18 Weeks- My Sweet Little Sweet Potato

    

      18 Weeks is already here. It's been an interesting ride so far, and definitely not what I expected compared to my last pregnancy. Just about everything is different. Little girl is growing fast, super duper fast. She is roughly the length of a sweet potato now, from sweet little head to cute little rump. She has sleep and wake patterns, she is usually up in the morning and in the evening time. A soft downy covering of lanugo is starting to form and will cover her whole body. Something super crazy to think about is her ovaries now contain formed eggs...that will someday (hopefully) be my grandchildren. Her nervous system is maturing rapidly now. Nerves are covered with myelin, and her sense of hearing is even more acute now.

     She is moving so much more now. I feel her at least once a day and I love every second of it. Her kicks are still small but are unmistakably kicks. I've been able to feel a couple of good kicks from the outside, and Kenny thinks he felt some of them. You need psychic ability to know where and when she will kick though, so it's hard to catch. Each day I enjoy and love her little movements. She particularly loves sweets. Chocolate really gets her moving, and I have no problems with this. This is by far by favorite part of pregnancy. Until you feel the baby move it hardly seems real to know there is a little person in your body. The first few months you might as well just have the flu, you'd feel about the same. Once you start getting the belly and feeling those kicks though...it brings it all into focus. It all becomes extremely real. Speaking of the belly, it's growing at what seems to be light speed. All of a sudden I will look in the mirror and go "holy cow...I look pregnant" Even though I still feel terrible on a pretty regular basis I am still so happy to be building another little one for us to love and enjoy.

     I've been battling what seems like cold after cold after cold. My sinuses are constantly stuffed up and my chest aches from all of my coughing. The crummy part being I cannot take any of the good medicines to help relieve some of the symptoms. I've still been enduring some pretty annoying and painful contractions, and I get to see the OB doctor on Friday so hopefully she will be able to answer my questions. I thought I was going to be totally pro at this pregnancy thing but it's turning out to be just the opposite. They aren't kidding when they say each pregnancy is different. It's a whole new ride, a wonderfully, awesome ride.

     Next week Roxas turns ONE YEAR OLD! I cannot believe a year has already flown by. I have no idea where that year went. Sometimes the reality really hits me. Our son is about to turn one, we are prepping to welcome our daughter into the world and I'm halfway through the second semester of nursing school. It's taking a mountain of faith to take on this coming year. I'm super excited but very scared too. The future is full of even more new experiences for us to have as a family of four.

Until next week.....

17 Weeks- One foot in front of the other

     We've made it to 17 weeks. Sometimes it seems like we have so much longer to go but really it's not a ton of time. We are almost halfway done, and half the time I forget that I'm pregnant. It's easy to do when you're chasing after an almost 1 year old and trying to make it in the torture program known as nursing school. I am amazed at how fast things are going and how quickly the weeks are ticking by.
     Lucy is now about 9 inches long and weighs about 8 ounces. She is growing fast! Vernix is starting to form which will protect her skin from the amniotic fluid. She is putting on the baby fat now, and will continue to gain fat for the next 5 months. She is working on sucking and swallowing reflexes now. A lot of what is going on now is growing. Much of her systems are all developed and in order but they are just maturing.
     Speaking of growing. This belly is growing by the second. Even though I've been here before I was still pretty shocked at how the bump just appears overnight! I can feel the fundus (top of the uterus) right about my belly button now. Although she prefers to hang out pretty low still. I feel her little pops and kicks every now and then. She hasn't been moving much for the past few days, I'm not concerned really but I did rather enjoy the feeling and can't wait for it to increase.
     I'm still having contractions all the time but I'm starting to just get used to it and ignore it as best as I can. I don't even bother counting them anymore. I've had a day or two of spotting but it never lasts long. I think it's just a weird quirk for me this time. I'm kind of the type of girl who goes with the whole "I'm just pregnant, not dying" mantra, it's not a disability. I don't like to whine and make a big deal of it, forcing others to cater to me. It just isn't my personality. I'm addressing this whole thing with much of the same attitude. Until the doctor tells me otherwise I'm just going to keep on keepin' on. I have trust that my body knows what it's doing and will compensate accordingly.
    
     Every now and then I have moments when it hits me that we are going to have two kids. I'm going to be the mother of two. It's a very hard thing to wrap my head around sometimes. I still have a lot of fears about the future and what it holds. A lot of it is just the unknown. I'm not as worried in respects of having and caring for another baby in the basic sense. I know the ropes of labor, delivery; feeding, changing, swaddling, and loving a newborn. What I'm afraid of is the logistics (Am I ever going to leave the house!?) How I'm going to divide my attention when one is crying and the other wants me too, how will I handle going back to school when Lucy is only a month old!? It's the balancing act and the only way I'm ever going to find out how to juggle everything is to just jump in and try. I don't know what the future holds for us but I have a lot of faith it will work out. Faith is about all I have at this point.

Just for kicks and giggles, the top picture is 17 weeks with Roxas and today's 17 week picture is on the bottom.     Until next week