29 weeks

This week, baby is the size of an acorn squash!  James loves squash, so when I saw this picture, I immediately thought of my boy!  The little brother is weighing in right on target at 3 pounds and 2 ounces, per our growth ultrasound this week.  This week was a busy one, so time really flew by!  Not much going on with the pregnancy, other than the highlights I posted from our check up on Wednesday.
This weekend we are spending some time when my mom and step dad, eating delicious enchiladas.  We will also be spending some time getting things ready for the baby to come.  This includes a big trip to Target, Sam's Club for diapers and formula, and turning the crib back into a crib!  We also need to move the rest of James' clothes and get a ton of things out of the attic!
A coworker of mine insisted that we're doing all of this too soon, but I know how impatient my kids are, so I would rather get it out of the way.  I also think she may have been hinting at a baby shower, but really, even if we're lucky enough to have one, I would rather be overly prepared than wait!
In reference to the formula we are buying at Sam's - we are hoping that the baby will nurse and that breast milk will be his main source of nourishment, but are planning on supplementing with formula also.  Even though I may be pumping while Adam feeds him with a bottle, we want to use both.  Supply was never an issue with James, but we only nursed/pumped for 3 weeks, so who knows what will come.  Since the baby will start daycare around 8 weeks old, he needs to be able to take a bottle regardless of what's in it.
Overall, I am just glad its Friday.  Sleep hasn't been coming very easily and I could certainly use the break from the office!

28 week check up

Here are the highlights from today's growth ultrasound and regular OB check up.

Baby is:
around 3 pounds, 2 ounces.
head down.
in enough amniotic fluid.
growing like crazy!
cute as a button, he looks just like his brother in the 3D pictures!
healthy and doing well.

Mom is:
only up 2 pounds in the last 6 weeks (feel free to call me a superstar, cause I so am...).
taking more and more insulin.
still reporting good blood sugar levels.
not gaining any water weight yet, blood pressure is good!
going back for another regular check up in 2 weeks.
starting non-stress tests in 4 weeks.
having a repeat growth ultrasound also in 4 weeks.

After the start of non-stress tests, we'll continue to assess when baby will come out.  The earliest would be 37 weeks, or December 21st unless other problems arise!

Ouch!

This morning was a pretty typical morning for James and I.  He slept a bit later than he has been (6:30 AM seemed really late!) and we got dressed and ready for the day.  I realized that I needed to change my insulin pump set, so I got all my supplies ready.  James noticed what I was doing and stood by to "help" which really means he wanted to watch.  So I got everything all ready to go and then put the set in (the set portion of the tubing is the part that goes in my stomach, the catheter, really).  When I put it in, James said, "Ouch!  That hurt!"  He's so funny.  I've never told him it hurts, he just came to his own conclusion.  A few minutes later, I stabbed my finger to check my blood sugar, and James again yelled "Ouch!  That hurt too!"  He's so funny.  Sometimes he pretends to put his finger on the test strip too.  I'm amazed at how well he handles everything, I always explain what I'm doing and that it doesn't hurt Mom.  Now he's more curious than anything and wants to watch.  He can be helpful too, if I ask him to go get my medicine, he'll fetch my glucometer for me.  This morning, when I got my number - 115, I told him the machine said that Mom did a good job.  He laughed at me and we continued on our day!

