Monthly Archives: August 2012

Weekly Update: 25 weeks!!

21 Tuesday Aug 2012

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Last week we were in Michigan visiting my family so I really didn’t have time to sit down and write an update or even take an official photo.  But now I’m 25 weeks, that’s so exciting!!  It feels so far along but yet not too far yet.  I love where I am right now!  But I was just thinking how I have just over 2 months now to get everything done on my to-do list so I can spend the month of November just relaxing and not stressing and cooking and baking and nesting and all that good stuff, and possibly potty-training Elsa if I think she’ll be ready for it!  2 months is not a long time!!!

WEEK: 25

MONTH: 6

TRIMESTER: 2

GENDER GUESS: Gender has been a big thing for me over the last week.  I have in my mind that it’s a boy because of some of the differences in this pregnancy – not as much weight gain in my butt and hips yet, slow-growing leg hair (even though most places say it favors a girl, I didn’t have that with Elsa), belly getting so big so fast.  So I keep thinking it may be a boy but I can’t let go of my dream for a second girl and to have two little girls running around together.  I’m actually really considering finding out the gender around 30 weeks when we go for a 3D ultrasound, so if it’s a boy I can do my mourning of the dream of two little girls and then move on to get excited about and bond with the idea of a little boy, and all before the baby is born.  It sounds so silly saying all this, how I really want a girl and would need a mourning period if it’s a boy, but I know how way over-emotional I was the first week and maybe two weeks after Elsa was born so I don’t know how I’ll be this time, and especially if it’s a boy.  I may be totally fine and just immediately bond with a perfect little boy, but what if I’m not??  Actually over the last couple days the idea of a boy hasn’t been so bad to me as it was last week.  I’ve remembered how little boys often are cuddlier than little girls, I think of my friends and acquaintances who have little boys and just adore everything about them.  But then I also think how little boy clothes are nowhere near as cute as little girl clothes, how the boys will grow up to be not cuddly with their moms, how they’ll find girls and get married and not be nearly as close with us (usually) as daughters usually are.  Of course so much of this comes from my own family and similar personal experiences, I know some sons who as adults stay really close to their parents.  But it still isn’t the same I don’t think.  And I’d have to eventually go through all Elsa’s clothes and start giving some away and that will be SO HARD!!!  Anyway, I am really going back and forth on finding out the gender this time.  I wouldn’t want to know right now, I like the wondering, but I’m thinking about maybe finding out in a few weeks.  We’ll see how I feel between now and then.

BABY’S HOMEWORK THIS WEEK: Baby is working on it’s breathing and is making breathing movements with its lungs.  Its brain has also developed enough now that it shows a response to touch and light, and can now hear sounds outside just my belly.

BABY’S SIZE: Around 1.75 pounds and it’s about 13.5 inches long from head to heel.  It doesn’t weigh much so would be teensy skinny in there but it’s pretty long already!

BABY LOOKS LIKE: I’m always amazed that it’s such a real baby inside me already!

BELLY PHOTO: I never think these photos really show just how big it looks, I swear it always looks bigger to me.

WEIGHT GAIN: I think I’m now around 20 pounds.  I’ve gained a lot in the last couple weeks.  And the baby isn’t even 2 pounds yet so I have another probably 5-7 pounds that will just be the baby, let alone I know I’ll gain more weight just on my own.  My belly has grown another half inch too I think.  It’s looking more and more round all the time now!

