Adventures in Pregnancy

I'm now just about 21 weeks pregnant with baby Plantinga #2, and in contrast to my first pregnancy, for the most part this one seems to be flying by.  Now that the morning sickness and exhaustion have passed, sometimes I even forget that I'm pregnant!  That is, until I try to squeeze into a space I normally could and realize my expanding belly won't let me.  Eric and I decided to find out the gender of our second child because we're terrible at waiting, and because it seemed practical to know if we needed to stock up on blue the second time around.  Between 16 and 17 weeks, we had a nurse on Eric's floor who used to work as an ultrasound technician give me a quick exam.  This revealed that we were going to be the parents of a little baby boy!  We were excited to hear the news, and also to know that everything seemed to be developing normally.

Then, yesterday, I went to my official mid-pregnancy ultrasound at my doctor's office.  After carefully measuring the heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, arms, legs, and several other body parts, it was determined that our baby is healthy and all looks great!  But then, when she asked if we wanted to know the gender, a funny thing happened.  She happily declared that we were having a girl.  Um, what?!  I was having a boy.  Where did he go?  It seems that our first results weren't as accurate as we would have liked, but this second set of pictures, taken with better equipment and at a later stage in the pregnancy, should prove to be much more reliable.  So, now we're adjusting to having a second daughter join the family in a few months.  And, we're trying to teach Emily that it's no longer a baby brother in mommy's tummy.  So far, that hasn't been successful.  She's a little confused, and to be honest, so am I!  But we're happy, ecstatic even, that our baby girl is healthy and growing.   Here are a few pictures!

The Friday Five

I'm having trouble coming up with a topic for this week's blog post.  My head is a little bit all over the place, and I can't seem to categorize my thoughts enough to order them in any particular way.  One of the biggest things that keeps percolating is news that we've recently begun to share more widely; we're expecting a new addition to our family in November!  Emily is going to be a big sister, and though she really isn't too engaged with the idea yet, Eric and I are rather excited.  And, truth be told, also a little terrified of having two small children!  And so, this week I'll share five random thoughts about being pregnant the second time around:

1.  Why didn't anyone tell me that I would start to look pregnant the second the pregnancy test showed a positive result?  Seriously, I'm almost 12 weeks along, and already, my jeans are a little snug.  I don't really understand this, as I haven't actually gained any weight yet, but there it is.  I seem to recall making it at least another month the first time around before I even began to think about maternity clothes.

2.  I forgot how rude people can be when you're pregnant.  I had one person, who shall remain anonymous, make the following comment to me after I told this individual that I was expecting: "you know, I thought you were looking a little plump".  I mean, really, in what context is that an acceptable comment to make?!

3.  My unwanted pregnancy symptoms - tiredness and nauseousness - have been much worse this time around.  I've felt sick off and on all day long, suffered a rather violent stomach virus in the middle of it, and am only just starting to feel like my normal self.  I've also found myself falling asleep on the couch shortly after Emily is in bed for the night on several occasions, and once I laid down on the couch in the middle of the day, while Emily was playing, and was woken up by her several minutes later.  That was a little unnerving!

4.  I have been very disappointed that coffee has been completely unappealing to me.  For my birthday recently, I was given a Keurig single-cup brew coffee maker (thanks mom!).  I used it daily for about two weeks, and since then, haven't been able to stomach the thought (or the smell) of a cup of coffee.  I'm truly hoping that changes soon.

5.  I'm going to know this baby's birthday way before he or she is born.  I've chosen to schedule another c-section, a decision supported by my doctor 100%, and she informed me yesterday that she can schedule this anytime after 20 weeks.  She gave me a due date of November 24th, but said they like to do as few surgeries as possible in the days before Thanksgiving, so I will likely deliver on the 18th or 19th of November.  It will be a completely different feeling to know exactly how much time  is left with this pregnancy!  Of course, the little one could always come early and surprise us.  Early isn't bad.

In all seriousness though, despite the complaints, I know just how blessed we are to be pregnant and almost through the first trimester.  It's been a more turbulent ride this time around, fraught with more worries and panicky moments about what could still go wrong, but God is good all the time, and we're thrilled to start a new adventure together as a family.