Happy summer!

It has been summer for a few days now, but hasn't been feeling like it. I have to admit I am one of the few people not complaining as being pregnant I have my own built in heat source. I have been bundling the kiddos up in footed pjs the last few nights though and giving them an extra blanket.

This pregnancy is going very well. My blood pressure, although not as low as I would like, has been doing fine with no more high readings like the one I got at the Drs back in April. As long as I don't attempt to do too much more than the ordinary day to day stuff and keep my stress levels down it is staying just fine. I did my Gestational Diabetes test this week and passed with no issues. I didn't enjoy drinking the sickly sweet orange drink and sitting in the waiting room for an hour though. So glad I passed this one and don't have to do the 3 hour one. My iron levels are low though, so I need to take a supplement to get those up a bit. I don't feel super tired, like I did when my iron levels were low when pregnant with the twins. Other than a day and a half with sciatic pain after doing too much during the move downstairs, I have really had very little pain with this pregnancy at all in the first 2 trimesters. It is soooooo different to be pregnant with a singleton than with twins. I had constant pain from the end of the first trimester onwards with the twins. That could be because I had no cervix left acting as a cushion. My cervix measured great this week on my transvaginal ultrasound, between 4 and 5 cm. I got to see our little girl on an ultrasound this week. She weighs in at over 2 pounds now and is measuring in the 50th percentile. Which is perfect, not too big, not too small. Also got to hear her heartbeat at the Drs office later in the week. I love the sound of galloping horses feet that their little heart beats make.

The twins are turning TWO next week. Hard to believe! Time sure has been flying along. We are having a party for them on the 3rd (Sunday) as their real birthday is on a Monday. They are at such a fun age now, exploring and finding delight in everything.

The renovations are coming along... We started this whole project back in March, and now it is almost July. I do have to say I am getting very tired of having strange men in my house every day. The first few months weren't too bad as they were working on the first floor and we were on the 2nd (main) floor and never really had to see them. Now we are living out of 3 bedrooms on the 1st floor while they work on the main floor. This means that our kitchen/dining room/living room area are all under construction. We turned one of the 3 bedrooms into a living room and have the kids table and chair set for the twins to eat off of in there. I pack a cooler in the mornings with sippies, lunch and snacks for the day. Ian has been home a number of the days, which has made it much easier too, as then one of us can be downstairs with the kids while the other makes meals/fetches things from the kitchen. Soon it will all be finished and we will love living in our beautiful "new" house though. I'll put pictures up on here once we reach that point.

23 weeks tom.

I was just reading the facts on pregnancy tickers. At 23 weeks the baby is supposed to be the size of a papaya, about 12 1/2 inches long, have fully formed ears, fingernails and fingerprints. I certainly feel like I have something the size of a papaya in there when I look down, my feet have disappeared I noticed this morning, I have to bend over a tiny bit to see them. Other than the hardness of my belly and that my normal clothes no longer fit, I really don't feel very pregnant yet. I guess having had twins the first time around and feeling huge from the first trimester onwards, this girl is easy to carry by comparison (so far... I reserve the right to complain in the 3rd trimester!)

I had an OB appointment a few days ago. It went well. She told me I was doing "Awesome" :) My BP was way lower than it had been a month ago. I have really cut salt out of my diet this past month, and it seems to be helping. I am amazed by how much salt is in everything, reading labels is key. My taste buds seem to have adjusted to having way less salt too. I took a bite of a pickle the other day (1/2 salt baby dills) and it was so salty I could barely stand it. I used to eat dill pickles all the time. Also trying to take life easier, let people help, ignore my messy house and avoid stress.

I have gained 1 pound so far this pregnancy. And since the baby weighs over a pound now herself, I think that is pretty good. Unlike with the twins where I was told I needed to gain some weight, I have no need to gain any weight with a singleton, maintaining or just a small gain is fine. I figure if you take the baby, placenta, fluid, etc. into consideration I have actually lost weight. I am sure that the scale will go up during the 3rd trimester, but for now I am happy it is staying where it is.

