32 - 33 Weeks - Baby 2

Pregnancy Update May 10, 2014

Thanks to my SIL, Erica, for the shirt! I am amazed it fit her with twins, yet just barely fits my singleton baby belly! I'm claiming the 8 inch height difference! lol

How far along: 33 Weeks.  Due June 28, 2014.

Size of baby: 17 inches, 4.25lbs. The size of a pineapple!

What developed this past week: Baby's skeleton is hardening, though the skull will not fuse together completely, but will overlap allowing for continued growth all the way up until early adulthood! He will put on about half a pound per week over the next four weeks, then the rapid weight gain will slow for the final few weeks. 

Weight Gain: 27 lbs.  

Maternity clothes: This question is a joke at this point :). When I do try to wear my own tee shirts, I have to make sure my yoga pants go up high enough so I don't have to be pulling my shirt down all the time to be sure my belly is covered. So basically, I just wear maternity. Makes things easier :)

Gender: Another wonderful boy! I am SO interested to see if he's a "Farrell boy" - sports-aholic, risk-his-life-for-a-ball boy (like Bryson is)... or if he's more like me and will gladly shield his face at the cost of dropping a ball. haha Oh the things I never thought I'd be thinking about! 

Movement: I know I've said it before, but this kid goes crazy at night! To prove it, I got a video on May 8 (at 32w6d) of him rolling around while I was relaxing on the couch at 10pm. He must have plenty of room in there, because these aren't just swift kicks and punches, they are body rolls! 

Sleep/Symptoms: Sleeping okay still - no insomnia and no middle-of-the-night bathroom trips! I love it! I know many women who were not blessed with good sleeping abilities while pregnant - I don't take it for granted! I can't imagine how women function with little ones at home, AND a exhausted-no-sleep pregnant body!! No thanks!

I still haven't gotten out my snoogle, though I'm on the verge because I've kinda squished the life out of my throw pillows - apparently I have strong knees... lol

What I miss: Just sitting comfortably at work. I have to take breaks to stand every few hours because my back and the top of my round ligament (which I always refer to as my ribs) ache rather badly. 

Cravings: I don't think I've said that I've been enjoying gala apples lately - especially with cheese! MMM... Just saying it out loud makes me want one RIGHT NOW.

Best moment this week: I had another doctor appointment, as I'm biweekly now... I measured on track at 32 weeks and baby's heart rate was good! (130-140s if I remember correctly?) 

Randomly, after seeing Dr Wise on Tuesday, Wednesday I got a phone call from the nurse saying that Dr V was ordering a follow up ultrasound for my next appointment (3 weeks after the prior u/s). I'm happy to know that both doctors keep up on my charts, though I only see one at a time! Dr V is more conservative than Dr W, so I made sure my next appointment is with her, following the u/s, considering she's the one who ordered it. I'm going to clarify that this is why, but last I heard, Dr V had said that she wants to follow/track the baby's growth because of my 1st trimester hematoma. I've never heard of that before, but that's why she gets paid the big bucks and I don't! She's been doing OB for more years than I've been alive (she delivered me 28 yrs ago!), so I surely trust her to not be doing unnecessary testing, but to be cautious and conservative. I much prefer caution to the alternative! So far, no reason to think anything is wrong, though the baby has been smaller than Bryson was, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy to keep checking on him to ensure nothing goes wrong and isn't found in time...  Selfishly, since we get another chance at it, I'm HOPING B2 doesn't have his foot in front of his face on Friday so I can see those sweet cheeks!!! I 

Bryson Update: B has been up to so many new things recently... Many pride-inducing mama moments! :) For one, he's become a pro at doing puzzles! I've had a few puzzles with 4 pieces each that have basically served as chew toys for the past 8 months. I'm glad we've finally moved on from that and recognize their true value in education! :) I'm going to have to get smaller or more-piece puzzles for him soon to keep that brilliant mind going strong!

Another CRAZY new development is B's urge to learn to use the potty! At 17 months old, I'm sure this will be awhile, but he has the start of it down! He grabs his diaper every time he is [already] going to the bathroom and when asked if he is going or needs to go potty, he RUNS to the bathroom! It's wonderful! I was not prepared this early, so I need to buy him a potty before he loses interest. We've been putting him on the big potty with the seat down and clothes on (just to get him in the habit), because he freaks out if you try to set him on it lid-open, clothes off. Apparently, my man who is afraid of next to nothing, is afraid of falling in! :) 

For grins and giggles, I'll post the videos I took (in the car) of Bryson practicing saying, "Cockadoodledoo!" and him shouting for his BFF, "Emma!"

If anyone brings up Emma, he SHOUTS her name until distracted! hahah When we were in Target on Saturday, Bryson randomly thought of Emma and began shouting her name all through the store! I had to keep telling him she wasn't here and to shhh!! hahaha He's too cute! 

We did a few fun things over the weekend too - #1, Just Bryson and Mommy went to Tim Horton's for a date Saturday morning! He's never had a muffin and I wanted to spoil him with some one-on-one time, as those weekends are quickly coming to an end! Daddy was busy at work, so the timing was great. We had almost the whole place to ourselves, only one other table of women there. Because it was so empty, I let Bryson get down from our reading in front of the fire place and explore. He loved to run down the hallway from the bathroom into my arms as hard as he could! So sweet. A few times he decided it'd be fun to chat with the other women and workers. Everyone said how cute he was and asked me when I'm due with B2.
Bryson LOVED his fruit explosion muffin and I loved my chocolate chip muffin and french vanilla cappuccino (what B doesn't know won't hurt him lol).

