This babe is about halfway baked at this point, which is crazy to think about because I feel like this pregnancy is just flying by! Ask me if I still feel that way around 35 weeks or so and I may very well claim to have never said that ;)
The big news is we go in tomorrow for baby's Anatomy Scan and as long as baby cooperates we will find out the sex! Right now I'm just really excited about finding out what we're having (no Team Green here - I want the surprise now! Meeting baby for the first time will be surprise enough upon delivery :) ), but I'm sure the nerves will set in either around bed time tonight or certainly tomorrow morning. I often get nervous before things like this because I just want to know that everything is okay in there. I try to remind myself that I have no reason to worry at this point, but like it or not I'm a worrier by nature.
As far as a prediction, I'm feeling like baby is a girl. I don't really know why, my pregnancy has been just about the same as last time, but right from the beginning I just got the feeling that it was a girl. Of course this prediction could be influenced by a lot of different things. Interestingly enough, last time Mark was really sure that Jack was a boy. I eventually agreed with his prediction, but he seemed to have stronger feelings about it. This time, the roles are reversed! I'm convinced it's a girl, Mark agrees, but isn't as sure. It'll be fun to find out if our prediction is correct this time!
Calming my worries now are reassuring baby thumps. I've been feeling some movement for about a week and a half now. 3 days before I hit 19 weeks I started feeling some super faint movements that I thought was baby, but wasn't sure. 2 days later I was positive I was finally feeling movement! I have an
anterior placenta again this time which tends to delay feeling early baby movements. Last time I didn't feel any movement until my 21st week of pregnancy. It's nice that I was able to feel baby a little earlier this time, maybe it's true that you feel movement sooner with subsequent pregnancies.
It's so reassuring to feel periodic movement in there! It's still pretty faint and I don't feel it as often as I probably will in a few weeks, but it's still nice.
I'm feeling much better than I was. I get periodic aches and pains from things stretching out, but nothing too bad yet. My main complaint is that I'm TIRED. So tired. I think this is based on a few different things. One, my body is growing another human. Two, I'm not getting enough sleep. And three, I chase a toddler around all day. Those three things combined leave me exhausted. Sometimes I get so tired that it actually starts making me feel sick. I've definitely had some pregnancy induced insomnia this time. I don't remember having this with Jack until the very end and it's extremely frustrating. Some nights are better than others, but sometimes I have trouble getting to sleep, or just don't sleep very well at all. Often I'm up earlier than I need to be. This is all SO atypical for me as I'm usually a really heavy sleeper without any sleep troubles! It's incredibly annoying being tired and not being able to sleep.
In addition to my own sleep issues, Jack is having trouble sleeping as well. He periodically goes through these sleep regressions which always coincide with some sort of physical or mental development. He seems to be developing a lot of language skills lately so I'm sure that's the culprit. It's like he just can't shut his brain down. We have trouble getting him to bed at night, he'll sometimes wake up overnight (some nights more than once), wake-ups are early, and naps don't happen every day. So, on top of normal pregnancy exhausted I'm also 2 1/2 year old with sleep trouble exhausted. Bad timing. We're a few weeks into this nonsense already and in the past, the sleep regressions have lasted around 4-6 weeks and then one day he's just back on track. Until then we'll just hang in there and hope it sorts itself out soon!
I'm still wearing my regular clothes with the aid of a Bella Band. It's really time for maternity clothes, but to my dismay none of my maternity clothes from last time fit. They're too big, which I really shouldn't complain about, but it's just annoying to have to buy new things. I already knew that I would need some new things as most of my clothes last time were suited for working in an office, which I obviously no longer do, but having to start from scratch is rather frustrating.
Last weekend I ended up going to buy a pair of maternity jeans from Destination Maternity, which I of course wasn't pleased about. $40 for a pair of jeans I will only wear for the next few months seems like a rip off to me. I thought more about my options and remembered hearing about a local consignment store that was rumored to have a good selection of maternity clothes. Last week Jack and I went on a little field trip to check out
Trader Tots and I was pleasantly surprised by their selection of both maternity and baby/children's clothes. For $25 (using a $5 off coupon that I received for signing up for their email list) I walked out with 2 pairs of very gently used maternity jeans. One of them were pretty much the same exact jeans I purchased new at Destination Maternity for $40 - same size, style, AND they were even short length! Great deal!
I was so happy to find jeans in short length, and they had quite a few pairs! I'm often annoyed that I can't find them in stores and I have a ridiculously short inseam. I'm entirely capable of hemming a pair of pants, but when I'm spending $40 for a pair of jeans I can only use for a short time I REALLY don't want to have to also make alterations to them, which definitely limits my options for shopping. Now, I was totally fine with having to hem a pair of gently used jeans that I picked up for $15, that's a different story, but I didn't even end up needing to. Take that overpriced jeans! I returned the $40 jeans to the store the next day :)
