Getting Bigger!!

Finlay too had his 2 month check up yesterday. He weighed in at 8lbs 10oz and 20.75 inches long. He's becoming a little porch chop. But he's still a little peanut. He's also mommy's little snuggler. Finny was also vaccinated yesterday so he was a little on the fussy side the rest of the day but he was much better today. He has gotten much better sleeping at night. He is now sleeping in between his bottles and is taking in 3.5oz with the occassional 4oz and he is wanting to go about 4 hrs in between. He has gone the occassional 5 hrs but it doesn't happen too often. At this point his eating is under control. He does still get a bit pokey somedays but I don't worry about it. As long as he continues to gain weight he's good. He doesn't have to go back to the Dr for another 2 months. That makes me happy I was getting a bit tired of traveling to Dr's it was getting tiresome b/c it's a long drive to his Dr.

I've started doing tummy time with Finny to help him get his neck stronger. Today he managed to push himself up for a few seconds. He doesn't mind being on his tummy he will stick his butt up in the air when I get him in that position. I occassionally nap him on his tummy in the afternoon (in his pack and play in the living room where I can see him of course)

Happy 2 months Finny!!!

Thanksgiving

Finlay had a wonderful 1st Thanksgiving. He went over to visit Grammy B in the early afternoon and then later he had dinner at home with Grammy Judy and cousin Macey. He enjoyed some snuggles with big brother and later snuggled with daddy. It was a nice relaxing day.

Today he is sleeping in his swing and just having a quiet day with Ethan and Mommy. Later we will be going to dinner with Grandpa Frank as we didn't see him yesterday. Tomorrow Finlay will be decked out in OSU wear for the Ohio Michigan game. We will also be working on getting our Christmas decorations up and will be going to the Lights at the zoo as well. I can't wait it will be Finlay's first time.

We have had a lot of questions about what Finlay needs for Christmas. He has plenty of clothes that are warm for the winter. He could maybe use a couple of sleepers that are 0-3 month sizes. Please no 3-6 month clothes I have more than I know what to do with and many of them were from Ethan and still have the tags on them. We don't need playmats I have 2, he doesn't need a walker I have one, I have a bouncer as well, and 2 pack and plays. I have plenty of little hats and blankets so I don't need anymore and I don't have room for anymore really. I have tons of little socks as well. As far as diapers go he is heading into size 1's. I prefer Pampers. Huggies are a horrible fit for him they leak like crazy. He is just too scrawny for Huggies. Honestly Finlay doesn't really need anything. I kept EVERYTHING from Ethan. Finlay is pretty much all set. He is wearing the same size of clothes (for the most part) as Ethan was at this time of year. Ethan was not wearing 3-6 month size until Dec. Finlay is still on the fortified formula and he is still playing catch up. He has been gaining about a pound every 2 weeks and growing 1/4 of an inch in the same amount of time. I don't need bottles I have more than I know what to do with. We can always use Diaper Genie 2 refills. We are good on formula. I have been using the Babies R Us Brand as it's a better deal ($15 for 23.4 oz) I just bought 2 containers this month and we should be good for the next 2 -3 months as I am still pumping for him so he gets breast milk too so that cuts down the amount of formula we are having to use. Maybe instead of giving Finlay gifts make a donation to the March of Dimes in his name. I haven't gotten a savings account set up for him yet but I will be getting that done soon. I will be opening an account for him at the credit union where Ethan is set up. I wish I had more to suggest but we pretty much have everything for him. Oh and please no more bibs the kitchen drawer can't hold anymore.

Finny's first Halloween!!!

Finlay had a great first Halloween yesterday. He stayed home and helped his mommy pass out candy to all the little spooks. I was planning on staying in the house with him and passing out candy but I ended up having to stand in the middle of our driveway so that the kiddy's would come to our door. I wrapped Finny in a blanket and then put a heavier blanket over him and held him to my chest so he would stay warm. I also kept the blanket over his head to protect his face from the wind. It was a chore passing out candy with only one free hand LOL. I managed though. We had fun getting to see all the little cuties come to our door. Some were so cute I gave them an extra piece of candy.

