19 Weeks

Now that I'm solidly in my second trimester, things are finally starting to feel real. My biggest fear with having a second child was not how hard it would be to take care of two kids, but taking care of just one while experiencing the same morning sickness I had when I was pregnant with the bean. I was terrified of it, but mercifully it was not as bad. I definitely did feel sick and worn out, but I was able to work through it and the bean and I made it through. I kept obsessively checking my journal from when I was pregnant with the bean to see when the morning sickness got better. It was 16 weeks with the bean and a little bit earlier this time-probably 14 weeks.  Thank goodness we are through that part and I'm feeling better and getting my energy back.  There were a rough couple weeks in there were we were in pure survival mode, I imagine we'll be familiar with that mode again in a few short months!

Now I'm in that middle part of pregnancy where you sometimes forget that you're pregnant until you catch yourself in the mirror. Well, also this time around I've been accidentally overdoing it and being reminded that I'm pregnant by my body which has insisted I take it easy.  When I was pregnant with the bean, I was working on my feet all day so I worried that I wouldn't be getting as much exercise this time.  Of course, I completely underestimated how physical taking care of a toddler is.

Now that I'm able to feel this peanut moving around, it's starting to become more real. Honestly, it's been pretty difficult to imagine having a second child who is different from our first. I know that sounds strange, but I guess the only experience I have to base having a child on is the bean, so that's what I think of when I think of having another baby. I have to keep reminding myself that this child will have his or her own personality and likes and dislikes. It's amazing, but pretty hard to picture at this point.

Because there were some concerns during my pregnancy with the bean, we had several ultrasounds throughout the pregnancy and were able to find out that she was a she at 16 weeks. This time, things look fine and we hopefully won't need those ultrasounds, so it's been a long time since we had a peek at this peanut. In just a couple days, we'll have our level II ultrasounds and get to check this little one out and check that everything looks OK.  (We'll also find out the gender).

We've been taking belly pictures every week or so and I've been comparing them to the pictures from when I was pregnant with the bean. I know my belly is supposed to pop out sooner, but everything looks pretty similar up to this point. I've been waiting to post pictures here until there was something to show you!

Here I am this time around at 6 weeks

 

And 18 weeks

And this is 19 weeks with the bean, pretty similar, right?

Happy one week!

Yesterday was the bean's one week birthday. Its hard to believe that its been a whole week already--it feels like one long sleepless day. Yesterday we called in reinforcements (aka Grandma) to help us figure out how to get this bean to sleep. So far, so good. I know the poor kid was exhausted and needed some rest but her amateur parents couldn't figure out how to get her to close her eyes and stop fighting sleep. We also can't figure out how to have distinct nursing sessions throughout the day, rather than one continuous 24 hour feeding, but one step at a time. (If I hear the term "human pacifier" one more time, I may become ill. Yes, I am pacifier. Right now, I believe that is my job. I think she'll be weaned before college.)

I'm desperately trying to find the time to finish her birth story, but how about I share some beany goodness in the meantime?

My last belly picture at 41 1/2 weeks. Already, I can't remember being that big.

Rare, closed eye sighting.

Rockin' the sweater mama made.

32 Weeks

We are closing in on the end of the 32nd week and I have to say that I've been extremely lucky up to this point. Aside from the horrible morning sickness (which we cannot, ever, discount because it really was THAT bad and it lasted well into the fourth month) and the aversion to drinking water that lasted another few weeks beyond that, I've felt really good. I felt so good in the second trimester that I was sometimes surprised to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and be reminded that, yes, I really was that pregnant.

I still don't have any major complaints. I'm starting to get a little bit of heartburn (and a couple episodes of reflux) and a little bit of back pain (should be doing more back exercises--shame on me!). My calves have swollen a little bit, but my hands and face look pretty good and I'm still able to wear my rings! The belly has grown to such monumental proportions that I'm no longer surprised when I see it--I'm convinced its an optical illusion. It doesn't feel like this huge bump should be part of me (and it doesn't feel that big from where I'm sitting).

