Movement

I've been suspicious that I've been feeling movement for the last couple of weeks, but not entirely certain. I was less certain after the scan with Emily, because she told me that my placenta is anteriorly positioned (like it was with Jillian), and is mostly on the left side of my abdomen. All the suspicious movement I thought I felt had been on the left side. Last night, as we flew home from FL (specifically the Detroit to MSP leg), I felt definite kicking going on. This time, it was on the lower right side, where I know my placenta is not. The feeling was no less marvelous the second time around. Truly, a miraculous event. Bring it, baby!

Sneaking a Peek

As you might recall, we are impatient when it comes to learning the sex of our children. Luckily, we have access to those who can help us cheat! Our friend, Emily, agreed to scan us again (we looked at Jillian several times with her) and we were excited to get another peek at number2. I was especially excited because I am amidst a 6-week stretch between appts, and that is just too long for a pregnant woman to know if her babe is doing OK in there. I loaded Jillian up after her nap today, and we headed downtown to "daddy's work" to meet Daddy and Emily. I was armed with every possible sugary and interesting snack to keep her occupied in the stroller as scanned.  As was the case with Jillian, this baby was ever so uncooperative when it came to showing us "the goods". Matt and Emily did NOT see a penis, and therefore have a strong feeling this is another girl, but cannot be sure. The baby wasn't in the best position, and conveniently liked to wave his/her hand down between its legs to taunt us. I am not going to get attached to the idea of another girl until I know for sure. What I do know is that all major anatomical structures look as they should at this point, and for that, we are grateful. Here are a few pics of the baby at around 16 weeks.

View from the side, looking at most of the body

Straight on shot of the face. Looking appropriately like an alien.

 My favorite.....you can count 5 beautiful fingers

 Sweet little profile

Hungry

Watch out, world, this momma is hungry again! I feel like I am in recovery mode, and I just need to eat everything I can get my hands on. I have a sudden need for Pizza Hut pan cheese pizza, and chips and onion dip. Evening dessert time is back in full swing, and I'm eating quite a bit of ice cream these days. Asian food sounds good again,and I devoured some chicken and rice noodles with peanut sauce that I made earlier this week, along with about a gazillion eggrolls I decided need to accompany the dish. Coffee tastes delightful again, and I find myself at Starbucks most days to get a grande decaf nonfat latte (it pains me to order it unleaded because I am so darn tired, but I figure I get enough caffeine from the chocolate desserts I consume). Breakfast is about the only meal of the day where I don't pig out, and really, that is just plain backwards. Green vegetables in the form of crisp salads are beginning to make their way back into this house. I've been preparing green vegetables as usual, but couldn't seem to touch them once on my plate. That is not setting a very good example for my green food resistant two year old, now is it? Matt is thankful that the "creamy noodle pasta dish" days seem to be over (was the same in the first trimester with Jillian), and that our dinner menu looks much more varied now. It feels good to enjoy eating again. I'm not so sure it will feel good to step on the scale at my next OB appt...

Merry Christmas

I'd like to thank this fetus for giving me the best Christmas gift of all....the first day in nearly two months where I did not dry heave or vomit. That is all.

Wild Child, Part Deux!

I had my second OB appt today, and thankfully, Matt was able to make this one. Here is how it went....

BP: 104/60
Weight gain: 3.5 lbs
Dr. J. asked us if we wanted to see the baby, and of course our answer was yes. This was the first time Matt had seen the baby "live", so I know he was hoping we'd get another ultrasound. What we saw on that screen was enough to almost move me to tears. We witnessed the wildest, craziest fetus jumping around and moving non-stop. Matt likened it to a caged animal trying to claw its way out. Jillian was very busy in utero, and this of course translated into a very busy child. This kid made Jillian look like a slug! Matt was laughing hysterically, and I was almost crying in fear. Even the dr. commented on how wiggly the kid was. Oh dear. I'm not sure I can handle a second wild child, especially one wilder than Jillian! This must mean that this kid is a boy. The only possible thing busier than my busy girl would be a busy boy. How's that for logic?

I asked Dr. J. about my due date again, because I just can't seem to accept July 1st (June 25th just sounds sooo much sooner to me!). He re-measured on ultrasound, and the baby was right in between the two dates. He and Matt sort of giggled at me and told me just to pick whichever due date I want to follow. We knew my dates were right with Jillian because of the Clomid, so it drives this exact person crazy to have this ambiguity floating around. Oh well, I know it won't matter in the end. Back to the matter at hand...here is our wild child #2 at 12ish weeks, waving hello to the world!

