November 27: 24 weeks 1 day

The other day while on the phone I told whoever I was on the phone with that I was nearing 22 weeks. Ok, so I was only off by 2 weeks. But still… this would have never happened when I was pregnant with Leif. The time is flying. My next appointment isn’t until next week and I will get to do that wonderful glucose test after that. I am not looking forward to that at all. Not because I think I have GD, I am pretty sure I don’t actually. But because I just do not do well fasting. I am a bad hungry person. Cranky, irritable, and well, hungry.

When I had my GD test while pregnant with Leif my mom was here visiting. We went together, then afterwards went to Spudnuts and I am pretty sure I got three donuts, completely guilt-free. I won’t have that moral support this time. But I will be taking Spudnuts up on their hunger support.

I mentioned on my main blog that I ended up with the stomach flu this weekend. Can I just say that having the stomach flu while pregnant is so not pleasant. It felt similar to having morning sickness – in the throwing up aspect. But there was the added complication that this baby has suddenly started moving A LOT. Your stomach is already queasy and then you get a head pushing it up to your epiglottis? Really unpleasant. Oh and then there is the stress incontinence while vomiting that I didn’t have with my morning sickness. Nice, huh.

I still have the grapefruit addiction going. In fact, last night one of the foods I really wanted before going to bed (as I was getting a little hungry) was grapefruit. I resisted though out of fear. I did bring one with me for lunch and happily chowed it at lunchtime.

November 17: 22 weeks 5 days

Twice this week I have had posts written up and then reconsidered. They were rants. One was particularly harsh. Amazing thing about writing something and letting it sit for a little while. Often the issue really becomes not so much of an issue. This is hard for me. I am the queen of getting ticked and zipping off a defensive little note to someone or being the first to say something harsh (on purpose) to someone on a discussion board. (And my backup behavior is supposed to be the one that sits and stews without doing anything… apparently my red hair negates my supposed social style.) Sometimes I regret it, sometimes I don’t. But still, probably not the nicest thing in the world. It is something I am working on.

So my rants will sit in drafts and I know that at any point I can hit “post” and whammo. Here for the world.

In the world of pregnancy I can officially say I have a craving! Previously there have been things I like, but nothing that I would really crave. I made the phone call to AB’s cell phone last night while he was in class just to talk about the merits of grapefruit. Ruby Red grapefruit to be precise.

I have always loved grapefruit since I can remember. One of my favorite way to have them is to slice in half, you have to cut each section to release it, top with brown sugar and stick under the broiler for a few minutes to “brullee” the top. Yum. Or I can just cut it in half, top it with a little white sugar (or not) and chow. And you must must must get every drop of juice out of it afterwards.

AB stopped on his way home and bought a bag of grapefruit AND a box of Satsumas. Figuring I was having a citrus craving. Nope. Not really citrus, although Odwalla orange juice is seriously the yummiest drink on the face of the earth, just grapefruit right now. That’s ok, AB loves the Satsumas and so does Leif who exclaimed “goody orange!” this morning when I peeled him one in an effort to fend him off my grapefruit.

The past few days I have enjoyed two grapefruits a day. Ok, truth be told, I have limited myself to two grapefruits a day. Delish. So what does the old wives tale say about craving citrus? Girl?

My biggest problem with grapefruit consumption is a certain little two year old who has also decided he “needs” grapefruit. Leif wants bite, then “more bite” and then “drink juice”. He isn’t fooled by my handing him a peeled Satsuma as I run off to the corner with my grapefruit. He knows he can set the Satsuma down and come back to it after partaking of as much grapefruit as the little turkey can weasel out of me.

21 week appointment

I had my 21 week appointment this afternoon. AB ran over from work. That was nice to have him there despite it being only one week since his new job started. Love that flexibility!

