Month: June 2012

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Friday Funk – 22 weeks

Ok, so apparently I’m a liar, because I don’t really think this week’s pictures look any different than last week’s.

  • How far along?  22 weeks, 6 days
  • Total weight gain:  21 lbs. as of yesterday morning. I’m still not excited about the fact that my weight is already over the +20 lb. mark, but at least I’m only up 1 lb. since last week. 1 lb. per week is an acceptable gain rate for this point in the pregnancy.
  • Maternity clothes?  All right fine, I think I’m completely in maternity bottoms now. But most regular tops are still ok. I have been wearing more skirts and dresses than usual, too, since they’re nice and loose. Plus they feel good when it’s 90+ degrees outside, as it has been the past couple days again. I will admit, the maternity dresses I’ve gotten this time are actually quite cute, so I don’t mind having to wear them so much at all.
  • Stretch marks?  Thankfully, no. I didn’t get any from D, so hopefully Dv2.0 doesn’t give me any either.
  • Sleep:  When D sleeps through the night (which is almost always), it’s pretty good. Sometimes I have to get up to pee, but that isn’t a constant yet.
  • Best moment this week:  Seeing the baby move from the outside and enjoying the long hours of summer daylight. I was also thrilled to discover that my regular size L underwear does still fit. I thought I had been remanded to the world of giant sail-sized maternity underwear for good. I know it’ll be a long while until I see those regular size Ms again, though.
  • Miss anything?  Beer, especially now that the weather’s warming up. And not looking really bloated.
  • Movement:  Rolls and flutters/kicks are getting stronger and a little more frequent, so that’s a good sign. He/she especially likes it when I eat.
  • Cravings:  In general, no, but when I get really hungry I want protein – meat, cheese, etc. This week pizza has sounded really good too. That may or may not be pregnancy-related though. I’ve never been one to pass up some good ‘za.
  • Aversions:  Food, no. Smells, not nearly as bad as last time, fortunately. I just get sick of scents quickly and have to get rid of them completely.
  • Gender:  Not finding out.
  • Labor signs:  No.
  • Symptoms:  Heartburn is now a nightly occurrence (thankfully it’s quite mild), and the sacro-iliac pain is still alive and well. I don’t even have to be really active during the day anymore for it to flare up, it’s pretty much there all the time now. Superb. And the left side is the culprit, not so much the right. I asked my trainer, and it seems this is because my left hip is much more flexible than my right. Weird. Also, the hair retention has begun in earnest. I barely shed anything when I wash and brush my hair now. I’m dreading those nasty postpartum months when it falls out in heaps again.
  • Belly button in or out?  In. Never went fully out with D, just a little crooked.
  • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
  • Looking forward to:  Seeing almost everyone on my mom’s side of the family this weekend, plus my dad again for lunch on Saturday. These large family gatherings get fewer and farther between all the time, so I’m very excited for this one. We also have a 4 day work week next week for the 4th of July. Yippee!

I’ve been wondering for awhile how I compare size-wise to my last pregnancy, but it’s been kind of hard to tell since I’m not really showing that much yet. I looked back at my D pregnancy pics and I don’t have any from 22 weeks, so here’s a side-by-side from 21. The one on the left is me at 21w2d pregnant with D and the one on the right is me at 21w1d pregnant with Dv2.0.

What do you think? Any difference?

Maybe I’ll try this comparison shot again next week too. I do have a 23w picture from D.

Have a great weekend!

 

 

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There’s a ghost in our house

The other night I sat D in the bathroom sink to wash her hands and feet. At some point she must have stood up and planted her left hand on the mirror for balance, because later in the night I found that little reminder above. A reminder that yes, a munchkin lives in our house.

My first thought was to just clean it off, but then I realized that never again will her hands be that exact tiny size. So what else was there to do but take a picture?

And do a little comparison.

They don’t show up extremely well, and it was hard to even capture the hand prints at all with a white ceiling and bright lighting, but I tried to see just how big mine was next to her 22-month-old hand.

Della and Mommy.

Not ghosts.

 

 

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11w5d

{written on 4-12-12}

I’m almost at that “magical” 12 week mark, and frankly, it can’t come soon enough. I’ve been feeling like utter crap, and I can’t wait for this part to end. I do take comfort in that I guess that means the baby is doing well, but it’s been kind of a rude awakening after experiencing none of this with D. Does that mean it’ll be a boy this time? Who knows.

