24 weeks & Glucose test

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! Ours was great, stormy but still great! Totally pigged out since it may have been my last day to eat any sugar lol. Getting my glucose test this morning since the baby is 2 weeks ahead in size. Got done with the awful orange drink at 9:25 and just waiting on the finger prick now. Praying I don't have it! I'm terrible at not eating stuff I'm not supposed to lol. I have zero willpower anyway but now it's worse! I will update when I get the results.

**Update** No GD! Woohoo! They actually said my sugar was extremely low which I usually do have due to the PCOS (high insulin, low glucose) but I guess that's ok right now because my ovaries are not needing to produce any testosterone which would raise insulin? I don't know how that works but my perinatal doc said I didn't need to worry about high insulin during pregnancy. So I won't I guess!

I am so super glad the holiday season is almost done. I love Christmas more than any holiday but it's become so commercialized (yes I know everyone says that but it's true!) and it takes some of the joy out of it. And if I heard "Happy Holidays" one more time I was gonna blow lol. All the insane traffic and kids begging for this toy or that while there are kids all over the world that don't get anything, that would be glad to receive a piece of bread or a warm place to sleep. It's very difficult to get that across to kids in today's industrialized and commercialized world of "it's all about me". At least here in the US it is. I try very hard to teach my little boy and my stepkids that they need to understand the season is not about the gifts, it's about the birth of our Lord and Savior and what He did to save us. That we would not be as blessed and comfortable as we are without that event and without His blessings. But I don't know if they quite grasp it yet. Not when the only thing on our 16 year old's mind is a pair of $200 headphones (good grief...) and my 8 year old is watching every commercial and asking for every toy he sees and expecting to get it. I get so discouraged sometimes! But I'll keep on doing my best to teach them about being grateful and sharing our blessings with those that are less fortunate and sharing Christ above all.

So anyway, here we are approaching the dawn of a yet another New Year and I have to say I am so thankful and so blessed and looking forward to our little boy's arrival in April. While the country reels from the tragedy of those poor babies losing their lives and argues about gun control and all that, I think it's time to just let go and let God take first place. He knows what's to come for our country and our world and the best thing we can do is pray and listen for that still small voice to guide us in the coming months and years. God Bless ya'll and I hope everyone has a great week and stays safe on New Year's eve! :-)

22 Weeks & Perinatal appt

Can't believe I'm sneaking up on the 6 month mark! I will be 23 weeks tomorrow! Saw the perinatologist on Tuesday and got great reports...baby looks great and I only need baby aspirin for the MTHFR gene mutation thing. Apparently it's worse if you have high homocystiene levels with it (whatever that is) and I don't so yay!! One thing they did notice is he's measuring a whole 2 WEEKS ahead!! He weighs 1 lb. and 8 oz. which is where he should be at 25 weeks. Their only concern is gestational diabetes since larger babies coincide with that condition. I will be tested for that on Monday the 17th. Praying that comes out fine...Christmas is the worst time of year to have to stop eating sugar!! Especially for me!! UGH but I will definitely do what the doctor says because my babies life depends on it! I can wait a few months for some sugar cookies...

Wondering when's the best time to start registering for stuff. My shower will be in Feb so I guess I can do it in Jan. So looking forward to getting new stuff! Of course I know like 3 people who recently had boys in the last year so I'm getting tons of hand me downs!! I don't think we will have to buy much at all which is a huge relief. I know you usually don't get a shower for your second baby but around here we tend to ignore that rule lol. Plus it's been 8 years since my first so it's like starting all over again!

I am getting huge now, starting to really feel like a waddling mama. Approaching the time when my back stuff will be at its worst. Really praying that I don't have as much trouble as I'm expecting. I have done much better than anticipated up to this point so maybe that's a good sign. My chiropractor is a life saver and as long as I see her each week I do pretty good.

Movement...so much going on in there! On my ultrasound Tues, the tech said he is head down. Which is the opposite of what I thought because all the "kicking" seems to go on close to the bottom of my stomach which is where his head is. Guess he's got more strength in those tiny hands than I thought! I don't feel much up top, just the occasional thump. But he's definitely busy and I'm loving it! Just waiting for when my husband can finally feel him on the outside. I can every now and then if I'm resting my hand on my belly but it seems impossible to get him to kick for daddy.

Guess that's all, getting ready for a busy Christmas but looking forward to every minute. This is by far my favorite time of year! Wishing everybody a safe and happy Christmas and New Year! And of course, remember the reason for the season :-) God Bless!

21 Weeks.. Sorry for being lazy!

I've been so lazy for the past couple of weeks so the blog has been on the back burner lol. Today I am 21 weeks and 5 days YAY!! I go for my next perinatal appt on Wed the 11th. Can't wait to see my little man again! Had a freak out episode today because I couldn't feel him move all morning. Usually he's very active and if I push him around he starts squirming but nothing was working. I was sure I was gonna have to go home and fire up the doppler. But after I ate some chocolate, he started moving again and I am so relieved! I can only think that maybe he was facing my back so I wasn't feeling the kicks so much but who knows. Just hope I don't have to go through that again!

