I got some. Not sure it's working... but I guess I need to give it more time. It better work. It cost $20!

My doctor wasn't actually IN this morning when I went for my appointment. I purposely scheduled the first appointment of the day so I wouldn't have to wait an hour to be seen, but that came back to bite me, because she was off doing a c-section, which is to be expected when you schedule an early morning OB appointment. I know from my last pregnancy not to complain though because when it's MY turn? I'll be the one monopolizing her for hours at the hospital... it all comes full circle. At a busy OB office (all of them) you never get much time or attention the first two trimesters if everything is going normally. But when it comes time to push? They are 100% there.

I'm very happy to announce that all is well. The nurse took my weight and blood pressure and listened to the heartbeat, all of which were normal and wonderful. Then she left Ben and me to entertain ourselves until the Dr. got back. It wasn't TOO long, but it was long enough that Ben managed to dissassemble the stirrups and find the on/off switch for the little flexible light thing. Good times.

The doctor arrived, swooped in and measured me... 15 weeks right on. This is somewhat of a relief since I feel huge and have been having nightmares of them finding a second baby at the next ultrasound. She told me I could use Zantac for the acid reflux and handed me my referral form for the big ultrasound. (where I'm sure they will only find one baby). Then we were done!

My next equally uneventful appointment is the day after Christmas. My ultrasound is in the next few weeks... whenever I have a chance to actually sit down and call and whenever they can fit me in after 18 weeks.

The belly is shaped differently this time... lower and more sticky out than all over like it was with Ben. Again, it's probably a result of my sad and weak post-Ben abs. (sigh) But, it's looking like it will be a mug rest sooner than later.



Btw, happy Thanksgiving! This is my second pregnant Thanksgiving and I have to say it's definitely my favorite holiday during which to be pregnant. YUM.

So.... I braved our home scale yesterday. I had been very worried about it seeing as we just spent seven consecutive days eating HUGE meals and I had dessert with almost every one of them.

And... surprisingly? I had lost two pounds. So... yay... I guess? I'm still up 13-14 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, but I weigh about what I weighed before I even GOT pregnant with Ben. (stupid office job+eating out every day.. ugh) So I'm feeling okay about it.

I'm eating pretty normally, though often times the need to eat a lot of food QUICKLY comes on FAST. (ask my poor inlaws who, more than once, were forced to eat lunch at 11:15 while we were on vacation) I'm also starting to experience a symptom I didn't get with Ben until MUCH later. The food I eat just sort of hangs out in my esophagus/stomach... it just lays there like a lump and it's NOT comfortable. I know it's probably due to the whole system slowing down beacuse of pregnancy hormones... so I'm going to beg for a prescription for Reglan when I go to the doctor on Monday. I took it with Ben (though at that point, he was squished so far up into my stomach that it hardly helped at all) with no adverse side effects. It's supposed to help the food move through your stomach a little more quickly...

I'm overdue for a belly pic... maybe later today. :) Though I feel huge, I'm not sure that much has changed visually since the last picture I took. I'll let you be the judge.

Back from my Baby Too blogging break and officially in the second trimester! Hooray! Baby Too didn't make Disney World as challenging as The Baby Human did, but then again, I was seven weeks further along when I went while pregnant with him. I did have to stop for lots of potty breaks and eating was a priority. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad! The bathing suit situation sucked. As I said before, the maternity bathing suit did NOT work out. I ended up purchasing a blue Mickey Mouse suit three sizes bigger than my normal size at the hotel gift shop. It worked well enough, though there are certain bathing suits where I have trouble with the straps staying up for whatever reason (pregnant or not) and this was one of those styles. So I had to keep a close watch to make sure everything was "staying put".

Haven't felt a whole lot movement lately, but it's definitely going on because when I check in with the doppler, the heartbeat sounds are interspersed with obvious kicks, rolls and squirms! I'm sure I'll be complaining of elbows in my kidneys soon enough. ;)

The acid reflux is under control. I just have to stay away from carbonated drinks and really acidic things like grapefruit and orange juice. So far, so good. Every once in awhile, I have a weak moment where I absolutely have to have one of those things and then I pay for it for the next three hours...

