23 Weeks!

How Far Along: 23 weeks

Baby Size: Baseball Mitt for two more weeks

Current Symptoms: HUNGER! I have been absolutely starving! I am eating huge breakfasts, and I am not a breakfast person. Lunch and dinner are equally as large. I bring 4+ snacks to work with me each day and eat them all. I eat a snack around 10:30 PM before bed and without fail, I wake up around 2 or 3 AM starving again! I also supplement by drinking very large glasses of chocolate milk when I feel like I need a break from eating… sometimes I worry that I may be eating too much….but my weight gain continues to be steady, so Wader must just be craving the extra calories! I don’t ever remember being this hungry with Carson…

What's Different: My activity level compared to my energy level. With Carson’s pregnancy I felt pretty sluggish throughout my second trimester which turned out to be linked to Anemia. But that didn't stop me from getting things done….painting the nursery, putting together furniture, helping Ryan with some landscaping, going on dog walks, etc. This time around, I feel like I have all the energy in the world during my second trimester, yet I find myself fairly crampy by the end of the day, especially if I have been on my feet a lot. I ran this by my obgyn today at a checkup, and she said due to my low lying placenta and “moderately high risk” labeling due to fertility issues, that I should avoid cramping at all costs. She basically said “If walking around the grocery store makes you crampy after a long day, then you need to skip the grocery shopping”. Sounds like my body is telling me that even though I have a high level of energy, it doesn't mean I should take advantage of it all the time!

Carson Comments: Ryan and I have boiled our list down to two names, one of which we think we have settled on, and one of which Carson insists he has settled on, and they are not the same. He has been going around to everyone at his preschool telling them his version of Wader’s potential name (which by the way is no longer “Tree”!) When we attempt to redirect him to our name preference, he gets very flustered! For this reason alone, we cannot concretely decide which name to go with! We are leaning towards going with our instincts, in hopes that Carson will eventually come around. And let’s be honest, he could change his mind next week, and want to name the baby “Oatmeal” or something! To attempt to pacify him, we found a baby doll that he has thus far rejected as part of his stuffed animal collection. We affectionately told him he could name this baby his name choice, and he seemed to buy it! He snuggled up with his baby doll at bedtime and informed us that he was the baby’s Daddy. We’ll see how long this lasts!

Daddy Updates: Ryan says he is super excited because he finally felt the baby kick! We checked back on Carson’s blog and noted that he first felt Carson as of 21 weeks. With Wader, it was 23 weeks. I have a theory regarding the disparity between dates. With Carson, Ryan was intensely interested in things like feeling the baby move, putting large headphones on my belly and playing DJ to see what genre of music made Carson move, etc. With this pregnancy, instead of playing with the baby in utero, he plays with Carson from the minute they get home after work! He is very busy being super attentive to the kiddo we already have, which is amazing. I think he also has less patience to sit and wait to feel something he already has felt with Carson. He used to sit during an entire TV show with his hand on my belly just waiting….but with Wader, after 30 seconds he is like “eh, I’ll try again later”. A few nights back, Wader was moving around like a crazy man. I told Ryan to put his hand on a very specific location, and right away he felt a kick! And then another! He was thrilled! I think part of us is also still cautious of attaching to this little guy until he has reached a certain level of viability, but feeling baby kicks makes it that much more real!

Baby Prep:  We have been trying to think more about our birthing game plan. Not so much what will actually happen at the hospital, but more like….what will we do with Carson? The current game plan is to hope that Grammy will be here in time to keep Carson occupied. We have already started talking to Carson about coming to visit us at the hospital with Grammy, and he seems very excited. And if Grammy is not here in time, I am sure Carson wouldn't mind hanging with his buddy, Dean! But last night, Ryan asked….what will we do with Chomper? Good question!! When we had a planned induction, it was very simple to proactively make plans for our furbaby! But what if my water breaks at 2 AM, and Grammy is not here yet? We’ll have to think more about our Chomper plan! Stay tuned...

Just a quick update regarding my low lying placenta situation…I got clarification from my doctor today about just how low lying it is. She said that anything less than 2 cm away from your cervix is considered low lying, and needs to be monitored. Mine measured 1.7 cm away from my cervix at my 20 week ultrasound. We've scheduled another ultrasound for 28 weeks to see if it has moved pastbeyond the 2 cm mark. If it hasn't, they will repeat the ultrasound at 32 weeks. If after 32 weeks it still hasn't moved, then we will get a one way ticket to a c-section! My doctor seems to think that moving .3 cm between now and 32 weeks will be a non-issue, so I am not that worried about it. The silver lining of the situation is that a c-section would be a planned delivery, so we could get Grammy here in time! (unless I went super early?) This would solve our Carson and Chomper issues all together!

Looking Forward To: I think Ryan and I both agree that reaching “viability” in a pregnancy is a HUGE thing we are looking forward to. In today’s advanced medical field, a baby has a decent chance of survival if delivered after 24 weeks, but with some possible long term complications. Babies delivered after 28 weeks tend to have an excellent chance of survival with limited long term complications. So completing next week and then the next month is a pretty huge thing we are looking forward to!