Welcome to Nine Months. I will be blogging here for
the next nine months about what it is like to be pregnant and take care of a young child!
I have one daughter who was born in January of 2002. Now I am expecting our
second (and final!) child the first week in December 2003.
Monday, July 28, 2003 How Will I Ever Keep Up? (20 Weeks 6 Days)
Last night, my husband, 18-month-old daughter and I attended a 40th anniversary party. My daughter is at that age where she has to investigate and get into everything and try to go everywhere we tell her not to. Verbal instructions do not work, only physical removal from the potential dangerous situation will. So basically, we took turns running behind her all around the party hall, making sure she doesn't hurt herself or get into something yucky. Also attending this party were our friends/cousins who have a 3 year old son. Our two little ones were having a blast running all over this place together. Each one was feeding off of the other's energy. It was really cute, but highly exhausting. After catching my breath, it hit me that when the baby I am carrying is 18 months, my daughter will almost be 3! It's really hard to keep an eye on two that are within this age group! How the heck am I going to do it?! I joked with my husband that the two of us will probably lose so much weight, you won't be able to see us anymore. I can't imagine that there is time to do anything except chase children around all day at that stage!
I have a doctor's appointment tonight. It's just one of those routine every 4 weeks, do you have any questions type of visit. I do want to ask the doctor about this strange pain that I get on the right side of my abdomen. When I reach or turn a certain way, it almost feels like I am getting an electrical shock in the belly! It's not real pleasant and it always takes my breath away. I am also going to mention that I am taking an exercise class, but I am sure there will be no concerns about that. I feel so much better now that I am working out a bit.
I made it halfway so far! Only 20 more weeks to go! Or less, if I follow the pattern of my first pregnancy where I delivered 2 1/2 weeks early. It was actually nice to deliver a bit early because I was in denial that I was in labor until about 6 hours before I delivered.
I had quite a long and drawn out ultrasound yesterday. This baby was on the move! Every time the technician would focus on the spot that she needed to, the baby would move. She was pressing so hard on my belly to try to get to the baby's head. It got quite a bit uncomfortable. She finally gave up and decided that she had to do the ultrasound internally just to get the measurements that she needed. The good news is that everything looks like it is supposed to! We even got to see the baby yawn. It was the cutest thing! Here's a profile picture:
I have been feeling quite a lot of movement now. My husband even got to feel the movement for the first time on Saturday. It was really odd to see the baby moving on the ultrasound screen and feel him/her move in my belly. The technician also showed me my full bladder on the screen and I was amazed at how close the baby is to it. Now I understand why I have to urinate all the time!
Friday, July 18, 2003 Exercise And More (19 Weeks 3 Days)
When I was pregnant with my daughter, exercise was so important to me. This time, it's just hard to make time for it. Luckily, I have a friend who is a stay-at-home mom with a 20-month-old who enjoys walking the mall with me a couple times a week. We walk about 2 miles each time we meet. It's refreshing to get moving again. I have also signed up for a water aerobics class that runs twice a week for five weeks. Each class is an hour long. I know that it will help me along. I took a prenatal exercise class from 17 weeks until birth with my daughter. I really believe that it made the labor and delivery more tolerable than it could have been. It was by no means easy, but I feel that I had gained a lot of strength from exercising.
As I have mentioned, I am getting bigger! I posted a picture of my belly, just below the ultrasound picture. I also have to share this cute one of my daughter reaching up to touch my belly. I know that she is going to be a great big sister. She just loves babies and other kids. I just hope the adjustment phase goes smoothly!
I'm feeling bigger today. I guess it could be the fact that my shirt is too short and my shorts are too loose. The shirt rides up, the shorts fall down and the belly pops out. Quite a funny sight... I have also been getting my share of braxton-hicks contractions. I remember them starting around this time with my last pregnancy. It's a really strange feeling. My belly gets real hard and if I have to pee, it feels like an emergency until the contraction stops. Braxton-hicks contractions are a good thing though. It means that the uterus is getting itself in shape so it's nice and strong for delivery!
The party was a lot of fun despite how exhausting it was to put it together and entertain tons of people! The clowns were a bad idea. The little ones were terrified and the older ones could care less. My poor daughter was so upset. She just didn't understand why this scary looking clown sounded like her grandma! After my mom took of the make-up my daughter embraced her and was much happier. My husband and his friends jam in a band and they played in our garage for a little bit. Luckily, two neighbors joined the party instead of calling the cops!
Saturday, July 12, 2003 Better Week (18 Weeks 5 Days)
For some reason, this week was a little better. I have been pretty busy so I am sure that helped. I still can't shake the gaggy feeling, but it is calming down a bit. My emotions are getting crazy too. I can now cry at the smallest thing. I had the TV on the other morning and there was a little baby who need a heart transplant. To see her lying in that hospital bed hooked up to all those tubes just broke my heart. I couldn't watch it because it upset me so much.
I go for my 20 week ultrasound on July 21st. This is the ultrasound that you have the option to find out the gender. We are not going to go that route though. It was too much fun wondering with the first pregnancy whether it was a boy or girl.
We have a busy day today. We are throwing our annual backyard bash for about 30 of our friends. It's always a lot of fun and I think that my daughter will appreciate it a lot this year since she is more interactive. There's going to be lots of kids here for her to play with . Every year we throw this thing, there are more and more kids. (and we are adding to them!) In fact, this thing started out as a party for the adults and now it's slowly becoming more focused on the kids! This year we are having clowns for the kids. No, we aren't rich and can throw money away on clowns for parties...my mom and aunt do clowning on side! So, hopefully all of the events of the day will help me forget all about my pregnancy complaints!
Monday, July 07, 2003 Ups and Downs (17 Weeks 6 Days)
This pregnancy has been very rough on me. I still have been queasy and couldn't hold lunch down the other day. My doctor said I should be out of this by now but she couldn't give me anything to help. She suggested vitamin B6, which actually made it worse. I'm still very low on energy and I have a really hard time keeping up with my daughter. It scares me to think about having two! Hopefully I will have some energy back by then. The other thing is that I have been feeling depressed throughout this pregnancy. It comes and goes but when it's here, it's not a good feeling. I'm typically not a depressed person, so this is pretty weird for me. I now have a new understanding of what some of my friends and family members, who suffer from depression, are going through. The good news for me is that I at least know the cause of the depression, pregnancy hormones and just feeling sad about not feeling good. For some reason when I am feeling particularly depressed, I cannot cry. But I had a meltdown over something the other day that actually allowed me to cry and rid of some of that negative energy. The problem was that once it started, it was hard to stop! But I feel better mentally at the moment, so I think I just needed to get it out. It's amazing what pregnancy does to a person! I don't feel like myself at all! And I really haven't since I got pregnant.
I'm sorry if I sound negative in any way, but this place is just here for me to get some of this stuff out!
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 Are You Going To Eat That? (17 Weeks)
Even though I am still queasy, my appetite is really starting to kick in. I am craving mostly fruit, which does nothing for my hunger. But at least it's healthy! In a 24 hour period, I consumed an entire cantaloupe. I just finished a pound of cherries that I purchased on Sunday. Also, I ate an entire cucumber earlier. I just can't get enough to eat! I have starting asking my husband for his leftover scraps from dinner. I go to the doctor tomorrow so I get to see what kind of damage I've done weight wise. According to my in-laws digital scale, I have put on about 10 pounds since I got pregnant. But, I'd rather go by the doctor's scale! It seems like a lot of weight to me, but I can't complain. I was about 8 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight with my daughter. It's true what they say about nursing, it helps you to lose weight. Well, I have to keep this short. I need to go find something to eat! :)