My doctor's appointment is in a week and I should get my form to make my big ultraound appointment for about three weeks later! :D Still no real inkling at all as to the sex of this little one! I think it will be a complete surprise either way!

The maternity bathing suit is NOT my friend. That is all.

I am so stupid, stupid, stupid! I woke up around midnight and chugged the remainder of my glass of lemonade that was next to the bed. Then I laid back down. Acid-filled liquid + laying down = recipe for my least favorite pregnancy symptom... REFLUX.

HATE it. I'd rather be pukey all day long than have "The 'flux".

So here I sit... I just had two (gag) berry (gag) Tums (gag gag gag). Now reading email (there isn't much of it to read at 12:51a.m.) and blogging and waiting for the lemonade to stop burning my esophagus.

Ya know, I knew what I was getting into when I got pregnant again, so I don't have too much right to whine. But: WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE. I HATE acid reflux. :( It hurts. Ow-ey. :(

When I got home this afternoon, there was a large envelope waiting for me in the mailbox. It was all the pre-admissions paperwork from the hospital! Aaaaaack! I feel like I should rename this blog to my original blog's FIRST title: "I Have to Push What out of WHERE?!" Because seriously... I somehow forgot about that part. Okay, going to try to block that out for the next 27 weeks or so, okay?

I told Tom we need to get the baby some mouse ears while we're in Florida, since Ben had a pair before he was born. But then I remembered that the ears my inlaws got him say "Baby Graff" on the back, something which at the time sort of bugged me because we were having the Thomas vs. Benjamin naming issues... but now? YAY! I can reuse them! See? My inlaws are so much more forward-thinking than I am, it's a talent of theirs. So big brother will new, big-kid sized ears and will pass his baby ears onto Baby Too. We will be getting Baby Too his/her own Mickey Mouse bear though just like the one we always take Benjamin's picture with. (maybe in a different color)



There goes big brother, taking over Baby Too's blog again... tsk tsk tsk. ;)

So yeah, anyway... this is for real. There is another baby coming and holy cow, it's coming FAST. Yikes.

Not much happening with Baby Too lately. Well, not much I'm aware of anyway. I'm sure there is actually plenty happening in there... eyes migrating from the side of the head to the front (thank goodness) and other wonderful things. But things are status quo on the outside. Still getting sick. Feeling movement now and then, but not on a regular basis yet... it's still too early for that.

The doctor told me I could stop my progesterone supplement at 13 weeks. That's this Saturday, or technically, Monday if you go by the ultrasound dates. To say that stopping it scares me would be an understatement. It may or may not be what kept this pregnancy from meeting the same fate as the previous two, but it's a mental thing with me. I know the facts... that the placenta took over progesterone production three weeks ago or so... that I could probably stop the supplement TODAY and it wouldn't matter. But in the back of my mind is the scary thought that my mom lost a baby at 16 weeks due to a progesterone deficiency. There is also a fair chance that when I stop taking it, I'll spot for a day or two from the hormone withdrawal, which will be harmless, but will nevertheless scare me to death.

On the other hand, when I stop taking it, I will probably start to feel better morning sickness-wise and will be less tired. So that is something to look forward to.

I have enough pills to continue taking it through 16 weeks and it can't do any harm to continue taking it (my old doctor who prescribed told me awhile back if that's what I wanted to do and that if it would make me feel better, it was fine), so I think that's probably what I'll do... even then, I'm going to be a nervous wreck for a few days until I'm sure things are staying put.

... you know, from the workout they get with the puking. Not that you'll be able tell how ripped they are with the old uterus in the way, but that is neither here nor there.

I made the mistake of quietly sharing with Mrs. Flinger two days ago that I had a decidedly unpukey day. I also mentioned it to Tom.

I knew I'd pay for talking about it. And pay I have. Yesterday was horrible... I spent four hours in the morning getting sick and the rest of the day just plain nauseated, right up until the minute I fell asleep. This was coupled with a splitting headache that was either just a hormonal thing or perhaps from not being able to keep down a single ounce of caffeine the entire day.

Today seems to be more of the same.

My hope for it ending before our Florida trip is pretty much dashed, so I'm sure I'll get to have the pleasure of kneeling on the floor of a bathroom stall at BWI airport at some point. Been there, done that, hoped not to have to do it again... but c'est la vie.
I only hope the fans in the bathroom at our hotel are loud enough to drown out the sound so my inlaws don't have to listen to it all week.

