33 weeks...

...and counting!!! I think i'd be less anxious for this pregnancy to be over if everything was going smoothly and things weren't so up in the air with my previa issue. I had another ultrasound last week and the placenta still hadn't moved quite enough. To top it off, the baby is breech at the moment. It doesn't seem like this baby wants to be born the old fashion way! the doctor seemed a bit less optimistic that my placenta was going to move completely so that was a bit discouraging. I'm not so worried about the baby being breech b/c i know that can change. There are things i can do to help that along but I'm nervous to do too much until after my sisters wedding. If I start bleeding, i'm automatically on bed rest - not sure how i would handle missing that wedding! actually, i know exactly how i would handle it - NOT WELL. So we'll worry about the position of the baby and getting it to turn after the wedding. I have another ultrasound next tuesday anyway, so if my placenta is still causing trouble then it doesn't really matter if the baby is breech or not b/c a c-section would be scheduled at that point. So, we could have a new addition in 3-4 weeks, or 7+ weeks. Kind of hard to have a plan! For my records: I'm feeling OK. pretty tired (thanks to work) and I'm definitely moving a lot slower. If i walk too fast I get really achy in my lower abdomen so i have to slow down. I don't feel really big yet which is nice. I've gained about 18lbs at this point...the baby weighed 3lbs 13oz at my appt a week ago so the baby seems to be on track although i'm nervous i'm not gaining enough weight. never thought i'd say that! The baby's movements are definitely stronger starting last week and sometimes she/he keeps me up at night around 3AM b/c of the acrobatics going on in there. Sleeping is alright at this point but with dorm duty and having to stay up late, it's hard to get enough sleep. and if I wake up in the middle of the night, there's no going back to sleep for at least an hour, usually more - so thats a bummer! Heart burn is controllable - i don't think it's as bad as it was with Payton, maybe this baby will have less hair?? No leg cramps, few headaches, and bad upper back pain. Sitting, laying on the couch, or standing too long fires it up pretty good. I think that's it!

As for Payton, she's had a couple good ones lately - not sure I remember them all but here are a couple...

"mom that hurts my blood pressure!"
"chlawket" = chocolate
She knows the whole Lord's Prayer and says it every night!; she's LOVING gymnastics, especially the "chwampoline"; she still calls the baby "snowman" - i think she's going to be pretty bummed when we don't name the baby that!!!

this pic is from Easter///

grrr thats all i can remember at the moment, i need to get better at writing these down as they happen!!

30 weeks pregnant now...things are going ok. At my last ultrasound my placenta was still covering my cervix so i have to go back in a few weeks and if it hasn't moved then there will be talk of a scheduled c-section. Kind of a bummer b/c i really wanted to try this whole labor and delivery thing again but of course, I'm all for doing the safe thing! At my last doc's appt the heart was 140 and things seem like they are going well. The baby was 2lbs 11 oz at 28 weeks, right on track so the placenta is functioning even though its not cooperating. I'll take it. For my own reference, some symptoms i'm experiencing are: upper back pain if sitting or standing too long, aches and pains in my lower abdomen, overall fatigue, can't walk for long without getting a pain in my abdomen which is kind of a bummer. Also think i'm having braxton hicks every now and then. Going back to the doc tomorrow...

As for Payton, she's definitely testing us more and more. We had a 20 minute stand off with her the other day b/c she threw a cup and didn't want to pick it up. Things that seem so easy to us are apparently the end of the world to a two year old. As much as she fights us lately, she's also very entertaining ha :) she makes us laugh so much - such a personality. and she's so damn smart (we think so anyway!) I can't remember if i already wrote about this but in case I didn't - we were walking the other day and i told her we were going to get some exercise, a few minutes later she asks "where does exercise live?" ha! I did say we were "going to get it" so i could see why she would be asking! Another funny Payton moment, Brian was away for Nick's bachelor party so we were on our own Saturday night, after I put her to bed she called me into her room and said "i have to ax you a kestion" so i told her to go ahead and ask, she says "knock knock who's there??" and starts laughing - love it, the kid just cracks me up!! <3 

update

I'm so bad at updating this, and I know i'm going to regret it in the future!!! I'm 27 weeks (tomorrow) pregnant and really starting to feel it....everywhere. My back is starting to hurt, and the baby must be growing b/c my round ligament pain is pretty intense. I definitely feel bigger than i think i am. does that make sense?? My last appointment was 3 weeks ago, the baby's heart rate was 135, way lower than Payton's was at this time. Hmmm. I also had an Ultrasound to check my placenta, it's still covering my cervix so I have to go back in two weeks to check it again. If it doesn't end up moving out of the way, we have to start thinking about a c-section, not too psyched about that but we'll deal with it when we or if we need to. Payton is being very sweet to the baby lately, kissing my belly, reading books and singing to it as well. she doesn't seem at all freaked out by the baby coming, she actually seems excited, but i'm guessing that may change when the time comes for the baby to come out. Although, she's really into babies these days and is super cute with her dolls...very motherly.

I wish I had time to write down all of the funny things Payton has been saying these days but if i wrote everything down, i'd be writing every 5 minutes. A couple i'm going to want to remember for sure some day:

As I'm taking a picture of champ she asks me why i'm taking his picture. I told her b/c he's cute. Her response - "take a picture of me, i'm cute too!"

When i asked her if she wanted to kick a ball around her response was "I'd love to"

She says she's going to play softball when she gets bigger when someone asks her what sport she's going to play - we'll see!

she just fills our life with so much joy every day!! although she is definitely starting to get a little attitude, we're trying to nip that in the bud as much as possible, but it is not easy! i love that she's independent, has a mind of her own, but wow, sometimes she's a bit difficult. wouldn't trade her for anything though :)

The things Payton comes out with...