SYMPTOMS: The biggest symptom that I’ve had over the past week has been feeling lightheaded and slightly nauseous sometimes.  It happened twice on vacation and I needed to kneel or sit down to feel better, standing made it keep getting worse.  Yesterday morning it happened again and I’d keep kneeling and then standing up and quickly doing something (getting Elsa’s food, cat’s food, food for me) until I could just sit.  And today it happened again but lasted much longer.  I went upstairs to take a shower and immediately when getting upstairs I started feeling it and sat down on the bed for awhile while Elsa played on the bed, and I laid down a little, and then I decided to try for the shower anyway but I ended up spending almost all of the shower either kneeling or crouching cause standing up made me feel sick right away.  I put my lotion on while sitting, and we went downstairs (thankfully Elsa can go down on her own now) and I sat for a long time while we snacked and then it was mostly gone.  I haven’t figured out yet exactly when it happens and what triggers it cause especially one of the times we had just eaten a big meal.  I hope it doesn’t keep getting worse cause right now I’m even nervous to leave the house after this morning.

I’m having many more aches and pains over the last week or two as well.  Sometimes when I first get up after sitting it’s SO tight and painful way down low, like right above my vagina, that I can hardly walk until it loosens up.  And a couple times after I’ve peed or pooped it’s just been so strongly achy down low in my abdomen that I have to just sit or lay until it passes, which can be 5-10 minutes.  I think my back is getting achy sometimes too after sitting in one position for too long.  And I can’t twist my body the same as I could before without it being really uncomfortable.  Bending over and standing from sitting on the ground and even rolling over in bed are getting progressively harder.  And I sometimes miscalculate how big my belly is when walking by things or opening things and sort of hit my belly.  I’ve noticed also that standing at the sink isn’t fun anymore now in the kitchen, cause my belly sticks out far so I have to lean over a bit to get to the water and just that tiny bit of leaning that’s required is uncomfortable and straining.  So I wonder how uncomfortable it will be in a couple months!

My feet still haven’t swelled but definitely sometimes when I’m sitting a lot I can feel them getting slightly puffier and strained so I need to make sure to keep my feet up a lot when sitting.  My belly button is a total flatty and very stretched already, and sensitive to the touch.  Oh and over the past three days I’ve been really sleepy and tired – I’ve slept so well at night, it’s been so hard to get up in the morning, I’ve wished for a morning nap, I’ve wished for or sometimes taken an afternoon nap with Elsa, and I’m very tired early in the evening.  It feels really similar to how I felt during first trimester.  But it shouldn’t be happening until third trimester and I’m still 3 weeks away from that!!  It makes me really wonder if this baby will come early like Elsa since everything seems to be happening faster this time.

Also, I’m starting to get the nesting bug.  I want to bake, I want to make soup stock and freeze it, I want to make chili and freeze it, I want to bake cookies and cupcakes and find recipes I like and then freeze some batter.  I want to get the baby’s room painted and Elsa’s room looking perfect (in less than two weeks we’re moving her to her big girl bed so I need to get a few more things for that as well).  I want to have the basement done so I can start organizing toys better and set up a craft area down there and an art wall and figure all this stuff out.  I want to meet with Jody’s designer friend who will help give me ideas for our terrible living room area and maybe dining room.  I want the house to be prettier and more complete.  I want J to save a lot of money on this garage he’s building so we have more to go towards the house itself which I care way way way way way way way way more about.  I want to get ready for Christmas already.  I want to get a nice fall sweater and some shoes I can wear even when pregnant.  I want to get Elsa all set for fall and winter clothes.  I need to have more money to do a lot of this.

CURRENT MOOD: I don’t like the new lightheadedness that I’ve been getting.  I don’t like feeling tired already three weeks before I even hit third trimester.  I’m worried about having only 2 months plus a little over a week to get most everything done that I want to do, including a lot of things that J will need to do like painting the room, helping build furniture, finishing the basement, finishing at least part of the basement bathroom, etc.  And I need to have some late nights to get photo stuff done and go through all the photos from the past year and even Elsa’s first year so I can put albums together (and I’m so picky and so indecisive so I know it will take a long time).  And I’m stressed about whether to find out the gender and whether it will be good or whether I’ll regret it.  I’m leaning more towards finding out though, at least right now, but still maybe just 65/35 towards finding out – and I will only tell a tiny handful of people if we do find out, I still want it to be a surprise for everyone else!  And I’m nervous about having so many aches and pains already.  I have an actual list to talk to my OB about on Thursday morning at my next appointment, and I’m looking forward to when I can start seeing him every two weeks instead of every four.  And I’m already a little nervous that something will happen so I can’t get an epidural, and I need to start doing kegels again, and also start seeing a chiropractor to get all straightened out for labor.

