The Journey of Parenthood…

25 Weeks Pregnant

I don’t know if any of you are Big Brother fans…but if you are then you KNOW how depressed I am this morning!!!! It’s another end of Jeff and Jordan and this time it was much more depressing than the first time around. I’m hoping that CBS will come up with another show for him to be on (he’s already done BB twice, The Amazing Race, and an online only show where he traveled around the world with no money). Me and America love us some Jeff!!! Anyways…back to my pregnancy…you didn’t come here for a rant about reality television 😉

Baby Size: From head to heals Blitzen is measuring about 13 1/2 inches and is weighing close to a pound and a half (the size of a rutabaga). If he or she is going to be born with hair then it’s starting to really show now and if we could see him or her then we could probably even be able to tell the color. Blitzen is also starting to get some baby fat on those bones and will continue to look more and more like a newborn each week!

Belly Picture: I totally took them myself this morning in the mirror b/c Zach had to leave early. Of course I get back into my pjs and Zach ran home to pack a lunch so he could have taken some but I’m too sick to bother changing back! My sticker my be backwards but you can still tell it says 25 Weeks!

If ANY of you try to tell my I don’t look pregnant now…I will stab you 🙂

Symptoms: As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m sick. I thought I was feeling better yesterday but then this morning I woke up feeling more sick. I think last night’s Big Brother episode put me in relapse 😉 I am taking amoxicillin and I’m hoping it will help get rid of this for good. Thankfully we’ll be in town this weekend so we can both get some more relaxing in (Zach’s sick too and poor guy has to work tomorrow!) before September hits…I will be out of town literally EVERY weekend next month!!!!

I’ve noticed a good bit of extra discharge this week. Like enough to where I have to change my panties and probably need to bust out some panty liners. It doesn’t look suspicious or anything so I think it’s okay? It is probably just related to being sick? (I ALWAYS think of the guy readers when I write about stuff like that…sorry guys…)

If you can’t tell in the picture…my belly is straight up HERE. I haven’t tried on a maternity shirt again since they were too big a couple of weeks ago but I’m pretty sure they will fit. All my regular sized stuff is too short and I’m wearing the regular shirts but the ones that I have in a size up or ones that are extra long length or flowy. My bras still feel like they fit okay (the 34C) and my pants are still fine with a bella band…the belly belt thing is still too big. I kinda think I wasted my money buying that! I personally think I only look like I’ve gained in my belly…but I can’t see myself from the back and it’s hard to notice a difference in looks when it’s all so gradual ya know?

I’ve been a little nervous this week. In the past two days our prayer chain from church has been asked to pray for TWO pregnant girls at the same point in pregnancy as I am who have gone into labor. Thankfully both have been able to be stopped from delivering but are staying in the hospital until their babies arrive. It is always scary hearing stuff like that but when you’re at the same exact place they are in it makes it even more real and alarming. I’m trying to take it as easy as I can!!!

My main symptom is with the baby’s movement so I’ll talk more about that in the section below but I am very uncomfortable all the time. More than I remember being with Kye. It physically hurts to bend over. You don’t realize how often you bend over until it hurts to do so! Just having a two year old means I bend constantly…picking him up, picking up his toys, picking up something he drops, etc etc etc. Plus having pets…picking them up, feeding them, etc. I’ve also experienced more of the ligament pains, especially when I get up from sitting or laying down. They are not a joy!

Zach and I had several great, consistent nights of Bradley stuff then we both got sick and I didn’t want to push myself. Especially with the pains I had last week I felt like it’s better to let my body completely heal before getting back into it. The nights we did it it’s gone GREAT though and I love how naturally my body goes right back in to that mode. I pray that it means my delivery this time will be even smoother than the last one 🙂

Along with my bigger belly has come a MUCH bigger appetite! Even while sick! Usually when I get sick I am not hungry at all but not right now. I’m struggling to drink water (it always grosses me out for some reason when I don’t feel good) but I’m drinking lots of hot tea, juice, sweet tea and milk to stay hydrated and flush this junk out of my system. I am literally hungry ALL the time. EVERYTHING I see looks good to eat. I ate dinner last night before a trip to Sam’s and I still wanted to eat alllllll the stuff I saw there. You name something and I will crave it. I’m working hard to not cave in to every single desire I have or else I’ll be a BLIMP. I’m trying hard to distinguish the difference between real hunger and just pregnancy binge eating. It’s def. a challenge but it makes it SO much easier that I already have a child because I’m so busy with him that I don’t notice it too bad, plus I can’t be eating junk all day b/c then he’ll want some too and that’s not fair, and he eats on a schedule so I can eat with him on his schedule and know I’m eating full meals all day!

Weight: I feel like I’m always surprised when I step on the scale. With the bigger belly I expected to see a decent increase, but just a 1 lb gain again! I’m at 5 lb overall 🙂

Gender: I am so in love with our boy name that I told Zach we probably shouldn’t use the whole thing. Like think up a different first name and use the middle one this time then save the first name for the next baby in case it’s a boy 🙂 We want so many babies that I’d hate to run out of names – naming a kid is TOUGH! Still not sure on the full girl’s name either. I honestly forget to even think about it. Since we know what we’ll call each kid I forget they have to have full names 😉

Maternity Clothes: I wore some maternity capris today. Honestly, I like the LOOK of my regular pants with the bella band over maternity ones. I think my belly looks smoother and cuter with the bella band over it. Does that make sense? I have looked at my maternity dresses and I literally cringe. I’m dreading being that big again. I refuse to spend money on new maternity anything though. I know I’ll have a lot more kids but I’d MUCH rather spend money on cute regular stuff in a bigger size than legit maternity stuff ya know? I feel like I HATE everything that’s maternity and when I wear it I FEEL ugly. I feel much cuter in a regular sized outfit, even if that size is much bigger than my legit regular size. I know, I’m strange!

