Photo thoughts: That is one high and legit bump.
Size of baby: An onion or turnip, and 5 inches long with almost 6 oz of weight. Also? The week of the fingerprints. God, I love when they acquire those babies---so adorable.
Cravings/Aversions: Loving water lately, cereal at night, and pizza. Lots of pizza. Truly cannot believe I've only gained 6 pounds so far in this pregnancy--I know the weight will come, but I feel like I'm doing a good job of listening to my body and eating what I want without making myself totally ill from indulgence. It also helps not to weigh myself at home and made for a nice surprise at my appointment when I didn't post big numbers (yet).
What I'm loving: Daily baby kicks that can be felt from the outside!! I haven't gotten Nate to feel this baby yet but it might be soon! I'm still in a sweet spot of pregnancy and really cannot complain about anything right now, so I'm cherishing it all because it's going so stinking fast.
What I'm anticipating the most: Big ultrasound in three more weeks. Also, starting to think about the actual labor process which both frightens me and excites me. Can't wait to see how it all happens for this babe and will absolutely get that epidural as soon as necessary, no need to push it off and cause a panic attack. I know what real contractions feel like, they are horrible, my thoughts spiral downhill rapidly when I'm in pain *that* intense, and I would be thrilled to make this last go round mostly enjoyable somehow! A little worried I might progress too quickly for the drugs, since my other two have been really fast, but I plan to befriend the anesthesiologist right when I get to the hospital if needed. No shame in my game;)
Miss anything? Not really! Big progress with the lack of booze overall but I still have my days when I could literally taste red wine in my dreams. Which brings up a good point---I know a lot of girls have strong opinions about alcohol in pregnancy. I've never been brave enough to have an actual beverage during my pregnancies but I'm feeling like a half glass of wine here and there can't hurt. Rationally I know a small amount of booze won't harm my baby but I think I'd just feel so guilty. If I finally cave, I want to wait until 20 weeks or maybe even the third trimester. Thoughts on this? I'm assuming some girls indulge in the first or second trimester and it's fine….right? Considering it, for sure.
Worries: Should hear about the Quad Screen results later this week or early next. I've always done this test since my OB says 97% of her patients do it (and I trust her opinion fully), and it's always turned out fine for me in the past. Which of course makes me worry that this time I will have an increased risk of Down Syndrome or Spina Bifida---but I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I like to be prepared and would definitely want to research amazing Pediatric Specialists if needed. Of course, even a special needs baby would be loved and welcomed in our hearts, but that life would be difficult to say the least. And I'd want the best care providers all lined up in that scenario. So *that* is why I do this blood test. I decline the other screenings and save the rest of my worries about 'bad results' for the Anatomy Scan.
Also, I've read two really heartbreaking stories of loss this week: one a still birth, one baby that died shortly after birth. I can't wrap my head around that kind of sadness and it takes all of my concerted effort to avoid the negative thoughts of 'that is going to happen to me.' Statistically it's not, but anything can happen. Which is why pregnancy and babies and our current children are such blessings. Please excuse me while I swallow the lump in my throat yet again while thinking about this.
Enough of the depressing stuff. Positive thoughts! Embrace the moment! Today I am pregnant...
Differences between pregnancies: I think my belly is about the same size now compared to Cecelia's pregnancy! I was also awaiting the Quad Screen results this week of her pregnancy and excited for the upcoming 20 week US. I think I've had every Anatomy Scan *right* at 20 weeks and am envious of girls who get theirs earlier. Truman's belly pic is still laughable but I did find it interesting that back then, I felt the swing from lots of energy to no energy all in the same day (like this time). I also found it really adorable how I was so stressed over picking the correct rug for T's nursery this week. I do still love his striped rug but did not recall crying over the decision. These types of previous posts make me feel like a
How I'm feeling: I'll be full of energy and very motivated to do a ton of housework/blog work/exercise on minute, and then a few hours later I will be utterly exhausted. I even took a 2 hour nap on the weekend, which I haven't done in many weeks. That happened after Nate took both kids out of the house for a few hours, and I cleaned the kitchen floors on my hands and knees, did all laundry, vacuumed, picked up the whole house, and then organized the kids' closets. Yeah, that was probably too much at once. My back hurt for the first time in this pregnancy but luckily it felt fine after my nap.
I was able to exercise three times this week which is a good goal for me, and I have three new workout DVDs to keep me entertained. So far my 'Bar Method: Pregnancy Workout' is my FAVE. Hurts so good. It's nice to be active again although I have no desire to push it all that hard, but I would like to stay in decent shape this time around mostly for my mental sanity. I definitely love having energy again and have been ramping up my caseload at work, staying up fairly late most nights, and exercising---but I do need to chill out at times and r-e-l-a-x when it gets to be too much.