CURRENT FAVORITE FOOD OR CRAVING: Not much.  I’ve craved my chocolate milk a bit over the past few days but that’s all I can think of.

DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS: I have my next OB appointment in two days.  I’m definitely looking forward to it, to hearing the heartbeat, to knowing all is okay, and I think the baby is big enough that he’ll try to feel it’s position and I’m curious to know if I’m right cause I think a week ago it moved to definitely being head down.  I sometimes feel a lot of pressure down there, and I feel lots of movements low which I think are the hands and maybe even hiccups, and I feel some occasional movements higher up which I think are the feet.

BEST MOMENT OF THE WEEK: I haven’t really had a best moment this week, just whenever I feel lots of movements from the baby which is usually in the evening after Elsa goes to sleep and I’m sitting on the couch.  Those are the best baby moments cause I get excited and I feel like everything is all okay since I’m feeling good movements.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: My OB appointment in two days, and being 27 weeks so baby has a 50/50 chance of survival if it were born, and to having the 3D ultrasound so I can see it and bond and also stop worrying about it having a super flat forehead and not being cute (hopefully the ultrasound will show a cute baby!)!

WHAT I’M MISSING: I’m a little bit missing looking skinnier and feeling not so heavy and like it’s hard to move.  But that’s only a little bit cause really I’m so happy to be pregnant and I love being pregnant and I love how I am now – big perfect belly and obviously pregnant but not near the end yet so I still have a long time left to be pregnant!  I get REALLY sad when I think that this may be the last time I’m pregnant.  It’s such an exciting and miraculous time and knowing all the changes my body is going through to grow this little person moving inside me is so humbling and absolutely amazing!

Weekly Update: 23 weeks!!

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in 2nd Trimester, Pregnancy

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I didn’t realize until just now that I never wrote a 22 week update.  It was my birthday on 22 weeks but I somehow thought I wrote it!  And I even have ultrasound photos to post of the baby!!

WEEK: 23

MONTH: 6

TRIMESTER: 2

GENDER GUESS: Right now I’m wondering if it’s a boy.  A couple people said I was glowing and beautiful in a recent photo and that means it’s a boy.  And I have a girl name I love and a couple others I love as well, but not a single boy name that excites me.  And on the baby name forum I tend to click on way way way more girl name posts than boy.  This all worries me that I’m having a boy.  Which really, it would be wonderful of course, and I’ve heard that in general little boys are more cuddly than little girls.  But I would soooooo miss not being able to use my girl name, and sooooo miss the cute cute adorable girl clothes and pink and all that.  I’m so torn.  I feel like I would be happy with a boy but still be jealous then of anyone who had a girl – even though I already got my girl so I should just be happy with that!

BABY’S HOMEWORK THIS WEEK:  The baby is busy putting on weight this week, about 6 oz now every week! It’s slowly putting on more fat, and it’s organs, bones and muscles keep growing. The baby has eyelashes and eyebrows now, too, and probably some hair – although all the hair is white because the pigment hasn’t come in yet, so we wouldn’t be able to know yet what color hair it will have. (via What to Expect). Also, this week the baby is really working to prepare itself for breathing after its born. It’s lungs are producing something called surfactant that keeps the lungs from collapsing or sticking together when breathing, and blood vessels in the lungs are growing and developing more as well. And the baby is even making breathing-like movements and inhaling amniotic fluid in and out of its lungs! (via StrongMoms).

BABY’S SIZE: Baby is around 8 inches long (head to bum) and weights a little over a pound!!

BABY LOOKS LIKE: It’s such a little baby in there!

