You might not even know it but Bryan had to go to South Carolina for another week so it was Reese and I on our own again from Sunday through Friday. We spent the past weekend battling the lingering Seattle cool spring weather with a fair bit of rain that we haven’t had in awhile, resorting to mostly indoor activities over the weekend. Before Bryan departed on his First Class flight(!) he did make our weekly Saturday morning breakfast and took Reese to soccer, per her request to go with Daddy! We spent the rest of the day indoors with Reese disinterested in going outside which meant a lot of playing with toys and movies. Too many movies.
On Sunday we drove Bryan to the airport and then did a few errands while we were out in the car and returned home for a brief nap before Sarah and Lottie came over to play for several hours before ordering Chinese takeout from Sichuanese Cuisine. The girls played mostly nicely and dinner was delicious and plentiful with kung pao chicken, garlic green beans, sweet garlic eggplant, pork potstickers and rice. I had so much food leftover I feel like I’ve been eating Chinese all week, not complaining though because I have had a certain craving for it lately.
In addition to Sunday nights dinner, my friend Marion invited Reese and I over for dinner at their apartment on Tuesday night, knowing that we were home by ourselves. I decided to pick Reese up by bike and we headed to the park in Eastlake for a bit before going over to dinner at their house which was excellent (Armenian rice with eggs and salad and a rhubarb tart for dessert) and I much enjoyed their company and getting to see their still very new baby girl again. Reese was highly interested in the baby, particularly when it was crying or taking a bottle, but also required going to the potty, I’m not kidding, five times in the matter of less than two hours.
Aside from those two events the week was rather predictable and uneventful. Reese and I went out for ice cream cones one night after dinner and we had a blast. And I did go into work two days this week to get myself back into a rhythm, slowly, and make sure my workspace is set up as I will be helping our new intern get all set up at her start date on the 21st. Good thing I did too because as expected, I was not set up. My new computer uses an altogether different docking station. I left my mouse and headset at home in the midst of packing up everything else I had to take into the office. I was productive at work so that’s a plus but it’s still pretty darn quiet in the office with very few people there and just an adjustment being back (also the kitchen is still essentially closed so I had to bring my own coffee and the microwaves and whatnot still aren’t supposed to be used).
And no one at work yet knows that I am pregnant as I have not told anyone. But I’ve already hit the second trimester mark, as of last Monday, and am into my 15th week. I had my midwife appointment on Monday which was nonessential and apparently they think so too because I’ll be getting my 20 week anatomy scan next but then won’t go back for an appointment until August when I’m 24 weeks! That’s crazy but I’m here for it. I do feel like I’ve regained a lot of my energy back in just the past two weeks and have been exercising like normal and sleeping like normal(ish) but there are still some lingering symptoms. I don’t feel like I have a right to complain about my first trimester because I know it could have been so much worse but this is a quick recap of what it looked like this time around:
- Like with the first, I had about two weeks of pretty significant around-the-clock nausea that was at its worst in the morning. However, I feel like unlike last time, I am still battling mild nausea symptoms, particularly late afternoon before dinner and right before bed making it a bit difficult to get to sleep sometimes.
- Sweets have not been my friend at all during this pregnancy. For a while I wasn’t even craving them and the smell of chocolate could have turned me away from the source but now I want it but regret it as soon as I eat it.
- For some time I really didn’t want any cooked vegetables, only crisp salads.
- I haven’t had many other food aversions other than that already mentioned; sugar, and for a time other acidic foods like coffee and tomato sauce.
- I don’t really have any strong cravings and haven’t had any. Fruits taste delicious, like I remember them being last time, and oddly I have a craving for slices (not melted) cheese which is something I don’t normally crave.
- There were a few weeks that I would essentially conk out around 6 pm. Of course Bryan was gone during pretty much this whole time. That would be when I would ask Reese to lay on the couch with me to watch a movie. A few times I actually did fall asleep. Unfortunately, this nightly movie trend has continued which means increased TV consumption for Reese and a later bedtime for her too. However, now I am totally in a reading kick and read next to her (or sometimes she sits on my lap) during the movie.
- I’m definitely noticeably more winded walking, going up stairs, walking up the hill, etc. This seemed to happen instantly.
- I am still doing my workouts and rarely have to do modifications but since finding out I was pregnant I did switch to the strength workout program versus one that includes much jumping or high-intensity movements.
- I have not run but once (and that was very early on) since finding out I was pregnant but lately Reese asks me to run with her in the stroller to school and it actually hasn’t felt that bad to me. Note: this running only happens as we are going down the hill.
- I have biked a few times and feel pretty great on the bike. I plan to continue biking, especially to enjoy our family bike rides, until I’m a bit bigger and possibly unbalanced and then I might move to the trainer only. Mainly this choice is because I hate judgy looks or comments from others, not because it’s not advised or recommended by doctors.
- I had one day where I felt what I would call flutters but haven’t really experienced any other movements yet.
- I have had some difficulty falling to sleep lately and mostly blame that to my stomach being uncomfortable before bed. Midwife suggested taking Unisom if this does continue but as always I’m hesitant to take or rely on any medication, over the counter or otherwise.
It’s actually been darn right beautiful here this week; ranging from about mid 60s to 70 but the sun is nice and hot and the mornings aren’t that cold and the air just feels so fresh. I managed to hire someone to spend a couple hours on our front yard and he did a great job and I finished up his efforts with about an hour of work today that was a nice break from work. It will be quite the transition to go from 70 degrees to 115 degrees next week when we are in Phoenix. I don’t even know what to think about that but that just seems crazy. Looking forward to a week away and looking forward to Reese getting both time with her grandparents and time with her daddy as he is taking the full week off while we are there.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 