23 Weeks

Your baby weighs about as much as a large mango -- just over a pound. (Length: more than 11 inches.)

No Sugar, ...Really? Crap!

Pregnancy question for all you out there:

Did anyone have Gestational Diabetes? I ask because lately, whenever I eat any kind of sugar I get a massive headache. I don't really know if that's connected to have gestational diabetes, and I have yet to be tested for it, but I was just wondering if this is my clue that I may have it. If it's not a symptom of it, then why is this happening? I know the simple answer to my problem, "Stop eating sugar, Stupid!" And I've really have been good about not eating that much, but come on, who can live with out a little sugar in their life? Any help would be great.

I know I've had headaches this whole pregnancy, but I thought they had basically stopped about a month ago. So when they started up I had to start looking for what triggered it. Lucky for me, it was almost an instant reaction to eating anything sweet. And really, I can live with out sugar, but I need some suggestions to help curb my sweet tooth. I've been pretty good about yogurt, it enough sweet for me but doesn't give me a headache, but a person can only eat so much yogurt before getting totally sick of it, or at least that's how I am. I've also tried cereal, like Lucky Charms, and that's okay too. The stuff that really gets me is like cake, cookies, and ice cream, and anything chocolate and yummy!

And if I really do have gestational diabetes, I will be totally shocked, I ate SO much more sugar with my first pregnancy! I had at least one soda a day (sometimes 3 or 4) with that pregnancy, and I don't drink soda at all any more (since I had my kidney infection over a year ago, I haven't been able to drink soda, it makes me horribly sick, so I had to tell myself again "Hey stupid, stop drink soda, it makes you sick. Duh!" It was a sad realization for me, I LOVE Pepsi, especially caffeine free when I'm pregnant!). So, why would I not have had it then, and the possibly have it now when I'm eating so much less sugar?

22 Weeks

Your baby has stretched to the size of a spaghetti squash and weighs almost a pound. (Length: nearly 11 inches.)

This, That & The Other

I'm still feeling the baby move quite a bit, almost enough to learn his "schedule". I'm continually amazed at the differences in my pregnancies. I'm carrying this one so much different than my first. I mean, I'm 5 and a half months pregnant and don't look it at all; I'm just carrying him very low.

I also realized the other day, I'm truly fitting into the pregnancy "norm" of having to visit the bathroom every hour or so; I am trying to drink as much water as I can, but I think he's sitting so low in my stomach that he's sitting right on top of my bladder! How rude!

I'm still feeling him on the outside as well, not as much as I feel inside but two nights ago, Bo got to feel him for the first time. He was really shocked he actually felt anything because he too is amazed at how non-pregnant I look (mostly because I've been chubby for a while now...). I remember really struggling to get my first born to cooperate and move for Bo during my first pregnancy, and with this one he had his hand on my tummy for less than a minute and he felt him move.

I made the comment to Bo last night that I'm amazed at how fast this pregnancy is going, he agreed. My first pregnancy just dragged on and on. It may have been that I was doing the same thing day in and day out but it went so slow. I'm sure going to a job everyday had something to do with that. With this pregnancy, I hit my "week" marks each Tuesday, and I'm always surprised when another Tuesday rolls around, I really wonder where the week went. Was it like this for anyone else with their 2nd or more pregnancy?

I'm still struggling with names... I know I still have a couple months to pick one, but I'm trying to be prepared. I think part of the struggle is that I'm really excited to see him and I can't decide what name to pick until he gets here. With my first we had 2 or 3 names and we just looked at her and decided that she looked more like one name than she did the others. Our list of names for this baby is short, so I'm continually searching. We've decided that we don't want a "hip" name, ya know, the ones that are cool right now. We actually like names from the 18th & 19th century. Thanks to the internet we can search the census records from all those years to see what names were used back then. We have also been looking at our genealogy for family names from that period. It's been fun to look through names of ancestors and consider them for their posterity. We're still open to suggestions though...

