I decided to order a slice of banana pie and just about licked the plate clean!

Once again I have had a rough end of my pregnancy. With Jude I got horribly itchy skin in the last week before giving birth. This time round, I got it again, only earlier. It gets especially bad at night and so has really affected my sleep. I’ve bee averaging 3-4 hours a night. It’s really, really awful. My doctor has given me some medication to help reduce it but it won’t go away completely until after I’ve had birth. I suppose I won’t be sleeping much anyhow once the baby is here so what’s a few extra weeks?

So far I haven’t had any labor signs apart from Braxton Hicks contractions which I get all day long. They were measured at my last appointment but still not regular enough to count as early labor. My cervix is also still shut tight. I was happy about this as it sounds like he will stay put until my parents get here.

I still can’t believe sometime in the next week or so we will have another baby. We will be a family of FOUR. It sounds so big! We are all so excited to meet baby brother.

 

 

 

 

Full Term

I’m 37 weeks pregnant  – officially full term! My actual due date isn’t until April 28th but he could come anytime. He’s done all his major development and is now just adding weight. The past month has been all about preparing for his arrival.

We took birth classes to help us get ready for labor and delivery.

Sterilized baby bottles.

Finished organizing the nursery.

Spent time together.

Ate pork tonkatsu,

and lots of mochi.

Then spent time at the gym trying to burn some of it off.

Did some  baking and put it in the freezer for easy postpartum snacks and meals.

Hung out with the cats.

Took lots of photos of them,

and of course, of my gigantic belly.

Keeping Fit

I’ve been trying my hardest to stay active during the third trimester. It’s certainly been tough as I’ve been getting bigger and a lot more tired. I find myself dozing off at various times during the day. It’s a terrible curse that pregnant women are not advised to drink coffee!

(Here I am this week at 33 weeks:)

I always thought I would be a pregnant runner. I knew other women did it, and made it look easy, so why couldn’t I? I’ve been running fora good ten years and was keen to keep it up. I gave it a good go too, running a few times a week in the second trimester (my first trimester I was recovering from my knee surgery plus my nausea/tiredness ruled running out). But as my tummy grew running just didn’t feel right. I was obsessively thinking about how the baby felt inside there while I was bouncing around. I know doctors have come out and said there is no harm to the baby  but you still can’t help but think about it. Plus my body had changed so much that it made my form really awkward. And I just felt heavy – which made it really, really hard.

So without running I had to turn to other activities to keep active. I bought myself a new bike –  a cruiser rather than a mountain bike so my knees don’t hit my belly when I ride. I have  found it much easier to bike than walk. I’m also a lot more careful when I ride – sticking to the sidewalks and avoiding and sharp turns.

I’ve also been trying to get to the pool at least once a week. To do so I had to buy a new swimsuit as I had stretched my speedo to its limit. I was unable to find a maternity suit in Taipei and the only thing I could find to accommodate my belly was this two piece in XL. I wouldn’t be caught dead in this if I wasn’t pregnant but it does the trick for now.

I’ve also been doing some walking here and there when my back feels up to it. On the treadmill:

And at the University track.

But by far, the best preggo activity I have been doing is yoga. I go two times a week and always notice the difference after – it really helps to ease my aches and pains.

I’m going to try to keep up this routine as long as I can. My Doctor wants me to cease all activity apart from walking when I am full term at 37 weeks. It will be tough especially if baby comes late but I suppose I should use that time as an opportunity to rest up before baby comes.