Baby T#2 23 Weeks

Note to self: stop taking bump pictures at 6am, you look tired. 

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 Weeks (I keep forgetting how many weeks along I am....is that bad???  Haha.)

Size of baby: Baby T weighs as much as a large mango, around 11 inches long and more than a pound in weight.  He's getting big!

Total Weight Gain: 10 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants and some regular tops/some maternity tops

Gender: It's a BOY!!!  Baby T I think has a name, I'm almost certain of it, but we haven't "officially" decided it.  

Movement: He is a mover!  He moves a lot in the mornings and at night.  When I'm laying in bed it's party time for the little guy!  He's a little ninja in there, I swear.  He kicks hard and now we can see his movements from the outside.  I can now definitely feel when he kicks my bladder.  That's nice.  Sometimes his movements can hurt so I'm not sure if he's just doing flips in there or what but I can definitely tell he's moving a ton!      

Sleep: I love sleep. :)  I've been sleeping pretty good every night, just not long enough during the weekdays. My dreams are just ridiculous.  And random.  And so so weird.

What I miss: Nothing right now.

Cravings: I eat some kind of candy every afternoon after lunch which I normally never do.  It's yummy.  :)  

Symptoms: Just the regular pregnancy stuff.  Tired, can't move too quickly, etc.  I get really worn out very quickly because of the SVT so I have to watch that pretty closely.  It's frustrating not being able to do a lot but I deal.  We went to the Dr last week and got the report from our 18 week ultrasound and he's a big boy!  His arms and legs are measuring in the 70% so he's most likely going to be tall like his Daddy.  My belly is also measuring TWO weeks ahead!  WHAT?!  I asked why since he's 50% in weight and 70% in length right now and she said my belly is just probably preparing for him to get big soon.  Considering some people still don't realize I'm pregnant when they see me (???) that just surprises me that my belly is that far ahead of schedule.  I also think I'm developing the pregnancy waddle.  Awesome.

Best Moment this week: Seeing and feeling our little guy moving around!  He's strong!!

I was reading my 23 week post from Hannah and it makes me laugh because at this point we already had her bedding and furniture in!  Ummm.....I guess I should get working on that....  Haha!  Yeah, I'm a tad bit behind I guess.  Or I was just way ahead of it with her.

Heart Matters

If you've followed the blog from when I was pregnant with Hannah this won't be anything new but if you're new to the blog then here goes.  When I'm pregnant, and only when I'm pregnant thankfully, I have a heart condition.  It's weird.  Even my cardiologist says it's not normal to only have a heart condition when pregnant and not other times.  Anywhoo....my heart condition is call Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT).  Basically my heart beats so fast that the heart muscle can't relax between contractions.  When the chambers don't relax they can't fill with enough blood for my body and the brain doesn't received enough blood and oxygen causing me to get light headed, out of breath and have a very fast heart rate.  The reason this only happens to me when I'm pregnant is because the increased blood flow for the baby.  When I'm not pregnant, no extra blood flow therefore my heart beats normally.  

I went to the cardiologist a few months ago because I was already noticing symptoms that I had while pregnant with Hannah and after getting the EKG, Echo cardiogram and wearing the 24 hour Holter monitor again it was determined that the SVT was indeed back and we're going to follow the same protocol as we did last time.   I do wish I had more options as far as treatments because the medicine they would normally treat me with isn't safe for when pregnant so they have me on the same medicine as last time which is very sensitive and toxic to your blood if you aren't on the right dose so I get my blood taken frequently.  We still haven't found the right dose for me that is safe while making me feel better but they're working on it.  I remember with Hannah that I was on the strongest dose allowed by the end of my pregnancy so I'm assuming the same will happen this time around.  I was expecting this so nothing really surprised me except how quickly it started this time.  I thought it would start later like it did with Hannah (I think I was around 19-20 weeks with her when I noticed it) but it got much much worse with her before I was medicated so maybe that's why I'm noticing it earlier with the little guy.  

Anyways, I take it day by day and try to do as much as I can without over doing it which isn't much.  I'm just happy this is a short term thing (it went away within hours of delivering Hannah so we're hoping the same happens with the little guy) so after he's born I can get back to feeling normal again.  Poor Austin has to do EVERYTHING!  I just lay there and watch him clean, pick up Hannah (that's been a no-no since 14 weeks for me unfortunately.  It makes me sad.), push the grocery cart, etc.  Luckily he's awesome like that and doesn't complain because well, it's not my fault and he knows I don't like not being able to do things for myself or help him.  It's really hard to not do little things like go to the grocery store but I can quickly tell when I've done too much and get out of breath or start having Braxton Hicks contractions so I've accepted it and just try to relax as much as possible.  I'm not very good at it still though....

