Progress

I had a really long appointment today. My doctor was running about an hour behind schedule so it was interesting keeping Mina entertained. She was way better than you'd expect a two year old to be when confined to a stroller for two hours. We played peekaboo with the exam curtain, colored, sang songs, looked at magazines together, and ate snacks while we waited and she didn't raise a fuss at all until we got out to the car afterwards. I guess she was afraid she'd be stuck in the car for a long time or something. Mina is such a good girl!

On to my appointment. I had my group b strep test and that was fun. Not. The baby's heartrate was good and my belly measured fine. The doctor did an internal exam for curiosity's sake and found out that I'm almost 2cm dilated already. Yay! I don't really want to deliver anytime soon, but that's two less centimeters I'll have to dilate later on. Baby is still up high so labor doesn't look imminent. Now I have appointments every week. I won't have another internal exam unless I make it to 40 weeks.

My body has been happier now that I'm sleeping in my own bed, but my congestion has gotten worse. I can't breathe through my nose at all right now so it makes sleeping difficult. Our bed has a ton of pillows in it so I can be somewhat elevated in order to breathe. I finally got around to getting some sudafed this morning. I hope that helps so I can get more sleep. I'm tired!

I'm slowly working on the to do list and hope the nesting instinct kicks in soon. My house is disastrously filthy. We pick up every night, but the cleaning part has been neglected. It's bad that I don't remember the last time I dusted. I think it's gotten to the point where I'll just need to do a room a day until baby comes in order to stay on top of it all. I'll start that tomorrow....or the next day. :)

35.5 Weeks

We didn't do an official picture again this week, but I snapped this picture with Mina this morning. She absolutely loves kissing my belly. She also looks just like me in this picture if you look at my profile picture on the left. I have an appointment on Thursday morning and should be getting my first internal check at that point. I've had many braxton hicks contractions in the last week so I'll be surprised if I'm not dilated even a little bit. I'm not in a hurry to get this over with, but I'd hate for my body to be wasting its time contracting.

We're settled in for the duration of the pregnancy now. I sleep so much better in my own bed and in my own house.

ETA - I just noticed that I'm on the last baby of my pregnancy ticker. Wow! That means it's almost go time.

34 Weeks

I don't think I'm getting all that much bigger anymore. I'm feeling great most days and not in any rush. However, we're continuing to get stuff ready for Charlotte - getting the diaper changing station ready, clothes cleaned, swaddling blanket sewn, breast pump prepared, etc. I had a really off day today and was totally and completely exhausted. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow since we're getting our family pictures taken and I have quite a bit to do before we leave on Tuesday. Sometimes it seems like I feel worse when Jon is home because I have him to lean on. He's on vacation all week so I need to snap out of that!

I guess I didn't update after my appointment on Thursday. It was boring. I did find out that Mina will be able to visit in the hospital now that the swine flu isn't as big of a problem. Baby is still head down, but not engaged so I hope she doesn't try to do any last minute gymnastics. I'll get an internal check at my next appointment on the 31st and a quick ultrasound just to make 100% sure she's head down. From there, I expect time will pass way too quickly and way too slowly all at once.

Jon has informed me that he'd like me to deliver in the first week of February due to his surgical schedule so it looks like I have quite the wait ahead of me if I follow his plan. LOL!

The Shelf

My belly has become the perfect shelf for carrying Mina. She doesn't mind getting kicked in the rear end every once in a while. We had a party on Friday night so we got all dressed up.This is as close as we got to a belly picture this week. Can you believe that people had the nerve to ask me when I'm due at the party? I mean, I'm barely showing.I've been feeling pretty good other than a killer charley horse in my calf the other night. I think I let myself get dehydrated and that was the problem.

Jon is already talking about baby #3. Hmmm...

I was at the mall today and I saw two little girls that played really well together. They held hands when they went down slides, the older one kept track of the younger and comforted her when she fell down, and they were basically inseparable. The dad just sat on the sidelines and blissfully watched his daughters play. I asked him how far apart they are in age and he said 26 months. That's exciting to me since Mina and Charlotte will be about 25 months apart. I hope they're best friends too!

I spent a good chunk of time going through baby stuff yesterday and getting drawers arranged. That always feels good.

It's Belly Time

The blog title is in honor of Mina's new favorite saying. She announces that "It's X time," all day long. X = jammy, food, sleepy, cheerio, etc. Anyway, here's the belly at 32 weeks. My sister Claudia and her family came and visited this weekend while Jon had a conference in Chicago. We went shopping all afternoon yesterday and I managed to buy a bunch of stuff but no Christmas presents. Oops. Thanks again for coming to visit! Mina and I had a great time.

I had a real contraction this afternoon shortly after Jon got home. I've been having painless Braxton Hicks for weeks, but the one this afternoon hurt and lasted about 30 seconds. I've only had painless ones since and nothing regular so don't get worried.

I've also calmed down about the whole positioning thing again. The hospital freaks me out. I have appointments set for Dec. 17th, Dec. 31st, Jan. 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th, and even Feb. 4th. I see a lot of freaking out in my future.