My little boy (big brother) is having trouble in school, acting up and not wanting to do his work. His teacher is convinced it's because he feels like he's no longer going to be the baby. But I have seen no change in his behavior at home so I'm not convinced that's the issue. So guess it'll be a trip to the school and conference with the teacher and principal. Such fun! And of course I did ask him what he was having trouble with and if he was worried about the baby coming. His response was "I'm worried mamma that he's going to die". :-(  Like how in the world did he take on my fears? I am much less fearful of that now but I'm not sure how he came up with that. I don't recall ever saying to anyone that I was afraid the baby would die. If I've ever used any word it was 'miscarry' or 'lose' but not within earshot of him so I don't know if that's something he's really worried about on his own or what. It wouldn't surprise me since he's my child, get's it honest. But I assured him the baby was absolutely fine and he was going to love being a big brother. He then launched into a detailed explanation of how to change diapers to assure me that he knows how and will be able to do that. LOL He's such a mess and I'm so lucky to have such a caring kid. He's been easy from day 1, I wonder if this little guy is gonna be a handful!

Oh, almost forgot. I finally got my results back on the blood clotting disorder (APS) that they were testing me on and it came back negative for positive anticardiolipid levels..YAY! But I do have another form of clotting disorder called MTHFR. (yeah, I know you're thinking what I'm thinking, that looks like the abbreviation for....) It's a gene mutation that causes the body to not process folic acid as well as it should which in turn can cause clots. Not sure how all that works but of course I had to consult the good ole' internet wizard. There are apparently two types: Homozygous and Heterozygous and the bad one is Homozygous and requires levenox. Hoping that mine is the better one since he said all I need is baby aspirin which I've been on all along anyway. I will ask more details at my appt of course just cause I have to know exactly what type it is and all that but hopefully all will be well.

Guess that's all for today. Hopefully I can keep up blogging through the holidays if I don't get too bogged down with work and stuff!

18 wks...Still A Boy..Trying Not to Waddle

Well we are still having a boy. Not that I thought that would change! lol But having had our anatomy scan at 16 weeks everyone kept telling us "maybe it's a girl and it just wasn't finished developing" (I guess because they knew we were rooting for girl at first?). It's pretty funny really because we got our 18 week ultrasound at my normal OB yesterday (which wasn't supposed to happen but I have an amazing nurse who let me anyway!) and the first thing she said was "You know what it is right?" and of course we said "boy" and she said "OK no worries he's still a boy"...so wierd! Of course he is! So we reassured all our family and friends that of course, he is still in fact all boy. Wouldn't that have been so insane if he hadn't been!? Then I would have really started worrying that something was wrong! lol 

On other fronts, my morning sickness that was almost non-existant for 2 weeks has reappeared mysteriously. I actually got physically sick a couple of days ago which is the first actual vomiting I've had all pregnancy. I drank orange juice and apparently that was a big no no. I now have 3 burst blood vessels in the whites of my eyes which looks horrible. I have to keep assuring everyone I did not stab my eyeballs with anything, just threw up til I thought they were going to explode lol. Yeah, no more orange juice. My back is doing surprisingly well and my chiropractor is amazed that I'm not in more pain so that's awesome! However, I have developed "Pubic Symphisis Dysfunction". That's a fancy term for my hoo-ha bones are spreading already. Not sure why because usually that occurs right before delivery but apparently if you have pelvic girdle issues already then it is expected. It's not fun. I am not nearly big enough to need to waddle but I am. I'm trying very hard to walk straight but with the pain the PSD causes, I sometimes can't help it. Lol. It's not bad sitting, just standing. Guess I've got a long 3rd trimester coming up. But I don't mind, I am thankful for all of these aches and pains because the end result is worth it and more!

Well I guess that's all for now. Maybe one of these days I will post a belly pic. I'm one of those "please don't take my picture"people. But for the sake of remembering this pregnancy, I suppose I will at some point. Hope all my girls in blogger land are doing great. I think I will go check on them all and do some catching up on blog reading. 

So much grey??

Just a random thought but is it just me or are almost all of the baby boy clothes out right now grey?? I went to Carter's yesterday (I happen to work in an awesome place called the Boardwalk with tons of outlet stores!) and thought YAY! I'll buy some precious little boy clothes and try very hard not to wander over to the girl stuff lol. Well I picked up 2 or three outfits that I thought were super cute then realized every one of them were grey! Then looked around and almost every rack of clothing was mostly grey stuff! What the heck??! I mean there were a couple of blue, green and brown here and there but mostly grey. Then I glance over to the girl's side of the store and it looks like a rainbow threw up over there. What's the deal? I know grey is kinda trendy right now especially paired with lime green or baby blue but come on people?! Why is it that there are never as many cute boy clothes as there are girls? I thought the very same thing 8 years ago when shopping for my first son and nothing has changed. SMH....

