Pregnancy Journey (Second Trimester)

The second trimester started off on a scary note. One night while I was at work Jennifer was taking her breakfast down to the basement when she lost her footing and fell on her backside and skidded down a few steps. Jennifer was really nervous because at this point she still hadn't been able to feel any kicks. So after calling me at work she decided to come in and get checked out. After talking with the doctor and having a quick ultrasound we were reassured that everything was OK with our baby. Later that week Jennifer's mom, Mimi sent her a package that contained non slip socks and shoes. Luckily things only got better for the remainder of the second trimester.

At sixteen weeks you are able to try and see the gender of the baby. However, we didn't have a scheduled ultrasound through the hospital until 20 weeks and we really wanted to find out earlier so that we could tell family before Christmas. So we booked an appointment at Lexington Fetal Photography to find out if baby Heflin was a boy or girl. Up until this point I was for sure that it was going to be a little boy, just because we had a an impromptu ultrasound a couple weeks before and everyone that was there seemed to think that they had seen a little bit of extra stuff down between his legs. We had also started discussing names and we had quickly agreed on a boys name but were having trouble with girl names. If she had been a boy then we were going to name him Landon Michael. Maybe we will have to save this one for a later date. At the ultrasound, almost immediately after starting the lady informed us that it was definitely a little girl. After an initial slight disappointment, came some fear and then an urge to work tons of overtime. I knew that a little girl was going to be more expensive and we needed to save now for dresses, shoes, accessories and for a wedding some day. However, it didn't take long to put all these worries to rest when I realized how amazing Jennifer is and if our daughter was anything like her then I would be the luckiest man alive, no matter how much it cost.

Our little girl!

Already wearing pink!

Now the debate for a name came into play. Jennifer had a list of names that she really liked, but I wasn't really excited about any of them. One name that Jennifer really liked was Rylee or Riley. I wasn't completely sold on this as a name so we decided to think about it. I have a really hard time associating names with people that I know whether it is a good or bad association. About a week later I came up with the option of Briley because it was similar and I knew of no people named this. However, Jennifer wasn't completely sold on it. Two weeks after we found out we were having a girl I was playing with some blocks that we had gotten for some pictures and that our daughter could play with later on. I was trying to come up with different name combinations and I just happened to add a N to Briley and formed Brinley. Jennifer and I both really liked it, so we looked up the definition to see what it meant. It said that it meant "burnt meadow" and immediately we said that it was the perfect name. I know that seems kind of weird but let me explain. When calculating the date of conception we were on our trip to Australia. The actual date we were in the outback and we had taken a hot air balloon ride over the outback and the brush had been set on fire. So in essence it was a "burnt meadow". We couldn't have found a more perfect name for our daughter. Jennifer came up with the middle name Kate because it flowed well together and it was one of the names that she had really liked for possible names. Just in case we had any second thoughts, we decided to think it over for a while before telling anybody. We made it official right before Christmas after having our anatomy ultrasound and verification that it was in fact a little girl.

Her first set of blocks

We were both off work for Christmas and were able to travel back to Western Kentucky to see both of our families for the holidays. Everyone was excited about our little one on the way. We discovered that Miss Brinley is going to be spoiled by all of her grandparents and great grandparents. We didn't have enough room in our car to bring it all back. Her closet was starting to get full at just 20 weeks old. I think I might be in a little trouble! Brinley was actually a little late giving me her Christmas gift. Right after the New Year I was able to feel her kick for the first time. It was great to finally be able to feel her move around.

Brinley has lots of clothes!

I was lucky enough to get to attend Superbowl XLVI (46) in Indianapolis because of my sister. So we packed our bags and headed out to Indy to hangout with Andrea, Chris, and our gracious hosts Tony and Myra Duritsch. The 5 day trip was jam packed with activities, however we had some free time to head down to NFL Experience one day and test our abilities. Jennifer even participated in the challenges, which made me pray that Brinley gets my athletic ability. Aunt Andrea even got Brinley her very first name badge made for her. Chris and I went to the big game and Jennifer stayed with Tony and Myra. Tony thought about texting me at halftime that Jennifer's water broke, but Myra and Jennifer talked him out of it. During this trip Andrea even got to feel Miss Brinley kick.

Jennifer trying her luck at the NFL Experience

Brinley's first name tag

During this second trimester Jennifer also celebrated her 27th birthday. She got a new iPhone 4 so that she could take pictures and videos of our little girl. It also meant that while at work we could take a minute to face time once Brinley gets here to say goodnight before bed. Also on Jennifer's birthday we decided to finish up some of the decorating in Brinley's room. A few weeks before I had painted Brinley's room pink and Jennifer had ordered some decals to match her bedding. We spent about 3 hours putting a tree and some monkeys up on her walls. I really hope she likes monkeys when she gets here.

Starting the tree

Jennifer with the tree

Brinley's finished bedroom wall decals

Jennifer also got into a crafty mood and decided to make a paper mobile and multiple bows to put on her bow holders. She also sewed about 150 buttons into the shape of a B for some nice wall decoration along with painting all the letters to spell out her name.

Jennifer is super crafty

We decided as a Valentine's Day gift we would have a 3-D ultrasound done. Grandma Shelia and Grandpa Mike decided that they would come up to see first hand what their granddaughter would look like. She was really cute and even opened her eyes a few times. It a majority of the pictures she had her legs up by her face. Near the end of our session she started playing with her umbilical cord, which made me a little nervous.

Just a little wink

The second trimester was very exciting and it seemed like it flew by. We started off with a scare and after we got to around 23 weeks Jennifer started getting a little nervous that Brinley could realistically come at anytime. However, with each passing week Jennifer felt better and better because she knew that all the extra time in the womb was very crucial. She also enjoyed seeing babies at work that were the same age as Brinley was because it gave her a good idea of realistically how big Brinley was at the time. We can't wait to meet our precious girl. Only 12 more weeks until our expected due date. Thanks for reading and God Bless!