25 weeks - Baby #2

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along : 25 weeks

Size of Baby : 13-14" long, ~1.5-2 lbs

Total Weight Gain : ~ 13 lbs.  A baby growth spurt in conjunction with Indulgence Week made me jump a couple pounds almost overnight.  I haven't been 100% faithful to the no-treats policy, but 95% faithful is still way better than 100% indulgent, so I seem to be holding steady this week.

Maternity Clothes :  100%.  I miss the warm weather and short sleeves/tank tops (we jumped from 70's & sunny last week to 50's & windy this week), but I know that in a few months I'm going to be cursing the "warmth", so I'm trying to enjoy these last few bursts of needing long sleeves AND a sweater/jacket.

Best Moment This Week : I took the boys with me Tuesday to interview a doula, since Kari has moved away in the 2.5+ yrs since I hired her as my first doula.  Tiffany was my 2nd choice last time, and was Melissa's doula for Ethan's birth, so I was fairly certain she'd be the one I'd choose, but I wanted to do an interview just to be certain.  The interview went well and confirmed things for me, but I think my favorite part was how much she loved Ash & Jack.  They were excellent (if mildly distracting playing with all the toys there) and make me such a proud "momma" (even though Jack isn't actually mine). :-D

Gender : It's a boy!  Taking iron seems to have helped with my energy levels enough that the nesting is kicking in.  I've been much more domestic lately, keeping up on the regular chores & errands PLUS finding bits of time to start working on the nursery things.  Boxing up Ash's outgrown clothes, measuring for fabric purchases, brainstorming ideas for the layout and decor, building "registries" and shopping lists, using my JoAnn coupons to start gathering supplies, etc.

I'm also working a little harder on choosing a name; I'm ready to be able to call this little sweetie something.  I had a name choice I loved for lots of reasons and was ready to settle on it, but you should have seen Josh's face when I asked "what do you think of ____?"  All his verbals AND nonverbals said NO.  So I'm looking at other options and trying to decide which I like best OR whether I want to put my foot down about that one, b/c I was adamantly opposed to "Ash" and the whole agreement was that I could pick all the other children's names if I'd give him that one (w/no provisions for if he didn't like the names ~I~ chose).  In the end I came to accept Ash, but it was a long (I mean, many YEARS!) journey to acceptance.  Lucky for Josh, I'm more flexible and am fairly certain I'll find a name I like well enough, and might only fight for the compromise of using it as a middle name.  Either way I go, I'm working it all over in my mind and am determined to have a name soon for my own sanity.

Movement : I wish I had the time to pay attention and figure out his routines.  He is strong enough to be felt from the outside for sure, and likes to kick wherever I'm resting my hand or the dog is resting.  I was reading my post from 25 wks with Ash and laughed to remember how he'd dance at church during the music; this one doesn't seem to care much about the music that I can tell.  He does seem to be active more than Ash was; but again, without REALLY paying attention, it's hard to tell.

Food Craving :  It hasn't really changed.  I bought half a dozen of those pre-made salads and ANOTHER pound of strawberries. And chocolate may always call my name, pregnant or not. :)

What I Miss Most : This week it has nothing to do with pregnancy, but I miss Ash sleeping at nap time.  I'm so sick of climbing the stairs to deal with issues like yelling or thumping (kicking the wall, etc) or banging/scraping his head/face b/c he's standing up and leaning out of his bed.  Just this week he's split his eye by the eyebrow AND scraped his cheek on the shelves by his bed.  If it happens again, I told him we're taking the bed out of his room and he can just sleep on the mattress.  Not ideal, especially since we just bought the stinking bed, but I just refuse to deal with it anymore.  I also miss having these couple hours of quiet each day.  I could use a nap, or time to read or do Bible study.  *sigh*  I hope he quits this stupid nap strike soon.  (In his defense, I do believe he's currently cutting the other ridge of his molars, which always makes him crazy)

Sleep : This has been a BAD week for sleep.  I wake multiple times a night just being pregnant.  On top of that, Josh has been waking once a night with a huge coughing fit that wakes me completely; we have no idea what is causing it, but it's seriously getting old. (In a funny side note, Josh was sick with a cough at 25 wks last time; maybe the cause is pregnancy?)  And one night this week Ash woke with the mystery pain, so I had to get up and give kisses and medicine to calm him down.  I'm seriously exhausted.

What I Am Looking Forward To : sleep.  HAH! 

Belly Button : Changes to the belly button are happening ever so gradually, but from my view looking down, my belly dips in towards the belly button, with a little bit of the top part of my belly button poking out.  So there's a little bit poking out, but it's pretty much even with the main shape of my belly b/c of the dip.  Don't know if that makes sense to read.  It is just slightly showing through my clothes if I only have one layer over it.  Also, I can put a little pressure on the skin around my belly button and it flips completely out and you can see the little scar at the inside.  It always makes me think of how Michelle's belly button completely disappeared when she was pregnant with Caleb and you could only see a small scar on her belly.  So cool!!

Symptoms : I've been taking the iron supplements pretty regularly and it helps most days.  Not getting any sleep has put me on a whole different level with exhaustion though.  Wednesday (the day after I'd had almost zero sleep) I felt like I was going to pass out just sitting down in front of the computer!  I've actually had a couple times in the past couple weeks where I randomly felt like I was going to pass out.  They make me nervous b/c there's no noticeable cause.  Each time I self-inventory and have eaten recently and been drinking a decent amount (if not QUITE my 100oz).  I think I'll bring it up to the dr at my next visit. Thinking maybe my level of activity combined with my increasing blood supply may be putting too many demands on my body at the moment, but I'm not gonna quit going to the gym or start putting Ash in daycare in order to rest all day, so I'm not sure if there's anything to help it.  It's also weird that it's not while I'm working out or immediately after, but later in the day altogether.

Also, the reflux has been worse lately.  I think this is a combination of indulging in foods that make it worse (chocolate, strawberries, etc) AND the shrinking square footage in my abdomen.  In order to combat this w/o upping to the max dose of zantac (I'm saving this as a last resort step), I have started taking chewable papaya enzymes before meals, snacking on dried papaya, and of course chewing Tums as needed.  

Compared to last time : Definitely glad to not be dealing with the carpal tunnel, and I think that working out at the gym (when it's not CAUSING soreness) is helping to diminish the amount & intensity of back aches from last time.  The reflux is only currently better b/c of medication, I think.  And the exhaustion and B.Hicks are definitely more intense this time around, both to be expected.