"The fruit of the spirit is patience..."
Happy New Year! The big milestone this month of course, is finally crossing that threshold into the "golden age of pregnancy" - the second trimester. My little belly popped out the day before I was officially 16 weeks (see photo above) and I've been feeling fairly regular kicks, punches and taps ever since.
At our last appointment, the baby's heart rate was still around 160. We ended up seeing the nurse practitioner because my OB was running late. The second she put the doppler on my belly she picked up the baby's heartbeat. She joked that we had a very cooperative baby, and that she hoped it stayed that way through adolescence. Fat chance, I'm sure!
I finally remember why I love being pregnant so much, despite a much rougher first trimester with this little one. I'm so excited and impatient to have our ultrasound and finally find out if we're going to be blessed with a little girl or a little boy. As much as I would absolutely love a little girl, I am really trying not to get my hopes up. I know it will be hard to avoid being a little disappointed at the initial news that we're having another boy, but I don't want to be so committed to bringing a little girl into our family that I'm devasted by the opposite. Just trying to keep my mind open to either, and especially thinking of how much I LOVE my little boys.
Speaking of the boys, as I've begun to become more visibly pregnant, they have been so adorable as they bond with the pregnancy and the baby. Thomas is adamant that I have a little girl, and a baby sister, in my tummy. Andrew is quick to say that it's a boy. They've both been very consistent in their guesses, so we'll see which of them is more intuitive. They love to kiss and hug the baby good night after I give them their hugs and kisses.
Thomas has been the most intrigued by the whole thing. He regularly asks me how big the baby is now and gets giddy with excitement when I show him with my hands. He tells me he's so excited for the baby to come and also regularly asks me how much longer until the baby gets here. He's all about timeframes and dates these days, and can't believe it when I tell him that the baby will be here in about 150 days. He also loves to talk about when my tummy will "get fat."
Christopher is still being pretty quiet about what his predictions might be. He thinks I'm crazy thinking this baby is a girl, though he was right on board with me in the hormonal early days. I think the idea of a daughter scares the bejeezes out of him!
So far, my cravings involve anything salty, high in carbs and Asian food. The type doesn't really matter, I've been happy with Chinese, Japanese and Thai - all are equally satisfying. If it's deep fried with sweet/salty flavor I'm all over it. I definitely am not interested in spicy stuff, though, which is a major difference from the boys. I couldn't get enough hot wings when I was pregnant with Thomas and ate them on occasion with Andrew, but they don't appeal to me in any way this time. I'm still dealing with heartburn, and had it pretty severely the other night. I had to take four Tums before I could even relax enough to go to sleep. This will be one hairy little baby!
So far, sleeping hasn't been to much of an issue. I'm up usually just once to go to the bathroom which is typical for me, but feel like it takes me longer to get back to sleep and I don't feel like I sleep as soundly this time. I've been more anxious with this pregnancy, which could definitely be contributing to that. I'm still just using one extra pillow at this point, but as my belly grows, I know that will quickly change.
The next big milestone will definitely be the ultrasound which I'm guessing we'll schedule either the week of Jan. 21st or 28th. I will be pushing HARD at my next appointment for the week of the 21st and I just hope my OB's not a total stickler for waiting until I've hit 20 weeks. Once we have that, I want to scheduled a "fun" ultrasound for a 4D that the boys can attend, too. The 2D we'll get as our diagnostic might be a little scary for them (the baby looks more like an alien than a human baby) and the 4D will be a little more lifelike. We can reconfirm the sex at that point, too, which will be fun.
Now that I'm feeling good, I'm so ready to start planning a nursery, shop for a homecoming outfit, baby book, etc. We're calling the baby Sweet Pea for now, but I would love to get a name picked out and really start bonding with him/her. That day can not come soon enough!
