38.5 weeks and counting!

Goodness time is flying by!

I am almost at the end of the road and I'm at that place where I feel as though I am ready to meet this new little dude yet as soon as I feel a twinge or a cramp I am more than happy if the babe stays in there :)

Speaking of... Thursday night was a very interesting one- I definitely thought it was THE night and must admit I am quite disappointed that it wasn't. I had a doctor appointment that afternoon which I was told that I was about 2 cm dilated already (yay!) the head is nice and low- but my cervix was still a bit long. Afterwards that evening I had some of the things happen that they warn about that could mean impending labour. I was a bit crampy the rest of the night as well. We went to bed at 10:30 and at 11:30 I woke up with the cramps and I couldn't stop shaking. I was shaking so much that eventually I woke up M to see if he could get me warm and stop the shaking. I was falling asleep between the waves of mild cramps and noticed I would wake up with them every 1-3 minutes. However, eventually they stopped after 2 hours and needless to say- no baby yet! What a tease!!! Yesterday I was still cramping on and off throughout the day and today there hasn't been much of anything going on. With Alex I never had any teases or even slight cramps I was just in full blown labour out of nowhere- so this is new territory and it is frustrating territory at that!

I think we are mostly ready for this babe to come now. I am really looking forward to seeing what s/he looks like and just having those first few moments where we just look at each other <3 I hope that this thought will help keep me come and focussed during the delivery. Which speaking of- my doctor won't be around at all next week... so I'm hoping for a baby either before or after vacation! Just my luck! Although she did assure me that come the time I won't care who is delivering- which is probably true. I just want my baby!

Although I will miss many things about this pregnancy. I miss always having the babe with me no matter where I go. I miss the craziness we can see happening inside when s/he is moving around. I have been able to grab the feet and high five a hand and rub a head and back and bum many a times. I have lucked out once again with pregnancy and the time we have spent together. Already I am truly blessed with and have loved every second of it. Thank you baby :)

34 Weeks!

I can't believe the big d-day is almost coming! I know realistically I still have 6 weeks to go until my due date... but for some reason it feels like it will only be a couple of weeks away! I suppose that is due to the fact that I'll be technically full-term in 3 weeks and I don't feel 100% confident in my due date as it is just based on my first ultrasound (even though they are pretty good at figuring that out).

There isn't too much new and exciting baby-wise. The bags are finally packed after last Friday fearing I was going into some type of early labour as I was crampy all day with really bad back pain. I have no idea what the cause of it was but nothing came of it luckily and it never came back which is even better. This baby remains pretty active and seems to always have the hiccups! Poor child must be going nuts in there hiccuping all the time! I must say I enjoy how this one at least lets me sleep much better at night than Alex did- hopefully it will continue this trend of being a better sleeper after s/he comes out!

I still have a few things to get ready before the big arrival but nothing too big- just some putting away of clothes, and I want/need to pick up a few more baby things.

I register for the hospital next Thursday as well as have a doctor's appointment that afternoon... I think it is the dreaded swab test for Strep B... :S Not really looking forward to that one- but about time I get back into the groove of feeling embarassed and having people look in places I would rather they wouldn't :P

I can't believe how much energy I'm still having with this pregnancy as well! I really have no complaints! Even people that kept commenting on how giant I was with Alex are telling me how great I look this pregnancy (although I thought I looked good with Alex too). I do have the hip pains and tail bone pain at times- and an insane pain when I have to pee and I don't for a bit (does go away after I do) but other than those minimal things I am doing great.

I also started re-reading my birthing affirmations for a nice calm natural birth that I had with Alex and they worked. I am hoping they do again this time. I find it a bit harder as I know what pain feels like now. But I am hoping for the best to remain calm so the baby stays calm and enters the world in a nice peaceful environment. However, I am also realistic and understand that might not be the case for one reason or another. But lets hope for the best!

In the end.... I continue to get excited that everyday we are getting closer to this baby and Alex is getting closer to be a big brother and have a new friend for life :)

30 Weeks!

Holy smokes how am I already 30 weeks?! That means in 7 weeks I am full term- and in 10 weeks I will most likely have a new baby in my arms! Wow! There is so much to do before then and I think it is starting to hit me how time is going faster and I'm getting slower each week so I should probably move my butt a bit faster to get things done!