Head Down

Charlotte was head down at the appointment yesterday. Hopefully she'll stay that way and not be sunny side up. I'm getting really freaked out about labor and delivery already. Too bad doulas cost so darn much. I'll have to do my own research on baby positioning and use spinning babies (interesting link even for those not pregnant). My goals are to 1) not have a c-section, 2) not need forceps or vacuum assistance, 3) labor for less than 20 hours, and 4) get to hold Charlotte and nurse immediately after delivery. I only succeeded in the first goal with Mina. She was in a bad position and there was meconium in the amniotic fluid so #2-4 were thwarted.

My friend Jamie fell down our stairs yesterday morning so she had to go into labor and delivery to be monitored last night. She's 33 weeks pregnant so it was kind of scary. Thankfully she's okay and so is her baby. Phew!

Chaos and Calamity

Today has been crazy. It all started with a loud crash and crying from Mina. Usually she wakes me up by yelling something cute like "careful" or "lions ROAR" so the noise was alarming. I fetched her out of her crib and carried her into bed with me so I could get more sleep since it was 6:30. Mina wasn't in on this program and instead kept kissing me on the lips and saying "hiya" to me for the next half hour. It would have been better if she didn't have bad morning breath, but overall I was pleased, if rather sleepy. She got bored after a while and went exploring while mother of the year laid in bed with the covers over her head. I finally got up when I heard noises on the main level of the house. On my way out of the room, I almost tripped over her wall clock which apparently was the source of the earlier crash. Oh, and it seems she had to find just the right pair of pants to wear because every single pair was on the floor of her room.

I got downstairs and found my lovely daughter running around with a flask (empty, don't get too worried). Yep, she was tipping it back and running around getting dizzy. It flash forwarded me to her potential once she reaches college. Yikes. The underwear hanging from the chandelier added to the effect. That's a whole other story.

Things calmed down for a while until I made the mistake of talking to my mother on the phone. Mina ran around like a crazy woman while I didn't have 100% of my attention on her and she tripped. She didn't just trip and land on the carpet like usual either. No, she tripped and landed face first onto Euclid's bone. Crying ensued and I was convinced she was going to have a black eye and a scraped up face. Luckily, the redness and puffiness went away after about an hour.

It was garbage day so I ran out to bring in the can while Mina was secured eating some breakfast. Euclid went with me and surprise, surprise, he ran away. He didn't have his collar on and I certainly couldn't run after him into the woods with Mina unattended. There's nothing like having your dog loose on garbage day. Once again, luck was sort of with me because he came back without further incident about 10 minutes later. I was relieved the neighbors didn't call SWAT.

I also learned that M&Ms should only be given one at a time to a toddler (if at all). Mina held onto four M&Ms for about half an hour. I wonder how long it will take to get the green dye out of her skin? For that matter, I wonder how long it will take to get it out of my skin. She couldn't help but put her sticky little hands down my shirt to cop a feel.

I decided to take a shower to have a little break from the craziness. Usually Mina entertains herself in her room and comes to say hello to me here and there. Today Mina decided that she wanted to put her head under the shower, turn the shower off, and worst of all, turn the shower all the way onto hot. As I hurriedly tried to rinse off between scaldings, she grabbed at my legs and rear end and giggled like a mad woman while I tried not to laugh or cry. I guess it's the end of my showering while Mina's awake days.

Boy, today was fun. I'm not kidding. I love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything! :)

Holiday Preparation

I've worn the tree skirt every year for the last eight years while we've decorated for the holidays and I didn't let my large stomach stand in the way of that tradition this year. Sure, the skirt had to go under my chest rather than around my waist, but I still got it on. Don't I look ridiculous? Mina liked it.We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Jon had vacation from Wednesday through Sunday so we went to FD to visit family. We ate a lot of food and Mina played with her cousins a bunch. I was thankful that she slept well while we were away from home. We've taken this same picture the last few years so here's the Thanksgiving picture. I need to figure out how to smile with my new face. My natural smile gives me triple chins, but this smile doesn't look very happy. Hmmm... Trust me, I'm happy!
We didn't do an official belly picture this week, but we'll do one next week at 32 weeks. Wow.

30 Weeks

I don't know if my belly has grown that much in the last couple of weeks. My weight has stayed the same, but my face has really gotten full. We'll call it round rather than puffy. I've been experiencing a lot of Braxton Hicks when I don't drink enough water or I'm really active. They don't hurt so hopefully they'll just help my body when I do go into labor.

I've been very happy lately. I'm feeling pretty good and I have so much right in my life. I'm one lucky woman. It's a good thing we don't go around the table sharing what we're thankful for at Thanksgiving or we might have to eat cold food because I'd have so much to share. I'd definitely put my extremely helpful, loving husband and funny, snuggly daughter high on the list.

Bring on the Gummies!

I passed my three hour glucose tolerance test so that means I'm free and clear of a gestational diabetes diagnosis. That's great news for my candy addiction. I handled the test pretty well and just had a few issues last night with ocular migraines and heartburn. I was about due for that sort of thing. We'll probably go recliner shopping this weekend so I'll have somewhere to sleep if heartburn hits again at night.