16 weeks and the Verdict IS!!....

BOY! Had our anatomy scan at the perinatologists office yesterday and we are having another boy! His big brother is over the moon since he's been rooting for boy since the day he found out we were expecting. Wow is all I can think. Another boy? Can I handle that much testosterone in my house? lol We were really hoping for a girl of course since that has been my dream since I was young to have a little girl one day but we are still thrilled. I'm having to switch gears since I've been convinced we were having a girl this time and have been planning which I guess is where I messed up lol. We may make plans but God directs our steps and I know He has a reason for blessing us with another boy. While I still hope for a girl one day (yeah, my crazy self has decided this might not be our last youngin!) but I am so thankful for this little boy and will love him will all I've got! He will definitely be in good company since he will have 2 big brothers which makes us a total of 3 boys and 2 girls in the family (counting my stepbabies that don't live with us). So I'm preparing myself! I at least know what to do with a boy, I have plenty of practice lol. And plenty of hand-me-downs from my sister and best friend who both have little boys. I'm still in shock though lol but so blessed and happy since we didn't know if we'd even be able to conceive, this baby is going to be loved and spoiled something crazy!

Other than that news, everything else is going smoothly so far. My nausea is steadily decreasing which is awesome but I still have food aversions and sometimes eat something thinking it will be awesome only to regret it after the first bite. That is not fun and I miss Mexican food (that is my Number 1 No No food right now, can't even look at it!).
All my tests came back good, no down syndrome or trisomy 18. Second test for downs was done yesterday  so I won't get that result until next week but the first one was good so we expect this one to be fine. They ran my repeat test of the anticardiolipid panel yesterday too. Since I've tested in the indeterminate to positive range for it twice they needed to test once again to make sure and I'm praying that comes back fine.

So without further ado, here is our little man! (He didn't want to look at us, was napping face down in his placenta lol)

15 1/2 weeks

Yes, I've been a terrible blogger for a couple of weeks. I have felt zero desire to share anything for some reason but I guess there hasn't been alot going on. I'm super tired once again and wondering why the 2nd tri is not as amazing as everyone says it should be? But I'm weird and nothing that is normal for others is ever normal for me it seems..oh well lol. Like my crazy autoimmune stuff...gearing up for another awful flare. Yep, my rheumatologist told me she's never seen a pregnant woman NOT go into remission during pregnancy. She was certain my giant swollen toes and feet would go away. Well, they went away for about 3 weeks total and one of those weeks I was on prednisone for poison oak so that was probably why it was not active at that time. Now, it's creeping up again. Not only is this extremely painful and annoying (I can only wear flip flops for crying out loud! It's about to winter and I'll still be floppin! ugh!!!), I'm in complete fear that my immune system will start attacking the baby. It may be completely nonsense to feel this way but I can't help it. When I know my immune system is attacking place it should not, why would it not try to attack the foreign body growing in my womb? God I pray it won't! I go back to the perinatologist for our anatomy scan on Tuesday the 30th so we will find out pink or blue (YAY!!!) so I will bring it up with him then. Hopefully he can put my fears to rest. He's assured me they will follow me closely because autoimmune disorders can sometimes cause the growth to slow down towards the end of the pregnancy so they have to watch that (but what could they do about it? I dunno?). I know I'm in good hands but my insane emotions still get me sometimes.

Symptoms are the same really, slightly less nausea but tons of heartburn. Tired. Back has started giving me trouble and I knew it would at some point but I was hoping not this early. I went to the chiro two days ago and she fixed my SI joints and sacrum but yesterday I started hurting again and either my joints are so loosey  goosey now that they will slip right back out of place again or it's just time for the pain to start. It sucks, there's no other word for it. Sleep is difficult but I am so thankful my dear mom & dad bought me an amazing bed early in the year that adjusts so I can sit up to sleep. If I didn't have that I'd be in the recliner every night struggling to get comfortable. But we'll take it a day at a time and hopefully I won't need laproscopic surgery in the 3rd tri. That would be terrifying!

On other fronts, work is the same. My coworkers all know now and that is a huge relief because hiding it was getting difficult. I am as big at this point as I was at 6 months with my son. It's crazy. And my uterus is still very low and I can barely find it so I guess it's all innards being shifted around but I definitely cannot wear any of my regular pants anymore and finding maternity pants for my insanely long legs is so difficult so not sure what I'll do when it gets cold! I'll be a sight: capris and flip flops in cold weather. Yep, that should be fun. But, I'm so very thankful I'm here and if that's what I gotta do then so be it!

Guess that's all for now, hopefully I will be able to post again next week. Well of course I have to share the gender so look forward to that! I'm so excited! ...think pink..think pink.. lol ;-P but we will be happy either way :-)