Also, I feel like I'm getting a cold with a scratchy throat and itchy eyes. Colds when pregnant are awful, so I will just down the water and rest up and pray it goes away.
Sleep: Need to get more, but comfortable at night. Peeing as soon as I wake for the day but not waking up early to pee, thankfully.
Movement: Daily kicks, still pretty low, strong enough to feel on the outside. Love it so much. I still think feeling a baby move inside of me is probably one of the best things in my life, ever. Hormonal, yes, but it's just amazing.
Boy or Girl: Everyone is saying girl and I still agree, but can also picture a boy. Very enlightening, I know. My OB guessed girl based on the HR of 154 in the office last week. I wonder if she has good intuition about these things---pretty sure she guessed correctly for my other two. Thinking a lot about names this week and trying to narrow down my favorites on my list, but still not really discussing with Nate until we know who this baby is. Cannot wait!
The Bump: Apparent to me, but not so much to strangers. I know I'm not huge or anything but it still surprises me that people have such tact when it comes to asking me if I'm pregs. I certainly look pregnant in my eyes! The bump mostly stays the same size now--fairly high and round. And I love it.
Bare belly!
Milestones: Kicks from the outside.
Best moment of the week: Two things come to mind: 1. Laying in bed one morning, I felt the baby kicking and placed my hand over my tummy to see if I could feel it from the outside. I could, and the baby kept kicking me over and over again as I just smiled to myself and felt overwhelmed with gratefulness. Nate had already left for work and the kids were still asleep, so it was a nice little bonding moment with my third baby. This necessitated a Facebook status update, so you know it was a big moment for me;)
2. Truman again. There have been multiple times he will randomly come up to me and say, 'Look at how big your tummy is getting! I'm going to kiss and hug the baby now,' and he does. He will lean in and kiss my belly so gently, then gives me a hug right around my hips. I could seriously die from his sweetness and love how much he thrives being the 'big brother' of the house. He's such a good one, too.
Have you thought about trying the non alcoholic wine at the grocery store? All the taste (so I hear) but none of the booze. Ps. your belly still seems small! I could pretend to be that pregnant any day by exhaling!
ReplyDeleteRobin-I tried the Fre fake red wine with Truman and hated it! Tastes like nasty grape juice to me:)
DeleteJust wanted to pop in and congratulate you on baby #3!!! Oh, and give the white Fre a shot - I hated the red as well but the white was ok, even though I'm not much of a white drinker. Still nice sometimes to have the ritual. :)
ReplyDeleteHoly cow - don't know why but these post are getting me so teary!! I had a glass of champagne at a wedding in the third tri with Eva. Oh my how I savored each sip. Me and another heavily pregnant guest made our glasses last about two hours. With Theo I had a few tastes of beer at a brew festival - just sips early on. We weren't telling yet so I would take a little sip and mike would take big gulps of my beer so it looked like I was drinking. He is such a stand up guy to help a lady like that. The night before I went I to labor - I had a full glass. I was all keyed up and my doc said a glass was fine. I slept so great that night! Truman's killing me with his baby love!
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely in the sweet spot!! Cannot wait to get there in a few more weeks/months. Cute bump, all the movement, anticipating the big ultrasound soon!! It IS going fast, whoa.
ReplyDeleteWe had non-alcoholic wine at Christmas since Kate's pregnant, too - blech! I'd rather abstain. Of course, you know my thoughts - It's needless guilt you put on yourself if you want to treat yourself to a half glass of wine. In every country but America, having a regular drink while pregnant is the norm. Previous generations here smoked and drank throughout their whole pregnancy - which is TERRIBLE, but still! My OB told me that they have to tell patients NO drinking because if they tell people the honest answer - yes, one glass is fine - then people may very well take that as, well, two or three is probably ok, too. I think I had two total with Henry and probably like .... six or eight total with Ben. Not saying it's the BEST decision in the world, but I also think it does zero harm, and boy, I enjoyed those little glasses of wine. But if you can go without, that's fine and great too! As you've said, you have the whole rest of your life to drink. ;) I'm sure you'll make up for lost time once you're not pregnant anymore - ha!
Yay for 17 weeks - moving right along!!!
