Family: Weeks 13-15
15 week belly shot:
(Shirt from my friends at For Two Fitness // shorts via Pink Lotus)
Some random thoughts/ things I’ve noticed:
Round ligament pain is REAL. I don’t have much cramping in my abdomen, but my hips have been aching. I have to be careful about standing up too quickly, or it’s like a spasm and I’m bent-over trying to catch my breath, and regretting my decision to get off the couch.
I said this before (and I’ll probably say it again haha) but things definitely happen must faster the second time around. It’s funny because I already feel like the belly is large and in charge, but I’ll look back when it’s officially massive and be like nope. It makes me laugh to think that when I was superpreg with Liv (towards the end) and I didn’t think my belly was “that big.” It was a torpedo. 🙂
40 weeks:
Most of my clothes still fit me for now, but I’ve definitely still been rocking looser-fitting pieces. I’m stoked that Stitch Fix has been sending 1-2 maternity pieces in my fixes, along with outfits that will grow with me over the course of the pregnancy.
It’s nice to feel a little bit more like myself as far as energy levels go! I’m not totally zonked by mid afternoon anymore, and my aversions have lightened up. Oh hi vegetables, nice to want you again.
Excitement is officially starting to set in. This happened last time, but I spent the first part of the pregnancy thrilled and thankful, but overly cautious and kind of afraid at the same time. It’s almost like I’m trying not to become too attached if something were to happen (which I know wouldn’t work and I’d be devastated regardless). Now that we’re out of the first trimester, I feel like I’ve been able to relax and connect more with the baby. During my meditation, it feels so good to put my hand on my belly and spend a couple minutes thinking about the baby and sending loving energy to him/her.
Cravings:
-Same: pizza, sandwiches, acai bowls and smoothies. Basically if it’s cold or wrapped in some type of bread, I want it.
-Turkey bacon. Give me that salty goodness.
-Chia pudding. I love it with berries and cinnamon for a midmorning snack.
-Cheese. Goat cheddar and manchego have always been my favorites, and I’ve been going through a block a week. Now if only I could wine to go with it… 😉
-Soup. It’s funny that something that sounded so awful now sounds SO good. Chicken tortilla, hearty veggie, and tomato soups all sound particularly fantastic.
-Chinese food aka salt and carbs.
-Speaking of salt and carbs, while I’m writing this, all I can think about is goat cheese and veggie lasagna. Guess what’s on the menu next week?
Aversions:
-Indian food. Wahhhhh.
-Scallops. Just typing that made me shudder a little.
-Raw meat. I can’t look at it, or smell it. If Tom grills, I’ll definitely eat it, but I’ve been eating a lot more veggie meals lately.
Belly button status: it is not long for this world.
Baby-related purchases:
–A nursing cover infinity scarf. I picked this one up at a cute boutique in Arkansas, and figured that if breastfeeding doesn’t work out this time, I can still use it as a scarf. 😉 I’m trying to make breastfeeding as pressure-free as possible this time and going to use every possible resource, but I’m not doing the “try to breastfeed, pump, give a pumped bottle, give formula, repeat” circus again. The midwife told me that she’s seen woman have supply issues the first time and successfully do it a second time, so I’m hopeful, but not going to beat myself up about it if it doesn’t work.
-We still plan on using a lot of our baby gear from last time (our pack n’ play, crib, bouncer seat, high chair, stroller, baby carriers and wraps are all good to go), but there are some things that will initially need to be replaced, like burp cloths, jammies (even though many of Liv’s jammies were unisex, they get gross fast!), and diapers/wipes/necessities. On the non-necessities front, I do want to get some new moccasins. The denim leather is unisex and adorable. 🙂
Looking forward to:
-Feeling REAL kicks and punches- the best. I’ve been feeling flutters now for a few weeks (the ultrasound tech said this is because my placenta is posterior), but can’t wait for Tom and Liv to be able to feel any kick and roll around.
-Finding out the official sex of the baby! Our last ultrasound tech made a guess, and to my medically-untrained eyes it looked pretty accurate, but I’m really excited to know for sure. We’ve started talking about names, and just like last time, we agreed on a girl’s name instantly, and boys names are still up in the air. (Why are boys names so hard?! Also, I tend to like the really unique boy names, while the Pilot likes the more traditional route.)
