23 Weeks!

Yesterday after the baby appointment, I had to stop in at Katie's old pediatricians office to get them to fax her records to the new pediatrician's office. While there, I walked by a newborn baby who couldn't have been more than a week old.

Holy cow.

This whole time that I've been buying, washing, sorting and folding Will's clothing, I thought that the clothes looked not that small. Definitely a managable size for a baby. But then I saw a baby in the clothes and WOW, that baby is TINY. It wasn't a big deal last time, really - I had nothing to compare it to on a daily basis. Katie was just baby size. But now I have this giant of a toddler, and let me tell you, she looked huge compared to that baby. It totally freaked me out - how do I handle something that tiny? I'm used to this rough and tumble big girl! Even though I don't really get worried over much with this baby - I'm secure in my ability to breastfeed, I'll get through labor somehow, and there's not much for me to do about circumcision but pray...but how am I supposed to hold this little baby? It's going to be such a big adjustment. It's so strange to start over. It's only been two years and it feels like I forgot so much. I'm used to this big kid who feeds herself, drinks from her juice cup, puts herself to sleep, entertains herself, and is able to tell me what hurts, what she wants, and where she wants to go. This baby is going to cry and I'm just supposed to know what he wants! He won't be able to entertain himself, heck he won't even be able to support his own head! Starting over with a helpless little baby seems so odd. I'm not even sure why it seems so odd, but it does. I absolutely can not wait to have this baby (well, I'd rather hold off on the delivery, or skip it - just one day wake up with him in my arms! lol) but it's crazy to think of how much I have to relearn!

With Katie, there was a post on one site where you'd guess what your baby would weigh, hair/eye color, what date you'd give birth, etc. It popped up again today, and I decided I'd do it. The closer I get to having the baby, the more curious I get about how he'll be. Bill and I together have a great amount of combinations, especially since it's obvious that his genes are strong enough to come through and beat mine. With his blonde hair, blue eyed family with red heads mixed in and my brown and black haired family with green, blue and brown eyes, this baby can pretty much come out looking like anything! I don't even know what combination I'd prefer (I know with Katie I kept saying I'd love for her to have curly blonde hair and blue eyes, never ever thinking she'd actually get any of them!) but I can't decide what I'd like for Will. Brown hair and blue eyes or brown hair and green eyes like Katie's would be beautiful, but so would blonde hair and brown eyes (especially with freckles!), brown hair and brown eyes, or a little boy who looks just like Katie. I can't wait to see what he comes out with!

But anyway, here are my guesses for Will:

Due Date: My doctor given  due date is 12.12. That's basing off of the average woman's cycles, not my own. I know that this baby is actually due 12.15. He always measures exactly three days behind every time, and my ovulation has not been around day 14 for a long time, it's been later than that almost every month since my cycles returned while breastfeeding Katie. I feel very sure that if I wasn't induced with Katie, she would have naturally come 4-5 days late. I base this off of my body's very near readiness to go into labor on it's own and how my body so readily took to the foly bulb when given that little push. I'm going to say it'll be about the same for this one. I think I'll go around December 20th with him.

Weight: My weight and measurements along with baby's are very close to what Katie and I weighed last time, so I'm going to say that it'll be close to Katie but probably a little bit bigger. I'm estimating that, unless something changes through third tri, the baby will be about 8lbs, 2 oz. Possibly a few ounces bigger, but I'm thinking it'll be right around there.

Length: 23 inches. Katie was a little over 22 inches. This baby feels a bit taller.

Hair color: I have no idea what his hair color will end up being, but I'm betting it'll be dark when he first comes out. I'm not so sure he'll have as much hair as Katie though.

Eye color: This one I have no idea. Obviously he'll be born with blue  eyes, but I don't know what they'll end up being. Anything from blue, green to brown is a big possibility. I'm just going to guess blue and stick with that.

My official weight on the doctor's scale (which used to be the exact same as my scale, but now they don't match up as much) is 129.5 lbs, which puts me at 15.5 lb weight gain, still exactly where I should be.

But currently, this baby weighs about 1 1/2 lbs already and is a foot long. He's on his way to getting to be the size of a term baby, though I can't imagine how I"m going to fit him as he keeps growing. Constantly, he's stretching out. I get weird kicks and punches on opposite ends of my belly at the same time. He also sticks out his feet and stretches up his arms so I suddenly have all these weird lumps at opposing areas of my belly. I don't remember Katie stretching so much, it seems like this baby doesn't have enough space to his liking already and is trying to make more. I have  no idea what he does in there half the time, but he makes some internal things hurt!