The Third Prayer

Weight: 136

Signs of pregnancy: Not too much to report in this area.  I’m really looking forward to my doctor’s appointment on Thursday so I can hear the heartbeat again for reassurance.  Until this baby starts making more defining movements, I’m on pins and needles with no real symptoms.  I guess the only real symptom I have is my lack of milk.  I can’t even tell if I have any at all.  But Mary Rene is still nursing away.

Baby Development:  Sweet Pea is approximately 4 inches long and weights about 2.5 ounces (the size of an apple.)  The eyelids are still fused shut but she/he can sense light.  They say that if you shine a flashlight near your belly that the baby will move away.  We did that with Mary Rene and I never “felt” her move away from the light.

Concerns/Thoughts:Interesting how I followed every single pregnancy rule with Mary Rene and this time…well, I’m breaking a lot.  Eating lunch meat, ate tuna fish on Friday, had a few sips of wine the other night, caffeine here and there, sleeping on my back still (although I am trying to stop doing that.)

When I was halfway through my pregnancy with Mary Rene, Frank knew we were having a girl.  He just had a feeling and stuck with it.  Even when everyone swore I was having a boy, he knew she was a girl.  And she was.  It turned out that at several different doctor’s appointments, Dr. Gosser referenced to Baby P as “she” and even when I was in labor the nurses kept saying “she.”  So it seemed like some people knew all along.

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I thought we were having a girl.  Mostly because we had a girl name selected and not a boy’s name.  And for some reason, I just had this feeling.  But it wasn’t a strong feeling at all.

Then, out of nowhere, I started doing research on circumcision.  With Mary Rene, I didn’t bat my eye once when it came to that topic.  (But then again, I didn’t think twice about vaccinations.)  It was a no brainer-do it.  But this time, I have done a lot of research and realize that I don’t want the unnecessary procedure done for Sweet Pea.  That is, if Sweet Pea is a boy.  (Although Frank still needs to weigh in on this topic and he is supposed to be doing his research.  Have you started?)  So why all the sudden research on circumcision? 

At 12 weeks, Frank started having the feeling we were having a boy.  I asked if it had to do with my circumcision research and he wasn’t really sure.  But Frank is starting to get that feeling already.  Sooner then he got with Mary Rene.

Of course, we won’t find out until Sweet Pea is born and held up into the air.  When those legs are finally spread apart, then we will know.  For now, we are letting God have His little secret.

Either way, we would be happy.  A girl would be a blessing.  A boy would be a blessing. 

A second girl

• Mary Rene would have a sister! 

Being a sister is awesome!  You have someone to talk to all the time about boys and all your issues.  You have a best friend who lives in the same house.  Someone you can call at the last minute for no reason at all and get them to drop everything to hang out.  You can share clothes, toys, friends.  You have someone who really gets you, no matter how crazy you may be.

On the same token, having a sister can be rough.  They can be your best friend and your worse enemy.  They know how to push your buttons more than anyone else.

• We have all the clothes since Sweet Pea and Mary Rene will be born during the same season
• The girls can share a room forever and we don’t have to worry about a bigger house or remodeling the basement
• We would easily out number daddy!  It is already three to one, including Sophie B

The first boy

• Mary Rene would have a brother!

Which I must say, my brother and I have never fought.  But then again, we aren’t as close as my sister and I are or ever have been.

• Frank would have the boy he dreamed about playing ball with all these years
• I would understand why I am doing all this research on circumcision

So there you have it.  Boy or girl, either way we are blessed.

Weight: 136

Signs of Pregnancy:  I’ve had a pain in my butt, or maybe I’m just a pain in the butt.  I know a lot of pregnant women have issues with their sciatic nerve which is located in the lower back.  But this pain is in my butt cheek.  In addition, Frank says I have been really mean.  And yeah, maybe I have been.  But on the good side, I can wear my contacts again! 

