Not Your Average

I figure since I'm entering my third trimester, it might be time to announce we're having a baby. Another boy, in fact, which we are so excited about, including The Lime. The middle of May is going to be here before we know it!

Over these six and a half months, I've come to realize I am not your average pregnant woman. These are the reasons why...

- I am not one to shout it from the rooftops that I'm pregnant. We didn't tell family until I was 16 weeks. I hid it from everyone at church until I was 22 weeks. Although we were thrilled, it was something both LaVor and I agreed didn't need to be public knowledge from day one.

- I do not have a pregnancy "glow". In fact, it seems to be the opposite. When I was pregnant with The Lime, I broke out on my neck during my second trimester. This time around, I started breaking out from the very beginning. And this time, it's everywhere. Unfortunately, I resemble a crack phene more than anything else. Applying make-up everyday is annoying but a necessity.

- I don't get cravings. My visiting teachers asked me a few weeks ago what I've been craving and I had nothin'.

- I had my glucose test today and chugged the bottle in less than the five minutes they gave me. I do not understand how this is the worst thing about pregnancy for some women. What's my biggest complaint? Drinking the 32 ounces of water before the ultrasound. I'd drink 20 bottles of the orange stuff before choosing to do another ultrasound. I think The Lime was a little jealous that I got an orange beverage and he didn't. I should have brought his can of Fanta.

- I don't do nurserys. The baby doesn't care and won't know whether their bedding matches the decor on the walls or not. I see these nurserys on Pinterest and they make me cringe. Do people really put that much money and effort into a baby's room? Yikes!

- While it might be interesting to compare this pregnancy from The Lime's, I'm not big on the weekly maternity photos. I know I'm getting bigger, I don't need hard copies for people to see for generations to come.

- I enjoyed a lovely plate of cheese, crackers, and salami for lunch yesterday. I've eaten numerous hot dogs and had a cold turkey sandwich a week after I found out I was pregnant. I don't follow the "foods to avoid while pregnant" list too closely.

I do have to sleep with a pillow between my legs, I have to go to the bathroom all the time, my belly button has popped out, and I've been a little emotional.

At least I have a few things in common with other pregnant ladies.

Finding Out

When I called to schedule my ultrasound several weeks ago, they were pretty adamant that I be 20 weeks before they see me. When I was pregnant with The Lime, I think I was about 18 weeks when I had my ultrasound. We were hoping to find out before Christmas but it didn't look like that would happen.

So we saved our biggest Christmas gift for the Monday after.

I'm a big baby when it comes to going to the bathroom and I absolutely hate the drinking at least 32 ounces of water prior to the appointment. The drinking part isn't bad, it's the pushing on my full bladder and holding the heck out of it, hoping I don't pee everywhere that I dread.

The technician had LaVor and The Lime wait until she got all of the measurements before she let them in the room, which translates to they were only there for the gender reveal. That's the most exciting part but I still would have liked for them to be with me for all of it.

LaVor and The Lime both guessed it was a boy but I was scared to death it was a girl. And while I would love our baby no matter what, I cried tears of joy when the technician announced we were adding another boy to our family. As horrible as it sounds, I actually think it was causing me extreme stress (I woke up with jaw pain the other day, possibly from clenching at night).

It's fun to now be able to address it as he and imagine what he and The Lime will be like growing up. The first thing The Lime said when we found out it was a boy was, "I can't wait until he gets a big belly and I can muscle him!" The Lime says he's muscling LaVor when he punches him in the stomach. If the baby is smart, he'll stay in my belly as long as he can.

Pre-Pregnancy Announcement Tidbits

-- October 22, 2013 --

For as long as I can remember, I've had vivid dreams and I can usually remember them once I wake up. Last night/this morning was no exception.

I've been on this Temple Run kick and wanted to try one of the other versions. The Wizard of Oz looked appealing so I downloaded it a few days ago. Just like the movie, they have flying monkeys that chase you and randomly scoop you up. While I haven't played it in a couple days, it somehow landed in my dreams last night. I was at my childhood home, sitting in the living room, looking out the side window that led into the backyard. There were the flying monkeys, eating the brains out of a big gorilla as well as baby monkeys. I was able to save one of the babies but then the monkeys moved onto crows. Blech! Completely morbid and it woke me up. I had to think for a second if it was real or not.

