20 Weeks. What a milestone! We are to the half way point of meeting our little boy. It’s been a while since I’ve updated you about our coming new addition, so I felt like a blog post was needed.
The First Trimester
Symptoms: Morning Sickness, Nausea, Breast Tenderness, Sensitive to Smells, and sleepiness.
I’m not going to lie- weeks 7 thru 13 were rough. I felt like I was on a row boat, constantly being swayed back and forth on the inside. At 10 weeks, I remember telling Jason that this pregnancy was much worse than my pregnancy with Jocelyn. I was only exhausted with her. With this little one, ugh, I felt nauseated 24/7. Happily, it subsided completely by week 13.
What was helpful? Three things. First, being able to work from home allowed me to rest when I needed to. I cannot teaching in the classroom during weeks 7-13. Second, the sheer joy of knowing that our baby was growing made me feel better. The worse I physically felt, the better I felt emotionally, knowing that my body was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. So I held on. Third, daily walks gave me inner peace and helped reduce my pregnancy symptoms. To add to this joy, we began taking weekly photos to document the pregnancy. It’s been fun to see my belly grow.
The Second Trimester
Symptoms: Braxton Hicks Contractions, Leg Cramps, Round Ligament Pain, and occasional bouts of Constipation.
By week 14, I felt so much better! All of the previous mentioned symptoms went away. Then one night, while laying on the couch, I felt a swift kick to my left side. I knew it was the baby. I lay there longer and began to feel soft flutters. It was wonderful. From them on, I have felt the baby move several times each day.
During week 15, we had a Zoom Gender Reveal and learned that we’re expecting a precious baby boy. The whole family is excited to meet him this November. And Yes, he’ll have a “J” name too! We will share his name soon.
Everything was okay until I reached Week 17. During my 17th week, I lost my inner peace as rioting began nationwide. Fort Worth was given a curfew which prevented me from taking my evening walks. There was also an incident where teenage boys shot into a man’s car just because he was white. After this, I feared someone would hurt Jason, my husband, because of the color of his skin. I began to have nightmares. Then one morning, I woke up and I couldn’t feel the baby’s soft flutters anymore. In deep anguish, I began sobbing in fear and terror.
Jason calmed me down, by holding me tight in his arms and saying a prayer to Jehovah. Afterwards, I drank a glass of cold water and just lay there in deep prayer. A few minutes later I felt the baby’s soft flutters once more. I have never been so relived! However, everything had taken it’s toll. Mental stress and tears brought on Braxton Hicks Contractions. Not feeling safe to take a daily walk led to leg cramps, slow digestion, and eventually constipation. My belly began to expanded which led to round ligaments pain as those tendons stretch. Ouch! I knew I needed time to regain my peace, so I wisely took a week off social media. I have chosen to remain neutral about the world’s affairs. The most important thing right now is keeping myself calm so baby boy can grow.
Coming Changes
Weeks 18-20 have brought incredible changes for our family. First, Jason purchased a baby heart rate monitor. With my doctor’s permission, I use the fetal Doppler once a week to find the baby’s heart beat. It takes me a few minutes to find the right spot, but each time, his steady heartbeat soothes my fears.
To get in some needed exercise, Jocelyn and I have gone swimming each week in grandma’s backyard. I purchased a ruffled swimsuit from Pink Blush Maternity, which I instantly loved and shared on Instagram. You can imagine my delight when the company asked me to become a Pink Blush Style Ambassador! This lovely floral maxi dress is also from Pink Blush Maternity. It’s so comfortable and the perfect dress to instantly look put together.
Jason and I had been talking about our family’s needs once the baby arrives. There will be a 10 year age gap between Jocelyn and the new baby. Not to mention, they’re opposite genders. So we made it a matter of prayer, counted the cost, contacted our realtor to sell our current home. We placed our house on the market and instantly received four offers. Two of them were $10,000 over our asking price! Simultaneously, we found our dream home after two days of house hunting. We made an offer which was eventually accepted. (That process is a whole other blog post.) Long story short, WE’RE MOVING!!! What an eventful 20 weeks it’s been. I pray that the next 20 weeks pass smoothly and we get to bring our healthy little boy home to our new house. Thanks for reading and please keep us in your prayers.
