My Benny :: the second trimester

Everything they say about the second trimester was true for me. It. was. awesome.

My boobs grew. And they looked great. My skin glowed, my hair was shiny, and I had incredible energy. People who knew me now found my growing belly "cute." I felt my body changing and loved every second of it. I had a new wardrobe, courtesy of my very fashionable sister-in-law. These were clothes I couldn't afford as a non-pregnant person, and I was wearing them as a pregnant one now.

The best part? Sex. It just felt -- different. And in my third trimester blog you'll see that it became different once again. It was like everything that was normally sensitive was 10x more sensitive. And with my new body, I felt more womanly and sexy than I ever had before. (I was, and am, a late bloomer in almost every way.)

We also got to start experimenting with the battle of the bulge. My belly was in the way, and what else can you do but be creative when things start changing? Not a bad thing.

Did I mention the food? Since I had spent the last 3 months choking back dry-heaves mid-conversations, it was of particular enjoyment that not only was my appetite back, but I could handle more spicy foods than before, finally living up to my Mexican-ness. And if I wanted a milkshake, people encouraged me. "Oh, have one! Go on! The baby needs calcium!"

Of course, the second trimester did have its share of challenges. For the first time since I started shaving, I got to the point where I realized not only were there some areas I couldn't see, there were some I couldn't reach.

So, you may ask yourself, what are your options? Well, the way I see it, there are three:

1. Go hippie. Worry about it when your toes come in to view again.

This was not an option for me. I was feeling so good! I didn't want to take away from that and start feeling, ahem, ungroomed. My mind raced through every comment ever uttered from a guy about too-much-pubage. My need for order and tidiness wouldn't, no -- couldn't -- consider this.

2. Have my hubby do the deed. After all, I knew he'd probably kind of enjoy it.

While I still think this is a good idea, the control freak in me wanted to, well, control the situation. The last thing my super supportive, pube-trimming husband needed was having me look down (literally) on his methods. And of course, eliminating this option provided me with option number 3, which I secretly wanted to resort to.

3. Waxing! Now, for many women, this is no big deal and likely the first, most reasonable option. In fact, I'm sure many already employ this method.

Me? I'm Hispanic. Very Hispanic. And my hair growth reflects this. I have lots of hair, and it's thick. This makes for an envious head of hair and perhaps envious eyebrows (now that having them is back in style), but it also means extreme pain in the ripping out of said hair, especially in the ever-so-sensitive bikini area. Having done this only once in my life and sweating through every second, I knew it would hurt (understatement) but be worth it.

So I pulled my big girl panties on. Or off, rather, and I got waxed. And it sucked. But then I went again and it hurt probably half as much! And the results are quite lovely.

Finally, since I haven't exactly been romantic about how great my second trimester was in terms of the amazing new life that was growing inside of me, I'll do that now:

I felt Ben for the first time. And since he was still so small, they were moments that were just for us. Jeff couldn't yet feel him from the outside, so Ben and I shared his first acrobatic movements, his first burps and jolts, all by ourselves. And they were truly magical.

One evening, late in my second trimester, I laid in bed reading a magazine, resting it gently on my belly every so often to watch bad TV. During one of these moments, my magazine page fluttered gently upwards, and my hands were nowhere near it. I was home alone, and I laughed and stared in complete amazement at the fact that my child was gaining strength and most importantly, already bringing me amazing joy and happiness.