I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Time will really start to fly once the holidays are here.

3rd Trimester

I'm now officially in the third trimester. It's hard to believe that we'll have another baby to hold in less than three months. It's going to be so fun to see Mina and Charlotte interact. My three hour glucose test is on Tuesday. Cathy is coming to take care of Mina so at least I won't have to deal with a toddler while possibly feeling ill and getting poked four times. I'm pretty sure I'll pass since only 15% of the people that don't pass the one hour test also fail the three hour.

Mina's sleep has returned to normal. She's been happy to go to bed and has been in no hurry to get out of bed once she wakes up. I had been taking her great sleep for granted and had forgotten how frustrating sleep issues can become. I still need to find my sleep book so I can read up on newborns and different strategies to try. Laugh all you want, but other than the last couple of weeks, Mina has slept like a champ for more than a year.

There really isn't a whole lot we need to do to get ready for Charlotte's arrival. We need to move some furniture around, get a recliner, pull out some newborn stuff, and get everything washed and put in its place. We're pretty well set for diapers and have the awesome double stroller. Most of Mina's stuff can just be reused. Thank goodness for little girls!

Fail

I just got a call that I failed the gestational diabetes test. The cut-off for passing is 140 and my score was 141. I'm just an overachiever. This means I will need to do the three hour GD test sometime in the next week which will involve fasting and spending an entire morning at the hospital. I'm not super pleased.

Mina fell back asleep for 20 minutes and now is up there complaining. Not a good day.

ETA: She fell asleep again and has been sleeping for a couple of hours now. Victory! :)

Boring

I had a boring appointment this morning. My blood pressure was good (117/73), weight was yucky, fundal height was right on, and fhr was 150. I didn't get the H1N1 vaccine because they don't have any right now. Maybe I'll get it once H1N1 is no longer an issue in the area at this rate. Oh well. I also did the gestational diabetes test where you get to drink the super sugary drink. I talked Dr. M into not seeing me for another four weeks so I guess that puts me into December. After that she'll make me come in every two and then every week. Time is flying. I'll be in the third trimester on Saturday.

It sounds like Mina just woke up from a 10 minute nap so I guess I'll cut this short. She hasn't taken a normal nap since Monday and it's getting very, very old. Today she asked for her bed, said night-night, and rubbed her eyes before I put her down for her nap. She cried for half an hour, was quiet for 10 minutes, and then the screaming started again. Ugh.

Regrets

As I sit here listening to Mina cry, I'm really regretting the Toronto trip. Her sleep hasn't been too great ever since. Last night she woke up twice with the most pitiful screaming. We had to console her because she was showing no signs of soothing herself. Today she still hasn't fallen asleep for her nap. I went into her room and laid on the floor by the crib and she was as happy as can be, but she just cries and cries when I'm not with her. I'm almost ready to give up on her taking a nap today. What if this becomes the pattern? The number one thing I was worried about with our trip was that Mina's sleep would get screwed up. I'm so used to her taking at least a two hour nap in the afternoon by herself. I can't lay in bed with her every afternoon in order to get her to sleep. Where did my easy child go? We were away from her too long and now she's scared in her bed. This can't continue but I don't know what to do. For now, I'm heading up to snuggle her. Tonight I'll pull out the old sleep book to help me navigate my way back to good sleeping.

So that's my vent for the day.

Thankful

I'm feeling very thankful for feeling good right now. Heartburn hit on Friday evening and didn't go away until during the night last night. During that time I couldn't lay flat so I didn't get much sleep. It was pretty miserable. I hope that doesn't happen again! I narrowed down the guilty foods to either popcorn or pizza. Too bad those aren't foods I want to avoid. I've definitely rounded out since last week. Oh, and I made a slideshow that has the belly progression. Here's the link.

Comfortable

Charlotte has finally figured out how to stretch and find more room. I'm feeling a lot of kicks above my belly button and feeling so much more comfortable. I do get a sore back here and there, but yoga stretches seem to help. I don't have anything to report and hope this boring stretch continues for a long time.

Happy

I'm so happy to be back home. We had a great trip to Toronto - great food, time as a couple, and lots of sleep. I had a pregnancy massage that was really wonderful on Saturday. I needed it after all of the walking we did. Despite our fun, I missed Mina. There's nothing like her sweet kisses!

I cleaned the house a bit before we left and Mina helped. This is as close as we got to a belly picture for 25 weeks. This is the only picture that was taken during our entire vacation. Jon was really pleased when I pulled out the camera at the conference.

I bought a few things for Charlotte today - a swing, a video monitor, a soft cover for the changing pad, a bottle, and some mommy milk supplies. I think I have all of the diapers I need for her (and then some).

