39 Weeks

How am I feeling? About the same, honestly.  The emotional frustration and exhaustion is weighing much more heavily than the physical pain.  I'm anxious about not knowing how or when Boomer is going to arrive (much more the HOW than the when).

The physical pain I've been experiencing comes and goes and shifts locations.  I think it has to do with where Baby Boy is at that point and what he's putting pressure on.  I can push through it, though, except when it's time to put on socks and shoes--The Hubby had to do that for me today at the doctor.

I'm still sleeping well with just one wake-up per night to go pee and I'm not having trouble getting back to sleep, so I'm definitely blessed in that sense!

I had one day where my feet were totally swollen, but I just haven't worn those shoes again and haven't had any issues anymore.

Weight thoughts: Gained 0.3 pounds this week--woo!  I don't think I've been eating any less, but who knows.  Honestly not worried about it at this point.

Doctor appointments? I had one this morning and it was slightly encouraging, if you're me.  I think The Hubby is still feeling pretty pessimistic.  The doctor said "this is a very different appointment than any you've had thus far" in the sense that my cervix was really soft and dilated to 1 cm.  It was soft enough that she was able to sweep my membranes, but still long (0% effaced).  Baby is still at -3 station.  She said he's starting to drop a little further down into my pelvis, but still not engaged and "sort of floaty".

I told her about my contractions (basically that they'll be regular for a few hours, but then nothing) and she seemed encouraged.  She said that we could cancel the C-section and go another week or so if we wanted since the baby isn't in any distress and I'm doing fine (my BP was 106/58 today).  I looked at The Hubby, who wasn't much help.  I told them that my gut was telling me to wait and neither of them argued, so I guess that's what we're going to do.  I still have this nagging guilt that my ILs have made plans to take time off on Friday (my FIL is self-employed, so it's hard for him to schedule a day off and my MIL's work isn't very flexible with time off), but I think I need to do what's best for my family and I truly believe that me not having to recover from a C-section is best for my family.  So we're postponing.  Because my doctor had already cleared her calendar for Friday morning, she suggested we come back in for another check.

I'm still feeling crampy and am hoping that that continues through the day and turns into something.  I'm going to go take a walk in a little bit and a friend offered to go walk some night this week as well.  The Hubby offered to throw everything we have at getting labor started--he said we'd get some spicy food, walk around the mall, and "get busy".  I told him that if he's interested in getting busy with this (as a pointed to my body), then he could have at it.

I had actually written an entire blog post about this Friday being a deadline, but it's now changed to an entirely different deadline.  It seems like this will be my last prenatal appointment and decision time.  If I've not delivered by then, we'll be deciding when to schedule the C-section and the condition of my cervix on Friday will determine how much longer we wait.

Movement? Boomer still moves quite a bit in the evenings, but his movements during the day have slowed down quite a bit.  Last night he was moving so much that it was hurting me, but I still tried to enjoy it because I know soon he'll be all wiggly on the outside.  He's mostly rolling around, but I'm still getting plenty of jabs and kicks, too.  He gets the hiccups once or twice a day and I actually felt them in a really odd place last night--the lower left quadrant of my stomach.  Based on what my doctor felt, it seems as though I was feeling his back convulse with the hiccups.

Baby preparation? On Sunday we did some cooking and cleaning.  We made: 5 pounds of taco meat, 6 pounds of shredded BBQ pork, and I cooked a whole chicken, shredded the meat, and then made chicken broth.  Tonight I'm hoping to make two quiches (I have some ham that needs used up) and some bran muffins to freeze.  I'd also like to do a batch of bagels, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get all of that done tonight.  I also have the ingredients to make some teriyaki chicken--it's a recipe I found on Pinterest that just requires you to throw all of the ingredients into a baggie, then dump it into a crock pot when you want to cook it.

The Hubby and I are starting to wonder if Boomer doesn't want to come out until he has a name.  We're narrowed down to two names.  One is the name we had picked if Baby Girl had been a boy and the other is a new name (to us).  I think we both like the new name better, but it is alliterative with our last name and neither of us is sold on that.  So we're still struggling, but determined to make a decision sooner than later!  We can tell it's affecting others because Baby Girl won't name any of her baby dolls, either, and told me last night that we'd name Boomer when he got here.  :)

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Yesterday Baby Girl told both The Hubby and me that "I think Boomer is going to come today".  I was really hoping she had some sort of intuition, but that wasn't the case.  She told me again today, though, that she thinks maybe he's going to come today.  Hopefully she'll be right sooner than later.... 

