Second Trimester Promises

Pregnant women always hear how the second trimester is the "honeymoon period" of pregnancy. Yeah right! It has so not proved to be true with me. I am still nauseous and vomit every few days and I am still living in the bathroom with my overactive bladder - although that only seems to want to happen in the evenings when I want to eat dinner and at night when I am trying to sleep. I really really hope the nausea will magically disappear sometime soon, or at least that I can stop vomiting. And it's not the nice, easy vomit - I'm talking the projectile, make the toilet water splash back onto your face kinda vomiting. So not fun. The second trimester also brought on a whole new slew of discomforts. It is already nearly impossible for me to find a comfortable position in which to sleep - I toss and turn all night, and spend many hours WIDE AWAKE, desperately wishing I could sleep. And on top of that, with the "round ligament pain," turning over causes me to wince and even cry out in pain sometimes, as it feels like I'm being stabbed in places I wasn't aware I even had. And the walking . . . now, I am just not far along enough to have a waddle, but sometimes, after a good, brisk walk (gotta try to do some sort of exercise) it feels like I've been kicked in the rear end with steel-toed boots and my hips are going to split wide open from the force and my legs will fall right off. It is a chore to get up off the bed and walk - rather, hobble - to the bathroom - it hurts sooo terribly, and unfortunately, I seem to be in the bathroom every 15 minutes.

Honeymoon period?! Yeah right! Tums are my new best friend and have a prominent place on my nightstand. If the old wive's fable about heartburn meaning the baby will have lots of hair is true, this child will come out looking like an orangutan! And it's not the usual suspects that cause the heartburn - you know, spicy foods, red sauces and what have you. It's EVERYTHING. There is nothing I can eat that doesn't cause heartburn and reflux for me! At least Tums come in a variety of flavors.

Even with all my complaining, I wouldn't change this experience for anything. It's amazing to know that new life is growing within, though when I look in the mirror, I can't imagine how a full-sized baby will ever fit in there. And now, with having a real baby bump to show for it, it makes it so much more real that all of these discomforts have a real purpose. I have occasionally felt little flutters from the baby, and once I even felt a little roll. I look forward to all of the big kicks and somersaults and hiccups, and to the day when Steve will be able to feel the baby kick from the outside.

And I am still holding out hope that one day, one magical day, I'll wake up and not have any nausea for the rest of the pregnancy . . .