Elective Ultrasound!

I have my 16 week bump picture on my camera and need to download and edit it still. That post will hopefully come later today! But first, we found out yesterday that baby #2 is a BOY!! For a little while now, I've been wanting to book an elective early gender ultrasound. I just couldn't seem to justify the cost knowing that our anatomy scan is only a few more weeks away. In the end, though, my impatience won out. I haven't felt as connected to this pregnancy as I did with Abby's, so I am hoping that knowing the gender now and being able to really get started on things will help with that connection. 

Saturday, Granny and Grandad came to watch Abigail and Dave and I set off for our appointment. When we had our early ultrasound with Abby, we had to drive to Brighton. Luckily, the same place we went to in Brighton (Baby Envision) opened an office here in Lansing a few months ago! We stopped to get some orange juice for me to drink to make sure that baby wasn't sleeping, and got to the ultrasound place early. When it was our turn, we went back and I got ready for the goo on my belly. The tech we had wasn't very friendly or talkative, which was kind of a bummer. Also, the equipment at this office wasn't nearly as new as the equipment at the Brighton office, which was also not great. But, we still got to see baby and that was very nice. After a while of showing us the face and profile, she moved on to looking for the sex. I could tell after just a few passes of the ultrasound wand that there was definitely a penis there! The tech said, "Well, I know what your baby is," and I told her that I also knew and that it was a boy! She said I was right and showed us on the screen. She wasn't able to get a super clear picture of a "potty shot" without cord interference. After that, we tried looking at baby in 4D for a while. Nothing was very clear, which was disappointing because with Abigail it was very clear, but it was still nice to see our son! Of course I cried :) After the appointment, the woman working at the desk printed out some pictures for us and said that she wasn't very happy with how they turned out. She offered for us to come back next Saturday for free to try to get some better pictures (with a different tech!) and I happily agreed! I'll probably go by myself since we don't want to have to find someone to watch Abby again. Dave seemed fine with that. So, we will be welcoming Andrew David Main into our family in October! Some people seemed surprised that we shared the name on Facebook, but I really love sharing the name early. It's so much better than just calling him "baby boy" for the next 5 months! Hopefully we are able to keep the nicknames at bay for now, because Dave and I both prefer Andrew over any common nicknames. We have our full anatomy scan on June 9th, so it will be great to see him again then too and also get confirmation that he is healthy and everything looks good! We are so, so excited for Abigail to have a little brother!

15 Weeks - Baby #2

15 weeks and a few days!  I'm not doing well posting these on time, but at least they are getting posted at all!  :)  We are flying to Denver tonight to visit Abigail's newest cousin, baby Audrey (plus Melissa and Matt too!).  I am excited and yet also very nervous to fly with Abby!  Hopefully it will all go smoothly!  I have an OB appointment the day after we get back, so I'm excited to check in on baby and see how things are going.  I'll update once we are home!

14 Weeks - Baby #2

I'm so late on this post!  I was 14 weeks this past Wednesday.  Still feeling great!  Just tired.  It was a long week because Dave was in Vegas for work for 4 days.  Abby is still working on teeth or something and was just clingy and cranky and generally unhappy this week.  It also rained and was cold and gloomy, not a good combo for this mama!  I can't wait for warm weather and sunshine.  We are headed to Denver later this week to meet our new niece.  I'm pretty nervous about taking Abby on a plane for the first time!!  I'm just trying not to over-think things.  I went to a mom-2- mom sale this morning and was able to find a ton of great summer stuff for miss Abigail!  I ended up leaving with 9 whole outfits, 2 pairs of leggings, 2 pairs of shoes, and a winter coat for next year all for $25.  Not too shabby!!  I think she is now all set on clothes for the summer, which is wonderful.  Dave's parents are on their way here right now to babysit and Dave and I will be headed out for a date night - I can't wait!

15 Months!

Miss Abigail is 15 months old!  She's finally walking all over the place and that has been SO fun.  It's still kind of funny to see her toddling around, because she seems so small to me!  But I really love that she can walk now, and she is becoming more and more independent.  That independence has also brought some tantrums too, because sometimes what she wants to do isn't what Dave and I want her to do!  She has become very decisive lately and tries very hard to communicate her desires with us.  It's funny but can also be frustrating all around when we don't understand what she's asking for.  Hopefully more language will come soon.  She has said night-night a few times, and she says mama very clearly, although not always in the right context.  She is learning the word flower, and she tries to say light and cat.  She can say dada, but hasn't said it in a while and signs dada instead.  It will be really interesting to see how her vocabulary develops and changes in the coming months now that the BIG walking milestone is completed.  She uses the sign for "more" to indicate when she wants something.  She learned how to sign "please" so we are working on that.  She LOVES waving hi to absolutely everyone, especially any kids she sees.  It is so cute!  We are still working on transitioning to one nap, and every day I just play things by ear depending on what time she wakes up in the morning.  I have a feeling that this transition will still take a few more months.  Abby loves her sleep!  Night sleep has been good, although some nights it takes her a while to fall asleep.  She still goes to bed easily though and just talks and plays in her crib until she drifts off.  I love having such a good sleeper!  I think that's it on updates for now! 