Finny has been keeping me up most of the night. He takes after his mother, he's a night owl. Unfortunately mommy is too tired at night to be a night owl b/c she has to be up all day with Ethan. Last night Finlay ate at 10:30, then he wanted to eat again at 1. No big deal right? Wrong. He did not want to go to sleep after his 1:00 bottle. He felt it was the perfect time to play. I tried everything to get him to go to sleep. I gave him his binky, I gently rocked the bassinet, I sang to him, I snuggled him, but he was just wide awake and by 3:00 he was ready to eat again. So I went downstairs to make a bottle and he managed to wake up his daddy who had to be up for work by 4:30. Daddy fed him at 5 and I was up again at 8. Needless to say mommy was very tired as Finny didn't let her go to sleep until almost 4 this morning then I had to be woken up by daddy's alarm. In the end 3.5 hrs was not enough sleep. Fortunately Ethan was in a snuggle mood this morning so I at least got to sleep in with him. I look forward to when Finny figures out that when the sun is up it's OK to be awake and when the sun goes down it's bed time LOL. Ethan has it down pat although he likes to question why the sun goes to sleep.

1 week check up

I can't believe that Finlay is going to be a week old tomorrow!! The last 6 days have flown by so quickly. Things have seemed so hectic and crazy. At times I think that I am dreaming and Finlay is really still in my belly kicking me in the ribs LOL. Last night he started eating 30ml's every 3 hrs. So since being born he has gone from 15ml's to 30ml's (or 1 ounce). I am very impressed with how much he has increased his feeds. Also in the beginning he was slow to take the 15 ml's and was taking so long to eat that he was wearing himself out. Weds night/ early Thurs morning he began downing the formula in 20 mins or less and is able to do so without being to sloppy. He is coming a long way in a short amount of time. Finlay is NOT on straight breast milk. He is getting both formula and breast milk and we have pretty much been mixing it 50/50. I have not yet been able to produce enough to meet his demands. I have been pumping every 3-4 hrs and have just started to be able to produce 2oz. I was trying for a 2 hr schedule but unfortunately was only producing every 4. Now that it is starting to come in more that shouldn't become a problem. I would like to be on the 2 hr schedule so that I can make sure that he is getting breast milk with each meal alongside his formula.

We took him today to the Dr for a weight check and his 1 week check up. He has gone down to 5lbs 2oz which is a 9% drop. She said that in the first week babies can lose up to 10% of their birth weight before they gain it all back. So he is in the normal parameters for a newborn. She told us that now that he is showing more interest in eating we can go ahead and let him be an on demand eater. If he wants to eat every 2 hrs we can go ahead and let him but not to let him go past 3 hrs. Monday morning when he was being assessed by the Speech Therapist and the nurse we were told not to let him eat for more than 30 minutes, to keep him on a 3 hr schedule that anything less than 3 hrs would cause him to have to burn more calories than he needs to. Now that he can be more on demand and now that he is more awake to eat he should pack on the weight quickly. So the Dr wants to have his weight checked again by Tues. We asked if I could bring him in on Thurs as I have a 2 week OB appt and her office is across the hall from the peds. It would save me a lot of time and gas to not have to make 2 separate trips. But she doesn't want to wait that long. She said that they can have a home nurse come and check his weight this weekend to see if he has put on any weight but she still wants to see him close to 2 weeks so he will be back to see her on the 19th. Overall he is doing well. She is starting him on vitamin D which is required now for ALL newborns by the government. It is over the counter drops that we can just mix in with his bottle in the mornings. Apparantly all newborns are vitamin D deficient and it can lead to problems in the bones, cause juvenile diabetes, and a few other things. Formula is fortified with vitamin D but apparently breast milk does not have it. Even if the mom is getting plenty of it her breast milk will not receive it. I find that interesting information considering that if all newborns are deficient how is it that most of us never had problems from it when we were little? Hmmmm, something for all of us to ponder.