Later on, I had a dream about this immaculate house that we found for my parents. It was old, Victorian, but had a touch of country. The rooms were large and the kitchen completely re-done. As I walked throughout the house, checking everything out, I fell more and more in love. There was a parlor, a family room, several different nooks that my parents could use as an office and craft room, tons of rooms upstairs with beds for us to stay in, a nursery with cribs lining the walls, and one large room with tons of beds for all the grand kids to stay in. It was perfect and only $250,000...but also in Texas.

Last dream was about school. I still have dreams about high school although I've been out for 12 years. I was all ready to go one morning and it was 8:30, school started at 9:00. My sister was just getting in the shower and I knew we'd be late, which made me extremely upset. We finally got on our way, only to find the morning traffic completely out of control. For this part, we were in San Francisco, and I was trying to pull out onto the main road but there were too many cars coming from both directions. Finally, a gentleman stopped traffic so I could be on my way and I zipped right along in my car. While I was trying to merge over, I switched to a bike and ended up riding next to Brian Amyx. Brian Amyx?! I haven't seen him since graduation and I haven't talked to him for even longer. Why was he in my dream and why did I almost run him off the path with my bike?

That's when I heard The Lime wake up and my dreams were over for the night.

While checking babycenter.com this morning, I came across this tidbit of information for today...how appropriate.

-- October 28, 2013 --

I'm not quite sure what set me off last night, but as I was laying in bed, my mind turned to The Lime not being my only child and I got really sad. Thankfully LaVor had fallen asleep before me so he wasn't aware of how upset I was. I'm actually surprised I didn't wake him up with my sniffing and body shaking.

Let me take you back about a year, when LaVor and I had been trying to get pregnant for four months. Like I've mentioned before, we got pregnant with The Lime fairly quickly so when it didn't happen that way this time around, it was strange. With each new month came another disappointment and I finally got to the point where it was normal to not be pregnant. I finally accepted the fact that The Lime was going to be our only child and I was fine with that. Because I love him to pieces and was grateful to him for making me a mom in the first place.

Then I started not feeling well (lots of different symptoms) and all the tests came back normal. On Saturday, September 21, LaVor asked what was wrong and I told him I just felt off. I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier but I thought I should take a pregnancy test. The following Monday, I took one and within seconds it came back positive. After fifteen months of trying, we were finally having a baby. After wanting one so bad, I thought I would have been ecstatic but I wasn't.

I had my first appointment with my doctor last week and brought The Lime with me. We didn't tell him we were having a baby because we didn't want the beans to be spilled. When the doctor did the ultrasound, The Lime asked, "What is that?!" I told him it was either his brother or sister. He paused, thought for a second, and went back to playing. We haven't talked anymore about it, but will soon, so I don't think he fully gets what is happening.

I think my biggest fear is him feeling sad or left out. And while I know he'll be such a good helper, I just worry.

It all comes back to this dreaded word "change" that I can't stop talking about.

-- January 30, 2014 --

There have been some similarities between this pregnancy and The Lime's but also several differences.  It all started at the very beginning with being nauseous all the time.  While I never physically got sick, it still wasn't fun and I wasn't very fun to be around.  I tried not to complain, especially since there was nothing I could do about it, but I'm so glad that part is over.

Each week, it seems like, brings something new.  Overall, I think I'm gaining weight at a faster pace this time around.  And while I understand the baby adds to that (as of 1/16/14, the doctor estimated the baby to weight 1.5 pounds...more than most babies do at that point), as does the extra fluid and other changes to my body, I'm still not a fan of being big.  As shallow as it might sound, I prefer to be little.  It's a very odd thing to be skinny and then look in the mirror and have a basketball attached to your stomach.  I miss my waist.

I do enjoy feeling all the movement and have just started to see the kicks/wiggles this week.  The Lime asks several times a day, "What's Doodlebug doing?"  Most of the time, he's just there but every once in a while I can tell The Lime that he's dancing or excited.  He's most active from about 9:00 at night until I wake up in the morning.  Hopefully not a sign that I'm going to get zero sleep once he arrives.

Goonies Never Say Die

And I never say never...sometimes.

I've been avoiding any pictures that may include my stomach. But I figured I may want one document to show The Lime that he was indeed in me at one point.
But I will say that I will never take a bare belly picture or do the lame pose with my hands on my stomach in the shape of a heart. Mark my words.