week #30 (so i'm running behind)

Oh man all i can say is its been a very busy week!! We have been trying to make Owens room look more like a nursery than just a half empty room with random boxes here and there. I received and awesome surprise from my mom and cousin this week. They chipped in together and bought us the crib we were wanting!! My dad even came over and put it together for us! I had every intention of having a friend make the bedding for his crib and even had all the fabrics picked out but then i found this  http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PC-Frog-Nursery-Discount-Designer-Crib-Bedding-Set-Brown-Green-NEW-Unique-/251032871425?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a72b9a201#ht_5264wt_1084 10 piece set for a steal!!! i ordered it this morning and should be here within a week. Even got free shipping!! I hope it looks as bright as it does in the pictures. i really dont like the typical pastel baby colors. Theyre boring.

Anyway it seems we are finally in the home stretch and actually getting ready for his arrival now. I went to the doctor thursday(a week ago) and i was excited to hear Dr. Zapata say that we can most likely expect him to come before his due date which is very ok with me! Abigale was 6 days early and most of the time the second baby comes earlier than the first.  Rest assured as soon as week 37 gets here i will be doing some major powerwalking and whatever else i can come up with to encourage his arrival!

I love reading about babies and pregnancy not just because i'm pregnant but because i'm a woman and that's what we were designed for. Lately i've been reading that in most cases labor and delivery is easier the second time around. And that makes sense since your body knows what to do this time. That doesn't mean less pain, but rather the same or more pain but for a shorter length of time. Typically first time mothers push for close to an hour where as second time moms are closer to 20 minutes. Thats fine by me! Labor from start to finish is usually shorter for second time moms too. But where there are ups there are downs and i'm hearing and reading that recovery after birth is usually harder for second time mothers. the discomfort, back pain, and uterine contractions are usually more intense.  Not really looking forward to that part but at least i will have a cute little boy to take my mind off of the discomfort.

Physically and emotionally i'm not doing as well as i have been in weeks past, but thats normal. I'm pretty tired most of the time and my back hurts almost constantly. Owen kicks me in the ribs or bladder many many times a day and that can be pretty uncomfortable too. Emotionally i can tell the hormone levels are on the rise again. Little things make me feel very emotional. I'm not liking being home by myself for 4 days in a row. its nice to be able to have time to do housework as i am able, but it doesnt take much to make me tired and i get bored and lonely and lack motivation. Jesse and i have been doing our best to focus on abigale and while the talk of her brother is increasing as we prepare for his arrival we are trying to tell her things about when we were getting ready for her to be born. Showing her pictures and explaining things to her and telling her how excited we were to be having a little girl. She is still seeming to be very excited about being a big sister and im glad for that. She will make a great big sister.

28 weeks :)

only 12 more to go!! is it bad that im hoping for only 9 more instead of 12?? They say you are full term at 37 weeks so why wait for 40? i mean i wouldnt induce just for the heck of it but if he happened to decide on his own i surely wouldnt mind!! in the past two weeks i've done the ever so lovely glucose test. Orange flavored water with 50 grams of sugar!!! While it did make me light headed to have that much sugar in so little time, i passed the test. High is over 140 mine was 115. I hate that they compare fetus sizes to food... at 27 weeks he is the size of your average head of coli-flour.... how do u compare a baby to coli-flour... and at 28 weeks he is the size of a Chinese cabbage... he has eye lashes and can open and close his eyes and sense light and sounds.
He has grown enough to put pressure on my diaphragm making me feel out of breath REALLY easy. I'm weighing right at 130 now so the doctor should be happy with me when i go back next week!

26 weeks

my camera lens is so scratched up but
here is the stroller we picked out :)
its brown and blue and green
not grey lol 

Well today makes 26 weeks. As each week passes i feel a little less nervous and a little more excited. The survival rate of a fetus born at 26 weeks is 80% or better. Of course there are always exceptions to statistics, but the further along i get the better i feel about our little Owen being born. His wake and sleep patterns are pretty noticeable now. He always wants to squirm around at bed time especially. He gets the hiccups on occasion and that's always funny. i still occasionally wake up flat on my back which i don't like, but i just roll to the side and go back to sleep.

We still havent bought Owens baby bed yet nor have i ordered the fabrics to make the bedding. I'm really excited and anxious to get all that stuff but realistically he cant sleep in it right away anyway. this website has pretty awesome fabrics for a less babyish feel in the nursery http://premierprintsfabric.com/collection.shtml i'm planning to order the fabrics i need from here unless of course i find it cheaper elsewhere. The crib i'm imagining is a cross between two different pinterest designs i've come across. The modern bedding here http://pinterest.com/pin/156289049538323292/ minus the ruffles, and the woven bottom part here http://projectnursery.com/projects/prices-bright-and-modern-circus-nursery/ if you click through the pics on either of these links there are some pretty cute nursery ideas for boys or girls rooms.

i just cant wait to meet him. To hold him and decide who he looks like. I hope breastfeeding works better for me this time around. It was a total chore with abigale and i didnt do it as long as i would have liked to. Luckily then we qualified for WIC so i didnt have to pay for her formula. This time that isnt the case and formula runs about 15 dollars a can and lasts no time at all.