The Big Boy Room

Last night, James slept in his twin bed in his big boy room.  He didn't make a big deal when Adam put him to bed.  He went down at 7:15 for about 10 hours.  He's been waking up so early lately, I am hopeful that he gets back to his 7 AM wake ups some day.  That might be wishful thinking, as he's been on this schedule for a couple of weeks now.  Either way, I'm proud of James for being such an adaptable big boy!  He didn't even fall out of the bed or come wake us up in the middle of the night!  In fact, he cries for us to come get him out of his bed, even though he could do it on his own, which is kind of silly.  But I will take that over middle of the night visits.
So it looks like James will be sleeping in there from now on.  Adam put some of his work clothes in the nursery closet for now, but I'm going to make some space for him in mine.  I'm not using my closet right now anyway because all of my maternity clothes are in a tub by one of the dressers.  Its very classy.  I think I'm going to put some of my very littlest clothes in storage and that should free up some space.  One day, maybe I'll even fit into them again.  That might be more wishful thinking.
Moving the rest of James' things into the big boy room will check off a bunch of items on my "Stuff to do before the baby comes" list.  Luckily, that's not a lot, since he doesn't spend a lot of time in there, just his toy box and the rest of his clothes from the closet.  We do need to move a chest out of the big boy room.  It came from Adam's grandmother (against my wishes!) and is VERY heavy. It would probably kill any child that got stuck in it.  That's not even an exaggeration.  Adam can't move it on his own and I am unable to help at this point.  If we ask his dad for help, I am sure we will just get a guilt trip for not keeping the damn thing, so we'll see who we can sucker into helping move it.

28 weeks

Hello, third trimester!  Here we are, in the last 3 months of my pregnancy!  I am looking forward to the end, but hopeful that the little guy will stay put until 37 weeks!
At this point, we've reached viability, but again, the longer the baby stays put, the better.  I have been working on my list of reasons I never want to be pregnant again and this week has given me a few things to add!  Although, I suppose none of those things are really pregnancy related.  I haven't seen sleeping the best, which has made me quite moody, particularly at work.  I feel bad about the moodiness, but at the same time, I wish people would just leave me alone and stop asking me such dumb questions (I know!  I sound awful, but its true!).  Last night I was telling Adam about some of the newest office happenings and he reminded me that there are no stupid questions, just stupid people.  He might have a point there, so maybe I should try to be nicer.
Things are rolling along otherwise, we still haven't put James in his big boy room.  We're dragging our feet a little bit, but I think that's more logistical than anything else.  Adam's closet is in that room, so he needs to get his things out so he can get dressed for work in the morning without waking James.  Although James has been waking up at the crack of dawn, so I'm not sure that's even an issue right now.  Hopefully he will go back to his old schedule and we'll need to have Adam get dressed in our room.  I'm thinking a rolling clothing rack might do the trick, we have space for one.  Sooner rather than later we need the big brother in his room and the baby in the crib!

"I'm a Grandma"

We had a great time this weekend at the pumpkin patch.  We went to Weber's Farm, which is only 10 or so minutes from my parents, and I think James thoroughly enjoyed himself.  It was pretty insanely crowded, but we really tried to over look the lines for everything and have fun with James.  That can be difficult, because even not pregnant, I am not a patient person.  But we looked at animals, went on the slide, and ate lots of snacks.  The sheer amount of people also lead to James wanting to be carried more, a task which fell largely on Adam, since the boy is a bit heavy for me to be packing around at 7 months pregnant.  The line for the hayride never quite subsided, so we passed on that attraction (James also told Adam repeatedly that the tractor was going to get him, so I'm not sure what that was all about.)  All that aside, we came home with lots of goodies: gourds (James decided pumpkins were too big), apples, apple cider donuts, and a couple of pies that I could have really done without.  Things seemed to be calming down a bit as we were leaving around 4 PM, so perhaps that is a better time of day to go.  In a perfect world, we could take off work on a weekday and go then, but that is probably not in the cards for next year.
Something a bit odd happened while James, Adam and I were looking through the pumpkin bins though.  It was a nice fall day, but James and I have both had a tiny bit of a runny nose.  I had a bunch of tissues (I initially forgot them, but stole a box to take with us from my mom) in my pocket.  James was digging through the bin, so I couldn't see his face.  Out of nowhere, an older woman (definitely older than my mom, but not ancient by any means) hands me a napkin and says "Here, I'm a Grandma".  I took the napkin, but gave her a puzzled looked.  She proceeded to tell me that I needed to wipe my child's nose.  When I looked at James, yes he did have a little snot coming out, but it wasn't anything crazy.  So I said thank you (At least I think I did, at that point, Adam and I were kind of looking at each other like, "Huh?")  I couldn't even get out the fact that I had a ton of tissues with me, just couldn't see his face, etc. before she launched into her 4 grandkids and all but showed me their latest report cards.  I know she was trying to be helpful, but I was a little taken aback.  I just can't imagine my own mom, who is also a grandma (duh, Chelsea), handing tissues to someone she didn't even know.  I mean, I'm sure if someone asked, she would be more than happy to help out in a pinch.  Maybe that's because my mom actually understands normal (well, fairly normal...) social interactions.
I guess the whole "I'm a Grandma" explanation annoyed me a bit too.  Like, does this lady know she's a lot of other things besides a grandma?  Maybe she's not, maybe she's a Grandma spyborg sent to Baltimore, MD from outerspace.  Overall, not the worst thing that could happen, but I thought it was an overstep.