Now I just need to get a double stroller and a few other things. I've decided that I need a double stroller given my situation. I'm basically a single mother during the week that likes to leave the house frequently. Mina will hold hands with me, but I can't steer a stroller and hold her hand at the same time. It'll be too cold to wear Charlotte for a while and I won't necessarily want to wear Mina on my back while I'm still recuperating. The stroller I'm getting (assuming it works with the car seat like some reviewers said it does) converts to a sit and stand eventually so it will work for Mina when she's older too. Here's the link if anyone has any experience with this exact model. There are a bunch of models of sit and stands, but this is the only one that will accept an infant seat in the back seat. If we had more money, then I'd invest in something else (like a Phil & Ted's). Whatever. We need to eat!

Growing Pains

I've had some pain this week, probably due to growth and/or dehydration. I feel fine when I'm sitting or laying down, but I feel like my insides are going to fall out when I walk around. I've even had a few Braxton Hick's when I haven't had enough water in my system. I need to be more careful about that. We're leaving for Toronto in a couple of days so I'm trying to get in as much snuggling and Mina time as possible. I don't think I could ever get enough. At least I know she'll be in good hands!

I made the mistake of watching Marley & Me last night while Jon was out with a friend. There's nothing like watching a tearjerker alone while pregnant.

I scheduled a pregnancy massage at the spa in our hotel next week. I'm really looking forward to that! I've been waking up in bad positions (flat on my back or even flat on my stomach) so it'll be nice to be able to relax on a bed made for my pregnant shape. I would love to own a bed with a cut out for the belly so I could sleep on my stomach all the time.

I probably won't update again until after we get back from our trip.

Craziness

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Mina and I have been so busy with our social schedule that it's hard to remember to be productive in the afternoons. We've missed Jamie and Matthew so we've been doing a lot of activities to keep us both occupied. I've managed to make some new friends at the pool (despite accidentally flashing them or possibly because I flashed them, haha). We've also spent some very restful mornings at the tot lot. Mina likes to play on her own while I sit on the sidelines and watch her wear herself out. It's great! She's such a fun little buddy at home and an independent child when we're out and about.

We didn't take a belly picture this week. Jon was busy painting the main floor bathroom while Mina was sleeping. I actually did some of the trim and we figured out that wasn't going to work very well. My belly got in the way and I don't know what the weight threshold was for the step stool, but it seemed rather shaky.

I'm enjoying the fact that Jon isn't on call anymore. I was able to go to the salon to get a hair cut and brow shaping on Saturday. That's a real luxury that I couldn't do the last three months. I feel much better about how I look now that I don't have to wear a ponytail all the time.

As for Charlotte, she seems to be getting bigger. I'm noticing more movement than just kicks. Once in a while she makes my whole stomach move. The other night Jon had to wait for me to come to bed because I was too busy watching my belly. I've been feeling really good and have had a reasonable amount of energy.

We're gearing up for our trip to Toronto next week. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I'll miss my little buddy and all of the ear kisses and hugs she gives me every day. It will definitely be good to have some adult time with no babies though, don't get me wrong! There's just a lot of planning to do and packing. Yuck. I can't imagine how it will feel to not have to cook for four days and not have to deal with a toddler in a restaurant. It will be great. I guess I'll have to get my ear kisses and hugs from another source. ;)

Ugh

I made up for last week and gained weight this week. We won't talk about how much. Gummy worms were a much better craving than ice cream. I'm already panicking a bit about labor and delivery, but I found an interesting article about posterior labor (as in when the baby is sunnyside up like Mina was). There were a few things that could have been done to make my last experience not so awful. I could have tried a couple of positions to shift her into a more favorable position. Now I know some things to try if that should happen again. The article also said that most people end up with c-sections in my position. No kidding! I'm glad I didn't have a c-section just because it improves my chances for not having one this time, but it sure was an awful recovery period.

I've done a bunch of research for double strollers and have come to the conclusion that I may just try to do without one. Mina is very good at holding hands in parking lots and I can put her in the cart seat and Charlotte in the car seat when we go shopping. If I want to do some serious shopping in places that don't have carts, then I'll either go when I have help or use a Target cart in the mall (which I used to roll my eyes at). I'd rather spend the money on a comfy, rocking recliner for our bedroom for those nights that the bed is too uncomfortable at the end and for those nights that Charlotte will only sleep in my arms.

No Gain

I'm very excited to report that I didn't gain any weight this week. Yay! I didn't have the gummy worm craving so that definitely helped. Here's the status of the bump.I ordered some girly stuff once we found out Mini was a she. Here are some diaper covers, some fitteds, and a luxuriously soft all-in-one (the pink and brown diaper in front).I also bought a couple of small/newborn longies. The ones on the left are wool and on the right we have fleece. I'm excited to use them both. Now I need to find shirts to go with them!The longies are teeny tiny. Here's a comparison shot to help you understand their size. Charlotte's size is on the left and Mina's size is on the right. There's a big difference between small and large!I've been feeling good other than being really tired. I really enjoy the kicking and can sit for long periods of time with my hands on my belly. I'm having no problems bonding with Charlotte! Mina loves her too and always wants to touch my belly and point at the baby.

Forgetfulness!

