13w4d

Not much to report, which is great! I am freaking out a little, okay maybe a lot, about the swine flu. I have had THE strangest things happen to me during this pregnancy and have no interest in ignoring the possibility of any additional "freak" occurrences happening. I am fully aware that my concerns may not be valid, but I'm pregnant and allowed to act crazy when needed. I searched around today for N95 face masks to help protect me from the swine flu that is apparently headed straight for me and I was quite unsuccessful. I must not be the only person freaking out about this. There is not a mask to be found in this area. Now I'm convinced that the flu and/or swine flu is really going to make its way toward me. In an attempt to save myself, I will be washing my hands any chance I have and I have two bottles of hand sanitizer in my purse. I've alerted Will that if he or J come down with any type of flu virus I will be, temporarily, moving out.

For those of you that haven't been privileged enough to hear about my weird outbreaks, let me fill you in.

• Never in my life have I had a bladder infection, but discovered with my first prenatal visit that I'm now breading grounds for an infection that intends to stay. I have completed two doses of antibiotics and am anxiously awaiting word from my midwife to know if it has decided to finally leave.
• What I believed to be an insect bite was diagnosed as ringworm and since that diagnosis was not sitting well with me I went to see my regular practitioner to discover it is not ringworm but still a fungal infection. I am aware that we all harbor fungus on our bodies, but why would mine decide to show up now?!?

Okay, I guess two weird things isn't really that bad, but still weird.

Being pregnant again is much different than I remember with J. I have been exhausted most of the pregnancy, have trouble sleeping at night, and feel as though I'm starving all the time. I didn't have a single thing to complain about with my first pregnancy and I just assumed this pregnancy would be the same. I do have to realize that I am five years older this time though. My body likes to remind of that fact quite often!
Keeping up with J has been really hard and I can't wait to have more energy and feel like a normal person again. I'm hoping that will be soon! I will be finishing up my progesterone supplements in 3 days. I am completely nervous about the idea of not taking them any more, but my midwife has assured me I no longer need them. I hope that after finishing the progesterone supplements I will once again have some energy.
I have been an emotional wreck this week and I'm so thankful that Will has put up with me. He really is an amazing husband. I know he has a lot on his plate right now with school and work, and I greatly appreciate all he has been doing around our house and with J to help me stay sane. (I promise, one day I will be normal again!)
I'm still attempting to let my guard down and completely enjoy this pregnancy, but it has been really difficult. It is something I struggle with almost daily. I keep letting myself feel guarded because I some how feel that will save me if something were to go wrong with the pregnancy, but I know that won't really help me. I need to allow myself to glow and enjoy this as this will most likely be our last pregnancy. I want nothing more than to embrace being pregnant and will continue to search for a way to relax.

To end this incredibly long update, I will say that I am so thankful that we have been blessed with this baby for this long and I pray that we will continue to have a wonderful pregnancy.

12 week belly!

Here it is, finally! Over four weeks, my waist has grown 1 additional inch and of course I've gained more weight. I think a nurse at my midwife's office said I had gained 5 pounds since my visit last month. I was astonished when I read the scale which indicated a total weight gain of 11 pounds! I have no idea how I'm gaining weight so rapidly, but lets hope it slows soon. My midwife told me that at 13 weeks pregnant with J, I had only gained 3 pounds. What a difference!?! I ate so much worse when I was pregnant with J too. My midwife was also kind enough to point out that I started out heavier with my first pregnancy than I did this time which could be some of the reason I've gained more weight this time.
It is just weight though and if the result is a healthy baby, I'm okay with a few extra pounds.


Still no fetal movement being felt, but I'll update if that changes soon. Also, the BIG question by everyone is if we know the gender from our 12 week ultrasound and we do not. We didn't even inquire. We are anxious to find out, but have no preference to either gender. We should have our next ultrasound in 6-8 weeks which is when we may have the chance to discover the gender. We promise to keep everyone updated though!

12 week ultrasound

This appointment was one that was rescheduled from a few weeks ago. We had a nuchal translucency evaluation done and everything appears to be fine. They baby was less than cooperative for the ultrasound tech though. While waiting for a good view, we were able to see the baby flipping all over the place and doing head stands. It was amazing!

It may have finally hit me yesterday after our appointment, that we are in fact having another baby. I've been so guarded that I was having a difficult time accepting the idea of having a healthy pregnancy. I really should stop worrying, but that is much easier said than done. We know everything is going well this far and that is good enough for us. We can only hope and pray that it will continue to go well and we will be welcoming a new addition this fall.

*For those of you having trouble making out the first image...it is a view from the top of the head of the baby's arm.*

9 week ultrasound

I know, I'm late to post!

We did make it to our 9 week ultrasound in which we were going to check the Nuchal Translucency for Down Syndrome. However, the technician advised us that it would be better to wait until we were between 11-14 weeks along. So, we have another appointment scheduled for our 12th week. The tech was kind enough to take a quick peek at the baby and let us listen to the heartbeat though. The picture she gave us is unrecognizable but she assured us the head is on the left side of the picture with the body of course being more to the right.

Everything seems to be going well and I find myself more relaxed as the pregnancy progresses. The only trouble I've had thus far is a stubborn UTI. I have never had a UTI before this pregnancy but seem to be having trouble shaking this one. I do not have any symptoms, which is great! I did read somewhere that increased amounts of progesterone can contribute to UTIs which may be the reason this thing has decided to stick around. I only have 2-3 more weeks of take the progesterone supplements so maybe that will be the end of the infection too. Let's hope!

Jace makes many connections to the baby which is so adorable. For instance, today at preschool all the kids got to take home palm tree leaves and Jace was allowed to take two leaves home. Jace said he got two because we are having a baby. How adorable is that?!? He has really been awesome with the pregnancy and seems to understand a lot. He ususally wants me to hold him all the time when we are out and about but he doesn't even seem bothered when I tell him I can't since I'm pregnant. I hope he will continue to be so supportive during the pregnancy. I know he's going to be a wonderful big brother!