14 1/2 weeks

For Father's Day, I went through a bunch of pictures of when Katie was a newborn to find my favorite picture of her and Bill together. Looking at her only a few days old was a lot of fun because I couldn't stop picturing having another tiny baby like that soon. Sometimes I get nervous about the end of pregnancy and focus too much on labor, where I'll deliver and of course my tailbone breaking, but seeing that beautiful, wonderful result is really calming. I can't wait to have another baby in the house!

Week 14 has been fun. Well, if you can ignore the still constant puking and those poor parking lots that see me bent over and sick. This week, I started to undeniably feel baby. I thought I felt a few movements a week ago, but it was so early I ignored them because I couldn't be sure. Well, they're stronger now, and there's nothing that feels like them. It just feels like a tiny baby wiggling around and pushing on my uteran wall. It happens almost daily now, but usually only once a day. It happens so suddenly that usually by the time I stop doing whatever I'm doing to pay attention, it's already over. It's like little teases every day! But it's fun to even get those short few seconds. I can't wait to feel more and more often!

27 more days until we find out the gender. That feels so long, but I'm really hoping it goes fast! I continue to have those dreams about baby, and I can't wait to see what's right - my dreams, or my feeling. I'm thinking that my dreams are happening moreso from being so unsure about some things and being a bit stressed, but who knows. I'm so eager to know already, I can't wait to start calling baby by name!

And, just because it's an overload of cute and Father's Day, here's our little newborn Katie!

14 Weeks!

14 weeks today! It feels so unreal. It was such a short week! It feels so crazy that I'm two weeks into second trimester. My belly is getting huge, definitely showing that I'm now in second tri! I can't believe how much it's ballooning already! Just two weeks until our next baby appointment, which is on Katie's birthday. I'm really eager to hear the baby's heartbeat again, I get paranoid after a week or so of not getting monitored! I can't wait until this baby starts moving so I can feel it.

I'm still waiting for the symptoms to disappear. So far, my boobs hurt even more than ever, even though Katie only nurses to sleep now, much less than what she was at the beginning of the pregnancy. I'm still vomiting almost daily, and even when I'm not vomitting, I feel sick every single day, almost all day. No amount of food or pregnancy pops help. Some people in my due date groups are saying they have so much energy, but I have no energy at all still. I'm still needing to nap with Katie almost every day, and if I don't, I'm dragging to the point of tears by the end of the day. Yesterday, the two of us passed out for a three hour nap and we were still both exhausted afterwards. Where is my second trimester reprieve? Hopefully it'll kick in soon, as July will be a very busy month and preparing for it will be just as busy. I need all the energy, lack of sickness and pain that I can get! Every single day, Katie and I are working on projects to redo our extra room into her new playroom, get the nursery ready for a newborn, change up the attic so it fits all the craft stuff I moved out of our extra room, painting things (her dresser, her birthday gift, rooms) and working on stuff for the parties next month, which is really craft heavy to make it really fun.

Oh, and those hormones? Yep, getting worse! I cry so quickly and over such small things. And those sad commercials? Tears come flowing for anything! I'm all over the place with emotions still.

Here's my bump picture for this week and a bump progression to show how much it's started to pop this week!

13 1/2 weeks

This week seems to be going really fast. I'm a few hours away from 13w, 5d, which means I'm nearly 14 weeks now! It's starting to feel like this is going really fast. I made my gender ultrasound scan today for 18 weeks - which is only 33 days away! Well, that doesn't seem very long at all! My next baby appointment is in two weeks when I'm 16 weeks. My anatomy scan at 20 weeks is just over a week after my gender scan. Between these dates are Katie's birthday, my birthday, and what would have been Elizabeth's birthday - all which need to be celebrated!

Besides all of this out of the house, we're also working on changing inside the house. The hobby room was gutted today to become a play room for Katie, and now we'll be working on painting it, painting Katie's new dresser, and moving most of her stuff out of the nursery. Then we'll be working on redoing the nursery and preparing for a newborn again. It's so exciting to be doing it! I woke up at 4 AM last night, and while totally out of it, I felt like i should take apart my hospital bag and start packing. Um...that's a bit early, though truthfully I had Katie's packed around 20 weeks!

To think that I'll be HALF WAY through this pregnancy next month is so mind boggling. How could it have gone so fast already? A few weeks seemed to crawl by, but on a whole, it seems like a slippery slope! I'd love for this ride to slow down a bit once 20 weeks come. I'm so not ready to get near third tri! LOL.