Happy Birthday

Finlay Matthew Pacholski entered into this world on Oct 8 2011 at 4:34 pm. He was born at 35 weeks 4 days, weighed 5lbs 12oz, was 19.5" long, and has 10 fingers and 10 toes. Finlay came as a very unexpected surprise he was not expected for another 2-4 weeks. My water broke at home and 4.5 hrs later there was Finlay. He had no complications but due to the fact that I had not been tested for Strep-B I was treated like I had it when we got to the hospital. I was put on antibiotics and needed to be on them for 4 hrs before his birth but unfortunately only received 2 hrs of them before we had no choice but to push. So he was put on AmpGen (which can cause hearing loss) as a preventative in case I did have it and passed it to him. Fortunately he did not have it all blood work came up clean. He had to remain in the hospital for 48 hrs though b/c of the drug. Finlay did pass his hearing test which by the way was done by his Grammy B. He needs to get rechecked though in a couple weeks b/c of the drugs. He had a rough first night and was kept in the nursery all night b/c he was having difficulty eating. He was only eating 15ml's every 3 hrs but it was taking him too long and he wasn't consistent. By the 2nd night he was doing much better. Finlay and I went home Monday afternoon, it was so nice to be home with my family. It drove me nuts to be separated from Matt and Ethan. Since coming home he is eating 25ml's every 3 hrs. He has his days and nights reversed right now so he likes to keep us up all night. Unfortunately he is unable to breast feed at this time so I am having to pump several times a day. He has a small chin just like Ethan did and it prevents him from being able to make a good seal around the breast. Personally I don't care how he gets the breast milk as long as he is getting it. Right now he is sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed. B/c of him being so small and not being an on demand eater it makes it much easier to just keep him next to us. Ethan was much bigger and was an on demand eater when he came home from the NICU so putting him straight to his own room at night was OK. In a couple weeks Finlay will probably be sleeping in his own room. I do not sleep with him in bed I am just not comfortable doing that. Tomorrow he goes in for a 1 week check up with the pediatrician. She came to see him when he was 24 hrs old and was just a little concerned about the amount of formula (we are supplementing until my full milk supply comes in) he was taking in at a time so she wants to make sure he is gaining weight. I think that him being home has made a huge difference in how he eats. For one thing no one is interrupting him in the middle of eating to take his blood or poke and prod at him. When that happened at the hospital he just didn't want to eat afterward. He started taking 20ml's every 3 hrs with in 1 day of being home and today he started taking 25ml's every 3 hrs. So IMO he is doing well and I know will have put on weight. Right now he is sleeping on Matt's shoulder while Ethan is laying in Matt's lap and Peek-a-boo is laying next to them on the arm of the chair. It's a very cute site.

Finlay will soon be introduced to friends and family but Ethan has been sick so we have been unable to invite anyone over. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to introduce him to a few people. Matt has been home on vacation all this week and will be home all next week as well. We have worked hard the last 2 days to make sure Finlay does not catch what Ethan has. I have not been allowing Ethan to touch Finlay near or around the face and hands, we have had him keep his distance from Finlay's face altogether. If he touches Finlay's binky or bottles they are immediately sterilized before going to Finlay. We have been spraying Lysol on the furniture and other surfaces to help kill any germs Ethan leaves behind. So please do not come visit if you are sick or have ANY cold/flu symptoms, also no children if they are sick or have been sick and have not been symptom free for at least 72 hrs. I really want to be cautious because of his prematurity and because I don't want him to be exposed to too much all at once. I also want to be cautious b/c neither Matt nor I want to end up getting sick. We are keeping hand sanitizer all over the house and no one may hold Finlay unless they have sanitized their hands. Also if you smoke please don't smoke around Finlay or right before handling him. His lungs are premature and it could cause him problems. I know that everyone already know this stuff and I sound like an over-protective mother but it makes me feel better to say it. I carried him for 35 weeks and I worked hard to bring him into this world. Now I am working hard to keep him healthy. All these things were actually things that the pediatrician discussed with me on Sunday when she came to assess Finlay. His immune system is just not ready to be able to handle everything yet and getting sick really could send him to the PICU so I don't take it lightly.

Finlay only a few minutes old

Big Brother Ethan

Mom and her boys

First Family Picture

Going home

Only 4.5 weeks to go!

My little man has officially made it to 35 weeks. I never doubted him for a moment that he couldn't make it this far. He is doing amazing according to the Dr yesterday.