I know there's still time for all the 3rd trimester discomforts to creep in, but the longer I ward them off, the better. Here's the belly at this point, I can hardly fathom it getting any bigger.

28 Weeks

Apparently, I'm not very chatty lately. I've slowed down considerably in the last couple weeks, so I'm not accomplishing much after work and I can't remember a weekend when we weren't working on getting our new place together. Interestingly enough, the two rooms we aren't using are the closest to being done--the office/workout room in the basement (which is awaiting installation of a new phone line before we can actually use the computer) and the nursery. Sweetie finished the painting, our crib and dresser arrived (yay!) and we put some super cute decals on the wall. We just have a couple more things to hang and then all the big stuff will be done. I'm so happy with the paint job that sweetie did--it looks amazing, so much nicer than I had envisioned. We both keep peeking in the room, just to look at it.

Last night, we took an infant CPR class. I thought we were getting it as part of the four courses we registered for at our hospital but, apparently, I was wrong. We ended up taking it through our town's continuing ed department. Our new town is so small, who knew they even had one? Leave it to the sweetie--those googling skills astound me! Tonight is Bradley class #10 (of 12). I mentioned before that I wasn't so sure about the class but I was trying to keep an open mind. Now, I can say unequivocally that I hate the class. I think that the Bradley method is great and we've gotten a lot out of some written information we've found, but this particular class just sucks. The instructors are very nice people, but not the best teachers and there's a lot of talk about vague "relaxation techniques" or "coach strategies" without any detail. I really thought that was what we would spend 12 weeks learning, but so far . . . nada. I'm also personally a little annoyed because I was told when I registered us for the class that this husband/wife team taught the class together. In reality, the wife has been present for 2 or 3 classes so far and he has taught the others alone. Call me sexist, but I have a hard time hearing that contractions feel like strong menstrual cramps from someone who hasn't experienced either. Oh yeah, not to mention the fact that he just can't seem to bring himself to add "or partner" when talking about the father. The coach is always "he" and the parents are always referred to as "mom and dad" despite the fact that here we are sitting right in front of him with a fetus who will clearly have two mothers. We go back and forth between wanting to stop going and feeling like we should see them out since we've already paid for them. I think we can stick it out for three more weeks and hope that we end up getting a little something out of them, but I'm really starting to resent spending every Wednesday night at these things.

I also have my 28 week checkup today, where I'll get a rhogam injection and my gestational diabetes test. I'm hoping both go well. We are also planning on interrogating the midwife about the hospital procedures, since that's where it turns out I'll be birthing. I'm most concerned about whether there will be limitations on the birthing positions I can use and what procedures are routine and if we'll be able to decline them (I heard that our hospital gives routine pitocin during delivery of the placenta. I can hardly believe that, but if its true, there must be a way to get out of it?) Any suggestions on things I should check into?

24 Weeks

Over the past month, I've noticed people staring at me wherever I go. At first, I put on my tough girl "what are you looking at" attitude, cuz really, what are they looking at? But then it hit me--I'm obviously pregnant. People like to look at the belly (I like to stare at pregnant bellies myself, so I get it). The thing is, I haven't really felt big. I've been enjoying the honeymoon period that is the blissful second trimester--I've had lots of energy, I've been able to eat, and I've been shocked when I walk by a mirror to see this huge bump. (I've actually laughed a few times after getting a glimpse of myself--I look like I shoved a pillow under my shirt!)

If I'd been convincing myself that the whole labor and delivery aspect of this journey was still a long ways off, I got a wake up call at my 24 week midwife appointment. My favorite midwife walked in and very nonchalantly said, "You know you aren't having this baby at the birth center, right?" Um, no. Actually, I didn't. I don't think I've posted much about this before, but my heart has a history of getting all confused and beating in a crazy rhythm. My heart races, I get light-headed and, I found out the hard way, I can pass out if I try to do anything strenuous like walk across the room. Aside from causing a lot of excitement, its not such a huge deal--not life-threatening and only slightly increases my chances of having something bad like a stroke or heart attack. Still, the doctors that oversee the midwife practice are concerned enough about it that they want me to deliver in the hospital.

