Pregnancy in your 20s vs. 30s

I was 27 when I gave birth to my son and I am now 33 pregnant with my second child. Let me give it to you straight: pregnancy in your 30s is completely different from pregnancy in your 20s. Let's discuss...

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Pregnancy in my 20s...

• Slow to hardly any weight gain
• Glowing skin
• Cute baby bump
• Stylish clothes
• No morning sickness
• Fatigue disappeared during the first trimester
• Physically active
• Manageable cravings
• No issues

Pregnancy in my 30s...

• Overwhelming fatigue!
• Non-stop morning sickness (I'm almost 20 weeks and still battle this)
• Adult acne (Proactiv has helped me clear it up)
• A baby slump (stomach  + bump = slump). Not quite round but not quite fat. Just...there...
• Cravings of nothing but fruit and fresh veggies
• Frumpy clothing because fatigue makes you not care about how you look
• I have had first trimester bleeding, a possible yeast infection (TMI!), diarrhea, and facial hair and crazy mood swings

Don't get me wrong, I am over the moon about this pregnancy and still plan to go for #3 but geez Louise is this pregnancy rough on my body. Despite all of the changes and craziness my body is undergoing, I am embracing and loving every moment of this pregnancy. Between hubby rubbing my belly during the night and my son talking to my belly, life is good.

Career Opportunities

When I started in the workforce some __ years ago, I had a very definitive picture of how my career climb would happen. I have to say, I have pretty much climbed the corporate ladder at the speed I wanted and in the industry I wanted, but most importantly, I have been extremely happy with it all to date.

When I left my last job for my current job, I was in a bad place. My boss was not doing what he

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needed to as a boss, my salary was decent but I really should have been making more and the stress of work landed me in the hospital having to evaluate if it was all worth it. In the end, I ended up walking away and huge weight was lifted.

In my current job, I had felt some of that stress come back. Granted most of it is due to the fact that my boss is out on maternity leave and I was basically handed her role to until her return. I love what I do - which is something you rarely hear people say. Nothing brings me more joy that knowing that what I do every day is helping to save the lives of readers like you. I won't go into details about my career industry but just know that someone is making sure you never have to worry about certain things.

Anyway, the point of this post isn't to rave about how much I love my job but to talk about an undercurrent feeling that I have that there is more. There is more that I should be doing but in my own terms, on my schedule, in my own way, making great money. In addition to my regular every day job, I'm also teaching two college course. Never in a million years did I think I would become a teacher but when I said I wanted it, God made a way.

Now I'm at the point where I'm wondering if my next career path is in teaching. I somehow keep getting pulled back to it and I'm wondering if I need to start to acknowledge what's right in front of me....

16 weeks pregnant

How I'm feeling:
Well-rested and a little achy due a stretching body and growing uterus

What I'm craving:
TACOS! Real authentic Mexican tacos; lots of fresh veggies and fruit

I keep these little trays in my purse or bag at all times. Perfect snack.

How I'm sleeping:
Pretty well

Thoughts:
We've made it to 16 weeks. I had my 15 week check-up on Thursday and baby bean is doing great. Heartrate was in the high 150s and s/he was moving around. I haven't gained any weight yet, which she was normal but that I should start to  pick up a few months a month now. I actuality, I shouldn't gain any more than 15 pounds this pregnancy so I think I'm ok there.

We didn't get a chance to do a gender scan so my doctor has me scheduled for that two weeks from now. I.CANT.WAIT! I need to know who I'm going to be dealing with. Plus I think everyone in my family is ready to start shopping. I have strong girl vibes but I had that with Baby Boy and he ended up being a boy. We'll just see this go-round.

Pretty much at this point, everyone knows I'm pregnant or rather I'm at the point where they aren't scared to ask LOL I have had to do some shopping to fit the bump and my spreading hips (Lawd my hips spread when I'm pregnant). I'm only comfort in dresses so I have tons of maxi dresses and shrugs to wear them with. Other than, we are looking ok. I still can't wait to meet this little person in December.

15 weeks pregnant

How I'm feeling:
Tired, achy but ok for the most part

What I'm craving:
Nothing in particular this week

How I'm sleeping:
Horrible. I have bad insomnia and can't seem to get the house as cold as I want.

Thoughts:
Week 15. In a few short weeks I will be blogging about how we're halfway there. Good grief. Still trying to wrap my head around that. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and if this little bean cooperates, we may get to a good picture that tells us if this is a boy or girl. I'm leaning towards girl but we will see. I think we are going to keep the sex of the baby a secret until my baby shower some time in the fall. I haven't quite decided. If I tell my mother, she and my aunts are going to go shopping crazy.

Baby Boy's 6th birthday party is next month and I can't believe my baby will be 6. Where did the time go? I swear that kid cracks me up and his smile will melts hearts like no other. He doesn't know it but we're going to surprise him by moving him into the bigger bedroom (aka the guest room) for his birthday. When he wakes up that morning, he will be in a new bedroom decked out in Superman décor (which he asked for). I'm so excited!