Everything is going the way it should. The baby is head down still she was able to feel his little butt up by my rib cage and his head was down on my hip bone. He's laying on the right side (his favorite place) and he just loves to kick me in the ribs which has been leaving them very sore. I did ask her about the pain I've been getting on the right side of mt back right in the ribs. I understand why it aches but the pain is so bad I have been sleeping with an ice pack in it to numb it and make myself a little more comfortable. She said for every woman it's different it just depends on how much pressure the lungs are putting on the ribs and how much the ribs need to expand to accommodate the lungs to allow them to expand. In my case he is right up in my ribs so they are having to expand quite a bit to make it all fit. All she could recommend I do is continue with the ice packs and Tylenol even though at this point Tylenol really won't help. Once he drops the pain will most likely diminish and once he is born it will go away almost immediately. So unfortunately for me it's pretty common and I just have to deal. I was just concerned about the intensity as I never got this far with Ethan so I never experienced it.

My Dr is expecting this baby to make it to full term just like I have been saying all along. She did however tell me that should he decide to come sometime before Tues he would be perfectly fine. He is a healthy weight, about a pound over the norm and the last ultrasound I had done a couple weeks ago showed that his lungs are fully matured so he won't have any problems breathing. She said that he had a 90% chance of never seeing the NICU but if he did it would only be for 24 hrs for observation and he would be going home with us. Should he come after Tues he would be 36 weeks and there would literally be no reason for him not to go home with us. I do not feel that he will come before 37 weeks though. I don't think he's done kicking me in the ribs yet. I think he wants to torture his mommy a little bit longer LOL. There's a reason I deemed him my MMA Fighter. He's got some strong kicks. Somedays I find myself begging him to stop and explain to him that Mommy needs her lungs to breath. It's kind of an important thing.

We just about have everything done and ready for his arrival. I need to get out the onsies and get them washed, I also need to get the Pack 'N Play sheets washed, and get the cover for the bassinet washed as well. I guess I will have to go get some baby blankets to wrap him up in as well I was just planning on using all the ones I had when Ethan was a baby but Ethan doesn't want his baby brother to use them. So we will have to go out and get some new ones. I still need to pick up the changing pad from one of my friends. It's brand new she never used it for her son so she is giving it to us which is great because those things are not cheap!! Otherwise everything is all ready for him to come. Now that everything is ready I am really looking forward to finally meeting this little boy who has been kicking me in the ribs and causing me to pee every half hour. It's going to be so worth it. Ethan has been talking a lot about when he baby brother will come. He asks me every day if he is coming today and I have to tell him that he has to stay in mommy's belly and cook just a little bit longer but soon he can meet him. He is so excited to have his "baby bruder" watch Baby Einstein with him and he wants him to come play in his room. It's so cute. We have tried to explain that in the beginning his brother is essentially just going to be a little lump that cries and is full of smells. I guess he will just have to see for himself. Ethan has been such a big help over the last month around the house I really hope that he will want to continue that and be a big help with his baby brother as well. It's good bonding time when he helps me and it would really help him bond with his brother if he helps do little things with his brother. He will be a great big brother it's just going to take time for all of us to adjust.

Only 6 weeks to go!!

Yesterday marked 34 weeks for Mr. R.A.P!!! That means now only 20 days to go before he is considered full term. He is starting to cause his mom some pain now that he is getting bigger. I was concerned about the ache that I have been feeling in the right side of my ribs in the back. I brought it up to my Dr and she assured me it is totally normal. I haven't found too much that helps to relieve it but I will push through b/c I know that as soon as he is born it will go away. I had an u/s done just to check and see how he was positioned and he was head down with little feet in my ribs (guess that would be what explains the pain). He still has plenty of room yet to grow but most likely he will now remain in the head down position. According to the Dr very few babies flip once they get in that position at this stage.

His room is all ready for him now and it looks so cute. I need to go through all Ethan's 0-3 month clothes and get out all the onsies and also go through and see what we have as far as warm clothes. I have a friend who is holding her sons clothes for me. He was born end of Oct so they would be for the right season. Ethan was wearing 3-6 months by Oct/Nov and he was about 8 or 9 pounds at that time so I have a feeling most of Ethan's clothes will fit this baby. Already R.A.P is close to 5lbs so he is going to be a good sized baby at birth. I am getting anxious now and am so excited that soon I will be meeting him and holding him. It's going to be a great holiday season this year that I get to share it with my 2 beautiful boys and Matt.