I'm terrified of delivering in the hospital because, in my irrational mind, hospital = c-section. Aside from one or both of us coming out of this thing with less than perfect health, I'm most scared of having a c-section. A midwife will still be able to attend our birth, but I'm not sure how else being in the hospital will affect our plans. Many questions will be asked at our next appointment.

Now, without further ado, I present the belly:




The funny thing? This picture is a couple weeks old and I'm WAY bigger than that now. And the last week or two, I've noticed the belly has started getting in the way when I try to do crazy things like, oh, bend over to put my socks on, or get up from sitting on the floor. Now the fun begins!

Belly Update

I've said it before and I'll say it again--I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going! Where did the last 21 weeks go? Our bean is now officially a little over halfway cooked. Lately, I've been walking by the ultrasound pictures on the fridge and wondering, "Who's baby is that?" Its unbelievable to me that there's a real baby in my belly. Even now that I'm feeling her move around every day, I still have to remind myself that those kicks are coming from baby arms and legs.

I think that she may be going through a growth spurt the last couple weeks. At the very least, my stomach is going through one. Every morning I look at myself in the mirror and I look bigger than the day before. When my mother left the other day, she told me I looked bigger to her than I had when she arrived four days earlier and people at work have started noticing. Today, someone I don't see everyday looked down at my belly and then quickly looked away. I wanted to tell him, "Its OK, I'm pregnant." You know that uncomfortable "is she or isn't she, should I say something or not" feeling? I wish there was some way, short of wearing a sign on my stomach, that I could let people know so they didn't have to go through that.

I read somewhere that at this stage in the pregnancy, the baby's waking and sleeping patterns are very similar to what they'll be when she's a newborn, which concerned me a little bit. It feels like she's awake all the time but, being the scientist that I am, I decided to do a study. I, obviously, am not sure what she does at night, but I was up from 1:30 am - 3 am and she wasn't moving around then. I woke up again at 6 am and nothing until 8:30. After that, she was up from 8:30 until 9, from noon to 2, from 3:30 to 4 and from 5:30 to 9 pm.

OK, well that's hardly being up all day. What a relief. I'm actually excited to see if this really does end up being her waking pattern after she's born. I plan to track her movements again closer to delivery and after she's born and compare the three, big nerd that I am.

Finally, would you like to see the belly? I myself am shocked at how big I am, and we still have most of the growing yet to go.

16 Weeks

I honestly cannot say where the first trimester has gone! Time is moving so quickly and the past couple months are mostly a blur of nausea and exhaustion. Things are definitely getting better, but the nausea is not completely gone. I'm starting to prepare myself for the possibility that I may just be sick this entire pregnancy. With things the way they are now, I can live with that. The nausea comes and goes and is worse right before bed and when I haven't eaten, but its not constant like it was at 12 weeks and its definitely not as severe.

Monday was our 16 week checkup and we got to hear little bean's heartbeat again. We'll be scheduling the big ultrasound in the next couple weeks , which is very exciting. We declined all genetic testing, so this will be our first glimpse at whether things seem to be developing OK in there!

In other exciting news, I think I've been feeling the little one move the last couple days. I've been feeling it for a few weeks, but I just recently made the connection that the sore feeling in my pelvis that comes and goes and moves around is probably just our little jelly bean. Very exciting!

My belly is getting bigger and bigger and I'm gaining weight like crazy. I am now in maternity clothes all the time (I even needed new pajamas!). Up until a couple weeks ago, I could still fit into a few pairs of baggy pants, but now I think its just one pair of sweats I stole from the sweetie. Here are some belly pics so you can see for yourself.

Five Weeks

Ten Weeks

Sixteen Weeks

I think I might have a genuine baby bump any day. Part of me is anxious for that to happen, but the other part of me would love if the bean would hold off until after the wedding, so I can still fit into my dress. We'll see which side wins.

Happy new year everyone!