23 Week Pregnancy Update (Baby #2)

I’m 23 weeks pregnant today! Time is flying and also crawling, you know? 

I haven’t posted any pregnancy updates at all recently (the only one so far was my pregnancy announcement/first trimester recap post at 15 weeks, so check that out if you missed it), so I thought it was time! 

It’s funny looking back at pics from last time, when I was 22 weeks pregnant with Riese (and apparently way better about posting consistent pregnancy updates – every 2 weeks!), and wow am I showing way more this time! Friends told me after your first pregnancy you show much more quickly and they were definitely right.

Our baby is currently the size of a large mango or an eggplant. Here’s an action shot of him from our 20 week ultrasound!

He was basically doing leg presses on my bladder (see the bottom photo), oof. Makes a lot of sense considering how often I have to pee!

How I’ve Been Feeling Lately

I’ve been feeling relatively good since about 16 weeks, when my nausea and extreme fatigue finally ended. What a game changer it is to not feel ready for bed by 4 every day and super nauseous/hating food all the time! 

I mean, I’m still a lot more tired than I am when I’m not pregnant, of course. But things have majorly looked up compared to earlier on and I’m super grateful for that.

Last time when pregnant with Riese I remember feeling better around 12/13 weeks, so it’s interesting that the really rough phase went on longer this time! I’m sure part of that has to do with the fact that this time I’m chasing a toddler around… being pregnant when you already have a child is a totally different ball game.

Let’s just say any screen-time reservations we used to have have basically gone out the window thanks to the pandemic + pregnancy combo… Riese is definitely not upset to get to watch more of her favorite show, Doc McStuffins!

Anyway! I’m starting to feel more awkward physically, tying my shoes is getting tougher, and I’m definitely still lower energy than normal, but overall I feel a thousand times better than I did in the first trimester and through about the 16 week point, not just physically but mentally, too. I just feel more like myself, which is nice. 

Every once in awhile I’ll still feel a little nauseated or put off by food in the evenings, but for the most part I’ve been able to eat pretty normally in the past month, which is very helpful especially because then I don’t wake up in the middle of the night nauseous hungry from not eating enough dinner.

I definitely need to stay on top of my hunger, especially earlier in the day (hi, two full breakfasts) or else I feel rough, though!

Cravings

I haven’t had any super extreme cravings except for one day when all I wanted was chicken fingers and ketchup. I could not stop thinking about it.

It was like 3 p.m. but I knew I wouldn’t stop thinking about it until I had it so I went and picked some up. Luckily Junction Bakery in Del Ray had some yummy ones… this hit the spot! And yes I still had a normal dinner a few hours later. 🙂 

Mmm, looking at that photo makes me want that again…

For the most part, though, I haven’t had a ton of strong cravings. I still like juicy/watery type stuff (like fruit, yogurt, raw peppers and other raw veggies, coconut water, etc.) because I’m so thirsty all the time, though!

Fitness

I’m feeling pretty good fitness-wise lately! I am definitely not crushing it like I was during my last pregnancy with lots of in-person workout classes (sigh, I miss them and my workout buddies), but that’s okay. 

Running isn’t feeling good for me anymore as of a few weeks ago (bummer), but baby and I have been taking lots of walks and doing some hikes with Matt and Riese instead. 

I’m also continuing to do a (virtual) once per week training session with my brother-in-law Drew, who is a personal trainer, and it has been great to have something so tailored to me/where I am in pregnancy. 

Matt and I were doing Drew’s virtual group fitness classes together twice a week as well, but I’ve switched to my sister-in-law Morgana’s virtual group classes instead, which also focus on strength but don’t have any high impact moves, so they feel much more pregnancy friendly and I don’t have to modify a whole lot which is nice. I’m planning to do those twice per week as long as it feels good.

I find that I usually don’t want to work out, but once I do I feel better, so signing up for virtual classes/paying in advance is helpful for that accountability!

I have been a little all over the place with yoga, though. I was taking outdoor in-person classes once per week when the weather was warmer, but those are all virtual now and I haven’t been great about making full 60 minutes yoga classes happen virtually because the time when my favorite teacher teaches doesn’t work for us right now. Boo.

I did find Harlow’s Earth prenatal yoga thanks to a blog reader, though, and they offer short (15-20 minutes) YouTube videos tailored to each week of pregnancy, which is super cool. So I’ve been enjoying those when I make them happen, which is usually once or maybe twice a week.

I always feel good when I do them it’s just tough to make the time when there’s not a set time for me to do them! But the fact that they are so short really helps. 

Recent Fave Pregnancy Products

I have a couple favorite pregnancy-related products at the moment. First is this cool adjustable floor chair with back support, which my in-laws gave me. 

Normally sitting on the floor to play with Riese is fine for me, but nowadays having some back support and a little cushion under my bum is very helpful. Game changer! I expect I’ll use it long after pregnancy now that we have it, unless Riese breaks it first, that is, because she thinks it’s a super fun jungle gym to play on…

Second is this Old Navy active tank (<- a super similar one with good reviews, I didn’t see this exact one online anymore) that a friend handed down to me in a couple colors!

Last time I was pregnant I wore mostly loose workout tanks or stretchy regular (not maternity) tanks, but it feels better to wear actual maternity ones this time.

Old Navy has tons of great and affordable maternity clothing, by the way, if you are pregnant! Not just activewear but lots of cute regular clothes, too. 

For workout tights, I have some from Old Navy and Target from last pregnancy, and I’ve still been really loving the Lululemon Align Leggings (not maternity, but apparently they stretch right back to normal afterwards) as well. 

Birth Plans

I laugh at the word “plans” because of course there’s only so much one can plan when pregnant (and with parenthood, too – these kids keep us on our toes)!

Last time, with Riese, we had a doula and everything and then I found out at 36 weeks that she was breech and I’d have to do a scheduled C section. Womp, womp. Plans out the window.

(Here’s Riese’s C section birth story, if you’d like to read it!)

I’ve had some of you ask if I’m hoping to have a VBAC this time, and yes, that is my #1 how I hope things go scenario, and my doctor has said they will support a VBAC (if things are looking safe for it, of course).

We aren’t planning to hire a doula again, though, because especially with the covid situation we don’t want to worry about whether another person will be allowed in, etc. 

A VBAC would be great, but if this baby is breech too or if things go south and a C section is required again, that’s okay too. A healthy, safe baby (and me being healthy and safe!) is of course the biggest goal and nothing else really matters. 

That said, of course I’d really like to not have to deal with recovering from major abdominal surgery while taking care of a newborn again (plus a toddler this time), not gonna lie. I’m sure vaginal birth isn’t a cakewalk in terms of recovery, but C section recovery is… not my favorite thing ever, especially since it took so long before I was able to run without pain at my incision area (many many months after I was laughably “cleared” for running by my doc). 

If a second C section is how things go, so be it. But I’m hopeful! Only time will tell, we will just wait and see and embrace whatever comes. 

Baby’s Room Progress

We are making progress slowly on the baby’s room! We are turning our guest room into the baby’s room, and slowly getting rid of the furniture in that room.

I sold the dresser that was in there on Craigslist last weekend, and soon we will get rid of the bed, too. We bought a pull-out couch to put in our playroom so that way guests still have somewhere to stay when they come now that we won’t have a guest room anymore! 

We bought Riese a “big girl” bed (we got her this one from Pottery Barn Kids in twin size – I like that it’s nice and low to the ground, and basic/simple) that should arrive in a week or two, so once that comes we will move the crib over to the baby’s room.

We wanted to do this swap well in advance of baby’s arrival so Riese didn’t see it as a direct “baby is here and stealing my bed” type situation… she’s already sleeping in the crib with the toddler rail on so she can get out on her own, so hopefully the transition to a big bed won’t be too big of a change.

Instead of rails, I bought one of these cushion bumpers that will go under her bottom sheet. Seemed cozier than a rail but still effective hopefully.

Anyway, as for baby #2’s furniture, the room is quite small so I wanted to get a combined dresser + toy/book storage type situation vs. having two separate pieces of furniture like we have in Riese’s room (which is also small, but a tiny bit bigger). I spent some time online shopping over the weekend and settled on this dresser, which I liked because it has the two open spots where we can put books or a little basket/bin for toys. It’s also nice because Riese’s dresser is the same depth (and from the same store), so we know the removable changing table topper from her dresser can easily be swapped. So that saves us buying a new changing table topper, at least!

I also bought this white nightstand and this reclining gray glider for the baby’s room. I’m especially excited for the glider! For Riese’s room we have a cheap glider that was never super comfortable, so I wanted to upgrade and splurge a bit this time. I also like that the foot rest is built in so it doesn’t take up space in the room when it’s not in use – the foot rest in Riese’s room is always in the way it feels like!

Matt’s parents are giving us an old swivel rocking chair of theirs that we are going to get reupholstered and put in Riese’s room to replace the old glider, so it will be nice to have cozy chairs in both rooms! That one won’t have a foot rest but that’s fine since it will just be for reading books before bed, and it will be nice to open up the room a bit more, especially since her new bed will of course be bigger than the crib was. 

The only thing we still need to get for the baby’s room now is some artwork/fun stuff to hang on the walls, and a rug! The room is painted a nice medium teal blue color from the previous owners that we like and will keep, so we need to work with that for what to get rug-wise. I want one that’s cozy but also made from natural materials that will be healthy for baby to crawl/roll around on. Any recs?

Here is what the walls look like – that’s our old guest bed (excuse how wrinkled it is…) that we are getting rid of soon, and we will move the pictures too to have something more kid-focused. 

Alrighty, I think that’s just about enough rambling for one post, don’t you?

Thank you for reading and for sharing in this journey with us! I’ll probably share another pregnancy update in a month, or whenever I feel like I have a lot more to say again. 🙂 Stay tuned!

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