A message from R.A.P

Guess what! My mom tells me I have officially made it farther than my big brother Ethan! I am not 31 weeks 2 days and I plan on baking for a while yet. I'm happy in my nice warm location. I have this great pillow to rest my head on. Although mom doesn't seem to like it. She says it makes her have to pee every half hour practically when I do that.

I had a check up today and everything is looking good for me. According to the Dr I am roughly about 4lbs. I even cooperated and let the Dr listen to my heart. Normally I am all over the place and like to make her chase me. Today I was too tired for the chase so I took a nap instead.

My parents have been working with my room. They say I am going to really like it. But I don't know what this Lion King is that they keep talking about. Mom said she got the wall decals up and some pictures. From what I hear from mom it's coming along quite nicely and should hopefully be completed by the end of this month. I can't wait to see what my parents have done for me. I guess I will find out in 9 weeks.

Because this is our second child there isn't much that is needed for this baby. We are in the process of getting ready to start working on the nursery and will most likely start painting it this weekend. The theme for the nursery is The Lion King. Matt and I have discussed it and we have decided that instead of gifts if anyone is interested in doing something for this little guy they could make a contribution to his room or to the few things that we do need. I went online and created a registry for him so that everyone can see what we are going to be doing with his room and what few things we do need. I saved all of Ethan's clothes and all the nursery furniture. I have 2 pack and plays, a bassinet, toys galore (so please no more toys), a bouncer, jumperoo, diaper bags, and tummy time mats. This time around I plan on breast feeding and a friend of mine gave me her breast pump that she was never able to use so I now have one. We have a stroller on lay-a-way at Babies R Us we will be getting the Sit 'n Stand stroller. We have car seats as well. Honestly we don't expect anyone to do anything for this baby. All we want is a healthy full term baby boy. But I also know how people are when it comes to new babies they just can't help themselves LOL. I should know I do it to my friend all the time. I see something and it just screams out "Buy me" and I have to get it for her little girl. LOL. We just figured just in case someone did ask us "What do you need for this baby?" We'd have an answer LOL. So if you are intending to do something for him please check out the registry, you can find a link to it at the end of this post. But also Please don't feel obligated to get for him either. He will be happy just to be so loved.

Tomorrow I will be 29 weeks and this pregnancy is going like textbook. Baby R.A.P loves to keep me up all night kicking and dancing on my bladder. He has his days and nights reversed LOL. I am always talking to him about that but he is like his big brother, he will do things the way he wants to do things. During the day he is very mellow he waits until I am ready for bed to give me some good kidney kicks or do a tap dance. Last night he was kicking so hard we could actually feel the vibration of them on the mattress on our bed LOL. He is going to be one strong little man. I had a chat with him over the weekend and he has been informed that he is not allowed to arrive during football games. He can come anytime Monday through Friday but the weekends are out b/c Mommy and Daddy want to watch football LOL. Soon enough we are going to have ourselves a new little Buckeye Fan and a new little Steelers Fan (shhhhhhh! Don't tell Matt he doesn't know this kid is a Steelers fan yet). He'll be following in his big brother's footsteps running around the house screaming "Go Steeeeeeels!" LMAO.

 OK so any ways he goes in for a check up on the 25th this week so I will update again then.

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

13 weeks left!