Baby Development:  Sweet Pea is approximately 3.6 inches, the size of a lemon, and weights approximately 1.6 ounces.  Our little sweet pea is full of expressions and can squint, frown, grimace and possibly suck his/her thumb!  WOW!  That’s a lot for such a small little baby.  The kidneys are producing urine which is being released into the amniotic fluid.

Concerns/Thoughts:  That I’ll continue to be mean the rest of this pregnancy.

As the old saying goes, you get wiser with age.  And well, you get wiser with the second kid.  I’ve learned a lot since Mary Rene’s pregnancy by watching my friends raise their babies and well, by watching myself stumble and fall here and there.  I think Frank and I have done a fantastic job of raising Mary Rene and I wouldn’t take anything back.  She is who she is because of how we raised her and I love every little ounce of her.  But with Sweet Pea, there are some things I want to do differently and below is a list I have started compiling.  I’m sure once I publish this I will think of more, but I have been working on this post for a few weeks now and want it out of my “draft” folder!  So if I think of more, I’ll just write another post.  On the same token, there are a lot of things I will do the same. 

Feel free to add your thoughts and what you would do different the next time around.  I would love to see what everyone else has to say! 

Labor

• Wait to go to the hospital until I am in more pain or until the contractions are five minutes apart

I think I jumped the gun on this on.  We were excited, nervous, not really knowing what to expect.  Honestly, I felt pretty good and wanted to stay home longer.  But Frank and his mom both thought we should go to the hospital, so we did.  We got there at 7 p.m. and waited, and waited, and waited.  It wasn’t until early the next morning that I had the opportunity to push.  I think I could have easily stayed at home for another few hours.  That would have given Frank and myself some alone time, to work through the contractions together and really experience the birthing process.  The hospital setting just got in the way.

• Don’t get an IV

Or at least try not to get it right away.  I didn’t know that you had the option not to get it.  An IV makes you retain water which isn’t really a good thing.  Drinking water is much easier and then you can still move around freely.  Plus it took them four attempts to get the IV inserted and that was just painful.

• Walk the hospital and don’t get strapped to the bed

This goes along with waiting to go to the hospital.  We got there at 7 p.m. and by 7:35-7:45 p.m. I was laying in the bed with an IV and the baby monitor strapped to my belly.  Laying down is not cool and makes your contractions worse.  I took the child birth classes for a reason!

• Don’t let them break my water to speed up labor

That was just plain ridiculous.  If I can hold off and wait to go to the hospital, and hold off on the IV, and hold off getting strapped to the bed, then maybe I can hold off here too.  Getting my water broken made my contractions 10 times worse and well…the nurses gave me the nickname “Puddles.”

• Try for drug free

If I wait to go to the hospital, don’t get the IV right away, don’t get strapped to the bed right away, don’t get my water broken, then I can work through more contractions which would make it slightly easier to have a drug free delivery.  I was doing fine without the epidural until they broke my water.  That was just some quick, no nonsense pain that I didn’t think I could handle.  And the anesthesiologist was just waiting outside the room with his needle.  Plus, Mary Rene was so sleepy from the epidural that nursing in the beginning was tough.  On top of that, we had to pay the anesthesiologist for his services and for the drug.  I think that ended up costing us $400-500 towards our deductible.

• Have Frank take pictures from the side where you can see Sweet Pea’s face!

I am very happy that Frank got some pictures at all but all of the “first” pictures don’t show Mary Rene’s face.  You can only see the back of her head, my face and the nurse. 

• Have Frank get a picture of Sweet Pea’s first meal!

I didn’t get a picture of Mary Rene nursing until she was about six months old!  And honestly, that is the only picture I still have to this day.  Nursing has been such a huge part of our lives together and I want to remember these precious moments.  Including that first meal.  Some of my friends got pictures of that first meal and they are so precious.  I don’t think there is anything more amazing then a newborn baby, just minutes old, suckling on his/her momma’s breast.  That is why God gave women breast in the first place.