38 Weeks

How am I feeling? I'm in a lot of pain.  I'm not going to lie--it's fairly miserable.  I have been feeling near constant pain whenever I move for the last 3 weeks or so.  I can't come up with a better way to explain the location but to say that if you imagine where the legholes of your underwear hit your legs, it's there.  It hurts whenever I move--when I change positions in my chair, when I walk, when I roll over in bed, when I bend over.  I cannot lift either leg independently without a large amount of pain, so I sit to put on underwear, pants, and shoes.  It's worse on the left side (I think Boomer is still a little to that side), but that evens out a bit if I sleep on my right side for a night.  I've also noticed I can relieve the pain a little bit if I take a full-sized pillow, double it over, and sleep with it between my thighs.


I've had VERY small amounts of swelling, but I think they can mostly be attributed to the warmer temperatures, eating a lot of ham this weekend, and doing a lot of walking.

I did notice this week that my complexion is changing.  If I don't wear makeup I can see definite darkening on my left cheek and back toward my hairline on the right side of my face.  It's splotchy and not really that attractive.  I'm just glad I've got a darker complexion so it isn't as noticeable.

Lastly, I am having contractions.  They still feel like Braxton Hicks, though, in that they don't hurt at all.  When I slow down and pay attention, I can notice them every 10 minutes or so when I'm having them.  I actually haven't noticed any this morning, which is a little odd, but yesterday I felt them most of the day, even though I was fully hydrated and didn't exert myself any more than normal.

Weight thoughts: As predicted, I gained like 4.5 pounds from last appointment.  I pointed out to my doctor that I'd lost 3 pounds between the two previous appointments and that just meant a 2 pounds (or so) gain over two weeks.  She seemed fine with that.

Doctor appointments? I had an appointment on Tuesday.  BP remains fine (102/60, I think?).  My doctor said that my cervix "is beginning to soften" and "is closed up tight".  Gee, those are some really encouraging words.  But she seemed a bit more optimistic and said that while it's good to have the C-section on the books, if I show more progress at my next appointment (next Tuesday) she'd let me go for another week.  So I'll keep on walking and praying.

She took my fundal length and sort of giggled.  I looked at her and said, "over 40 weeks?" and she just sort of chuckled and nodded.  Yep....I'm huge and so is this baby, I fear.

Regarding the C-section.  I want to do a larger post on the way I feel about a VBAC versus a C-section, but I did want to say that I'm feeling some pressure from my family to do a C-section.  They don't *get* why I wouldn't want to do it, plus it's so much easier to plan that way.  My ILs already took the day off for next Friday and have plans to come down that morning and stay for some of the weekend.  I feel like I should keep the appointment just for everyone's convenience, which seems so silly as I write it.  But then I was thinking last night while I was doing Baby Girl's bedtime how much I would miss it if I was recovering from a C-section.  I'll be in the hospital longer and won't be able to do nearly as much when I get home.  A VBAC recovery would be a lot easier with another little one already in the house.  So I'm still going back and forth with what I want to do.  The Hubby is being supportive with whatever I choose and I think we'll have more of a discussion after next Tuesday's appointment.

Movement? Boomer's movement has definitely slowed down, but he still gives me some reassuring rolls and kicks every once in awhile.  Yesterday he got stuck on my left side and was giving me some major pain during a meeting, but after I walked back from the meeting, I didn't feel him there anymore.

I also wanted to mention that Boomer now has hiccups at least once or twice a day.  It's so fun to feel, as I've only been feeling it for the last week or two.  I hope they continue.  I remember that Baby Girl had way more hiccups than he has and those continued outside the womb.  At one point this week Baby Girl and Baby Boy *both* had the hiccups at the same time.  Adorable!

Baby preparation? I don't think we've really done much since last week.  The hospital bag is constantly in whatever car we're in.  I think we're down to two names.  If I'm feeling up to it this weekend, I'd like to do some freezer cooking and we're also planning on getting our laundry caught up and our refrigerator cleaned out so if our parents are spending time at our house they don't have to deal with our messes.

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This morning I got two different comments about my pregnancy within about a minute.  When we were dropping Baby Girl off, the sitter looked at my and told me that I'd gotten huge.  I laughed and told her about how big my doctor is measuring me.  Then when we were leaving another mom was coming to drop off her little girl and commented on how I was the happiest pregnant woman she'd ever met and that I looked pretty.  Two very different comments very close to each other!  I can see the pity and humor in my coworkers' eyes, though, as they watch me waddle around.  

