i had just started to really get serious...again, about losing weight and it was working! then just as i was beginning to see the rewards of my hard work, no joke, a week later there i am watching the little pink lines appear in the shape of a plus sign, a faint plus sign, but it was there. i wasn’t upset at all, since the whole reason i was losing weight was for when we got pregnant again, so it all worked out in the end, or the beginning, depending on what time frame you are focusing on. as i am writing this i am 12 weeks and 1 day along and going to have an ultrasound tomorrow. i am not going to try to spell the name of the test, though i can say it, but i will tell you that it is some sort of genetics testing, it’s done through u/s now instead of blood tests. that has changed since i was prego with AJ, it’s amazing how quickly these things evolve.
i had an appointment last week to hear the heartbeat, but doc was having problems getting it with the doppler. i think he was a bit worried, or maybe just thought we were worried and didn’t want to say anything. so he sent us right away to have an ultrasound. the first u/s i had with AJ was at 18 weeks to determine gender so it was exciting to get a peanut picture and see the little heart pitter patter away. 159 bpm.
i hadn’t had any morning sickness and only the occasional tiniest bit of nausea, but easter weekend that all changed. i was so sick for 4 days that if i was able to eat anything, which i usually wasn’t, it was rice or crackers. the thought of anything else was just too much for me. i thought that the morning sickness had just finally caught up to me but since i’ve been better i’m sure i had some sort of bug. so going by my weight at the doctors appointment and then weighing myself at home when i was feeling better i had lost 5 pounds in 4 days. but don’t worry i am feeling better and eating again, though sometimes it’s still only rice and veggies.
the alien at 11 weeks 1 day gestation
don’t worry i’m not trying to be mean by calling it an alien. for some reason we always referred to AJ as a ‘donkey’ when i was prego with him and this time ‘alien’ has stuck for this one.
April 21, 2009
I had another ultrasound April 17th for the genetics testing. it’s called a Nuchal Translucency test. It is to test for Down Syndrome and Tiscomy 18. I got my results back yesterday and everything is looking good! I guess they still do the blood tests later on for these also, either way it’s always nice to see your little baby on the big screen. i was amazed at the difference that just a week made. the head is so much more defined and human looking and if you look closely you can see the little arms and legs!
below is the picture that they use to do the measuring for the test, it’s just a close up of the pic above. at the back of the neck there is a space and they measure the distance in that space to tell if there will be any problems. it’s all very much more scientific then that but i’m not the one to explain it to you.
if you also look at the picture i’m sure you will be able to figure out which part is the head and which is the body. if not, the head is on the right. you can actually see the mouth, nose and eye sockets. floating above the nose and eyes is a hand and little tiny fingers. at the top left side of the picture is a foot and the little toes.
we have another doctors appointment on May 7th and another ultrasound scheduled for May 22nd. If we want to find out the gender we can find out then, i’m still undecided as to whether or not i want to find out. I also have AJ’s two year appointment on May 27th, it’s a very doctor filled month. can you believe AJ is going to be TWO!!!!
June 4, 2009
i figured i’d better post something before people started to yell at me. first let me say thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes, cards and gifts for AJ. The little pumpkin-head is now 2 years and 2 weeks old, i’m still training myself to call him a big boy and not my little baby, though of course he always will be. his party was a hit, we invited his little friends and luckily the weather turned out to be pretty good. we set up a couple tables covered with white paper and had crayons on each table and also had sidewalk chalk on the cement patio, everyone colored to their hearts content. there were also tunnels and play tents for the kids to climb through and of course the swingset, what kid can resist that? Jasey was our chef for the day he prepared BBQ pulled pork and sloppy joes (both homemade), with sides of baked beans and tater tots, it was delicious, ask any pregnant woman, since there were a few at the party! his doctors appointment went just as good, he measures at 36 3/4” and 30 lb 10 oz. and the last of his teeth have come in. there is a possibility that he is color blind but the doc said not to worry about it right now we will talk about checking it out at his next appt. if he is, no big deal, but it would be a good thing to know for sure.
the first two are from AJ’s actual birthday, he’s trying to blow out the candles in the first pic :) the second two are from his party. he ate so much cake that weekend, i’m surprised he’s not still bouncing off the walls.
