Time for another pregnancy episode! As I’m recording this, I’m in my 25th week of pregnancy. You’ll hear it in my 26th week if you listen live. Then the next week, the 2nd trimester is OVER and the 3rd trimester begins! Today I’m letting you in on a full second trimester update!
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:
Subscribe & download the episode to your device: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | iHeartRadio
Search for episode 118!
Gender Reveal
If you missed it, we are having a BOY!! We are really excited (and would be been excited either way) but after finding out the gender, it feels even more real! We choose to find out the gender at our 20-week anatomy scan but asked the nurse not to tell us. Instead, we had her put it in an envelope that Adam and I opened at dinner later that evening.
The next morning, I had a mini panic session where I realized I don’t know much about boys! I thought I would be having a girl and as I grew up with all girls in my house and mostly work with women in my adult life, I just naturally know more about girls.
It turns out that a ton of women feel this way, especially business owners who work with women. I had some boy moms share this same experience with me and I felt better knowing that feeling was totally normal!
We choose to have a gender reveal party with some friends and seriously had the best time. The party was so fun. We had Moes catered and made margaritas. Our gender reveal cake by Grace Bakes in Nashville was seriously the best cake I’ve ever had!
How I’m physically feeling
I had a somewhat breezy first trimester, which I’m so thankful for. For most of the second trimester, I’ve felt great too! I’ve had that second-trimester energy you hear people talk about. I am starting to feel some of those pregnancy aches and pains but I’m still enjoying pregnancy.
I do FEEL pregnant now. I can’t see my feet and I’m hungrier than I usually am. The biggest change for this trimester is the achiness and some headaches. I definitely am more tired and my feet get tired from walking pretty quickly. And the biggest thing is being achy! Like achy back, achy feet. Headaches some. Itchy still… but getting better.
I’ve gotten to feel and SEE baby boy kick now, which is the wildest feeling ever. It’s amazing. At first for a while, only I could feel it and it was very subtle. Now adam can feel it too and we can both SEE when it happens if we watch my stomach.
Babymoon
A babymoon is a trip before the baby with just your spouse! We wanted to go somewhere that would be especially challenging to go to with a baby and do it the way we wanted to. We didn’t want to go somewhere we go often but also wanted somewhere we hadn’t been together.
We landed in New York City because we had been talking about going there for years. I had been exactly 10 years ago with my grandparents and Adam went when he was little but we had never traveled there together.
It was everything I could have hoped for out of a trip, and we both commented multiple times about smooth things went. The timing worked out great for us. We wanted to go once things started opening back up but not wait too long so that I wasn’t extremely uncomfortable and still able to physically feel pretty good!
We did this trip during my 25th week of pregnancy, but I think more like 20 weeks would have been ideal because I would have felt better physically. Nonetheless, our trip was amazing!
Exercising to prepare for birth
Here are some of the things I have been trying to incorporate into my daily routine as we start preparing for the baby to come. I didn’t even know this was a thing but as I go into my third trimester, I’ll be taking these even more seriously. As much as possible, I’m sitting on my yoga ball when I’m watching TV or relaxing in another way INSTEAD OF lounging around.
Here are my current exercises:
- Low squat holds: 20 minutes a week
- Pelvic tilts: 2 minutes a day
- Chair inversion: 1-2 minutes a day
- Squats: (GOAL) 700 a week
- Lots of stretching
One of the best places that I have gotten exercise ideas is from the Pregnancy and Birth Made Easy Podcast. If you want to see the workouts I’ve been doing, check out my second trimester blog post for more details!
Other things I started this trimester
I have started going to the chiropractor. I have only gone a handful of times but it is helpful. Right now I’m going every other week. Once I get closer to my due date, I’ll go weekly.
I’ve also been taking one bath a week and using Pregnancy Flakes by Pink Stork in it.
I started working with a voice coach during this second trimester too! Having a sore throat is always a thing for me, especially when I’m batching podcast content or recording for my Booked Out Designer course, but it has been worse with pregnancy.
Business Stuff
I think I’ll look back on this time in my business as being the most productive EVER. I wrote and finished most of the content for my course, Booked Out Designer during this second trimester. I’m growing a baby, running a business, preparing for a baby with the giant to-do list that comes with it, AND creating an online course.
If you missed the recap, you can check it out here in episode #114: Behind The Scenes Of My Multi-Five Figure Beta Course Launch (That Sold Out In Less Than An Hour!)
In addition to all of that, I also designed an entire template this trimester, which you’ll be hearing about that soon as I’ll be releasing it. Go ahead and get excited about that!
I have all of my business to-dos mapped out week by week and I know the main focus on the agenda. I know what EVERY WEEK until my due date looks like. My final weeks have no work or just playing catch up.
So that’s it! This is been a great experience with my second trimester. I highly encourage you to check out my Second Trimester Must-Have Products, Books, Podcasts, and Resources for Mamas-to-Be post! There are so many good things in there that I think you will enjoy!
Episodes Mentioned:
#105 | 20 Questions About Building A Successful, Booked Out Design Business – Part One!
#106 | 20 Questions About Building A Successful, Booked Out Design Business – Part Two!
#107 | We’re Pregnant Announcement
#112 | Pregnancy Rapid Fire Q&A
Links Mentioned:
Listen to the Breakthrough Brand Podcast
Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram
Get on the Booked Out Designer Waitlist
First Trimester Must-Haves Products Blog
Second Trimester Must-Haves Products Blog