Hubby and I sat down this past weekend and wrote out a list of everything we need to get done around the house BB (Before Baby). Although the list is extensive we are going to use my little cousins and my youngest brother to help before they return to college in August, which gives us a good 30 days to get most of this stuff done. Sigh. I swear, there is never a dull moment in my house.

Random Thoughts about Bean #2

When they say each pregnancy is different, they were not kidding. This second pregnancy has been a whirlwind of activity starting from the day I finished my last pack of birth control pills two months before our wedding. And then I read this blog post today by Susan Sarandon's daughter who is expecting a baby girl in August and felt ok. I realized after reading that post that I need to cut myself some slack. I have been way too hard on myself about feeling great and looking great that I'm not allowing myself to enjoy every single moment.

My son's pregnancy was textbook. It was all rainbows and smiles with virtually no issues at all. I mean, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect pregnancy. I glowed, I gained weight slowly, I still played tennis until I was about 6 months pregnant. Literally, I was a poster child for pregnancy. I felt beautiful despite a spreading nose and swollen lips.

39 weeks and 3 days (2008). All belly!

This current pregnancy has been the total opposite. From the day we found out at 4 weeks, I have been plagued with nausea, vomiting, food aversions and crazy fatigue. I feel so bad for my poor husband because I fall asleep mid-conversation and don't even realize it. And the fatigue! Lord the fatigue! I've had to hire my brother while he's home from college for the summer to watch my son for about 2 hours each day so I can nap and rest when getting home from work. And don't even get me started on the cravings. I send my husband to the store every other day to stockpile fruit because that's all I want to eat. Which may explain why I'm going into my fourth month and have only gained 5 pounds.

Anyway, I say all of this to say, that we still have 5 more months to go and something tells me that this little peanut of mine is going to keep us on our feet. I'm already starting to feel little flutters daily (you tend to feel the baby sooner with second pregnancies) and if he/she is anything like his/her big brother, we better get ready.

Strange Dreams

One thing about being pregnant are the strange dreams you tend to have. For example, last night I had the CRAZIEST dream about Dwele. If you know anything about me and Dwele, you know that he is pretty much one of my favorite musicians and I am obsessed with him.

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Seriously, how could you not love this beautiful man? Anyway, I dreamt that I going on tour with him to a show in Milwaukee and that some random man was going with us but apparently he was also dating my now-single mom (keep in mind in real-life my parents have been married 33 years). As I'm trying to spend some time with Dwele and give him pointers on which flight we should take up, mom's boyfriend decides to jump in the conversation and get all snippy. I can't remember what he said but I remember that my retort to him was that he was insulting my intelligence and I didn't give a damn who he was but he was not going to talk to me like that.

Dwele pretty much sat there dumbfounded and told the guy he was out of line. I told Dwele not to worry about it that I would take care of this so marched out of the room, straight to my mom and told her to get rid of his man. She, for whatever reason, told me I was being silly and that I needed to listen to ol' dude's advice since he's Milwaukee. I told her I didn't care who he was but he was not going to insult me like that and I'm a grown woman.

Needless to say mom and I went back and forth and finally she told him that it was over and he had to go. Dwele and I ended up taking a walk and talking about the situation. He said he was surprised by my show but totally understood. We ended up staying up all night and spending time together.

It was so weird to have that dream and then I wake up and look at my husband LOL Wait until I tell him about this LOL

14 week pregnant

How I'm feeling:
Tired and achy

What I'm craving:
Fruit, fruit and more fruit - particularly pineapples

How I'm sleeping:
Rough. I just can't get comfortable.

Thoughts:
It's been a few weeks since I blogged and that's because this baby has been wearing me out, not to mention work has been wearing me out. We had a little scare the other week where I had some bleeding but all is well. Hubby and I have decided both a boy and girl name, actually we had these picked out a long time ago, so once we know what we're having we plan to starting calling him or her by their name. We are definitely planning to keep the name and sex a secret from family until my baby shower in October. With our son, we didn't reveal his name until the baby shower. What is it about baby names that makes people so opinionated? Everyone has the BEST name and thinks you should name your kid after them. No sir, hence the reason we told everyone we don't need your input on anything. I will say this, there were some mad folks because I wouldn't tell them my son's name. Hahaha! I don't care.

Anyway, I'm struggling with clothing. Now that I'm progressing through this pregnancy and definitely showing, I have had to start shopping for maternity clothes. I refuse to spend a ton of money on maternity clothes so I've been buying plus-sized clothing instead. Besides, I need pieces that I can wear in the summer and transition into the fall with leggings and a cardigan. I won't be taking the baby out of the house much in the winter so I'm too worried about dressing him or her in anything besides onesies with the feet.

Geez, I'm really having another baby. This is mind-blowing!