17 weeks and counting…. The good news is that I haven’t had a headache in almost a week now, (at least not one bad enough to have to take anything). I’ve been managing them with one cup of coffee a day! Maybe its coincidence and maybe its caffeine, either way, its working, so we’re going to keep this up for a little while. Not to mention I’ve just simply needed the caffeine to function. If I want to get anything done in the evenings after 5pm I need it.
We are only 2 days away from closing on the house!!! I know you are probably just as excited to hear me stop talking about it! The current house is about 90% packed up now, we’ve cancelled all our utilities at the old house effective this weekend and have everything switched to the new place! That was a full time job in and of itself to get accomplished! My patience level right now sits at about a 5 out 10, so it takes very little to send me over the edge. Just ask my husband!
So here’s what else is going on in week 17!
How far along? 17 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: Not sure, scale is still in a box!
Maternity clothes? Same answer as last week
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Same as usual, Ada sleeps, I sleep. I feel like I’ve been in a deeper sleep then usual lately. If I do get woken up I’m usually startled, and out cold until my alarm goes off. I haven’t even been hearing Dan come into bed lately, which is so unusual for me.
Best moment this week: We closed on the sale of our house yesterday! We’re renting back from the purchasers for the week until we close on our new place Friday and then we have the weekend to get out. So glad this week is finally here!
Have you told family and friends: Yes, most everyone close to us knows. I’ve told a few more co-workers as it happens to come out. Still not something that comes up all that frequently!
Miss Anything? Wine! (again) With all the stress of moving, It wold be really nice to just sit back and have a glass of wine in the evening. I think it could have helped this past weekend when I went over the edge about a few things!
Movement: Yes! Feeling little flutters more frequently now. Still very subtle and not that often. This past weekend is when I think it picked up a notch and I started noticing it more, not to be mistaken with gas or anything else now.
Food cravings: Still if see something then I want it. Really wanted a coke float yesterday, so I made one. Not much else is on the craving list. I made a ton of precooked meals last week that I could just throw in the oven in toss away baking sheets, and consume on paper plates, so that I could start packing dishes and pots and its seriously been the best thing I’ve ever done! (I might do a post about it!) I’ve had all these meals this week that I could have ready within 10-30 minutes of walking in my house and I don’t have to make a mess or take up time cooking. Plus we’ve had leftovers to take to lunch, so we’re saving money on eating out. My pregnant self and my moving self has loved this!!
Anything making you queasy or sick: I’ve felt really good this week. Tired, but I haven’t felt sick at all. Its been really awesome to wake up everyday feeling like myself again, an anxious to move and a little less patient version of myself, but not a sick one.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, my belly is growing. Looking and feeling pregnant, but I’m not sure a stranger would say anything yet for fear of offending me in case I just put on a little weight. Luckily, I have put on weight but for good reason! 🙂
Gender prediction: Next week!! My sister also turns 30 next week and we’re having a little get together at our new house to celebrate and I promised her a little gender reveal party as well at that time! SO excited!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Both. haven’t had too much pain this week, only once in awhile, but nothing unbearable.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: I’ve been a bit moody, but I’ll blame it on the stress of moving. It doesn’t take much to tick me off, and I had a few moments this weekend where I needed to step away from everything to cool off. I feel bad being short with Ada when its other things stressing me out, she doesn’t understand. I also just feel bad in general that we’re not able to give her as much attention as I normally would. She does a great job playing and entertaining herself while we are busy loading boxes and PODs, but when she says “Mom, can you play with me?” she breaks my heart. I want nothing more then to sit down and play, but the clock is ticking on getting the house packed and I try to keep my perspective and take a few minutes to sit down and color with her, or slow down and sit a little while longer at the table with her while she finishes dinner. She’s only this little for a short time, and I die a little inside when I think about when she won’t want me to play with her, or even in about 5 months when my attention is not solely on her anymore but also a little baby! Another reason why this move cannot come soon enough and we can get back to normal living.
Looking forward to: See my last sentence above! We need a little normalcy for awhile before our world gets flipped upside down again. I am so looking forward to being settled in, we’re so close now I can taste it!
No bump pic this week since I totally forgot and its what delayed me from posting this sooner. But here are just a couple from our chaotic life right now.
I missed 15 weeks because not much is going on. I am still feeling like crap most days with bad headaches at least every other day, if not more often. They are still making me feel nauseous and I had my first bout of “morning sickness” the day after Ada’s party, I think I just over did it, it was non-stop all day long. I’m killing myself getting ready for the move right now, we close in 1 week, so maybe that has something to do with feeling so terrible, just completely run down and exhausted. I’m in the second trimester now and somehow feeling worse then most of the first. I’m really hoping once the move is over and I can relax with my feet up more often that I start to feel better. This is going to be a looong pregnancy if this keeps up.
How far along? 16 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: I actually have not weighed myself in awhile, my scale is packed in a box and we haven’t been to the doctor. Probably not the worse thing!
Maternity clothes? Not yet, still wearing regular loose clothes and just the maternity jeans that I’ve had. The weather is finally changing to Fall around here and I’m looking forward to getting some of my Fall stuff out after we move.
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Sleeping much better lately. Or I should say Ada is sleeping better, as long as she stays asleep so do I. I still might get up with her once or twice a night very briefly, but only for a couple minutes and not every night. I think she just likes to know I’m nearby.
Best moment this week: I actually had a freak out in the middle of the night about a week ago, It started as a dream where I thought something was wrong with the baby and then it kept me awake for about 3 hours worrying about it. So at 4am I went online and bought one of those fetal, doppler heart rate monitors. Extreme? Probably, but I had it delivered like 3 days later and I’ve been able to hear the baby’s heart beat whenever I want to. Its actually really cool and gives me great peace of mind, so in my mind, it was money well spent!! This is the one I bought here.
