19 weeks

You want the mango??  You cannot have the mango!  I'm really hoping someone gets my Chris Kattan/SNL Mango reference, but if not, I suppose I sound really silly.
We are at 19 weeks today and the baby BOY is the size of a mango.  Yes, we found out on Monday that our little bundle of joy is a boy and while this threw me for a loop, we are still very excited to know more about the little alien growing inside me.  I've been meaning to update the blog this week with our happy news, but this week has just been kicking my butt.  So here we are, updating on Friday.  Better late than never, right?
Our anatomy scan was on Monday, like I said, and everything on the baby looks good.  The technician couldn't get a good look at the left side of his face, which isn't a reason for concern, but they will have to try to get a picture of it when we go in 5 weeks for our fetal echo cardiogram   The little guy was weighing in at 9 ounces, so he is right on target for his gestational age.  We compared pictures of the ultrasounds of both our boys and they look amazingly similar in the womb.  I suppose that shouldn't shock me, but it was crazy to see another little James.
Nothing too new to report, other than being tired this week and starting to get more and more heartburn, things have been going fine.  Adam leaves James and I for three more days starting on Sunday, but at least this time daycare is open.  We see the OB again in a month (well, closer to 3 weeks now), the endocrinologist again in a couple of weeks, and will go on September 25th to see the baby's heart.

For your viewing pleasure, I've included a Mango skit from SNL, this one has Garth Brooks in it.

18 weeks

Time is still flying by and here we are at 18 weeks.  The baby is now the size of a sweet potato.  The baby can yawn, hiccup, suck, and swallow, and is quite active in the womb.  I have been feeling more and more movement, which is very exciting!
On Monday, we will hopefully find out if the baby is a boy or girl.  Although that's not the main point of the anatomy ultrasound, it is the fun part!  They will also take measurements of every bone in the baby's body, making sure he or she has all their toes and fingers.  They use markers to make sure there are not obvious abnormalities.  We aren't anticipating any issues, but it is still a little nerve wracking.
I will be 18 weeks, 3 days for the appointment, we found out that James was a boy at 19 weeks, 3 days, so we'll know a bit sooner this time.  I only know James' gestational age at the time because I was looking at his ultrasounds last week.  James was "out and proud" with his boy parts, so hopefully this baby will be as cooperative.  At least they are big enough to shake around in there if we need to get a different angle, unlike the last ultrasound we had four weeks ago.
I have been feeling pretty good the last few weeks, not nauseous or overly tired.  I have been having some difficulty sleeping, but sometimes am getting relief if I use a pillow between my knees.  My trip to the neurologist was fairly boring, he confirmed that the headaches that I'm having are migraines and gave me a medication to try.  The doctor wants me to clear this medication with my OB first, but honestly, after doing some research of my own, I'm not sure I'll be taking it.  The drug is in pregnancy category C, which isn't terrible, but long term use of it can lead to withdrawal-like symptoms in babies.  I think if I were to take it, I would just worry every time the baby cried or was irritable that it was my fault for taking the medicine.  But we will see what the OB says and go from there.  Luckily, in the last few weeks my headaches have been getting better.
I'm sure I will update as soon as I can on Monday with the sex of the baby, so be on the look out!

Oddities of Pregnancy

Being pregnant really does a number on one's body.  All kinds of weird things happen, most of which I won't be blogging about.
Why?  Well, they're gross and I'd rather just complain to Adam (okay, and Jackie) about them and move on.
But I will share one pregnancy oddity that I've been dealing with a lot this time around:  Body Acne (aka Bacne).
Gross, right?
With James, my face broke out, A LOT.  I looked like a teenager (okay, a teenager's face) for most of the 8 months.  It was horrible, cystic acne and there was very little I could do about it.
This time, I had my share of facial breakouts the first few months.  But its died down, for the most part.  I also have been more careful with my face this time, washing/scrubbing more often and using a toner regularly has helped.  But more than my face, my shoulders have been breaking out a lot.  No amount of washing, exfoliating, or medicating has helped.  My shoulders and upper arms are gross, although I'm fairly sure that I'm the only one noticing.
Then a few weeks ago, I had a new visitor.  A fresh "face" if you will...  A huge pimple...  IN MY UNDERARM!  A PIT PIMPLE!  Are you kidding me, hormones?  This thing was huge and painful.
I immediately texted Jackie about it, knowing she would at least be entertained by my sudden predicament.  She told me to take a video of popping it, which pretty much sums up why Jackie is my best friend.  So I popped the sucker, cleaned it well with toner, then put some acne cream on it.  Yes, I used Mary Kay on my armpit.  That's just where I am in my life.
The remains of the pimple healed and I thought I was done with that fun chapter of this pregnancy.  Until yesterday, when I felt a familiar pain in my right under arm.  Low and behold, there was another pimple brewing under there, not an inch from the first one.
So this morning, I took care of business and hopefully this one clears up as well.  Honestly, it hurts every time I move my arm, reminding me that I'm a freak show with weird body acne.  But I will move on and in 23 (give or take) more weeks, I will be done with ever being pregnant again!

