Our Day Today...More Appointments!

We started the day off SUPER early. Well...early for me! :)

My girl was with her grandparents by 8am and we were on our way to the perinatologist for the second ultrasound. We got in quickly and the tech measured all of the body parts on the baby. Pretty much, looks like the baby is RIGHT at where it should be.

Heart has the right number of chambers. The organs all look to be developing fine. The brain looks good. All the stuff that should be there is there.

And the really good news is that the placenta has moved up some, meaning it won't be in the way later on when its time to give birth! We also found out that my fibroids haven't grown much at all, meaning one less issue to contend with later. Apparently when they grow too much they sap some of the blood supply from the baby, so they will want to keep an eye on that going forward...JUST to be safe.

We were asked again if we wanted to know the sex and dh and I looked at each other. I told him it was up to him. He said he wanted to. I asked the tech if she knew yet, and she said, "Oh yeah! I saw it at the beginning." So then dh says, "TELL US!"

LMFAO!!!!

So much for self control this time around, huh? Heheehee!

So we found out. No more not knowing. Will it be pink or blue? Will we need hair bows or little sneakers? Will Elena have a baby sister or a baby brother?

We had a hunch it was a boy. I hoped for a girl (afraid of the unknown). Josh had a boy dream and I had weird unable-to-figure-the-sex-out dreams. :)

At the end of the day, I was STILL surprised. How is that even possible? LOL!



After that excitement, I had my regular appointment with the midwives. Nothing happened there. Pee in cup, get measured, weighed and poked at. It was fine. No more ultrasounds for two more months. Gestational diabetes test at the same time. Next appointment is the week before Christmas! :)

So that is that!

Boogie Woogie Baby!!!

I thought this kid moved a lot three weeks ago after the ultrasound I had. But it seems like that was NOTHING!

The kid stopped moving and worried me some for a couple of weeks and now he/she just WILL NOT STOP! It is crazy and now this image:



has a complete new meaning to me!!!! THIS IS WHAT I FEEL is happening in my abdomen MOST of the time lately! :) LOL

It sometimes makes you feel a bit sick. Sometimes it is just entertaining for hubby and daughter. It makes it feel more real and gives them a way to interact with the baby. Sometimes it is very comforting because it reassures me, letting me know the kid is growing and thriving inside of me.

On occasion, it can be weird when you feel a round bump up against one part of my belly, and then feel it slowly move away. Was that his/her rump? Was it a head? What was that weird rubbing feeling that just went past against my hand? Yup. It can be weird!

Regardless of the feeling it gives me or others, it is life growing inside of me. I'm completely humbled by the miracle taking place. I'm also worried to some degree. it is just past the half way mark for me and yet, I feel like this kid is HUGE! There are 20 more weeks to go! HOW MUCH BIGGER will he/she get??? Hopefully no bigger than his/her big sister! She was a whopping 9lbs 4oz. I would like to not have a baby any bigger than that! I want a cute little guy who fits in all his/her newborn clothing! :) My daughter left quite a few outfits unused! :)

Things are going well. I go in one week to get another ultrasound and I look forward to seeing this little tatertot. HOPEFULLY he/she is right where he/she should be sizewize! CROSS YOUR FINGERS!

Germs, Boogers, and Sneezing...OH MY!

Feeling pretty gross right about now!!!! It has been a rough few days as I seem to have caught a cold from my daughter. I am not entirely convinced it is merely a cold, however, since I have never seen boogars this copious and this GREEN! SICK-- I know! :)

Hopefully, this will be passing soon. I'm as drugged up as a preggie can be and pretty tired and miserable. Lots of headaches, and lots of emotions running wild. I think my weakened state has left me more emotional and weepy. NOT GOOD!

I cannot wait to get my strength back!

Oh...and I'm almost 20 weeks! Almost at the half way mark! I just have one more week to go! :)

Say CHEEEESE!!!

That is exactly how it felt at the ultrasound last week. This kid was totally posing and almost vogueing it seemed. LOL. He/she (yes we still don't know) was MOVING LIKE CRAZY! I'm convinced they hate the U/S because of the sound waves or something.

Because the tech didn't copy images to the cd we brought, all I have is a pic of one of the shots. It is hard to photograph these and dh hasn't scanned them at his job yet, so this is all I have!



ANYHOW....he/she gave us side, front, back, etc views. We saw nothing between the legs, but you mostly see the skeleton anyway. The tech does things to tweak the pic to see certain areas better and she was about to when I reminded her (she hadn't read our paperwork i guess?) that we did not want to know. Part of me REALLY wished I didn't say anything, because hubby wasn't listening and he wouldn't have stopped her. :)

I asked him again if he was SURE and he said yes he was (after having wavered the week before the u/s). SO THERE YOU GO!

The baby has a beautiful spine and long toes and fingers...much like another spawn of mine. Hmmmmmmm.

This baby also has a VERY familiar profile. This leads me to seriously wonder if we have another carbon copy of daddy. When we saw the profile, hubby said with a HUGE GRIN plastered across his face, "Uh-oh. DEJAVU huh?" That grin was too much. He must love having dominant DNA. Bastard! lol

I am hoping that things change somehow or that I saw wrong, because I want a child to look related to me. IS THAT SO WRONG!!?? LOL

The best news is that baby is good. 13 cms (I think) and half a pound. I say I think because the tech said, "The baby is measuring 13" and moved on to a long list of other things and I never got to ask. I am assuming 13 cms although I don't know the conversion to inches. I know by now they are supposed to be about 5 inches rump to head. Apparently, this kid is right on schedule to where he/she should be and looks healthy.

