75 days!

Only 75 days to go until this wee one makes his/her arrival! 

Can't believe that's all the time left for this pregnancy...it has gone so fast!  Likely because we're chasing a toddler around all day long now!

It feels like nothing is really ready yet....with Neva we were all set by 5 months or so!  But we have all the basics, and I've learned, that you don't really need the rest! 

We've ordered cloth diapers for this kiddo, but that was about it on our "must buy" list.  So....maybe we're more ready than I thought?!?!

I'm feeling well.  Measuring right on track, but feeling very large!  Still exercising on an almost daily basis and eating as well as I can (or want to!)

Neva talks to my tummy every day and often sticks a baby up her shirt and will deliver them!  And they always come out head first!  I have no idea where she picked that up, a book perhaps, but that little lady is definitely prepared for when the time comes!  She also loves to talk about why I'm going to roar like a lion when the baby is being born.... 

Can't believe we're almost done!  Can't wait to meet this little person!

March

I had a thought this weekend.  March should be looking a lot different for our family....but it is not.

We were supposed to be welcoming a new baby into our home in the next few weeks.  But things don't always work out as you had planned.

I can't decide how I feel about this realization.  I'm not necessarily saddened by thinking about it,  more that it's just weird to think about where I am in this pregnancy and where I thought I would be when I found out I was pregnant last July. 

Clearly, our timing wasn't right.  There is some reason that we were meant to have THIS baby joining our family in June, rather than the baby that we lost joining our family in March.  It's strange to think about what that reasoning might be, but I have to believe it is for the best. 

Maybe it's because I only have 62 hours of leave time....and a week and a half just isn't enough for maternity leave.

Maybe it's because we needed to be in Kansas several times already this year and that would have been much more difficult if I had been 8 or 9 months pregnant.

Maybe it's because I'm going to need this baby to make my 33rd birthday the best one I've had yet.  Although I'd really rather not be 2 weeks late and in labor on my birthday.  Just putting that out there.

As I said, I don't know the reason, but I'm sure there is one.  I'm not sure how to feel right now, but I will move past it and I will be ready to welcome this June baby with wide open arms.

And this one....she's ready to be a big sister, that's for sure.  She LOVES to read books to anyone who will listen!  And who better than a brand new baby? 

 

Pregnancy Weight Gain & Fitness

I swore this time around, I wasn't going to get as big as I did last time. 

That hasn't worked out too swell.

I'm blaming that partially on the progesterone supplements, which made me feel awful and also made me put on a good 10 pounds pretty much when I swallowed that first blasted pill.

I've been exercising daily, sometimes twice a day, and still have put on quite a bit a weight and feel a little large.  With Neva, I exercised, but nothing like I have been this time.  And I ate ALL THE FOODS.  I took pregnancy as a free pass to eat whatever I wanted!  I'm making much more of an effort to eat healthy...getting lots of proteins, veggies and fruits in on a daily basis.  Believe me, I'm not perfect.  But I've been trying a lot harder this time.  Hopefully giving up sweets for Lent will help a little bit, too!

I know this is a struggle for a lot of women.  It's hard to watch your body do all this crazy stuff that is seemingly out of your control.  But...I'm pretty sure it's 100% out of your control.  It's not just the belly that grows.  It's the arms, the hips, the thighs....anywhere your body could possibly store some fat, it seems to happen when you are pregnant. 

And it's hard to not compare yourself to that one gal who only gained 15 pounds and left the hospital only 5 pounds over her pre-pregnancy weight and in her regular clothes.  That doesn't happen to everyone....some of us live in maternity clothes for a few weeks or months after the baby gets here.  That's real life.

Yes, you can make healthy eating choices and exercise regularly.  But your body is going to do whatever it needs/wants to do to make a healthy environment for this little person to grow.  You might only gain 15 pounds, but you might gain 50 pounds. 