I had a doctor's appointment last Thursday and everything looked great. I passed by GBS blood test. I was measuring 31 weeks so better to be bigger than smaller. My blood pressure was even back to normal at 110/60. I gained quite a bit of weight but the doctor was super pumped about it so I guess that is good! I start going now every 3 weeks (which will only make time seem even faster!)

Alex is starting to get into this baby thing now too. Whenever we mention the baby, say something is for the baby, or if he sees babies he cuddles his arm next to his neck and says "awwwwww" So cute! I just know he is going to love this new baby and be a big help!

3D Ultrasound Success!

Well we got to see our babe in 3D/4D on Saturday. It was just as exciting as we anticipated. When we got there M, Alex and I went in first and we secretly found out the gender! That's right- I know if Alex is having a little brother or sister hahaha!

I am so happy that we found out. I find I am insanely excited for this little person knowing what to expect gender wise. I am picturing what they will look like, I can go through Alex's baby clothes knowing what I need and don't need, and names is a huge deal! This babe looks quite a lot like Alex did in his 3D ultrasound it will be neat to see if they look similar on the outside too! Or maybe same nose/mouth but different colour hair... all too neat!

The little trouble maker though didn't fully cooperate though during the ultrasound. The hand and whole arm stayed infront of the place basically 90% of the time. While it invoked fear of being like Alex who always had hands infront of his face during ultrasounds and coming out like that too- it was pretty cute to see this same trait (hopefully not the delivery part though)

Also, can you believe I'm in the third trimester officially now? Yikes time is going to zoom by now! 77 more days till the due date (and I think it will be before that too for many a reasons!)

I am just so insanely in love with this babe. I think I am starting to realize why they say when you add a second child your love doesn't get 'shared' there is just more room for even more love for both.

25 Week Doctor Appointment and update!

Well even though this appointment was a couple of weeks ago I'm still going to update since I still remember everything clearly- just time is going by so fast!

The appointment was a really good and a rather quick one!
First: Weight- I'm finally above my pre-preggo weight! I have a feeling that it might climb quite steadily and fast from now on. I wouldn't mind just a bit at a time but I know I don't have too much control over the weight thing!

Second: Blood pressure was low normal at 90 over 60! That kinda helped explained why I almost fainted that morning!

Third: Fundal height- Well it astounded my doctor and made her even second guess herself as she said "Am I doing this right?" I guess since my last appointment I grew 8cm! I was measuring 2 weeks ahead at 27cm! This would explain the feet in my ribs all the time :P

Fourth: Heartbeat.... well this was a funny little moment. The doctor as always pinpointed exactly where the heartbeat would be and we heard it for a whole 5 seconds as the baby moved. She found it again and once again after a few seconds the baby moved again! The doctor thought this was pretty funny and said "Well we know s/he's in there I'll just put down that s/he was moving too much for the bpm" Talk about a trouble maker ;)

And that was it! I got some bloodwork sheets to go get my diabetes test and rh negative shot done for next week. It was a good visit- and it was also on our 4th Wedding Anniversary so it was extra special!

As I sit here now at 27 weeks (Starting the third trimester depending who you ask) My stomach has exploded into a giant belly. The baby is always on the move and while my energy is dwindling I still am much more active than I ever was pregnant with Alex. We went camping this past week and I hiked for at least 4km a day. I also did a bit of biking and some canooing. It was a lot of fun. My sciatica in my hip is acting up with this babe but I do my best to ignore it! We go for a 3D ultrasound on the 10th and words cannot express how excited I am! I can't wait to see if s/he looks anything like Alex and the glimpse of personality we can see in there!

Here is a picture of the tummy at 24 weeks
And here is a picture of the kids 'playing' at the campground just shy of 27 weeks. Big difference a couple of weeks make eh?

Update!