37 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, pretty rough. Since last night I have been crampy and have had some backaches. Nothing horrible, but it feels like something is going on. I hope I'm right, but feeling very doubtful.

I'm tired, achy, and really irritable. Last night my anxiety hit an all-time high (before any of the physical symptoms started) and it hasn't really stopped since. So yeah...I'm ready to be done, which is a place I NEVER hit with Baby Girl.

Weight thoughts: One piece of good(-ish) news...according to the doctor's office, I've lost 3 pounds in the week since my last appointment. LOL It was a regular digital floor scale, so I'm sure I'll gain 5 pounds by the next appointment if I go back to the other scale. But my home scale was telling me that I'd held steady, so that's good to hear.

Doctor appointments? This is where this is going to get really long. I had an appointment on Monday. It was scheduled for 3:30 to get a good ultrasound picture of Baby Boy so we could figure out how big he was.

The easy answer is that he looks healthy.

The longer answer is that we will very likely be scheduling another C-section.

The story:

My appointment was at 3:30 and I didn't see my doctor until 5:15, which means The Hubby missed the actual appointment because he had to leave to go pick up Baby Girl. I was already really frustrated (and weepy) by the time I went back to the room, then found out that it looks pretty sure that we'll be scheduling a C-section. My cervix hasn't changed whatsoever (still VERY firm and closed, she said), making the doctor pretty sure that it isn't going to enough to make a vaginal delivery easy or possible. I realize that there are many people who have progressed quickly after having a closed cervix, but I'm just going off of what my doctor said. Boomer's head is actually bigger than Baby Girl's, which is saying something. When the doctor measured it, it was the size of a 41+ weeker, not a 37 week baby. It was measuring in the 99.5th percentile. Combine those two pieces with the fact that he's face up (which is not the way you want to deliver a baby) and it just doesn't look likely that we're going to be doing a VBAC. I know a lot of people don't understand why I want one so badly, but I just do. And it makes me feel like my body is failing me, like it isn't doing something right.

But the good news is that Boomer is big and healthy and we're going to have a wonderful little boy sometime in the next 3 weeks. And I know that that's what is really important. According to her estimates (which could obviously be off), he's already 7 lbs 6 oz, which is bigger than Baby Girl was when she was born. His head was huge, his abdomen was measuring in the 77th percentile and the length of his femur (upper leg bone) was 21st percentile, which means he'll be shaped a lot like her--short with a big head.

The doctor said I could still have my water break and could still go into labor, but she wasn't very optimistic about our chances for a VBAC. So we're still waiting to see what's going to happen. I did get a message this morning that she's scheduled my C-section for Friday, April 27th at 8 a.m., just in case. After the cramping and then waking up to a belly that I think has dropped some, though, my hope is restored slightly that my body was just being slow. I have another appointment next Tuesday morning and will be praying for some progress.

Movement? Baby Boy is still moving all over the place a lot. I keep thinking it will slow down, but it hasn't yet. He has definite routines, though, and I typically know when he's going to be really mobile, so it surprised me last night when he was moving all over the place before and during dinner, which was also when the cramping started. It was really odd. He still really responds to peanut butter. I hadn't had any in awhile, then had some this morning for breakfast and he's been doing a jig in there since.

Baby preparation? Over the weekend we did get a hospital bag mostly packed. I apparently don't have a shirt to wear home in the bag, but that's a minor detail, right? :) Because we'd removed Baby Girl's car seat to put it in my mom's car while she was babysitting, The Hubby put it back into the car it came from behind the passenger seat (it had been behind the driver's seat). She's loving the new point of view and we decided that we wanted the infant seat where the passenger could get to the baby. After the cramping and things from last night, we put the hospital bag into the car this morning and even loaded up the base for the infant seat. It isn't installed, but at least it's with us. We also contacted the people who we're hoping will watch Baby Girl if we have an unexpected arrival and made a plan with that. So we could have this baby today (please....) and I think we'd be okay.

36 Weeks

How am I feeling? I'm feeling some not-so-fun things at this point.  Today I had my first experience with pain directly caused by baby.  I thought I had a stomachache because of some gas or something digestion-related, but found that it got better when I walked around the office.  After about 3 hours of pain, I decided to try some yoga poses to figure out if baby would move and make me feel better.  I got down on my hands and knees and did some stretching and felt better almost immediately.  Yes, it involved time on my gross cubicle floor, but it was totally worth it.  I haven't been in pain since.

