Pregnancy Quiz - Week 25 Baby #2

How far along are you? 25 weeks (actually, I'm 27 weeks but this post was supposed to be done a couple weeks ago)

Total weight gain/loss: 21 lbs (I gained 9 lbs in 4 weeks. The nurse said "that must be a mistake" and I said "I'm pretty sure its not" :(

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: I know I'm not supposed to sleep on my back but I keep waking up on my back. I did this with Charlie, too, and would just roll over to my side. I still do this but now when I wake up on my back, I feel gross and nauseaus. Not good! I know its my body telling me to roll over but its kind of scary that I always feel like crap when I wake up on my back.

Best moment this week: The best moment of week 25 was when I passed my glucose test. I do have low iron like I did with Charlie.

Movement: Yes! He is very active.

Food cravings: No huge cravings right now.

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: I've pinning some cocktails on pinterest that look amazeballs

What I am looking forward to: Our 3D/4D ultrasound on Saturday

Other Updates: We spent Sunday morning cleaning out the garage so we can move stuff from the baby's room to the garage so we can then start the nursery! It should be done by this Sunday then we can start painting, etc.

At 25 weeks, Calvin was 1.5 lbs (about the size of a rutabaga), length 13.5 inches

Pregnancy Quiz - Week 21 Baby #2

How far along? 21 weeks, 4 days (pic below taken at 20 weeks)

Total weight gain/loss: 12 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Hips are aching already. I know this didn't start as early with my first pregnancy. I'm sure it has to do with me starting this pregnancy at a higher weight than I did with Charlie's pregnancy.

Best moment this week: Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling human. I had an insane stomach flu - it wasn't pretty.
Movement: Yes! Finally started feeling him 2 weeks ago.

Food cravings: This week: strawberries & powdered sugar

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Caffeine

What I am looking forward to: Going on a triple date with some neighbors tomorrow night.

Other Updates: Scheduled my c-section for July 12 at 9:00 am!

This week, Calvin is currently the length of a carrot -- weighs about 3/4 of a pound. (Length: 10 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

Baby #2 - 17 Week Survey

How far along? 17 weeks, 5 days

Total weight gain/loss: +7

Maternity clothes? Yes. I need to stop buying new clothes. Not a smart thing to do since hopefully I won't be wearing them for too long after the summer.

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: I'm enjoying sleeping on my back and realize this luxury will be gone in two weeks.

Best moment this week: This was a BIG week. Tuesday we found out the sex (more on that later). The day came that I've been (literally) dreaming about. Then that night, we hosted a gender reveal party. Gender reveal parties (I think) are sort of new. I had never heard about them when I was pregnant with Charlie but when I heard about them I thought they were such a cute idea. We invited only my parents and the Strombergs. Rob's family doesn't live too far but they would get in major traffic on the way down so Rob told them the old fashioned way, by telling them "its a _____" in person and by phone. I'm not planning on having a shower for this baby so I thought the gender reveal party would be something special to do to celebrate "it." Here are some pictures from the reveal:

It's a....

Boy!!!!!

Charlie is going to love having a brother. I look forward to watching my boys play together.

And another highlight this week: helping co-host my friend Dorothy's baby shower! Her baby, Ivy, is due April 2nd. She's going to be a great mama.

**Sorry its a bit blurry (trying to protect her identity) ;)
Movement: Not yet. I'm surprised I haven't felt him yet. I thought I felt him a couple times but it was gas. Oopsies.

Food cravings: No big cravings these days.

Gender: Baby boy!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Tummy sleeping

What I am looking forward to: Getting the nursery under way. Oh I've got plans, baby!

Other Updates: I had my blood drawn again and they gave me my revised down syndrome risk numbers. Last time it was 1 in 2600 (with Charlie it was 1 in 10,000 so I was surprised it was such a higher risk, though not "high risk"). The revised number is 1 in 12,000 which is amazing. For some reason my risk for Trisomy 18 actually went up but I'm still not high risk. The dr. said the ultrasound tech would typically be able to point out multiple markers to indicate the baby has Trisomy 18 but my ultrasound came out great so there is no concern.
The other big update: we're pretty sure this baby will be named Calvin, nickname Cal.

This week, baby Calvin is the size of a turnip!

Sex Obsessed!

Whoa, like that title?! I'm totally obsessed about finding out the sex of this baby. I was pretty obsessed with knowing if Charlie was a boy or a girl but I've taken it to a whole other level. What level you ask? I've peed in a cup and added baking soda to see if it fizzles (fizzle= boy, no fizzle = girl). Yeah. I went there.