Have you told family and friends: I told a couple co-workers this week, (the big boss included) so I’m glad he finally knows because I didn’t want it to go on much longer before he knew that I’d be out on maternity leave for awhile. I also need to start finding out about the maternity policy at work, so I’m glad he knows now.
Miss Anything? Wine, (always my answer) and just feeling good in general.
Movement: A little bit! I know I am feeling it now, I’ve been kinda thinking I felt stuff, for awhile but now I am feeling it more, its still VERY subtle and I have to be sitting very still. Moves around at night time a lot, and I can sometimes feel it in the car.
Food cravings: French toast. I’ve been making this for breakfast almost every day. Tim Horton’s Iced capp. I still get one of these almost every other day. I try to limit it, but the caffeine really helps my energy level, which I need and I think it helps my headache as well, and I’ll do just about anything to help with those.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Headaches make everything feel worse. I think the stress of moving and work is making me sick too, just run down and constantly thinking about what I still have to do.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty hard to hide, but It still depends on the day a lot, some days I’m definitely bigger then others and certain clothes hide it better then others.
Gender prediction: October 18th is our anatomy sonogram, followed by my 18 week doctor appt. So we will know (FOR SURE) then. We have a cute gender reveal photo shoot planned for that evening so once we do that we’ll be telling the world, which I know many people (my sister- haha) can’t wait for!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Oh the belly button!! I had some extreme pain a couple days ago, it lasted longer this time then ever before. It was the same pain that sent me to the doctor a few weeks ago, only instead of lasting 3-4 hours, it lasted a day and a half. My belly button was the size of a grape and I couldn’t get it to go in, just touching it brought so much pain. Its better lately, a tad sore but feeling ok. I think we’ll have more and more of these days as my belly grows.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Neutral. Anxious. Tired. I wouldn’t say a bad mood because I’m not the type of person who is ever in a bad mood, but as I think I’ve mentioned, I really just want to get this move over with.
Looking forward to: Moving!!! We can just stop there!
Here’s a pretty picture to commemorate the giant POD (and eyesore) sitting in my driveway!
And here’s a glimpse at 16 weeks for us! Getting bigger and trying to soak in every moment with my big baby!
My little love, she loves snuggling with the bump and talking to her baby!
My baby girl is FOUR YEARS OLD! How did this happen? I feel like it was just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital tackling this newborn thing, and now she is the most spunky, sassy and sweet little girl! She has grown up so much this past year from a toddler to a kid, its amazing how much they change year to year. She asked me just this morning, “Mom, why don’t you want me to grow up?” I said I do want you to grow up, but I want you to always be my baby, and she said, “Don’t worry, but we have another baby coming that can be your baby!” She’s right, so sweet, but she’ll always be my baby!!
Crafts, coloring, writing, and painting are her favorite things to do and she has perfected writing her own name, “Mommy” and “DAD”. She is so good at drawing houses and palm trees and even drew an elephant the other day that was better then anything I could do!
I love when she tells me that Indian food take out, is the BEST meal I make and when she talks like crazy telling me about all the kids in her class, who went to time out, what her favorite part of her day was and what she is going to dream about as we lay in bed together every night before falling asleep!
I cannot wait until we add BEST BIG SISTER to the growing list of awesome things she is becoming! She is going to be the most loving and helpful sister in the world, and she already cannot wait to show the new baby All.The.Things!
Her party last weekend was so much fun! We tried to keep it small, but it still ended up with 30 or so people there. It has rained every year on her party, so it was so fun this year to have a hot, sunny day! It was so hot in fact that we had to get the sprinklers out, and I even picked up a really cool slip n’ slide for $5 at Target! We still had to keep all the food and drinks inside because of the temperature, and my Dad saved the day by coming over and setting up a huge tent in the driveway so we had some shade. Despite feeling very distracted about the move and not wanting to go to crazy with theming, everything turned out super cute and she loved it which was the most important part! Here are just a bunch of pictures from the day, and a few from her actual birthday the day before the party! Happy 4th Birthday to my Baby Girl!!
Before it gets away from me, I wanted to recap our family vacation to the Adirondacks this year. We didn’t do much, or anything really for that matter. Ada was more then happy to just stay at our cabins paying in the sand, water or the playground. She made some cousin friends this year that she got along really well with and basically wanted to spend every waking minute with.
We went to town one afternoon, took her to lunch for pizza and shopping to pick out her one souvenir gift of the week. She picked a cute little stuffed, pink pig and a stuffed elephant for the new baby! And she got to pick out some candy from the Candy Cottage. She picked cotton candy! She also took a ride on the carousel horse outside the shop, a highlight every year, it will break my heart when she thinks she too old for that!
We took a family kayak trip out on Fourth Lake, which she really enjoyed this year, so much so that she wanted to go again later in the week, so Daddy took her again. Probably one of my favorite pictures from the week! Love when they spend special time together!
I took her for a hike one of our days with a group of the littler kids. A group of them went earlier in the week and we were supposed to go, but we had a shoe incident, thankfully though, because that group did a very long hike. We did a short, flat, 2 mile loop around a lake and even that you would think I was torturing her by making her walk herself.
She got to do her first, solo (without me or dad) tube ride on the boat, which she absolutely loved, she was a little nervous to go out but I’m pretty sure I was more nervous then her! Watching from the dock makes you feel pretty useless if anything were to go wrong. She loved it though and of course they went nice and slow, so she did great! Had the biggest smile on her face! She just looks too old for me in this picture!
And lastly we had a family wedding for the first time ever while we were there. It was fun to have something different to do, although the lack of a babysitter made it harder. Fortunately, Dan has a 13 year old cousin who offered to watch her, and I obviously wasn’t drinking or partying very hard, so we took Ada to the ceremony with us, but then left her back at the Cabin with Dan’s cousin, and I made it back home around 10pm to do bedtime. It was a really beautiful wedding, just a little chillier then we all expected!