Cravings

Here I am in about my tenth week and I feel terrible.  This is to be expected, and is somewhat comforting to me, but still it is hard. Jillian has decided that she'd like to rise early each day (5:30 or 6), and this is a big change from her usual 7:30 or so. Thankfully, I have successfully lured her into my bed with the promise of watching Elmo clips on my iPhone, or videos of herself on YouTube (also from my phone). The nausea lasts pretty much all day, but mornings are the worst. I am now at the point where I have to keep crackers, cereal bars, etc in  my nightstand so that I can choke something down early in the morning before rising. Jillian is very concerned about my dry heaving and vomiting, and as I am doing so chants phrases like, "Mommy is sick, eat cereal", or "Mommy frow up in da toilet", "Mommy frow up in da sink". Her level of concern is sweet, but it is not enough to get her to decide to give her old mom a break for a bit.
As for food, I have had a few cravings, or a few things that are easier than others to eat. I am surprised that I do not seem to want my beloved Pop Tarts this time around, and don't seem to need my Perrier. Water is about all I want to drink. Recently, I got a strong urge for apple pie, so I whipped one up and devoured it in about 3 days (of course with plenty of ice cream, too). I also seem to have developed a liking for McDonald's Chicken Selects. We stopped at McDonald's Thanksgiving day on our way to Grandma Helen's. It was the only place open and I was not at all thinking that fast food sounded good. I decided to try those on a whim, thinking I'd pick at them, and to my surprise I devoured the whole box. Think I've eaten them two more times since! What can I say? When you are pregnant and something sounds good, you HAVE to have it.
On a daily basis, I get by with lots of cereal. As when I was pregnant with Jillian, I am hungry for cereal I normally don't buy...Life, Golden Grahams, Frosted Mini Wheats. I also find that a handful of raw almonds goes down easy and provides me with a bit of protein staying power. In the afternoon, I get an urge for sharp cheddar cheese with Triscuits when I start feeling puny. My beloved late night snack of something covered in Nutella is not tasting good at all. I usually have to satisfy my sweet tooth with another bowl of cereal. I am praying that I start to feel better around 12 weeks as I did with Jillian, but I have had many people tell me they feel worse and for longer periods of time with subsequent pregnancies...let's hope that's not the case! Have I mentioned I have a 2 year old???

Seeing is Believing

After about 3 weeks of wondering if anything was really going on in there, we have confirmation that those two little lines were not lying. I started getting familiar, reassuring signs about a week ago. Enter nausea. Much different this time in that I cannot just rest on a whim, or come home from work and take a nap. Funny how a 2 year old doesn't seem to care when you tell her that you don't feel good :). On Friday, I dropped Jillian off at a friend's house and headed down for blood work and the required nurse appt. The nurse asked me how I was feeling, and I told her about the nausea. I also told her that I had been experiencing some left sided abdominal pain from time to time. She decided I should have a viability scan right away to make sure we weren't dealing with an ectopic pregnancy. I had no time to page Matt, so he wasn't there when I got the first glimpse of the life inside me. A tiny, flickering heart and yolk sac, implanted appropriately in the uterus.

They took some measurements and discovered that the baby measured 6 days behind my estimated due date that was based on my period. The sonographer told me that if it's more than 5 days, they change the due date. So, just like that, he erased June 25th and entered July 1st. How bold of him. I didn't appreciate that at all. Any woman who has ever been pregnant will understand that having someone rewind your pregnancy clock by nearly an entire week is not music to your ears! So, suddenly, I had a 7 week old embryo instead of an 8 week one. Matt finds it hilarious that this even matters to me. All frustrations aside, that beating heart was a beautiful sight.

Today, I returned to the OB office for my first visit with the OB. When I scheduled my appt, I learned that my previous OB was switching to straight GYN, and would not be able to see me. I had a few choices, but in the end, chose the OB who had the soonest opening. Dr. J has been practicing a long time at Mayo, and I happen to know that he takes care of a lot of the radiology residents/spouses. Additionally, Matt and his son were in the same residency class. I always said I'd never want a male OB, but now that I've had a baby I don't really care. I know that in the end there are many people involved in one's care, so just didn't seem like a big deal to me. After meeting with Dr. J, I feel very thankful to have him overseeing my care. He is smart, laid back, and very thorough. A non-alarmist OB is just what this girl needs. We chatted for a bit about my previous pregnancy, reviewed blood work (all fine), and talked a bit about Factor V Leiden management. He is in agreement with the past plan that I stick with a baby aspirin and can choose to take post partum heparin injections as before. We also discussed my broken tailbone, and whether or not that could occur again. Over 2 years later, I still have a bit of trouble with it at times. He could not feel an upturned tailbone during my exam, but said it would certainly get bumped and would probably be painful again (though nothing like it was the first time). He threw out the option of an elective C-section this time, but I am not at this point inclined to choose that. I'm sure we'll revisit that later in the game. Dr. J. offered to do another ultrasound to peek at the babe and I of course obliged. The big bummer of the appt was that Matt didn't get my page when he was about to do the ultrasound so that he could walk upstairs to join me--technology failed and we didn't connect until after the appt. Dr J, said not to worry, he'd gladly do another at my next appt. Baby looks good! (Good at 8ish weeks means looks like a swamp creature with a beating heart)