Bigger than her brother

I am currently swamped with work (what's new) and really have NO TIME TO WRITE THIS entry, at all, but I am doing it anyway. I want to keep you all in the loop.

I had my 37th week prenatal visit this afternoon, at which we took one last look at Summer Baby through the ultrasound, to do a final check of her size, the amniotic fluid, and the umbilical chord. Everything looks good, but the real news of the day is that the estimated current weight of our second-born child is... wait for it... wait for it...

8 pounds and 15 ounces

right now, at this very moment, at 37 weeks - 3 weeks before her due date. That is a mere 3 ounces less than what Caleb was at birth, at almost 40 weeks. Babies grow half a pound each week in the last month of their uterine captivity. Which means we could theoretically have a 10 pound baby in 2 weeks at our scheduled C-section... if I don't go into labor before then.

I've been feeling a lot more Braxton-Hicks contractions in the last week with this baby then I ever felt with Caleb, so I am hoping she waits at least until next week when my family arrives...

When the OB came in, all she said was "Well, it looks like she made the final decision for you at 8 pounds and 15 ounces already." And then, she looked at the printed out sonogram pictures and said: "Oh, my gosh, LOOK AT THAT HEAD! That's the biggest head..." She didn't finish the sentence, and I was wondering if she meant to say "...that I've ever seen!" At any rate, Summer Baby's head is still measuring 4 weeks larger than her age.

We also found out that she is breech and due to her size, no longer expected to turn into the proper position - there's just no room for her to do that. So, there's another reason we would have to go with a C-section, being that her head is THE HUGEST PART OF HER - it really cannot come out last. That wouldn't be safe, at all.

So, the countdown has begun... I tell you, knowing that she is almost 9 pounds already (give or take half a pound) doesn't make me feel real confident that she will stay in for another 2 weeks, but I'm hoping. I have just this week begun to feel kind of uncomfortable in my skin and now I know why. This baby is stretching me to the limit. She is almost certain to surpass the birth size of her brother.

And isn't that what every little girl dreams to be known for?

30 weeks down, 10 more to go

We are at 30 weeks, three-quarters of the way there. As Caleb would say: "Wow!" Which is his exact response every time he feels or sees the baby kick inside my belly. He's even gotten a couple of nudges to his face while snuggling with the baby. To keep it real, earlier today as my stomach made a loud, deep growling sound, I playfully said to him: "Hear the baby?" and with an astonished look on his face, he totally ran off to tell his father about how the baby can growl now.

I had a midwife visit this week, during which she admired my beautiful belly skin for not having a single stretch-mark. I've been lucky with that through both of my pregnancies and it must be genetics, because it's not like I'm doing anything special to prevent them. I do own a little bottle of Mama Belly Oil from BabyBearShop, but I use it only occasionally for its lovely scent of lavender, chamomile, and red mandarin whenever I want to be pampered. (With my usual 5-minute showers, this isn't often.) I try to be careful with what I put on my body, especially my belly, during pregnancy, as everything gets absorbed through the skin. I love their products at BabyBearShop, because they are 99% organic, 100% natural ingredients without any artificial colors, fragrances, or preservatives. I think it's just as important to be mindful of pollutants entering my body through the skin as watching what I eat, so I can provide an optimal growing environment for the tiny little life I'm incubating.

Which little life isn't so tiny anymore at approximately 3 pounds. She is definitely powerful enough and has a way of jolting me without warning, so as to make me grab my stomach involuntarily. The most accurate way to describe her sudden, sharp kicks is it feels like an alien is loose in my belly. An incredibly erratic alien.

So, we have 10 weeks to go and although I've been "nesting" for much of this pregnancy, due to my busy work schedule, it's been nesting only in my head, where an ambitious list resides of what I need to accomplish around the house before the baby gets here. (Not because I am doing anything for the baby, specifically, but because I know that any projects I have been planning to do around the house will realistically sit and wait at least a year, if not two after baby.) But with only 10 weeks to go I've begun writing a detailed list of things that must get done in the upcoming weeks. (Whether or not I'll get to them, is another thing. It is a very ambitious list.) Thankfully, I will have my family here a few weeks before the birth, and though I'd love to have everything done by the time they get here, I know that I can count on them to help me scramble at the last minute, if need be, to finish some of the things on my list.

Caleb came to me while I was writing this post and asked to see the baby, then let out the deepest dinosaur growl I've ever heard from him, proudly showing me his knowledge of what the baby sounds like.

Hmm, I think I've just inadvertently created his first misconception about his baby sister.

28 weeks

Yesterday was my 28th week appointment, during which they do a finger prick to test the blood for iron and glucose levels, both of which came back fine. Wohoo, I'm neither anemic nor diabetic! I knew that, of course, but now my practitioner can rest easy in that knowledge, as well.

