11 and 12 weeks with Baby T 2.0

written 12 weeks, 3 days along, Barrett is 2 years, 11 months old

Catching up!

I don't have many updates from this week to document. I also won't have a bump picture. Joe is gone all week at work training and I was too lazy to get out the tripod. Pretend that weeks 11 and 12 are pretty much the same in size.



I've started to get out of the mega fatigue state this week. Don't get me wrong I'm still lazy and going to bed before 9pm but I'm also able to clean the kitchen and make a real meal if I must. Getting crazy! Speaking of food, my aversion to PBJ is still pretty strong and I still have a pretty small appetite. What I manage to eat is about 75% junk. I want french fries and Jimmy Johns and pizza and crap. It's either eat nothing or that junk which is an interesting position to be in. Ironically, I have very little craving for sweets (so unlike me!). I don't remember having any super cravings or aversions with Barrett.

Instead of doing a separate doctor visit post, I'll talk about our 12 week appt and sonogram here. We were doing the genetic testing, pretty much only because it allows us another ultrasound to check out the kid. Unfortunately, it has to be done within like a 5 day span which fell on the same week that Joe would be out of town. I headed over there today and pretty quickly was called back by one of my favorite sonographers from last time (whose name I don't remember). We got to it pretty quickly and almost immediately saw the heartbeat. This was really all I wanted and even though I couldn't hear it, I felt much more at ease. It was going strong at 152bpm. This is a really great ultrasound because the baby looks like a real person! Arms and legs and a defined head and face profile. The genetic testing we were doing was the fetal nuchal transparency test which measures the space in the spine on the back of the neck. The kid was moving around like nobody's business so our tech was having a hard time getting he/she in the right spot to get a good picture for the measurements. Eventually, she had me do my urine sample and come back in the hopes that it would settle the baby down. Thankfully, that ended up working but not exactly how she wanted because she wasn't able to get a perfect reading. She managed to get a pretty good one that they will use to determine the testing but maybe not. The policy is that her and the other techs will all review the findings and decide if it is worthy enough of submission. If not, they still take a blood screening to check for abnormalities but they prefer to combine the blood and the spine measurements before determining results. Honestly, I could care less about the results so we'll see what they determine when I go back in a few weeks.

Dr Bennett ended up being pretty swamped this day as almost all the other doctors got pulled in to do deliveries so she was covering patients for some others. I really was fine with not going back to the office so I surfed my phone for a bit before getting called back by nurse Deborah. They took my weight which was down 1 pound from last visit. Blood pressure and urine were normal. Dr Bennett was in pretty quickly and we reviewed a few things. We discussed that my A1C did end up fine so she wasn't worried about my sugars yet. She asked if I still had my acucheck reader because there is a chance that if I still pass my one hour test in a few months that she will have me randomly check my sugars to make sure that I don't develop gestational after they do the test. Nothing big to worry about yet. It was mostly a quick in and out before heading back over to do blood work.

I go back in a month for a quick check up and likely get the results of our testing then. I haven't scheduled our big ultrasound but it looks to be shortly before Thanksgiving is when we can (hopefully) find out the sex of the baby. We're moving right along!

10 weeks with Baby T 2.0

written at 10 weeks, 3 days, Barrett is 2 years, 10 months old

Just another week in the books and I already want to kick my butt for writing these weekly with Barrett. No way can I gip #2 so weekly posts it is!



I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part. Bedtime is EARLY and laziness factor is there but it is getting better. I've been able to make dinner a few nights this week which was an improvement to my straight-to-the-couch need the weeks prior. Joe's been busy with house things (yardwork and new swing set building) though so I've sort of had to take the reigns and make dinner if we wanted to eat at a decent time.

I had my one puking incident a day last week when Joe had to leave for work early. He put on a bit more cologne than I would have preferred. I usually like the smell but for whatever reason it was so overpowering that I could not hold it in. This was still back when I was feeling a little queasy most mornings and evenings but that has seemed to dissipate.

We told all of our families two weeks ago and got mostly shocked reactions. Barrett wore a big brother shirt while we made the rounds to most everyone. We texted extended families and were lucky to see a large majority of friends at a wedding this past weekend so we could tell them in person. At this point, I'm hoping to tell my boss tomorrow and we will have let a majority of everyone know. I'll wait before taking it to social media until after our next sono in a few weeks.

I guess I should mention our first doctor visit. The office moved locations in June so this was my first time going to this new building. I got to see many familiar faces at check in and was taken back to the ultrasound room after a short wait. It took her no time to get her measurements, maybe 10 minutes, and a easy viewing of the heartbeat which was steady at 175. We printed pictures and were pretty much on our way. It was much faster than I remember our first one last time but I guess that's good that it was easy to get everything they needed. I did the normal pee in a cup and then back to wait to be called to see Dr. Bennett.

Brittany, my favorite nurse from last time, called us back to the consultation room. We had about 4947839 questions to answer which were mostly review from last time that they were able to pull from my chart. (No, I do not do drugs. No, I do not smoke. No, I do not drink.) We recapped my pregnancy and labor with Barrett and discussed a few things. I also had to give a full rundown of my medical history from last year as none of that was in my chart. I'll pause here to say that this shouldn't have a big effect on how things are going to go but my body has since taken a beating and gets tired easily still so it's something to keep note and be aware of. I also got the clearance to travel to Disney when I'm 27 weeks so :)

Brittany moved us to the exam room and did the usual check ups. We'll say I've neither gained or lost weight as it was the same weight I took at home when I got my positive pregnancy test. My home scale actually says that I've lost 3 pounds though so we'll see where I'm at during the next visit on which scale I'm going to go by. I do not remember exactly blood pressure but Brittany said "great" so yeah. Dr. Bennett came in shortly and after a quick recap and overview of things, she did a super fun pap before going into information on where to go from here in terms of gestational diabetes since I had that with Barrett. She pretty much confirmed my thoughts in that I don't have to do anything different but to try to be conscious of what I'm eating to prepare my body in case I get another positive results. I do not have to get tested earlier than normal so I won't have to be super strict about it just yet. I'm actually completely fine with getting it a second time because I was able to keep it in check strictly through diet and it allowed me more sonograms to see the baby! Won't complain about that! I also think it really helped keep my health and weight in check last time and it wouldn't hurt to have the same again. Remind me that I said that when I can't eat pasta anymore!!