One thing that is hard is seeing other pregnant women who are further along than me doing things I can't do anymore.  Here I am at 22 weeks and I can't do the same things women at 38 weeks are doing easily.  But it is what it is.  I can't change it so I just accept it and do the best I can do while staying safe.  My #1 priority is being healthy and keep this precious boy in my belly for as long as possible so he can get big and strong (I'm pretty sure he's strong already based on his ninja kicks in there).  Hannah is just the sweetest little girl ever too and will come up to me and say "Mommy are you tired, do you need to rest?".  I just love her so much.  I feel guilty a lot because I can't go on walks with them or play much so I try to rest on the couch in her play room with her a lot and get cuddle time in or just play while sitting.  We have a lot of tea parties.  :) 

So, that's about it.  Let's pray for an uneventful pregnancy with little complications and that my heart stays under control! 

Baby T#2 21 Weeks

For comparison, here I was at 21 weeks with Hannah

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks 

Size of baby: Baby T is the length of a carrot

Total Weight Gain: I think about 8-9 lbs.  I'm packing it on!

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants and some regular tops/some maternity tops

Gender: It's a BOY!!!  Baby T I think has a name, as in, we decided one a few weeks ago and haven't talked much about it since.  Haha.  We need to talk about it again and decide for sure!  

Movement: He is a mover!  I still don't feel him moving too much during the day but I walk around a lot so I may just not notice.  Later at night he's usually pretty active.  Last night was a first where we could see him moving a LOT when I was laying flat.  I've also figured out that he stops moving when I start talking.  For over a week I'd say "Austin, come here and feel, he's moving" and then he does nothing.  Playing tricks on his Daddy already!  Now I just have to snap my fingers or wave to get Austin's attention to come over and feel so he doesn't stop moving.  Austin was pretty excited because on 9/30 he felt him kick for the first time.  Aunt Tracy felt him kick last weekend too.  

Sleep: I love sleep. :)  I've been sleeping pretty good every night, just not long enough during the weekdays. My dreams are just ridiculous.  And random.  And so so weird.

What I miss: Nothing right now.

Cravings: I don't really crave a lot other than wanting something sweet at night. 

Symptoms: My headaches and hip pain have gone away for the most part thankfully.  I still get headaches often but they are very mild, not even bad enough for Tylenol.  I definitely can't get up and move quickly anymore and if I do, I pay for it with a nice sharp ligament pain in my lower belly.  That's fun.  I started having Braxton Hicks contractions a few weeks ago, I was hoping those wouldn't happen early this time around but they actually started about a month earlier than with Hannah.  I just can't over do it at all.  No more pushing shopping carts or walking too much so Austin has had to pull double duty on most of the weekend chores we usually split up.  My cardiologist said I just need to sit and be a princess until the baby is born.  Easier said than done, that's for sure!  Speaking of cardiologist, I don't think I've mentioned this yet on the blog but my heart condition is back for round 2.  I'll explain more on that later.  

Best Moment this week: Seeing and feeling our little guy moving around!  That was my absolute favorite part of being pregnant with Hannah so I'm excited to finally be feeling him and seeing him party it up in there!  

This isn't a best moment but it's a moment I had the weekend before last; I sorted through all of Hannah's baby clothes to get rid of.  It was so sad!  I'm not going to lie, I ugly cried for like 10 mins (I started with the newborn clothes, rookie mistake!).  I'm so excited to have a little boy but at the same time it's sad that another little girl won't be wearing all of those clothes that Hannah made memories in.  I seriously had a memory for just about every outfit.  Maybe I'll just dress up little brother in some of her clothes.  ;)  No??  Ha.  Don't worry, he'll have his own cute wardrobe soon enough.  I even told Austin maybe we should keep them "just in case".  Considering our IVF journey is DONE he said I don't think we need to worry about not having girl clothes for another baby and if we do, we'll buy new ones.  I said but they won't be the SAME clothes Hannah wore.  He officially thinks I'm crazy now.  So, all of her cute clothes are already with Liz and baby Layla (I saved a few special outfits just for memory sake) and the rest are going in the garage sale.  I can promise you one thing, I already know I will end up taking a few things off the tables to keep.  I just know it.  Ha.  Maybe Austin's right and I am crazy after all.  ;)

This picture is kind of weird looking but when Hannah and I were at Tracy's for the weekend I took a picture because I could feel a large hard spot and I wanted to see what it looked like.  You think you can tell where the little guy is??  Haha!  He was sticking way out from the rest of my belly!