20 Weeks Pregnant... with WILL (Baby #2)

Baby’s Size: Banana (about 10 inches from head to heel… measurements change this week from being “head to rump” and will switch to “head to heel”… hence the seemingly massive difference between a Mango and a banana)

How far along: 20 Weeks

Total weight gain: Eh. I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t lie though. I've told myself I will remain completely honest with all this. 7 lbs. That’s right. I gained around 2.5 or so pounds this week. Not really within my 1 pound a week idea. However, this is what I think happened/will happen. I was super stressed about the gender reveal this last weekend. Unnecessary… but I was. When I get stressed, I eat. To top it off, what we had in the house was not good for you because it was “tailgate” party food. Then, because we had company and the party going on we didn’t get out to walk or exercise in any way. I am still actually sitting right smack dab in the middle of where I should be weight gain wise this far in to the pregnancy (if I hope to gain between 15 and 25 lbs total) so I am okay. The doc said nothing about it yesterday so he must be okay with it. I think that over the next couple of weeks, if I can go back to eating better and getting out of the house to walk/exercise that I am likely to hang out here for a bit. That is just my assumption based on my past pregnancy and weight gain with this pregnancy.

Sleep:  I don’t know if it has been all the excitement of the past weekend or perhaps the dreaded pregnancy insomnia, but I have been up a lot at night. I really think though it was all the waiting and anticipation for the gender reveal and then the waiting for our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Plus, we had a couple of really bad nights with Kenzie after the party. She was entirely off her schedule, wasn't sleeping well during the day and that just made for terrible nights. I think she is back to normal now. She has been since Sunday night so we should be good on that end. I am exhausted though.

Maternity Clothes: Of course. I can still get in to random non maternity shirts but I love the comfort of not being squeezed to death.

Food cravings: Not a whole lot really. I could go for some cheese fries… with ranch, A1 sauce, and bacon. Why not?

Food aversions: Nothing much.           

Symptoms I HAVE: Heartburn. Like never before. I had it with Kenzie but I don’t remember it being quite this bad. I can’t even drink water without it. I will tell you though, I’m not into that wives tale about heartburn equaling hair. Not true. I had terrible heartburn with Kenzie and my poor baby was bald for over a year. Sciatic nerve pain. It was better last week and got worse this week, again. It ebbs and flows it seems.

Stretchmarks:  My original ones have had a tendency lately to darken some and then lighten again. It’s annoying. I keep thinking they are new ones (way too early in my opinion) but then they fade quickly again and I realize they are just the old ones.

Doctor’s Appointment:  Yesterday. It was the super exciting (but sort of nerve wracking) 20 week anatomy scan. First things first… I made her check to verify Will is a boy. He is. Haha. I really should have believed the blood test. Especially since they somehow found a Y chromosome in my blood stream and I didn’t make that. I had heard stories though. Immediately the tech told us, “Yep. I see boy parts.” She gave us a better look later to calm my nerves. Everything looked and measured perfectly. He is literally right on track. Kenzie always measured about 3-4 days behind my dates but he was literally one day early, the exact day of (19 weeks, 6 days) or one day late so his average was perfect. I caught a glimpse at his estimated weight when she was creating the report for the doc and he is about 11 oz. Average is 10.5 at this point so that is perfect. It’s all an estimate anyway but it’s cool to know he is likely about that big. All his organs look great and seem to be working as they should. His heartbeat is 145. He loves to keep his hands up by his face. I’m thinking we might need to make sure to have the little mitten ready and available as soon as we get home from the hospital (if I remember correctly, the little outfit they put him in at the hospital has the sleeves that can cover his hands… though I might want to get my mittens out just in case). It took us forever to get a profile shot that wasn’t crazy and for her to measure his nasal bone and all that because he refused to move his hands most of the time. He looked like he was sucking on his thumb or fingers and at one point he seemed to be blowing us kisses. We didn’t get the picture of it, but he looked like he was praying at one point too. I can’t wait to see his little face in about 20 weeks. Then we met with the doctor. These middle visits are more “social visits” than anything else. They seem like such a waste of time. The plus is that he is letting me wait 6 weeks to come back in again because they want to do my diabetes test at 26 weeks. Then I wait another 4 weeks and after that we go to every 2. I can’t believe we are almost to that point. Doc said my blood pressure was “happy” at 130/85. I have been running higher than my average during this pregnancy. With Kenzie, I was very normal until 37 weeks when I shot up to somewhere around 145/95. I’m working on keeping up an exercise routine and watching salt intake this time to try to keep that down. I don’t want to chance the same thing again but the doc said it could just be my body and how it handles the pregnancy. It could happen again despite my best efforts. We shall see.

Movement:  Yep. This boy is a mover and a shaker. Much like his sister was. Although, unlike Kenzie he likes to be awake at night. Currently, he apparently feels he must have a dance party every night around 11pm. If I am awake, I have felt it. Luckily, he is not big enough yet to wake me up from sleep. This is sort of making me nervous. Kenzie was NEVER active at night and she rarely had issues with day vs night once she was born. I have a feeling I might be trying to deal with a night owl for a while after he is born. Kenzie was also a different case because he jaundice was so terrible that she didn’t want to wake up to eat. I had to wake HER every 2 hours throughout the day and night for about a month to nurse her until we finally got her back to birth weight and then had her put a little bit back on. Perhaps she would have been a night owl too but she just couldn’t. I’m hoping since my body knows what to do this time, that we have less of those issues (my milk didn’t come in for about a week… c-section didn’t help that). I know what to watch for and how to handle it this time too. Only time will tell.

Belly Button (In or Out): In.

Wedding Ring (On or Off): On.

Labor Signs: None.

Gender: BOY!!! I still can’t really believe it. I just KNEW that this baby was going to be a girl. I was so very wrong and we are so excited. Read all about our gender reveal HERE.   

Happy or Moody Most of the Time: Happy, happy, happy.

Best moment of the week: Finding out that we will be having a boy! We had a blast revealing the sex with the family and friends. Perfect way to celebrate this little life. I wonder what Kenzie will think of her little brother. My little (big) girl is going to be an amazing big sister. I just know it.

What I’m looking forward to: Starting to prep the nursery. =)  

What I miss: Being able to drink/eat anything (even just water) without heartburn.