Since about 6w, I’ve been nauseous, exhausted, and just overall feeling like shit. After my 1st OB appointment, which turned out to be at 7w4d, the bad stomach juju really hit. That appt was on a Wednesday, and by that Friday I was puking. I puked all that night, then called the after hours line for my doctor on Saturday morning. I couldn’t even keep water down. They put me on Reglan, an anti-nausea medicine, which helped me be able to eat and drink that weekend, but by that Monday I just felt like it wasn’t really doing anything anymore. So I stopped taking it Monday night, after which I actually felt better for that whole week.

Then the nausea came back and has been surfacing off and on in varying degrees until now. I haven’t barfed again, but there have been days I’ve certainly felt like I was going to. Especially around dinner time after work. Thank heavens I have R to help take care of D at nights, because some days I’ve seriously felt like I didn’t even have the energy to sleep.

Plus we’ve all been sick. R’s had a cold for 2.5 weeks now, D had a double ear infection plus pink eye 2 weeks ago, and I had an upper respiratory infection with the worst coughing of my life last week. All that to say I haven’t exercised in weeks either, which is the exact opposite of how I wanted to start off this pregnancy. Fortunately we’re all finally on the upswing from the illnesses so I should be able to get some good walks in every day down in St. Thomas next week. At least I haven’t noticed my butt expanding nearly as rapidly as it did by this point last time – nausea, exhaustion, and illness aren’t really conducive to shoving cheeseburgers in your face, which was my fare of choice when I was pregnant with D.

I had my second appointment yesterday and am happy to report that despite all my sickness, everything appears to be going swimmingly in there. The doctor confirmed that all the junk I’ve been feeling is completely normal, and even told me something I hadn’t known previously – amoxicillin tends to intensify nausea. Excellent. No wonder these past couple days have felt especially sickening, since I’ve been on that the past week for the respiratory infection. But yesterday was my last day of the meds, so hopefully now that that is done and I’m approaching the week 12 mark things will start feeling better. Too bad this morning my stomach hurt badly, so I haven’t gotten relief yet.

Here are some stats, before I forget them all:

  • Weight: 149.5 starting (home)

153 1st appt (home) / 155.9 1st appt (dr)

155 2nd appt (home) / 160.6 2nd appt (dr) – a 5 lb. difference between our scale and the doctor’s? I’m calling shenanigans.

  • Heartbeat: 162 at 2nd appt (11w4d). The doctor found it, we heard it for a couple seconds, then the baby moved and it was gone. She said don’t worry, the baby just moved, it didn’t disappear. Since it’s still pretty early to hear the heartbeat she wasn’t surprised it was hard to find. She said since I’m thin it makes it easier to find too, so she doesn’t have to dig under my pelvic bone as much. I thought nice and thin, eh? I was just lamenting the fact that I’ve seemingly gained about 3 pounds in the past 4 days!

My next appt isn’t until May 9, at which point I’ll have the quad screening blood test done to check for signs of Down Syndrome and a couple other health issues. Then at the appt following that one is when I’ll probably have the main ultrasound. I can’t wait for that.

Hopefully this nausea lessens soon so I can fully enjoy vacation next week and start spreading the good news. 3 friends know right now, we’ll tell our families this weekend when we get to STT, and we’ll start telling any friends who ask this weekend as well. That always makes it seem more real, too.

Fingers crossed for continued health of little Spook.

 

**ETA:  Unfortunately that 12 week mark wasn’t so magical for me. It took until a solid week 14 for that nausea to go away for good. Ugh.

 

 

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Friday Funk – 21 weeks

I promise, a well-pronounced belly will be coming soon. There is definitely a baby in there…

  • How far along?  21 weeks, 6 days
  • Total weight gain:  20 lbs. as of yesterday morning. So much for the weight gain leveling off. And I swear I’ve eaten the least amount this week out of all of them so far. Boo. Maybe it’s water retention from the multiple days of 90 degree heat we had this week… Maybe?
  • Maternity clothes?  Bottoms pretty much exclusively, but most regular tops are still ok.
  • Stretch marks?  Thankfully, no. I didn’t get any from D, so hopefully Dv2.0 doesn’t give me any either.
  • Sleep:  When D sleeps through the night (which is almost always), it’s pretty good. Sometimes I have to get up to pee, but that isn’t a constant yet.
  • Best moment this week:  Feeling the baby move from the outside and enjoying the long hours of summer daylight.
  • Miss anything?  Beer, especially now that the weather’s warming up. And not looking bloated.
  • Movement:  Rolls and flutters are getting stronger and a little more frequent, so that’s a good sign. He/she especially likes it when I eat.
  • Cravings:  In general, no, but when I get really hungry I want protein – meat, cheese, etc.
  • Aversions:  Food, no. Smells, not nearly as bad as last time, fortunately. I just get sick of scents quickly and have to get rid of them completely.
  • Gender:  Not finding out.
  • Labor signs:  No.
  • Symptoms:  Heartburn has become an almost nightly occurrence, and the sacro-iliac pain is alive and well. Especially if I’m really active during the day, it hurts my butt to stand up and walk by nighttime. Literally. My lower back has been pretty sore this week, too.
  • Belly button in or out?  In. Never went fully out with D, just a little crooked.
  • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
  • Looking forward to:  Seeing my dad and his girlfriend this weekend and having them play with Della.

