25 weeks pregnant

I'm 25 weeks pregnant today.  Wowzers - only 15 weeks left!  I found myself thinking about "Shortie" today as I walked down the hallway at work and couldn't wipe the smile off my face.  I'm having a little girl!  The reality is starting to sink in, especially now that we've reached the point of viability.  As of this morning, I have gained 19 pounds.  I guess this puts me on track for a total weight gain of 30 pounds over 40 weeks.

I'm feeling pretty good these days.  I'm still taking Zyrtec every single night to keep the hives in check.  And every now and then, I get the WORST uterine cramps.  They feel like horrendously bad period cramps and they force me to lay down for a little bit while they pass.  I feel Shortie kicking quite a bit - she's very low and in a much different position than Ian.  Ian always kicked me in the upper right side of my tummy, up by my ribs.  Shortie seems to be hanging out on the low side, in a transverse position.  I need to take a belly picture really soon!  We were so good about taking weekly pictures when I was pregnant with Ian but now, with #2, there's just a lot of other stuff going on!

Our new king-sized Select Comfort Sleep Number mattress arrived today.  I can't wait to set up that puppy so that I can get better sleep.  We're supposed to get our new bedroom furniture on Wednesday, but given the snowpocolypse that is forecasted, I'm not sure that's going to happen.

Ian Counts to Ten

Ian is 22.5 months old.  He has shown a lot of interest in the letters of the alphabet, but until now, he hasn't shown much of an interest in numbers.  But overnight, it seems like he learned how to count to 10.  Here's a cute video that I put together for my parents (otherwise known as Hoopie and Meema).  You will see that he still doesn't quite have the hang of "7" but I'm sure he'll master that quickly.  I love the part in the beginning where he says "one, two, three" and then "good job" and breaks out into this smile that shows how proud he is of himself.  Enjoy!

Most Recent Ultrasound

After Friday's episode of bleeding, I followed up with my own OB on Monday.  Because of the holiday, I didn't hear back from my doctor until Tuesday when they told me that I needed to come into the office to be seen right away.  I said, "Okay, but what is the doctor going to at the appointment?  I mean, all she can do without an ultrasound is listen to the fetal heartbeat and I already know the baby is okay because I can feel her move." So they said, "Uhhh...you're right" and scheduled me for an ultrasound at Boston Ultrasound on Wednesday.  I guess it never hurts to be your own advocate.

The ultrasound was pretty cool.  I've never had an ultrasound this far along in pregnancy.  At 23 weeks, the baby was so much bigger!  And she was moving her mouth like she was talking to us and then she yawned a couple of times - so cute!  The ultrasound doctor said she weighs between 1 and 1.5 pounds now.  She took measurements of the head and the femur and the baby appeared to be measuring on track for gestational age.  The doctor couldn't find any reason for the bleeding (like a hematoma) other than the low-lying placenta.  Unfortunately, the placenta hasn't budged since our 18 week scan.  It is still very close to (or even on top of?) my cervix.  This doesn't bode well for my dreams of a vaginal delivery.  The doctor told me that there was still a good chance the placenta could move up because my uterus still had a lot of growing to do, so I'm crossing my fingers and holding out hope that a VBAC is possible.

Here are some pictures from our ultrasound.  The doctor was kind enough to do some 3D images for us (which I didn't even know was possible with their machines!)  The baby kept her hands up by her face the entire time and so the pictures aren't great, but I still think they're cool.

Ridiculously Cute

My kid is ridiculously cute.  Lately, I've been asking him if he can give me a kiss.  But when I turn my cheek towards his lips so that he can kiss me, he puts both hands on my cheeks, forces me to face him, and kisses me on the lips.  And it makes me giggle.  Which makes him giggle.  I love love love love it.

At 22 months of age, he's really speaking in full sentences although his speech is still so funny.  He is a fan of names and colors and so often says things like "Ian ride Momma brown car" or "Momma Daddy leave blue house."  It's awesome (although I do find myself guessing what he said at least 30% of the time).  We found ourselves laughing tonight when Mr. Potato Head became "Doo-Doo Head."

It's been super snowy here in New England.  There is SO much snow on the ground, there is no way Ian can play outside except on pavement that's been plowed.  Here are some cute pictures from this past weekend:

Pregnancy Update

I kept meaning to update my blog over the last 2 weeks, but somehow, I couldn't find the energy to do so.  Work has been extremely busy and after my husband and I get Ian to bed at night, I end up lounging on the couch in front of the TV (and usually fall asleep).  Unbelievably, I'm almost 23 weeks pregnant and time seems like it's flying!  When I was pregnant with Ian, I was counting every single day of my pregnancy and posting weekly updates on my blog.  It's definitely different the second time around.  We haven't taken a single picture of my pregnant belly, despite the fact that we took a weekly picture for 40 weeks when I was pregnant with Ian.

On the pregnancy front, all was going well until last night, when I had another bout of bright red bleeding when I was getting Ian into his pajamas. When I called my OB, the doctor-on-call wanted me to come into the hospital to get an ultrasound at labor and delivery.  But she made it perfectly clear that there was NOTHING they could do for the baby at this point - they wouldn't even give me a steroid shot to develop the baby's lungs.  The check would really be to make sure that I was doing okay and wasn't hemorrhaging.  Given that I didn't have any pain other than period-like cramps, the blood wasn't pouring out of me, and I could feel Shortie moving and kicking, I opted not to go to the hospital.  Rather, we decided to take a wait-and-see approach.

I think that was the right decision because I didn't bleed any more today - I've only seen some old brown blood come out.  When I talked to the doctor last night, she didn't think it was another subchorionic hematoma (although she would have no way of knowing).  She said that because I have a low lying placenta, as the uterus expands and the placenta moves up, a little piece could break off and cause some bleeding.  Let's hope it was just that.  Either way, I was pretty calm about the whole affair.  It's the 3rd time during this pregnancy that I've seen bright red blood and everything was okay the last 2 times.  In addition, I can feel the baby move, which is extraordinarily reassuring.  I'm just going to keep on crossing my fingers that I won't need to deliver this baby before she is full-term.

*Update*
At 23 weeks, I've gained 17 pounds.  Sadly, that is 5 more pounds than I gained when I was 23 weeks pregnant with Ian.  Crap.  Hopefully, I can take it all off later.