I am now just over 19 weeks, almost half way, can you believe it! Last week my stomach just popped out one day, it’s so weird when it happens, but also nice because people immediately notice and finally realize that you are pregnant and not just fat. i am back at the weight that i was when i first found out that i was prego, so slowly but surely i am gaining and goodness knows i am eating again! i have been feeling bumps and kicks for a while but ever since my tummy popped it is more noticeable and a lot more often. i am certainly nowhere near as big as i was with AJ at this point though, so i still have hope for a more ‘normal’ sized baby, i’m just kinda hoping to forego the c-section this time around, but either way i’m not complaining.
We did have an ultrasound 2 weeks ago, everything is looking great, there was a little spot on the brain that the doc says there is nothing to worry about, it happens quite often and usually clears up by itself by about 24 weeks, so he wants us to go back after that to have another test just to make sure it’s gone. jasey and i have decided that the gender will be a surprise, so i have no news in that department. We still have not decided on a name, but jasey promises that we will come up with something this weekend, we’ll see.
this pic was taken the same day as the one above, 19 weeks 1 day, just wanted to give one that was not as dark.
July 15, 2009
hello again! well i am now 25 weeks pregnant and this is what the belly looks like...
for the longest time i kept saying “well i’m certainly not as big as i was last time” then i woke up this past sunday and goodness gracious, i literally grew overnight. i still don’t think i am as big as i was with AJ at this point, but it’s hard to tell. i am getting out of breath a lot easier this time around, it’s harder to move then i remember, but it was also winter time that i was going through then, not a stupidly hot south florida summer! hold on i have to catch my breath...
we had another u/s a couple days ago, here is the picture...
can you believe how much the baby has changed! we wouldn’t have normally had an u/s at this point but the doctor wanted me to come back in for a check up. at the last appt in May the u/s showed choroid plexus cysts, basically blood clots that show up as dark spots in the brain. doc said they were pretty common and usually clear themselves up by about 24 weeks but it was definitely something they wanted to take a look at again since it can indicate other problems if they don’t go away. we are happy to report that the spots are gone, everything looks good. the baby weighs in at 1 pound 9 ounces right now and is a little bit smaller in size then the average fetus at this point. i was 24 weeks 5 days on the day of the test, but size indicated 24 weeks and 2 days, also putting my due date back a couple days. not much but i’ll take it since at this point with AJ they were pushing everything up a week or two!
i’m still hoping for a smaller baby and possibly a natural childbirth this time around but i know that there is a good possibility that i will have to have a c-section again. i am ok with that, i’m kind of preparing myself for the section but i think that is so if it does happen i won’t be disappointed. not that i could be disappointed either way!!! doc says as long as the baby is average size and i go into labor by myself it shouldn’t be a problem. He can’t induce me since there is more of a chance of rupture and he won’t let me go for natural if the baby is another monster like AJ was. so keep your hopes up for me!
August 17, 2009
this whole pregnancy i’ve thought that i was smaller then i was with AJ, and people usually agree with me whenever i say it. but lately people have been asking me how my size differs from my pregnancy with AJ, not just commenting on my thoughts. i’ve been kinda curious why it’s a sudden topic of wonder for so many. Is it just because i’m getting closer? Is it a normal question for a second or third pregnancy? have i grown so much in a short period of time that people are worried i’m going to fall over? well i took a picture today and then found a pic from about the same time last pregnancy, let’s have a look...
i know it’s kind of hard to determine, so i will point out a couple things. first off in picture number one, from AJ’s pregnancy, i was 27 weeks. picture number two, obviously this time around, i am 30 weeks. so these pictures are actually a 3 week gestation difference, that’s almost a month and a lot can happen in a month when you are talking about growing a human. by this stage they say that the baby is growing about a half a pound a week, that’s a lot of baby! next i will point out how differently i am carrying. AJ is more of a rounded hill, sloping out and down. the new baby is higher and cuts back on the underside barely taking up any of the room that AJ was so comfy in. so it looks like i stick out more this time but this baby is living up in my lungs and my stomach, unlike AJ who decided to camp out a bit lower, but as it turns out he needed the extra room, monster baby!