All is well. I have gained a total of 6 lbs from prepreg. I think I have put on about 5 lbs in the last month, which is a pound more than I would really like. I like to aim for that 1 lb a week. Regardless my ob was happy with the weight gain and told me he expected me to top out at maybe 2-3 lbs heavier than I topped out at with my son, so aiming for an overall weight gain of about 24-25 lbs. I was about 8-10 lbs over my prepreg weight with Leif when conceiving this one. Which sucks, but I will deal and will work out extra hard after this baby is born.

My bp was low (no actual numbers since I was chatting with the nurse about the ultrasound and forgot to ask) and the heartbeat sounded good and was “in the 150’s”. Which is where it has been all along.

My doctor said that the anatomy looks good on the ultrasound and said that he very nearly walked in and said the gender first thing, but for some reason remembered that we might be one of those rare couples who wasn’t finding out. My mom asked if I wasn’t just instantly really curious at that point. Not really! In fact, I was just happy he DIDN’T spill the beans! Yes, I am curious, but I love the guessing and the anticipation!

He reminded me of all the basics, drink water, get my exercise – get out and walk daily. We talked about movement and I expressed a little concern again about not feeling the baby move much at all. He agreed it was probably mostly due to the anterior placenta, but said “just you wait”. He also commented that especially in women where it is their second pregnancy they are often more surprised with what is “normal”. Leif’s movement all the time? Not normal. Not bad, of course, but just an early indication of his personality. Does that mean this baby is going to be less… ummm over the top? I just adore my doctor. Everytime I see him I am thrilled he is my doctor.

His nurse told me that he may start doing circumcisions. I am not willing to debate the necessity or not of circumcision here. It is a hot topic and I read plenty of pregnancy discussion boards and have heard probably each and every debate pro and con. Bottom line is that if this baby is a boy, he will be circumcised, like his dad and his brother. Anyways, I was happy to hear that my doctor will likely be doing them by the time I deliver. It will be ultra-convenient to be discharged, walk upstairs and have it done since they aren’t done in hospitals here. I truly doubt that our family doc does them and so we would be seeking a referral anyways.

I got my goodie bags today from the office. I was actually really close to declining them, I really don’t need a formula sponsored diaper bag filled with formula samples and labeled “breastfeeding support”. Umm yeah right – there’s an oxymoron for you. But I took it anyways. Leif might like the bag to play with and I can always donate the formula samples. I also keep reminding myself that while I am a lactivist at heart, there could be complications that would require me to formula feed. I told AB that I hoped I didn’t have trouble nursing this one. He laughed, didn’t see my actual concern and said, “exactly how much breastmilk did we throw out after Leif turned one?” (It was old breastmilk from the bottom of the deep freeze, I didn’t want to give it to him, although it would have probably been fine.)

The other bag was a bunch of samples of things I have full sizes of at home. But there were coupons. And lists of reminders on things like the list of pediatricians (have one already), refresher childbirth courses (not taking) and information numbers (good to have).

November 6, 2006: 21 weeks 1 day

Cravings? Not much. In fact, a desire to eat would be nice. I have become about the pickiest person on earth. I truly feel for AB listening to me say, “that doesn’t sound good honey”. My desire to drink wine has returned, coffee is a must do anymore (my willpower was much stronger when I was pregnant with Leif), and the thought of fast food nearly makes me hurl.

So I haven’t really had any real cravings… things I just can’t do without. I wanted an ice cream sundae the other night and AB insisted on going to the grocery store to get the fixings even though I insisted it wasn’t a craving and I was perfectly fine without it. Oh and AB might call my obsession with spring rolls a craving. Seriously we have eaten them once a week for the last four weeks. I feel a little guilty each weekend when I announce to him I want spring rolls. He laughs though and tells me it is probably one of the single healthiest meals we make, why should I feel guilty?

I really need to get some belly pictures going. I had quite a set with Leif at this point. Well this is a pretty uneventful update. I have my 21 week appointment with my doctor on Wednesday where hopefully he will tell me that the ultrasound results all look good. I will update then!