Waiting Well: Week 14

A weekly check-in from this season of waiting

“This series isn’t about perfection—it’s about learning to wait with faith and grace.”

Waiting Well is a weekly pregnancy series where I share honest, real-life updates from this season of waiting. Every Wednesday, I check in with how I’m feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually—covering everything from symptoms and doctor appointments to baby preparations, shifting routines, and the little moments in between. This series isn’t about having it all figured out; it’s about slowing down, staying present, and learning to wait with faith and grace as our family prepares to welcome this baby.

Crossing Into the Second Trimester

“I blinked—and suddenly we were here.”

We are officially past the first trimester, folks.

I remember back in mid-December thinking how far away the second trimester felt. And then I blinked—and here we are. I am so thankful to be here.

Physically, I do feel more energized and more comfortable than I did in the first trimester. I feel more rested and more willing to take on each day. Early on, every day felt like a mountain I had to climb with an energy capacity I just didn’t have. But now, it truly feels like the fog has lifted.

“I’m not all the way back—but this feels like real progress.”

I’m not fully back to my normal energy yet, but this is absolutely a step in the right direction.

Learning What My Body Needs

“Pregnancy has a way of teaching you to listen.”

Symptom-wise, nothing too wild right now. I mostly feel like I’m learning how to listen to my body better.

I’ve learned that I need to eat right when I wake up—before even having my small cup of coffee. I also tend to eat more in the first half of the day than the second, which has helped so much with bloating. I’m just naturally hungrier in the mornings, so I usually have two meals before lunch, and then dinner is much lighter.

That actually works really well for this season of life. Evenings are usually full of practices and games, so a lighter dinner—or even just a solid snack—feels perfect.

Week 12 Appointment & Genetic Testing

“Information is valuable—not because it changes love, but because it brings preparation.”

I had a doctor’s appointment during week 12, and it went really well. It was short and sweet—we listened to the heartbeat (which sounded great), and then I had blood work done for genetic testing and the gender blood test.

This was actually the first time I’ve done genetic testing in any of my pregnancies. I decided to do it after a thoughtful conversation with my best friend, Danny. She shared such a grounded perspective: information is valuable. Not because it would change how you feel about your baby, but because if something were wrong, you’d have time to be informed, educated, and give doctors time to prepare.

I felt really good moving forward after that—and I’m so thankful everything came back clear.

The test also confirmed this is a single pregnancy. I’ve only had one ultrasound so far and they saw one baby, but it was still reassuring to see that reflected in the blood work too.

Accidentally Finding Out the Gender

“One email. One early morning. One big surprise.”

I thought I would receive two emails—one with genetic results and another with the gender. But when I opened the genetics report early one Monday morning (around 5:30 a.m.), the gender was right there in the report.

I accidentally read it.

Of course, I had to tell Martin right away. There was no way I could know and he not know, so I had him read the report himself. Now we both know—and we are so excited.

“The kids are buzzing with anticipation—and so are we.”

The kids are very excited to find out too, so we’re hoping to do a fun gender reveal this week and surprise all our people. This week feels full of anticipation and excitement, and I’ll do my best to document the reveal with pictures and videos to share here on the blog.

Looking Ahead

That wraps up week 13, and now we’re heading into week 14—grateful, hopeful, and waiting well.