16 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: I've gained 5 lbs since my last doctor's appointment, but since I had a lost 1 lb last time, my net gain for the pregnancy is 4 lbs. 

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an avocado. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes, indeed!

Sleep: Pretty good. I stay up way too late at night, but I can't blame that on pregnancy...that's all me!

Movement: I haven't felt much in the last couple weeks. I was a little worried about it, but Dr. Orth said it's nothing to worry about. It's still early for movement...with Claire I didn't feel anything for 5 additional weeks. 

Cravings/Aversions: Last week Cam got me a blue raspberry slushy at the gas station and I've has two more since then. So good!

What I Miss: After a holiday weekend of celebrating, I miss alcohol! I'm not a big drinker, but between 2 pregnancies and breastfeeding each bambino, it will be 3.5 years straight of not being free to drink when I want. 

Gender: We find out in 3 weeks on June 18th! I am soooo excited to find out! I can't wait to know what our family of four will look like!

Mood: Pretty good. 

Symptoms/Medical Concerns: Feeling really full and uncomfortable at night. A little bit of swelling - I had to admit defeat and put my real wedding rings away this week. I feel like I'm showing so much already...it's crazy how much sooner all these things start the second time around. 

Overall I've been feeling so much better lately, so on Sunday night I decided to try not taking my Diclegis. Monday I could definitely tell a difference and felt nauseous on and off all day, so back to the Diclegis I go! Dr. Orth said I'll likely need to take it for 4 more weeks or so. 

Differences from Last Pregnancy: One major difference is that heartburn hasn't been an issue so far in this pregnancy because I'm taking Prevacid everyday already. I had very bad heartburn with Claire and it never really went away after she was born, so I started seeing a gastroenterologist this past winter and had an endoscopy. It showed that I have esophagitis and a hiatal hernia, so when I feel like my stomach is coming up into my throat, it's because that's literally what is happening. Good times! I will likely take acid blocking medication forever, pregnant or not. Nevertheless, I tried to avoid taking one during the first trimester and wasn't able to do it...I just feel miserable without my medication. 

Milestones: I can't believe that in just 4 short weeks this pregnancy will be halfway over! Crazy! I had my doctor's appointment today and it went well. Baby's heartbeat was strong and easy to find on the doppler. My blood pressure was a teeny bit elevated, but I think it was because I'd been scrambling to get Claire dropped off and get to my appointment on time in the rain. 

Best Moment this Week: Spending the weekend with family and having an extra day to relax with Cam and Claire on Monday! Claire is at such a fun age and she literally makes us laugh all day! 

What I'm Looking Forward to: The anatomy scan on June 18th! Of course I'm excited to know the gender, but I'm also looking forward to make sure everything looks good and healthy. 

15 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: Not sure

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an apple!

Maternity Clothes: Yep

Sleep: Pretty good

Movement: I haven't felt much in the last week.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really specific. I'm thirsty and always wanting different drinks. By the time I head to bed at night, I have an entire array of beverages on the table by the couch.

What I Miss: Margaritas and having strong bladder muscles!

Gender: I don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to know so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could easily convince myself of baby being either gender right now.

Mood: Pretty good. A little moody and hormonal sometimes...well, Cam might say more than just sometimes, haha. I've spent time everyday since my last post on the phone with Humana straightening out our insurance fiasco, and that has left me a bit stressed. It has been an absolute nightmare for everybody at Cam's company...that's not an exaggeration. If this experience is any reflection of the state of the American healthcare system post-Obamacare, we are in so much trouble. I seriously want to cry thinking that we're spending $850/month for this. I'm just thankful that I'm not due with the baby this month or having surgery or something else serious...I can't imagine how much stress this mess would've added in that situation.

Symptoms/Medical Concerns: I'm feeling pretty good right now. I've gotten sick twice in the last week, but that is such an improvement from how it's been. I feel so much better than I did and for that I am so thankful. 

Otherwise, I'm a little tired and having a bit of hip and back pain, but no biggie. I have this extremely full feeling in the late evenings. I remember this from when I was pregnant with Claire, although it didn't start this early. Around 10 pm, I feel like I've just eaten Thanksgiving dinner. It can last for hours sometimes and make going to sleep difficult. I can control it a little bit by not eating or drinking much for several hours before, but nothing completely eliminates it. It's really weird. 

Differences from Last Pregnancy: Right now things are pretty similar, apart from a few of the symptoms I mentioned above starting a bit earlier than last time. 

Milestones: Hmmm...just feeling a lot better, I guess? 15 weeks is when I felt a lot better with Claire too. I'm still taking my nausea meds though...don't wanna press my luck! 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: Can't think of anything.

Best Moment this Week: Going on a little girls getaway with my Mom and Claire. The boys went fishing in Rockport, so we took advantage and went to San Antonio for the night. It was fun, but my niece Grace got sick, so she and my sister couldn't go. We missed them so much! But I had a great time with my Mom and it's always nice to get away for a little bit. 

What I'm Looking Forward to: Celebrating Pinky and Gigi's birthdays this weekend with the fam and having a long weekend! 

14 Weeks

Well, here we go again!