AND, here are a couple of the ultrasound photos from almost two weeks ago, baby was 21 weeks and 2 days old then (it already seems like it was so long ago and it wasn’t even two weeks ago):

BELLY PHOTO: I’m actually writing this at midnight on Tuesday morning, so I’m just now 23 weeks but haven’t taken my photo yet (will in the morning).  So I’ll attach my photo from last week, here is the belly at 22 weeks:

WEIGHT GAIN: Around 15 pounds I think, although I haven’t weighed myself since last week.  My belly is now 39 1/4 inches so it keeps growing between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch per week it seems.  A total steady climb, which is both exciting and scary cause how big will I be at the end?!

SYMPTOMS: Little bits of acid reflux here and there, usually when I lay down but this last week it’s come here and there even when I’m vertical.  My stomach definitely feels heavy sometimes, after I’ve been standing or walking for awhile I just FEEL it and I want to sit down and give it a rest.  I need to start doing some prenatal exercises, I have a couple yoga DVDs that I should do.  And maybe start going to a chiropractor now, too.  I think I tend to let my shoulders hang forward instead of pulling them down and back, and it affects my whole belly.  I definitely feel weighed down when standing up from sitting (especially on he floor), and leaning over to pick stuff up on the floor is really hard without doing a weird squat, but it’s uncomfortable now to just lean over.  A couple times in the evening when sitting at my computer, or after working a whole day at a wedding, I have felt like my feet were just slightly swollen and I look at them with dread in case, but so far I haven’t seen any kankles or signs of them.  What else?  I just feel more pregnant.  A couple nights I’ve had the stuffed nose again.  Hardly any bleeding gums though.

Oh – this may mean something, I need to look it up.  I realized just this weekend that my leg hair right now isn’t growing as fast.  I shaved on Friday evening and on Monday evening I feel a little soft stubble but it’s nothing like the hard stubble that I usually get even the next day.  I don’t know if this favors a boy or a girl, I must investigate!  It’s really nice though!

This last week I have been feeling the baby much stronger than before!  I can even feel it on the outside now I’m sure!  J tried putting his hand on yesterday but he only has patience to wait for a minute and the baby didn’t move during that minute.  At the ultrasound two weeks ago, the baby was laying horizontal across my belly.  It’s head was on my left side, it’s spine curved down low with it’s bum resting low, and it’s legs stretched out to my right side.  I think it’s still in the same position, yesterday I was feeling strong kicks on the right side there, and I feel probably the hands and arms around my middle and usually down a little lower.  It’s so cool!!!  I love feeling the miracle of a baby moving inside me, it’s such an amazing and special thing!  And although we haven’t talked about it or officially decided, it’s likely that this will be my last pregnancy and that makes me sad that I’ll never feel this again.

CURRENT MOOD: Happy, content, loving being pregnant and my big belly and the miracle of it all!  And just under 4 months until my due date now!  I’m happy I’m feeling as good as I am, although a little scared that some of the things, like the weight of my belly and difficulty bending over and such, didn’t happen until around 28 or 29 weeks with Elsa.

Also, and this may be weird to some people, but I’m worried that this baby is going to have a flat forehead.  Granted, the ultrasound tech was only able to show me the profile one time cause the baby had it’s little head so pressed against the placenta, but compared to Elsa’s ultrasound (and coming out with) a wonderfully perfectly rounded little forehead, this baby’s ultrasound photo shows a very flat forehead.  I need to make an appointment for around 32-34 weeks for 3D and that’s one thing I’ll be paying very close attention to.

I’m getting so excited for fall, too!  I know it’s just the beginning of August, but I’m getting so excited for sweaters and long sleeves and the crispness in the air.  Well for me.  But then I think of all of Elsa’s adorable summer clothes that I love so much and I don’t want summer to be over just yet, and I think of all the fun she has at the parks, and that I want to take her to more splash pads and swimming and all that, and then I don’t want summer to be over yet.  So I’m very torn between total excitement about fall and totally not wanting summer to be over for Elsa!