2 year olds are crazy

So every now and then I like to state the obvious.  Today it is this fact: Two year olds are crazy.  Not even crazy bad all the time, just crazy.  They say silly things, run around like maniacs, and change their minds all the time.  I've had the pleasure of spending the last four days at home with James, the last two of which have been mainly by myself.  We honestly had a great time, we ran errands, saw my mom and step dad, and went to my doctor's appointment.  James is very well behaved and he didn't get a timeout the entire time.  He was warned a few times, but never followed through with the bad behavior to end up in timeout.  The boy is a ball of energy.
I envy his energy, but more than that, I love his heart.  Even when he's running around, being wacky, he still stops every now and then to give his mom a hug.  He saunters over, leans his head on me, and says "Oh, mommy" in this cute voice.  He likes to play, but he also likes to cuddle and give kisses.  I can't imagine how I will feel when one day this ends, when he's embarrassed that his mom could possible want a hug, and he realizes that cuddling is just so not cool.  For now, I'm going to enjoy my snuggly boy and try not to think about it too much.
While Adam was away, James did a really great job of playing independently.  He would pull out a book and flip through it or line up his Matchbox cars and keep himself pretty entertained.  I was proud of myself that I only put him in front of Sesame Street on Sunday evening so that I could cook dinner.  I know that I can take care of the two of us on my own, but I certainly welcomed Adam's return this afternoon.

17 weeks

Well, we are week 17 and things are speeding along, as usual.  In 10 days, we will hopefully know if the baby is a boy or a girl.  I don't really have a strong feeling one way or the other, but there would be pros to each!  Adam is sure that its a girl, so we'll see if his intuition is correct.
This week the baby is gaining fat on its body, developing more bone density rather than rubbery cartilage, and growing a stronger umbilical cord.
If the baby comes when Mr. James did, then I'm halfway there.  Hopefully that isn't the case and this kid will want to hang out with mom a bit longer!

The last week

James has been sick for about a week now.  Between a high fever (104* at some points) and sore throat, to be closely followed by a very runny nose and cough, my little guy was kind of a mess for awhile.  He seems to be doing better this morning, but his nose and cough are still bothering him a bit.  While I try not to take daycare for granted, being home with a sick toddler is not for the faint at heart.  He is stubborn, head strong, and moody (not unlike his mother, ha!).  Add in some sickness and he's even grumpier, not in the mood to eat, and clingy to boot.
Okay, now I'm done complaining.  I really do feel bad for the little guy, I would take all his ills if I could, but it doesn't work that way.  Hopefully he will continue to feel better, at least for his parents' sake.
Tomorrow is our annual trip to pediatric cardiology, so that should be interesting.  This year I'm not nearly so amped up about it as much as I'm dreading having to hold James still for his echo.  The child barely holds still for a diaper change.  But they usually play a movie, so hopefully his love of "Melmo" will help some.  Wish us luck!

16 weeks

This week the baby is as big as an avocado.  Which seems weird to me, because in my head, avocados are smaller than navel oranges, but I will go with what thebump.com says.
In two more weeks, we'll hopefully find out if we're having a boy or girl.  And four weeks after that we'll have a fetal echo done on the baby's heart. Hopefully this little peanut does not have the same heart murmur as their big brother.
The statistics say that the chance of another heart defect baby is only 2 - 3%, but those stats are for non-diabetic mommies.  Although, the reason behind James' heart defect may have been elevated blood sugar in the first 7 weeks, my A1C (an average of your blood sugar for 4 to 6 weeks) during that time was around 7%.  The first month of my pregnancy this time had my A1C around 6.7%, so we'll see if that 0.3% really makes a difference.  James' VSD could also be a fluke and not have anything to do with his diabetic momma.
This pregnancy is definitely reminding me that I don't ever want to do this again.  I have been fairly uncomfortable and having a terrible time sleeping lately.  My brain has been having a very difficult time turning itself off, which is funny, because I wasn't nearly so stressed with James.  After Adam and I ran down our finances for the 87th time and I was assured that we weren't going to be homeless, I was just excited to meet my little boy.  This time I am not stressed about finances, per se, just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I will need to give 100% of my attention to two little creatures.  I'm sure we will get it all sorted out in no time, but right now its scary.  I want to do the right things for James, not transition him out of his crib too soon, not move his bedroom too soon, not pressure him to potty train, and overall just not force him to grow up too quickly simply because we have another baby coming.  I can't imagine if he was any younger, I think the two under two crowd might be on drugs, because that is just madness to me.  So there's my vent for the day!