Trimester Two and the Gender Reveal

Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks preggars.  The second trimester, as promised, is infinitely better than the first.  Some improvements: I can drink water and eat most foods except for too much acidic food - which gives me heartburn and makes me sad as a result, increased energy, I now look pregnant instead of fat, my baby is pushing and kicking and punching and dancing and the hubs can feel it, and I have a fabulous excuse to buy new clothes.  Some downsides: my clothes officially don't fit - forcing me to stare at the clothing in my closet in frustration and wish I had more money for maternity clothes, I have really begun to dwell on the whole labor/birthing aspect of this pregnancy, constipation has become a thing, and my extra pillow has now become a belly cushion.

Update:  The whole constipation issue tends to alternate with diarrhea, which is good because I don't go longer than two or three days of being constipated before the diarrhea begins.  Woot… The main problem I have had during the second trimester is acid reflux.  I couldn't even drink a sip of water without acid rising up and burning my throat.  This proved to be a problem because I couldn't drink water which is somewhat vital and I couldn't eat without repercussions.  After attempting to use fresh ginger (yuck!), ginger ale (burn), and ginger tea (worse burn), as well as other acid reflux reducing methods, I asked my midwife for advice.  She suggested Zantac, and let me tell you, it is a life saver.

Gender Reveal Anticipation

My favorite part of the second trimester so far has been finding out the gender of the baby.  We set up the ultrasound appointment for a Saturday morning (typically a no-no for Seventh Day Adventists but a bit of a necessity because of how far I drive for work and my schedule).  We knew about the appointment two weeks ahead of time.  This is too much time.  I am not a patient woman, never have been.  So, in an effort to make others as impatient as I was, I decided to utilize Facebook to build anticipation.  I started on a Monday a few days before the ultrasound, posting three to four old wives tales a day with my answer and which gender that pointed to.  People would comment on what they thought I was having based on my answers or their experience with their pregnancies and/or laugh at the answers.  The old wives tales distracted me enough and passed time a bit quicker.

The old wives tales I posted were:

Did my skin break out or clear up? Sadly I broke out - girl.
Is my skin dry or normal? Sadly my skin is dry - boy.
Is my baby bump high or low? Low - boy.
Did the ring on the string circle or swing? It swung - girl.
What does the Chinese calendar say? Boy.
Am I gaining weight in my stomach or my bottom? I'm all belly apparently - boy.
Do I have more or normal leg hair? Less, actually… - girl.
Have I been sleeping on my left or right side? Left - boy.
Is the baby's heart rate above or below 140? Above - girl.
Am I craving fruit or dairy/protein? Dairy - always, boy.
Are my feet feeling cold or normal? Normal, girl.
Have I been mostly happy or mostly moody? Mostly happy, boy.
Is the hubs gaining or maintaining weight? Gaining! Boy.
Is my nose bigger or the same? Same - girl.
What does the Mayan predictor say? Boy.

My favorite response was to the hubs gaining or maintaing/losing weight.  My friend pointed out that my hubs is always gaining more muscle mass because of how much he works out.  I had to specify that he had plateaued before I became pregnant.  He has really enjoyed the gains he has seen lately as a result, silly guy.

One that I didn't post was that instinct is usually right - about 70% of the time.  Instinct is different from what you want though, so be careful not to be trying to "will" your baby to be something because of what you want.  I knew I was having a boy, I was positive.  I didn't mention this because I didn't want to sway people's guesses, which was the next phase of the torture Facebook friends operation.  Saturday morning, I posted a status saying I would be posting the gender later that evening (to give me time to do a gender reveal to our immediate family and closest friends) and that we were taking guesses.    I took WAY too much pleasure out of people being wrong.  It's a problem.

The Reveal

After the ultrasound and church, we had my family over for lunch and got Sam's family on Facetime for the reveal.  We had set up our Christmas tree and put our gender-revealing ornaments in a box.  We had my mom open the box.  When she opened it, everyone could see the blue ornaments inside.  My four year old nephew, who wanted a girl, responded with an, "awww...." which prompted some laughter.  Turns out, no one was surprised.  I know my husband and I weren't.  Neither were his cousins, or my mom.  The hubs was too excited, which gave it away to anyone that was holding out thinking it was a girl.  After the reveal and making our phone calls to our close friends, we posted the photo on Facebook and basked in the likes.

We had a hard time getting a good picture.  I don't like my face in this one, but it was the best overall.  Also, the baby bump isn't so visible.  Oh well.

Some random pieces of information: the tree skirt is a curtain bunched up and wrapped around the bottom of our lovely plastic tree because tree skirts are unreasonably expensive in stores, the garland is ribbon, and the "S" was our first ornament as a married couple.

When we posted this picture on Facebook, we named the picture Santiago.  We agreed on this name fairly early on, but we are still working out the middle name between our two front runners.  We still have 18 weeks to figure it out.

Teaser

Next week, I will be posting some fun Christmas ornament ideas with how to along with a recipe trial and critique.  Hint: Nutella will be involved.  Yummmm.  I am getting excited already.