Is there a story or special meaning behind your name? Gina is my nickname. My mom joked to my grandfather that she was going to name me after him, because he was giving her a hard time about picking a name for me. His name is Gene, so she actually did it. 🙂
Fellow parents: when or how did you decide your baby’s/babies’ names? Did you go with something unique or more traditional?
xoxo
Gina
58 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
You have an adorable bump, Gina! I’m so excited to be following along during this pregnancy journey with you! 🙂
Gene is your real name!? I never knew 🙂
Haha no! Sorry if that’s confusing- that’s where gina came from
It sounds ridiculous, but I thought about a name on a resume and whether I felt it was appropriate. Children are only children for 18 years, and then live the rest of their lives…..I didn’t want to give a “child” type name that the adult would have to live with for the rest of their life. My twin boys are Evan and Scott. I think they are nice children and adult names. Good luck!
I decided on my kids’ names based on if they would sound good a) on a resume, or b) being called out in Westminster Abbey if my kid married a member of the royal family 😉
FYI, re. milk production – both my pediatrician and lactation nurse said that mothers produce MUCH more milk with each subsequent child, and I definitely found that to be the case! Sending “high volume” vibes your way, haha!
Haha I love it!
Very reassuring to hear. Thank you!
So exciting! Our names are all family names. My older sister is named after my maternal grandmother, i’m named after my paternal grandmother, and my brother is named after my paternal grandfather. AND my niece is named after both her maternal and paternal grandmothers (my mom is jane, his mom is elizabeth, so niece is elizabeth jane.)
I have a friend whose name came from both grandmother (henrietta) and grandfather (kenneth)- Henken. (Pronounced Hank-en).
That’s how I got my name as well, my grandfather was Carl and my grandmother was Lee.
I’m not even preggo and I’m craving goat and manchego cheese 🙂 The name game is so hard! I told my husband that since I married him and gave up my Italian maiden name that our first child would have an Italian name so we went with Luca for my son. Excited for you to share the baby’s gender with all of us! Have a great weekend!
You look beautiful, mama! Don’t you just love the For Two Fitness shirts? I just got me second in the mail a couple days ago. They fit the belly so well.
My husband and I are having a boy (I’m almost 20 weeks) and it’s been so hard to come up with a boy name that we mutually love. We have an entire list of girl names, but boys? No way. What is it about boy names? I’m like you and lean toward the unique names.
Round ligament pain is FIERCE!! I had it at 34-36 weeks. SO SO painful, and I was in a wedding AND had to travel to Oregon during the same time. Not fun. I could barely lift my leg to get pants on. A warm heating pad and a pillow under belly helped a lot. Hope it heals quickly.
Well my last name is Stark so everyone wanted us to name our boy Tony as in Tony Stark, Ironman. It is his middle name and we can always go back to his first name if it becomes unbearable. However, he totally has the Ironman thing going on.
I actually think girls names are MUCH harder. We have a whole list of boys names but found out we were having a girl. My husband and I only sort of agreed on two names and finally agreed on a traditional, though not extremely common name. Pregnancy is so funny – I agree that some things that sounded awful now sound so good!
We went somewhat traditional for our girls…they are both named after family members. Claire and Ellie. Ellie isn’t short for anything, but she is named after my grandmother (Eleanor).
I had a similar experience to you the first time with breastfeeding (and we went through it around the same time) and my second time went MUCH better. We had no problems until I got mastitis 11 months in. My supply took a huge hit at that point, but we were so far along and I had so much milk frozen that we still made it to a year of breastfeeding with one bottle of formula per day to supplement for the last month. A huge improvement from my first time! Hopefully you will have better luck, too.
Boys names are the worst! When we found out we were pregnant we’d randomly throw out names to each other and I started a list on my phone of the ones we both agreed on. Before we found out the gender we had like 12 girl names and 3 boys. Of course we are having a boy and finally decided on a name that wasn’t even on the list!
Oh, boy names are the hardest! We had girl names picked out from the beginning both times, but had two boys. We went with names that are easy to pronounce for all of our family (all of them are either in Germany or Sweden), Liam and Colin. No Irish in the family, though, haha!