The Hospital Stay

• Hold my baby more

I feel like the only time I held Mary Rene was when I nursed her.  There was either someone visiting or we had her in the bassinet.  I want to cuddle more while I can because when I get home, I’ll have two kids to take care of and I know my cuddle time will be limited.

• Get out of bed more

I only got out of bed to go to the bathroom and change clothes.  I was in the mindset that I was on a mini-vacation.  Basically I paid the price when I got home because recovery was rough.  (Recovery was actually worse then labor and delivery.)  When I finished running a marathon, I never sat down at the finish line.  I would walk around, stretch out a bit and make sure to walk a lot the next day.  Same should go for labor and delivery.

• Walk down to the nursery

Heck I didn’t even leave my room with Mary Rene.  When we went to sleep at night we would send Mary Rene to the nursery so we could get some rest.  Frank walked down there every night to check on her and he would come back and talk about her in the swing and he wanted me to come see.  I was being lazy. 

• Sleep more

Well this is obvious.  When I get home I won’t be able to send Sweet Pea to the nursery for the night.  Plus I’ll have two kids to take care of so I need to sleep while in the hospital.

• Limit visitors

I’m going to sound like a complete scrooge here but I really need to be firm on this.  I was so happy to share Mary Rene with the world that both of our entire families and all of our friends came to visit at the hospital.  It was an exciting time and we loved the company.  But I didn’t realize how exhausting that would be.  Throughout the day, there are different hospital staff members (your doctor, your nurse, baby’s nurse, baby’s doctor, dietitian, lactation consultant, house keeping, insurance person, lunch lady, Eucharist Minister, baby photographer, etc.) in your room nearly every hour between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.  I seriously am not kidding here.  There is little alone time or rest time with all the medical stuff you need to do.  Add that on top of a constant stream of visitors and you are overwhelmed.  Plus as a new mother I was afraid to nurse in front of anyone so every time we had a visitor I wouldn’t try.  Which meant I had to learn to nurse when I was at home, alone, and that was so stressful.  Sure this time I am more confident and really don’t care if I nurse in front of my family and friends.  But the extra rest and alone time would be nice.  Plus once you get home, you really need the help.  So a visit from a family member or friend means so much more when you are in the comfort of your own home.  And not wearing a hospital gown! 

• Understand all the paperwork I am signing

Point blank.  I don’t even know what I signed most of the time but I just signed it to get it over with because I wanted to keep the line of people moving that were in my room (see above comment.)  But this time I am going to be more cautious about what I sign and be 100% confident in my signature and approval.

• Try to get an earlier release

Is it really necessary to stay two nights?  I don’t think it is if you and the baby are doing really good.  I had some blood clot issues the first day with Mary Rene but they were gone by the second day.  If I would have asked, maybe we could have been released and I could have spent the second night in my own bed.  Plus, I can’t bear to think of being away from Mary Rene that many nights in a row.

• Since I am paying for it, take two of the booger snot sucker outer things

You can’t buy one that even comes close to pulling out snot like the hospital brand!  No joke!

Nursing

• Be comfortable nursing in public, anywhere and everywhere

There were so many times that I would hide in a bathroom, a dressing room or even go in a separate room when at family functions.  I need to represent nursing mothers and not be ashamed.  The only way to properly educate others on the importance of breastfeeding is to do it. 

• Don’t use a nursing cover

It draws way too much attention.  You pretty much have a huge billboard over you that says: NURSING BABY HERE!!!!!  I found that just wrapping a blanket around Mary Rene worked much better than the cover.  But honestly, I think I learned to be more discreet nursing in public when I just did it without any type of cover.  There were many times that I would be nursing Mary Rene and my brother would come in the room and start talking to me.  If he knew what I was doing he wouldn’t have been in the room with me.  I was so discreet about it that he thought she was sleeping. 

• Learn to nurse laying down sooner

I think Mary Rene was about six weeks old before I even attempted to try this.  That meant the first six weeks I would sit all the way up in bed, every two hours to nurse for 20-30 minutes to nurse.  Basically, I was wide awake and had a hard time getting back to bed.

