23 Weeks

I've now felt the baby kick from the outside. He usually does it in the morning while I'm laying in bed not wanting to get up and go to the bathroom. Brandon hasn't felt him yet because he is always at work at this time. I love feeling him move, it makes it so much more real. I must admit that I haven't been as excited as I think I should be with this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that we are adding to our family and I can't wait to meet our little guy, but these euphoric feelings usually take a back seat to feelings of fear and stress. I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed at the thought of raising two children, at the same time! Whoever thought of such a thing? I know, I know, people do it every day. They even have more than two small children to be responsible for feeding, clothing, loving, changing, cuddling, hugging, supervising, disciplining, and the list goes on and on. This just doesn't seem like something that will come easy for me, I'm a bit high strung in case hadn't noticed. So, if anyone holds the secret to balancing more than one child at a time, please fill me in, I'll pay anything.
I finally took matters into my own hands and got the report from my ultrasound. He said that everything looks great and I'm right on schedule. This kind of makes me laugh because nobody knows when babies are going to be born, unless you're having a C-Section or being induced. It seems to me that due dates are just there to drive parents crazy!
Yesterday Xander and I went to the fabric store to buy some stuff for a baby present. The lady helping us was talking to Xander and this is how it went down:

Lady: Do you have any babies at your house?

X: No

Lady: Are you going to have a baby at your house?
X: No
Me: What is this? (pointing to my belly)
X: That's my baby.
Lady: Is it a girl baby or a boy baby?
X: A boy. And these are girls (pointing to my boobs).
Me: That's enough, we don't talk about that.
X: But, they're boobies!
Lady: That's right, and they're pretty important for the baby.

We’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the raisin family: your baby. He’s a whopping 13" long (about the size of a large papaya), and weighs naught but a pound -- far less than the last Harry Potter tome. That means he has a lot of extra skin hanging around: He can’t help but resemble a raisin right now. While you won’t catch him jamming with the other Raisins anytime soon, he is definitely listening -- there is evidence that his heart actually slows at the sound of his mother’s voice, which means that you are already having a calming influence when you talk to him.

At each of your doctor’s appointments you should be handing over a sample of your urine. The lab will test your sample for the presence of sugar and protein as a way to monitor your risk of preeclampsia, which is characterized by high blood pressure and large amounts of protein in your urine. Preeclampsia can result in a decrease in the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your baby. Thankfully, the screening done by your doctor can identify any problems early enough to prevent damage to your baby.

22 Weeks

The final vote shows that 13 thought it was a boy and 8 thought it was a girl. Most of you are correct because we are having another boy!
I went to the doctor on Wednesday and the Ultrasound Tech on Thursday. I'm always amazed that they can tell what everything is and if it looks normal or not. I need to call the doctor on Monday after he looks at the ultrasound report and make sure everything looks good and that we are on schedule. I like my new doctor, but I could do without most of his staff. They all seemed a little incompetent! It was the same way with my doctor in IF. They were supposed to fax my records over before Wednesday, and they didn't. So, the doctor had no medical records of the first half of my pregnancy, so annoying! He asked me lots of questions and checked things out. His conclusion: I am "disgustingly healthy" and the baby seems like a champ as well.

Sleeping with his hands on his face.

Put up your dukes!

Face, torso, and arms.

His huge foot.

Face, torso, and arms.

This is the week your little scarecrow gets his wish granted -- his brain is in rapid-growth mode, ensuring he’ll achieve far more in life than the position of Chief Avian Averter.
He’s a lanky 11" this week, from the top of his head to the bottom of his perfectly formed feet. Don't forget though -- he's all scrunched up int here, making him appear to be just the length of a cucumber. He’s still very thin; much of his work over the rest of your pregnancy will be to bulk up. His reproductive system is intact. His still-colorless eyes are also completely developed and in an ultra-cute move, he’s starting to suck his thumb! If you have a stethoscope at home, you’ll be able to hear his heartbeat. This is a great way to get siblings invoved in your pregnancy, and to make the presence of a new baby a little more tangible to them.

21 Weeks

The only thing I have to talk about this week is heartburn. It has now hit me full force! This is no regular heartburn, which I have suffered from as long as I can remember, thanks Dad! I get a searing pain from my stomach to the top of my head. I can't lay down after eating because then it all come up. It doesn't matter what or when I eat, it all causes some serious pain!

This is the week we start measuring your little one from head to toe instead of head to rump. At 12" long this week, your little sprout more closely resembles the Jolly Green Giant -- comparatively speaking, of course. You won't catch him stretched out though -- he's still in a little ball about the size of a coconut.

