Baby #2 Update

Lots of holiday posts coming, but it's been awhile since my last baby update.

Baby #2: 25 weeks

I guess with your second pregnancy, you are kept so busy keeping up with your first born that time just flies! I've been extremely lucky to have a pretty unremarkable pregnancy this time around - unlike last time when I had multiple extra ultrasounds post-20 weeks to get better photos of cardiac anatomy and keep an eye on a low lying placenta, there have been no extra concerns this time.

My only "issue" so far is that I failed the 1 hour glucose test by... ONE point (ie I scored a 136 and the cut-off sugar level was 135). I blame this on an afternoon test (it's not a fasting test so I ate breakfast and lunch that day prior) and that I had a carby dinner the night before and ice cream (probably not the smartest move in retrospect!) It must be hormones, but I basically broke down and cried at work when my Dr called to let me know I'd have to take the 3 hour test. I even tried to have my sample "re-tested" or try to re-take the 1 hr instead (being an analytical scientist I highly guess the 1 point in contention is "within assay variability", but no dice!) A few of my coworkers told me they also failed the 1 hour and made me feel better since some of them were even super skinny/marathon runners so it has nothing to do with how "in shape" you are. I scheduled the 3 hour the next week and kept my carb/sugar intake low in between just in case. For the 3 hour, you have to fast for 9-10hrs prior (I scheduled my test for 9am) and it involves FOUR blood draws. I hate any blood drawn, so this sucked. The glucola drink contains 2x the amount of glucose as the 1 hr test and it sat like a rock in my empty stomach, especially for that first hour. The phlobotomist kept reminding me that if i felt nauseous to see her immediately, which only resulted in me focusing more on feeling ill, but I pulled through without vomiting and they were able to find 4 different veins to draw blood from, although the 4th time they were really pushing it (I don't have good veins for blood draws) and it took a few pokes/prods to get the draw. Since I was really dreading this test, I decided to treat myself afterwards so I took the entire day off work (a Friday) and made a mani/pedi appointment after to pamper myself ;) I had a regular OB checkup appointment the following Monday and was told right away that I passed the 3 hrs with flying colors and not even close to the cut offs. Hooray for enjoying the rest of my pregnancy and being able to eat Christmas cookies!

Other than one torturous day of fasting/blood draws, things have been going really well. I'd even say I have less aches/pains than last pregnancy where I had more round ligament pain/etc. I do have a bit more acid reflux at night so I've been taking some Tums, and I did find out after the 3 hour test that I'm slightly anemic so I have to take additional Iron supplements (along with a stool softener that I wish I had started a long time ago). Prior to taking the extra Iron I had 2-3 light headed/dizzy spells, one while driving which was scary, and one particularly bad one that resulted in me almost fainting and having to put my head between my legs for awhile to recover while laying on the floor. After seeing my 3 hr bloodwork, my OB thinks these could have been caused by the anemia and since I started the supplements a few weeks ago I haven't experienced more. The other minor pain is that I've been getting full out nose bleeds, which I never got last pregnancy (only bloody snots last time). Ah the joys of growing a baby!



Baby has been doing great and is VERY active - I can feel her moving almost constantly. One of my OBs is big on counting kicks and asked me to make sure I could feel at least 10 kicks in an hour in the morning/evening, but I don't really formally do that since I feel her moving all day long! The movements are so big now that my stomach looks like it shape shifts sometimes, which is always weird, but I'm happy she's doing so well in there.



Today we had our 32 week ultrasound, which my practice does for all healthy pregnancies. We had it at the doctor's office instead of the fancy hospital facility so the photos weren't as clear, but they were able to get good measurements of the baby and everything looked good. They estimate the baby to be about 4lbs, 9oz right now which is in the 73rd percentile. Nolan also measured towards the larger side I remember, although he was only 6lbs even when born since it was 36w5d. They estimate baby girl to be about 8.5lbs if carried to 40wks. I also had them re-check to make sure she was a girl, and indeed she still is (so all the Christmas girls clothes I received are good to go!) It's always great to be able to see the baby and get an idea of what those crazy movements are. She was head down and facing torward my right side which explains all the big movements I've been getting on my right side (her feet kicking me). We didn't get a great picture of her face with her position - here's the one photo we got. Half of the photo is her face and half is showing her stomach/spine.

Left: Stomach/Spine, Right: Baby face (she's laying sideways)

Since this very well may be my last pregnancy, I wanted to get as much photos as possible to remember this unique time in our lives. We hired a professional photographer for family photos since the last time we had them done was for Nolan's 1 year birthday and he's now 2.5 years old. I'll have an entire post for this, but just wanted to mention it here too.

Sneak preview :) 27 weeks.

Finally, home preparations are in order as we hit the home stretch. We are in the process of setting up Nolan's "Big Boy Room" so that we can free up the nursery for the baby. We cleared out the office, painted it "Piece of the Sky" - MAB paint (Sherwin Williams), which matches our downstairs powder room, and purchased furniture from IKEA. We are using this winter break to put the furniture together and try out sleeping in there. We got the Kura for the twin-sized bed (because what toddler wouldn't want to sleep in a tent?!) and the Mandal for his new dresser. The cool thing about the Kura bed is that it can be flipped upside down to become a loft bed as he gets older (and the underneath can be used as an extra bed for sleep overs or a hangout/reading space. Hopefully the versatility of the furniture will allow it to be used for awhile!

Color of Nolan's room. A deeper grey/blue than the nursery

Kura bed - from IKEA website

Mandal Dresser

We'll move his current curtains and a bunch of his artwork in there as well and I eventually have plans to add some book/toy storage and a little reading corner. I will update with pics as the room comes together. As far as the nursery, we don't have plans to re-paint (well, maybe the closet, but don't tell Joe!) and just "feminize" the room by adding some girl-ish curtains/linens/artwork. Looking forward to having a place to put all of the girl stuff I've started accumulating! Hoping to have this ready to go by the time I have my baby "sprinkle" at the end of January :)

We're busy busy busy getting ready for baby! This will be our main focus now that Christmas has come and gone. Can't believe our little girl will be here soon :)