So I've been getting the feeling that people are worried about this pregnancy. Here's what I have to say about that.......RELAX!!! Seriously, I am not worried at all. I know that everyone is becoming more concerned b/c this is the point where we started to have serious issues with my pregnancy with Ethan however this pregnancy is completely opposite. I am 99% sure that I will not be having a baby over the next few weeks. How do I know that? I have been having the Fetal Fibronectin Test (FFN) done every 2 weeks starting at 24 weeks of pregnancy. The way this test works is if it's negative it's a 99.2% chance that I will not go into labor. If it's positive it just puts us on high alert that labor could happen. Only 16% of women who get a positive result end up going into  preterm labor. I have had 2 tests done and both have come up negative so there is a 99.2& chance that I WILL NOT go into labor between 26 and 28 weeks. I will have it done again at my next appt. I didn't really feel that anyone needed to know I was getting this test done but based on some conversations I've had I feel that maybe it would ease others tension to know that the test is coming up negative. I am posting this as a means to help ease anyone's worries. If I'm not worried no one else needs to be either. Whatever happens with this pregnancy I will take the cards that I am dealt and I will go with it. I don't want to be put in a position where I feel like I am constantly having to reassure anyone that everything is fine. So hopefully with this post I have put everyone's fears to rest and we can all just enjoy the next 13 weeks. I just don't want anyone to worry.

14 weeks and counting

Little R.A.P is going to be here in just 14 very short weeks!! We are so not ready for him to be here LOL. We need to get started on his room and there is so much to do. First we are going to sell the furniture that is in there. It was given to me by my grandfather and it was one of the last things he gave me before the Alzheimer's took control. Any money I get from it I am going to use to buy a few things for R.A.P that we will be needing and look at it as Pa's way of giving to his great-grandson. We have to get the chimney done and then we need to get the room painted as well. Hopefully we will get the repair work done in the next week while Matt is off. I haven't decided completely yet but his room is either going to be monkey's or baby Lion King. I saw the outfit at Babies R Us and they are both so cute. I will have to check them out again before making my final decision.

So R.A.P is 26 weeks today and he is a mover and a groover. This child has his days and nights reversed. I think it is his goal in life to make sure he keeps mommy awake all night. Ethan was totally opposite he was active mostly during the day. It doesn't help that daddy likes to get him riled up at night just before going to bed. Today we had the glucose test done and mommy was very happy that she only had to be poked once b/c the idea of 2 pokes was too much for me to bear. After that we had a check up and a certain baby was moving all around making getting his heartbeat tough. This time around I left Ethan at home it was just going to be too long of a wait for him. I am always in and out of the OB in under 40 minutes but with the blood test too I figured he wouldn't take it very well. I like to take him with me so he is involved with the pregnancy and he gets to hear his brother's heartbeat.

This little boy is going to be so lucky. He has a big brother who loves him very much and is anxious to meet him. Then again mommy and daddy look forward to meeting him in Nov as well. I keep telling him that he needs to stay put until then. He is not allowed to come early.

16 weeks left!

Hello out there from inside my mommy's tummy! I have been a very busy boy. Well OK I've been busy kicking my mom. I like to remind her just how busy I am going to be when I come into the world. He he he. She likes to tell me all the time how I am so like my big brother Ethan. Apparently he was the same way when he was inside her tummy. I guess the only difference is I'm not causing her any grief (yet anyways, just wait until I get here). Anyways it turns out that I am 24 weeks old instead of 23 weeks. Apparently my due date was changed and mommy was never informed. So I will probably be arriving somewhere around Nov 8 which mommy says is a good thing b/c that will give her a couple weeks before this thing called Thanksgiving (not sure what that is but I'm sure I will find out) to get over my arrival. So mommy and daddy only have 16 more weeks to prepare for me until then I will just continue to somersault around in mommy tummy and remind her in the middle of the night that I'm still here. 

18 weeks to go and counting!!!

I had my u/s today and everything went great. Baby R.A.P does not have Treacher Colins (which let me say I was 100% sure he didn't). He was not shy either he is all boy. In fact he was just like Ethan showing his boy parts all over the place, what a little stinker! The tech had a hard time getting a good look at his heart b/c he kept keeping his arms tight up to his chest and then drawing his legs in or he was turning his back to her. She kept making me roll from one side to the other to get him to flip but I swear he was folding his arms in defiance like he was saying "You can have Mom turn in any direction but I'm not moving!" Eventually she got smart to him and was looking at other things and then coming back to the heart when he showed signs of cooperation. We got some nice profile images of him and she was able to get a few decent 3D images of his face but he was pretty irritated with us by then so he was moving about a lot. But we have seen his face and I know I am biased but I think he is beautiful. I have a feeling he is going to look a little like his big brother. I also have a feeling he is going to be as mischievous as his big brother. I told Matt while we were waiting to hear that they had gotten all the images that they needed I can see the future now. Ethan will be 5, R.A.P 2. Ethan will tell him:

"Here's what we do. We both go into the kitchen and make a giant mess. Then you go upstairs to the bathroom and make a mess while I go to the basement and spill kitty litter all over the place. We can do this while Mom cleans the kitchen. Then once she discovers the 2 separate messes we made while she is cleaning those we go and destroy the kitchen again. He he he, it'll be so much fun and boy will we get under mom's skin!"

