second trimester bliss.

the second trimester was awesome! i started weaning myself off of nausea medicine at about 17/18 weeks and was completely off of them by 20 weeks. i still got bouts of nausea everrrry once in awhile, but nothing to complain about. everyone was right-i got all of my energy back during this time. my doctor is very conservative and told me not to continue running until i was in my second trimester so that all of the oxygen could go to the rapidly growing baby during the first trimester. the first time i ran was when i was about 14 weeks along and i nearly cried i was so happy. it felt amazing to be stretching my legs and doing something that makes me feel so good, i had no idea i would miss it as much as i did. 

may 5: 13 weeks

definitely not showing, buy not the stomach i had pre baby:)

june 7: 17 weeks 5 days

This is about the time i felt like strangers would think i was pregnant. it is funny to look back on these photos because i felt so much bigger than i look. we had an appointment the day before and the heartbeat was 151.

june 12: 18 weeks 3 days

june 14: 18 weeks 5 days

this was at Jill's wedding and my extended family could all tell I was showing.

june 15: 18 weeks 6 days

Katie is coming out here a week before my due date and staying until a week after! hopefully this is not the only belly picture she gets with me. i won't see audrey before having the baby. she was the cutestttt about me being pregnant, she kept running up to me and hugging and rubbing my belly. we went on a hike in may when we were home and on a scary part she turned around to face me and said "be careful with that baby!" 

june 18: 19 weeks 2 days

this is really when jon and i could see a baby bump. 

june 27: 20 weeks 4 days

halfway there! right after this photo we went to the horse races and placed some bets. (don't worry, gambling isn't bad as long as you come out with the same amount or more that you left with, heh heh) this dress was my go-to in the beginning because it is so comfortable but thanks to my growing size, it is now too short!

july 3: 21 weeks 3 days

me and sadie the day before the fourth of july! 

we had an appointment on july 1st and the heartbeat was a strong 148!

we went to visit my cousins john and kat in dallas for the holiday and any time we went swimming john would say "i keep forgetting you're pregnant and when i see you in your swimsuit think 'wow, she's let herself go.'"

july 17: 23 weeks 3 days

all non-maternity clothes but barely making them work.

july 22: 24 weeks

the top part of my belly button started poking out so early on. the one thing i didn't want to happen to me was have a big belly button sticking out because that weirds me out, but lucky me! 

august 1: 25 weeks 4 days 

here we are, ready for our ultrasound! we could have done an ultrasound at 20 weeks, but since we weren't anxious to find out the gender, she pushed it back to our following appointment when i was 25 weeks so that she could check the brain, heart, etc. when it was a little bigger and stronger. we both look sleepy because our doctor constantly runs late so we started booking her first appointment for the day-7am!

it was amazing to see that little baby up on the screen. the baby was laying so that we were looking down on him/her. we could see that the little one had the hiccups and i could feel it through the ultrasound thing she was pushing on my stomach. the whole abdomen would contract with the hiccups, it was too cute! i can't ever tell when it has the hiccups, so it was cool to see it on the screen and feel it from the outside. we saw its little mouth moving too. she told us to look away a couple times as she measured the legs. she said she wasn't checking for the gender but didn't want us to be looking at the screen in case we got a surprise crotch shot. she doesn't know the gender either, so it'll be a surprise for all of us when the baby is born! we are sooooo excited for that moment. neither of us have a clue what we are having. for the last few weeks jon felt as though we are having a girl, but the other night i asked him "what is our baby??" and he said "my first thought was boy!"

25 weeks 4 days 

how cute!!! we are looking down at the baby here so you can see two eyes, a chin like mine and audrey's, the abdomen with the black spot for its heart. jon lovingly said that our little baby looks like sid's doll on toy story. he was right.

august 2: 25 weeks 5 days 

this is pretty typical. it was recommended to me that i get birkenstocks for my pregnancy and i have been loving them-they are easy to put on and very comfortable. these are not maternity shorts but my sisters friend gave them to her to wear while pregnant because they are stretchy and comfy. this is when we were out for top-notch snow cones at Bahama Bucks with our friends who just found out they are expecting too!!!!

august 12: 27 weeks 

august 13: 27 weeks 2 days
during the second trimester i started to go to physical therapy for my back. it had been hurting so bad that it was affecting me at work. i got a referral from my OB and the first visit at physical therapy the doctor told me my rib was out of place and that's why the top/middle part of my back was in so much pain and the front part of my rib right where my bra hits hurt as well. he pushed it back into place and i continued to go to PT once or twice a week for about 6 weeks. he kept encouraging me to go to the pool to water jog and try to get a workout while in the water where there is no pressure on my back. it has helped tremendously.
i continued to have heartburn throughout this trimester but my doctor gave me medicine that helps. i got a body pillow that has helped me sleep through the night and walking/running/and swimming has helped me feel okay about the weight gain. i loved the second trimester because i started to feel like myself again and people kept telling me how cute and tiny i looked. my friend kim told me to really enjoy those compliments while they last because by the end of the pregnancy no one will be telling me that! although we've been here in texas with the heat and humidity, it really hasn't bothered me yet. i keep wondering when i'm going to start to feel hot all the time and secretly hope it just won't happen. all in all, it was a fun summer and has been so exciting to be planning our new life with a little one.