Congrats on baby #2, I love reading the family page and pregnancy posts!
I am kind-of in the same name boat as you. My Mom wanted to name me Guinevere but my Dad deemed too weird (which ticked me off in high school because I thought Gwen Stefani was SOO cool). So they named me Jennifer and thought it sounded like Joseph so my middle name mimic his, Christine and Christopher. Since I could of had a very unique name but got such a common one, I am 100% sure I want unique names for my kids, boy or girl. My husband is a little more hesitant about unique boy names. I don’t know why, his name is Jon, I would of assumed he would have just as much name angst as I do. lol
I’ve been reading for years and years now, and I’ve always wondered if you pronounce your name ‘Gene-a’ or ‘Jenna’. I always said it in my head like ‘gene-a’ but I have an Aunt Gina (Jenna) so I never was sure. Glad to put that to rest 🙂
We went traditional with my 3 kiddos names. Pretty much we knew my sons name from the get go. The girls names my husband suggested and I really liked as well so it was pretty easy.
We started talking about names after we learned the sex. Although I was thinking about names as soon as I took a positive pregnancy test 🙂 We both liked more traditional names and we did not want to choose a popular name that you hear all the time. We wanted it to sound nice with our last name, her initials shouldn’t spell a word, and it needed to sound good as a baby name and as an adult name, if that makes any sense.
Your bump is so tiny and cute! One of my friends is almost 38 wks and has the smallest stomach ever. Everyone’s body does something different! Mine would be a basketball from the start!
my name is emma…super popular now….but from 1978-2004 i never met another emma until i got my first professional job. there i had 3 students named emma. i always hated it! whenever we went on trips i could never find anything personalized (like key chains or shirts) with my name on it. i always wanted to be emily. ironically enough i have 2 best friends named emily, my cousin married an emily and my MIL’s middle name is emily.
we had K registration recently and i was talking to one of the moms and she said someone told her if you give your child a great name, they will go on to do great things. she has 3 boys named bennington (we call him benny at school), mackenzington (we’ll call him max next year), and errington. i LOVE this advice…like others have said, think of how it will sound on a resume and spell it the traditional way. we have 10 girls named “makayla” at school and they all spell it10 different ways.
Emma Stone was originally Emily, which you probably know.
There is a chapter in Freakonomics about the effects of really odd names. They found that a very odd name hurt a person’s odds of success.
First congrats! My son and daughter are 3.5 years apart and I think it has been amazing. My son has been so helpful and I think the translation to a family of four was so much easier because he could understand what was happening. He’s a great big brother and I’m sure Livi will be the same.
On a non family note you mentioned meditation. Is something you’ve always done? Do you do it daily? I’m trying to incorporate it into my life so I’d love to get your ideas and perspective.
Good luck with the growing belly.
I love your bump!! I’m kind of dreading the day Josh and I have to pick baby names. We cannot agree on them!
It’s so weird, I feel like it was just yesterday I was reading posts from your first pregnancy and saving them for later and now I’m sitting here nursing my LO reading about your second pregnancy. I too have supply issues and drove myself crazy with the pumping and everything. Though your posts about your struggles have been with me reminding me that it’s ok, he’ll survive.
His name came to me in the middle of the night. I woke up and thought, hmm, Owen, I like it. Since he’s been born, another name has made a similar night time visit: Colin. If he ever has a brother. Feel free to use either :p
my husband and I had the same problem! Our girl’s name (Lucy) was agreed upon the first time it was mentioned. We never considered any other names. My husband was into more traditional names for boys (think Tom, bob, steve) while I like more unique names. Our son’s name worked perfect for us because it is a more unique name with a traditional nickname. Now my husband calls him by his full name, Bennett, more often than he calls him Ben!
Well now you have me curious of what your full name is!
I think she has said before that it is Angelina.
I don’t have kids yet but there are sooo many girls names I love that I know I would have a harder time with that. Boys names there are less that I would consider… I really like Reid and Wes (Wesley).
We have a unique name. Like you I was going off the beaten path where it seemed like my husband wanted a boy from the 1950’s. Ignatius popped up kind of randomly, but we agreed on it right away. It was the only boys name that came close to a consensus. So we have Ignatius Edward and we call him Iggy most of the time, and we both love it. Iggy doesn’t have an opinion yet, he is only 10 months.