I say drink up. I don't think I drank much during my pregnancy with Annie but I definitely had a glass of wine here and there with Luke! He's MOSTLY okay :)
ReplyDeleteI chose not to drink with either pregnancy, too. Yes, I know a small glass of wine here and there is fine, but I just wasn't interested (who am I?!). But I also gave up coffee, too, so clearly pregnancy just makes me a crazy lady. ;)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't do coffee with my first two either, and the desire to have alcohol was NOT this strong. Maybe if/when you have #3 you will be like me and crave both! Ha;)
DeletePerfect little bump! I don't know why, but I'm guessing boy for you. I'm usually wrong though ;)
ReplyDeleteI totally have a small glass of wine every now and then while pregnant. Usually its when we are eating a meal that is especially good when paired with a certain kind of wine. My husband is Irish so according to his roots, I should have been drinking a guiness a day during the whole first tri, haha! I definitely got more and more casual about the rules with each pregnancy - did everything right my first, by the 3rd I was eating hot dogs, soft cheese, and sushi!
Totally loosening up with each pregnancy here, too. Kind of nice to relax!
DeleteTruman is so cute! Now I'm craving pizza! Super jealous of your kicks from the outside. I just want more kicks!!! Looking great lady!
ReplyDeleteI drank a bit while pregnant with both kids. Hardly any with Isaac, a bit more with Miriam. Mostly because I just loosedend up the second time around. Always waited till the second tri though. My theory is this: the first tri is all about development, the second and third are about growth. So during the developing phase, I don't want to touch any alcohol. But once baby is developed and is just focused on growing, I don't think a glass of wine here and there is a problem. :)
ReplyDeleteI had a little port glass full of red wine during Christmas. It was so freaking good. I would've never done that with my first, or maybe even second pregnancies. But ya, way more relaxed 3rd time, and I relaxed even more after my structural ultrasound.
ReplyDeleteI'm all about the prenatal tests as well. If something were to be amiss, I have the best doctors and support groups to hold my hand along the way. I have 2 very good friends who didn't have ideal 20 week ultrasounds, and at the births they had the NICU team with specialists during the delivery, and they also reached out to other moms whose children had the same issue. They had a lot of information so they weren't clueless as to what was going on. This also made my past 2 structural ultrasounds very very nerve wracking, but fortunately my babies are okay.
Because I'm over 35 this time around I qualified to do the Harmony blood test and, yes it tested for chromosomal abnormalities super early, but the real draw for me to take it was to find out the gender at 14 weeks. :) Yes, I'm glad to know that baby had normal chromosomes with no aberrations, but was I sooo excited to find out at 14 weeks that the 23rd pair was XX.
I am currently 24 weeks with baby #2 and since hitting the second trimester mark I have been indulging in one glass of red wine weekly. My doctor gave me the ok and, also, I usually have it on a night when I have had a rough day with my two year old and just feel stressed, emotional, tired, etc. I truly believe that the stress it relieves actually acts as a benefit to the little one baking inside versus carrying around all the tension and anxiety from that day (which, in my case, just continues to build). With my first, I waited until my third trimester to start my weekly glasses but feeling a little more lax with #2. We have a happy, healthy 2 year old, and all tests are showing the same great news for this little guy! In summary...cheers to the occasional glass of red wine!
ReplyDeleteI have a conservative opinion on drinking during pregnancy because as a special education teacher, I've case managed several students with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome, also sometimes referred to as fetal alcohol effects). Most of these children came from foster care and the assumption that their mothers probably drank (and used drugs) quite heavily during their entire pregnancy. However there were two circumstances where the mothers were still in custody of their children and claimed to only have drank minimally during the first trimester before knowing they were pregnant. Once they found out they stopped drinking, but unfortunately it was too late. That being said, if you are feeling confident that your baby is at a point of development where a small glass of wine here and there won't be impactful, by all means. I just personally could never do it because a) I'm paranoid as hell, and b) seeing the irreversible effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol on a child's life was just too much for me to reckon, and even though the chances of a sip hurting the baby were slim-to-none, I just wasn't willing to risk it.
ReplyDeleteI had 1 or 2 half glasses of wine when pregnant. I think it's fine as long as you're comfortable with it. The first half- glass I had was at 20 weeks, after we found out it was a girl and it was our 5th anniversary I freaked out about it afterwards because I wasn't feeling her move as much. So really, I wasn't as comfortable with drinking at that time, in that stage of my pregnancy as I was later on when her movements could reassure me. I did end up buying some O'douls for the Super Bowl that year because I just had to have a beer and watch that game. At 8 months pregnant, that "beer" was way better than I expected and I ended up eventually having the whole 6pack!
ReplyDelete(Coming back to say that HOLY COW! 17 weeks!! That always seems like such a milestone to me. 17 weeks is like, legit pregnant. Cannot believe you are there already!)
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