This girl makes us laugh every day! Today it was "oh, goodness gacious". To hear her sound like a little person still blows my mind! And her memory is insane. If you tell her we're going to do something tomorrow, you can bet that when she wakes up, she'll be asking about it. She's been singing to the baby lately at night, it's super cute. She almost seems to understand what's going on although I know that's crazy. But all the times we talk to her about the baby in my belly, she never seems confused or wants to know what it's doing in there. I'm sure those questions will come soon enough! I love when she does ask a question and after we answer her she says "ohhh, ok". As if she's saying "ok i understand now, thanks for explaining." She's a total goofball and we're loving it! Today I got her on video singing toby keith's "red solo cup". too funny.

18 week update...

Went for my 18 week ultrasound yesterday - that's the big one, the one when we could find out what we are having, but we chose not to. We really enjoyed the surprise on the day Payton was born and really look forward to that excitement again! The baby looked great. The tech did a complete head to toe anatomical survey. Two legs, two arms, a heart, a brain, a spine, etc. Perfect. On the other hand, my placenta is being a bit uncooperative and is covering my cervix (placenta previa). they are hopeful it will move out of the way before delivery but i have to go back in 6 weeks to check the status.

I actually had energy this week, it was awesome. I got a lot of cleaning done, now i can focus on organizing and getting things ready for our new addition. I really can't complain - if i wasn't tired (tired btw, not exhausted like i have been!) i wouldn't really feel pregnant at all. Aside from feeling fat of course. I'm trying to get to the gym at least twice a week, and I make sure to get a good walk in every day. I'm also starting a prenatal yoga class once a week, i'm psyched for that. So, I've had two dreams about this baby being a girl. At this time in my pregnancy with payton, i also had a dream that i was having a girl. So that's my guess as of now - girl. Which means we really need to get going on picking out a name b/c we are far from making a decision at this point! I haven't felt any considerable movement yet but after seeing the baby move on the ultrasound yesterday i feel more at ease. i think that's it for my update!

Payton seems to know...

The other day Payton and I were talking about how Mickey Mouse lives in Disney World and she told me she wanted to go to Disney "wheeled". When I asked if we could wait until the baby comes her response was "yea, I want my brother to come too". BROTHER?? Hmmm, maybe it's true what they say, toddlers seem to know this stuff! We'll see. Not sure what shocked me the most, the fact that she said brother when all I said was "the baby" or that she made that connection from baby to brother...strange!
She had her 2 year check up last week - crazy how fast time has gone by. Seems like just yesterday she was getting her one week shots! She did have to get some immunizations this time around but I think none again until her 4 year check up which is awesome. Because I still have not gotten used to seeing that. In other Payton news, we've gone from having a baby who slept great 95% of the time, to having a toddler that would like to do anything but! Putting her to bed used to be as simple as laying her down, turning on her music and saying good night - done...easy. Now we're getting "I don't want to be in here!!!" or "I don't want to lay down!". Awesome. But from everything I'm reading, this is just one of the joys of having a toddler. I swear, she hit two and so much has changed! We fight to change her diaper, we fight to get her dressed, we fight to put her coat on, etc. It has definitely made things interesting, but I'm hoping that we can learn how to tame her before number 2 comes along - so maybe this will be perfect timing :)
There have been some great things about her becoming older and more aware however. She is way more active in gymnastics class, she actually runs around and jumps over and onto things whereas before she would kind of just walk around and observe. In music class she dances and sings and gets really excited about certain songs and when it's time to play instruments. The library has also become a way bigger hit than it used to be. We used to go and leave 20 minutes later b/c she wasn't that into it. Now, however, it gives her motivation to get dressed in the morning when I say we're going to the library! And when the open the doors to story time she literally shakes b/c she's so psyched. It's so fun!
A sweet moment - we were in music class last week and at the end we were laying down and looking at the stars on the ceiling singing twinkle, twinkle little star. Payton was singing the whole thing pretty loudly but it sounded so sweet! After, the teacher said "was that not the most precious thing??" apparently I wasn't the only one that heard her :)

Pregnancy update - 17 weeks

Since I'm doing a horrible job of keeping a pregnancy journal this time I thought I should write some things down before I forget them. I have really found the journal I kept with Payton to be a huge help this time around, so why haven't I taken the time to keep track of this one?? Just don't have the time to take I suppose...is this just the beginning of this second child getting the shaft?? I hope not :( Anyhow, after a few months of nausea and extreme exhaustion and just feeling like crap overall, I'm definitely feeling a bit better. I am still waiting for the second trimester burst of energy I had with Payton, but I'm told I could be waiting forever. May have something to do with the toddler I have to chase around this time. That's ok, I really can't complain. My latest symptoms worth mentioning are low back pain, cramping and round ligament pain. You'd think once your hips and ligaments get stretched out once, they would feel just fine when stretched out again - guess not. I have noticed that my tolerance for exercise is definitely lower this time. With Payton I worked out right from the beginning, but this time, it's only every now and then (that whole "time" thing again) so when I do, it's possible I try to get as much in b/c i'm not sure when I'll be able to do it again and then I pay for it. I'm going to pay more attention to that from now on. I haven't really felt much movement yet which is killing me. A few flutters but nothing consistent. I was supposed to have an appt a couple days ago but my doc had to reschedule so I go on Tuesday. I hate that there's so much time in between these things. Every pregnant mom should be given a heart rate detector so we can check whenever we want/need to!