Movement: I mentioned last week that I had a lot of pain and sensitivity in my stomach – like to the touch. And I figured out what it is. I am growing a baby vampire. Like for real. This baby moves CONSTANTLY and is very aggressive with it! He or she will kick me so hard that it hurts and then the spot Blitzen kicks will be sore…like he or she is bruising me on the inside. Is that even possible?!? B/c that’s exactly what I think is happening. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it sooner but it makes sense that since I felt the baby move so early on that I’d feel it way more intensely the further along I got in pregnancy, right? I can literally SEE the movement and my stomach looks like big waves when it happens. Zach felt it for a few min and couldn’t believe it!

I didn’t feel Kye NEARLY as much as I feel Blitzen and when Kye was born he was very strong from birth. He could hold his head up on his own right after I had him and still has crazy upper body strength. I always think about how he couldn’t walk yet but was able to hold his own weight up on stuff. You can see in this video that he was only 11 months old and would LOVE hanging from the doorknobs of his closet. He will still “swing” on stuff and when he does it in public people will comment on how strong he is. I’m SO interested to see how strong Blitzen is going to be because I’m pretty sure that all this crazy movement must mean this child will come out swinging 😉

Sleep: I’m sleeping pretty solid – but it’s tough because Zach’s sick and has been snoring so if I’m not asleep before him then I have a hard time falling asleep. I hate having to wake him up to stop him from snoring but it’s my only option. Kye had a bit of a cough earlier in the week and that made it tough for me to sleep too. Actually Kye woke up in the middle of the night with his first for sure nightmare too. I’m thankful I heard him because he was screaming “no no no” over and over and was shaking when I went into him. I have horrible nightmares myself so I know how scary that can be! Luckily it’s been the only one…at least so far.

Cravings: WARM food. Being sick I just like warm stuff all the time. Anything warm sounds good. As does anything baked from scratch. As does anything snacky like pretzels and cheese puffs. As does anything dessert-ish like cosmic brownies or oreos. Basically ANYTHING sounds good. Usually they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but right now the way to my heart is through mine 😉

What I Miss: Feeling healthy and having the energy to get stuff done. Just pigging out like a crazy person like I did last pregnancy!

Best Pregnancy Moment of the Week: Having Kye say “I want to talk to the baby.” I held up my shirt for him and was excited to see what he was so eager to say to his sibling…he said “Nemo is scared of the boat.” Awesome Kye, I know Blitzen really needed to know that info. Haha. Kye also asked to see my tummy this week and I asked if he wanted to feel the baby move (Blitzen is moving about 98% of the time, especially if I’m laying down, so I can pretty much guarantee that anyone can feel it!) and he said yes. He liked it much better this time than last time. I also bought a book about bringing the baby home called: Cornelius P. Mud, are you ready for baby? I got it from Zulily and it’s GREAT. It has the older sibling asking all kinds of questions about the new baby which gives Kye a chance to have a better understanding about what to expect. He really enjoys it and I think he’s excited to meet the baby!

Questions/Concerns: Gotta touch up the birth plan for my visit with Stacy next week. Mildly concerned if all the movement/pain is normal as well as the extra discharge. I’m also concerned about my breasts…I started leaking around this time last pregnancy I think and while I’m thankful that hasn’t happened (at least not yet…) I’m also a little nervous. When my milk was leaking so early I knew it was a good breastfeeding sign and it was! I ended up making too much milk for Kye which was rough on me but was a blessing too because I was able to have SO much frozen breast milk for when we traveled and when I decided to wean him. I’m hoping to have the same situation this time around and if I don’t leak during pregnancy, it’ll make me worried about what my breastfeeding situation will be for Blitzen!

Goals for the Week: Feel better, get things done to prepare for our very busy month up ahead. Get registered for Blitzen (I was going to do it today but simply felt too sick and weak to face it!).

Notes from Pregnancy #1: We celebrated Thanksgiving in Melbourne and I realized my milk was leaking…it was HILARIOUS and awkward b/c I really didn’t know it was happening. We had a great visit in Melbourne though with the family and a great trip to Ikea to get some stuff for the nursery. It was fun getting to buy stuff for Clover 😉 I also have great memories of laying around on Mom’s couch all day watching The Jewelry Network. Random, I know, but they had some awesome deals and it was mega addicting (no I didn’t buy anything!). Maybe all that watching will help Kye be a good jewelry buyer for his wife someday 😉 I got measured for a nursing bra on our way home from Melbourne and they told me I was a 38DD and had me buy a 38E and said I’d be in an F in a couple months. I don’t think I’m nearly that busty this time! We cut down our Christmas tree, decorated, and I finished all my Christmas shopping. I’m glad to read that as this year I NEED to be done shopping, decorating and wrapping by Thanksgiving as I have a hunch this baby will arrive around then!!! I was very excited b/c Rachael gave birth to Macy this week during my last pregnancy – I was so jealous at how beautiful Macy was right from the start, how much hair she had, but especially that Rachael got to hold her baby (and be done being pregnant!) while I still had so long to go!

Emily Parker
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1 Comment

  1. Patty
    August 29, 2011 / 1:13 am

    I am so glad that you found my blog on LBS….cause I love yours! I really enjoyed reading your pregnancy update for this week. You are so cute! I really hope you are feeling better. Reading about your holidays last year really reminded me how close we are to Fall! It will be September in a few day! I love the holidays! Looking forward to reading your blog, adding it to my Google Reader right now! 🙂

    Reply

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