Except in my leg...  I have a band of pain that circles the joint where my thigh and pelvis meet.  My doctor today said she thinks it's sciatica, but I disagree.  I guess it's possible, though, as I've felt a teeny bit better after getting Baby Boy to move away from my left side and more toward the middle (this happened when I did the yoga poses).  Either way, it hurts to move my legs independently, which means putting on underwear, pants, and shoes when standing has been really painful.  Walking hasn't been particularly comfortable, either, so I've been hobbling around like...like a 36 week pregnant woman.  My doctor's office is in the hospital down the street from my office, so we always walk to appointments, but that took a really long time today.  We'll see how I'm feeling next Monday before we decide if we're going to walk or drive to the doctor.

Weight thoughts: Up 2 pounds over 2 weeks this time.  Not bad, not great.


Doctor appointments?  As mentioned, I had one today.  My BP is still great (102/62, I think).  Today was my Group B Strep test and my first internal.  The strep test was not pleasant.  The internal was even less so.  The fact that I don't have any dilation was the worst of all.  I didn't really expect any, but was sort of hoping.

My doctor also still seems to think that Baby Boy might be on the big side.  She asked if I was bigger than I had been with Baby Girl and asked how big Baby Girl was.  She also was hesitant when she told me I was measuring 38...leading both The Hubby and me to believe that it was probably closer to 39 weeks.  She was able to tell during the internal that Baby Boy is definitely head down, which is good news.

Next appointment is next Monday (the 9th) for an ultrasound to get a more accurate estimate of Baby Boy's size and position.  I'm hoping to get him more engaged over the next week, but we'll see--I need to make myself realize that this is not something I can control.

Movement? Of course.  The doctor keeps asking about how his movement is and I keep telling her that I don't even feel the need for kick counts because he moves so much.  He was a little quiet after I got him repositioned, but then perked up while I was driving home.

Baby preparation? We have still done fairly little, it seems.  The last things I want to do are: pick a name, pack a hospital bag (got scolded by my doctor for not doing this yet), and do some freezer cooking so we have some meal prepared for the first few days (weeks?) after Boomer arrives.  Oh, and I also want to get him a gift from Baby Girl, get her a gift from him, and The Hubby says he's going to buy Boomer's coming home outfit.  So yeah...a few things to do still.

34 Weeks

I have all of the rest of my doctor appointments scheduled through my due date.  Four appointments.  Next week is our last week that we won't see my doctor until after the baby is here.  Holy shit.  This is real.

The Hubby isn't freaking out nearly as much as I am and I can't really figure out why, but I wish some of his calm feelings would rub off on me!


How am I feeling? Pretty damn huge.  Still lumpy, though.  Reflux hasn't gotten worse yet, so that's exciting.  Moving REALLY slowly at this point and having Braxton Hicks contractions quite a bit, which makes walking even harder.  I asked my doctor about these and she said they weren't a problem and that if I were to go into labor today they wouldn't stop it.  Talk about freaking a girl out...

The hot weather we're having in Ohio (for the first day of spring today it's going to be over 80 degrees) makes me really nervous about the summer temps, so I am feeling relieved that this baby will be out by May!

Weight thoughts: Well....  It hasn't been a good two weeks, weight-wise.  We hosted a fabulous party (blog entry almost entirely written) on Saturday, but I ate A LOT.  And a lot of it was cheese.  And you might have some idea of what cheese might do to a person's digestive system.  In short, I haven't pooped since Saturday morning.  So when I saw a 5 pound weight gain in 2 weeks, I can't say I was horribly surprised.


Doctor appointments?  Like I said, I had one this morning.  I love the early morning appointments because they usually aren't running late and there usually aren't a bunch of people in the waiting room.  My blood pressure is still great (108/56, I think) and everything looks good.  Baby is still head down, but still very high, according to the doctor.  I already feel like I've been riding a horse, so I'm not sure how much I'll like the feeling once his head drops down!

My doctor measured my fundal length and I'm currently measuring at 37 weeks, which she says is still within the acceptable range, but getting a little big.  I assume it's because of my pre-pregnancy size, but she did request a growth ultrasound at my 37 week appointment the week of April 9th.  She says she's just projecting that I'll likely keep growing, plus she wanted to get a better look at his positioning at that point.

I also discussed the next few weeks with my doctor.  We don't go back next week, but will then start going every week and will begin the internal exams on April 4th.  She validated my feeling that if we have to discuss induction that our decision will be between a scheduled C-section and just letting me go naturally and that if I go late enough that I would need induced that we would just do a scheduled C-section (unless I'm already dilated to like 4 cm and having some contractions).  This is what my instincts were telling me anyway, so I'm fine with that decision.  She said that everything those last few weeks will be a game-time decision and will be based on how my cervix dilates and ripens and if my body seems to be preparing for birth.  I like the "wait and see" approach, even though it goes against my planner tendencies.