And finally I’ll end with a few more favorite pictures from the week. Nothing better then a good family vacation! Ada slept great all week, with the exception of our first night there, which I always expect since its takes a night to get used to our new surroundings. It just always amazes me at how appreciative she is of everything we do, even if it feel likes nothing to me, its so exciting for her. To experience all this through her eyes makes every trip we take, worth every penny! I cannot wait until our next vacation to California in December! Our last one as a family of three!
I’ve been so good about updating this blog every week! Hope I can keep it up!
I had an unexpected sonogram this week! I was having really bad pain around my belly button, mostly after I eat a meal, with my belly getting a little bigger, it takes less to fill me up, but for some reason on Monday the pain was so bad after I ate lunch. I went for a walk to try and get moving a little and it got worse, so I ended up going back to my office and calling the doctor. They wanted to see me, so I went in for a quick visit. She thinks I have a hernia behind my belly button, but its nothing a general surgeon will do anything about during pregnancy and something I’ll have to follow up on postpartum. She suggested a girdle or something to hold it in if it really bothers me. I think I’ll just have to stick to more small meals and try not to eat too much in one sitting, that’s when it seems to get worse. She explained how the GI system slows down during pregnancy and that could be irritating it.
Anyway, she tried to use the little sound machine to get a heart beat on the baby and once again she couldn’t hear it, so sent me in for a sonogram. They all think its weird that they aren’t able to pick up the sound of the heartbeat at 11 and 13 weeks, but the sono tech wasn’t surprised at all. Made me scared for a couple minutes but once I saw the baby on the TV screen again, all was good! Phew!
How far along? 13 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: Up 5 pounds
Maternity clothes? Mostly just leggings, and the old rubber band trick on my jeans still.
Stretch marks? No, but I am starting to use my cocoa butter routinely now, just in case.
Sleep: I’m so tired by bedtime that I’ve been heading up to bed by 9:30 most nights, but I think I’m going to bed too early because I’m waking up so early and then of course can’t fall back to sleep. The one night I try to push it back to 11, I managed to stay awake but then Ada decided she wanted to be crazy from 1am-3:30, which ended up keeping me up and even more tired the next day! Having kids is rough!
Best moment this week: Getting an unexpected sonogram. I got to see baby again and everything looked great still! I even asked the gender again and she confirmed what she thought it was last time. She said it was still pretty early and could change but she was getting more and more sure of what it was!
Have you told family and friends: Yes, we are telling people, mostly when it comes up naturally or when someone spills the beans for us!
Miss Anything? Wine, I would really like a glass of wine.
Movement: I sometimes think I can feel it again when I’m sitting really still. The sonogram this week it was moving like crazy, arching its back and kicking feet. So I’m not surprised if I am starting to feel it, for real this time.
Food cravings: Tomatoes! I’ve always loved tomatoes, but lately I’ve been eating them plain with just a little salt. I’ve also been having my Tim Horton’s Iced Capps again, which I’ve been avoiding the whole first trimester because of the caffeine. Now that I’m in a safer place, I’ve been having one or two a week again, because they are just so delicious!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope been feeling better lately. The cold is gone and the headaches seem to be gone as well, which is good because I was getting nervous having to take so much Tylenol. I know its safe but still makes me nervous. I also went back to the prenatal vitamins I was taking before. They were making me gag earlier, and while they still aren’t going down perfectly smooth its much better and I think they are just easier on my stomach then some of the other ones I was taking since these ones are whole foods and organic.
Have you started to show yet: I personally think so. I don’t think anyone on the street would call me out yet but most of time there is a little round bump. I still wear fairly lose fitting tops at work because most of my team doesn’t know yet. I think I’ll just let that ride as long as I can and then one day just come in looking really preggo in a fitted top or something. That could be fun!
Gender prediction: I’m going to avoid answering this question until we decide to announce it. I feel like I am 85% sure of what it is and I can’t truthfully answer this without giving it away. Once we get our 100% sure we’ll do some kind of gender reveal.
Labor Signs: No, just hernia signs yikes!!
Belly Button in or out? Let’s not even go there. It felt like it was the size of a grape this week when I called the doctor. Usually I can deflate it when it gets big like that after a big meal and it hurt so bad I couldn’t even touch it. I’ve been feeling okay since that episode, but I really have to pay attention to the size of my meals I think.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy, except when Ada keeps me up at night, then very moody!
Looking forward to: Ada’s 4th birthday party is in less then 2 weeks. We are doing a Trolls party so I’m excited to host that. Last party in our old house! I’m looking forward to moving and getting that over with. We also have another (regularly scheduled) doctor appt. next week, if they can’t get a heart beat with the sound machine again, hopefully I’ll get another sono, haha another chance to confirm that gender!
Here’s a picture from our unexpected sonogram this week, my baby already has the cutest little face and side profile! What a little doll!
And lastly a bump picture. Not the best one as I took it myself and with the window behind my head I had to cut it off or it looked silly! But it definitely started to make an appearance this week, so I’ll share it anyway!
10 weeks 4 days today! We saw my IVF doctor for the last time yesterday. I am going to miss them there, they were so great and so on top of everything that it gave me such piece of mind, even in a high stress time period. I really felt like I was in the best hands. I know anything could have happened but they’ve been so quick to move on things that Its felt good!
Friday we meet our new OB doctor. I’ve decided to switch practices because I didn’t like how some of the miscarriages and stuff were handled, even when they had reason to suspect I had some fertility issues going on. I just felt like a lot of things went ignored and I needed a clean slate with someone new! They see you at 10 weeks for the first time, which I feel like is super late, but I’m going into it with a head start, so its exciting!