21 Weeks

Your baby -- currently the length of a carrot -- weighs about 3/4 of a pound. (Length: 10 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

♪I'm Hooked on a Feeling...♪

I've sure been posting on here more than my other blog lately, and I really need to update that blog, but I think I have baby on the mind more than I want to ramble on about our life...

I mentioned in a previous post that I thought I was feeling the baby move at like 13 or 14 weeks, and I thought that was way too early to be feeling the baby. But truly, I do think I was feeling him. I only felt it a couple times during those weeks, but the farther along I got I was still feeling the same movements just more often. Bare in mind, I didn't feel the baby move with my first baby until about week 25, I was truly feeling like a defective pregnant woman for not feeling anything. I'm sure I was, I just didn't know what it felt like or what I was supposed to be looking for. So when I felt the baby so much sooner with this one, I was happily caught off guard.

I was caught off guard again yesterday with another early first. I actually felt the baby on the outside (and I'm only almost 21 weeks)! It only happens in the early morning when I'm laying on my back, I try not to sleep on my back, but with this baby, it feels so good to be in that position. I felt him yesterday only once, but again this morning a couple more times. I don't remember when I felt this with my first, but I know it wasn't this early since it was week 25 before I felt anything at all. I'm really watching this pregnancy close because of how different it has been. I think maybe part of the reason I felt him on the outside so early is because I haven't gained that much weight; fat really, so there is less squish between the baby and my hand on the outside. It was really neat, and I remembered how much I liked feeling that the first time around. I am getting really excited to share that with our 3 year old when it starts getting more frequent and pronounced.

Feeling the baby move has been such a good thing. It is a "tangible" reminder that you truly are pregnant, instead of just being sick and fat. I remember right after I delivered my first, I was a little depressed to lose the feeling of the baby inside me. I mourned the loss for a couple weeks, even though I had the baby right there in my arms, I was so connected to that feeling that I felt empty. I know that I had, and will probably have, really bad postpartum, but I hope that I am more prepared to let go of that feeling this time around and celebrate the baby laying in my arms.

What's in a Name?

Since finding out we have a little guy on the way, we've really been racking our brains for good names. When we had our first, we never liked any boy names, and only had a few girl names we liked, so luckily it was girl. This time around, we've been tossing names around between us and can't really find any we like. Naming a boy is really hard! So we need your help! But, I do have some rules about names though:
1. It has to be more than one syllable. So no Dave, Mike, Ty, and much to our first borns unhappiness, Rex.
2. It has to fit good with our last name, Lee. So the name Marley isn't okay because then it's Marley Lee, it sounds funny. Or names like Brock, Brock Lee... funny, but can't do that to him. (Bo actually really liked the name Kimber-it's a brand of guns- but then the poor kid's name would be Kimber Lee, he'd be unmercifully teased)
3. And it can't be a name that has an obnoxious nickname. Like Robert, it's cute, but I don't want him to be called Bob. Or Richard... you get my point.
4. This really isn't a rule, but you should know, we don't name our kids until after they are born, so even if you give us a name that we may choose, you won't know until after he is born. Sorry, it's just how we roll. (Our first born was 3 days old before she had a set name)

So there you go, the rules, now throw me some names to consider. Oh, and we already have a middle name picked, so just need a first name, and no, I'm not going to tell you what it is!

20 Weeks

Your baby has grown as big as a banana. (Length: about 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom, and 10 inches from head to heel.)

And the Winner Is!...

Okay, the votes are counted, and the news is in... As far as the votes go, we got 8 votes for a girl and 17 votes for a boy, so you all gave quite the vibe for a boy! So, I guess this picture says it all...

We are a little shocked to find that it is a boy, but excited still the same. We were almost sure we'd end up with all girls, but I guess we were in for a surprise. He was being a little difficult during the ultrasound; just like the last ultrasound, he was content to stay on his tummy the whole time. This made for a difficult time trying to find out just what sex he was. Before he moved to his tummy, the tech got a good profile picture.

