Pregnancy Update: Halfway There!

I'm nearing week 20 of my pregnancy, and if history repeats itself (which it very well may not), I am more than halfway done! I had both Ada and Eloise at just a couple days past the 38 week point. Last Friday we had our anatomy scan, and everything is looking good with baby girl. The only "issue" is that my placenta is sitting a bit low -- around 2 cm from my cervix. From what my doctor says and what many of you have told me, this should correct itself by birth in most cases. So, I have no restrictions or anything.

I was worried that being almost 35 and being on baby number 3 (pregnancy number 6!) would mean this pregnancy would kick my butt. Not so. I know I should be knocking on lots of wood . . . but this has been my easiest pregnancy by far. I don't have any complaints. I mean, the morning sickness was awful -- but that's been the case each time. I am so thankful that we don't have any weird medical stuff we're watching, like recurrent strep B UTIs or bleeding, etc.

I feel great. I'm still running, and I have no pelvic pain or bladder pressure. I haven't had Braxton Hicks or irritable uterus issues yet, which usually start very early (17 weeks or earlier) for me. I have energy. I can keep up with my crazy toddler during the day. I am sleeping well at night. I have my appetite back and have been eating a mix of foods. I'll admit that I had to feed myself mostly sugar when I was sick because it was the only thing keeping me from vomiting. It's been hard shifting back to healthier foods, but I am doing a good job at balance. At least I think!

While running does still feel great, I can tell that my SI joint is getting a bit finicky. It always does this around now. It's an old running injury from my marathoning days, and I think the hormones make the joint unstable. It doesn't hurt yet . . . but I have moved from tracking mileage to tracking steps each day. I still tend to get four or five 3-milers in each week. But as the weather heats up, etc. -- I am just aiming to get 10,000 steps a day, no matter how they come. I have been averaging around 12,000 -- awesome! (I use this activity tracker by Garmin -- it's great for runners.)

I mentioned on Instagram that I am frustrated because we've had our name picked out for a while . . . and now it's popped up as a character in a really popular television show. Sigh. I mostly don't care, but it's not a great association. I don't see us changing the name, though. And while I did mention a while back that we have the middle name set, I'm now wavering on that choice. We still have plenty of time. We're just the type that's always been pretty set on our decisions with names once we make them. And if you're curious, it starts with the letter E.

Ada is really excited for the baby. She keeps telling me she can feel the kicks, but I know they're still too faint. This first photo is from my pregnancy with Eloise. Ada wanted to recreate the shot last night. She's such a sweetheart.

Eloise still has no idea what's going on. When I say "kiss the baby!" she does bend down and kiss my belly. It's cute. We have been reading this book about breastfeeding for kids, and she gets a kick out of mama milk. So, sometimes when I say "where's the baby?" She points to my boobs. There's part of me that wants to take her to a big sister class, but then I realize that she is really young. It's not going to be the same type of transition that we had with Ada. There will be a day when the baby is still in my belly . . . and then a day when she's out. And Eloise's world will get rocked. Any tips on transitioning to a younger sibling with kids who don't totally get it yet? It's something I haven't dealt with before. And I don't expect it to be perfectly smooth.

(As an aside: We really love the Dr. Sears Baby on the Way and What Baby Needs books to prepare Ada for a new little one. She asks to read these books almost every night. They are written with alternative birthing/doctor/parenting options in mind, too. I highly recommend these books!)

I don't know how much weight I have gained with this pregnancy. My home scale and the doctor scale are totally different, and I didn't catch my initial weight at my doctor. They did say I lost 3 pounds from my 14 to 18 week appointment. I attribute that to eating better and being more active after ditching the morning sickness. I'd say I have gained 5-7 pounds total.

Other stuff: I do still have weird dry heaving and vomiting spells. And I do occasionally had wicked heartburn. The only other unpleasant thing is heart palpitations. They are normal, but I hate when my heart skips a beat and then races to catch up. It happens mostly when I am laying back in a reclined position.

In other news, I am starting to get excited for summer. Stephen will be home for 10 weeks, which is great. It does frustrate me that we cannot time our pregnancies perfectly. I feel like Eloise's birth -- while certainly not in our control -- fell at the perfect time. It was warm and sunny. I had tons of help and support in the summer. When this baby is born, the long cold and dark season will just be beginning. Stephen will be deep in cross country season and away most evenings and Saturdays. I worry I will feel overwhelmed and totally tapped out. I am trying to prepare and get a support system in place.

We'll see what happens, I guess!