The "bad" news was that the placenta is low (near cervix) and I have a fibroid across from it, also by the birth canal. This could make vaginal delivery (which I'm trying for after having a c-section last time) difficult. They say that its very early and with the growth of the uterus, the placenta moves, so not to worry yet. HOWEVER, they do wanna keep me under observation to see how things develop. I am going back the week before thanksgiving for another ultrasound to see if anythings changed.

WITH ANY LUCK the placenta will move up as my uterus grows AND the fibroid WILL NOT GROW at all. *Fingers crossed*

Bump Bump!

It was a happy moment a few minutes ago. I was typing away and felt a bumping in my abdomen. I stopped and moved my hand to the side where I felt it and waited. Sure enough, a minute or so later, I felt more thumpitys! Very neat.

I called my daughter to come and feel, but the movements stopped. She sure was patient, keeping her hand there and encouraging the baby for at least five minutes (an hour in normal-adult time). No luck this time, though.

Those weren't the first bumps I felt, but they were the first ones I felt with my hand. Probably the third bump in total. This one hasn't been too active yet. We'll see if that changes with time.

Tomorrow I'll be back. I have an appt with the midwife and one with the perinatologist. I get to meet with her because of my "advanced maternal age". You know how ancient I am and all. The good news is that I get an anatomy scan where they size the baby, check organs, etc.

Although we were decidedly against finding out the sex, there is some wavering happening now. We are weighing the pros and cons and need to make up our minds by 9 am tomorrow! We also have to cross our fingers to get a room that has the capacity to tape the ultrasound. If we are allowed to do that, then we can share with family/friends the baby's "first" pictures. (We have a 7 week ultrasound that is TECHNICALLY the first picture, but honestly, I couldn't see much in it.)

We will see what news I have tomorrow when I return from our appointments!

Food! GLORIOUS FOOD!

Finally, my palate is returning!

With the second trimester, I'm noticing higher emotions and higher tolerance for a variety of foods. For the longest time, I have had severe aversions to MOST foods, which has made eating a varied diet (or a good one) hard to do. I was hoping that with time things would get back to "normal" and thankfully that seems to be happening.

Last night I had grilled chicken with an assortment of veggies. It was great! I followed it up with a small bowl of chocolate ice cream, but hey, baby steps, right?

I still have quite a lot of gas (both directions) and bad congestion that leads me to toss my cookies from time to time (few times a week) but aside from those things, life is good! :)

Enormous boobs? CHECK!
Growing abdomen? CHECK!
Wedding Ring getting tight on finger? CHECK!
Bad gagging and throwing up at times when brushing teeth? CHECK!
Aches and pains, including the awful return of "Sciatica"? CHECK!
Feeling ugly and fat everyday? CHECK!
Zits-o-plenty? CHECK! Check! CHECK! ;)

Things are going well it seems. I'm so glad that we are almost half way through this and that things are okay. The first time around, once past week 12, I never gave things a second thought. This time, however, I'm more cautiously optimistic. I know a few people who have experienced loss recently, and one was as late as 20 weeks! You seem to think you are "okay" after the first trimester, but bad things still happen. I hope that we don't have to worry about that, but it is always on your mind.

My guess is that knowing how great it is to have a child and loving her so much, I feel more aware that things can take place to rob you of that joy. I fear for her on a regular basis (even dropping her off at school) and so this one in my belly gets the same treatment.

The OTHER baby news

Dh had a sex dream! No not that kind...the kind that gives you a hint to the sex of the child. During my first pregnancy I was CONVINCED I was carrying a boy. Dh had two "girl" dreams, and viola....My girl *was* a girl when she popped out. This go round he had a boy dream. I tend to agree with him due to the fact that the pregnancy feels very different with very different symptoms thus far.

He says he's waiting for a second dream to "confirm" the sex. It will be our only confirmation since we have decided NOT to find out the sex in our next scan, happening two weeks from today! I trust DH's dreams because they have been right about *other things* during our courtship and marriage. He seems to have some weird sense of things that comes through every blue moon. I cannot wait to learn if he's still got it! ;)

Big Girls DO Cry!!!!

Especially THIS ONE!

These days everything upsets me more easily and the tears flow much more easily than they have in ages. I remember during the last pregnancy, I had a terrible time with the emotions I felt were overwhelming me. This happened EARLY on and was hard to get used to since I'm not a crier by nature.

This go round, it is a big different. I have been fine...until now. Last night the water works started over a few words with my husband and lasted a while. Today my mom snapped at me about some stupid ass crap and as soon as I calmly hung up, I was bawling. Believe you me....I was ready to cry on the phone but I wasn't going to do that since I knew she was mad at me to begin with and looking for a fight. She wanted to get my goat, so I wasn't going to let her know she had.

I got a call soon after that and was bawling on it because I hadn't worked the mom call out of me yet and so when I tried to talk calmly it just led to more tears!

My daughter and I watched Cars (the Pixar flick) two days ago and i was CRYING hard at the end. They are cars! And animated ones at that! Today we watched Nemo and--you guessed it--way way way more tears. (Fish are much closer to being human than cars ever could be!)

We don't usually watch so many movies but without cable...that is all we have!

I hope the tears dry up soon. I am having a hard enough time getting enough water down as it is. I don't need something else depleting my stores! :)