One other thing with my current mood, although not related to pregnancy exactly.  I’m sad that I’m the parent who has to deal with all of Elsa’s bad behaviors and work on inserting discipline into our day and telling her no and all that stuff, and occasionally yelling when she purposely throws her plate after I tell her not to, etc.  Whereas J comes home and is so happy to see her and gives her little bits of fun daddy time and makes her laugh and he seems like the fun dad whereas I seem like the mean and not fun to myself sometimes.  It makes me feel so bad.  It makes me wonder if she’s going to find me so annoying in a couple years and J will be her favorite and the one she wants to be with.  I get that it’s normal, and J comes home and spends a little bit of time with us, and then is doing stuff or out working on building the garage or whatever, so it’s always me with her and he just pops in for fun, but it’s making me feel bad.  And I feel a little more irritable lately and have a little less patience and I don’t seem to be doing new and fun and creative things with her and it all makes me feel like such a bad and boring and not fun and blah mommy.  I feel like I say no too much, like I’m telling her not to do things or asking her to do things too much, and not making her laugh enough.  I need to pick her up and make her fly even if I’m tired and feeling weighed down by my belly.  I get on the floor and play with her, I talk to her all the time, I say words to her and emphasize words all the time, I praise her for new sounds or trying to say things, I try to work on letters sometimes and numbers sometimes and try to teach her to act certain ways and not act certain ways and all that, it’s just hard to know whether you’re doing a good job or not sometimes, whether I have a good balance of everything or not, whether I’m setting a good example and making her happy and being right about setting limits and telling her no.  I am having all these doubts about myself as a mom and I think it all is stemming from me feeling like I’m not fun enough and not exposing her to enough things, and seeing J come in and be sweet and fun with her and not have to be doing the no or discipline thing with her.  Maybe I’m too picky and am not letting her be a toddler enough and saying no too much?  I don’t know, but I’m very aware of my nervousness with not being a good mom.  We go on vacation tomorrow, driving to Michigan, so it will be nice to have a change of pace and something new, and she’ll be around her grandma and grandpa and even my brother and his family are coming, so I’ll also get to see how my brother and sister-in-law are with their two boys.  Elsa also doesn’t always give me a hug and kiss on request anymore and that hurts, I know it’s her age and she has other things she wants to do then, but it feels almost like, in my subjective mind, she doesn’t want to because I’m not a good mom.  Oh so emotional when I think about it.  I love that little girl with my whole heart plus some, I don’t want to be doing things wrong and I don’t want to be affecting now how she’ll feel about me later.  Anyway, I should move this to a new post, maybe when we get back I’ll copy and paste it to a new post and have new thoughts as well.  This is a complicated paragraph with no good answers but just my worries and feelings.

CURRENT FAVORITE FOOD OR CRAVING: I don’t think anything.  I finally drank some coffee this last week though!  Twice, and both times I mixed decaf and caf grounds together.  I think usually I’ll just make decaf but a little bit of caffeinated grounds mixed in now and then will be just fine.

DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS: Not for another couple weeks at least.  But I feel the baby lots so I’m not worried like I used to be!

BEST MOMENT OF THE WEEK: I think just all the moments where I have felt the baby this week, such stronger movements, it’s so wonderful and amazing!

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Hitting 27 weeks so there’s a 50/50 chance of survival if the baby were born early, and to watching the weeks tick by after that knowing that every week the baby gets bigger and stronger and the chances of it surviving go up just in case.

WHAT I’M MISSING: I don’t think I’m super missing anything right now.  Maybe sleeping on my stomach but I can sometimes still manage to feel like I am, at least for a little bit, by raising my leg up so high so it lifts my stomach off the bed when I twist a little more towards the bed that way.  Sometimes now it actually bothers me but sometimes it still works!  And I’m doing better with just sleeping on my side actually, too!

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