I can't believe I forgot to include the big news of the day in my entry last night. I SAW Charlotte kick! My right side of my stomach did the cutest little twitches yesterday afternoon after I ate some tomatoes. She did a repeat performance for Jon after I drank a root beer. I love this part of pregnancy.

Oh, and the tide has changed with cigarette smoke. I don't think I blogged about this before, but for some reason I've loved the smell of cigarette smoke this pregnancy. I'm usually one of those people that can't stand it for a second. Now don't get me wrong, I still avoided it for health reasons. I just loved the smell. Weird! This morning I opened the patio door and smelled the smoke from our neighbors and just about puked. It looks like things are back to normal in that department. Now if only I would stop dreaming about drinking margaritas! I fear that Charlotte is going to be a party girl.

While we're talking about sleep, I have to share that I've been sleeping much better the last few nights. I've found that I need to take a shower at bed time or I take about an hour to fall asleep and then an hour to fall asleep any time I wake up in the night (a real problem when you wake up once or twice to use the bathroom).

Make sure you read the post below this one because it's new too (well, as of last night).

It's 8:02 and Mina is still sleeping. Today is going to be a good day!

Project

Mina helped me with a project this morning. I sewed some cloth wipes for Charlotte out of flannel and minky. They're deliciously soft. It's too bad they're going to get poo on them! Anyway, I was really impressed by how much Mina has changed. Mina threw a fit the last time I sewed, but this time she entertained herself by coloring the majority of the time. Yes, she did color the tile in the kitchen for a brief amount of time, but at least she didn't scream at me. I got the giggles when she crawled under the table and pressed my foot down. What's one crooked wipe? She really liked it when I sewed fast. I had no idea that a sewing machine made such good music to groove to.I ended up getting 25 full size and 4 travel size wipes out of the material. That should be more than enough.I decided to just zigzag stitch and trim since these are just butt wipes, after all.
Mina has been super snuggly and fun at bed time lately. It makes me sad that we won't be able to devote ourselves 100% to her at bed time in the future. I hope she enjoys having Charlotte as part of the routine - kind of like she enjoys saying night, night to Bubba.

Halfway!

I've had a significant amount of growth since the last official belly picture. Wow! We had a fun weekend with the ISU v. Iowa game. Our team lost, but we still got to see friends and family. Tonight we have Vanessa overnight so we're getting a taste of having two little girls. It's going okay so far. She's a beautiful little girl!

Consequences

I learned the consequences of my gummy worm binge this morning. My weight is rather high. Uh oh! I gained about 40 pounds last pregnancy and I'd really rather not gain quite that much this time. So far, I've gained about 18 pounds.

The appointment went well. The genetic screening results were in and we have a ridiculously low risk of having any Trisomy or Down Syndrome problems. I wasn't worried, but it was still nice to hear. Dr. M hadn't looked at the ultrasound report yet so we didn't talk about it. Charlotte's heart rate was 138 and she was awake and kicking. She's just not too excitable I guess. I don't have another appointment until November 5th and I already got a flu shot.

Lee came up with a really cute nickname for Charlotte - Cha Cha. We might have to use that if Charlotte or Charlie/Charley don't seem to fit as well. Mina would have an easier time with Cha Cha also.

There isn't really much of anything else to report. I've been sleeping better now that the ultrasound is over with. I'm also enjoying the roundness of my belly. :)

Pink House

Jon is really going to be outnumbered come January or February because we're having another girl. Charlotte looked very healthy and the ultrasound tech said she was beautiful. We were given a few pictures.At one point she shoved both feet up towards the probe. It was adorable. Here's a picture of one little tootsie.She also played peekaboo and showed us her sweet little face.

Her weight was estimated at 11 ounces and her measurements put her at 19weeks, 3days which is exactly what she is. Jon and Cathy kept me company during the ultrasound.

I had a feeling in the last week that she was a she because of the gummy worm cravings. I'm so happy to find out we're going to have another little girl. Simon will just have to wait a few years.

Sweets

Can you say cravings? I love all things gummy and sweet right now. That's one thing these pregnancies have in common. We didn't do an official belly picture this week so this will have to do. I really hate putting that gown on. Clothes are just terribly uncomfortable.

I'm very excited for Tuesday. I'm pretty sure we're either having a boy or a girl. I hope I'm right!!! Get in your guesses for the guessing game by tomorrow night or you'll be too late.

We've been enjoying feeling Mini's kicks. I think he enjoys the sugar highs I've been getting lately. I promise that I'm eating healthy stuff too.

Swimming Laps

On Monday night both Jon and myself felt Mini move from the outside. He's not very strong, but I do feel him here and there. Last night it felt like he was swimming laps back and forth while I was trying to fall asleep. I can't wait until he's stronger. Mina's kicks were never painful so I figure it will be the same way this time.

In less than a week we'll know if it's Simon or Charlotte. In the last few days I've actually started to think it's a girl. There's no reason for the switch and I have zero instincts.

I've also been an emotional basketcase lately. I had a bad dream one night and it took me an entire day to get over it. I hate being irrational (more than usual, haha).