During this pregnancy and my pregnancy with Neva, I received many inappropriate comments.  I've been told that I "just keep getting bigger and bigger".  Yep, that happens when you're growing a HUMAN in your belly.  I've already been told that I'm waddling...and that was probably about 10 weeks ago!  Seriously?  "You're still growing" has also been thrown out there this time around.  I seriously don't understand where people get the balls to say these things! 

I think it could be fun to go through life without a filter, but guessing it would hurt a lot of people's feelings!  I think I'll stick with the good ol' rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it!"

 

Princesses

This has been on my mind lately, as I keep hearing reasons why I shouldn't call my daughter a princess or why she shouldn't be allowed to play with princesses.  I have to admit, though, my little lady LOVES her some princesses.  We don't know how it started or where it came from, but it seems to be just ingrained in who she is.  I mean, we didn't even have cable until December, so it's not like she was sitting in front of princess shows for the first 3+ years of her life.  She just loves some princesses.



And she doesn't care who they are...Sleeping Booty, Snow White, Sofia the First, Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, Cinderella...you get the picture.  She's currently trying to decide which princess she might want to be for Halloween next year.  And which co-star her little brother or sister can be. 



We don't call her a princess.  And I can sort of get that part of the argument.  However, my name actually means princess, so I'm not sure why people aren't calling me that more often.  But I digress.  We try to stay away from calling her things such as "cute, pretty, princess", etc. 



What I don't understand is what's the big deal if she looks up to these girls?  These princesses are all young teenagers.  Often very nice and kind young ladies.  Helping animals, mean step-sisters, their not-so-nice parents.  So there's a problem with looking up to kind young women? 



Or maybe it's because they marry princes and that's just not real life, unless you're Kate Middleton.  When dating and finding my spouse, I definitely looked for someone who treated me nicely and made me feel important.  Does he treat me like a princess?  That might be pushing it, but he's pretty damn good to me. 



Maybe it's because they wear ridiculous dresses and often go from rags to riches, seemingly overnight.  What child doesn't like to dress up?  We dress up as animals all the time at our house...so what's wrong with putting on Mom's clothes or a fancy dress and pretending to be a princess?



And why is it just girls?  How many boys have boxes full of toys and not one pink item?  Not one doll to play with and pretend with?  It's a bit of a double standard, if you ask me.



We're not surrounded by princesses all the time.  This little lady loves to collect bugs in her bug box, play in the dirt, ride her bike, play on the playground, go skiing, roller skate...she does it all.  But she also gets a bit "girly" in her play and often princesses are involved. 



To me, it's very similar to boys who want to be super-heroes and who play them constantly.  Seems as though super-heroes might not be the best role models as there is often violence involved, in some way.  Yet I'm supposed to shield my daughter from the lure of the sparkles and the tiaras? 

Seems to be a bit of a double standard, in my opinion.  And if you don't have a little girl, but one day might be graced with one in your family?  Good luck keeping the princesses out of your house.  They just have a way of finding their way into your home.



Rock on, princesses. 


 

Ultrasound

Yesterday, we had our one and only ultrasound for this pregnancy!  Aside from the confirmation ultrasound we had around 7-8 weeks, just to make sure all was well in there!

We thought this would be helpful for Neva to realize what we mean when we talk about the baby in my tummy, but she was too busy coloring, tooting and running around to be bothered.  Seriously, it smelled horrendous in there!

Our experience this time was not as much fun as with Neva!  We went to the hospital in Grand Junction, as opposed to the nice little clinic we went to last time.  The tech was not amused by us at all and barely spoke to us.  She pointed out all the important parts, minus what's between the legs, but didn't have much to say.  She barely cracked a smile when Neva stunk up the room.  We only got 4 pictures to take home with us....no CD with gobs of pictures and a video, no 3D or 4D fun either.  It was awesome to see this growing little person, but not what we were anticipating! 

The heartbeat was nice and strong at 153 bpm.  We saw 4 limbs, fingers, toes, closed upper lip, heart, kidneys, blood flow through the umbilical cord....all the important things!

I can't even share the blasted images at this point, as I have to convert them from PDFs first!  Promise, it's a cute little one though!! 