We wrapped things up and I sent Joe on his way while I went to get my blood drawn. This is second nature to me as I've had to get it drawn regularly for over a year. No biggie! One extra thing they are checking is my A1C which is my blood sugar from the last like 3 years or something. If I failed that, Doc was going to call because they would have sent me straight to the endocrinologist to get my diet going. Thankfully, no call means no problem.

We wait two weeks for the next sono which I'm looking forward too as you really get to check out the kid. Onward!

9 weeks with Baby T 2.0

:: written at 9 weeks along, Barrett is 2 years, 10 months old::

I wrote this over 4 weeks ago and will start to catch up until we hit present time...


Well as I'm sure is the case with most second children, this one is getting gipped in the blog postings. I started weekly updates with Barrett when I was 6 weeks along but I haven't had much to post so I held off. Good news, I started belly pics already (WHOA muscle memory) so if I keep this up, the kid won't have too much to gripe about.



Even though I already mentioned it, I have to talk about this insane stomach. Obviously, it's no where near what it's going to be like but it's pretty crazy how I'm already a similar size to what I was at probably 18 weeks. I've lost 1 pound total so it's strictly that my body remembers what the heck happened to it 3 years ago and is taking no time to get back into the swing of things.

I've already busted out a number of maternity pieces. The only fault of this pregnancy is that I am going to be in completely different seasons in terms of my clothing options. For Barrett's pregnancy, I didn't have much of a bump until May and he was born the first week in October (where it was 85deg out) so I was in shorts and tees and regular dresses. We're hitting fall here shortly and it will still be chilly when I deliver at the end of March so that means I'll need pants and sweaters and long sleeves. Only had to buy one pair of jeans last time! I've worn my shorts and a pair of capri's a few times already because WHY NOT? They are comfortable and I'm not going to get to wear them much longer.

So onto symptoms, I haven't had too much in this yet which was really similar to Barrett. I felt 100% the same for almost my entire pregnancy with him. I can't say it's exactly like that but it's nothing too crazy yet. During the week, I eat a pbj every day for lunch and for almost 3 weeks now, I've had to pretty much skip out on lunch because the thought of it makes me nauseous. My stomach has really been one of the few differences I've noticed. I wouldn't really call it morning sickness, per say. I feel okay and fine 95% of the time but it's just an overall queasiness. Just the thought of certain foods make me want to puke. I also have a very small appetite which I don't really remember before. I'm now probably eating the correct portions instead of double what I should be. :)

I did have one awful night when I was 6 weeks where I was up many times and ended up moving to the guest room. I had to take breaks while getting ready for work and if I wasn't already off 3 days prior to that, I would have called in. Total mom move when you save your sick days for your kids but I hate spending them on myself. Won't have to worry about that much longer. I'm not sure if that was morning sickness or stomach flu of some sort but I was miserable for about 24 hours and was aching at the thought of that continuing for an extended period of time.

Another symptom I have is really itchy skin. Completely forgot about that with Barrett but reading back on my 8 week post with him, it was something I noted. This week was also the first and only time I puked during Barrett's pregnancy and I've surpassed that so far so ::fingers crossed:: I am soooooo tired as well. Like getting in bed at 7pm right after B goes to bed and falling asleep by 8pm. I don't have to get out of bed until 7am most week days and I could probably lay there longer. I am a sloth and thankful Joe is picking up some slack. I have 2074639 loads of laundry to fold on our bedroom floor right now.

That's all for now. We've had our first appt already so if you are reading this, we've had a successful one. More on that later...

So this happened….

Surprise! and not just for you readers. :) A very welcome surprise but a surprise nonetheless.

As I write this, I am currently 7 weeks along and due March 30th, according to my calculations. Barrett and 2.0 will be almost exactly 3 1/2 years apart.

I got a positive test on Monday, July 28th when I was exactly 5 weeks along. Yes, I was in denial. Joe was railroaded. Barrett is oblivious. :) I think we've both started to get excited but still very fearful.

While this wasn't exactly our timing, I think it's going to work out really well for us. Barrett is, shall we say, attached to me. Does not like to share one bit of my attention and really needs for this to happen. He is not the biggest fan of other kids and babies, aside from his school friends but I think being a big brother will be good for him. He is a needy butthead but we've got to get that subsided sooner rather than later. Thankfully, he is slowly coming around and has some more interest in playing well with others. He better get used to it!

A very exciting thing for me is that I will change my title from working mom to stay at home mom. It wasn't in the cards for us when Barrett was born unless we really changed our lifestyle and neither Joe or I were really comfortable with that. You may remember that I had a very hard time going back to work when it was time and I've basically coasted his entire life just doing it. I've never enjoyed being away from him. Joe won't love his work from home days as much anymore though, I imagine. We super love Barrett's daycare and will miss it. My plan is to be done with work the end of February and have a month alone with just B before the baby comes. I was on bed rest my last 3 1/2 weeks so this is also preparing for that, just in case. Then, I will have the late spring and entire summer with both kids before Barrett will start part-time preschool in September.

My first appointment is in a week and a half and if all goes well, I'll be posting this not long after once we've notified our family and friends. Here we go!