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19 Weeks // Out of Steam

I felt like a super-mom a month or so ago. My life was incredibly well scheduled (as you can see in this day-in-the-life post). I'd wake up, have a bit of time to go running in the AM, get Ada ready + off to school, and then my day of glorious naps with time to work, clean the house, and re-charge would begin. Before bed, we'd have some alone time to chat and watch TV before sleeping with at least one good 5-7 hour stretch.

At 19 weeks? I haven't been able to run in the morning either because I didn't sleep much the night before or Eloise has woken up early. Nap duration is iffy, but I won't complain because at least she is napping relatively consistently (where's that wood to knock on?). Still, with not knowing how long the nap will last (and having it punctuated by crying), I get little done. I've shifted a lot of my writing to the weekends, but that means I now dread the weekends.

The daylight hours have dwindled considerably. I've been running during what should be family dinner time, rushing home so we can attempt to get into an earlier bedtime routine, and our relaxing nights are mostly going up and down the stairs every hour to settle baby to sleep. Night sleep is disrupted every 2-3 hours for nursing (we've tried calming without it to no avail). And this has been going on for a month. It's the sleep regression, right?

Ada had a regression of sorts, but it ironed out pretty quickly. Poor Eloise seems to be having a rough go. And I finally figured out why I'm so much more tired than I was when Ada was a baby! I could sleep in late with her. And now I'm getting a kid off to school in the early AM versus sleeping. Sigh. I'm really not complaining. It's just how things have been lately.

Some highlights from month 4:

• Eloise weighs just shy of 12 pounds. She's tiny -- a full pound less than Ada at this age. She isn't really following her weight curve, so I'm concerned. The doctor thinks it has to do with her reflux, so we have increased her dose of Axid.
• I believe she's 24 inches long, so she's doing great in that department with growth. Her head is also unremarkable in size, which is a great comfort to me. At 4 months is when we very first noticed that Ada's head was growing off the charts.
• Eloise is babbling. It's adorable. She was very quiet and then one day just launched in with these coos. Her favorite time to chat is after breastfeeding.
• Speaking of nursing, we've hit the distracted period. It's extremely frustrating, but I know it's because Eloise is noticing so much more about the world. We feed usually every 3-3.5 hours during the day. I have been able to get her to take full feeds by rocking and gently placing my hand on her head to cradle it.
• Eloise's new favorite thing to do is grab her toes. She prefers her right side, but today I noticed she's doing the left as well. 
• She has also started occasionally rolling from her back to her front. Honestly, though, her reflux is so bad, I rarely have her down on the ground flat.
• I broke down and bought one of those Jumperoos. We had a doorway jumper with Ada. But in our new house, there isn't a doorway with molding on both sides, so we can't use it. Eloise is just starting to be big enough to use it. Exciting times!
• Oh, and you might have gathered that we often call her "Ella" -- why? Stephen started singing her a song one day to Rihanna's Umbrella. "And your name is Ella, Ella, Ella -- wheeze, wheeze, wheeze. And I think you kind of smella, smella, Ella-wheeze." How awful are we?!

Questions I have since I'm quite rusty on this infant stuff:


Did you do formal sleep training? We didn't with Ada. She didn't really need it. (Don't hate me.) Even while sleeping in our room, I'd wake her to do a dream-feed around 10:30-11 PM and then she'd wake between 4-5AM. That was it. Eloise WAKES between 9:30-10:30 every single night and needs to eat. Then like 12-1, 3, 5-6, etc.

If so, what did you follow? I keep reading about the No-Cry Sleep Solution. Is this book worth taking my limited time to read right now? Or did you have success with any of the firmer methods? I think people usually wait till after six months, right?

How and when did you transition to the crib? Our sleep arrangement is embarrassing. Eloise's reflux is much worse than Ada's, so she is still napping in her swing and sleeping in a Rock 'n Play. I'd like to start getting her to sleep in her own room, as I feel like being in our room might actually be contributing to the night wakeups (Ada often runs into our room after nightmares, etc. and wakes her up).

When did you stop swaddling? With Ada, we had stopped sometime in month 3, but then we started again during the sleep regression. It got her sleeping well again, but I cannot remember how or when we stopped. Eloise is still swaddled, but I bought a Merlin Magic Sleepsuit in hopes it might ease the transition. Maybe do the sleepsuit AND crib at the same time. Is that a recipe for disaster? Or should we just go cold turkey. Should we wait until she's sleeping longer at night? 

Will I ever sleep again? Just kidding! I know this phase is just a phase. That this season of life passes quickly. It's just to hard to remember all that when you're in the trenches. And with that . . . I hear a certain someone stirring. Time to get some of those precious baby snuggles.

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