I will say I feel like so far I'm carrying much the same. The whole pregnancy has been a lot the same, so I'm super eager to find out what we're having. Speaking of which, our big ultrasound appointment is at the end of November, but we're going to have the technician put it on a piece of paper in a box, I'm going to wrap it up and we're going to open it on Christmas morning! I love that we'll get to experience such anticipation this year. I have been aching to decorate for Christmas, more than ever....which is so crazy because I really don't spend that much time or energy decorating on a normal basis at all. (Not that I don't want to...I'm just not great at it.) But I guess having Selah, being pregnant, and feeling very nostalgic about it all definitely increases my desire to get the season started.
Okay, this post is going to be random and get off track if I don't do one of those list things...so here goes -
How far along: 18 weeks
Size of baby: An orange!
Gender: Don't know yet, but we are finding out at Christmas. Some days I have strong feelings about what we're having, other days I would be shocked with either. All I know is, I'm just excited to have a tiny, squishy sweet baby in my near future!! (But I can't wait to find out)
Name: We constantly pray about this during our pregnancies, wanting God to truly make the call. We've always had our boy name since before our first pregnancy, and that's the same. (There's a second boy name we love too, if we ever had two little guys.) We had our second favorite girl name when we were pregnant with Selah, and that has stayed the same as well. There really aren't any others I even like enough right now to consider. I love them both, a lot because the meaning is so important to us. We really are surrendering them and praying over them for affirmation though. And I'm way more tempted to share this time around, though as of right now we plan on keeping them secret.
How I feel: Well, much like with Selah, it's been rough. The fatigue has been way worse, I'm sure because my energy goes a lot more to taking care of a toddler now. But I will say the nauseousness really took a break between weeks 16 and 17, then kind of came back in a bad way this past week. It does seem that not getting enough sleep, (due to time changes, elections, and staying up too late), has a negative effect on this. And during that week I felt good I was almost overly productive...I sewed a new bag, made all kinds of decorating and crafting plans, wanted to start a business, came up with all kinds of new dreams for my life, etc. You can see why I might have crashed this week. I think when nesting hits me, it hits me hard! Mostly because I am just not quite that productive of a person on a regular basis. All that to say, this whole pregnancy I've been keeping my eyes on weeks 20-25, because if it's much like with Selah, the sickness will be totally over by then. So I'm almost there and that is great! And I'm already throwing up and dry heaving much less...which let's be honest - that's the biggest relief of all.
Cravings: Considering nothing usually sounds good, I have had sudden moments of really wanting something sweet. Like, say, a pumpkin pie blizzard! Or donuts, oreos, cinnamon rolls. I know, sounds so healthy. But that's the good part about being so nauseous...I haven't really gained more than a pound yet probably because it's been so hard for me to eat much...so I know I need the calories and I'll take them however I can keep them down! I also once again love fruit this pregnancy, (peaches instead of pears this time) and do not have much use for meat. (I finally officially banned the cooking of any more bacon indoors until the end of this pregnancy. That smell is the absolute worst for me right now!) Unfortunately mexican food doesn't usually sit well with me either, which is super abnormal for me on a regular basis.
Movement: Actually, I felt some funny stuff way early on in this pregnancy, then haven't felt much more really. But yesterday this little one made his or her presence known with a big movement one time, and today I started feeling some wiggling going on in there. I'm definitely ready to be feeling this baby more full time. I just love it when that starts.
Favorite family moments: Kevin definitely likes when my belly starts getting bigger and he can "see" the baby growing. And he starts talking to him/her more. We like to ask Selah where the baby is, and yesterday she pointed to herself! But she likes poking on my belly button and smiling real big. I never know whether to teach her to say "belly" or "baby"....I mean, I don't want to confuse her anatomy knowledge or anything! ;)
I am truly in awe of how quickly this pregnancy is going...as evidenced by the fact that I keep missing my weekly pictures. (I know, that sounds crazy...but if you're a procrastinator and it's your second pregnancy...this can be a problem!) Everytime I turn over a new week I think, okay, I need to take a photo. Then it will be Tuesday, then it's already Thursday and another new week has begun! Oh my goodness. I've got to get some routine with this whole thing. I actually made this super cute banner at the very beginning and started taking weekly photos, even with a clever velcroed number changing system...then lost my gumption when it was kind of too hard to get it all in a photo...and the number making required a little more planning. I'm so crazy.
I'm also definitely praying over this little one so much. It's tough not to struggle with anxiety during a pregnancy...so much trust involved. And in some ways I think my nerves have been a little bad this time around because life is so crazy that I don't have nearly the same kind of time to just sit and savor. But I keep praying my heart out and doing my best to care for our much loved baby #2. It feels like it's wearing me out in a whole new way this time, but I do really love being pregnant. I actually almost burst into tears the other day when I was out somewhere and suddenly realized I was practically half way through my pregnancy! When it goes by so fast sometimes it feels like your missing it a little. We've gotten to hear the heartbeat 3 times now, and I just love that sound. At our 12 week appt. the little one was wiggling around and the dr. had to catch him/her. I thought that was funny.
One more thing...cloth diapers. We still do it full time except for the occasional eczema flare up (that requires using a certain lotion), and we still (mostly) love it. Toddler cloth diapering during pregnancy = potentially challenging. If Kevin wasn't such a trooper, I couldn't do the dirty ones during these nauseous days. But for the most part, I've made it through and we're doing fine. I have a whole new cloth diaper post in the works, so that's all I'll say for now.
That's my current update for Baby Love #2! My head is in a complete fog, but my heart is full.
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