somebody asked me the other day if this pregnancy was different then the last. I honestly thought for a split second they were trying to trip me up and get me to spill some info, but then i realized they were just asking if it was different. the only way i could respond was “every pregnancy is different, so yeah, of course this one is different then the last” i was stunned and couldn’t help but think well that was kind of a silly question. i know it’s not a big deal so i’m going to blame my reaction on hormones and lack of sleep.
i am happy to announce that i am barely swollen at all. i can tell that my ankles and feet are a bit puffy at times but to everyone else they look normal. so that is definitely something i can say is completely different, so far, this time. we traveled to london when i was 28 weeks last time. after two 10 hour flights in one weeks time my legs and feet had no chance of recovering and i spent the last 3 months of AJ with hobbit feet. but i’d make that trip again any day!
this is what my feet DO NOT look like this time...they got worse too...
and now here i am 30 weeks prego and still able to wear all my shoes, I wore heels two nights ago to Jasey’s birthday dinner! now that i wrote that though i will probably wake up tomorrow with little piggy toes again but i’ll still have made it 2 weeks longer then last time! i am still able to wear my rings on the proper fingers. I had to switch them to my pinky fingers and then eventually to a chain around my neck with AJ. and if anyone remembers my face from last time, it was like somone removed my head and replaced it with an overfilled beachball
this is my beachball head with best friend nene, she’s prego again too!
i am certainly more out of breath and i get tired quicker and easier, but something like not being able to breath won’t slow me down! i still keep up with AJ and Kirby and the house and whatever else catches my attention that i think must be done. I try to keep myself moving as much as possible if only to keep my body ready for labor and a quick recovery, whatever may happen. i have another doctors appointment in two weeks, and then one month till i’m considered full term. wow! only 10 more weeks!
September 18, 2009
well i’m hoping you can figure out which picture goes to which pregnancy, given the small child in the first picture. this is the face AJ makes during pictures now while saying ‘cheeeeeese’. he’s too cute, hehe :)
so anyway the first picture is me in real time at 34 weeks pregnant, the second is from AJ’s pregnancy at 33 weeks, pretty close for comparison. i think these two pictures show a lot more difference then the last two. i’m certainly sticking straight out this time, compared to last time and the belly is a lot higher. we’ll see what that means. i keep claiming that it’s like that because AJ was so big, so he was heavy, weighed down and just generally took up more room. though at my last appt, just yesterday, doc claimed that i am carrying a ‘tank’. (his words not mine. and for those of you that remember he referred to AJ as a ‘tugboat’ when he was born.) just two weeks ago the doc said that the baby wasn’t that big, when i reminded him of that yesterday he said ‘well the baby grew’. so i have another appt in a weeks time and an ultrasound scheduled for another week or so after that. i will be 37 weeks by then. they will be doing the u/s to estimate the baby’s weight so that we can start figuring out the plan of action. if the baby is too big and/or nature isn’t starting to work her magic then we will most likely be planning another c-section. either way there are only a few more weeks of anticipation until the new little on is here!
congrats to our friends Carlos and Theresa! they welcomed their first child yesterday, a 7 lb 1 oz, little girl named Isabella Lynette, they will be calling her Izzy. We can’t wait to meet her, we are heading there tonight!
October 14, 2009
Well, as of last week we were considered full term. technically the baby could come any day now, but for those of you that remember AJ’s time taking skills, i’m not keeping my fingers crossed, nor do i need to keep my legs crossed for that matter! :) We had an ultrasound last Tuesday on the sixth, to get the babies estimated weight. 7 pounds 14 ounces is what they told us, the average weight of a baby a week and a half older, i guess i am growing another monster! so here we are over a week later and goodness knows whats been going on in there. i feel...ready. i’m starting to get my fat pregnancy face (ugh!) a little bit of swelling in my feet and i’m sure the baby has gained at least 3 or 4 pounds, no i’m just kidding about that, but i wouldn’t be surprised if the weight is at least 8 and a half by now.
I wouldn’t say that the baby has dropped but if you look back at the last couple pictures i’m sure you will be able to tell that i am carrying lower then i was a few weeks ago, my belly definitely feels much heavier. and get this, i’m actually contracting!!! i never did that with AJ he just sat there, stuck, getting bigger and giving me stretch marks. so even if that’s all that ever happens is a few contractions it’s more then last time.