Movement? Baby Boy is all over the place, but almost all kicks are on my right side, either toward the top or just on the side.  I can usually feel his butt rolling around at the top of my left side.  There are times I feel arms or shoulders (presumably) on the lower left side as well.  At least I don't have to worry about kick counts (yet).  He actually hurt me for the first time last night!

Baby preparation? Physically, I think we're as ready as I think we're going to get.  I am going to be buying a used Rock n Play from a friend to keep by our bed for the first few weeks (it's much smaller than the Pack n Play we used with Baby Girl).

Emotionally, however, is a whole other story.  I'm pretty much freaking out.  But that isn't anything new, really.  I'm freaking out about how Baby Boy is going to get into this world and the decisions we make pertaining to that and then I'm also freaking out about what our lives are going to be like once he gets here.

27 Weeks

How am I feeling? Physically, fairly good.  I'm definitely feeling more and more pregnant, but still have moments of forgetting how pregnant I am.  For instance, I jogged down the street with Baby Girl yesterday and when I was done was shocked at the tightness that I was feeling.  I also will walk at a quicker pace, but then realize how out of breath I am and how much my ankles hurt.  My reflux is mainly in check and I've been able to even enjoy some salsa and tomato-based foods.  I did try to drink a Diet Coke last Sunday and had a REALLY rough evening.  No more of that until after Baby Boy arrives!

Emotionally, I'm worried about bonding with Baby Boy.  Now that I know his positioning and have heard his heartbeat again, I feel a bit more connected to him, but I just find myself wondering how I can possibly love him as much as his sister.  I'm sure it will all be okay once he's here--just anxious about it for now.

I'm also having trouble with my weight gain, which I'll discuss below.

Weight thoughts: I've been weighing myself sporadically at home and had headed to the doctor feeling fairly optimistic and hoping for a weight gain of about 3 pounds.  Unfortunately, what I got was a weight gain of 9 pounds!  That means I'm up 27 pounds since my 7 week appointment--not what I was hoping for.  I thought something was wrong and expressed that to my doctor and she agreed that it was unlikely that I'd gained that much.  I've been a lot more careful about my portion sizes because of the reflux, so I'd assumed my weight gain would be minimal.  However, when I weighed myself this morning at home, the scale reflected the same weight gain.  In fact, I now weigh the same as I did when I delivered Baby Girl, which is also the same weight I was when I got married.  And it's only going up from here.

I'm really upset about this.  I know it's not the end of the world, but I had thought I was doing really well.  I'm now going to cut out some of the peanut butter I've been eating (it's been an easy protein for me so I've been having it twice a day--once on toast in the morning and also in the afternoon with an apple) and hope to start getting out for more walks.  I'm obviously not going to starve myself or obsess *too* much, but it's painful to see another large weight gain.


Doctor appointments?  I just had one yesterday, which is why I waited to post (I'll technically turn 28 weeks on Saturday).  My appointment was at 1:45 p.m., so I finished my glucose drink at 12:55 and told the receptionist when I arrived.  At 1:55 they still hadn't called me back, so I approached the receptionist and she immediately knew why I was there.  She ran and got someone to draw my blood and we did the glucose screening.  My number was 103 and they wanted it at 134 or below--what a load off my mind!  I went back to the waiting room to wait for awhile longer, then the nurse took us back to a room.  She took my weight, urine, and blood pressure (crazy low for me--98/54, I think, because I hadn't had much food since breakfast in anticipation of my glucose screening), then left us alone again.  I'm lucky The Hubby brought our iPad to the appointment because we didn't actually see the doctor until after 2:45.

Dr. S was apologetic about being late and then asked how baby's movement is.  I told her about my suspicion that he might have turned to head down, but then that he might be transverse again, so she checked my stomach and confirmed that he was at an angle--his feet/bum toward my right shoulder and his head toward my left hip.  She immediately found the heartbeat (154 bpm) and reassured me that he has plenty of time to turn.  We talked about my candidacy for a VBAC (she thinks I'm a really good candidate) and my reflux issues.  She suggested I try some Mylanta if I think I'm going to have something that might really upset my stomach on top of the Zantac that I'll continue to take twice per day.