In other news, I'm feeling much better these days!  I really think that exercising has been my saving grace!  I belly dance at least once a week, alternate between some prenatal yoga and other DVDs and spend some time on the elliptical machine so that I am doing something at least 5 days of the week.  And thankfully, my weight gain has plateaued a bit in the past few weeks!  I was starting to get a little worried!!!  But, I'm still blaming it on that blasted progesterone!

I feel like I could sleep approximately 24 hours/day, but usually have to get by on 8 or less.  Eric has been a trooper and usually gets up with Neva, letting me sleep for another 15 minutes each morning!  I also purchased a pregnancy pillow, which has been unbelievably comfortable!  I survived with a body pillow last go 'round, but this thing is the bee's knees!  For real!

And this baby is kicking up a storm!  No one else has been able to feel it yet, but holy moly!  Always happens in the morning and at night and several times throughout the day.  Neva and Eric have both tried to feel the kicks from the outside, but no luck yet!  I can't wait for them to feel it....there's no way to describe how it feels from the inside though!

Only 18.5 weeks until we get to meet this little person!  I cannot wait!





 

20 week update

Now that the cat's out of the bag, I thought I would start updating the world on what's happening with this wee one!

We are planning to do another homebirth with this baby, as long as all goes well and we both remain healthy enough to do so!  We are working with a different midwife this time, as Jasmine will busy with a newborn of her own when our due date rolls around!  Which is June 14, by the way!  We have met with Julieanne a few times now and feel that she is going to be a great fit with our family!  She is one smart cookie and has been delivering babies for nearly 20 years.  She has delivered nearly 1000 babies throughout her career, so she has gobs of experience!

She is very thorough with us at each appointment and spends at least an hour with us answering all of our questions and really talking about how we're feeling.  It's such a nice, personal experience.  We saw her last night and she was so nice when Neva hopped up on the table and pulled her shirt up, asking for her tummy to be measured and to listen to her baby's heartbeat.  She lets Neva help with all the activities of the appointment, including taking my blood pressure, measuring my growing belly and listening to the baby's heart beat.  It's such a nice family experience and I just have to wonder if it would be the same at an OB office.

The baby's heart beat was nice and healthy, in the 150s again last night.  Old wives tales would say that heart rate means it's a girl.  And I had a dream that I came up with the perfect name, Norma, and couldn't wait to tell Eric.  It was a pretty comical dream and he quickly shot down the name.  Neva wants it to be another girl, named Neva....or 2 puppies named Rusty, thanks to the SUPER cute yorkie puppy at daycare.  Luckily, we know it's not a puppy and there's only one baby in there!  And unfortunately, sounds like Neva may be disappointed either way! 

The first 16 weeks of this pregnancy were much more difficult than with Neva!  I have to assume that it was due to the progesterone supplements I was taking, after our miscarriage this summer.  They made me gain weight quickly and made me feel not so hot.  But the last month has been SO much better!  I've been able to exercise almost daily again, don't have the all day "morning" sickness and my gagging has decreased significantly!  That's a really fun side effect of nausea and pregnancy!

Neva is super excited to become a big sister and loves to talk about all of the things that she's going to teach this baby, such as how to nurse and how to talk.  She might be super disappointed when she learns that the baby will not be doing as much as she thinks it should be! 

We have our ultrasound on Monday, February 3.  We will not be finding out the gender...but hope to see a nice, healthy little one growing away in there!  Will share pictures after our appointment! 

 

Neva's 3rd Birthday

In other news....our little girl turned 3!  She is no longer a baby and definitely looks more and more like a little girl everyday!

We had a purple party in the park, where we celebrated with good friends and family!  Neva had a blast!!!  So much fun, in fact, that she didn't even eat the purple cupcakes that she requested for her party!  

And her actual birthday, she got to start preschool!  She absolutely loves it!!!  It feels so weird to me because she is at the elementary school, so it seems as though she's a much bigger kid.  And that full size back-pack they have to have?  Slays me.  Every single time she wears it.