Just wait until next week’s pictures – I have a feeling I’m going to quickly start looking much more pregnant.

Oh, and Della did say “yes” this week when I asked her if she wanted a little brother or sister. Whew.

 

 

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Anyone else ever heard of this?

Parents of kids who’ve had hand, foot, and mouth, I have a question for you. Or adults who’ve had it themselves too, I guess. Anyone with any experience with HFM, please come over here.

Did any of your kids’ fingernails or toenails fall off after a really bad case?

Yeah, I know, that’s disgusting, isn’t it? Here’s the thing…

The index, middle, and thumb nails on Della’s right hand have all been looking like they’re going to fall off this past week. Discolored, kind of thick-looking, and starting to separate from the cuticle area. My first thought was she must have gotten them slammed/stuck in something at daycare, because we never heard her cry about it at home. But there’s never been any bruising on any of the fingers or nail beds, just these weird nails.

Then this weekend Ryan noticed that both of her big toenails are doing the same thing. So gross!

He typed in “toddler’s fingernails falling off” in Google yesterday, and apparently a bunch of the comments about it were from parents who saw it as a result of severe cases of HFM. Bingo! That must be it. D’s 2nd case was definitely much, much worse than her 1st, and I would call it severe. Wouldn’t you?

Has anyone else ever experienced this or even heard of it? Those dangling nails are really grossing me out.

 

 

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Friday Funk – 20 weeks

Here comes the bump, do-do-do-doo…

  • How far along?  20 weeks, 6 days
  • Total weight gain:  17 lbs., same as when I weighed myself before the ultrasound last week. Yay! The exponential weight gain is finally leveling off! Maybe there’s hope to not gain 100 lbs. this time after all.
  • Maternity clothes?  Bottoms pretty much exclusively (except for some gauchos and shorts), but most regular tops are still fine.
  • Stretch marks?  Thankfully, no. I didn’t get any from D, so hopefully Dv2.0 doesn’t give me any either.
  • Sleep:  When D sleeps through the night (which is almost always), it’s pretty good. Sometimes I have to get up to pee, but that isn’t a constant yet.
  • Best moment this week:  Hmm, it was a pretty good week, so this is tough this time. I’ll go with dinner out with the girls on Wednesday night and getting a completely surprising but great visit from one of my cousins later that same evening.
  • Miss anything?  Beer, especially now that the weather’s warming up. And not looking bloated.
  • Movement:  Rolls and flutters are getting stronger and a little more frequent, so that’s a good sign. He/she especially likes it when I eat.
  • Cravings:  In general, no, but when I get really hungry I want protein – meat, cheese, etc.
  • Aversions:  Food, no. Smells, not nearly as bad as last time, fortunately. I just get sick of scents quickly and have to get rid of them completely.
  • Gender:  Not finding out.
  • Labor signs:  No.
  • Symptoms:  Still a little heartburn off and on and the sacro-iliac pain. Especially if I’m really active during the day, it hurts my butt to stand up and walk by nighttime. Literally. My back was pretty sore earlier in the week too, but fortunately that has subsided a little. I’m trying to keep up with my push-ups and ab exercises to keep my core strong to help prevent that. Unfortunately I’m not doing a very good job of keeping up with anything else in the exercise department; I need to work on that.
  • Belly button in or out?  In. Never went fully out with D, just a little crooked.
  • Wedding rings on or off?  On.
  • Looking forward to:  Spending a nice weekend at home. I’m making a delicious breakfast casserole for Ryan for Father’s Day that my grandpa used to make, so I hope he likes it. It’s been one of my favorites my whole life.

Halfway, people! Dang. Actually, I’m probably definitely past halfway since I’ll be 21 weeks tomorrow and I’m pretty doubtful I’ll go the full 40 weeks anyway. Della came 8 days early, so we shall see what kind of arrival #2 has in store. I just hope I make it past October 13 so I can attend my high school Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony.