Sorry this is so late…it’s been a long day! More to come below on what’s up!
Baby Growth: Blitzen has gained about 4 ounces this week (which is ironic to me…you’ll see why when you read my weight gain for the week) and is weighing a little over a pound now. He or she is about a foot long (length of an ear of corn) and is a skinny little thing!
Belly Picture: I feel HUGE but boy these pictures don’t look it! I guess I need to start looking at pictures of myself more often because maybe I would stop feeling so fat and disgusting – for 6 months pregnant I still look pretty dang good don’tcha think? These pictures also serve as my FIRST maternity clothes wearing! I literally put on the shorts (thanks Kelly!) just to go ahead and wear something maternity…I figured why not and make the 6 month mark the day I bust ’em out? More on that to come!
I’m wearing my jet faceted necklace, soiree pave bracelet, and my belly stickers!
Symptoms: It’s been a tough week. I feel like I feel that way often! I’m trying hard to stay positive but I’m just not a very good pregnant person. I knew that the first time around, as did Zach 😉 I just get really negative feeling very easily – not about the baby or the pregnancy, but about everything else. Zach was gone for a lot of the week and Kye really struggled. I see why so many moms let their kids get away with more when Daddy’s away – it’s TOUGH to stay firm when he just misses his daddy! Today I actually had him skip lunch and go straight to bed after school (and after two spankings…). Luckily Zach is home now and we have no plans for tomorrow so they are going to have some quality bonding time. It just makes me nervous for how I’ll handle being more pregnant when Zach is gone a lot later this year!
This morning on my way to take Kye to school I bent over to pick up something off the floor and felt a sharp pain to the left of my belly button. I didn’t think much of it but it never stopped hurting. It feels dull but constant and the spot is tender if I touch it. I also noticed later that morning that I felt very out of breath and like I couldn’t get enough air. It’s been hard to talk or do too much. At 3:30 I decided I should probably call up to the dr. I googled my symptoms and both “labored breathing” and “abnormal pain” are listed as reasons to call your dr so I did. Thankfully I caught them right before closing time and they sounded more concerned than I was! Which only caused me to worry!!! The nurse ended up calling me a total of five times…she said the dr said that all I need to do is rest. Put my feet up over the weekend and rest. Kinda hard to do with a two year old! Glad Zach is back in town! She also said that if it gets worse or doesn’t go away to call in and I’ll reach the dr on call over the weekend. I told Zach I’m gonna look at it like a mini-bed rest break because I don’t want it to lead to REAL bed rest! We have too many awesome trips coming on that I do not want to risk missing.
It’s starting to be painful to just sit. Does that make sense? Like it puts pressure on my stomach sitting down and especially when I lean forward or bend over. Which you do often with a toddler! I can tell Blitzen is sitting up higher now b/c I can feel him or her and it’ll hurt sometimes. I assume that’s normal?
I think my boobs have gotten bigger this week as my 34C bra is uncomfortable. I’m going to try to hunt down a 36C and see if that helps, at this point last time I was in a much bigger size so I’m probably due for another size up! I pretty much only wear a real bra when I have to leave the house then I immediately put back on a sports bra.
Even with the pain and breathing issues today, I feel pretty good energy-wise overall. VERY motivated to get things accomplished! I went through all Kye’s toys and picked out all the ones that need new batteries, I completely reorganized our pantries, I’m just getting little things here and there handled for this baby. I made a promise to myself that when Kye started school the time would be spent WISELY. Not hanging out, not browsing the internet, not watching tv – getting things done. And I’m doing that! It feels SO good to mark things off my list and to feel less stressed about Blitzen’s arrival. I guess Blitzen is telling me that I dooo need to slow it down a bit though huh?
My skin is clearing up, my nails are for sure thicker and prettier, as is my hair. I LOVE how pretty it is during pregnancy! My belly button is not an innie or an outie and I don’t feel like I’ve gained much weight anywhere but my stomach and lower back. I have the whole back/butt combo thing going on right now for sure! My appetite has really picked up and I feel hungry pretty often! And along with my pregnancy mask on my face I’ve also noticed my belly button is WAY darker in color. So strange.
I went walking for only the 2nd time this entire SUMMER yesterday with a new friend, Kori, and I really loved it. The weather in the mornings is so much nicer and cooler and I need to get out there more often. I especially enjoyed going with her because she just had her second baby and nurses. Talking to her about my worries and concerns and seeing how beautifully she handles both Aubrey and Mary Allen made me feel SO much more confident about my own abilities. I CAN do this!!!!
I booked our prenatal classes! We are doing the breastfeeding one again for sure as it was helpful before and I could use the refresher. We decided not to do the prepared childbirth series, the post-partum class, or the tender loving care one. I took all of them last time around and blogged about each so I can just refer to those posts (and you can do by clicking on the links). We are taking the Mom’s Having a Baby class which is one where Kye gets to go with us and tour the hospital. Zach will be out of town when we go so Mom is going to go instead. I think it’ll help prepare him and be some cute pictures 🙂 I also signed us up for the Infant CPR class and am paying extra to have Mom and Mrs. Charlotte come with us. After what I experienced with Titus and knowing of painful, horribly scary situations others have faced with babies I want them to both know the skills needed to potentially save our child’s life if needed. I also found out I do not have to take the epidural class again! I took it last time and signed the form saying I took the course and could have an epidural if needed because I hadn’t even heard of the Bradley Method at that point and assumed I’d be using drugs during delivery. I called their office and told them I know I 100% do NOT want an epidural unless it’s c-section situation and she said that in those circumstances you don’t need the form to get the epidural and that me not signing the form will make it so the nurses/dr/staff can’t push me to have the epidural during delivery. One less thing to battle about, sounds good to me!!!
I’ve been trying to do Bradley stuff everyday – it’s tough though when your coach isn’t home and some of the exercises require us both. We’ve added some arm stuff to the routine which is good and I’m hoping will help my strength for delivery. I feel SO good after I do the exercises and I need to remind myself of that so I’ll do them more regularly!
I’ve only had one headache this week which is good, especially for how busy I’ve been! I have noticed that I’m much more forgetful. I’ll take Kye potty then forget that he went and have to ask him. Same thing with praying. Things that are habit/routine I forget whether or not I’ve done it. Taking vitamins, giving Levi his Prozac, etc. Pretty annoying and I’m glad I have an honest child b/c he is helpful when I have to ask him if we’ve already done something 😉
Weight: I didn’t gain any! I actually lost 4 oz which is ironic considering that’s how much Blitzen gained. I wonder if something is wrong with my scale…I actually had Zach check it b/c I feel HUGE and don’t get how I didn’t gain any weight!?! I know a few people have asked me if it’s safe for the baby to not have gained much at this point in pregnancy. Just because the average pregnant woman has gained 12-15 lb at this point doesn’t mean that it’s how much you should gain. Overall Stacy said she’d like me to gain around 25 lb total. I’m at 4 lb right now with 16 weeks left to go in this pregnancy. You gain majority of your weight in the last trimester so I’m sure I won’t have an issue gaining that much! My personal goal is to only gain 20. I started off the pregnancy 4 lb over my goal weight so that would make me 24 lb overall which I think is good! I’m honestly not dieting AT ALL. I’m just drinking lots and lots of water and eating like I normally would or when I’m truly hungry – no binge eating b/c I’m “eating for two” haha
Gender: I’m still on a boy kick..so much so that I made little onesies this week with ties on them! I guess if it’s a girl she could rock them too but I picture them on a boy. I figured why not make them since I had lots of material and that way Kye can coordinate with his brother? And if it’s a girl I can pack ’em away for the next kid! To be honest though, Zach and I both still have a gut feeling that Blitzen is a girl 🙂
Maternity Clothes: I decided to throw on a pair of Kelly’s shorts this morning to take Kye to school because I knew I was having a picture taken and wanted to kill two birds with one stone of my weekly picture and my first maternity clothes picture. Lame right? I didn’t wear a maternity shirt – only the shorts but ommmmgggggg they are comfy!!!! I’m pretty sure all my shirts will still be too big since my regular shirts aren’t even that stretched out.
Movement: Still constant. It feels higher though and sometimes it’ll be a sharp pain. Also it often feels like gurgling in my stomach and I swear I think it’s Blitzen letting me know that he or she is HUNGRY! I’ve been eating more because I want to be sure to satisfy Blitzen 😉 I enjoy the movement but sometimes it’s SO often and so intense that it’s hard for me to focus on other things that I may be doing. I think I have a wild child on my hands!
Sleep: I didn’t get much sleep this week either but I don’t feel as tired and now that we’ve been locking Levi up in his crate at night I’m much more rested. We got SICK of getting up a bunch in the night to let him out or pick him up to get him on the bed so he’s sleeping in his crate for awhile. We’ll see if it helps! I know it’s helping ME 🙂
Cravings: All the un-healthy pregnancy cravings are really starting to hit me…cookies, oreos, cocoa-no-bakes, cosmic brownies. You name it. I also eat peanut butter every day! And crave milk. I’m also starting to enjoy my water!
What I Miss: Being comfortable. Not being so hormonal. Feeling confident. Being able to breathe 😉
Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: Talking with Kori about handling two babies – gah I feel SO much better about it all and even walking! Plus getting so much done. And realizing today that I DO need to rest more and that it’s good to rest. I felt guilty asking Zach to do a lot of the cleaning up from dinner and taking care of Kye but I have to remember that I’m PREGNANT and that it’s okay to ask him to do more sometimes…I mean when we have two kids we’ll both be doing more than we’re used to right?
Questions/Concerns: I’m mildly worried about this pain and breathing issues. I’m so glad I called up to the office, it’s typically not an “Emily” thing to do but this pregnancy I worry WAY more than I did with Kye and I didn’t want to be worrying all weekend with them being closed. I feel better knowing that some rest is all I need and don’t mind having an excuse to laze around a little bit!
I’m wondering what type of swaddle to use for Blitzen…we always used the Swaddleme with Kye but I hear such great things about the Miracle Blanket. I’m nervous for the whole paci thing to…to use it or not to use it? We had a sleep positioner for Kye which worked great to keep him from rolling over while swaddled but now they say they aren’t safe due to SIDS (which we used it thinking that’s what we were preventing). And I heard they will no longer be making any infant acetaminophen medicine plus all the Hyland’s teething tablets I loved with Kye are now off the market (poison…awesome…) so I’m wondering how in the heck I’ll deal with teething? You’d think with your second kid you’d feel pretty confident but SO much has already changed where I feel like I’ll be doing a lot of re-learning new tricks!
Goals for the Week: Bradley (not tonight obviously b/c the whole mini-bed rest thing), rest, get going on the many things I want done inside the house!
Notes from Pregnancy #1: I had a pretty chill week this week during my last pregnancy. You can see pictures of me from my 6 month post here! I think I’m looking way better this time around don’t you? But it is interesting to compare my symptoms! Went and saw the first Twilight movie, felt “Clover” move a TON more and other people could feel him too, got the nursery painted (well Zach did…) and went to Melbourne for the weekend. At this point I had gained 13 lbs total while I’ve only gained 4 this time 🙂 I do remember my belly being SO itchy and I know when I saw Rachael she said her belly is super itchy…I haven’t had that at ALL this time yet? I wonder if I will???
6 months down…like 4 more to go!
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You do look great girl! 🙂
thanks so much!!!