I got some REALLY exciting news late last week, that my BEST FRIEND is 4 weeks ahead of me, so I am sooooo excited to share in our pregnancy journey together and that our kids will be so close in age! Its always nice to have someone going through the same thing as you, and we’ll be on maternity leave together!! It just further proves my point that everything happens for a reason and exactly when it’s supposed to, now I can share this pregnancy with her!
Here is my 10 week Recap!
How far along? 10 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: 3.1 pounds
Maternity Clothes? Not yet, will be considering maternity jeans soon though perhaps.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Good, as long as Ada doesn’t wake up. Still need to go to bed by 10pm, and when I wake up I still sometimes feel as though I could use another couple hours. I still wake up on my stomach some mornings, which is not the most comfortable way anymore.
Best moment this week: Our last sonogram with the IVF doc yesterday, any excuse to see pictures! Another one on Friday too, AND we FINALLY sold our house!! It will be official this evening after they finish the home inspection, but its a cash offer, so we don’t have to deal with the bank or any assessments and stuff which feels AMAZING! We also put an offer in on my dream home, it was slightly over budget, but has everything we want! Waiting to hear if they are accepting our offer or not! Fingers Crossed!!
Have you told family and friends: We have told most of our immediate family and closest friends. Both Dan and I have let it slip a couple times to people who we interact with on a daily basis, co-workers and such! But after yetserday’s doctor appointment I feel much more confident that everything is just fine, and we can start telling more people. Its going to be hard to hide soon enough!
Miss Anything? I’ve been fairly good lately, the smell of alcohol is a major turn off so I haven’t had too much trouble with that. The tailbone pain that I had with Ada is slowly creeping back, which is disappointing because I remember that being my biggest complaint with her early on. Its showing up much later this time around, so hopefully it won’t last too long!
Movement: The baby was moving like crazy in our sonogram yesterday, flailing arms and legs all over the place, it was so cute! I love the early sonos because the baby is still small enough to see everything. I swear when I was laying still on the table during the sono that I felt a small pulse or heart beat in there, and they told me I was probably feeling it move since it was going crazy! (I can’t wait till I don’t have to call it an “IT” anymore!)
Food cravings: I have a major sweet tooth which I hate, buying candy in the checkout line is not like me and I don’t like eating that kinda garbage, but I just want it so much! Mostly fruity things, like airheads, starbursts, sour patch kids! Doesn’t help that Ada always asks for it, so I’m just like “yeah, throw it in”.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, I haven’t had too much nausea at all in the past week or so. Once in awhile (when I’m hungry) as usual, and I’m pretty much always hungry, but I’ll basically eat just about anything!
Have you started to show yet: A little bit, definitely at night, and I can push my stomach out and make it look really big, or when I suck it in, only the top goes in and the lower abs don’t move anymore! Ada loves when I push my tummy out.
Gender prediction: I’m still inclined to say boy by timing, Dan thinks Girl because he’s just going to get all girls, Ada still flip flops. The heart beat was 169 yesterday which would suggest girl, but they also said with the amount of moving it was doing, its not a surprise that it was so high. She said they like to see anything over 120 bpm. My face has been breaking out a little and the sweet tooth would suggest girl too, so most signs pointing to girl right now!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy, the moodiness of last week has subsided, thankfully, I’m definitely more patient with Ada again (for the most part). It helps that we have an offer on the house, so we haven’t had to do showings and stuff which has taken another layer of stress off. The search for our house has been a bit stressful, but now I am just super hopeful that we found our perfect place and we can move on!
Looking forward to: Friday will be our first appt. with the new doctor, another sonogram (and probably our last until the gender one). Excited to hear back about our house offer, the home inspection on our place is today, which I hope goes well. If we hear back from our offer, we’ll probably try to do a home inspection Friday or Saturday before we leave for Vacation, and of course, I am looking forward to vacation next week, hopefully all the house stress will be behind us, I am confident about the baby being well and we’ll be able to relax and have fun as a family! Lot’s and lot’s to look forward to right now!!
Here is our latest sonogram from yesterday, and I’ll skip the baby bump picture this week since it doesn’t look much different from last week and instead leave with a picture of an amazing rainbow from last night. I think it was a sign that our Rainbow baby is giving us a new life to look forward to and good luck in our near future!!
Here’s a recap of the last 3 weeks! (I added all the questions back in now). From here out I’ll try to stick to one recap a week instead of these long ones! Now that we’ve told a lot of people and next week is my last IVF Doctor Appt. I’ll be making the blog public again soon!
August 3rd – Week 7
How far long? 7 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: 1.6 lbs probably because healthy food is loosing its appeal and I’ll just eat anything that I think I can stomach.
Maternity Clothes: Not yet, I told my sister this week though and so she gave me her bin of maternity clothes so I have some stuff to go through now before I do need anything.
Stretch Marks: Nothing. Worried about how my appendectomy scar is going to look in a few months though! Hopefully it had enough time to heal before it starts stretching!
Sleep: Sleeping great! And out like a light by 10pm. Sometimes I need a nap when I get home from work, my body is just so tired. Dan will take Ada outside to play and let me lay on the couch for a half hour after dinner. Ada had a few sleepless nights over the weekend which nearly sent me over the edge in patience, but she is back to sleeping again, thank goodness!
Best moment this week: Had another sonogram today. This is the one I have been waiting for. My nerves have been on edge trying to get through week 6 and thankfully everything looked great! She had nothing bad to report, we saw a little flickering heart beat at 159 bpm and the crown to rump measurements were exactly on point with 7 weeks 5 days.
Have you told family and friends: I told my sister and brother in law this past weekend but we haven’t been able to tell anyone else. Dan was out of town all weekend so we weren’t able to tell Ada. We want to tell her together obviously and we have to be strategic about telling her, because once we do its game over, she’ll tell everyone, lol
Miss Anything? Not really. I’ve been doing pretty good lately.
Movement: Not yet.