After a good nap, we went to Daddy's playoff flag football game! Bryson was THRILLED when we got there early and I let him walk out onto the field, quarterback shirt on and ball in hand!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of Daddy and Bryson looking at me or playing together!

This kid has an arm. Often he has two arms! Switches it up! Ambidextrous still and fairly equally skilled on both sides!

Uncle Greg was teaching him how to hold his hands to catch the ball

During the game, Bryson kept pointing down to the field asking (in grunts and points) if he could go back down and play! He'd also point and say "ball" each time the team lined up with the ball on the line. And of course, he noticed Daddy playing quarterback and pointed and said "Dada!" each time he saw him! TRUE LOVE.
To hold Bryson over while Daddy was busy downstairs, taking up the whole field... Bryson had cousins playing football (toss) with him! He LOVED it and pretty much played the whole hour, with a few stops to check on Daddy's game. I may need to look into what to do for addictive personalities before it gets too bad... lol

30 - 31 Weeks - Baby 2

Pregnancy Update April 26, 2014

How far along: 31 Weeks.  Due June 28, 2014.

Size of baby: 16.25 inches, 3.3lbs. Apparently they've run out of fruit, because now he's the size of 4 naval oranges.

What developed this past week: Baby's irises can now dilate and respond to changes in light. He's getting more fat cells under his skin and he's becoming more pink than red in color. 

Weight Gain: 24 lbs.  

Maternity clothes: All maternity and Caleb's shirts to sleep in.

Gender: A sweet boy.

Movement: Finally I've felt some hiccups!!  It took until Saturday, April 12, at exactly 29 weeks, but he's had them multiple times since. So sweet. The first time I didn't realize what I was feeling and had my sister in law, Laurie, feeling him "move". It wasn't until he got them again on Wednesday, that I realized he was having hiccups! Tiny movement in the same exact spot over and over... DUH! Should've realized sooner - this isn't my first rodeo... haha  But it is cool that Laurie got to be the first one to feel them with me!  

Also, I've figured out a way to get B2 to move on command... If I lean forward (like elbows on my knees style), apparently he gets squished and doesn't like it! He squirms all around like, "Mom! Hello?! I'm in here! Sit back! I'm running out of space in here as it is!" 

Sleep/Symptoms: Braxton Hicks every day still - usually brought on by strenuous activities (like picking up Bryson) or having a full bladder. :) My back hurts often - any time I shift positions to relieve the pain in one part of my back, it just puts the pressure on a different part and gives a different pain. Still have the round ligament pain near my ribs too... Reclining back in my chair at work with a back support is definitely the most comfortable position to sit in (for both my back and my ribs), so I try to do that as often as possible. 

Still sleeping OK. I wake up to turn over and try to get more comfortable, but don't usually have a problem going back to sleep. I find that I go to sleep on my side, but often wake up on my back. Then I roll to my other side... and sometimes I still roll to my stomach! at 30 weeks! Ridiculous... I can't believe the baby isn't too big for this! As long as I keep my leg pulled up so my hip is off the bed, my hips are turned, and only the top of my stomach is down, I'm good! It's crazy...  

What I miss: Can't think of anything this week.

Cravings: Nothing new.

Best moment this week: The ultrasound and doctor appt I had on April 22! Probably one of the best moments of the whole pregnancy! Laura measured the baby to make sure he is growing appropriately since the last u/s and he is! Here are his measurements at 30w3d:

I hear from someone just about every.single.day. how small I am for X# weeks... But the baby seems to be ok, and my AFI (amount of amniotic fluid) was 10, minimum is 5! So looks like everything is good - maybe baby is just lower in my hips since they're probably wider because a child has passed through them before... I don't know :)

The other BEST news is that my placenta moved!!! When I first looked at the screen to see the placenta Laura was pointing to, I could've sworn I saw a "crack" right beside it which I assumed was my cervix... but luckily for me, I am not the sonographer! haha Laura said, "Nope - your cervix is up here! Everything looks good! You're okay to give birth naturally!" YAY!!! I honestly don't think I stopped smiling for a good 24 hours! 

Baby was still in the head down position, but this time flipped left/right from the last sono. His bum was to my left and feet back to his face on my right. Unfortunately, the kid WOULD NOT move his feet from in front of his face! I tried laying on my side, we shook him around, anything we could to get to move so we could see his sweet face, but to no avail! So these are the pics we got...  don't laugh at my flexi-ankled child. lol

Yes - that's his FOOT, not his hand, over his eyes!

Still such a sweet face!!! Can't wait to see it in person! :)

Not a good profile pic... not sure why THIS is the one Laura chose to print?...

Bryson Update: We got to go to Uncle Jon and Aunt Grace's house (3 hours away) this weekend for Easter... B LOVES them and they LOVE him :)  They spoiled him with an Easter basket of all his favorite goodies!! More balls, a Bengals hat (Uncle Jon's team, not Daddy's Cowboys...), a butterfly net, bubbles, baseball bat/ball, sunglasses, etc! L-O-V-E!

 

 

It was so beautiful outside so we spent a lot of time out there playing and coloring Easter eggs then doing Bryson's 1st Easter Egg Hunt! SUCH FUN! The look on his face was priceless each time he'd spot another egg! He'd point and run. Adorable!

The Incredible Hulk

We ended up with lots of broken eggs (that kid is not gentle...), but even more great memories! So happy we got to spend the time relaxing and enjoying our family for the weekend!

HERE'S LOOKIN' AT YOU, KID!