Questions

As a second time mom and as someone using a new OB, I have a ton of questions swirling around my head. Some of them come from my birth experience with James and some of them come from having a new doctor perform this surgery.  With James, I had a regular OB, Dr. Aziz and the high risk OB, Dr. Cootauco.  I went to my regular check ups with Aziz and then would walk over to the main hospital for high risk stuff (mainly non stress tests and biophysical profiles).  I think this go around is easier, making one appointment instead of trying to coordinate two visits back to back.  Dr. Aziz delivered James and took care of my pre-eclampsia issues and the high risk doctors managed my diabetes in the hospital.
Some of my questions are:
Who will circumcise the baby?  Dr. Aziz did James', but I am not sure the high risk doctor's perform this surgery.  And yes, we circumcise, and no, I don't really want to chat about it.  (Sorry, too much judgement and criticism on that topic for me to handle!!  I really just let Adam decide, because I am not equipped.)
Can I watch the c-section?  I didn't even think to ask if I could watch James being born.  They put my spinal and epidural in (spinal for the surgery and epidural for pain management afterwards) and then put up the curtain.  I am sure they don't typically want moms to watch themselves being cut open, so we could even skip that part.  But I saw James for all of 30 seconds before they whisked him away and that really was difficult for me.  Adam took a million pictures of his first 2 days, but I still hate that I missed them because I was ill.  If I could even just watch them take him out and get a few more minutes, I would be happy.  All of that supposes that this baby will be early and have complications, which may not be the case.
When will we schedule the c-section?  The answer to this question will come with time and more monitoring of the baby.  But I am incredibly impatient and want to know now!  (In my head I sound like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka "Daddy, I want a golden ticket!")
What will the day of the surgery entail?  When will we have to check in, how long will things take, who should we have waiting with us?  I am a planner.  It is a blessing and a curse.  I just hope that the surgery takes place on a day when James can go to Rhonda's.  His whole world is going to be rocked and I just hope we can maintain some kind of routine.
I'm sure I have a million more questions to ask before the baby comes, and if I keep writing them down, I might actually remember them all!

27 weeks

The baby is the size of a rutabaga this week.  I've never really encountered a rutabaga, I think its a root vegetable?  Not so sure, but that's what in the womb this week.  I've noticed that the last few weeks have listed the same general sizes for the baby, but we go on the 24th for another growth ultrasound.  At that point, I will know more about exactly how large (and knowing me, he's a big boy!) Baby Bednarczyk #2 is.  Also on the 24th is the official start of my going to the OB at least every 2 weeks.  I will be getting blood work that day, but I do get one small perk of already being a diabetic - I get to skip the gestational diabetes testing!  I've heard how awful it is from several moms, so I will take the little (tiny, minuscule  minute) bonus wherever I can.
This weekend we are taking James to the pumpkin patch with my mom, step dad, and step grandma (oh divorce, how you complicate familial titles).  We are going to a new place, since we just went to the petting zoo at our usual patch a few months ago.  The new place also has a bake shop and I am looking forward to getting an apple, caramel, and walnut pie!  Yum!  James has been reading his Little Critter The Fall Festival book over and over (and over, since I read it to him 3 times this morning alone...), so I know he will be excited to go on a real hayride.

