Dear Babes,
You have grown to be the size of an orange. So crazy to think that when we first saw you 8 weeks ago you were the size of our finger nail and now you’re the size of our fist! There have been a couple of times where I’ve questioned your movement, but nothing definitive yet.
Yesterday morning I had another check-up, this time with a nurse practitioner. You are still sitting super low, but have a strong heartbeat ranging between 154 and 157, which is exactly in the middle of the range they like to see. So no indications of whether you are a boy or a girl. I didn’t record Lexi’s heartbeat around this time, but William’s was 145 so not to far off.
Everything else at the appointment went well. Still no weight gain, which I’m thrilled about, but know it will eventually come. We also have your ultrasound scheduled for February 24th, which makes me 20 weeks and puts me back on the ‘traditional’ timing for weekly appointments.
I still haven’t made a decision if we want to find out your gender, so in a way, I’m making the decision to not find out. This week, I’ve caught myself referring to you as ‘she’ or her, but that maybe out of Lexi’s confidence in you being a girl. She talks and asks about you frequently. She talks about how she is going to help give you a bottle and hold you. Yesterday morning she was pretending that I was the baby and was showing me how she was going to burp you. William has no clue what is going on and just wants to tackle me.
Still not feeling the greatest. I’ve ruled out that I’m not nauseous anymore, but just have a really strong gag re-flux which is causing me to be sick. I’ve also determined that most of the gagging is induced by smells, and they are very unpredictable. The smell of the parking ramp (the salt) is pure torture, I went to freeze some BBQ chicken that has been in the fridge and opening the container set me off, I also fried some sausage for dinner one night and when I came back into the house after Lexi’s swim lessons I was pretty horrified. I’m hoping this will go away soon, but the Dr. warned me, it maybe something that follows me throughout pregnancy.
I’ve still had several headaches in the evening time frame that are no picnic and send me to bed as soon as the kids snoozin. Also, food doesn’t seem to help me feel better in the ways it had 4 weeks ago. When I don’t feel well, I keep trying to eat something, but nothing really seems to help me feel better. However, over the weekend, I was really craving some spinach artichoke dip and had Daddy pick some up for me and also ordered some maple bacon jalapeno wantons on a whim and pretty much melted in delight as they were so nummy!
I’ve pretty much put all of my regular pants away and am wearing maternity pants exclusively, although they are big. I can fit into the other pants, these are just so much more comfortable, it doesn’t seem worth it to wear the non-preggo pants. Overall, bump seems smaller this time around than with William. There is something there, but looks squishy and fat verses round and hard like a true pregnant belly. Definitely looking forward to ‘looking preggo’ verses just fat.
Love,
Mama
Peanut Smiles 