They'll be double teaming us. Boy are we going to be in trouble! LOL.

19 weeks....only 21 more to go!!

I had an OB appt today and all is looking good. Baby "R.A.P" had a heart rate in the 150's and he was moving all around. I haven't gained any weight in the last 7 weeks, the Dr wasn't too thrilled about that (I personally was happy to hear that LOL) but she isn't worried either. With a toddler to chase around it's no surprise. Ethan definitely keeps me busy and active. I go for the big ultra sound on July 8. We don't really have any concerns about the pregnancy, no questions, so it was a simple appointment today. Compared to my pregnancy with Ethan I am doing great. By this point with Ethan I felt sick all the time, tired all the time, and just overall didn't feel great. This time around I have more energy and feel great. It's like they say no pregnancy is a like. Now I just need to hope that this one is a little more calmer than Ethan or I am so going to have my hands full when he becomes mobile!

Update

I was supposed to see the OB today but they called and had to reschedule b/c she was forced to change her surgery schedule so now I won't see her until Tues June 21. Today's appt was a reschedule from 2 weeks ago when I called to change it b/c I was sick with a bad cold and was having a lot of migrain's from the nose congestion. So I guess there will be 7 weeks in between appts this month LOL. No big deal. Baby is kicking so it's all good. Just thought I should update b/c normally there are 4 weeks between appts and it's been a while since I posted. I will normally only post when I have an appt b/c then I have something worth posting about.

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and will be 19 weeks on Sunday, almost to the halfway mark. In a few more weeks we will be doing the big u/s to see how well he is growing and will get a good look at his boy parts LOL. Although the 16 week u/s was purdy clear it's a boy.

I will update after my appt next week.

16 Weeks

I will officially be 16 weeks on Sunday. I had an appt today for another ultrasound and everything looks good. Baby was moving around so much it took a few attempt to get a count on the heartbeat but they got a rate of 154 so that is good!

We asked if they were able to see the sex of the baby, knowing that generally you can't tell until at least 20 weeks but since it was a more high def u/s we figured we'd look and see if anything is showing. Anyone want to take bets on what it is? We know. We knew right from the start. I guessed it 10 weeks ago. Any takers? You have a 50% chance of getting it right. Anyone? OK well I won't leave you hanging. It appears that Ethan is going to be having a little..........
BROTHER!
Yep there appears to be a third leg but we will definitely know 100% in 6 weeks or so when I get the major u/s done.

A little Brother or Sister for Ethan

I didn't get to do this for Ethan, start a blog before he was even born. I had never thought about blogging before he was born. I actually had started Ethan's blog as a way to keep family and friends informed of his progress as he progressed through the NICU. So this time I get a chance to start before the baby is even here!

I think the title of the blog is fitting for this baby. He/she is due November 13, only 11 days before Thanksgiving. Right now our lil turkey is only 13 weeks 2 days. So I guess we are going to have a turkey baby.

I've had 3 ultrasounds done and Ethan has been present to all of them. I had my last OBGYN appointment on the 5th of this month and the heartbeat was a little over 170/minute which is a great heartbeat. Ethan knows he is going to be a big brother but that's about as far as it goes for him. He likes to ask to see the baby and I show him the ultrasound pictures but he doesn't get why he can't just see the baby live. He thinks the baby is growing in his belly which I think is so adorable. He pats his belly and tells me "Baby in my belly!" Can't get any cuter than that. This little turkey is going to have a great big brother.

Someday when the kids are grown I will turn these blogs that I have been writing for them all these years into a book for them. They will enjoy reading all about their adventures as kids and laughing at their antics. Then they can see how much like them their own kids are.