• Don’t watch the clock so much in the beginning

Just nurse until Sweet Pea is done.  No need to switch every 15 minutes like they tell you to do in the hospital.  When I stopped watching the clock with Mary Rene, she started getting the hind milk which is the best part.  Baby girl put on some weight quick!

• Master nursing on one side and holding an empty bottle on the other side to catch let down

I’m a leaker, a serious leaker and I don’t think that will change with the second baby.  Double letdown baby.  I had to wear nursing pads until Mary Rene was 11 months!  No kidding.  Instead of pumping milk to get ready for my return to work I want to try and catch the milk from the other breast into a bottle.  I had a couple friends that were able to do this and it cut down on their pump time.  In addition, there is no good reason to have a wet, soaky pad of milk when it is good milk that can be used at a later date.

• Avoid red sauce!

I heard all the warnings about green vegetables and spicy food before pregnancy and stayed away from those foods.  But nobody warned me about red sauce and that was a huge, huge disturbance to Mary Rene’s belly.  We were so lucky to receive so many cooked meals from friends the first two or three weeks.  The only problem was that most of them contained red sauce and Mary Rene was crabby and didn’t sleep much those first few weeks.  Now I realize it was the red sauce.  I will definitely limit my red sauce intake until Sweet Pea is a few months older so I can keep that belly comfortable.  And well, that way momma can sleep more.

Baby Wearing

• Do it more

I wore my Moby Wrap a lot but not as much as I could have worn it.  I am currently sewing a ring sling so I will have two different slings to wear.  I think if I keep Sweet Pea in the sling for a good portion of the day, nursing and napping, then I’ll have more time to be hands on with Mary Rene. 

• Learn to nurse in my sling

I can already picture myself sitting on the couch for 30 minutes, every two to three hours, while Mary Rene roams around the house.  It would be nice to be able to go in the backyard and walk around while Sweet Pea nursed.  Or go grocery shopping and let Sweet Pea nurse while I do some shopping.  Time saver and oh so convenient.

Sleeping

• Always, always, put Sweet Pea back in the co-sleeper when I am done nursing

Always, always do this.  It was a bad habit I started with Mary Rene.  Main reason she is still in our bed.  I love co-sleeping but wish I would have kept her in the co-sleeper which would have defined her special place to sleep.

• At three or four months, start sleep training

Put the baby to bed when he/she is awake.  We didn’t do this with Mary Rene and well, we didn’t get to this point until she was 15 months.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the way we have raised Mary Rene, but the many, many nights of rocking a 23 pound baby were exhausting.  Plus, it is hard for other people to get her to sleep.  We need more options with Sweet Pea.  I hate the thought of sleep training but I know I need to work on it sooner with Sweet Pea.  Mary Rene was only able to fall asleep being nursed or rocked for the first 15 months.  Convincing her to sleep on her own was hard, not only for her but for us.  It would be nice to have Sweet Pea learn how to go to sleep on his/her own at an earlier age.

• Try to get Sweet Pea to nap on his/her own when he/she is three to five months old.

I still have to nurse Mary Rene to nap everyday.  It addition, Mary Rene doesn’t nap for Frank or my parents.  Frank’s mom has to rock her to nap still.  It would be nice for Sweet Pea to nap for everyone, regardless of the situation and where he/she is at that given time.

• All naps in crib

I got in the bad habit of letting Mary Rene nap on the couch.  Now, she naps in our bed.  Which actually is great because she takes longer naps in our bed because she is so comfortable there (pillow top mattress!)  But I want to make sure Sweet Pea naps in his/her crib so when he/she is placed in the crib so a connection is made that it is nap time.