I have another doctors appt tomorrow to see if anything is happening. As of last Thursday baby wasn’t engaged, i wasn’t dilated. just nothing, that was all the news i had last week...nothing. so i’m still expecting a whole lot of nothing tomorrow, but along with that nothing there will hopefully be something along the lines of scheduling a c-section. we all know it’s not quite what i was hoping for but in the long run i know it’s for the best and i’m just ready to meet my baby!
I’ve been hoping for the last two weeks that doc would say ok lets just go ahead and schedule this and do it, but he’s been very optimistic, always wanting to wait and see. from the very beginning he has said that he probably won’t let me go past 39 weeks, which is next week so i will be very surprised if he says lets wait a little bit longer, though i wouldn’t put it past him!
As far as we can tell everything is just about ready, but there are always surprises. We have diapers and wipes in the closet, onesies in the dresser and sheets on the crib, what else do you really need in the first couple weeks! oh yeah, nipple cream, check! (sorry guys, too much info?) i already installed the car seat in the car and my hospital bag is ready to go, all we need now is a baby.
Everyone always asks if AJ knows whats going on and my answer usually is, ‘I guess’. AJ kisses my belly and says hi to the baby and when we see a baby he will go back and forth between the baby and my belly so as far as we can tell he pretty much knows what is going on. i’m sure he will be a bit confused once baby is here though. i’m hoping that he is old enough to understand but still young enough so there isn’t too much jealousy, cause i’m not naive enough to say that there won’t be any!
Jasey is doing great in school, he just started back 2 months ago, and has his first set of finals this Saturday, so having the baby next week will work out great as far as his study schedule goes. He will be going to classes every saturday for the next 18 months or so. he takes two classes at a time and every 8 weeks classes change. He gets a couple saturdays off around the winter holiday because the school is closed, so don’t count on us being able to take any trips for the next 2 years! It will be tough on all of us but we know how quickly that amount of time actually goes so it’s a small sacrifice that will have a much greater reward in the end. We will have a 4 year old and a 1 and a half year old when he graduates, it’s crazy to think of it that way. I am so proud of him and grateful for everything that he does for our family.
November 21, 2009
ok so i’m writing a lot later then i hoped but here i am. Ryan is one month old, and i’m sure that surprises me just as much as it does all of you. heck, is still surprises the crap out of me that AJ is two and a half!
so, i went to the doctor the day after my last entry, October 15. Doc was still looking on the bright side that i could go into labor over the weekend but just in case put in for the c-section. (i was ready to just schedule the c-section, i knew by this point nothing was going to happen.) later that day his office called to schedule the c-section for wednesday morning, the day after my next appt with doc. less then a week and my baby would be here one way or another! Tuesday appt comes, nothing has happened (big surprise) so i say ok doc i’ll see you in the morning! i was almost hoping that that night i would break my water and go into full blown labor, but with the baby not even dropped yet, obviously that didn’t happen.
wednesday morning i wake at an ungodly hour of like 4:30 am. get everyone and everything ready to go and in the car, we stop by my moms to drop off AJ and Kirby and then head to the hospital to check in at 6:30, i’m scheduled for surgery at 8:30. Everything goes smoothly, i get all hooked up and mom gets there with AJ at about 8. doc comes in when he gets there, then a nurse comes in to say that i just got bumped for an emergency, so we have to wait for another half hour or so, oh well, i’ve already waited 9 months whats another 30 minutes right? jasey and i had decided that if my mom wanted to be in the OR this time (which we knew she would) that she would go in with me instead of jasey. part of that decision was also that jasey didn’t want to see me all cut open again, can’t really blame him i guess.
so i take the walk down the hall to the freezing cold, and i mean freezing, operating room. i have to try to stop shivering long enough so that they can get the spinal in properly. they make you strip naked, put on a paper thin gown and then expose the entire back half of your body and expect you to be able to control you bodies last defense against hypothermia! luckily they have toasty warm blankets for you. i don’t know how quickly epidurals work but with a spinal before they are even done getting it secured half of your body is totally out of your control and if you don’t lay down quickly enough there can be problems, the least of which is nausea. i’ll just say that even without the spinal, at this point it’s not very easy or comfortable to move, lots of stuff going in and out of your body.