I was cryin'

(queue the Aerosmith song?)
That's not actually what I'm referencing.  "I was cryin'" is James' newest "catch phrase".  Over the last few days, he's been saying it repeatedly.  The second anyone walks in a room, he will tell them that he was crying.  Whether those tears came 15 minutes before or 12 hours before, he lets you know that he was crying.
Sigh.  This makes it sound like my kid cries all day, everyday.  He really doesn't.  Yesterday, he had a tantrum about not wanting to get dressed.  But I got him dressed, we went downstairs, he got over it in a matter of seconds.  An hour later, we went to Rhonda's and the first thing he tells her is "I was cryin'".  When Adam picked him up yesterday evening, it was the first thing James said.  Rhonda stepped in and told Adam that James had not cried or had a single tantrum all day.
But he was cryin'.
Apparently, one of the older girls at daycare (Lilly, who is almost 4) will tell you that she is going to cry if she doesn't get her way.  All the boys promptly ignore her (she's the only girl during the day, surrounded by little boys aged 1, 2, 3, and 4!).
Aside:  Have I mentioned that Rhonda needs to be canonized as Saint Rhonda, patron saint of running noses and bad attitudes?
Regardless, I'm not sure if this is where James picked up the wording or not.
I've been trying to get some feeling words out of James, asking him why he was crying.  Was he upset or frustrated or sad?  He seems to understand that you cry when you're upset.  The handful of times I've cried lately (thank you, hormones), I've tried to explain that mom was upset or frustrated.  He also seems to get that his tantrums are pretty silly and typically ignored completely.  They are fewer and further between, but he is a stubborn little boy when he wants to be.
I'm really not sure where this catch phrase is leading us, sometimes he picks something up for a few days and its over as quickly as it began.  Other times, they stick around for awhile.  I know this isn't the worst thing he could be saying right now, but I hate to think about my little guy crying, even if its not nearly as often as he is saying it.
For your viewing please, Aerosmith's Cryin' video, featuring young Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone.  Classic.

26 weeks

Another week has flown by and the baby is now the size of a head of lettuce.  Last week was cauliflower, so I guess the bigger baby gets, the more like a vegetable he becomes!  I meant to update the blog more this week, James has been doing lots of entertaining things, but I have been really exhausted most days.  While I am still sleeping well, day to day activities have started to tire me out more and more.  Even just hemming and hanging James' new curtains really took it out of me.  I am trying to remember not to push myself too hard, but to maintain some level of activity.  Its a fine line to walk, especially when I would rather take a nap!  Baby has been kicking up a storm lately!  He likes to let me know his opinion through his kicks, for instance I know that he doesn't like when my waist band is too tight and he's not a fan of Mexican food.  Something about this little guy tells me he's not as laid back as his older brother, but we will see!
As you may have noticed, I haven't mentioned baby's name on the blog yet.  He has a name, but I always feel weird about putting it out there (on the blog, facebook, etc.) before he's out in the world.  You could ask me his name and I'd definitely tell you, so my logic is probably flawed.  We did the same with James, partially to make sure when he came out he looked like a James.  Again, my logic was flawed, as I saw him for all of 30 seconds before he was taken to the NICU.  But Adam (who was able to see him sooner than I was) assured me that he was a James.  I'm sure it was easier to tell me that than it would have been to pick another name, but we'll go with it.
James is still preparing to be a big brother.  Hopefully this weekend we will move him into his big boy bedroom.  He likes the room, but I am a bit worried he may fall out of bed.  The new room is directly over our living room, so if that happens, we will quickly hear about it.  We have been trying to explain to James that his baby brother (brudder in 2 year old speak) is in mommy's tummy.  He calls his little brother "cute" a lot, but I have a feeling he's not really going to connect the dots until the baby is here.  Last night he kicked me in the stomach while we were playing on the couch, not hard, but enough that it hurt.  I told him that he might hurt baby brother and he promptly apologized with a "Sorry, baby brudder!".  James is also still convinced we should name the baby "Applesauce".  I wish I fully understood the things going on in his head, he has quite the imagination.
This weekend should be fairly calm, as we have nothing planned.  I'm thankful for times where we can enjoy James while he is still an only child!