Food cravings: Peaches! I’ve been buying them like crazy and I’m the only one in the house who will eat them, so more for me!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Doing better on the nauseous thing this week. Last week was bad and I was afraid it was only going to get worse, but so far its not been terrible. Still a little bit when I am getting hungry, my pre-natal vitamins are getting harder and harder to take. And once in awhile I just feel like I can’t eat anything at all, but once I do manage, I’m ok.
Have you started to show yet: I don’t think so, but feeling a little thicker lately. It varies by day!
Gender prediction: Still thinking boy, but so far things have been pretty similar to my pregnancy with Ada, so maybe girl?
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? My belly button is so messed up and funny looking from my first pregnancy and from a couple of the surgeries I had, so I am terrified to watch and see what it turns into this time. I told Dan I’m having surgery to fix it once we’re done having babies.
Wedding rings on or off? On, all the time.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! We’ve had lots of family in town for Dan’s brother’s wedding and so we’ve spent a lot of time with them! I wish we could have told everyone in person while they were here, but the timing was not right. We have some hurdles I wanted to get through before I opened up to everyone about everything. I’m excited to start telling everyone though!
Looking forward to: I guess see above. Starting to tell family and friends will be happening soon, so hopefully I can document some of that and share it on the blog!
Here was our second sonogram at 7 weeks 5 days. A little bigger then 2 weeks ago!!
And here’s just an adorable picture of Ada with her two cousins from the night we went to my sister’s and told them! Ada still didn’t know at that point so we had to keep quiet, but she was busy playing with the girls anyway!!
August 9th – Week 8
How far long? 8 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: 1.6 pound still.
Maternity Clothes: Not yet, I went through the bin my sister gave me and pulled some things out. I guess I’m kinda excited to dress the bump for fall and winter this time. The seasons are exactly opposite of my pregnancy with Ada, so I’ll definitely need to do a little shopping, there wasn’t much I can use.
Stretch Marks: No
Sleep: I wake up a few times a night but usually have no trouble getting back to sleep. I usually have to get up to pee at least once, otherwise I’m in pain in the morning! I’ve had some crazy vivid dreams though!
Best moment this week: Telling Ada!!! We took a video of us telling Ada about the baby in my tummy and it was beyond perfect. Her reaction was everything for a 3.5 year old! She was so excited at first, and kept asking me if I really had a baby in my tummy, like she didn’t believe me. Then I made a comment about her having to share mommy and daddy and she broke down into uncontrollable tears forever! lol The next morning though she was really, very excited, I think she was crying because she was a bit overtired and it was right before bedtime!
Have you told family and friends: Its been so hard figuring out the logistics of telling people this time because we knew Ada would talk, we wanted to make sure we told her first, but we also want to make sure we are there if she tells anyone else. Its been tricky having a chatty almost 4 year old. But in some ways it makes telling people easier because she is more then willing to tell everyone for us. She told Grandma yesterday morning. She was leaving for California for 2 weeks, so she stopped by before school to say goodbye and Ada just kept showing her the sonogram picture. Grandma was of course thrilled! Later that day we told the rest of Dan’s brothers and sisters by sending out a group text message, not the ideal way to share the news but with more then half of them living out of state its the only way to make sure everyone finds out at the same time! We’re telling my parents tomorrow night, having them over for dinner on the patio!
Miss Anything? Wine or a nice summer cocktail outside on my patio. Flavored water with mint in a wine glass has been a decent substitute but not what I really want.
Movement: Too soon, but I cannot wait to feel this again!
Food cravings: Not really, I’m not too much into sweets usually and this week every night I’ve wanted chocolate peanut butter ice cream or s’mores with peanut butter on them! Maybe its the peanut butter I’m craving!
Anything making you queasy or sick: A little nauseous again this week here and there. Nothing really major and fortunately I haven’t actually gotten sick yet. Its still usually when I have an empty stomach.
Have you started to show yet: Not really but by the night time I definitely feel like I am showing. I don’t know what it is about the end of the day?
Gender prediction: If judging by the heart rate in our first sonogram where it was detectible I’d say girl. It was 159. Old wives tales says anything over 140 is a girl and under is a boy. The first sono was a lot earlier then usual, so I’ll bring the jury back out in 2 weeks when we go for our next sonogram and see what it is then.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Flat for now.
Wedding rings on or off? Always on.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy, frustrated with our house still being for sale, but I think that’s unrelated to anything hormonal and just normal frustrations of selling a house. Now that we know we have a baby on the way, I’m just more anxious then anything to get the house stuff sorted out and moving on.
Looking forward to: Our next sonogram which is my last appointment with the Fertility Doctor. I will sure miss her, they have been fantastic there. But looking forward to meeting our new ob/gyn as well, and of course getting another sonogram with them! I hope I have good insurance!
Here is a snapshot of the text we sent to family telling them!!
And here is one of the first weeks I remembered to have Dan take a bump picture for me!
8 1/2 weeks Preggo with # 2
August 15 – Week 9
How far long? 9 weeks, 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: up 3 pounds (My app says 1-5 pounds is normal for the first trimester, I haven’t been eating so great lately though, so its time to watch that!)
Maternity Clothes: No
Stretch Marks: No, the inside of where my appendectomy was is pretty sore though lately and I have a feeling its related to everything inside starting to move around and push things. Definitely something I have to address with my doctor as I’m really afraid its going to get worse.
Sleep: Ada has been not sleeping so great, which means I am not sleeping great. I am usually in bed by 10pm and out within minutes. I think she has allergies, so on days when she is outside or in the grass a lot she wakes up with coughs, boogers and all itchy. Also something I may address with HER doctor soon.
