23 Weeks!

How Far Along: 23 weeks

Baby Size: a softball (19 weeks), a boob, can you tell this list was created by a guy? (20 weeks), a beer bottle (21 weeks), and at 23 weeks they jump to a month span - so for the next month, baby is the size of a football!

Current Symptoms/Cravings:  Energy wise I have been feeling great. Pelvic pain wise, I am about to march into my 24 week appointment and request a scheduled induction.....yes its that bad! My doc did give me a handicap parking pass at my last appointment, and I did buy a pelvic support band (I had one with Crosby but I gave it away, because I would never need it again....). I need to call and set up PT. But realistically, I know that all of these things are just like treating a migraine with Tylenol. Speaking of migraines...it occurs to me that I have not had one in a long long time! In fact I refilled my meds in November and haven't actually taken any of them! Whoo hooo! Cravings continue to be garlic bread and chicken wings...so bad...especially since I can have them both delivered right to my office....

Manly Mentions: Ryan seems to be a bit overwhelmed at this house hunting situation that we find ourselves in! That being said, he has repeatedly justified our house listing craziness by saying that he would much rather move now than after the baby comes. I tend to agree. The thought of keeping our house in show-able condition with baby gear everywhere, burp cloths, dirty diapers, empty bottles, pump parts scattered about...no thanks! We plan to keep it on the market through January, and then perhaps try again in the spring if we have no offers. 

Crosby loves to point to my belly and say "Mama's Baby!" I think he has absolutely no idea what that means, but its cute none the less! Sometimes I still think of him so much as a baby, but lately he has been all big boy. 3-4 word sentences, size 3T clothes, and constantly wanting to use the potty. Maybe it wont feel like we have two babies in the house by the Spring after all! 

I was very grateful to be able to spend some one on one time with Carson on our trip to Colorado. Unlike Crosby, he has a very concrete understanding of what is going on with this baby, but he still makes comments from time to time about me not being able to carry him or pick him up. 

Baby Prep: Aside from perhaps finding a bedroom for this baby in a brand new house, we have had a whole bunch of baby prep going on! We used to own four different strollers - a double, an umbrella, a jogger, and a snap n go for the car seat. I did keep the snap n go for quick trips with just baby and me...but I managed to trade in all of the other strollers for one fancy City Select that actually serves as a single, double, and even a triple stroller! And this stroller could even be used for jogging - which to be clear has not happened with my first two babies, so why start now ;) 

Thanks to all of the wonderful friends and family that came out for my surprise baby shower, we now have lots of girly goodies! Bath towels, swaddle blankets, princess books, hair bows, cute socks, you name it! The nesting side of me wants to wash and put it all away, but instead have it packed nicely in a baby designated tupper tote in our basement, hopefully to be unloaded into a new nursery into a new home!

Third Time Around: Although I feel like my baby bump has gotten big fast (see pregnancy comparison's below!), I feel as though this pregnancy is dragging on a bit...not that I want to rush it, or want our baby to be born any sooner than she needs to be, but I am just ready to hold her in my arms (and not in my pelvis!). After bed rest with Carson followed by a scheduled induction, I was eager to perhaps experience spontaneous labor with Crosby, you know...water breaking in the middle of an aisle at Target kind of excitement...but alas my pelvic pain in combination with 6 days straight of contractions lead my doc to decide to induce at 39 weeks due to stress of pain and exhaustion on the baby. This time around I am so over the whole "spontaneous birth" concept, which I know sounds horrible, but this is not my first rodeo...obviously I want to do whatever is healthiest for myself and the baby, but I am just over the halfway mark and begging for it to be March already! I am also 110% sure that I would like to never be pregnant again, so Ryan and I will have to do some brainstorming about that since apparently being infertile is not an effective form of birth control! Lol! 

Next Up: To quickly update you on my last Next Up post, we had our 20 week anatomy scan and we had quite the uncooperative little lady! Our ultrasound took a total of 40 minutes, and the tech didn't even get this profile shot until 27 minutes in!

20 Week Anatomy Scan

After what seemed like forever of poking and prodding, the tech said that what she could see all looked great, but that she was unable to get a few measurements that she needed, and that I would most likely need to come back for a separate ultrasound. So at 22 weeks I came back, and it again took over a half an hour! But at least this time around she was able to get everything she needed - and the good news is that based on both scans, we have a healthy, feisty baby girl!

I have a my 24 week check up this Friday, which I imagine will be anticlimactic minus perhaps me begging my doc to schedule an induction, to which she will probably laugh and say its way to early to make decisions such as that!

Here are my bump pics from 23 weeks with Carson, Crosby, and BC3...#thirdbbabiesarebig

Carson

Crosby

BC3