boygirlboygirlboygirl

girlboygirlboygirlboy

back and forth.  back and forth.

Sometimes my mind/heart/gut tells me it’s one or the other and within a matter of days, I’m entirely convinced of the opposite.  99% of my friends and family say it’s a girl, but isn’t that just because I already have a boy?  And how are they supposed to have any clue what it is when I, the mother who is carrying the baby inside my very own body, have no clue?  This is very confusing stuff, people. 

I have NO. CLUE.  Not even a hunch.

I am going to be completely surprised either way (and that’s the point, right!?).  I think the dada thinks it’s a girl because he won’t talk about boy names hardly at all.  We are really hurting to come up with a boy name for this mystery baby.  The girl name was easy, although we’ve wavered here and there.  We literally have nothing for a boy name.  Nothing!  The kid is going to come home with a terrible name like… well, I won’t say because undoubtedly whatever I blurt out will be the name of someone’s favorite man and I will stick my fat foot in my mouth.

But you get the point.

I don’t know what the gender of this baby is, but here are my thoughts based on nothing at all, old wives’ tales, online quizzes, and total strangers’ opinions.

Why I think it’s a boy:
1.  Because although I feel different during this pregnancy, I don’t feel that different and “they” say that every pregnancy is different anyway.
2.  The heartbeat is always 130s-140s, and so was Theo’s.
3.  I am carrying low.  The baby feels high, especially when I’m sitting for hours and hours and he/she is kicking and pushing up into my ribs.  But when I look in the mirror, more of what I actually see is low. 
4.  I didn’t notice much of a difference in the amount of morning sickness/nausea I experienced at the beginning.  Supposedly if it’s a girl, I would have been sicker.  The nausea was different, but not distinctively worse. 

Why I think it’s a girl:
1.  *TMI warning* (back away from the screen if that scares you at all).  I never had a period between babies so I couldn’t calculate my due date based on that.  (That’s right girls, I haven’t had a period in almost 2 years and likely won’t have one for much longer than that…don’t be jeal, this kind of luxury comes at a price!).  I do know exactly when we conceived and when I calculated my due date by that, it should have been 5 days earlier.  That makes me think girl because I know that boy swimmers move fast and die young.  Girl swimmers are slow and resilient.  Therefore, the girl swimmer would/could have fertilized days after the conception date, resulting in a later due date.
2.  I am carrying more like a watermelon than a basketball.  Maybe it’s too early carry to the baby like a basketball though because I think I eventually got to that point with Theo, but right now the bumpage looks more elongated.  Seems like this would have more to do with how the mama’s built or how the baby’s positioned than the gender of the baby.  Right?
3.  I have been moodier and more emotional/irrational/irritable during this pregnancy.  But that could be totally environmental, as there is a lot more stress and anxiety surrounding this pregnancy. 
4.  Odds.
5.  My pillow points south when I sleep (really!?).

So the only things that make good medical sense are the heartbeats and the conception/fertilization date scenario.  And they seem like equally valid cases, so I’m back to square one.  I know that we skipped finding out the sex for a reason, but it’s just fun sometimes to try to make a prediction so that when the time comes, I can say “I told you so.”  I’m still glad that we didn’t find out, but I wish someone would make my husband talk about boy names, just in case. 

wonderin’,
~C~

29 week check-up check-in

I found out last Friday, not to my surprise, that I failed my 3 hour glucose tolerance test, meaning that I have gestational diabetes.  I was disappointed, but not devastated like I was when I found out I had it with Theo.  I guess the genetic component is stronger than the environmental component.  My weight gain so far is still 17-17.5 pounds (no change in the last two weeks).  I don’t anticipate gaining much more at this point since I’m on a pretty strict diet.  Hopefully I can remain a diet-controlled diabetic like I did last time.  I started checking my sugars on Saturday and so far I have only had one that was over my cutoff.  Shoulda known better…it was after I ate a bowl of cereal.  I learned last time to say goodbye to cereal, orange juice, and any other sugary and delicious thing I crave.  
My abdomen measured 28-29 weeks and the baby’s heart rate is still ranging in the 130-140s.  I was very happy after talking to the doctor this time.  She looked at the chart with my sugars so far and my weight gain and said that as long as both stay controlled, I have a good shot at a vaginal birth.  This was really the first appointment I’ve gone to when I didn’t feel like she was pushing for a c-section (because of Theo’s shoulder dystocia).  She said since I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, she can induce at 38 weeks instead of 39 without doing an amnio.  She even mentioned inducing at 37 weeks in hopes of getting a smaller baby, but this would mean having an amnio to make sure the lungs are mature.  I’d like to avoid having an amnio if at all possible and 37 seems a little too early.  Ask me again when I’m 37 weeks, but right now I think I’d rather wait and let the baby cook for another week.  
Soo…if I have a baby at 38 weeks, we’re looking at a 5/12/11 or 5/13/11 (Friday the 13th!) birthday.  That’s only a little over 9 weeks away.  How much have we bought to prepare for this baby?  The answer is still “nothing” (with the exception of a couple girly outfits, which have a 50% chance of being useless).  Maybe we should get on that.  We need a crib, 2 convertible car seats for Theo, a double stroller, etc, etc, etc.  
When I was pregnant with Theo, I was never sick.  I’ve got my second cold in 5 months right now and I can’t wait for it to go far, far away.  