Jesse has been such awesome support lately. He always tells me i'm beautiful and makes me feel so special. Sometimes its hard to feel attractive with the growing stretching belly and hormones but he has done an amazing job of continually making me feel good. He doesnt complain when i make him hold everything at the store so i can go pee every five minutes, he deals with all the changes and ups and downs like a champ and i am so greatful and lucky to have his constant love and support.

25 weeks

         so today i'm 25 or maybe 26 weeks pregnant. Doctor says 25 sonographer says 26 so i guess Owen will decide for himself! i started out weighing 125 pounds. due to morning sickness i lost down to 121 pounds, and i now weigh 126 pounds. That counts as 5 pounds gained. most people who experience morning sickness loose weight as a result and its perfectly ok. Dr Zapata wasnt terribly concerned that ive only gained 5 pounds however she did say that i need to gain 1 pound each week from now until birth (15 pounds total). i love having a female doctor. she is the greatest. a male doctor can train and study his whole life but he will never be able to fully understand what it is like to have a baby. its just impossible. Anyway, i feel pretty good most of the time and i'm always hungry.
        I guess my main worry in this whole new adventure is Abigale. She has been the center of attention for 6 years. She hasnt had to share her stuff or our attention. She is very much excited to be having a brother, and she talks to him all the time. I just dont want her to feel left out. Newborns are demanding. Some can be VERY demanding and i dont want her to feel left out or less important. Ive done my best to prepare her for what is to come. She knows he will cry alot and need to be held and fed and changed constantly, but i dont know if she really understands that some of that time that would be given to her will now have to be given to her brother. She will be a great helper. i plan to let her help as much as she would like to and include her so she feels important. It does worry me though, i dont want her to ever think i love her any less. She's my big girl.
      i guess thats all for now, i am trying to do this more often....

Owen :)

Yayyyy its a boy!! Owen will be the first grandson on both sides of our family. He will be one spoiled little boy. here are some pics

three months down

well i havent blogged in a while, my life has become even more busy than it was. Im officially three months and 4 days along in this pregnancy journey. This week i decided to change doctors. I was seeing Dr. Kowalczyk. She's a great Dr. and a very nice lady. I choose her because she came and spent time with me in the room after abigale was born. She helped me with feeding. She was very kind and gentle and understanding. She's a mother and she's very down to earth. I've had one visit and one sonogram at her office. The ladies who do the scheduling are really the reason i changed. im sure theyre nice too, but they cancelled my appoinment and rescheduled 5 times. I was supposed to be seen tuesday and they called and cancelled ten minutes before my appointment time saying they made an error. They didnt want to reschedule me until mid January and i didn't want to wait that long.

Dr. Zapata delivered abigale. She is very upbeat and energetic. She loves to talk. She is like me in alot of ways.  She also is a nice lady and a great Dr. She will be seeing me for the remainder of my pregnancy. i called Tuesday, and had an appointment Thursday and they didn't cancel. I didn't choose Dr. Zapata from the beginning because i really enjoyed my experience with Dr. K i liked how calm and soothing she was. She has a very natural approach to birthing and parenting and i like it alot. Dr. Zapata will be fine too, but it will be different. I can remember her waltzing into the labor room and almost yelling "ok mom lets do this!" usually thats completely my style of doing things, babies are different.

I hope this child is a boy, and for some reason i think it is. Maybe its because i know that's what we all really want, or maybe its because it really is a boy. i thought abigale was a girl before i knew she was a girl. I got to hear the heart beat yesterday for the first time. it made me very happy. My morning sickness has been pretty intense and i haven't been feeling good. Hearing that for just a few moments made it all better. its all worth it in the end. I cant wait to see his or her little face and fingers and toes.

If this baby is a girl. We will wait a year or so and try again. The plan is to save money during that time so we can use a midwife. Midwives actually cost less than going the traditional route but my insurance doesn't cover it up front so it will cost about $3,000 up front. Traditional OB hospital births cost upwards of 10,000 to 25,000 depending on the amount and different kinds of medicine the mother chooses and doctors feel necessary.

i would love to have a natural home birth but this time it just wasnt feasible. For some people that sounds scary but believe me, ive done plenty of research and have talked to many people about it over the course of several years. If i chose a medical profession, i would want to be a licensed midwife. Their jobs are amazing.

Ricki Lake made a documentary about home births and it's pretty amazing i think. Of course, it is biased but what isnt. Here is the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8h0SkPcs2U its on netflix. If you consider having a child you might give it a watch so you can form your own opinion.

bump update

So i had my first sonogram and everything went great. Abigale came along and she seemed to enjoy being included. She said it was cool. They kept my due date the same, June 27 and said the baby looks just as it is supposed to at this stage. its amazing how something so small at this point can cause so many changes. The surge of hormones is hardest for me. ha ha i'm sensitive anyway but oh boy watch out now! lol, also the morning sickness has kicked in with a vengeance. i love food and i love to eat but now i choose my food on which would be most pleasant to throw up. yuck. Here are some pictures. i know everyone seems to be having babies no so i wont carry on, just thought i would update in case you're wondering.