i was awake for everything this time and realized just how much i was fading in and out when AJ was born. all the prep and counting the instruments, the doctors coming in and introducing themselves, the nurses and doctors talking to me and asking how i’m doing, even everyone talking amongst themselves and joking and laughing, it’s very surreal. and it’s amazing how detached from yourself you feel. not only are you numb but there is that sheet up blocking your view, so you know that it’s you they are all focused on but you feel like you are miles away from what is going on just inches from your face. after that i don’t at all think that out of body experiences in ORs are that far fetched. i got very sick last time and prepared myself with alcohol swabs under my nose, the smell of burning flesh is so gross and not any better when you know it’s your own. i don’t know if it was the alcohol or what but this time i didn’t even smell it, thank goodness!
so they now have me opened and prepped all the way to the uterus and call in my mom. she comes and stands by my head and they make the last incision. doc starts exclaiming about how big her head is and says she’s got to be over 10 pounds. mom isn’t really supposed to be looking yet but has pushed the sheet down a bit and is peaking over the whole time. now they tell you that you are going to feel a lot of pressure. A LOT is a complete understatement and again shows me how out of it i was with AJ. i can barely even describe the feeling and it was more under my sternum then under my ribs. it felt like someone was trying to shove an elephant up to my shoulders from the inside, i think that is pretty accurate. obviously i could barely breath and when they finally got her out i made the longest, loudest, deepest exhaling noise that i have ever heard, mom looked down at me and asked what was wrong, it actually scared her.
they lifted ryan over the sheet for me to see and then took her to check her out. she cried like crazy and mom and i were both crying with her. actually i was sobbing and mom asked again if i was ok, i guess she thought i was in pain. we weren’t allowed a camera in the OR this time but they brought her over to me while they were sewing me up and i got to look at her and give her kisses, then she and mom left to go back to the room.
doc finished sewing me up and then headed back to my room too and i was left with the nurses while they finished up all the dressing and cleaning up. as i laid there i started getting nauseas and they kept asking if i was ok or going to be sick, which i never did. they had to move me back onto my hospital bed, i still couldn’t move and by this time the anesthesia was starting to wear off so i was shivering again. they tilted up my bed to roll me back and it immediately made me feel tons better but i guess i made some noise that sacred them and they flattened me back out again. so i had to try to tell them to tilt me up and as soon as they did i was again instantly better.
i missed her being weighed, i wasn’t there for AJ’s either, but 9 pounds 9.4 ounces was the final weigh in, doc says he thinks that the scale was off and that she weighed more, jasey and i actually think that she weighed less, she just didn’t seem as big as we remember AJ being.
while i was in the OR Denise and Ginny arrived at the hospital and were waiting in the room when i got back. they brought some donuts which is all that AJ was interested in, he couldn’t be bothered with this baby that people kept referring to as his sister :) so i shivered and shook for at least another half hour while all the drugs wore off and not long after that tried feeding her for the first time, she latched on right away and had no problem. i stayed on top of my meds more this time around, and actually the nurses did too. last time i always had to ask for them which made me feel weird but this time they always asked how i was feeling and if i needed more or telling me when i could have more, it helped a lot.
we were out of the hospital by friday which was great. i recovered much more quickly and easily this time around, but still took it easy and didn’t try to do to much to soon. i didn’t get to hold AJ for two weeks but we got to snuggle up next to each other. we got into a routine pretty quickly and i already feel like an old pro. Ryan only wakes up once during the night. i feed her about 11, she’ll wake up at 4 to eat again and then again at about 7. not bad for a 1 month old. she’s starting to track objects and is picking up her head a lot longer and looking around. she is also awake for longer periods of time throughout the day. all great things and right on target! AJ is a great big brother, we’ve had a few mishaps but there are many more to come. he loves to cuddle with her, especially when he thinks no one is watching. he is very gentle and loves to be close to her. I’m so proud of him :)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m sure it’s obvious but i’m thankful for my happy healthy family and the future that we have to look forward to, together!
It was another C-section, but it was also a good decision. She was only about an ounce less then AJ. I was a lot more alert during surgery and made a faster, easier recovery. Both of which i am very grateful for. I wanted to get some pics up so click on the album to the left and i hope that in the next few days i’ll be able to get a better update on here so everyone knows how it went and how we are doing. until then hope you enjoy the pics and hope to see everyone soon!
