20 Week Pregnancy Update

You've asked, and I'll try to give some answers. Here are the top five questions I've received about this pregnancy, in no particular order.

Stats

How far along: 20 weeks

Baby's gender: Girl

Due: November 7th

1. How have I been feeling?
Man, I wish I could say I've been good. But it's just been crap to be quite honest. I've been so sick pretty much from week five until now. Pretty solidly nauseous from morning to night every day, vomiting, heartburn, just the works. I held out hope that all those yucky things would subside like everyone said once I made it to the second trimester, but that date came and went seven weeks ago. It is just now, at 20 weeks, that things are getting slightly better since my doctor put me on a couple of different kinds of medications.  As long as I take all of it on time and diligently, it's under control for the most part. The medication part has been really hard for me considering I've never really been one to take medication. I've always been the "tough it out" type, especially with sharing so many germs with my students for years, I'd built up quite a thick skin. Moral of the story is that I guess you never really know what kind of pregnancy you're going to have. Not all are going to be sunshine and roses. This one certainly is NOT! But baby girl is doing great so I guess I can't complain.

2. Do I have plans for the nursery decor?
Ummm... you know I do! Really the funniest part about me having a girl is that in my mind I was always going to have a boy first. So surprisingly enough, even though with my blog being called "Hot Pink Style" you would think I would be geeking out on pink frilly things. That's just not what my vision is! It's actually a little more neutral in shades of gray. I have a fun theme planned out and it's really cool but I'll wait 'til its done to share it with you. Until then you will just have to wait.

3. Where have I been shopping for maternity clothes?
First of all let me just say, I've been considering opening a maternity store and calling it "Tall and Pregnant" because seriously, everything is already just barely long enough on me but when you toss that growing bump into the mix everything becomes shorter by the day!

Thankfully, like the good little personal shopper that I am, I've found the best of the best that's out there and am actually enjoying dressing the bump!

My favorites so far include Topshop, Asos, H&M, Motherhood Maternity, and regular sizes in Free People and Anthropologie.

Topshop makes some really stylish jeans that are also super soft and comfy. Asos has been kind of a life saver because they carry TALL maternity, but unfortunately not much of it. You better believe I scooped up these overalls the second I saw them. They are pretty amazing and seriously more comfortable than most of my pajamas. They also came in short-alls and I grabbed those too.

Motherhood Maternity, although not super glamorous, has really good basics like long tanks and boyfriend jeans. The best item I have found is their maternity underwear. I had no clue how happy good maternity underwear was going to make me until I found these. Also if you have Amazon Prime you can score some great deals or even on Macy's site!! They both carry the brand.

4. Do I plan to go back to teaching after having the baby?
The plan is to take this next year off and then see what I think. I know I eventually want to teach again. I mean, I didn't lug a million boxes of teacher stuff all the way to Salt Lake City to never use them again. I love teaching. I also really loved subbing this year way more than I ever thought I would, but it's not the same as having your own classroom. I want my little girl to know I'm making a difference in kids' lives so I want her to see me being a teacher and doing it well.

5. Do we have a name picked out?
Yes! We kind of always had one, so it was super easy. Andrew and I have been together for 16 years and we have been thinking up nonsense baby names for years. We had two boy names and one girl name picked out and all we needed to know was the gender! When we found out it was a girl we pretty much immediately started calling her Athena! We picked that name out on our honeymoon in Greece, plus I'm Greek and the name sounds like a real badass. Although now that she has been such a pain in the womb, we just might be regretting giving her such a mighty and godly name since she is already showing us just how powerful she really is. She's been kicking my ass since she was five weeks old!