She only really saw the sex once, but she was pretty sure it was a boy. I guess these things are never 100% sure... It was really cute to see him moving around, he was touching his face a whole bunch. Bo commented that it was cute to see his little bummy on the screen, Boo on the other hand wasn't really that interested in watching the monitor. She did point out that she could see the baby's head and arm and hand, but after locating those things, she moved on to more interesting things like the weird goo they had put on my tummy.

The following conversation ensued once we got to the car:
Me: So, how do you feel about having a little brother?
Her: I DON'T WANT A LITTLE BROTHER!
Me: Well, that's what we're having, but it's okay right?
Her: But mom, I'm a girl so I need a little sister!
Me: Well maybe next time around we can try for a sister, but for now we are having a brother.
Her: BUT! I. DON'T. WANT. A. BROTHER!

After a trip to another doctor, a little bit of lunch in her tummy and a trip to the store to shop for baby clothes, she has finally warmed up to the idea. With the help of Mallory, she found a little pair of baby socks on clearance (from Halloween), that she got to purchase herself with change Mallory gave her (they were $0.49). She was pretty excited about that, until she wanted to try them on and was mad that they didn't fit. You can't win them all I guess.

The doctors appointment went good. I did have a 4 pound weight gain, but I'm still under my first weight. The doctor didn't seem concerned about it, and said I seem pretty much on track. I was a little concerned during the ultrasound because at my last appointment, they wanted to move my due date back 4 days (May 30) according to the size of the baby. This time, they commented that it could possibly get moved back another 4 days (June 3). Again, my OB didn't seem too concerned about it, and is still not moving it, so onward we go! As for the cyst, the tech couldn't really find it... It doesn't mean it's gone, but that it could be. The OB said it's common that it either bursts or it just goes away, so not too much to worry about. I was impressed that this appointment went very well, even Bo thought so. The wait wasn't too long in the waiting room, and she asked the golden question "Do you have any concerns or questions for me?" and of course, I couldn't think of a single one! I guess I should be better about writing these things down and taking them with me. I'll work on that!

Embarrassing 5-month Pictures

I find that a blog is a place where you post pictures, right? Well all of these happen to be horrible pictures, but I am baring my soul in hopes that you all don't think any less of me. I have been very surprised at my weight this pregnancy. I'm not complaining, I mean, I'd rather not gain as much weight, but I am a little concerned to go a whole month and not gain anything. According to my tracking, I've not gained any weight since my last doctors appointment, and according to the scale this morning, I've lost a pound! I won't know for sure until tomorrow when I go to the doctor, but I'm very interested to see my weight. So along this line of thinking, I thought back to my first pregnancy and remembered gaining quite a bit of weight, so I went in search of pictures of myself at 5 months pregnant. Wow! I had gained a lot of weight! First, here is a picture taken of me at 4 months.

I flew to Florida for a wedding at my 5 month mark, and here are a couple of the pictures from that trip. What a chunk I was!

The one is the middle shows me from the side... And trust me, it wasn't a free-flowin' dress, it's hugging my tummy! What I'm surprised at is how much you can see it in my face. Wow.

Now, here is a picture taken of me 5 minutes ago.

I know I've been more active this pregnancy, but I didn't expect not to gain any weight so far, and already be half-way there. I mean, I'm not super-model skinny or anything, but I feel pretty good about myself, especially looking back at those pictures from 3 1/2 years ago!

Predictions

I've been a little out of commission this last week or so and I do plan on doing some updates, but for now I wanted to just post a little blurp. This coming Monday I have a doctors appointment and we get to find out what we're having. So it's time for you all to cast your votes, I was just interested in seeing what you all think, or what your predictions are. Drop a comment and let us know! Or you can go to our family blog and leave your comment there if preferred.