My first name is actually the name of two of my great-grandmothers, one of them passed away right after my mom found out she was pregnant with me.
My middle name (the one I go by) is from a novel. My grandfather (dad’s dad) had four boys. When my parents found out they were expecting, they asked him what he would have named a girl and he answered without hesitation. He must have had that name picked out four times! My grandfather died when I was really little, I don’t remember him at all but I like that he had a hand in picking out my name.
I love your naming story!
That’s crazy. My dad is one of four boys and my name (Andrea) is what my grandmother would have named the girl she never had. I never met her but love that I was named in her honor.
Take breastfeeding one day at a time! It didn’t work for me and my first born but it’s been smooth sailing my second time around. I credit not being stressed out about it by knowing there are alternatives that are just fine for my baby for the success this time!
Congrats again! You look awesome! Isn’t it funny how you start feeling ‘big’ and in reality you’re still super tiny and THEN, all of the sudden you are big but you feel ‘not too big’. Haha! This is my first pregnancy. I’m 38 weeks and that was totally me. As of this week though, I officially feel and know that I am indeed, BIG!
I think your baby bump is adorable! Love the yoga for two tank 🙂
I don’t have any kids of my own yet, but I prefer slightly unique names for boys, as well. As for the story behind my name, I was named after the month I was born. 😉 My parents were very creative, haha.
You’re looking great Gina! I loved your note of meditation with you baby. I find that be to be so beautiful and natural.
As for names, my mom read like crazy while she was pregnant with my brother and with me. Once she found characters that she valued for the personalities and morals, those were the names she got stuck on! That’s how I became Julia and Grant became Grant. 🙂 Also, she worked in daycare so there were lot of names that she had written off/like more because of kids she had watched over.
I love talking names! For us it has been just the opposite – girl names are much tougher. We named our baby Jack August. Jack was my grandfather’s name and August was my husband’s g’father’s name. They were both very special to us so it feels good to honor them in this way. Camp Patton has some great posts on choosing baby names on her blog.
I’m also pregnant– 25 weeks. My aversion to raw meat still hasn’t gone away. I eat chicken and fish when I’m out or if my husband cooks, but I can’t even get myself to buy it when I go shopping! The smell when I pass it has sent me to the bathroom running a few too many times…!
My first aversion was to all things sweet– which is totally weird because I usually have a sweet tooth. It took me until about week 15 to get smoothies back in my diet, but I still have absolutely no interest in cookies, cakes, frozen yogurt or even oatmeal. I guess I am just lucky I am not craving those things all the time!
My husband is a jr and he wanted our son to be a third. His family expected it and I didn’t feel like fighting about it so my son’s name is george but I will forever call him baby boy. my daughters name is Brynn, I loved her name from the first time I heard it and never considered another name for a girl.
I have the same hip problem it sounds like you are having. Mine is a condition called oseitsis condensate ilii. Basically arthritis in the iliac joint. It’s very common in post partum women and mine actually improved with my second baby. I have flare ups every now and then and it feels like my hip locks in place when I go from sitting to standing and sends shooting pains through my lower back. PT helps a lot as well as yoga. My doc said a lot of women have it but never get diagnosed with it.
You should try Roo Moccasins by http://www.softstarshoes.com/
They are awesome! And you can customize them!
Oh NAMES. My husband and I have two daughters and we could not decide on a name until they were kicking us out of the hospital. Literally the registrant came to our room twice and said the baby would leave unnamed if we didnt complete this soon. We picked non-traditional names that were unisex (as mine is as well) and could grow with the child. I also had all these other – I have to like the name it has to be be able to be yelled with middle name well no rhyming, no spelling weird things with the initials etc. It was HARD. We have lists and lists of boys names but girls could not agree for at all.
My mom said she was sitting on the couch watching a soap opera, and heard the name Crystal and thought it sounded pretty. She doesn’t even remember which soap it was!
Enjoy all the goat cheese!
We sort of combined unique with traditional. My husband and I have very common names. (Out of 60 students in my 6th grade class there were 8 Chris’).