My mantra as I hug the toilet? Puking means a healthy pregnancy... puking means a healthy pregnancy....

Had another sonogram "it's a boy" dream last night. That makes it a tie, I believe...
Girl: 2 Boy: 2

I was hoping to be finished with my daily toilet-hugging routine before our trip next Sunday. I didn't want to have to worry about when I can safely eat breakfast and that sort of thing. But it's not looking promising. Needless to say, I will NOT be eating one my my MIL's yummy breakfast burritos BEFORE the flight, thank you very much. Instead, I will have to watch everyone else enjoy there's whilst my tummy growls/rolls. But I do NOT want to risk having to puke in a airplane bathroom... ew ew ew. So I will be saving mine for when we land... I will be oh so very hungry too since we will be leaving for the airport at 5:15! (sigh)

In other news, to the person I recently asked if you were pregnant: (and no, not because said person looked like they were putting on weight, I'm not THAT stupid) I'm sorry about that. I know I apologized already but I keep thinking about it and I should have just kept my mouth shut and reminded myself just how much that bugged the crap out of me when I was having trouble getting and staying pregnant. I do not know what I was thinking. My motivation was to try and be helpful and supportive if you were, in fact, pregnant because I know early on it can be so worrisome particularly when you are worried or having trouble to begin with. But it was such a stupid thing to do and I'm sorry. Please know that I'm just excited for you to get pregnant and hoping it happens very VERY soon for you. :)

Baby Too was kicking up a storm while I was at playtime with Benjamin this morning! What I don't understand is why I am feeling the kicks/movements so HIGH! I feel them at the top of my belly.... but as far as I know, my uterus hasn't even made it up past my bladder yet and my belly only sticks out so high because my stomach muscles are all wimpy from carrying Benjamin. Plus, the heartbeat is always down low. But they are definitely baby movement. So I don't know! Weirdness...My mom said maybe Baby Too just has some really long legs. Hee hee!

Just how pregnant AM I? According to ultrasound, I'm almost 12 weeks. (and I'm sure it's accurate) But still... if I didn't know that, I'd be questioning. This morning? I felt one of those very obvious "stretching/pushing" movements. I'm pretty sure if I had had my hand on my abdomen when it happened, I could have felt it from the outside.

I'm thinking I may be in store for another active one. Ohhh boy! ;) (or girl!)

Maybe Baby Too was just celebrating the loss of its tail? (see today's ticker ---->)

Maybe it's just because I spend from 6-9:30 a.m. every day dry heaving.... but I JUST do not understand how you can be pregnant... like REALLY pregnant... and not know it! And to actually not know until you give birth?!? Seriously. ??!?!

A few nights ago I had my first "It's a boy" dream. It was a weird one. I wasn't actually the one giving birth... it was some woman who I think might have been Florence Henderson. She had the baby in a blanket and didn't know what it was yet... finally she snuck a peek and announced it was a boy. Yeah, that was pretty much it.

So the current dream tally stands at: Girl: 2 Boy: 1

I'm kind of excited to go to sleep at night now! Never know what I'm going to give birth to!

Last night, I was randomly awake around 2a.m. No particular reason... I guess I was a little hungry, so I ate an graham cracker with some peanut butter on it. After that, I was just AWAKE. WIDE AWAKE until, I dunno... 4:30? I thought to myself, "Wow. I may as well have a newborn because I'm awake anyway... this would be a piece of cake!"

But see that's the thing. Then you HAVE the baby and the minute the baby leaves your body and takes the discomfort and most of the crazy hormones with it, you almost instantly feel normal* again. As in, you have the ability to sleep through the night (and on your stomach if you choose!) But then? You have the newborn up all night thing to contend with and all your body wants to do is sleep, for the love of pete.

See? Nature is CRUEL.




*as normal as you can feel after you push a human out of you or have one surgically extracted from your abdomen... and there is, of course, the whole night sweats thing and rock hard painful boobs for awhile and the overwhelming realization that you are responsible for someone else for basically the rest of your life or at least the next 18 years... but yeah, relative to the last nine months (particularly those last few weeks of the last nine months?) NORMAL.