The Halfway Point

Once the initial shock of finding out I was pregnant subsided, one of my first thoughts was holy crap. 40 weeks is a long freaking time.

It’s more than three quarters of a year, which is a long time to do anything, not to mention how much can change in that amount of time. Pregnancy itself didn’t scare me; it was more that I was overwhelmed at the sheer number of days that were stretching out in front of me and everything that had to get done—and what I could no longer do—during that time.

Well, I’ve officially reached the halfway point of my pregnancy and I can confidently say that all my apprehensions about how long it would seem have totally gone out the window. The time is flying by.

Once we got past the point of being comfortable sharing the news publicly, it seems that with each passing week I wake up thinking, am I really 18 weeks already? Has it really been 19 weeks? And today, here we are at 21. I’m sure by week 35 when I can no longer touch my toes I’ll be a little more impatient, but right now I’m enjoying every moment of it.

Everyone always says the second trimester is the best of the three, and so far it checks out. I feel good most days—sometimes when I’m on a walk with the dogs, I’ll break into a little sprint to let them get some energy out and have a little jolt when I suddenly remember that, oh yeah, there’s a baby in there and slow our pace back down.

Fever Dreams and the Dangers of Dehydration

No, it’s not a song off a 2002 Taking Back Sunday album. It’s how I entered the second trimester. OMG, who knew not drinking enough water could cause so many problems?

First there were the headaches. I started waking up with one almost every morning, and although I’m not crazy about taking medicine if I don’t need to, I would end up having to pop two Tylenol just to get some work done.

Then one day the Tylenol didn’t kick in. It was a migraine, worse than any headache I’ve had in my life. Migraine sufferers, I now have a whole new level of sympathy for you, because they’re no joke.

By the evening, I was laying in bed in the dark, head swimming, tears running down my face as I debated whether it was completely silly to think about going to the hospital, while Johnny held a cold washcloth on my face. I forced water down throughout the night and all day the next day and haven’t stopped hydrating since. Thankfully, it seems to be keeping any more migraines at bay.

Then there are the fever dreams. I’m not sure if these are related to being dehydrated or just one of the many weird-things-my-body-is-doing during pregnancy, but they’re wild. A few nights a week I have dreams so vivid and intense that I wake up in the throes of some crazy emotion.

One night it’s panic because I’m in Europe trying to get home to America, but somehow keep missing flight after flight. One night it’s hysterics because Bo was shot in the head with a BB gun. One night it’s despair because a friend has committed some unthinkable betrayal against me. They’re insanely realistic and almost always negative. Even though nothing feels better than waking up from a dream like that, it’s definitely an unsettling way to start the day.

Other than that, I’m thankful to be having a smooth pregnancy so far.

Baby Shopping and Other Fun Stuff

We found out via blood test around week 13 that we’re having a girl! I’m over the moon about it, but for some reason I haven’t been that jazzed about shopping for baby stuff. It’s not that I don’t want to do it—I think it’s just less exciting to look at baby clothes online than it is to touch and hold and fill your cart with cute, tiny things at a physical store, which no one is doing much of these days.

All that changed on a recent road trip to meet up with my parents in Virginia. It was wonderful to see them, but one of my favorite parts of the trip was when we spotted some baby items in the window of an adorable local shop.

You guys, I haven’t seen baby clothes in person since I found out I was pregnant, and something about seeing them on display and knowing that I now have a reason to shop for these was just the sweetest feeling. It was thrilling to pick up a wintery outfit and have thoughts like, this will be perfect for her when it’s snowing out. Her–an actual new human who who we get to meet so soon. Crazy!

We picked out a couple outfits for baby girl and my mom and Mike gave me some gifts they had brought along, so my stockpile is officially started. Next on my list are signing us up for prenatal classes (which will likely be online) and finally starting a registry, which I’ve also been procrastinating.

21 weeks down, 19 more to go. It’s still unbelievable to me that by winter we’ll be a family of five, but I get more excited about it by the day.