baby number 2

from nothing to something

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

One week ago, we were still counting Theo’s baby steps.  Last night we went to Borders and I followed him practically from one side of the store to the other – on foot!  I can’t believe how much difference a week makes.  My baby is walking.  Really walking!  His confidence got the best of him in that wide open space a few times and he thought about running.  He hasn’t quite perfected that yet, but I betcha it won’t be long.  Being a parent is the craziest thing – you just never realize how big the little things really are until you are living them with your own child.  (good or bad…ahem, see my post from yesterday if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

It never fails to amaze me how my heart can just about burst at the seams with love and pride when my kid masters something that the rest of us take for granted.  Did I mention he’s walking!?  It just doesn’t feel right to say that already.  Every day he’s getting smarter and making connections.  He has a pillow pet that he got for Christmas.  The other day when I said “where’s your pillow pet?” he got up and abandoned the toy he was playing with and started looking around for it, saying to himself  “pet pet.”  It was just about the cutest thing ever.  (And he found his pillow pet, which is about as big as he is, and then he dragged it all over the place until he moved on to the next toy).  I about died. 

Speaking of making progress, last Sunday we bought the mystery baby a crib and dresser.  And two sets of brand new, itty bitty, so cute and precious little newborn clothes.  More girl stuff than boy obviously, but I did buy some boy stuff.  What if I had just used all Theo’s old stuff and they looked just alike?  I wouldn’t even be able to tell them apart in pictures from the hospital.  Sidenote- I was looking through my clothes and got all excited to see my maternity/nursing nightgown in the dresser.  Well I can’t hardly wear that at the hospital either – all the pictures will look the same once again.  Or maybe that’s just an excuse to treat myself to some cute new things.  Lord knows you need all the help you can get to feel pretty in the hours and days after giving birth! 

I bought a convertible car seat for Theo to free up the infant seat for the new baby.  It’s the Graco My Ride 65.  It got great reviews and I loved the look of it, but I’m not sold on it just yet.  It was a great value, and maybe some of that is where I’m noticing the difference.  We basically had the top of the line in infant seats and everything seems so much smoother and more deluxe in retrospect, now that we are trying out the Graco seat.  Jury’s still out on whether we’ll keep it.  For our other vehicle, we are getting the Safety 1st Air Protect, which also got great reviews.  We shall see…

Anyway, we’re making progress in all sorts of ways at our house.  Babies are growing and change is coming.  One thing’s for sure – time won’t stand still whether you want it to or not.

~C~

31 week check-up check-in

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I had my 31 week appointment Monday (although I was only about 30 1/2 weeks).  Baby’s heartbeat was in the 130s.  The doctor loved my sugars and was singing my praises for keeping my diabetes under control.  I don’t think I have much to do with it, but time will tell.  With Theo, my sugar got progressively worse the further along I was.  Hopefully this time I will still be able to get to delivery day insulin-free. 

I gained a couple pounds this time, which kind of surprised me since I have been on this diabetic diet.  I guess a couple of pounds doesn’t amount to much more than different clothes and whether I’ve eaten or pooped recently, though, right?  Total weight gain so far – 20 lbs. 

I decided NOW was a good time to bring up what method of birth control we’ll be using and I’m contemplating an implant of some sort.  Either Implanon or Mirena.  For those of you who have had one or the other, what was your experience?  I like that Implanon is only for three years.  I feel like we will know three years from now whether we want to have another baby or not.  Mirena is good for five years, but my understanding is that it can be taken out anytime.  Anyway, we had a long discussion about it and the doctor advised me that they won’t do any kind of implant on a nursing mom until at least 4 months post-partum due to possible uterine perforations.  That’s kinda scary, huh? 

Everything looked good in general.  My abdomen was measuring 30 weeks and I have another appointment in two weeks. 

Any tips about Implanon or Mirena?

~C~

sleep

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I can honestly say that I think I have been more tired this week than at any other time in my life.  Pretty soon I’ll have reminders of just how tired I was back when Theo was a newborn, and I’m sure this week won’t seem so bad.  But for right now, I’m saying that this week takes the cake for all-time worst sleep.  Every day I have woken up hours before the alarm went off and was not able to go back to sleep.  I have barely been able to keep my eyes open at work and since I can’t really spend a lot of time away from my desk, there’s little I can do to combat the sleepiness.  Being this tired is miserable.  Seemed like it was better when I at least had a cute, tiny baby to reference as the reason for the deprivation.

It is so bad that I had to tell the babysitter that I’d bring Theo today because I knew I’d be in no position to be able to watch him on so little rest.  I’m exhausted.  It’s so frustrating because I go home and I am dead tired and I lay down and my mind is spinning a million miles a minute.  It takes me 30 or 45 minutes to fall asleep and then a few short hours later, I’m wide awake.  I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy, or if it has something to do with the diabetes, but man.  I hope next week is better.  The reason I said it might have something to do with the diabetes is because I have to eat so often that I’m pretty much always drinking something.  Normally I try to stop drinking anything a few hours before I got to bed so that I won’t wake up fifty times to pee.  Not anymore.  I’ve always got a drink nearby.  So I’ve been waking up to pee and then I’m not able to go back to sleep.  Fine, if that happens 6 hours into my sleep.  Not fine when it happens 3-4 hours into my sleep four days in a row. 

Oh sweet sleep, I miss you.

~C~