Baby #2 Bumpdate - Weeks 20 & 21

It's that time again...

How far along: 21w1d...I must admit, I almost just wrote 20w there, I'm not sure where the 20th week went.  One moment it was the next milestone (halfway!) and the next it was more than a week ago.  Time is flying lately.

Weight gain: I think I gained 4 lbs in the last 2 weeks.  For a hideous moment while I was in Oregon I thought I had gained 10!  But it turns out that my parents scale is just WAY different than mine.  Mine is clearly better as I weigh less on it ;-)  But it definitely looks like I've breached 130 and skipped right on over that to 132 which puts me up 14 lbs. total.

What's up with my body:  Braxton Hicks have started up with a vengeance.  I know some women do not feel their BH at all, but I am unfortunately not one of those women.  I get them A LOT and I hate them...they are very uncomfortable.  But they do remind me to sit down and drink some water!  Other than that I'm feeling good and there's not much going on with my body. I took a look at my 20 and 21 week bumpdates from Jett's pregnancy and it looks like I had all sorts of new symptoms crop up around this time like heartburn and sciatic nerve pain in my hip and I was just generally starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.  I feel totally fine this time around.  I would hardly realize I'm pregnant except for the grunting whenever I try to get up from our deep deep couch or out of bed or off the floor!

Gender: I'm still stuck on girl and I haven't wavered this time like I did with Jett.  We're still trying to come up with boy names but I've got my girl name and I'm having such trouble finding a boy name that hoping I'm correct and that our boy name doesn't matter.

Bumpdate: I think the bump growth has slowed down and looks similar to how it did with Jett.  Thank god because it was too big too fast!

The Birth Plan

I realized after my last post that perhaps I hadn't enlightened you all as to where and how I was planning on having this baby.

My bad.  Let me remedy that for you.

We are all alone here in CA, no family, just us.  When Jett was born this wasn't a big deal because he was our first.  It was just us to worry about when we set off for the hospital for the induction.  It was just us when we got home.  It was just us to feed.  It was just us and we laid in bed for a week enjoying our new baby.

This time is so different.  We have Jett to worry about now.

When I started to think about it I realized we had very very few options in CA regarding what to do with Jett when I went into labor.

Dom's job is to help me in labor.  The midwife's job is to help me in labor.  Who would watch Jett???  The one good friend I have here is also pregnant with her 2nd and due just 2 weeks after me.  It's entirely possible she could be in labor herself or already have a new baby by the time we're ready to have this one, so she was out as well. 

Really, my options were extremely limited.

So my thoughts turned to Oregon where all my family live and where we own a home.

We already spend our summers in Oregon, so why not just go there as planned and have the baby  where there was lots of help?

I presented the idea to my midwife here in SF and since she saw no problem with it (actually thought it was brilliant) we've plowed ahead.

Oh and we're attempting a home birth again.

If you don't remember, here was what happened last time.  Preeclampsia = hospital induction = I'm trying this again!!!

It turns out the logistics of transferring care at 32 weeks from one state to another has been relatively easy to deal with when it comes to homebirth midwives.  Perhaps since it's not a hospital I'm trying to get "in" with there has been very little resistance and lots of support.

I'm here in OR this week interviewing midwives and by the end of this week when I head back home I hope to have my OR care all lined up and ready to take over when we come back in June.

So, there you have it.  The "Plan".  Seems a little crazy but I think it's for the best for all involved.  Fingers crossed I can avoid an induction and get to stay at home this time!

Baby #2 Bumpdate - Weeks 18 & 19

I am actually not quite 19 weeks, but we had our "20 week" anatomy scan yesterday morning and I knew it was now or never to get both bumpdates from last week and this week documented.

So...here we go.

How far along: 18w6d

Weight Gain: I'm somewhere in the 9-10 lb range.  Spot on for Jett's pregnancy.

What's Up With My Body: CONSTIPATION and it's good friend HEMORRHOIDS.  Psyllium husks work, they do, they work wonderfully but...YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER TO TAKE THEM.  I am unfortunately in a position in which I have to take them 3 times a day or things just aren't running smoothly and for whatever reason 3 times a day is hard for me to remember to take pills!  It shouldn't be hard, these are take when you eat kind of pills, I eat 3 meals a day, just take the pills when I eat, right?  But damn if I don't end up with just 2 doses most days.  So, because I'm skipping a much needed dose on accident (speaking of, I just had lunch, I should take my damn pills!) constipation is still part of my life.  And hemorrhoids (which never 100% went away from Jett's pregnancy) have reared their ugly heads.  I feel extremely sexy.

Apparently I actually look pregnant to strangers now, though in my head I've looked pregnant since like 12 weeks, but officially to the outside world I look pregnant.  I've had 3 people in the last week comment on the bump in some way or another.  

Mood:  I find I'm getting more and more anxious about the logistics of this birth and the subsequent newborn that it will produce.  If I haven't mentioned, we're having this baby in Oregon, which means I'm transferring care at 32 weeks.  I dearly love my midwife here and I'm quite sad that she will not be the one who is with me when I have this baby.  I'm also anxious about having a newborn again, just generally, my newborn experience was not great and I'm not looking forward to repeating it.  And Jett, what's Jett going to think when this baby that we're always talking about finally arrives.  Anxious, anxious, anxious.

Gender:  Guys...I think this is a girl.  It is firmly a "she" when I think about "her" in my head.  Also Jett told me quite clearly the other night while we were listening with the doppler that we were listening to his baby sister.

Bumpdate:

 

And baby: