Welcome to another crazy day in 2020. I thought going through a pandemic was going to be the highlight of the big events happening during my pregnancy, but last week was one for the history books as well. I see so many memes about how in the future, huge lessons will be taught in schools about how much the world changed this year. I think they’re right.

If you’re not sure what current event is going on, let me fill you in. Recently, there was a world wide protest regarding the innocent black lives that have been taken by police officers without real consequences toward the guilty police officers.

On top of that, the underlying racism issue that goes along with these murders is being talked about constantly throughout every media outlet you can imagine. So it’s a two sided issue highlighting justice that needs to be served and changes that need to be made within law enforcement as well as racism between white and back people. Most of what you’ll see focused on in the media are the unarmed black men and women who are shot and killed by white officers and that’s why race is such a huge part of the discussion.

I have a lot of thoughts on this, so me and my husband are diving into the topic more this week during our “Glowing Through It” podcast. We haven’t talked about it much because we’re still digesting everything we’re learning and seeing before jumping into the global conversation.

I will say it was crazy to see the rioting and cities that were in flames because of peaceful protests turned wild. It was also surreal to have a city wide curfew and to see military tanks surrounding our local mall in order to curb looting.

I talked to my husband and his dad a little bit about protesting and riots since they’ve witnessed a few in their day having lived in LA county for decades, and we all hope that this leads to real positive change and doesn’t just become a traumatic event in history with hype that just dies down until the next protest.

A lot of people will say that because this is an election year, there is likely to be even more events that come up to throw things into chaos. I wonder what that will be, but I almost don’t want to know. All I know for sure is that I’ll rely on God throughout all of it and He will see me through.

In the meantime, me and my husband are plugging away on the assignments God has for us right now. For me, that’s the podcast and growing a baby. For my husband, that’s his book that he just published. This is the first of three volumes that his company is putting out for a series titled “The Trials of Samson“. It’s really cool to see the feedback he’s getting so far and how excited his team is for it to finally be out. This has been in the works for YEARS, so I’m really excited about it as well.

Soon we’ll be visiting my Dad on the East Coast for a few weeks, and my husband will have some writing and editing to do on the second book. I was joking about how he’s one of those writers who go into the mountains to work on their book so they can focus on it and come back when they’re done. We’re definitely looking forward to a change in scenery.

Onto more pregnancy related news…

I keep notes in my phone of anything that stands out as far as pregnancy changes and symptoms. There haven’t been a ton of things going on besides my belly growing. I’d say it’s kind of a rollercoaster. I would prefer for there to be more consistency in how things progress. For example, when I have more energy and barely any nausea, I get really hopeful that the fatigue and throwing up is behind me, but then it comes back a couple of days later. I remember turning a real corner around my third trimester last time. I hope it doesn’t take that long this time around for me to feel normal, but I just keep reminding myself that it’s not forever.

Besides that, I have noticed in the last few weeks that my allergies are really acting up. In the morning, I spend a good amount of time sneezing and blowing my nose to get rid of whatever was sitting in my nasal passages the day before. I have to be careful though because a violent sneeze can turn into starting to gag pretty quick. Yikes.

Alrighty then. Let’s dig into those baby stats:

Age and size of baby:

18 weeks old, 5.5 inches long, 6 oz in weight.

Cravings:

It seems like my cravings or what makes my belly feel good changes from week to week. As soon as I have a system, my body is like “Nope, that doesn’t work anymore”. So, there hasn’t been a ton of consistency, but I do try to make sure I get my fruits and vegetables in every day as well as eating a lot of meat and drinking plenty of water. I was eating a lot of ice cream for a good minute, but I don’t seem to be craving it that much right now.

Morning sickness:

All day sickness is gone one day and then back the next. I still use my trusty peppermint gum almost as soon as I’m done eating something because I start to feel bad pretty much right after a meal.

Stretch marks:

Nothing new.

Crazy hormones:

It’s hard to tell if I get emotional or anxious because of hormones or because of all that’s going on in the world. Some days, I feel fine and other days just the thought of having to go outside or do a task feels so overwhelming. Yesterday, I cried in the car because the sun was so bright that it was amping up my motion sickness. It’s weird to feel trapped in your own body, but this will pass.

Sleeping habits:

Lately, I’ve been doing ok with sleep. According to my notes on week 17 though, I was having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep even though I was tired. I think my mind was just racing with thoughts. The thing I’m most surprised by is that I can still sleep on my stomach sometimes. I don’t think I was really able to do that at this point with my first pregnancy because Petra would kick like crazy if I did.

So, that’s that for now.  Be blessed and take time to make your dreams into your reality.

-Kytia L’amour