Tuesday, February 26, 2013

22 weeks

How Far Along: 22 weeks today. E2 is the length of a spaghetti squash.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: As of yesterday (21w6d), I am up 13 pounds. Oopsie!

Maternity Clothes: Yep.

Movement: Daily.

Sleep: Not so good. We spent the night in a hotel room with super cushy beds (queen sized - two of them, thankfully), and I was able to use my extra pillows for support between my knees. I have a body pillow on our bed, but it's sort of flat, and I've wondered if that's behind a lot of my hip, rib and shoulder pain. Even with the extra cush, I still didn't sleep well, but I didn't wake up nearly as sore. Tonight will be night two of extra pillows (on top of the body pillow) in our bed...not ideal, but it'll tide me over until I buy a new body pillow.

Gender: A baby brother for Aliya and Bennett.

Symptoms: Minor nausea (knocking on every wooden surface within reach right now!), aches and pains, fatigue, sleeping poorly, rosacea flare-ups, hot flashes, a little harder to get up from a sitting (or lying down) position, constipation, and severe ligament pains. I think it's safe to say that my uterus grew quite a bit this week. (It's measuring right on track for 22 weeks.)

Cravings: None.

Belly Button In or Out: Still in, but a lot shallower. During our hotel stay I was on the bed watching my belly for movement when Paul said something funny, and when I laughed, my belly button popped out! It went back in, though. :)

Freak-out of the Week: No freak outs to speak of. However, I processed some guilt in therapy around feeling unable to properly grieve my twins while carrying this little guy. Thankfully, I was gently reminded that I can do both; it's not all or nothing either way, which is the way it feels sometimes, since grieving is often the only way I feel I can parent my firstborn daughter and son.

Looking Forward To: Another week going by with no issues (fingers crossed).

Next Appointment: Monday, March 11th for another cervical length ultrasound.

Miscellaneous: I'm slowly buying a few things for this baby, and that feels good. I ordered a car seat cover, which arrived yesterday (finally), and bought him some clothing a few weeks ago. I have a couple of books on order for me, too - Dr. Sears' "The Baby Book - Revised Edition" and a breastfeeding book. The further along we get, the more comfortable I feel contemplating a "real" future with this little boy. Also, my appointment yesterday went well. My cervix is still long and closed (4.6 cm...weird how it gets longer and shorter, huh?), and baby looks good. Dr. M. surprised me by making the long-promised DVD of baby yesterday. At first I was bummed that Paul wasn't there, but Dr. M. was running at least a good hour behind schedule and went really fast, so that, coupled with the fact that his machine isn't as good as UW's and that ultrasound a couple of weeks ago was a really good look at E2 - made the crappy DVD ok. We did watch it last night and are glad to have it, but it's not something I'd sit the extended family down to watch...too much to explain (and some of it I couldn't even decipher because Dr. M. moved the wand so erratically at times).

E2 at 21 weeks 6 days. His nose, mouth and chin remind me
of Bennett here...
The belly at 22 weeks.

6 comments:

  1. I'm glad it feels good to get some things in preparation for baby brother. I felt like it was an important leap of faith during my pregnancy with Bode to keep tentatively preparing for him to live and come home with us, even as I was so scared.

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  2. Everything is moving along nicely. That is one cute belly! I get what you mean about the guilt of not being able to put time into grieving your twins. I had the same feelings - just know that it gets harder when you have a baby at home. I always feel bad when I have gone a week barely thinking of them. The fact is, I have a live baby here that needs my attention...but it's still hard.

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  3. What a beautiful boy, he is! Glad things are moving along well.

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  4. You look good! He looks good! I can't believe your belly button popped out and in!

    That's a lot of exclamation points, but 22 weeks seems to warrant this excitement. (!)

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  5. Thanks for your kind comments. 22 weeks!!!
    I so badly want the rest of this pregnancy go smoothly, absolutely great for you..and at the end of it you have your gorgeous baby boy to play and cuddle .

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