An Immediate Blog

Literally 2 minutes ago, Daniel asked me, "Is she trained in this??"....

He likes to horseplay with the kids often which is helpful for them all because they get tired and he gets much-needed baby-love from them. He's sitting on the couch next to me while they are standing/jumping/beating on him when Chloe reaches over, grabs a bottle of lotion, takes off the lid and goes to apply to daddy when he says, "STOP!" turns to me and proceeds to ask the question.

I could not stop laughing to even think of an answer to this question, so I said, "I'm SO blogging this! RIGHT NOW!"

Holy hell, the bloggable moments in my life are incredible!

19 Weeks

Your Baby: Week 19


Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil and dead skin cells (yum) now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. (Picture yourself after a nine-month bath, and the need for protection makes sense.) You might actually get to see the vernix at birth, especially if baby is premature.









It's after midnight so I am officially 19 weeks pregnant. It's really flying by, thanks life keeping me busy and stressed out! I feel good physically but definitely more pregnant. My diastasis recti makes my belly huge and my back hurt but my midwife gave me a pregnancy exercise book that has a section on this. Hopefully I can be diligent enough to help close the gap a bit.

I had my latest midwife appointment last week and I finally gained weight- 2 pounds. I'm not nervous at all that I won't gain enough weight since I gained 42 with Chloe and 31 with Auron. I do hope I can keep it under 30 this time. 25 would be ideal. She tried 3 different fetoscopes but it was too early still and the baby seemed to be nestled pretty deeply in there. My midwife impressed me when she felt around and said that the baby seemed to be in the head-down position. Baby's only like 6 inches long! I though, "You have highly skilled, magic hands!"

We talked about my high stress levels and asked me if it would hurt anything if I took a break from school... I want to do everything (perfectly) and so the idea of taking a break is painful for me to imagine. I may take time to speak to my advisor.

I'm going to use a pregnancy update list that I stole from my friend Marcie! (Thanks Marcie! :)


Pregnancy Update:


How far along?: 19 weeks.

Total weight gain: 2 pounds.

How big is baby?: About 6 inches and 8-9 ounces.
Stretch marks?: That was done and over with with Chloe. I got 3 or 4 small ones with Auron. I doubt any new ones will crop up this time. If they do, oh well! I won't be heartbroken!

Sleep?: Thanks to Pepsin supplements that are eliminating heartburn... incredible!!

Best moment this week?: The kids kissing the belly and talking to the baby. So sweet!

Movement?: Increasing more and more. I was kind of squishing the belly when I was getting Auron to bed and Baby must have gotten cramped and kicked several times.

Food cravings?: Fruit juices, giant veggie Subs, and hot puffed Cheetos!

Labor signs?: I haven't started braxton hicks yet but with this being my third, I'm expecting more than ever later on.

Belly button in or out?: I have a permanent outie.

What I miss: Emotional stability.  ...Okay, just the amount of stability that I have when not pregnant. Doesn't mean it's a normal amount!

What I'm looking forward to: Hitting the 20 week mark; feeling more and stronger movements; our vacation in 3 weeks!

Milestone: Half-way point next week!

A Fond Memory of My Girl

Chloe's first birthday party was stressful in planning and perfect in realization. Everyone gathered around us on the floor in the living room to open up her presents and out of nowhere, Chloe climbs into my lap and rubs her face back and forth in my breasts. It had never happened before and everyone saw and laughed. All I could do was shrug and say, "she's breastfed!"

17 weeks

This is a belly shot taken at 17 weeks, 1 day at midday. I mention the time of day because, as every pregnant woman knows, the size of your belly increases with the time of day. It has gotten a lot bigger in the past week or two. I have had a permanent outie/turkey button since my pregnancy with Chloe. In fact the later I get in pregnancy, the more pressure there is in the button and the discomfort is both weird and intensely annoying. I've tried taping pennies and marbles over for counterpressure, but the amount of force of the uterus is overwhelming and nothing helps. The pressure is at a minimum right now but my uterus is about even with my navel and I expect an increase in discomfort within the next couple of weeks.

I started feeling much more pregnant this week, although it feels more like 27 weeks than 17 so this summer is going to be interesting.

In other news, we bought the most incredible Mom-mobile last week and we all love it! It's a 2007 Honda Odyssey and has so many features, it's ridiculous!

Driving 10+ hours to California next month is going to be great- especially with the built-in DVD player to keep the kids occupied. The GPS will be extremely helpful in navigating through L.A.

Auron's New Haircut

We were giving Daniel a haircut and asked Auron if he wanted one too. He said yes so the curls are gone! I'm still in shock a little bit but we have shaved his head before and it grew back so I'm not heartbroken. He is still handsome!!

Here is the before and after:

He's a new man!!

16 Weeks

Week 16

How your baby's growing:



Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.


Today marks my 16th successful week into this pregnancy and I'm feelin' good. Actually I had a cold yesterday that took me down pretty hard but besides that, I'm good! I've even started feeling the baby move on a daily basis. I love to see and feel my poochy uterus when I'm laying flat.

My last midwife appointment went very well. I was supposed to have my pelvic exam done but we were too busy talking to get to it! I had not gained any weight yet, probably because I'm eating better and trying to be conscious of the glycemic index of what I eat.

The best thing about the appointment was when she was checking the heartbeat on the doppler. She felt my fudus and then put the doppler on the belly and kept moving it to find her (yes I think it's a girl). I think she kept wiggling away from the doppler and then when she pinned her down, she must have gotten mad and kicked the crap out of the doppler! It felt like a flick and I heard it on the doppler as well. It was great because I hadn't been feeling much movement then and the kick was so strong! I was 14 weeks at the time.

Clothes are beginning to be an issue. All of my jeans feel uncomfortable on the belly but I'm still not quite ready for actual maternity pants yet. I despise going around town in sweats but it's soo comfortable! I need to invest in a new Bella Band because apparently handling the pressure of two giant-bellied pregnancies was too much for the poor thing. I'm also considering a pregnancy pillow this time. I've always gotten by just surrounding myself with pillows (one under the belly, 2-3 behind the head, one between the legs, and one behind the back. Minimum!) but I think I would like more pampering this time since it is my last pregnancy. I'm just stuck on the cost- $65 for the top model, but I think that if I were to do it, I'd go for the good one. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

I'll post a belly pic as soon as I remember to take one.

They're Freee!

I put up with the pain of Auron nursing up to this point but I just couldn't handle it anymore. He's officially weaned. :( My goal was to breastfeed through my pregnancy and tandem nurse, letting him self-wean.

It took about as long as it did with Chloe when I weaned her (about 3 1/2 months) but he is 8 months older than she was when I went through it with her so I think he was more ready. I decided to take the plunge on April 24th which was his 26 month birthday. He was down to about 5 or so feedings a day and it was mostly at night, so that night I decided I was done. I expected that he was not going to handle it well, so I built up a lot of patience and compassion and geared up for a night of mal-content. We set up a bed in the living room so that Chloe wasn't kept up with Auron's yelling/crying/freaking out and we got to work.

I told him that Boo Boo was all done and he cried. I held him and sang to him and he ended up going to sleep after 30 minutes. Not bad. I think Chloe cried about the whole night the first night. That was 9:00 and he woke up at 3 and asked for it. I told him that it was all done since he had forgotten and he just got pissed. He threw himself around for a while until Daniel (who was already up) took him into the living room to distract him with TV. That was it for the major tantrums but he did continue to ask for it over the past 2 weeks, but he doesn't freak out that much when I say no.

Now he sleeps much better; wakes up fewer times at night and seems to be taking longer naps. He's even started kissing the Boo Boos goodnight!

It will be nice to have a 5 month break before breastfeeding for another 2+ years. After this new baby's done, I will have racked up 5 1/2 years of breastfeeding! That's some good cancer protection.