Sniff, sniff, cough, cough,
~C~

this whole unplanned pregnancy thing is not so bad

I was informed by a couple people that my blog yesterday sounded a little hostile.  It was supposed to be funny(ish).  Eh.  You win some, you lose some.

The misunderstanding made me think and look over recent blogs.  Much to my surprise, I got the whiny-complainy vibe a lot and that’s certainly not what I intended.  With that being said, it’s still my blog and it’s what I want it to be.  Beyond that, I hope it’s something that other people enjoy.  But like I said, you win some, you lose some.

Today, I’m not whinin’ or complainin’.  I’m gonna be thankful, because I have a lot to be thankful for. 

I guess unplanned pregnancies are always going to knock the knocked-up person’s socks off, but unplanned doesn’t mean unwanted.  Initially, I was terrified.  I was scrambling around so hard to get my socks back on that I didn’t even see the beauty in the timing for awhile.  If ever in my life I was going to have an unplanned pregnancy, this is the time.  Other alternatives would have been when I was 19…definitely wasn’t ready then.  Or when I was in college…there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have graduated.  Or right after we got married…we’d been in a long distance relationship for almost 4 years when we got married.  We needed that time to spend alone.  We took a few vacations.  Bought a house.  I finished school.  The timing of our first baby was just right. 

When I got pregnant this time, we knew we wanted to have another baby (at some point).  I’m glad that we hadn’t decided we were done when I got knocked up.  With Theo, it took us a while to commit to the idea of having a baby.  It was hard to say “now’s the time,” because we knew that everything would change.  We didn’t have a clue what it would feel or look like, other than it wouldn’t be just the two of us anymore.  The same goes with baby number two…I think we would’ve had a hard time saying “now’s the time.”  We’re comfortable as a family of three.  Theo has certainly changed our lives, but life is manageable with one baby.  It’s fun.  Life has a whole new purpose.  We learn as he learns.  Experiencing every first with him and through him is amazing.  It might have taken a long time to switch focus.  We might have stressed over whether Theo was ready or the right age, etc.

All of that is great, but there’s a bigger bonus. 

I.  Got.  Pregnant.  Without even trying.  Hello?  If that means nothing to you, you must not know anyone who had to try to get pregnant.  It’s something easily taken for granted until it doesn’t happen.  I, for one, know to some extent how lucky that makes me.  It wasn’t as easy with Theo.  There were months of hopes and wishes followed by disappointment and heartbreak.  And we were still within the normal range for how long it takes for most couples to conceive.  I can’t imagine trying for years without success.  I don’t think I could do it.  It’s too emotionally draining when it’s all you want.  With this baby, I never had to wait and hope and wish.  It was a gift that was handed to me unexpectedly. 

I was lucky to get pregnant without trying this time…what’s more is that I’ve managed to stay pregnant thus far.  While I am thankful I have never had the misfortune of experiencing a pregnancy loss, I’ve had enough people who are close to me go through it to know that it’s more than just a pregnancy loss.  It’s the loss of a child.  The loss of hopes and dreams and a person you’ve already come to love.  I won’t pretend to know how it feels to lose a baby, but I know how helpless I’ve felt as I watched when people I care about deeply have gone through it. 

I know I whine and complain a lot about being pregnant.  That’s the nature of the beast.  But it doesn’t make me love the fact that I am pregnant right now, that I could get pregnant, or that I’m still pregnant any less.  It doesn’t mean that I will value or appreciate the familiarity and the uniqueness of this precious child any less.  I can’t wait to watch my kids grow up together.  It’s my (and every parent’s) wish that they will be the best of friends.  I expect them to fight.  I will probably complain about it a lot, but it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise.  At the end of the day, at the end of vacation, at the end of elementary school and high school and graduate school (if they choose to go)…at the end of their 20s and 50s and 80s, I hope they are still the best of friends.

Now that I’m a mom, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.  I’m happy when my kid goes to bed easy.  I’m happy when he loves a new toy.  I’m happy when he takes a step or gets a tooth or smiles at me.  I’m happy that he has feet to walk on and arms to hug with.  I’m overjoyed that he’s still here with me, so full of life, and that I’ve had the chance to know him for almost a year.  I love every second of being his mommy and I can’t wait to multiply that by 2. 

No sarcasm here today.  Just gratitude and honesty.

~C~