• Around three to four months, take turns with Frank on who helps put Sweet Pea to sleep

For the first year, it was primarily my job to put Mary Rene to bed because she would only nurse to sleep.  When she wouldn’t fall asleep nursing then I would rock.  If I got tired and tried handing her off to Frank she would scream bloody murder.  Which just made it easier for me to do the job.  Sweet Pea needs to learn to fall asleep for anyone, not just mommy that way I can catch a break.

• Have a place for Sweet Pea to nap at my parent’s house

Mary Rene really didn’t have a place to nap and to this day, I still can’t get her to nap there.  If Sweet Pea has a place to sleep from the beginning then it will be easier to start the napping process.

 Vaccinations

• Don’t get Sweet Pea the Hepatitis B shot at birth

Which goes back to “Understand all the paperwork I am signing.”  I see no reason at all for my child to get a vaccine the day he/she is born.  Especially since I don’t have Hepatitis B.

• Be firm in my decision and don’t let anyone talk me out of the choices I am making for my child

Be firm, really firm.  I’ve spent way too much time researching vaccines to let someone push me around.  There are reasons that I am going to do what I want to do and I need to stay firm with whomever stands against me.

• Delay vaccinations

I wish I would have done this with Mary Rene but I didn’t know what I know now.  I just can’t understand why all those vaccines are needed in such a short amount of time.  I believe vaccines are important but they need to be spaced out.  Plus, Sweet Pea will not, under any circumstance, be getting any vaccine with tissues from an aborted baby.

Leaving the House

• Get outside more in the beginning

Even if it is just in the backyard or a walk around the block.  Fresh air is good for Mary Rene, Sweet Pea and me.  All parties win.  That is why I have a sling.

• Go to my parent’s house more often 

I didn’t do this in the beginning with Mary Rene and she had extreme separation anxiety.  For the longest time, she didn’t want to be alone over there.  It was hard for me to watch and hard for my parents to deal with too.

• Let my parents watch Sweet Pea more than I let them watch Mary Rene

Again, she had separation anxiety with them and I felt horrible for her and my parents when they were alone together.  I want Sweet Pea to feel more comfortable around my parents so they can be alone with him/her more often.

What I want to do the same

No pacifiers

Waiting to start solids until at least seven months

Breastfeed

Cloth diapers

Co-Sleep

Wow.  That was a mouth full.  Did you fall along?  Now tell me what you would do different the second, or third or fourth, time around.

Thursday, December 17th:

I had been extremely tired all week and really wanted to go home and take a nap.  My co-worker, Laurie, asked if I wanted to go on a walk and I quickly said yes because I was close to crashing at my desk.  We were only walking for about two minutes when I blurted out, “I think I’m pregnant.”  She got very excited and hugged me.  I told her how I had been out of the ordinary tired all week and I remember feeling like this the week I found out I was pregnant with Mary Rene.  I went on to explain that I should be starting my period that weekend but I really didn’t know if that was an accurate guess since this would be my first normal cycle since getting it back.  Yes, I said it.  It was my first real menstrual cycle since….2005.  I just couldn’t believe that I got pregnant my first try with Mary Rene and here I was again, my first real, true cycle since then and I’m pregnant again.  Am I that lucky?

At that time I hadn’t even mentioned to Frank that I might be pregnant because I didn’t want to freak him out.  We weren’t necessarily planning on trying but really, when you do it, you do it and you know there is a chance.  But honestly we didn’t really put it into consideration since I hadn’t had a regular cycle since 2005.  So the conversation never came up.  In addition to freaking him out, I was afraid to admit it out loud that I might be pregnant, and then find out I wasn’t.  I would have been devastated because honestly, I had already started to fall in love with the thought of being pregnant again.

So I asked her not to say anything until I took the pregnancy test that weekend.

Friday, December 18th:

I was emailing back and forth with my friend Katie and told her that I might be pregnant.  She convinced me to go buy a pregnancy test that day at the Dollar Store.  But they didn’t have any.  And neither did Dollar General.  So I took it as a sign that I should wait one more day.

