22 weeks

I actually took a picture this week (well, Theo took it) on Tuesday which is technically when I started week 22! I can't believe I only have 18 weeks left! Whoa. Am I really ready to start all over again? Not much choice now, right? :)

I do know some things I will do differently this time. I will not beat myself up about breastfeeding. I will not kick myself for giving the baby formula if that means I can have a solid night of sleep. I will try my best to nurse successfully. But if my past record is any indication, my babies don't always thrive on breastmilk. And I am not going to go 9 months without sleep before giving in to formula!

I will relinquish all hope of having a natural childbirth. Again, the whole past record speaks volumes. And now that I have this whole aneurysm thing, I think I'll be a wee bit paranoid. Despite the cardiothoracic surgeon telling me all will be fine and I don't need any extra precautions, I can't help but wonder.

I will not spend a lot of money on newborn, or 0-3 month baby clothes. Olivia was stuck under a blanket in her carseat the whole time so what was the point in having her dressed cute? Plus, we already have boy and girl clothes. I will save my clothes money for when he or she is not confined to the carseat and people can actually see my well-dressed baby! :)

I will try very hard not to complain my last trimester about all of my aches and pains. Since there is a goodd chance I may never be pregnant again after this, I really don't want to take a minute of it for granted. Easy to say now that I'm only 22 weeks and relatively comfortable until I try to bend over!

My friend Amy and I were talking the other day and I was telling her how much more mellow I am the second time around (with Olivia). I have a more "if it ain't gonna hurt you or destroy the house, then what the heck" kind of mentality now. She said by the time baby #3 is here, I'll be so mellow I'll be borderline comatose! Ha!

If I would have known with Carter what I know now, I would have been soooooo less anxious! I have taken the kids out to eat by myself several times. With Carter, I was so paranoid to take him places by myself for fear I wouldn't know how to handle if he had a meltdown. With Olivia, I just knew when to go out and when to stay in and tried to work around her little schedule. At least as a brand new baby. And things flowed so much more smoothly. Since this baby is due in the middle of winter, I don't imagine we'll be making too many outings anyway at first.

So those are my thought this week. I'm trying to document as much as I can so I can cherish this time years from now. Have a good week!

21 weeks

I am trying to get back on track of taking pictures on time (instead of when I'm 20 weeks and 6 days like I have been!)

I had a routine OB appointment and everything is going as expected. The baby's heartrate is good but I keep forgetting to ask her the rate and she doesn't voluntarily tell me :(. I have gained about 4 pounds which was surprising to me considering I lost a few last week.

The baby is moving around like crazy. I tried to get Theo to feel the baby move the other night while we were in bed but he says he didn't feel it. I don't know how, it felt like I was a punching bag!

I should be going back for my repeat baby echo in the next 3-4 weeks or so. I'm not near as anxious about it as I was before our last ultrasound. But I'm still praying for a healthy baby.

No more crazy dreams for me lately which is a little unfortunate since I was dreaming about a total hottie! This weekend I dreamed about football and shopping at Whole Foods! I'm crazy. But you all already know that.

Well, that's all folks until next time....

20 weeks

20 weeks down, 20 more to go!!

19 weeks

Yes, I am backdating this post because I kept forgetting to do it. I'm actually 20 weeks as I'm writing this post. But I don't want to leave any weeks out if I can help it.

It's hard to believe the halfway point is here. I've had a lot of thoughts recently that maybe I will have a 4th. But I have to keep reminding myself that it does NOT have to be decided today. Once I'm done nursing again and sleeping through the night, it might be hard to have another one :)

I'm not sure how much I've gained so far. I haven't weighed myself in a while but I imagine it's still just a couple of pounds. I'm in mostly maternity clothes which allows me to breathe much easier now. I can see the baby kick now and am waiting for Theo and I to be sitting still long enough to where he can see it too!

I'm glad we decided to not find out the baby's gender. It's going to be a fun surprise. These next several weeks are just going to fly by. And before too long, we'll get to meet our sweet precious baby!

Big Day!

Today is finally the day I have been looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. We had our big ultrasound and echo of the baby's heart (basically one big ultrasound). The ultrasound itself took an hour. They were very detailed in all their measurements. Then the perinatologist (high-risk OB) came in and spoke to us.

Most everything looks good. There are some bright spots on the bowel that they weren't too concerned with. I'm pretty sure the baby doesn't have down syndrome. The second test said my risk was 1 out of 48,000! She said it doesn't get much better than that.

The baby's heart is about the size of a fingernail right now so they can't conclusively rule out every heart defect. They can, and did, rule out any life threatening ones. They are a little suspicious of the baby having a ventricular septal defect which is the same defect Carter has. So I have to go back in 6 weeks for another echo and to meet with a pediatric cardiologist. Other than that, there is nothing they are concerned about. And I/we are totally prepared for a VSD...been there, done that! I'm hoping that is all it is. We both felt relief but were really hoping all of these appointments would be done. Oh well, the big weight of worry has been lifted off of our shoulders.

At the last minute, Theo and I decided to find out the sex of the baby and we are happy to say it's a














SURPRISE! Hahahaha! Just kidding, we didn't find out! :) I know some of you all will be mad but that's okay. I'm feeling like a prankster today.

I have a couple of pictures but don't have time to scan them and upload them right now. It's birthday party mode and I still have a lot to do! Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!

18 weeks

(and 2 days!) The most exciting thing this past week was that yesterday I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat with my stethescope! It took some time to find it and time for my stomach to stop making such noise but when I did finally hear it, it was so amazing. I haven't been able to hear it again. But this morning, I could hear the baby kicking. It sounded like a loud thump every time I felt the baby move. So neat!

Belly shot:


I have made the switch mostly to maternity clothes. Well, pants and shorts at least. My friend Amy lent me all her maternity clothes so I feel like I have a new wardrobe. I only have a couple of winter clothes that mom got for me and I'm hoping not to have to buy any. Amy's last son was born in December so I think she's got me covered! The maternity shirts are still too big and I can fit into most of my non-maternity shirts. I am much more comfortable. The problem with most maternity shirts is that I tend to stay pretty slim through my waist/chest while I'm pregnant so when I put on a maternity shirt, I look like a big whale! And what pregnant girl wants that? I am very blessed to have good "pregnancy genes"! I don't have any stretch marks from my last two pregnancies (from puberty, yes! but from pregnancy, no) so I don't anticipate having any this time either. According to my home scale, I've only gained a pound but on my doctor's scale, it's only 2 pounds. Either way, I feel good about that. And it's sure is not from lack of eating. M&Ms are the devil!!

I'm not really having any pregnancy symptoms except crazy dreams! My one last night featured this guy:


I've been watching Rookie Blue on ABC and he is on the show. Swoon! He's my newest crush. What can I say? In my dream he was my heart surgeon and now for the life of me, I can't picture what my real, non-Hollywood star surgeon actually looks like! I remember him being kinda cute too. But I digress....

Tomorrow is the big ultrasound day. I'm trying so hard not to stress out about it. As long as I'm preoccupied with something else, which I usually am with two kids to chase after, I'm okay. But the moments I'm still and things are quiet, my mind starts to get the best of me. Our appointment is first thing in the morning. Amy offered to keep the kids even though she'll have company in town. I'm going to take her up on it with Carter but Olivia has been so needy this week, we'll just take her with us. I think she'll do fine. It was Carter that I was worried about. I'm so grateful to have such good friends! Please pray for us that we will have a good report. And as soon as I'm home, I'll let you all know how it went!