18 Weeks!

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Baby Size: a Pint of Ben &  Jerry’s Ice Cream

Current Symptoms: Round ligament pain and overall feeling of being stretched has definitely consumed my belly this past week! At this stage, Wader is practically doubling in size every week, so stretching ligaments and skin makes total sense! Belly button has started to flatten out, and the “Linea Nigra” has appeared on my lower stomach.  I also have been feeling a fair amount of Braxton Hicks contractions, which started post belly bee sting a few weeks ago.

What's Different: The way my current maternity clothes collection has lined up with seasons/trimesters! With Carson, my first trimester was in the Spring, second and beginning of third in the Summer, with the final weeks of my pregnancy in the Fall. With Wader, my first trimester was mostly in the summer, second trimester beginning in late summer and then Fall, with my third trimester being definitely in the winter, as my due date is in mid-February.  This has posed a bit of a problem with my fashion options!  I barely was able to wear half of my summer pregnancy apparel and fear I may be a bit short on warm maternity clothing for the Fall and Winter! I do have some cute colder weather items that I never got to wear with Carson since I rounded out my pregnancy on bed rest (PJ pants and Ryan’s tee-shirts were my daily bed rest wardrobe!) Special thanks to Stephanie, Angela, and Nicole for helping me round out my seasonal maternity attire.

Carson Comments: I always hoped that my children would be around 2 years apart, just like my sister and me.  I quickly learned that I pretty much have zero control over pregnancy spacing, and have come to terms with the 3 ¼ years that will exist between Carson and Wader. While grappling with this knowledge, as well as watching some of my close mommy friends juggle 2 year olds and infants, I am learning to appreciate the silver linings of a larger age gap:

1. Only one kid at a time in diapers! Carson is officially potty trained! It was quite the process, and I am glad I did not have to go through it with a young infant around. And talk about saving $$$ on diapers!

2. Speaking of saving $$$, we will have less overlap in daycare costs! Carson will move on to Kindergarten when Wader is around 2 and a half years old.

 3. Carson for the most part cognitively grasps that he is going to be a big brother, and that there is a baby in Mommy’s belly. For example, he found an old tube of diaper cream and handed it to me saying, “I don’t need this because I don’t wear diapers anymore, lets save it for Baby Wader”. Brilliant Child! J

Daddy Updates: Ryan had a great time this past weekend with Carson at Story Land in Glen, NH. Stay tuned for an exclusive Story Land post with pictures included! He can’t wait to go back sometime with Wader. Ryan says that he feels like we have not done much to prepare for Wader so far. I reminded him that we pretty much have all the baby gear we need, potentially enough clothes depending on the gender outcome, and don’t need to take childbirth classes this time around. We will most likely sign Carson up for a “Siblings Class” at our hospital in early 2014. We do need to re-assemble the crib as it is currently in toddler bed form. I am sure we will find plenty of projects to do before February!  

Baby Prep:  Grammy officially has a plan ticket for February 11^th! With Carson, I had an induction date a month in advance so it was easy to plan long distance travel. This time we hope we will be able to go into labor naturally, but that makes things more difficult for out of town support! The good thing about Southwest Airlines is that is pretty easy to change tickets last minute, especially with a Senior Fair J Grammy is excited to stay with Carson while we are in the hospital, if she makes it here on time! After Grammy leaves, Mom Mom and Aunt Deedle plan to come and visit the newest member of the family as well! We will see how it all plays out…

Looking Forward To: Our gender ultrasound! 10 more days to go! I have been encouraging Wader not to have the umbilical cord between his/her legs like Carson did…how disappointed were we to leave that ultrasound last time with no answer!? I am excited to break out the bins upon bins of boy baby clothes to either wash and start to put away in the nursery closet, or consign for some girly items!