It is only fair that I record some memories of this pregnancy as I did with my first pregnancy. On April 30, 2011, Chloe and I wandered over to my neighbor's garage sale that she was hosting with her friend, Chelsea. Chelsea happens to be a wonderful saleswoman and she said "Are you planning to have another child? I have a bunch of maternity clothes for sale for $0.50 a piece." She started holding clothes up to my body and telling me they would be cute. Sure enough, she had some really nice stuff for just one half of a dollar!! I had a few bucks on me so I figured, what the heck. I picked up $3.50 worth of maternity clothes that were probably worth over $300. When I made it home I spread my loot out on the floor to admire my good work. It got me thinking... How long has it been since I have even had a period? It has been just one month, right? Not two? No, definitely not two. Hmm I had better take a test just to be sure.
So Chloe accompanied me in the bathroom, because, of course I needed her help pulling all of the toilet paper out from under the sink. I peed on the stick while stiff-arming my daughter. Almost instantly, I got a pregnant reading. Shit! It can't be! How did this happen?!?!? (Don't answer that.) When Paul got home I instructed him to go to the bathroom to see what he did. This is funny, because on a rare occasion he will forget to flush the toilet, and I can actually get my husband of nearly four years and partner of nearly twelve years embarrassed. He saw the test and said "You're kidding?" This is funny, because a few months before that I took a pregnancy test that read not-pregnant, but Paul replaced it with Chloe's old positive test that was stashed away in a drawer somewhere. I totally freaked out when I saw it. He thought himself a pretty funny guy that day. But back to April 30. Paul was super excited. He was much calmer than I was about the prospect of a new baby. I was just starting to get used to life with just the one!
The doctors insisted I was three weeks further along than what I thought. I begged and begged for an ultrasound. I told the nurse I would probably get fired if I was due on their prospective due date of December 19, 2011. She didn't care. She said, "Your boss being mad is not a good enough reason for an ultrasound." But that stupid nurse couldn't find the heartbeat after trying for over ten minutes. When the doctor came in she said, "I'm going to look for the heartbeat, but I'm not going to look very hard." Wink, wink. In the five seconds she looked for the heartbeat she didn't find it and ordered us an ultrasound. She must have thought she owed us one since she practically slept through the delivery of our daughter while the nurses and resident took care of business.
The next day we had an ultrasound and found that we were only nine weeks along instead of twelve. Momma was right. The baby was due January 6, 2012. I felt this would be a far less scary date to tell my boss, so good job, baby! We ended up telling our families right away when we were only about six weeks along. Everyone was very excited for us! I was still freaking out.
Like my first pregnancy, I never suffered from morning sickness. My body is great at being pregnant. That seems like a funny thing to say about myself, but it's true. After dealing with the backlash of quitting caffeine with Chloe I had sworn off the drippings of the delicious black bean forever, but I fell of the wagon about nine months post-partum. I decided to quit cold-turkey again. I suffered from severe headaches for a few days. Even now if I have a glass of Diet Coke or a half a cup of coffee I will get a severe headache by 4:00 p.m. the next day. That stuff is really addicting! I have found that drinking lots of water and eating small meals throughout the day helps with the headaches, as well.
I have also suffered from some indigestion. For a while I was so obsessed with hot sauce that I would only view foods as a medium for my hot sauce. Never in my life have I desired to eat a hot dog with chili slathered on the top, but it was a great hot sauce holder, so I devoured them. Well it turns out that the hot sauce comes back out just as spicy as it goes in, and I've had to cut back on my cravings as they are really just not worth the pain. My other craving would be Taco Bell. Mostly because tacos are a wonderful hot sauce holder. Probably the best.
The other weird symptom I have had this time around is that for a while there I was an emotional roller coaster. I went from being a psycho bitch to a sobbing mess. Usually, I am a secret cryer. Like, if I need to cry, I will usually wait until Paul falls asleep, and I will quietly whimper in my bed. But this one day I came home and it was just a waterfall of tears. Once I started crying I couldn't stop. I was crying about everything, and I did this for at least two hours. Paul didn't know what to do! He tried his best to make things better, but every time he had a solution I would start sobbing again. It was crazy. Thankfully, that only happened the one time, and I have even been a lot nicer lately. I swear.
At nine weeks the baby's heart rate was in the 180's, but every time after that the baby's heartbeat was in the 150's. Chloe was always in the 180's. According to old wives' tales, this points to a boy. Our Chinese gender chart also said boy.
So between the headaches, the indigestion, the emotions, and the lower heart rate readings everyone concluded that we would be having a boy. While we were hoping for a boy with Chloe, we were hoping for a girl this time around. In our minds we thought, what could be better than a little girl? Paul said he could see himself as the Daddy to little girls. We named our little fetus Lia Rose after my Grandma Reiber, Rosalie. It was her name just sort of flip-flopped and using the same letters. We couldn't wait for the ultrasound to confirm our suspicions of our little Lia Rose.
On August 18, 2011 we had our 20 week ultrasound where we found out we were having a little... BOY? Yes, we are indeed having a little boy. We are so excited - a little shocked still - but excited. I hope he is a little mini-Paul. He'll be so cute! Baby Boy T looked very healthy and strong from what we could tell on the ultrasound. After we found out the sex we went to Babies R Us and picked him out some outfits. We got him the same going home outfit we got for Chloe only in blue. We brought it home for my Mom to see. By the end of the weekend we were both just beside ourselves thinking of what our little boy will be like.
If you are wondering what the baby's name is going to be, we don't have a name for him yet. We named Chloe within a day or two of learning her sex. Boy names are so hard! If you have any good suggestions for us please let me know. I don't want anything too weird or girly sounding, but I don't want anything too boring, either.
I know that all people really want to see is a picture of my growing belly. And it is growing. I wrote this post two weeks ago thinking I would include my 20 week photo, but that day came and passed. I'm thinking maybe 23 weeks... or maybe I'll just wait until 25. I haven't taken a single picture of this baby bump yet. Paul says it is fine, though, since we are having a boy. He won't care. I think it is progressing similarly to my first pregnancy. So far I have gained about ten pounds, which is right on track with the suggested weight gain. From here on out I am anticipated to gain about one pound per week, which would put me at an overall weight gain of 30 pounds. Wouldn't that be lovely? I think with Chloe I was gaining like five pounds a week toward the end compared to the one pound they suggest. Oopsie.
That should bring us all up to date on pregnancy number two!
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