Happy 2nd Trimester!! (This is Robin)

WE MADE IT TO THE SECOND TRIMESTER!!!  13 WEEKS TODAY!!  I'm ALWAYS giddy at week 13 because it's a milestone in any pregnancy!

Here's an update on the past month:

This pregnancy has been hands down my hardest.  WHAT THE HECK?!?  I have been somewhat taken aback because I've experienced certain things I never thought I would.  Almost EVERY day from 12 pm on I'm nauseated.  I haven't thrown up, but man, it's one of the most unpleasant things I've ever gone through.  The smell of my home makes me gag (it's a new home and smells like new construction), which has made settling in more challenging.  I have a STRONG food aversion.  If I even THINK about certain food I will gag.  It's CRAZY!  Anyway...enough of the bad...

The good is that I have FELT THE BABY MOVE ALREADY!!  You might think I'm nuts, but this is my FIFTH pregnancy, and I know what baby movement feels like.  Also, at my 12 week appointment, they couldn't find the heartbeat using doppler (wasn't worried about that-they didn't find heartbeats with doppler this early for my last 2 kids) so we had another ultrasound, and you could see the little guy moving all around and even make out his little feet.  In the ultrasound we could see that the placenta is in front, and baby is low.  I carried my little boy low, so I don't know if it's a boy thing or what.  Who knows?  Of course I don't regularly feel movement, but every now and then he lets me know he's hanging out.  I'm also already wearing maternity clothes.  My doctor was saying the more pregnancies you experience, the sooner you pop because of muscle memory.

This has been quite the journey!  This has been the HARDEST thing I have voluntarily done, but all I have to do is think about the miracle that is taking place in so many lives.  I think we often put limitations on ourselves on what we think we can and can't do, and I think you'd all be surprised at what we're really capable of going through, surviving, and transforming ourselves into because of those experiences.  I have learned so much about myself, I have been humbled more than I ever thought I would be, and I've SURVIVED THE HARDEST FIRST TRIMESTER I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED.

In SIX short months, Cristi is going to get to hold and snuggle her son, and that right there, my friends, makes this all worth it!