Best moment this week: Telling our friends (see below)
Have you told family and friends: We told a bunch of our close friends on Saturday, which was really fun. Dan just threw the sonogram picture out on the table and walked away, there were then 6 girls sitting there trying to figure out whose picture it was, until someone finally grabbed it and read the name! They were all very excited for us as they all know how long we’ve been trying. So that was really fun! We’ve now told, most of our closest friends and our immediate family. We’ve still asked everyone to keep it quiet until we are ready to share more. Next week we have 2 appointments and I know I’ll feel really good about everything once we get good reports from both of them!
Miss Anything? Cold beer. We had a very nice family lunch date on Sunday to this place called Public House on the Lake, amazing views of Lake Erie, perfect summer day, really called for a cold beer. I don’t usually want beer but everyone else’s looked so good that day!
Movement: Not yet. I read back over my blog posts with Ada to see when I started feeling it last time and shared last time at 14 weeks that I hadn’t felt anything yet, but at 16 weeks I shared that I felt little flutters when I sit still. I know I got sick of the moving around by the end of my last pregnancy because Ada had some crazy legs, but I really am excited to start feeling it again. Hopefully this one is just a little less rough on me.
Food cravings: Chocolate and peanut butter. Last week this was starting to become a thing and now its real! Anything I can do to combine chocolate and peanut butter is a win! I even bought a pack of Reese’s peanut butter cups the other day, I’ve never done that before! I do have more of a sweet tooth then I usually do.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really. The nausea has been much better lately, to almost none at all. The fatigue it still bad but getting better!
Have you started to show yet: Definitely more so at night, but mostly not. I have been wearing much more flowy tops lately since I never know when Its gonna round out a little, some days are more then others. I also looked back at blog posts with Ada to see when I started to pop out and I see little bit around week 12 but much more noticeable around week 14. I didn’t really pop last time until 17-18 weeks.
Gender prediction: I keep saying “her” or “she” when I talk to people, maybe its because I already have a she and I’m used to it, or maybe its a sign!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Still flat
Wedding rings on or off? Still on
Happy or Moody most of the time: I’m gonna have to say moody for like the first time ever! I don’t think I’ve really ever thought of myself as moody, but I’ve been soo irritated lately. I thought it was Ada’s behavior that was making me nuts but I’m starting to think its just my level of patience with her (maybe a little of both?) Where I used to let things go, now they drive me mad. It doesn’t help that the house is still not sold, and we are getting showings like crazy, like every other day, which means people are making me clean and maintain a show worthy house every waking moment, and then not giving us an offer, which in itself its irritating! Keeping the house that clean with a family living in it is damn near impossible, and adding another level of stress to normal life! The worst part is probably half the showings are second showings, which means the same people are making me do it twice! My hormones cannot handle this right now and just writing it is making me angry!
Looking forward to: Of course the 2 sonograms we have next week, but we’re also leaving for our annual Adirondacks vacation at the end of next week. I’ll be finishing up my first trimester while we’re away and I just cannot wait to get the family on vacation for a full week of relaxation! I don’t think I’ve ever needed a vacation more then I do now! Every year I complain about this Adirondacks trip and how I would rather we take the week and travel some place different every year instead of taking the same trip, but each year around this time, I become more and more grateful for the full week of doing nothing, sitting at a lake, and sitting in the sun. Definitely looking forward to that!!
I’ll leave with a few pics I took myself of week 9 bump, starting to get a little one I think!
With Ada, I did a little survey each week answering the same questions and including a bump picture, so I’m going to do the same again this time. Here is my first questions post recapping weeks 4, 5 & 6. I’ll double/triple up the early weeks since there isn’t much going on and we don’t plan to tell anyone for awhile.
July 13 -Week 4 (I I removed some of the questions that are just not applicable at the very beginning, so as we go along you’ll see new questions being added)
How far along? 4 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: 0 lbs.
Sleep: Sleeping great at night, starting that whole falling asleep fairly early on the couch thing though.
Best moment this week: Getting a positive blood test on Monday afternoon, and another positive on Wednesday, telling me my levels are great and right where they should be. They did call this morning and told me my thyroid is under active, so I’ll be taking something to help with that, then they will test my levels again in 4-6 weeks to see if I can stop.
Have you told family and friends: Only my husband knows. I really love the early stages when just the two of you are in on this HUGE, MASSIVE secret and no one else knows about it. It makes marriage feel really special!
Miss Anything? No, I am so beyond thrilled to finally be here that I would have made any sacrifice right now.
Food cravings: Fresh food! I really just want to eat super healthy, and I can’t stand the thought of putting anything bad in my body for fear of messing it up. I’m super, overly sensitive to the thought that I could cause a miscarriage by doing something. (Even though I know this is so not true).
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular, I do feel a little off when I’m hungry, like I know I need some food ASAP!
Gender prediction: Boy, based on timing of how the heck this could have actually happened, it had to have been a fast swimmer!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, so beyond happy!!!! I was impatient as I waited for test results, and we are in the middle of selling our house which is adding another layer of stress, anxiety and impatience to my mood but other than that, I couldn’t be happier!!
Looking forward to: Our first sonogram which is scheduled for next week. Nice and early! The best part of using a fertility doctor is its her job to get me through the first trimester which means we get lots of extra TLC to make sure everything is perfect, unlike a regular OB/GYN who makes you wait until 8-9 weeks for your first look! I feel like I am in the best hands and someone is checking my charts like 10 times a day! They did tell me I’m a few days behind what I thought I was, but everything they say makes sense and all my levels line up, so we just found out SUPER early!
July 19th – Week 5
How far along? 5 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: Same
Sleep: Sleeping great, going to bed earlier then usual and I took a super long nap Saturday which is not like me. I’m not usually a napper, I can find 100 other things I should be doing!
Best moment this week: We had our first sonogram today! They told me everything looks great and they saw everything they would expect to see at this point in the pregnancy. We had a clear gestational sac with a nice thick cushion around it and it appeared to be in the right place. The measurements of it were perfect too. We’ll be back for another sono in 2 weeks at which point we should be able to see the itty bitty baby and maybe even a heart beat at that point.