Saturday, December 19th:

I still had no signs of starting my period and at that point, I knew I was pregnant.  I could just feel it.  But I wanted to take a test to make sure.  I still haven’t told Frank and I decided I would take the test and then tell him.  The only problem was that he was going to a concert that night and would be out with his friends.  I didn’t want to take the test before the concert and not be able to celebrate with him.  And I didn’t want him to worry about it the whole night because I knew he was looking forward to going to the concert.  So that afternoon while Frank stayed home with Mary Rene, I ran to the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends, including a pregnancy test.  Later that night when he left, I ran to the bathroom and took the test.

And there it was, clear as day, a positive pregnancy test.  I really wanted to share the news with Frank but knew it wasn’t the right time.  So instead I told Mary Rene that she was going to be a big sister and she swore to keep the secret.  We immediately left the house and ran to Babies R Us to buy a “Big Sister” shirt.  They didn’t have any.  So once she went to bed, I started to sew my own.  Well, I didn’t like it so instead I took a silver marker and wrote “Big Sister” on one of her pink shirts.   

Sunday, December 20th:

I woke up before Frank and went to the Christmas tree to pull off a link from our Advent prayer chain.  I pulled off “pregnant women” which meant we were to spend the day praying for pregnant women.  My heart just stopped and knew that it was God’s will.  Interesting enough, I blogged about pulling this particular link off the chain.  Frank was still in bed when I went to Mass and Mary Rene and I continued to keep our secret.

By the time we came home from Mass, Frank was up and getting ready to walk out the door for church.  Directly after Mass he was going to his hockey game.  So again, I kept the secret.

Finally, finally, hours later when he returned and it was just the three of us, finally, I was able to tell him the news.  He talked about his game, blah, blah, blah and when he was done…

I handed him the link from the tree.

My hand was shaking when I said, “Today we are praying for pregnant women.”

He just stares back and me and doesn’t know where I am going with this.

“We have a very special pregnant woman to pray for today.”

I started to cry.

And he knew.

And he was happy, so extremely happy.  He began to cry and we hugged.  And all my concerns were washed away.

Well, it looks like we are back at the name game.  Selecting Baby P’s names were easy and we knew right away what we wanted for a girl and knew pretty early on what we wanted for a boy.  Since Baby P became Mary Rene then our girl’s name has been taken.  We have decided already on a girl’s name and it actually was the second name choice for Baby P.  If Sweet Pea is a girl then we will be naming her, Gianna Rose.  Gianna after the beautiful patron saint, St. Gianna Beretta Molla.  If you have never heard of her, you must take a gander at the website referenced above.  She is a great example of how a woman should love Christ, her spouse, and her children.  Rose comes from my Confirmation name, Rose Philippine Duchesne.  We decided we would probably call her Gia Gia for short.  Or maybe just Rose.

Baby P’s boy name was Luke Francis.  My cousin just had a baby boy a few weeks ago and they named him Luke.  I really don’t want to “steal” their name but then again, we only see this particular cousin two or three times a year at family events, if they even show up, so it really wouldn’t matter.  So Luke Francis might still be in the running.  Although I’m not as in love with the name as I was before.

As for other boy names…

Andrew Francis

Tobias Francis

Isaac Francis

Isaiah Francis

I really like Tobias because we read from the Book of Tobias at our wedding and it is such a strong Catholic name.  But Frank doesn’t seem to like it anymore since one of his family members didn’t like it.  He likes Andrew Francis a lot but I don’t want my son to be called Andy instead of Andrew (no offense Jamie!)  Only because I dated this little weasel named Andy in high school and he was just a little rat and the name Andy makes me think of him.  Luckily we have six months before we need to figure out a name!

So, are we having a boy or a girl?  I’ll save this for another post.

Weight: 135 (surprising I didn’t gain any weight!  Which is crazy because I ate like a king this week.)

Baby Development:  Sweet Pea is almost three inches long, size of a shrimp, and weights nearly an ounce.  Sweet Pea has her/his own unique fingerprints! 