My uterus has definitely continued to grow. It's a little higher now than it was when I was at the midwife's last. Can't believe how high it is compared to first pregnancy, this uterus really knows what it's doing this time! I'm really starting to pop out now. Strangers can now recognize that I'm pregnant and ask how far I am, my belly no longer fits in normal shirts, and Bill says I definitely don't look like I'm just gaining weight, but it looks like a proper round belly (I've really been thinking it looks like I'm gaining a spare tire, but I can see that it's definitely rounding out a lot and pushing out.)

I'm definitely enjoying second trimester. It really feels like I'm getting somewhere. Everything is starting to feel so close. I can't wait to start feeling baby and get daily reassurances that my little one is doing well. Hopefully around my next baby appointment, baby will start to move around enough to make me start feeling it! Now to just stop feeling nervous again...next pregnancy I'm totally saving up money for a doppler!

13w, 2d

I feel so bad for parking lots in Berks County. It seems like this pregnancy is very determined to have me throw up in every single one. I can NOT go in a car, even for two minutes down the road, without getting out and throwing up. We aren't going anywhere lately but to Walmart, which is literally two minutes away, and it still happens. So, hello again broken blood vessels. You weren't missed, and you had just faded away yesterday! Can't seem to stay gone at all anymore. Morning sickness continues to just get worse instead of better, though I had hoped that yesterday would be different. Most of the day I felt pretty good, but as nighttime came, I couldn't go in the kitchen anymore, and it ended in throwing up, like most nights do.

Two nights ago, a stranger knew I was pregnant, instead of thinking I was just gaining some weight in my belly and looking chubby. We walked past a cashier who pointed it out and asked me how far along I was. I was so shocked someone knew that I barely knew what to say! I was in a regular tee shirt, it wasn't tight, but Bill said it definitely looked like I was pregnant. Well, that's a bit nicer, but I think it helped that it was late at night when some bloat adds on to make me look a bit rounder. Either way, it's getting there.

I had a dream last night that I was talking to someone about baby, when the baby started to move and you could see the movements through my belly. I can't wait for that again! I crave those baby movements. It can not happen soon enough. I'm hoping that it might happen a bit earlier than Katie this time, who I didn't feel at all until her elbow visibly glided against my skin at 18 weeks. I missed the flutters with her, she actually had to try to reach out of my body until I noticed!

SECOND TRIMESTER!

Feeling so elated today!! I finally made it, after two pregnancies, into second trimester. It feels good to be here! Waking up this morning to a fresh new trimester was a great feeling. One of the first things I saw today was my Welcome to Second Trimester email from Baby Gaga.

Wowee! You've made it through the first trimester! Your baby is nearly three inches long from crown to rump (CR) and has already developed their own unique set of finger prints. As for you, you should be proud you've made it through the first trimester. You've probably started to notice that it's really getting time to do some maternity clothes shopping eh? For tips and advice on the best way to shop and save, check out the full article for week 13. 

Baby is THREE inches long, now approximately the size of a little peach and has FINGER PRINTS! I now have a little fully developed but just needs to grow and grow baby in there. All organs are in place, bones are hardening, pee is happening, teeth buds are in place, and finger prints are on their little fingers! 

I'm now in the dangerous "I want to go buy EVERYTHING for baby" stage, especially since I just got paid. After a while of saving, I can now afford my Boba 3G. Or I could afford a 3D gender scan for 17-18 weeks. Or my Mickey and Minnie nursery decorations. I want to hold off until I know what baby is but wow did it suddenly get hard to do that! I finally feel like I"m getting somewhere now, and it's so exciting. 

Speaking of which, my dreams are all over the place! I dream about baby a lot. I'm finally, finally, finally getting out of the stage where I have dreams of bleeding 2-3 times a week. Yeah, that's always rough to wake up to. Now it's about once every week or two. Replacing those dreams are dreams about baby. In the beginning of pregnancy, dreams about baby were exclusively girl. I always saw her wrapped up in a pink fleece blanket and being so wowed over how much her and Katie looked alike. For the last two weeks though, baby has been exclusively boy in my dreams, always a chubby little thing and I'm shocked every time I find out he's a boy. 

My belly is staying about the same size now, but I'm still gaining weight pretty steadily! I'm not sure where it's currently going, but I've now gained a total of 7.5 lbs, from 114-121.5. I'm finally in a good weight, so I'm happy about that. Seeing that I eat constantly (nothing quite points that out like filling out every detail in the midwives' food diary!) it's about time my body allowed me to gain something! 