13 Weeks - Baby #2

I'm officially a third of the way there!!  Well, assuming that I deliver at 39 weeks, and it's looking like that will be the plan.  So, only 2/3 of the pregnancy left to go.  Has this pregnancy felt like an eternity to anyone else?  I feel like I've been pregnant for eons.  All for a good cause though!

I'm still feeling great.  Mostly just tired.  I've gained a total of 2 pounds so far.  Not great but not terrible either.  Especially considering that I've been eating my weight in cookies and candy lately...not good!  I still can't wait to find out if this baby will be Andrew or Rosalie.  Still 6.5 weeks until the anatomy scan.  Hopefully the time flies by!

12 Weeks - Baby #2

I've been so bad about taking weekly pictures this time around!  Also, I can't for the life of me seem to get a clear picture with the self-timer these days.  Oh well!  12 weeks today and feeling great.  I battled a sinus infection a few weeks ago, and I'm still dealing with that a little bit, mostly in the form of congestion, coughing, and some headaches.  But, in terms of pregnancy symptoms, I'm still feeling pretty great!  Mostly, I'm just really tired.  I'm hoping that falling asleep on the couch at 8pm will be over soon!  I feel very lucky that I haven't had any real morning sickness, nausea, food aversions, or anything of the sort.  Also, I've felt a few baby nudges!  I thought it might happen soon, because I felt Abby very early too.  I usually feel the baby when I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor and bent over.  I love it and can't wait for the bigger movements in a few weeks!!

We had an OB checkup last Friday and ended up getting an ultrasound.  Two different nurses couldn't find the heartbeat on the Doppler...while I laid there having a panic attack!  Thank goodness Dave left work early to come with me, because it was pretty much my worst nightmare come true.  I've just been SO worried that something is wrong with this pregnancy, mostly because I haven't had many symptoms.  When they couldn't find the heartbeat, I feared the absolute worst.  Thankfully, we were able to get right into an ultrasound room and as soon as the tech put the wand on my belly there was baby clear as day.  Heart rate was 154 and baby was moving so much that the tech could barely get measurements, let alone a clear picture!  She remarked that once I can feel this baby moving I'll never stop feeling it :)  After that, the rest of the appointment was pretty standard.  I thought that I was going to have a full pelvic exam and pap, but Dr. Thomas said that it wasn't necessary, which was nice!  Of course my blood pressure was high, but I honestly attribute that to nerves!  The nurse took it one more time at the very end of the appointment and it was 122/80, which is great for me.  So, I'm just going to keep monitoring it at home for now and we'll see where we go from here.  I'm opting for a repeat c-section, so that will most likely be scheduled for sometime during my 39th week.  Dr. Thomas did mention that if my blood pressure is out of control she would like to deliver between 37-38 weeks instead, but I don't even want to worry about that for now.  Hopefully baby will be here around October 24th or so :) 

We were able to schedule our anatomy scan for June 9th - it feels so far away!  I'm hoping that time will fly by, because I know that I will be able to connect with this pregnancy a little more once I know if baby is a boy or a girl.  I think we have *finally* decided on our name choices, after lots of back and forth.  So, if baby is a boy he will be Andrew David Main.  If baby is a girl she will be Rosalie Ann Main.  Can't wait to find out!

10 Weeks - Baby #2

I missed 9 weeks!  I've had a bad sinus infection/cold/cough all week and haven't had much energy.  I hope I can keep up and not skip another week!

I cannot possibly describe how huge I feel these days.  How is that even possible at only ten weeks pregnant!?!  The baby is the size of a kumquat (only an inch long!) so why on earth do I look so enormously pregnant??  It is so bizarre to me.  I know that some of my belly is obviously fluff, but I'm only a few pounds off from what I weighed when I was pregnant with Abby, so it's pretty crazy.  For comparison's sake, here is me at 10 weeks pregnant with Abby (although this dress doesn't give a great representation of my bump):

And here is me wearing the same outfit that I wore for my ten week picture with Baby #2 at 27 weeks with Abigail:

And a side by side just because:

Ahh! Kind of scary.  Anyway, other than my sinus infection, which I am now taking antibiotics for, I'm feeling great.  It makes me incredibly anxious, because I still don't really feel pregnant at all.  I'm getting a little concerned about what my weight gain might be with this pregnancy as well.  I was SO lucky when I was pregnant with Abby.  I already weigh exactly what I did the day I delivered Abigail!  I've gained about three pounds since finding out I was pregnant.  At this rate, I'll be Shamu by delivery time.  Not cool!!  As opposed to constant morning sickness, I'm basically a ravenous pig all day long.  I'm ALWAYS hungry.  And I only want carbs.  Hopefully that changes soon because I can't continue like this!

I think that's all for now.  We have our next OB appointment next Friday and I am excited and nervous all at the same time.  I feel like the baby has to be fine, because I keep growing and getting bigger.  But I worry every day that something is just off with this pregnancy, because it feels so very different than the last one.  My gut says this baby is a BOY all the way!!  The funny thing is that I would really love another little girl, and especially for Abby to have a sister.  I would love a boy too, though, so either way it's wonderful news.  I can't wait to make sure that baby is doing great and the heart beat is still strong.  I'll be better next week about posting on time!