I had a migraine this morning that has gone away now. I took a zofran to deal with the nausea and felt better after a while. May that be the last migraine of this pregnancy. I've had 5 or 6.

Milestone

I had a pregnancy milestone yesterday afternoon. I had my first stranger comment about my pregnancy with no clues given except my appearance. It's fun to look pregnant instead of chubby to the general public!I seem to be one of those lucky women that doesn't get heartburn during pregnancy. I had cheese fries and spicy tortilla soup for supper last night and didn't have any issues. Nice!

Diapering

I'm so different from how I was when I was pregnant with Mina. I couldn't resist buying her clothes and now I love buying diapers. I took a couple of pictures to show how the "stash" is coming along. I'll add in some boy or girl stuff once I know what we're having. Not all of this is for the same age so it isn't quite as immense of a stash as you'd think. Just ask if you're curious about what anything is because I know not everyone is as enamored with diapers as me. This is all the stuff that came while I was visiting in Fort Dodge. I loved coming home to packages. Pictured are some prefolds (old school diapers that need covers), a pretty wet bag to keep in our bedroom for overnight, a couple of Goodmamas fitted that are oh so soft (which I got for 50% off or we'd never be able to afford them), a cute Litewrap cover, a couple of Drybees fitteds (like one that Mina has only smaller), some Heiny Spray, some wool wash, and some liners to keep the heiny dry.

Such excitement!

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We'll do a belly picture tonight. I know that I've grown this week, but it might not show up in the pictures since my chest seems to have grown as much as my belly. Oh my.

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The ultrasound is less than 2 weeks away. :)

Easy

This pregnancy has been pretty easy the last week. I've felt good and Mini kicks me here and there. It will be fun when he kicks hard enough for other people to feel it! I found out that my friend, Jamie, is going to have a little girl. I'm so excited for them. The next ultrasound is mine!

I went absolutely crazy buying diapers this weekend. I'll take pictures of the diaper stash in progress once it all arrives. I never thought I'd be so excited about something that my child pees and poops in.

Mini Movement

I definitely felt Mini move this morning. It was a very brief little wiggle. Yay! I can't wait to feel more. Movement is the best part of pregnancy.

In case you didn't go through all of the comments to the last entry, the girl name we're currently planning to use is Charlotte, undecided middle name. If it's a boy, then it will be Simon Henry. My bet is still on Simon, but now I'm not so concerned about it being a girl and having to think of a name.

We'll take a picture of the belly tonight and post it either later today or tomorrow. I'm still feeling fantastic. The newest development is that I'm feeling well enough to eat healthy food if I get hungry. For a while there I was all about cheese crackers. That doesn't mean I'm always eating healthy, but I'm getting better.
And here's the picture:

So Happy

I've been feeling great all week. I don't even feel pregnant, other than some back pain here and there. I'm now 100% happy about this pregnancy. My appointment went well on Thursday. Mini's heart rate was 143 bpm. We scheduled the big ultrasound for September 8th at 8am. It's bright and early, but at least Jon should be able to be there for part of it.

I really think we're having a boy, but I've decided on a girl name, just in case. Now I'm kind of hoping for a girl because I like the name so much. We'll share it, but I know that my family likes to guess so I'll give some clues and see if the masters can figure out the name.
1. Someone in my family suggested the name to me.
2. The name is in the top 100 for the country, but not in our state.
3. It's a simple, classic name that absolutely everyone has heard of.
4. The meaning is sort of a play on words since we didn't have to do IVF to create this time.

Jon hasn't given his seal of approval for the name yet, but he will if it's a girl. I've decided. :)

Okay, start your guessing. Just post them as comments. I don't want to field too many calls.

The Good Part

I'm hoping the good part is coming soon. On Friday I didn't feel pregnant at all except for some possible movement in the evening. It was awesome. I've been such a complainer this pregnancy so I hope days like that start coming more frequently before I become a professional whiner. I can't stand listening to myself when all I talk about is how tired and nauseated I am. I'm just so lucky to be pregnant. To think, we weren't sure if we'd ever have kids and now we're going to have at least two!

I don't think I grew very much this week, but we took a picture anyway.

I have an appointment on Thursday and we'll probably schedule the big ultrasound at that time. I have a friend that's due a week ahead of me and having her ultrasound around August 22nd and another friend is due a week after me and is having her ultrasound on September 9th, so I would guess my ultrasound would be somewhere between those dates. That's coming up fast! I'm excited to find out if Mini is a boy or girl and will be equally pleased with either. We wouldn't have to buy much for a girl and Jon wants a girl. We have a name picked out for a boy and I think it would be fun to have one of each. I guess we'll see!

Back!

We're back online so here are a few pictures for you all to enjoy. Here's what I looked like at 13 weeks.Here's my picture from this past weekend. It's starting to get harder to get out of my gown. I hope it lasts all pregnancy without the seams ripping!I took a couple of pictures of the ultrasound pictures. The quality isn't great, but at least you can see the little one. He's so perfect!Here he is waving.I'm feeling much better. My appetite is ridiculous and my cravings are out of control. I went a couple of days with Zofran with nothing more than severe hiccups all day long. I've had a couple of dizzy spells when I've gotten too hot so I'm trying to continue to take it easy. I listened to Mini on the doppler yesterday and found his heartbeat immediately. That was fun!

Going Crazy!

I'm currently sitting at Jon's desk at work for a minute so I thought I'd give a quick update. Sorry, but I have no way of posting the belly picture for this week.

Let's see:
-Tried no Zofran again last Saturday which resulted in strong vomitty tasting hiccups at the grocery store. Will try again this Saturday.
-Felt some weird flutters on Sunday that may have been something other than gas, but it's awfully early.
-Terrified of January considering how busy Jon is right now and he'll be in a similar situation then as clinic chief.

Got to go. It's time for Mina to go to bed. I'll be back in August. UGH!

NT Scan

I had the NT ultrasound scan yesterday morning and everything looked great. The neck fold measured 1.7mm and anything under 3mm is good. Mini's heart was beating at a rate of 157 bpm and *his* little arms and legs were moving all over the place. He measured a few days ahead by the measurement of the length of his body. My mom and Mina came along and got to see the whole thing. Both of them were well-behaved.

Oh, and no, we couldn't see gender yet, but both Jon and I have a feeling that Mini is a boy. We're really good at guessing that sort of thing. Remember last time? We were both wrong. I should set up an expectnet game again before we find out the gender in September.

We don't have a scanner and I haven't gotten around to getting the ultrasound pictures scanned yet. I'll try to do that or otherwise people will just have to see them in person. Mini looks like a human and even waved to the camera.

Steadily Improving

I'm steadily feeling better. I attempted to go a day without Zofran yesterday and ended up caving, but at least I didn't puke or anything. I've been getting bad headaches that only seem to be solved by caffeine so I'm considering taking up my morning dose of caffeine again. How terrible is that? I don't think I grew very much this week. I have an ultrasound tomorrow morning at 9:30 and I'll post about it at some point. They'll be checking the measurement of the neck fold to predict the possibility of problems with the baby. That wouldn't change things for me, but I couldn't resist an ultrasound.

I also couldn't resist buying a couple more diapers because there was a clearance sale. I need to stop so that I can buy some that aren't gender neutral in a couple of months.

So far I haven't had restless legs like I did with last pregnancy. In fact, I'm the opposite and like to be touched and snuggled more than I have for the last couple of years. It's great! It also helps that Jon has been about as close to perfect as a guy can get. He cooks, cleans, and basically reads my mind. I don't even ask him to do things and he magically does exactly what I want. I'm so lucky!

Rounding Out

I feel like I've really started rounding out this past week. It's probably from all of the food I've been eating. My appetite is beginning to return and eating seems to keep the nausea away. Unfortunately, I'm hungry for tater tots, fries, buttery popcorn, and chips all the time. It isn't doing good things for my weight! I hope I'll be better at eating healthy foods once I'm in the second trimester and fully recovered from morning sickness. I had a great time in Fort Dodge with family. I'm sure you'll read about it in Mina's blog, but her perspective is always a little different than mine. Haha! I really enjoyed having other people cook for me, chase after Mina, and get up with her in the morning. I started to feel a lot better from that reprieve and Jon noticed that I've been better since the trip. I haven't had to lay down while he ate supper with Minnie and I've been taking only one Zofran during the day (first thing in the morning). I hope this trend continues.

I'm so excited for next year. I will love living so close to our family. Mina loves spending time with everyone and I'll have some help. Jon is a big help when he's home, but he gets busy at times. My friend Jamie is also a big help with watching Mina for me and getting me out of the house.

I don't know how often I'll be updating both of the blogs. I haven't been spending much time on the computer lately. I use Mina's nap time to lay around or take a nap. Once Jon gets home, I just want to hang out with him until I fall asleep. I'm sure you all understand. I will definitely update at least once a week, maybe more once I start feeling better.

10 Weeks

I can't believe how fast my belly is popping out. It's great! I actually pulled out my maternity clothes last weekend because they're more comfortable than normal clothes. I don't have to wear them yet, but why not?

It was fun finally telling people about the pregnancy. We called both sets of grandparents on Thursday night (7/2) and told the grandpas as their late Father's Day gifts. Everyone was shocked and happy, just as we expected. We told the rest of the world the next day.

I've heard Mini's heartbeat three times now. The first time was on Tuesday with my home doppler. I found it very briefly, but it was definitely there. Mina was in the room and she sang along. Now she makes heartbeat noises whenever she sees the doppler. I had my first official OB appointment on Thursday and Dr. M found the heartbeat in the same spot at about 168 beats per minute. Jon hadn't gotten to hear the heartbeat yet, so I used the doppler again on Friday night and found it immediately at about 175 beats per minute. He doesn't get to go to many (if any) of my appointments so it was fun for him to get to hear the baby.

I have an ultrasound scheduled for July 20th and I'll try to post pictures if I get any decent ones. The ultrasound is part of the prenatal testing, but will be too early to check gender. We plan to find out the gender again, most likely in September.

