In 6 weeks a new little boy will be joining our family. Quite honestly I haven’t had as much time to reflect and write about this pregnancy experience as I did last time. Life is moving in days and weeks instead of minutes and hours right now. I imagine adding a new person will accelerate its pace even more. I thought I’d write a bit of a summary. I’ve written bits in all my other posts but haven’t gotten much in one place.
Pregnancy 2 has been good. I felt pregnant earlier this time…even before a positive test result somehow I just knew. Less morning sickness was a blessing. I managed to eat right through most of it, and haven’t had any food aversions this time. Baby 2 actually lets me eat whatever I want within reason. I’m not chugging gallons of salsa, but he does enjoy cheeseburgers quite a bit whereas William had me abstaining from red meat of any kind for a full 9 months. My sense of smell isn’t on hyper-drive either this time so unscented bath soap hasn’t become a necessity.
Our ultrasound revealed a boy right around 20 weeks. It was pretty definite as those were the only parts he would willingly present for the technician. He’s uncooperative already. Oh man. I guess we’ll have to wait for him to come out in order to see his cute little face. I was even more excited about having a second boy than I was about having the first. I picture them being good buddies, not to mention all the savings on clothes since they will only be born in the same season (March vs April). Let’s face it…girl clothes are cute and VERY tempting.
Jason continues to be mostly unhelpful in suggesting reasonable baby names so the little guy has thus far been affectionately referred to as Gisbert. It was hard at first when William was still our “baby” and then there was another baby on the way, so Gisbert became our name before the real name. We have a couple real names in mind, but aren’t making any definitive annoucements until he arrives.
Physically I feel pretty great. I got “big” quicker but feel smaller than I think I look. I guess that’s a good thing? I haven’t gained any more weight than last time and perhaps a little less. I started out lighter this pregnancy as well, so that’s been a blessing. I’ve continued to garden and play with William. I get winded and tired more easily but that is to be expected with diminished lung capacity and an extra 20 pounds. I painted the trim throughout the main floor before my tummy got too big for such bending. After getting too big for such bending I moved on to paint 3 bedroom ceilings without any complaints other than the standard sore neck and shoulders. Extensive lawn/garden/house work makes my hips sore, but it doesn’t feel any different than the pelvic bone pain from last time. Sleep could always be better–multiple bathroom breaks and a lot of rolling back and forth disrupts my sleep at night, and Jason occasionally has to wake up enough to reclaim some of the blankets, but he doesn’t complain much.
I felt the first flutter MUCH earlier this time, technically before they say you can feel anything. This baby has similar activity patterns to what William did. Kicking, rolling, and VERY awake from 6-9pm and 9am-noon. He generally lets me sleep well all night. He seems to be just as high if not higher up than Will. Maybe I have babies who think they can work their way out by heading north instead of south. All of the kicking of my stomach, lungs, and diaphragm feels downright odd sometimes, like a rabbit is wrestling a lizard in there.
We have a scheduled C-section for this little guy if he doesn’t come on his own. It is comforting to have a date to plan around. After an induction and long labor with Will without any progress that ended in a C-section I am not interested in going a week late again and having the same outcome. My OB is really pro-VBAC but has indicated that based on circumstance I am in the group where there is a lower probability of success. From my personal research I tend to agree. If he comes early or on time and things are progressing I will be happy to give it another try, but if not I am happy to drive myself to the hospital and get this baby out. 6 weeks and counting. Excited to meet this little man. 🙂