Well somehow I'm already sitting here one day shy of being 21 weeks.
That means I'm over half way done... and 134 days more to go! (well more or less) Here is a picture of my tummy at the half way mark <3


I had a doctors appointment today and it went pretty well! Here are some stats:

Weight: Up one pound- still technically one pound less than what I started with- but still :)
Fundal Height: 19cm so about right!
Blood pressure: 100/65 which is low but still good
Heartbeat: Sounded good- but the med student never told me what it was :(

The doctor had my ultrasound results and said it was reallly good with the baby even measuring bigger than it 'should' be (thus her not too worried about my weight yet). Everything looked great and perfect in there! So that is always wonderful news to hear! M and Alex were able to be there to hear the heartbeat too- Alex is too cute and looks so serious and worried when they do it as I have to lay on the table and he doesn't like that.

Speaking of the oldest boy- the last two days he has started lifting up my shirt and laying his head on it. I'm sure he thinks it is just a pillow - but I still think it is the cutest thing ever and that he is giving his little brother or sister a little cuddle :)

Ultrasound Update:
Here is our little one at 20 weeks and 1 day old! You can see *once again* the hand at the head- and you can see the feet a bit further down from that!
Pose number two should you once again a hand at the head- and the legs curled up! S/he must be a snuggler since s/he seemed to like to be closed in and not take up all the space it could :)

The ultrasound was pretty good considering I had to just stare at a ceiling for 20 minutes and only got to watch the screen for the last 10 minutes. M got to come in to watch too though which was nice. He was excited to finally be able to see and "meet" this little baby of ours. Everything looked great with a heartbeat at 141 bpm and measuring at 11.3 inches! (About an inch longer than they say babies usually are for 20 weeks) The nurse also reassured us the head looked like a normal size after M commented the head looked big to see my reaction. She also called the baby a contortionist for some of the weird positions it got into... I like to think that will mean s/he will squeeze out faster somehow :)

We plan to get a 3D ultrasound done as well later on- then we get to see this babe in real life! Time is zooming- but we are excited :D

17 Week 2 Day Appt

Well I left a bit bummed from this appointment yesterday. But I will get back to that in a minute. Here are the proceedings :)

First: Pee in a cup- much more successful in my aim haha

Second: Got weighed... still no weight change- still 3 pounds under my starting weight!

Third: Doctor came in- told her my nausea has been much better but still get it the odd time. Other than that it's all good. She commented about how my weight hasn't been changing. This is where my appointment kinda bummed me out. When I was about half way through with Alex I would have been up around 15 pounds by then (I gained 34 total with him) This one even though I've been eatting the past 3 weeks normally I'm still not gaining. And trust me I'm eatting a lot of crap too so its not like I'm on a diet or anything haha. She made me make an appointment for after my ultrasound that is in 3 weeks instead of my usual 4 weeks between appointments that way she will have the ultrasound results in and as she put it "We will both be reassured the baby is growing fine" Ugh and there dropped my heart. I guess I didn't really think as my lack of weight gain as a huge issue- let alone one that could mean something isn't quite right... And this is coming from such a 'go-with-the-flow doctor' I have never heard her concerned about anything before- which was awesome and exactly what I need in a doctor- but her being a bit worried worries me 100x more because of that. Okay lets move on...

Fourth: Fundal height is at least measuring where it should at around 17 weeks- that made me feel a bit better (especially because I'm not showing nearly as big as I did with Alex by this point- which worries me a bit as your supposed to show 'earlier' with the second etc.) But as long as uterus is measuring right on- I won't worry about how big the tummy is sticking out or not.

Fifth: Heartbeat!!! She found it right on- she always amazes me when she does that. Heartbeat was at 156bpm (once again the exact same as Alex's when I was this far along with him- I find that so neat!)

Sixth: All done and reminded to change my next appointment.

So it was a good appointment in terms of heartbeat and fundal height. Just hope the next 3 weeks go by a bit quicker so I can see everything is fine at the ultrasound. And hear everything is fine from the doctor (and hopefully be up a bit in weight) . On the plus side I do feel the baby daily so I know s/he is fine in there at the moment. S/he is pretty active and much stronger than I remember Alex being at this 'age'. In fact the other night Mark not only could feel the baby kicking around- but just wiggling- that is just insane for only 17 weeks pregnant as most people don't even feel 'flutters' until 18-20 weeks. I can also see the odd time where the baby is if it shifts over to one side and feel it. So I will just focus more on the movements, the strong heartbeat and good fundal height- and try not to worry too much about my weight.

Wish me luck :)