Total Weight Gain: I haven't weighed myself recently. When I was in the worst part of morning sickness a few weeks ago, I had lost 6 lbs from what I weighed at my first doctor appointment. When I went back to the doctor a couple weeks ago, I was down 1 lb from my first appointment weight.

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a lemon!

Maternity Clothes: Yes! 

Sleep: Okay. A couple weeks ago I was having trouble getting to sleep, but it's a bit better now. 

Movement: I think I've felt something 3-4 times in the past week. Exciting, and always a little shocking when it happens! With Claire my placenta was anterior, so I didn't feel movement until much later, but this time it's not. It will be fun to feel the differences between this pregnancy and the last!

Cravings/Aversions: I'm craving Mexican food a lot. Most of my aversions seem to have passed, but I went through a period where handling any kind of meat was a real trial. A lot of times Claire has pieces of deli meat with her lunch and just the thought of that was enough to send me over the edge. That sounds so funny now, but boy is it intense when you're in the throes of it!

What I Miss: Not much at the moment. 

Gender: Not yet! I'm dying to know. We should be able to find out mid-late June. 

Mood: Pretty good now that I'm through the first trimester and feeling better. The main source of my stress at the moment is insurance! Cam's work switched insurance companies at the beginning of this month, which is a little inconvenient mid-pregnancy and more expensive (thanks "Affordable" Care Act!), but I thought it would be figured out by now. Well, the transition has been a nightmare for Cam's company. It's been two weeks and we haven't even been able to print temporary cards. Finally our real cards came in the mail yesterday and lo and behold, Humana screwed up all our information. They signed us up for the wrong plan and think Claire is Cam's spouse and I'm their child. How cute. I know it will work out, but I have a baby who needs shots and an OB office that is waiting for my new insurance info so they can have me pay them a big deposit when I go back in two weeks. Not fun at all. 

Symptoms/Medical Concerns: It's been a very rough first trimester and I'm glad it's over. Just like with Claire, this pregnancy started out with bleeding, to the point that I thought it was a period and assumed I wasn't pregnant. Just to be sure, I took a test once it had been long enough to get a result and it was positive! Since this has happened with both of my pregnancies, my doctor and I have concluded that I just have very heavy implantation bleeding. Then a couple weeks later I caught a nasty stomach virus. Oh gosh, that was fun... 

When we did initial pregnancy bloodwork at my doctor's office, my progesterone was very low. In early pregnancy, your progesterone level should be 10 and mine was 0.5. Since progesterone is what helps you hold on to a pregnancy, we thought we might be heading for a miscarriage. It was scary, and no one knew except me and Cam at that point. My doctor put me on progesterone suppositories and had me come in for frequent bloodwork. Since then, thankfully my progesterone level has been normal. As far as why my progesterone was so low, it might be that I had just finished nursing Claire so my hormones were out of whack or it could just be that this bloodwork was early in the pregnancy. Apparently doctors don't usually check progesterone early on, so it's hard to have a clear baseline. Whatever the case, it's a relief that we got it straightened out. I was able to stop the progesterone and bloodwork a couple weeks ago and everything's been fine since, thankfully. At this point, the placenta has taken over and progesterone becomes irrelevant.

Around 7-8 weeks, the nausea, vomiting, and exhaustion kicked in full force. It really hit me hard and I have been miserable. I took Zofran and while it helped some, the side effects were horrible! Then my doctor had me try a new medication called Diclegis. It's the first medication on the market made specifically for morning sickness. It has helped some but nothing completely knocks it out. I can only take the nighttime dose because the daytime dose makes me way too drowsy to take care of Claire. A couple weeks ago, I decided it wasn't helping me much and made the mistake of skipping the nighttime dose. The next day I got sick seven different times! So yeah, it's definitely doing something. Last week I woke up one morning and got going and then realized I felt somewhat normal. I've been feeling better for a week now...not 100%, but considerably better. I'm not taking any chances since my sickness lasted until 15 weeks with Claire, so I'm still taking the Diclegis every night! 

Differences from Last Pregnancy: I'm showing a lot earlier this time than I did with Claire. It's really nice to have all those maternity clothes from last time! And I'm so glad my L&D nurse didn't let the other staff cut my favorite pair of maternity jeans off the night I broke my ankle...those jeans are so comfortable and cannot be replaced!

I feel like the nausea and vomiting were a little bit worse this time around. That may be due to taking progesterone. Anytime you add additional hormones on top of all the other ones it can definitely increase your symptoms. It could also just be that I'm trying to keep up with a very active little girl all day!

I guess the other main difference is I just feel more uncomfortable earlier in the pregnancy than I did with Claire at this point. It's manageable though, so I can't complain!

Milestones: Stopping the progesterone, entering the second trimester, and feeling better!!! So thankful! 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share: I know I sound very whiney talking about all the throwing up, but I'm well aware that it's all for a good cause! I am very blessed.

What I'm Looking Forward to: Finding out the gender! When we had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago, it was too early to tell anything, but Cam and I both had a feeling it was a boy from the facial profile. We will see! We will be thrilled either way!

Big News!

Yes, that's right! Claire is going to be a big sister!!!

I'm 13 weeks along today. Our little turkey is expected to arrive around November 12th! We are thrilled, of course!

I'll be back soon with weekly updates!