A belly picture will follow later today, can not find my black top to do it in! Of course, one of the big important weeks and that goes missing!
Edit: Belly pic:

Last Day of First Tri

It's my last day of first trimester. It's been a day I've both dreaded and looked forward to. This is the same day in my last pregnancy where I lost Elizabeth. I was just a few hours shy of second trimester. At the same time, tomorrow is new. Tomorrow I can stop comparing where I was last time and fearing. I can be confident that I made it further. I can finally be out of first trimester, as I feel like I've been in it since last November. It's finally coming to a close, and a new beginning is starting.

Today started off well. I had energy for once. I left Katie sleeping and jumped out of bed to go clean the bathroom, the nursery, sweep, mop and pick up the downstairs and make breakfast. I was so exhausted after that I just wanted a nap, and it was only about 10 AM! Even with getting a very short nap in the afternoon, I'm absolutely exhausted at 9 PM. I didn't throw up today though, and I only felt sick a little bit while making some Chicken Broccoli Fettuccine Alfredo  (though I was really sick last night), so I guess that's something. Right now I'm just eagerly waiting for Bill to get home to help me with Katie so I can go crash for a bit. I'm so tired it's hard to do anything, plus this yucky headache that's been with me all day. Seems like allergies are really hitting me this season!

I'll have another post tomorrow with more information about what's been going on and a new picture, but for tonight, I just wanted to wish first trimester a fast goodbye. I don't want to see it again for a while!

12 1/2 weeks

This pregnancy is really hitting me hard with all the symptoms, especially this weekend! I nearly didn't get out of bed this morning, between getting sick before even opening my eyes, having bad back pain and feeling crampy from the round ligaments stretching too much. But, I had to get out of bed because Katie wanted only me, and we had to go grocery shopping. Turns out grocery shopping wasn't the best idea for today, as I ended up throwing up in public. I'm now sporting an awesome mask of broken blood vessels - I'm pretty sure this is the worst it's ever gotten. I broke them EVERYWHERE. Pretty much from my forehead to my jaw and under my chin. Even my ears! I had to go in the store all red faced and feeling like i was on fire on top of the purple freckles. Ugh, I have no idea what people must have thought was wrong with me, but I was quite the sight! That, and I forgot to take out my makeshift bun (I put it up about two seconds before I started throwing up) so the ends of my hair were sticking out all over. Yikes.

My belly has stayed upset all day and throwing up gave me a good sore throat. Just last night, I was saying that this pregnancy is really kicking my butt big time. I have a hell of a time getting up two flights of stairs now, my right leg always is giving out unexpectedly (which I why I barely carry Katie anymore), my pelvis has horrible sharp stabbing pain and my tailbone aches. My back hurts, my round ligaments are telling me all the time that they're stretching, and my belly hurts from using those puke muscles. I'm only in first trimester, but starting to feel like I did when I was in third with Katie. I ache for second trimester, but I honestly only think it's going to get worse. If I can stop puking, I think I can look at the other pains a little nicer.

I got out some of my pregnancy frustrations by having a day of shopping yesterday. I haven't done that much shopping in years, and it was really fun! Bill and I both needed new shoes and a few summer clothes, so we headed to Ross's where I FINALLY found a reasonably priced maxi skirt in the style I wanted. I also found some cute sandals in my size, so I can finally stop wearing my freaking winter boots now! The only shoes that fit me currently are my Disney Cruise flip flips, my boots and now these new shoes. With pregnancy making me unbalanced and have a weird stride, I don't like wearing my flip flops as they tend to just fall off or go flying. Every pregnancy, I tend to need pregnancy shoes of some sort!

We also went to Party City, where I got half of the toys and treats for the Party Goodie Bags and some decorations that were much cheaper than online. I'm nearly done buying at this point, and I've been working on slowly working on decorations and things needed for the party. Yep, it's over a month away but there's SO much to get done that I need to start preparing now!

After that, we grabbed swim diapers and sun block and went swimming! There's nothing so amazing as the pool while pregnant, it feels so amazing. Every single pregnancy ache just disappears in the water. Katie loved it too, she giggled and splashed and did not want to get out (she wailed when Bill finally took her out of the water, all pruney and wet!) Luckily she can still fit in her canopy floater, which will help me out when Bill isn't there. I hope to get her at least near swimming by the end of the summer, but we're easing slowly in.

In other news...the second tri count down continues! Only three more days! After that, I'll have to count down to my next appointment at 16 weeks, and my ultrasound at 20 weeks. Wow, saying that makes it feel so close already! Three weeks until one of them, and four weeks after that for the other.

I need to get to bed, I'm FINALLY going to the eye doctor in the morning to finally get new glasses.