21 Weeks

Well, the stomach bug hit our house this week. Around 4 am Sunday morning I woke up puking. Felt gross all day Sunday, but Monday was okay for me. Tuesday was a whole other story. About 5 minutes before we left home in the morning, I got sick again. As I was puking, Sophie was asking if I was okay. I got her to leave so she didn't have to watch me and then I heard her screaming/crying in the other room. I stopped what I was doing to give her a hug, and smelled poop. Diarrhea to be exact. We both stayed home and snuggled up on the coach. Josie was gentle with her kicks and turns, which was nice. I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I have two kids and I am sick.

How far along? 21
Maternity clothes? Yup
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: I've been sleeping well this week
Best moment this week: Feeling Josie roll around and kick. No more little flutters!
Miss Anything? Well, I have missed Coke Zero so much that I broke down and had one earlier this week. I savored it over 2 hours at school. Josie was bouncing all over the place.
Movement: Oh yeah!
Food cravings:  None
Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything seemed to this week.
Any pregnancy complications?: None this week. My sciatic nerve has actually been behaving itself. I guess it knew I was going to get the stomach bug and decided to give me a break.
Have you started to show yet: Yup
Gender: Girl
Looking forward to: Hearing Josie's heart beat again. I love that.

20 Weeks

How far along? 20  Weeks - I am halfway there!
Maternity clothes? Yup
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: Besides a certain 2 year old who has decided to wake up each night at 4:30, I have been sleeping pretty well.
Best moment this week: Learning that we are having a baby girl and that she is developing perfectly! Such great news!
Miss Anything? Coke Zero
Movement: Yup! I love those little taps.
Food cravings:  Not really
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Any pregnancy complications?: Still some sciatic nerve issues and headaches. I did a 5K on Saturday and it helped wiht my sciatic nerve for a few days. Guess that means I am going to have to start walking some more.
Have you started to show yet: Oh yeah.
Gender prediction: No more predicting! I am so excited about my little girl!
Looking forward to: Seeing my daughters together.

Sophie's Reaction

"I like-a you, Josie."

Ultrasound and Echo Updates

Yesterday was a big day for little miss Josie (and her parents). She had not one but two 'photo shoots!'

First up was the anatomy ultrasound. The technician took us back a room with multiple beds and machines (I am thinking it is used for NSTs). She said it wasn't the normal room she uses and mentioned that she hadn't used the machine she was able to use since January. Okay... So she gets started and basically tells us nothing besides 'there is a foot' and 'I am measuring the brain'. I guess it is normal that ultrasound technicians not tell you about the things they see; that is the job for the doctors. However, the technician who did many of Sophie's ultrasounds told us everything. She was cranky and very blunt, but I kinda missed kinda missed her yesterday. I had questions about the umbilical cord and growth that I wanted answered and this technician wasn't budging. Anyway, after about 5 minutes of working her magic, she told us that we needed to go back out to the waiting room. She wanted to use the machine in another room and had to wait for it to be free. Joe and I were confused. Why would she start an ultrasound and then tell us she was going to redo it? I started to think that maybe she was getting a doctor because she found something wrong. Ten minutes later she called us back and lead us to the new room. She continued with her scans, randomly announcing an arm moving or something else that I couldn't see. (I wasn't a huge fan of her...can you tell?) Then all of a sudden she zooms in on a spot and says, "Those three white lines means you are having a girl." Man, no build up or warning that we were about to find out our baby's gender. I barely had time to smile with happiness before she took the wand off my stomach and told us that she was finished. Geez... I left feeling kind of dazed. On the one hand I was ecstatic about finding out that my baby is a girl. On the other hand I was baffled and annoyed by the experience we just had. I'm not saying that the technician needed to be warm and bubbly and chatty, but her lack of a personality kind of ruined things. She could have at least let us look at our daughter for a minute before hurrying us out of the room...

So after leaving that somewhat disappointing ultrasound, we headed over to Children's Hospital for the fetal echo. Things went much better here. Not only did we get back quickly, but the technician and nurse were both very friendly and helpful. The technician would also throw out little bits of info, like when Josie had the hiccups or how she was trying to grab her foot at one point. I appreciated those little things. (That other technician could have learned a thing or two from this one). After the echo was finished, the doctor came in to go over the results with us. He said that everything looked perfect! He did mention that there is a possibility that she could have a bicuspid valve that is very minor (like Sophie's) that they might not be able to see. He didn't seem very concerned by this and even said that we wouldn't need to have an echo done on Josie after she is born unless we were really worried and wanted it done for piece of mind. Nah. He reiterated that everything looked great before sending us on our way. I felt so much better after this appointment. Even if we didn't know about Josie's umbilical cord or her size we at least knew that she has a great heart. I finally felt that I was able to smile and get excited about our baby girl!