My latest obsession is the "nub theory". Basically you look at your 13-15 week ultrasound pics and if the genital area is > 30 degrees as compared to the spine, you are probably having a boy. If its more horizontal to the spine, you are probably having a girl. I've looked at ultrasounds that were confirmed boy and girl and I have to say, I think this whole nub theory may not be totally crazy.

Here is a pic of a 12 week old boy (see it pointing up a little?)

and a 12 week old girl (this one is sticking out, not up)

and here is our ultrasound picture of #2

Our pic is a bit fuzzy but I dare you to take a guess!

I posted our pic online and got 17 girl guesses 13 boy guesses.

Other "tests" I've done:

Chinese Gender Predictor Test - Girl (note: it also told me Charlie was a girl)
Baking Soda Test - Boy
Ring Test - Girl
Heartbeat Rate - Girl

Apparently you can read your palm to find out the gender but I couldn't find the lines. They said you may need a magnifying glass but thats just too much work for me.

Well, 2 more weeks and we find out. Until then, I'll continue to lose sleep over it but thats ok. We will know soon enough!

P.s. Seriously - look at the pics and let me know what your vote is ;)

Pregnancy #2 - Week 13 Survey

How far along? 13 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: 3 lbs. Oy.

Maternity clothes? Yes. I decided I didn't want to look frumpy this time around so I've hit up some maternity stores. Some at the mall, one great second hand store 2 towns away. My friend Sarah has also given me bags of great clothes but I only fit into a fraction of them. She told me she would often buy non-maternity clothes but in larger sizes. So when I find an Ann Taylor LOFT shirt in size Small, I know it aint gonna fit this body of mine. She has given me some great stuff I CAN fit in so I'm a happy camper. My sister in law also said she has some to pass on to me as well and I'll pick those up next week at our playdate.

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: Not bad at all.

Best moment this week: Lots of great things this week. On Sunday, we had Charlie's birthday party at Pump it Up -he had a blast (so did his dad).

I think sweet Uncle Jimmy had fun, too.

Monday was also great. We had our NT scan (nuchal translucency) and got to see the baby.

He/she had a heartbeat of 161. They used my bloodwork from a couple weeks ago and gave us the results on the spot - 1 in 2600 chance of down syndrome. I will have my blood work done again in a couple weeks and they will re-enter the numbers to get a more accurate number so I'll update you all when that happens. And I had my regular dr.'s appointment today and heard the heartbeat again. This time it was 150 beats per minute. I scheduled my next appointment for Feb 7 which will be the appointment we find out the sex!

Movement: I felt a couple twinges but am not positive its movement. Probably just gas. ;)

Food cravings: No
Gender: 4 weeks and we'll know!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In.

What I miss: Nothing at the moment

What I am looking forward to: Taking a trip this weekend to Aptos assuming Rob feels better. He's been a bit under the weather.

This week, baby is the size of a large shrimp!

Hi, Blog. It's me, Alyssa.

I'm just going to pretend that I haven't NOT blogged in 2 months. No great reason why I haven't been around but I am pregnant so I think I'll be blogging more often! And with that said, here is my first pregnancy quiz for "#2".

How far along? 12 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: I've only had 1 appointment so I'm not sure yet. I do know I started this pregnancy off about 20 lbs higher than Charlie's pregnancy (sigh) so I hope to not gain as much this pregnancy.

Maternity clothes? Yes, I busted out the maternity clothes around week 7. I told you I'm big!

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: I sleep fine other than getting up 2+ times a night to pee.

Best moment this week: Charlie and I went to Diddams earlier this week to shop for some stuff for his birthday party. We're having a farm theme but the only farm animal stuff they had was horses so I guess its now a horse theme! Its pretty cute though. I also had fun making the favors.

Movement: No.

Food cravings: Depends on the day. Most days I crave deli sandwiches. I just might buy stock in Subway.

Gender: I'm thinking girl, Rob thinks boy. What do you think?!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: I'm not a big drinker but I went to PF Changs with some ex-coworkers a couple weeks ago and I really wanted their Key Lime Pie Martini (my favorite).

What I am looking forward to: Rob and my dinner/movie date on Friday plus we have 2 appointments next week (regular appointment and NT scan).

Other Updates: We had our first dr.'s appointment at 9 weeks on Dec 15 and saw our Charlie's sibling. It's heartbeat was a healthy 180.

I am going to have a planned c-section since I had a c-section last time and am not interested in a VBAC so we get to choose a birthdate within a week of the due date. I think we're going with Thursday July 12. I was thinking of doing it that Friday but it would have been Friday the 13th and Rob felt a little funny about that. Of course, I could also go into labor early but since I didn't go into labor early with Charlie, my dr. doesn't think I'll go into labor early with this one. I guess we'll find out!

This week, baby is the size of a lime!