Movement?  Oh goodness, yes.  As of Wednesday the 25th, I was very sure that Baby Boy was transverse.  I was feeling kicks and hits on both of my sides at the same time.  Then Thursday night (the 26th) I had a lot of steady pressure and for the next 4 days or so only felt fairly light movement down very low.  I thought maybe he'd turned to a head-down position.  Then on Tuesday the 31st I started feeling movement on both sides again.  Since our doctor appointment yesterday, I've been very aware of what I'm feeling.  I'm feeling LOTS of kicks under my right breast and some more rolling-type movement in the middle of my stomach (likely either a shoulder or his butt).  I'm also getting some movement on my lower left side and some light movement down very low (which I would assume would be a hand).

Baby preparation? We've been working hard at getting better habits in regards to keeping our house clean (more on that very soon) and have also been organizing our basement so we can create a 2nd living room with more toy storage down there.  But we haven't touched the nursery recently.  We're shipping Baby Girl off to my parents' house this weekend for my mom's birthday, so maybe we'll work more in the nursery then.

19 Weeks

How am I feeling? Pretty good!  Still battling a bit of nausea when I don't eat the way my body wants me to.  I've still got a bit of a sore throat and cough at least once a day (for the past FIVE WEEKS).  My hair is still falling out as much as it was pre-pregnancy.

Emotionally, I'm still struggling with the way my pregnant body looks.  I work hard every day to wear something that doesn't make my double belly obvious, but it stresses me out.

Weight thoughts: I gained 6 pounds in under 4 weeks between my two doctor appointments, which was frustrating, but not totally surprising.  I've been hungry, not really worrying about what I'm eating, and eating to quell nausea.  I've been trying to do better, but whenever I eat anything healthier (ie. with FIBER), I get extremely gassy and that gas really hurts.  I was (and still am) craving salads, but end up paying for them later in the day most of the time.

Doctor appointments?  We had our BIG u/s last Friday.  I was feeling anxious about the appointment, afraid something was wrong with the baby.  I knew I shouldn't be feeling as much movement as I did with Baby Girl because of my anterior placenta, but I still thought I should be feeling more than I was.

Before the doctor came in, The Hubby and I started discussing names.  He got (pretend) angry, telling me that we need to wait to narrow down the name pool by about half.  So then I told him I wanted to bet on the gender, since he was so convinced baby was a girl and I was so convinced baby was a boy.  He said, "I don't like to bet because I don't like to lose" and I pointed out that if he loses the bet, he wins b/c he's getting a boy.  He was okay at that point.  I named the terms--person who won the bet gets to sleep in on Saturday morning.  He named the time--8:45 a.m.  I agreed that the loser even had to sleep with the baby monitor on their side of the bed.

Dr. S came in and we chatted for a few minutes.  I told her I was anxious and just wanted to see that little heart beating, so she started there--she located the heart right away.  It was, as always, a beautiful sound.  The heartbeat was 152.  I then told her we had a bet about the sex of the baby.  She found "the goods" and turned the monitor to me and said, "Who was right?"  I immediately confirmed that I was right.  It was obvious to me that there was definitely a penis in there.  The ultrasound wand shifted slightly and I wasn't quite as sure that I was right, but she confirmed--"Yep!  A boy!"  I asked if she would grant us the guarantee that a different OB/GYN did when she did our anatomy scan for Baby Girl--a wardrobe of the opposite sex if their determination is wrong.  She said she doesn't make guarantees like that :)

I looked at The Hubby.  He still looked confused, but I honestly think he was in shock.  And I smiled.  I grinned.  I kept smiling while we looked at the parts of the brain, the four chambers of the heart, the humongous noggin (measuring at 20 weeks even though I was only 18w6d), the fingers, the toes, and everything in between.  Baby had one hand up to his face and the other hand was touching his feet for most of the ultrasound.  He was squiggling all over the place!  Dr. S had some problems getting a good picture of the spine because Baby Boy was laying on his back at the very bottom of my uterus, facing up.  Eventually, though, she could see and everything looked great there, too.

Before I knew it, the ultrasound was sadly over and The Hubby had hardly said anything the entire time.  I asked Dr. S about my bloodwork results and all of them were good--all decreased odds for Downs, Tris.omy 18, and all the other things the quad screen checked for.