Have you told family and friends: Not yet, we haven’t told anyone. I’m not sure when I want to do this. Maybe after our 7 week sono, to be sure everything is still looking good.
Miss Anything? I really want to make Starbucks runs in the afternoon, not because I need it, but because its a nice excuse to get outside and walk somewhere. I’m trying to avoid ANY caffeine until I know I’m in a safer place in the pregnancy. I know I can have a little but until were confident that this one is going to stick, I’m staying away!
Food cravings: Not really, still just trying to eat real healthy. Been into making smoothies in the morning so I can get a ton a nutrients packed into one drink!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not yet thankfully, avoided all morning sickness with Ada and I’m hoping to have the same thing again.
Have you started to show yet: No
Gender prediction: My Chinese calendar predictions said girl, but the Mayan calendar prediction said boy! Who knows?
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!! Trying to stay calm and confident about everything. Each time I see or talk to my doctor I get a little more reassurance which helps!
Looking forward to: Our next sonogram in 2 weeks!!
Here is baby’s FIRST photo! Doesn’t look like much, but in a few weeks we’ll see an actually baby in there!Here is my first official “Bump” picture (or lack thereof currently) Ada took this picture so she cut my head off, but its a start, we’ll get better at these!
July 26 – Week 6
How far along? 6 weeks 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: 1 lb. (Its starting already! But it does seem to fluctuate day to day, I think this is just normal life still, lol)
Sleep: Sooo tired!! I am ready for bed by 7:30 and I fall asleep within 3 minutes of putting my head down! Its that heavy, exhausted feeling too! I also don’t feel rested in the morning, I feel like I could sleep for days right now. I could really use a nap around 2pm, when I feel like I could fall asleep sitting up right.
Best moment this week: Nothing spectacular this week, just some of the hardest pregnancy symptoms kicking in, nothing exciting, mostly the opposite. Until I get to my next doctor appt. I’ll still feel slightly worried. Although having some of these strong symptoms is actually a little reassuring because It really makes me feel like things are progressing, which is good!
Have you told family and friends: No, we still haven’t. I’m not sure how I’ve gotten away with 3 weekends now and no one calling me out for not drinking. I’ve gotten lucky so far.
Miss Anything? I’m starting to feel pregnant, and I wanted this so badly so I don’t want to complain, but I’m remembering already how much I don’t like being pregnant. I’m hoping once its public I’ll start to embrace it a little more.
Food cravings: Still want fresh food, which is usually something along the lines of a taco/burrito etc. because then I can just pile on the tomatoes, guac, cheese, lettuce etc.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specific makes me sick, but every time I approach the “getting hungry zone” which is about every 1.5-2 hours I start to feel nauseous. It makes it hard to eat, because I don’t have an appetite for anything and its hard to figure out what I want, but as soon as I do eat I feel much better. Unfortunately its just a mean cycle and its getting a little worse each day. I hope it doesn’t last too long, as soon as I hit 6 weeks it kicked in.
Have you started to show yet: Not yet, but some evenings I definitely get that bloated look.
Gender prediction: Boy, still just a guess!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, pretty normal moods so far. A little more impatient with Ada then I usually am, but then again it could be her too, she is 4 after all and can be kinda a beast at times! I lose my temper a little easier at bedtime, probably because we are both exhausted, I’m just done for the day and she doesn’t nap much anymore, so she’s usually just about done too!
Looking forward to: Our 2nd sonogram next Thursday!! With our first miscarriage we lost the baby around 6.5 weeks, so I’m really nervous to just get through this week and to our sono next week which will be at 7 weeks 5 days. Once I get there and find out how everything looks I think I’ll start to ease up. We didn’t go in for a sono last time until 9 weeks and because I didn’t miscarry on my own, we didn’t find out until much later that things had gone wrong, so I’m really happy to be going in right away to keep watching things.
While in Florida this past February, we spent 2 days at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Ada is so obsessed with the Disney Princesses that I knew this would be a perfect trip for her right now. And since I’m still trying to get her familiar with the idea of travel, I want to make sure they are trips she is excited about. I know she probably won’t remember the details of the trip, most people recommend going when they are a little older, but I figured that since the family is in Tampa, its a perfect time to visit them and give her a little taste of Disney.
2 days is definitely not enough, but at the same time, it was plenty! There was obviously only so much we could do in 2 days, and being that she is still so young we wanted to make sure we hit up the things she was most excited about.
Our first (half) day there we didn’t have tickets to the parks, so we checked into the hotel and played at pool all afternoon.
I then, neglected to make any dinner reservations for the first night, so we were left scrambling to find something. We thought about heading to Downtown Disney, but it just didn’t seem worth the hassle to pack everyone up and take the bus out. Instead we hopped the monorail and headed to the Polynesian Resort, where I wish we would have stayed. I remember staying there as a kid and so I wanted to show Dan, but we foolishly thought we could just walk up to a restaurant. Of course everything was booked. We were informed that the Kona Cafe had a first come, first serve bar seating area, and we somehow managed to nab three seats there. After dinner we walked around, grabbed a famous Dole whip (the only place you can find them outside of Adventure Land in the Magic Kingdom), and we were able to catch the fireworks from the beach at the hotel. All things we just happened to stumble upon and probably couldn’t have planned any better.
Chopstick fight at Kona Cafe inside Disney’s Polynesian
I booked this trip 30 days out, and apparently that was not nearly soon enough. When booking the “Magic your Way” tickets and staying on a Disney property, reservations for restaurants and fast passes open up 60-180 days out, so everything I really wanted to do like Cinderella’s Table or Chef Mickeys, etc. was completely booked up, we had to be a little flexible. The only character dining I could get our first day was lunch at Hollywood & Vine inside Hollywood studios, which changed our plans quite a bit. Hollywood Studios wasn’t exactly on my itinerary this time around, but it ended up working out for the best. There was a lot more in that park for younger kids then Epcot, which was my original plan. The only reason I wanted to do Epcot was for the Frozen ride, but instead in Hollywood Studios we started our day with the Frozen sing-a-long, which was a perfect alternative. She got to see her princesses in real life, and it even “snowed” white foamy bubbles at the end, which was super exciting for her!