To answer some of the questions we've been getting -

1. No, we didn't do IVF this time. We mostly got lucky.

2. No, relaxing isn't what got us pregnant. Jon had surgery to correct an issue and that's the secret to our success.

3. Yes, we're finding out gender and will share names this time around.

4. Yes, I'm still sick but handling it with medicine. Oh, and the Zofran ended up being free after all. Woohoo!

Expensive Habit

Apparently I have an expensive drug habit. Zofran is free with our insurance to a certain point, but I'm well beyond that point. I go through 30 pills in about a week and a half and we're covered for 30 pills per month. Now it's either pay out of pocket or get slammed on the head with the toilet lid by my beautiful 18-month old. I hope this one refill will be enough to get me through morning sickness. It has to end someday, right?

I've been feeling sorry for myself and then feeling bad for feeling sorry for myself. There are so many people that would love to be pregnant and here I am complaining about being sick. The part that bugs me the most is missing out on doing things with Mina. Last night I had another aura migraine and Jon put Mina to bed without me. We have the TV on way too much during the day so I can lay around. Mina hasn't been eating the best stuff because cooking and eating don't agree with me. We went grocery shopping this morning and Mina greeted everyone in the store with a big "hi" and a smile, but when she looked at me all she saw was a frown because the smells were getting to me. I can't be the mommy I'd like to be when I'm feeling so yucky and this is on the medication. Without the medication I wouldn't be able to leave the house.

This is what I get for having such an easy pregnancy last time. Maybe this more difficult pregnancy will at least end in an easy labor. That would be a nice switch.

Now I feel bad for complaining...

Oh, and the doppler came, but we haven't found the heartbeat yet. Jon tried a few days ago. I might try this afternoon. It's not stressing me out since it's early. Just one week until my first OB appointment with Dr. M! She's magical with the doppler so I hope she can find Mini's heartbeat.

8 Weeks

I'm definitely growing!

Itty Bitty Fluff

Since I've been feeling sick, I needed a pick me up so I bought some tiny diapers. These are the ones that have come so far and they're size small. Wait until you see the extra smalls! The diaper on the right is peacock themed and the wipe and cream at the bottom came free. :) I started Zofran on Monday because I was falling asleep whenever I sat down. I'm so thankful that Mina wasn't seriously injured while I was on B6/Unisom. It didn't seem like a good idea to take sleeping pills while watching a toddler, but I gave it a shot for a week. It stopped the vomiting, but didn't stop the nausea. I had to leave our fancy banquet last Friday to go lay down in our hotel room all night. That was a big disappointment.

It's hard to believe that I'm already 7.5 weeks pregnant. My belly is bumping out ever so slightly and I feel heavy in the uterus. Kind of hard to explain.

We still haven't told our parents we're expecting. I'm so looking forward to it that I don't want to do it yet. It's going to be fun to surprise them! I wonder if they'll do cartwheels? I wouldn't put it past Cathy. It would be fun to just show up to Fort Dodge in July sporting a baby bump. They'd be shocked. Unfortunately, Jon wouldn't get to be in on telling them that way so we probably won't do that.

I ordered a home doppler to listen to the heartbeat. It should be here in a few days, but I don't know if we'll be able to hear Mini right away. Some people have luck as early as 7 weeks, but some can't get a reading until 10 weeks. It will be fun to try!

6 weeks and blech!

Morning sickness started the day before I hit 6 weeks. Unfortunately, I had a bowl of Cheerios and a RED soda before I threw up the first time. Yuck! That really wasn't a good combination. I've been sick every day since to the point that I called my doctor yesterday to ask for advice. I'm now on a regimen of B6 with Unisom that has stopped me from puking so far today. I was even able to eat lunch! That's a big step as I've lost 4 pounds since last Friday. I hope I get feeling better soon because I've been missing out on fun with Mina. Here's my 6 weeks belly picture. Not much to see yet.
I had an ultrasound last week that showed Mini is growing in the correct place. His/her little heart was just starting to beat. My first official OB appointment is July 2nd in the morning.

Sweet!

Apparently the surgery worked! We're extremely happy and shocked. I took a test on May 21st, fully expecting a negative only to see two clear (albeit faint) lines. All I could say was, "WHAT?!" We were trying to get pregnant, but not expecting it. I hope that everything goes smoothly this time. I'm calling to make my first appointment with Dr. M tomorrow. I'll try to talk my way into getting an early ultrasound so I can stop testing every day. That's a lot of peeing on sticks! Mina is going to have a complex from watching me every morning. Plus, all the squinting and comparing can't be good for my eye sight.

Waiting

We've decided to wait until next fall or winter to try for baby #2. Jon had varicocele surgery in early February and we'll find out if it helped in a couple of months. I have no baby fever right now. I'm loving my sleep! I did think about doing a FET (frozen embryo transfer) this summer, but I'd have to wean Mina by the end of this month and we aren't ready. Who knows if we'll be lucky enough to have more children and I'd hate to cut our time short and then have it not work. Anyway, I'm very, very happy. Mina is pretty darn happy too.