I haven't really bought anything for our new little girl yet, but I did order some newborn cloth diapers. I am excited for them to arrive in the mail. I got prefolds, flats and small sized fitteds and some different styles of covers (including a recycled wool one). I am not sure what else I will really need. I did give away some of Anna's smallest clothes to a friend who had a smaller baby than expected, so I might need a few more newborn and 0-3 month sized outfits. And every baby needs to have a few things that aren't hand me downs anyways...

Team PINK

Earlier this week we went in for the 20 week ultrasound (actually 21 weeks 1 day). I always find ultrasounds nerve wracking. I think it is because the first time I ever had one it was the day we learned our first baby didn't have a heartbeat and that I was going to miscarry. So, since then, I tend to get a little worried.

Everything went wonderfully. They managed (after much poking and prodding to get baby into the positions needed) to take all the measurements, check all the limbs, organs etc. The Dr said everything looked great, that baby was around 1 pound and was measuring around the 60th percentile. Big sigh of relief!

The Dr also knew what the sex was and asked if we wanted to know. We are having a GIRL!

The 2nd part of the ultrasound was done transvaginally to check my cervical length. With the twins at this ultrasound (done earlier at 19 weeks) my cervix had gotten really short (13mm) and I was admitted for a cerclage surgery and spent a week in the hospital on bedrest, before being sent home on bedrest. This time there was much better news. My cervix is staying long (around 50mm) and showed no signs of funneling. Again, big sigh of relief!

Trip to the hospital

I am home again. Went for my OB visit on Thursday and had my BP checked with the cranky nurse (who has gotten really high BP readings for me before when pregnant with the twins), it was really high. Then my OB went to do the doppler and couldn't find the heart beat (she said she thought that she could hear the baby moving, but basically gave up on finding the heartbeat) Well that freaked me right out. So because of those two things, and the state I was in, she decided I should go to the hospital to be checked out/monitored for 24 hours. Because I was now an "inpatient" I got to jump the line and have an immediate ultrasound (all was fine. Baby was just super active, refusing to stay still for more than a few seconds which is why it was hard to doppler the heartbeat.) Got to hear a nice heartbeat and see baby moving, so felt better after that. They kept checking my BP during my stay and never once did it go super high again like in her office. It is up a bit, but nothing to be super concerned about. So there are 2 scenarios. 1) The nurse/equipment at the OB's office sucks and it was a false reading 2) After driving, waiting in the waiting room, seeing the cranky nurse, etc. I was worked up and that shot my BP up , which means that at other times when I am stressed I am probably having really high BP moments as well although that is the only place I have ever had such a scary high reading. So if it is #1 or #2 we really don't know. My OB wants to err on the side of caution and for me to take life super easy at home right now. I am not on strict bed rest, just bedrest when ever possible/limited activities. Pretty scary that at 18-19 weeks I am already having BP issues though. I really hope that I can find help so that I have less to do, and that I can keep myself from being so stressed. With Ian being away, kids sick with colds, renovations, pregnancy, Ian being super worked up/busy at work I have been finding it hard to relax and get good night sleeps etc. I also very rarely have any time away from the kids, if any. Being in the hospital for 24 hours I realized I need to take more time for me, to just relax and to not constantly be on the alert of what the kids are up to.

Soon to be a family of 5

I realized I haven't updated my blogs for ages. I have some rather big news to share though. I am 18 weeks pregnant, due in September! I feel badly that I haven't document this pregnancy so far like I did when I was pregnant with the twins. Hopefully I will find a few moments to do so in the future.

Alex's haircut

BEFORE




AFTER




Alex had his first haircut in the NICU, where they shaved his little blond fluff off to put in IVs. I was so sad as it totally changed how my baby looked. Since then his hair has been growing up a storm though, and it was reaching almost to his shoulders. Time had come to cut his blond locks. This haircut was much less traumatic for me. He looks like such a cute little boy with his ends trimmed off and I am no longer constantly brushing his hair out of his eyes for him. Thanks to Cathy for performing the task and literally chasing him around the room with her comb and scissors to find a rare moment of stillness.

Playing in the snow