Wednesday, May 30, 2012

20 Weeks



It's hard to believe that this pregnancy with baby girl #2 is more than halfway done! I'm technically 21 days and 4 days now- running a little behind on this update but that seems to be the status quo on life lately.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....this pregnancy is SO different! Although I had already "popped" by 16 weeks, I've really gotten bigger in the last 2 weeks. I am so shocked! I'm only wearing maternity pants now and am often in maternity shirts as well. 

This past month we found out that the baby is (probably) a girl! We don't have a name picked out yet and, honestly, we probably won't for a while. Ian also felt her kicking for the first time about a week ago. So sweet!

Speaking of sweet- that's exactly what I've been craving. Sweet and cold things- ice cream, cold fruit, cereal w/ milk. I can't get enough of it all. I actually made Ian go get me watermelon one day because that was all I could think about!

Symptom wise, I've had alot of heartburn, charlie horses in my legs at night, nausea, (still!) fatigue, acne.

I also had my first moment of, um, shall we say "emotional instability." But let me give you some background. At our language school there are students from all over the world. With my first pregnancy I quickly learned a thing or two about a certain Asian culture. Almost every day, my classmate would  come up to me and tell me how tired/sick/pale I looked. She would ask me "How is your fetus?" or she would point out my pimples. Awesome morale booster for a pregnant woman (or any woman for that matter.) But I recognized the fact that it was a cultural difference and that she was really trying to show her care and concern.

Fast forward to this semester, with this pregnancy. I have a different classmate from the same Asian culture. She comes up to me in between classes and tells me I look awful.

EVERY. DAY.

I groan inside as I see her approaching and I try to distract her or slip away before she can tell me that I look like death. 

A week or two ago she asked me about a single pimple on my forehead. I told her that it was considered rude to ask about that, and we moved on.

Two days ago, I had no such luck. She cornered me. Then, she took her hand and TOUCHED a pimple on my face and was about to touch one on my chest when I just lost it. I grabbed her hand, and shoved it back to her and told her that it was very rude to do that, that I was not sick, and that breakouts in pregnancy are normal. I walked away very angry.

I ended up apologizing to her the next day. She's my mom's age and I just kept thinking "I would be so angry if someone talked to my mom like that!" She understood and said that she was just trying to show she cared.

I'm looking forward to: Figuring out where this little baby is going to call "home," after she arrives, deciding her name, designing her nursery!

8 comments:

Emily Powell said...

Um...your response was nice to me! I would have had a few things to say to her and so would my husband! How terrible! I think you look great :)

Callie said...

Sheesh, I might have a breakdown too if I heard that every week! It was good of you to apologize though. How funny the way different cultures are so ... different! You look cute! I'm looking forward to my belly popping sooner with Baby #2 - nothing like a big pregnant belly! I love it on other people and on me. :-)

hollie marie said...

Don't you just love the "well-meaning" folks and their sideways comments? Like my mother in law who told me yesterday she only gained 10lbs with both of her pregnancies and didn't need maternity clothes until at least 6 months along.... while I'm cringing in the backseat with my pants unbuttoned (at a mere 18 wks!). I think if I were in your position, that lady would've made me scream & cry! Oh pregnancy!

Lyndsey said...

I can't believe you were so nice for so long, I'm pretty sure my pregnancy hormones would have kicked in long before that,haha!

On a happy note, you look great and yay for being over halfway through!

Amanda said...

i think you were nice! that would be hard to control myself!!! you look wonderful. pregnancy goes by way too fast! i think those charlie horses were some of the craziest things!!! ugh! i hated them!

Lauren said...

ughh...good for you for saying something, but also for apologizing later on, I'm not sure I could have handled that everyday!

you look fabulous girl, and can't wait to meet your next maybe baby girl!

Ande said...

Hello! I saw your comment on my blog and was excited to check yours out. Glad I finally did! So exciting about your little baby girl. My pregnancy has been super different this time around too, only this time, I haven't been sick at all. I'm so glad!

Tami said...

I cant believe you are over halfway there! You look great! I'm so sorry about the encounter with your classmate. It sounds like you were much more patient than I would have been! I've noticed that there are a lot of people there that think it is okay to say EXACTLY what they are thinking. I guess tact is just taught differently in some cultures.