Concerns/Thoughts:  Here comes the second trimester!  It got here quick, don’t you think?  Sweet Pea kept me exhausted this week and I was in bed early nearly every night.  I looked back and I was really tired during my second trimester with Mary Rene.

We had an awesome coupon at Baby Depot and went ahead and bought Sweet Pea’s car seat.  We got an awesome Graco car seat, with base for $75.  And with the other coupon, I bought a pair of maternity jeans.  So now I can put away all my pre-pregnancy pants and start wearing maternity pants.

 (Mary Rene is trying to play with my belly button)

Weight: 135 (holy smokes! I gained four pounds in one week!)

Signs of pregnancy: The greatest sign was hearing Sweet Pea’s heartbeat on Tuesday.  Music to my ears.  I’ve also been having problems with my contacts and have basically been wearing my glasses all the times.  I remember having a little problem with my eyes when I was pregnant with Mary Rene but this time it is worse.  I’ll need to make an appointment for the eye doctor soon.  And the initial latch-on is starting to become noticeable again on the left side. 

Baby Development:Sweet Pea is approximately 2 inches long and weights half an ouce.  Sweet Pea is developing his/her reflexes and soon will be able to open and close his/her hands, curl the toes, and clinch his/her eyes. 

Concerns/Thoughts: That the latch-on pain will continue and only get worse.

Yesterday I had my appointment with Dr. Gosser and…

I heard Sweet Pea’s heartbeat!  Oh that was such a relief.  With such an easy pregnancy I haven’t been feeling confident that I was still pregnant.  But there it was, loud and clear, Sweet Pea’s heart a beating.  Music to my ears.  If you have never had the honor of hearing your child’s heartbeat, I must say, it is the most awesome sound.  First you hear your slow heart rate and the doctor will move the little wand around your belly as he tries to find your baby.  And then, all of a sudden, the most perfect sound of a fast, fast heart rate.  Dr. Gosser always smiles when he hears the beat and leaves the wand over it for awhile so you can continue hearing it.  I meant to take a video with my camera so I could play the sound for Frank, and maybe upload on here, but I completely forgot.  Oh, but it was fantastic to hear that sweet precious sound.

I was obviously nervous and expressed my concerns to Dr. Gosser and a miscarriage didn’t seem to cross his mind at all.  He smiled and said, “well maybe that is because you are having a boy this time.”  And then he went on and on about, “he is being good inside but will cause you grief when he is born,” and “he is letting you have an easy pregnancy now but he will stir up things later.”  He, he, he.  I wanted to say, “or maybe she.”  But it was so cute to see him talking about Sweet Pea as a little boy and not once, worried about a miscarriage.

After I left my appointment I remembered that on several occasions Dr. Gosser referred to Baby P as a she and Baby P ended up being…Mary Rene.  Hmmm.  Which makes me wonder?

But overall, a great appointment and a healthy pregnancy.  Praise the Lord.

Weight: 131 (BUMP)

Signs of Pregnancy:Well, my growing belly has forced me to unseal the maternity clothes that were packed away so I could pull out my bella bands.  I found myself at work twice this week with my pants, not only unbuttoned but also unzipped all the way down.  Yeah, a good sign that it is time to stop wearing them.  Unfortunately, all my maternity pants are capri since the weather was much warmer when I needed them with Mary Rene.  So I’ll need to make due with my bella bands and ugly pants.  Oh, and I’m starting to become an outie again!

Baby Development:  Sweet Pea is now the size of a fig and approximately 1 1/2 inches long.  Tiny tooth buds are starting to appear under her/his gums (oh the start of teething!) and some of his/her bones are starting to harden.  Sweet Pea is already busy kicking and stretching and making him/herself at home!

Concerns/Thoughts: Tuesday I have my second appointment with Dr. Gosser.  I am praying to hear or see a heartbeat.  Please keep Sweet Pea and myself in your prayers!