It’s a big week in his world: his bone marrow starts contributing to cell production, taking some of the load off of his liver and spleen. His permanent tooth buds have developed, so start the Tooth Fairy fund! Perhaps most exciting is that he now has noticeable sleep and wake cycles that are very similar to what he’ll experience as a newborn -- he's sleeping up to 12 hours a day, though not consecutively.

Your little guy has fully functional taste buds right now, so as he continues to swallow amniotic fluid, he may actually begin to taste what Mom has been eating. This is because the fluid changes based on what has been consumed -- so those garlic mashed potatoes will produce a more garlicky amniotic fluid and eating pineapple might make your fluid a touch sweeter than normal. Researchers have even reported that some children seem predisposed to enjoy certain foods if they were exposed to them in utero. That's all the more reason to make sure you are eating plenty of the good stuff: green veggies, fruits and whole grains.

20 Weeks

I'm halfway done! It's kind of exciting, but sad at the same time. As much as I complain, I love being pregnant. And even though I'm a total wimp, I am really looking forward to giving birth again. This is cheesy, but I thought that giving birth was very spiritual.

I could definitely do without the crazy dreams. They are so intense and real that I wake up with my heart racing and I have to lie there and calm myself down, not fun. Hopefully I'll be able to find out what I'm having next week, but it's not for sure because I have no idea where we will be living.

Me at 20 weeks:

Me at 20 weeks, not sucking in:

These fetus pictures are starting to look very similar. I think I will start posting them monthly instead of weekly, if anyone even reads this blog or cares.

Brace yourself -- your little Don King is busily growing a head of hair this week! In no time at all, you'll be investing in AquaNet to keep those curls coiffed. He’s also twisting, kicking and punching increasingly often -- though at only 6" head to rump and 9 oz. in weight, you won’t be feeling the full weight of those fearsome fists for a little while yet. In fact, he's closer to a peony blossom than a boxer right now!
All this training will come in handy for the APGAR test he'll receive just minutes after he's born, at which time his weight will be more than eight times what it is now! His body is catching up to his oversized head, making everything appear more proportionate. That big brain is still hard at work though: because the nerves that connect his muscles to his brain are now fully operational, his brain consciously directs all his movements. He's still listening to the sounds your body makes, as well as the sound of your voice. Speak to him in soothing tones and play him music -- you'll get his synapses firing and when he's finally in your arms, the sound of your voice will already be recognizable to him.

18 and 19 Weeks

I've been kind of busy latley, so the last two weeks on the blog have been neglected. The baby is really moving now. I feel real kicks and roll overs several times a day, and I love it! It's very reassuring to feel your baby wiggle and jiggle inside of you. I feel like I'm already waddling and it's a little difficult to get up if I've been on the floor. I bought some maternity pants and they are wonderful! They didn't have very cute and comfortable ones when I was pregnant with Xander. Whoever invented low-rider maternity pants should be severely punished. Those things are so uncomfortable and they always fall down.
I've been trying really hard to go with the flow with this move and all. I know that I don't want to get shingles again, ouch!! Brandon has had to do a lot of the work, and all of the heavy lifting. He's been really great about it though.
I finally found some stuff to help with my constant skin pealing. I found a whole box of baby lotion stuff in Xander's room the other day. There was a tiny bottle of lotion that is mostly baby oil. It helps so much and my whole body is no longer cracking and burning.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to find out what we're having. Normally it would be next week, but because of the move, I have no idea when my next appointment will be.

We’ve stayed away from food references the past two weeks, but here it is: your bantam edition is the size of a large avocado this week. (Disclaimer: If you are suddenly craving guacamole, we hereby absolve ourselves of any responsibility.) The retinas on his eyes have formed, which means that if you were to shine a bright light at him, he would move to shield his eyes.

And, starting now, he’s probably having his first experience with hiccups. He may get them 2-3 times a day, and it will be a strange sensation -- like a spasming in your belly -- but you can rest easy knowing he isn’t in any discomfort. If you are having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are in place right now, and if a boy, his prostate has formed. Myelin is starting to form around the nerves, like a sort of insulation, and will continue to do so until about 2 years of age. Your baby has become quite the talent in these past few weeks: he's now yawning, swallowing, kicking and making faces on a regular basis.

Your baby is about 6" long from the crown of her head to the bottom of her rump-- about the size of a large baked potato. If you were to measure head to toe, she'd actually be about 10"! She's busily practicing sucking and swallowing, as she drinks in tiny sips of amniotic fluid. Her hair is just starting to sprout, and she currently has a record-setting 6 million eggs in her ovaries! By the time she's born, that number will have dwindled to a mere 2 million. Her oil glands are busy producing the waxy substance, vernix caseosa, that will coat her all the way up until birth.