What a great appointment.  The realism of having a boy sunk in a bit later that day and I wasn't *as* excited, but I'm still happy.  I'm happy that Baby Boy is growing properly, healthy, and will be loved by SO many people (as many people as if he were a girl--I'm not saying it's just because he's a boy).  And the fact that he's a boy could be fun, too :)

Maternity clothes?  All day every day.  I just went through my closet yesterday and moved all my "not going to wear until this baby is out of me" clothes to the back and made room for hanging up my maternity clothes.  I am going to make a trip to JCPenney and maybe Destination Maternity soon to look for some maternity jeans and black dress pants.  My jeans from last time just weren't comfortable and with some extra weight REALLY aren't going to work.  My black dress pants were a little snug on the thigh.  I found one other pair that I'm wearing today, but I don't love them, either.


Movement? I'm fairly confident that I'm feeling movement, but it's nothing like I remember with Baby Girl.  Just before I began this post, though, I felt my strongest movements yet, so I'm hopeful that they'll really start increasing from here. I'm anxious to be feeling this baby more and more!

Baby preparation?  Now that we know the gender, the first thing we're working on is a name!  We don't have a boy's name that we love.  We also need to discuss what we want to do in the nursery since the pink and brown decor won't really work so well.  Yes, I *could* keep it, but want to do something a bit more neutral or boyish.  I'm leaning toward animals--I saw an adorable duvet at Ikea that had a circus theme that could be cute.  We'll see!

14 and 15....and might as well do 16 weeks

In all the excitement of making our official announcement, I stopped writing updated blog posts about my pregnancy, so I've missed the last few weeks.  I think it's okay, though, as nothing particularly exciting has happened.


How am I feeling?  Just fine, except for this cold.  I started getting a sore throat (not just scratchy) October 30th and am still blowing my nose and coughing some.  Baby Girl has it, too, and is still doing the same.  I think we both generally feel okay and are sleeping fine, but the cough is hanging on for a long time.  But as far as pregnancy goes, I'm doing good.  No more nausea!  I'm still exhausted every day, but I don't really remember that letting up much last time, either.  I have crazy dreams at least every other night when I typically dream only once or twice a month.  I'm also still having shortness of breath unrelated to the sickness.  All typical pregnancy stuff that doesn't bother me too much.  I still don't have to pee any more than I did pre-pregnancy.  I hope I'm blessed to escape that symptom again this pregnancy.

Weight thoughts: Up about 8 pounds.  Not horrible, but not great.  I know it will only go up from here, but I'm hoping to curb it a bit.  Some veggies, especially peas, don't sound great to me, so I've been eating less veggies than I normally do with dinner.  But I have found that I love a raw bell pepper and/or a salad, so I've been trying to have those on a regular basis.

Doctor appointments?  Just had one on Monday, November 7th.  We were scheduled to see a different doctor since my regular OB was on GYN rotation in the hospital, but were pleasantly surprised when my regular OB popped in and did my appointment!  The nurse had had me disrobe from the waist down and that confused and concerned the OB.  She immediately asked, "Are you doing okay?  Any bleeding?"  I told her I was fine...just following orders.  She laughed.  :)

She found baby's heartbeat--147 bpm.  I'm leaning toward boy, but of course we'll see.  She asked if we'll want to find out the sex of the baby and we told her yes.  She said, "Let's see if we can find out today..." and started moving around the ultrasound wand.  She said everything was a little small so she couldn't tell anything, but she did print out a picture of our little one for us to take home.  Love her.  She sent us down for the bloodwork for our quad screen and told us she'd see us on December 2nd--for our anatomy scan and (hopefully) gender determination!

Maternity clothes?  I've worn maternity pants twice in the last couple of weeks, but mostly because I didn't feel like wearing regular pants or didn't have anything clean.  I'm still wearing all of my normal clothes if I want.


Movement?  I've wondered if I've been feeling movement some in the last few days, but have told myself that I'm probably not since my doctor told me I have an anterior placenta.  From my understanding, that's the only problem with the anterior placenta--muffled or no feeling of movement.  Plus whenever I'm pregnant, I have an awful amount of gas, so I'm sure that's what I'm feeling.  I'm still holding out hope that I'll feel my baby move soon, though!

Baby preparation?  The Hubby continues to clear out Baby Girl's room and she continues to anticipate her big move there.  I'm anxiously awaiting the gender determination so I can start planning the nursery and determine if we'll need new clothes and other items.  I've also been loosely shopping for a double stroller and trying to decide what kind to get, especially since Baby Girl is older and more independent, but much better behaved when she's strapped into a stroller.

8 Weeks

Written 9/21/11 - 8w4d

How am I feeling?  I actually feel great.  I've had some bouts with exhaustion, but nothing horrible.  Last time I was falling asleep on the couch before dinner, but now I can at least make it until Baby Girl is in bed.