Today I went for a check-up with my doctor. He found Josie's heartbeat right away (not like that scary experience the last time I had a check-up) and said things sounded great. Then he looked at her ultrasound results. He told us everything looks perfect! All 3 vessels are there in her umbilical cord, her brain looks good, and she is in the 48% percentile for size! Whooo hoooo!  My little Josie is doing great so far! I am so happy and relieved!

Josie

Since finding out that I am pregnant, Joe and I have been discussing names. Well, I've been discussing names and Joe has been listening to me (and agreeing). I knew what name I wanted to use for a boy, but I was stuck between two girl names. As our anatomy scan drew closer, I told Joe that he had to pick between the two names. He decided on Josephine Evelyn (insert last name here). We are going to call her Josie for short. Josephine is a nod to Joe, my Grandpa (Joe), and Joe's dad (whose middle name is Joseph). Evelyn was my Grandma's name. It also has a 'Lynn' in there (minus one 'n' - Lynn as a middle name is kind of a family tradition on my side of the family. There are 5 of us with that middle name: me, my sister, my cousin, my niece, Sophie...). I am especially happy that my Grandma and Grandpa P. are represented in her name. They were amazing grandparents and I miss them everyday.

We are so excited to be having another girl! I can't help but smile, thinking about my daughters. I hope they love each other and are close friends. It is going to be so wonderful having two little girls around! Sophie and Josie...I just love it!


**According to Babycenter.com, Josephine/Josie means "God shall add" and Evelyn means "Life". God shall add life...perfect!

It's A....

GIRL!!

 

 (Thanks to Becki for taking these pictures for us.)

19 Weeks

Tomorrow is a really big day for Raz. At 12:40, we are going to my doctor's for an ultrasound. This one will tell us what we are having and if there are any issues. At 2:30, we are going to Children's Hospital for a fetal echo. I'm a little nervous about both of these appointments. Last time when we went for the anatomy scan, we found out that Sophie had a 2 vessel cord and was in a lower percentile. (Not as scary as what my sister went through at her anatomy scan - finding out her daughter had gastroschisis.) Each ultrasound after showed that Sophie was slipping farther and farther down the percentile scale until she was IUGR. It is hard not to fear that history will repeat itself. Still, regardless of what happens tomorrow, we love Raz and are so happy to have her/him in our lives.

How far along? 19  Weeks
Maternity clothes? I'm wearing a mix of pregnancy clothes and pre-pregnancy clothes.
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: I had some issues with falling asleep this week. Overall it wasn't too bad.
Best moment this week: Today is my 29th birthday! Raz gave me a bunch of happy little taps after school. Combining that with kisses and hugs from Joe and Sophie made it a wonderful day!
Miss Anything? Not having headaches. I very rarely had headaches before being pregnant and I've had them for a week straight now!
Movement: I keep feeling little taps here and there. There have been two times when I think Raz had the hiccups. They didn't last but a few minutes, but I kept feeling little bumps every 15 seconds. So sweet.
Food cravings:  I've realized one craving that I've had throughout my pregnancy. It is a little strange. I want multiple things at the same time that starts with the letter P. So one day it might be peanut M&Ms, pickles and popsicles and another it might be popcorn, peanuts, and pizza. Today I wanted pizza, potatoes (mashed), and peanut butter M&Ms.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Smells. Earlier this week, a student took his shoes off when I was working with his group. I could have puked. The smell lingered and I couldn't go back to the table for the rest of class. So gross! Also, not getting enough to eat is making me a little sick (duh!). Before breakfast is the worst.
Any pregnancy complications?: Sciatic nerve issues and all week long I've been getting headaches. It always starts up in the afternoons. Not sure what that is all about yet.
Have you started to show yet: Yup. 
Gender prediction: Girl (though I caught myself calling the baby my son a few days ago...)
Looking forward to:  tomorrow when we get to find out what we are having, and if all is well with sweet little Raz.