Several people have told me that the 2nd trimester is the easiest trimester of the three, especially if morning sickness played a part in the 1st. I feel fortunate that my morning sickness wasn't as severe as some people experience. I never actually threw up, just felt queasy almost all the time. It didn't totally hamper my appetite to the point that I never felt like eating, but there were times I just wanted to eat a popsicle instead of anything substantial. I also ate a lot of crackers and toast. Eating every couple hours, making sure my stomach was never empty, helped the queasiness. All in all, it wasn't horrible, but I'm so glad it mostly went away! I wondered if I would be one of those women who are sick their entire pregnancy, but about a week before my first OB appointment, I started to feel better and better. It kind of worried me because I had stopped feeling queasy a couple days before I miscarried. When we found out I was at 13 and a half weeks pregnant instead of 8 weeks, it made sense that the morning sickness had cleared up. What a relief!
It's also wonderful to get my energy back. Looking back, I wonder how much of my total lack of energy and desire to do anything was due to being pregnant and not just to my self-diagnosed depression. When I arrived home from work, I wanted to sit on the couch and do nothing but read or watch TV. I felt like such a stick in the mud! I feel so much better now; I'm sure the lack of queasiness and the better weather has a lot to do with it, too. Now I can't wait to go on an evening walk with Steve and Sadie and during the weekends I'm up for going places instead of wishing I could stay in bed all day. I feel like a real person again.
One thing that seems odd to me is that brushing my teeth makes me gag. I told my mom about it and she said she'd never heard of that before, but I mentioned it to my pregnant sister-in-law and she's experiencing the same thing. Someone suggested trying a different toothpaste but that didn't work. It's not the taste of the paste, anyway, it's the feeling of the toothbrush moving at the back of my mouth. I'm fine brushing my front teeth but I have to think happy thoughts to get through brushing my back teeth and even then I tend to gag after just a few moments. Dental health is important, though, so I keep brushing.
According to babycenter.com, the baby measures about 4" long and weighs 2 1/2 ounces. It's roughly the size of an apple. It's weird to think that I have a living being the size of an apple inside of me! I can't imagine what it's going to be like as the baby gets bigger! Freaky!!!!
We're getting excited about finding out the baby's gender in a couple weeks (April 4). People ask me if I'm "leaning" toward one or the other - meaning if I have a gut feeling that it's a boy or a girl. I tell them no. My mom swears it's a girl and my dad knows it's a boy. Steve and I don't care which and are just waiting until the next doctor's appointment. Even then, there's no guarantee the baby will cooperate and let us see what we need to see. Still, it will be fun to know and to start preparing. We've made a list of boys names and girls names we like but just as we think of them. Nothing too set-in-stone at this time, but being able to eliminate one of the lists will be nice. I'm thinking I'd like to paint the baby's room yellow either way since it goes well with both blue and pink and so many other colors...and I just love yellow! It's so cheerful.