After the Frozen Sing-a-long, we did the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, this only had a short wait time and by the time it was over it was lunch time. That show was alright, she was excited to see Ariel live, but honestly in my opinion its time for Disney to update the theatrics, it seemed a little outdated, but to a 3 year old it was just fine!
Hollywood & Vine has the Disney Junior characters. So we saw Sophia the First, Doc McStuffins, Jake the Pirate and Handy Manny. They all make their way to your table at some point during your meal and it had a pretty decent buffet for lunch. She was just so excited the whole time!
After lunch we debated trying to catch the Disney Junior Live! show, but decided that it was getting hot and we just saw half those characters so we headed back to the hotel for a nap. We did get to see Donald on our way out!
That evening, we had Fast Passes to Enchanted Tales with Belle. So after we were all refreshed we made our way into the Magic Kingdom for our first glimpse at the Castle!
5:00 was a perfect time to head into the park because I think everyone was at dinner so we didn’t have to fight crowds to get to Belle on time. We did it right away at the early side of our Fast Pass time slot, and this was probably the cutest thing we did our whole trip and made such an impression on Ada. Belle is her most favorite princess right now, so I think she was literally star struck. The whole attraction though was just perfect for her, it was with a small intimate group, so you could really take it all in, and I felt like she actually got some cute, quality time with Belle up close.
After, we had some time and there was only a 20 minute wait at Ariels Grotto, so we waited a little bit for her to meet her second most favorite princess right now, Ariel.
We did a quick-service dinner and then it was time to get ready for the fireworks. Grandpa had sent her a gift card in the mail before our trip so we let her pick out a light up toy to play with while waiting for the fireworks, and then we caught the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular. So glad we got to see this since its coming to an end in May! She loved the fireworks despite thinking they were too loud!
We went back to the hotel that night and somehow the girl was wired still, so we let her go run around in the splash pad until about 9:30, at which point we threw her in a warm tub to clean up and she passed out in about 30 seconds.
The next morning we got up early and made it to the Magic Kingdom again right at 9am when the gates opened, it was great timing as the lines were not yet too long and once inside, the park felt pretty empty. We even got to see Minnie as she was walking out! Perfect timing! (Main Street doesn’t look empty below, but the rest of the park really was!)
Our first stop was Fast Passes to meet Repunzel and Tiana. I’d read a lot about saving your fast passes until the afternoon, but there somehow was already a 50 minute wait and so I’m glad I didn’t take that advice and just got the Fast Pass for 9am. We were in and out in about 15 minutes and she was in her glory meeting both!
I had called Disney on the phone before our trip to help me find restaurant reservations after I was becoming frustrated at the the fact that everything was booked. Someone actually managed to get us into Chef Mickeys at 10:30am, it wasn’t in my mind the most convenient time but I really wanted Ada to dine with Mickey and Minnie, so we took it. (I think someone worked some magic because we were guests of the Contemporary Hotel, which is where this restaurant is located. I can’t confirm this, but I don’t know how else we would have been booked there, when everything said no availability). This is why we got to the park so early though and what prompted me to book a fast pass, I wanted to get something in before 10:30 breakfast. It involved some back and forth, park hopping, which with the convenience of the monorail made this not the worst scenario. When we left the park the gates were mobbed!! Never try to enter the park around 10:00-10:30 it was crazy! When we came back into the park again after breakfast/lunch around 12:30 the gates were dead again!
Chef Mickeys at this time was also actually a blessing in disguise. Because it was the tail end of breakfast, as people cleared out, no new guests were coming in because they were getting ready to turn over for lunch. So because there were fewer and fewer people, the characters we’re actually starting to come around again.
We spent the rest of that afternoon in the Magic Kingdom again, and it had gotten crazy busy and super hot! We had fast passes for the Monster’s Inc Laugh Factory, which was super cute and felt amazing inside because it was all air conditioned. We grabbed some ice cream en route to the Haunted Mansion and when we got there, the Fast Pass line was longer then the regular line and we almost skipped it. Luckily, we found a shady spot for about 15 minutes and when I went back the line was down again and so we did that. Ada loves scary things so she was super pumped for the Haunted Mansion. I think she got a little nervous once we were inside but quickly got excited again and she loved it!
When we came out the afternoon Parade was just starting so Ada took the best seat in the house and we watched that before heading out!
Dad looks super mad because the Internet crashed on the East Coast that afternoon and he was trying to deal with that mess back at his office while fighting crowds and heat in Disney World = Not Happy! But Look at the smile on Ada, if only we all saw the world through a child’s eye!
She fell asleep in the stroller rental we had shortly after that, so once we got to the gates to leave I had to carry her all the way back to the hotel, that was suuuper fun! We had already checked out of our hotel, so we just grabbed a shady lounge chair by the pool and let her nap. I ran up to the hotel shops to get some souvenirs and then we let her run around the splash pad again for about a half hour before jumping in the car to drive “home” (Back to Tampa). We got in around 7pm and she talked Grandma’s ear off about everything we did!!
All in all it was a great way to add to our Florida trip! Next time we plan to stay at the Polynesian Resort and actually just take some time to enjoy the hotel and some of the things around that don’t even require park tickets. There is just so much to Disney World without having to pay hundreds of dollars to go to a park and since we have the family in Tampa and go down so much, its not one of those “once in a lifetime trips”, we can actually just do small bursts of Disney a little at a time, which I think is totally the way to do it!
All Kinds of Happy 