Life has continued to be very busy lately, but I managed to get a couple of pictures of me in my pregnant state (this time, with my head intact). I cannot believe that I'm already in the third trimester! That means, appointments every 2 weeks, rather than every 4. That's a lot of appointments. With work being so crazy and Caleb at home...it has become much more difficult to take time out for these than the first time around. I'm glad that my babysitter is currently not out of the country! There's not much else to report on the pregnancy front, except that I am getting more and more excited as the end of this pregnancy nears and it becomes more and more real that we will have another newborn in the house soon. I feel very blessed that God has allowed me to become a mother of two and as a family, we are all looking forward to our little arrival. See?

25 weeks

I had my 25 week appointment with the midwife on Monday and it was a rather unremarkable visit, which lasted all of 20 minutes. The only part of the visit that was vaguely interesting, though not at all out of the ordinary, was the trouble I had with depositing the requisite urine sample. By the looks they give me every time I respond to the question of "can you give a sample?" with an "I'm still working on it" as I grin and clutch my water bottle, you'd think I'm the only pregnant woman who has trouble peeing on command. I guess we're not supposed to have difficulty in this area, right? Right.

So there I am, 20 minutes after finishing my bottle, attempting to deposit a sample... THINKING ABOUT WATER... mountain streams, waterfalls, the ocean! And finally, success. Except I almost missed actually collecting the specimen. Oh, the hardships put upon us by modern prenatal care! :)

In other pregnancy-related news, my blood pressure is back up from the almost dead (108/58) to a more normal 127/78. I think, having recently resumed my 1-cup/morning coffee habit may have something to do with that. Baby's heartbeat, as expected, was also a little higher, in the 160s. She continues to measure a little bigger than her age.

Other than that, there's not much else to report. I am feeling very well, I'm one of those people who doesn't get any pregnancy symptoms really, and even the lower abdominal stretching pains I had early in the pregnancy have now disappeared. I am looking decidedly pregnant; surprisingly I've gotten to this stage much faster this time than the first time around. So it looks like I will have to buckle and buy some maternity clothes for the last few months. (Last time, I existed in black pants and a few choice maternity tops in the last trimester, which was winter, but I don't think I can get away with that through the humid heat of May, June, and July.)

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my blossoming belly as of yet and this pregnancy is nearing the third trimester!! We need to remedy that quickly, otherwise, Summer Baby may feel cheated out of being documented in her preborn days. (Though, I must point out, she has had more ultrasound pictures taken and posted than Caleb ever did. Which are actual pictures of her, instead of me.)

With both of us working so much, this is the best I have so far, but I'll get Ron to take more pictures in the coming weeks.

Summer Baby, safely tucked away in my 25-week tummy

- as currently seen from the outside world.

Will you please uncross your legs?

Yesterday, we went in for our 20 week ultrasound, where we discovered several things. First of all, we discovered that we are expecting a BABY GIRL! This discovery did not come without some silent begging on my part and some serious cajoling from the technician for her to please uncross her legs and show herself. It took her about 25 minutes to finally do this, and by then we were dangerously nearing the end of the visit, but once she did, things were pretty clear. At least, they were immediately clear to the technician (she's seen thousands of these, no doubt) and Ron (who's been shown several of these sonogram pictures by his expectant employees in the past months).

So we've gathered that she is shy and also very active, and loves to run away from the technician's tool. She now weighs 14 ounces (measuring 1 week larger than her gestational age...eek) and has a heartbeat of 140 bpm. All her organs looked healthy upon measurement.

We are very excited to be having a little girl after our beautiful big boy. I think it will be good for Caleb to have a little sister; it will soften the sibling relationship a little, maybe a little less sibling rivalry, but who knows. I am not fully aware of the sibling dynamics between a brother and sister, having only had sisters. I am definitely looking forward to seeing them interact with each other.

We're past the halfway point of this pregnancy (Week 21 finishes in a couple of days); it seems really unbelievable. A few short months and our daughter will be here. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about coming up with a name, as we've had it picked out a very long time ago. (Had it been a boy, today we would be agonizing over names.) Now I just need to supplement her wardrobe (Caleb's hand-me-downs) with a few girly clothes (but not much pink), so she is not constantly mistaken for a boy. However, this task ahead of me is clearly the easier of the two.

Four months, already!?

This past week, I hit the 16th week of this pregnancy. I can't believe it's been four months already. The time has flown by, much more so than when I was pregnant with Caleb, most likely due to my more abundant work commitments and, well, Caleb... who has been a sweety lately, but probably is bored out of his mind, for the past month has been spent with nothing but work. Work and videos. His favorites are: Cars, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (he calls this one "Toaster, Baby" because there is a baby in it, and a toaster of course, the hero of the story), and Elmo's World. He can watch these over and over, requesting one after the other, and I've been having to allow him to watch more of these than I would like, because my work schedule has been so brutal. He sings along to the songs (and I also catch myself singing the songs through the day, and sometimes in the night).

We have not been anywhere this month and it is starting to bother me, because we're usually out doing things all the time. I tell myself, the child surely needs some activities, even if his Mommy doesn't. Of course, it's also been January, yucky January, so there are really not that many places we could go. The other day Caleb and I were looking through some pictures from the summer, of the lake and of the park, and remembering all the fun things we used to do, I found us both wistfully whispering words like "lake" and "swimming" and "park," while Caleb also inquired: "Go?" Yes, we will go, I promise, very soon. We WILL have a life again. Just let me get through one more deadline, first.

We actually had a playdate set up for tomorrow, to a children's museum with a friend and her daughter just to get the kids out, but my friend cancelled due to illness. We rescheduled for next week, so hopefully we'll go then.

Sixteen weeks passed by much faster this time than last, which makes me wonder about the baby years of this next child. For it seems Caleb was just born yesterday and here we are two years later. Will time accelerate with the next one even more? Will having to divide my time between the two of them, and then my work, make the days go by lightning fast? I hope not. They're going by fast enough already.

I have been feeling this baby move for quite a few weeks. I'm one of those "early feelers" - I felt Caleb for the first time around 13 weeks and felt this one around 10. Crazy, I know. They're just little butterfly flutters at this point, but distinct. I think I feel them so early, because I sit quietly at my desk for hours when I work and I'm also consciously "listening" to the baby. I don't feel anything when I'm running around or standing up. The last couple of weeks the movements have become more frequent. I love this time.

I started showing much earlier with this pregnancy. With Caleb, I was well into my fifth month before I showed. They say you show earlier with subsequent children and that's been true. I started showing at about two months, though not necessarily noticeable to others.

I haven't had as much time to reflect during this pregnancy and of course I had already done my research on pregnancy, childbirth, health choices, baby care, nutrition, etc. last time, so there's not that much on my "to do" list. I also have tons of clothes and baby equipment, so I'm not out there shopping. In fact, I haven't bought a single thing, not even maternity clothes. My "to do" list during this pregnancy can be pretty much summed up in one word: PRAY. And isn't that the most important part of any preparation, anyway?

The past few days we've had an ice storm and we had the chance to see one of the most beautiful sights of winter, iced-over trees. I always find this sight so magical, tree branches glazed over with icicles, bending under the weight, like an icy winter wonderland. I ran out one day to capture some of this beauty. Here are a few photos. (Click for larger viewing.)

On second thought, January isn't so yucky, after all.

13 weeks

As you can see, our gummy bear baby has now turned into an ALIEN BABY. At my 13 week visit, the midwife sent me in for a quick scan, because she couldn't pick up the heartbeat with the Doppler (apparently the placenta is totally in the way, being on top of the uterus). Imagine my surprise, when a little alien face showed up on the screen, looking straight at me...

Summer Baby is doing well, heartbeat is now 146 bpm. Since I was already in there, I asked the technician: "You can't tell the sex yet, can you?" She couldn't. A few more weeks of mystery, everybody, hang in there.

Another surprise was just how low my blood pressure was (and has been through this pregnancy)... I can't recall the exact numbers, probably because I was in extreme shock after hearing them, something like 108/58 mmHg. The diastolic was definitely in the 50s. In other words, barely alive. (This is my conjecture, not the nurse's. The nurse liked my extremely low, barely alive blood pressure.)

My blood pressure during my first pregnancy was normal, but significantly higher. Then again, just being in a doctor's office could make my blood pressure go up. I used to do relaxation (breathing) exercises while sitting there having my blood pressure taken. I still do them, absentmindedly. Maybe I should stop doing those now. It looks like I've gotten extremely good at them.

Or maybe I'm just having a VERY RELAXED second pregnancy.

Two Months

Here's the first photo of our Summer Baby.

We heard the heartbeat, a strong 169 bpm. (I was looking at Caleb's old ultrasound pics and his was even faster at this point: 178 bpm!) Everything looks fine, and it was confirmed that there is only 1 baby. You can see the head, and the little arm and leg stumps. The tail is almost gone.

I've been through this once before, yet it still amazes me that a human life, barely in existence for 6 weeks, looking like a little tadpole the size of a gummy bear, can already have a heartbeat. When a mother first hears that heartbeat, it is the most amazing confirmation that, indeed, new life has begun.

My calculations were right: our due date is July 12th.