The nausea hasn't been bad at all.  It's definitely tapering off and I only get it when I get really hungry or really full.  For instance, yesterday I had TWO large pitas with tabbouleh, feta, and tzatziki in the middle of the afternoon.  I felt fine for the first hour after eating it, but then by the time we got home, I was feeling pretty rough and just needed to lay on the couch for awhile.

I still get surprised by a shooting pain in my left bo.ob sometimes, but it's nothing severe.  Just surprising.

I feel like the bloat is really on now.  I notice it by the end of the day, but I'm pretty confident that most people just think I'm looking fat.  Still no sign of needing to move to maternity clothes--I'm in the same place I was last time in that I have some clothes that were getting too big on me when I got pregnant, so now I can just wear them for awhile.  Once we've told people about the pregnancy, I'll start wearing some cuter maternity shirts, just because I can.  That, and to make people realize it's baby and not fat.

My weight seems to be holding fairly steady.  In the first couple of weeks I gained about 5 pounds, even though I was actually eating less.  I lost 3 of those and am back to up around 2.  I'm allowing myself to eat junk again, though, so I'm guessing the pounds will creep on sooner than later.

What's new?  We got to see our little gummy bear last Wednesday.  I was having major anxiety about not feeling pregnant, so they set me up with an ultrasound at 7 1/2 weeks instead of having to wait until 9w6d.  Thank goodness!  We also met our new OB and we both love her.  We didn't think there was any way we'd like her as much as our old OB (who is going to be focusing on surgeries instead of delivering babies), but we really, really do.  Baby's heartbeat was 168 bpm and we got to see the spine, umbilical cord, and the rest of the blob of baby that was in there.  How cool.  Our next appointment is at 11 1/2 weeks.  I think after that appointment we'll start telling the world, but will want to tell a few close friends before then...just need to figure out how and when :)

Fun facts?  I love that The Hubby is so into this pregnancy.  Since he has an iPhone he has a pregnancy app that's giving him updates about the baby, so sometimes he'll randomly tell me what size the baby is now.  For instance, last night he told me the baby is the size of an olive.  How exciting and absolutely adorable :)

Ultrasound Pics

(that last one is the spine)

Another doctor appt

Had another doctor appointment today, which means we have NO more appointments before the BIG ULTRASOUND (insert dramatic music here).

Woohoo!

It all went well. Of course I've gained another 5 pounds, but whatever. At this point, I'm trying not to stress and just eat well for the baby. We heard baby's heartbeat and it was running between 140 and 150. DH and I are really sure now it's a boy. Yes, I realize the heartbeat really has nothing to do with it, but I was already pretty convinced and now he is too. We'll see in less than 4 weeks, though. Baby kept running from the Doppler, which was funny. We'd hear the heartbeat, then a weird noise. The doctor made sure to say "that was movement, so you know it's moving in there!". She knew I'd panic hearing that weird blip. She finally got it cornered on my right side and we got a steady heartbeat. What a beautiful sound.

I hate to admit it, but I still have a hard time believing there's a growing human being in my body. Weird stuff.

Got my blood taken for the quad screen, too. The quad screen is about 65% reliable and looks for the possibily of Downs, Trisomy-18, and a few other genetic diseases. If we get an elevated result, they'll do other tests to confirm. Not particularly concerned about getting bad results. I suppose it could happen, but I've been pretty laid back lately (totally out of character for me...) about this, so I'm just trying to relax and wait to see if we get any word on the results (in this case, no news is good news).

Doctor Appt Update

Just got in from the appointment and all is well! The doctor said all of my bloodwork and everything was perfect and we heard the baby's heartbeat really quickly. It was such a beautiful sound.

Of course, I've gained 5 pounds in the last month....so maybe I need to watch what I'm eating a teeny bit better, but I've been trying very hard to just eat when I'm hungry and to listen to my body. After trying to lose weight for so long, it's hard to find a happy medium. I did learn a lot from my weight loss, though, and have been doing great eating higher fiber foods (when I'm feeling daring...) and fruits and veggies. I may just be spluring a bit too often now ;)

I'm not going to worry too much about it, though. If I gain another 5 pounds by next appt, then I might take more action, but I assume the gain will level out. And if not, oh well--I've gotta keep baby fed, right?

You have no idea how relieved I am having heard that heartbeat again. Sure, we heard the h/b around 9 weeks, but hearing it now, knowing I'm in the second trimester...it's all incredibly real now. I really can relax.