We have 2 boys. My husband’s name is Robert Jeffrey (he goes by Jeff). Therefore, our sons are named Joel Robert and Jared Jeffrey. Neither of which you can make a nickname and are very strong men names. And they both like their unique names.
I think girls’ names are much easier, too. I like names that can be shortened easily, if desired. We named our daughter Samantha, but most people call her Sammi. Her dad & stepmom usually call her Samantha & every once in awhile she’ll get called Sam, too. I’ve seen a few other commenters mention that they thought about how their child’s name would look on a resume, & I must confess I was also mindful to choose a name that would sound professional in the workplace (Samantha, not Sammi). Sammi is almost 16… I’m having a hard time remembering the name we’d picked just in case she turned out to be a boy (we had found out we were having a girl). I think Adam maybe? I also like Nicholas & Mathew & Jack.
My full name is Jacelyn, after Jaclyn Smith. You know you were born in the 70s when you’re named after a Charlie’s Angel. I always went by Jackie until I was about 7 or 8 and I decided that I wanted to spell it Jacki, and it’s been that way ever since!
Love, love, love reading your updates. You make me feel so normal. Even my belly is shaped like yours right now. I’m almost 12 weeks, and still feeling the same–not wanting to get too attached–which is ridiculous. Also have a fairly serious aversion to most vegetables. And…give me ALL THE CARBS AND SALT! I’m still feeling really sick most days, so this post is giving me hope. Second time around is so very different from the first, but glad to see it’s normal.
I have the first-trimester screening tomorrow and I’m so nervous.
On the name front, mine is pretty unique for a girl. My son is Abel, so not too common. We like names that aren’t too funky or too traditional.
thinking about you tomorrow! i was really nervous too <3 xoxo
Our son’s name is Gregory. He’s going to be 3 in July. So far we haven’t started calling him Greg, because he just still seems like a Gregory. We didn’t name him after anyone in particular, but had a lot of trouble agreeing on a boy’s name. One day I suggested Gregory and we were both like, yes, that’s it! I did go to school with a Greg who passed away. He was the type of kid you would want your son to have as a role model, so I like that I can associate the name with his personality and morals as well.
You look fantastic! We went with names you don’t hear too often–Chelsea and Lexie and I love how their personalities totally fit their names!
Love reading about your cravings and aversions. Pregnancy is so crazy! I craved quesadillas all the time. Basically anything with cheese!
Keep up the fit pregnancy–such an inspiration!
I like unique names, but not too crazy. 2 boys: 5 year old Hudson Thomas and 1 year old Harrison Jack 🙂
We compromised and went with a traditional first name and unique middle name. We figure if he wants to be more unique he can go by his middle name, but, being in the SF Bay Area, his “traditional” name is very unique here. Ha!
I think it’s another girl. You are carrying similar to how you carried Liv.
I remember when you did the gender reveal with the cupcakes. I was shocked the icing was blue because you totally looked like you were carrying a girl. Then low and behold a few weeks later- it was in fact a girl.
My youngest son’s name is traditional in that it is an old-fashioned name with a normal spelling. I chose it because there was a boy with the same name in my older son’s preschool class, and I loved when ever anyone said his name. A few weeks after my youngest was born, I decided to look up the actual meaning of his name. It turns out that his name means practically the same thing mine does. My name means ‘sword’ in German which I’ve always thought was random and boring. Now that I have a son who’s name means ‘famous spear,’ I actually like the meaning of my own name!
that was so crazy! the first tech was convinced it was a boy… not so much 🙂
loved the naming story too!
Our daughter/son-in-law named their daughter Zuri (Swahili for “beautiful”) Sitara (Sanskrit for “star”). They chose the name as soon as they knew they were having a girl, which they both had dreams about. (Daddy has star tattoos on his arm.). And they design beautiful birch Chakra wall hangings. If they have another daughter, which they are hoping for, she may be named Anahata, after the Heart Chakra.
My mom named me Jenny after a character on All My Children. My middle name, Elise, is from Family Ties. Apparently my mom watched a lot of TV. Lol
Hi Gina! I’m looking back at your pregnancy posts 🙂 They are so helpful. Did you get much use of the nursing cover scarf? Thanks! xoxo