Appointments Galore!

Natalie had hers last week, and this week was my turn. Had blood drawn (twice! Ugh) and got to SEE the baby (twice! Yay).

Went for my blood draw on Sat for what I thought would cover everything, but then found out there were two more tests directed by the 1st tri screening I did yesterday, so had to go back for more blood work. Annoying, but both times I had good luck, and they got it on the first try. The trick seems to be that I have to tell them I have small veins. Good to know!

Now the fun part! Yesterday we went for an early detection ultrasound. They check behind baby's neck for the amount of fluid and look for any abnormalities. The Dr didn't give us a whole lot of information but said the baby looks on track and things look normal. Very fun. We could see arms, legs, fingers and toes. Heartbeat was 168. Got some good pictures. I'll need to scan and upload.

Then today I had my regular Dr appt. Met with Helen. I really like her. She was very personable and remembered me from last time. (she's the one that discovered Natalie was breech). Went thru the usual questions and routine. She tried to hear the heartbeat, but couldn't get it. Said placenta is likely in the way and baby is still pretty small. I wasn't too worried since we just saw baby yesterday. She got out the u/s machine and checked the heartbeat. She didn't measure it, but baby was just hanging out. Everything looks good! Blood pressure was a little high (130/68), but I was feeling kind of funky today, so who knows.

Both times we saw baby, he/she was just hanging out. Not too interested in moving around. Neither u/s could tell if it is a girl or boy. But, we scheduled the big anatomy scan for March 9th!

I took the Intelligender Test last week, just for fun. It says:



So guess we have to wait another 6 weeks to see if it is right. I think it gets more false boy results, due to sone hormone issues, so who knows. If it had said Girl I'd have more confidence. Probably 50/50 shot!

14 weeks are almost done. Seems like it is going so fast this time around! I have been sick twice now, but that is still a HUGE improvement from last time. Hopefully that was the worst of it and I will start to get some energy back. I've mostly had "night sickness". Feel icky after work and just want to go to bed. Looking forward to putting that behind me. I keep thinking any day now...but then again it took me 26 wks to feel decent last time...let's hope that's not the case!

Going back to work Full Time next week. Gotta get some work done before baby gets here!

Next post needs to be a Natalie update. She is doing and saying so many fun things! Makes us laugh everyday!

Natalie's 15 mo appointment

David took Natalie to her 15mo appointment yesterday. She is growing and changing!

The Dr. said her sudden mouthful of teeth was pretty normal; sometimes kids get their teeth all at once. He said the molars tend to be more painful because they don't have a pointy section to help break through the gum. I think she must be getting another tooth this week because she had a rough night Thursday. Not looking forward to that next set of molars..hopefully they wait a bit!

He said that her vocabulary will probably take off soon. Kids normally have between 30 and 60 words by 18 months! That seems incredible to me since she is so limited right now. I'm looking forward to it though, because I think it's going to be so much fun when she interacts more and am looking forward to all of the fun things she will say.

The Dr. warned that Natalie will start mimicking. He said to watch what we say (I'm not too concerned..we keep things pretty clean, usually).

He also said to start showing her the potty, which we've already been doing. But, he did warn us that kids tend to put lots of things in the toilet to watch them flush..so keep an eye on our cell phones and such. Yikes!

I totally missed my opportunity with the potty last week. I had to wake Natalie up one morning and I went to change her and she was completely DRY. I should have taken her in and let her sit there. Didn't even cross my mind. But, we do seem to be having some luck. This morning I told her "let's go potty and then go take a nap". She went straight to the bathroom and sat on the potty(for about 2 whole seconds..it's a start at least!). The nap, however, was less successful.

Natalie is really tending to do one good nap a day now. Daycare still gets two; I still have no idea how Kristi gets her to nap! The past few weekends we've only gotten one good, solid 3 hour nap per day. Makes for a peaceful afternoon!

Anyway, Natalie had another vaccine yesterday, and I guess she didn't like it too much. But, the sugar free lollipop afterwards totally made up for it.

Official stats for the month:
Weight: 21 lb 3 oz (40% per Dr.)
Height: 31.25 in (45% per Dr.)

She goes back again in 3 months and then not until she is 2. Crazy how fast she is growing up!

Natalie is 15 months (a few days ago)

This weekend marked 15 months for Natalie!

Her little personality is really starting to shine through. She was so much fun this past weekend (well, except for the part when she refused to take a nap). She has been randomly giggling; it's just too cute.

Her language skills are starting to increase. Her vocabulary is mostly limited to Dog and Milk, but she also says "he" for Hi. I think I've heard "Gain" which means Again. And last night she said "Ba" when she heard the bath water running!

While she isn't verbalizing a whole lot, she is really learning her signing. She can sign: milk, eat, more, all done, hi, bye, yes, no, and likes to pretend she is talking on the phone (I don't think I talk on the phone much..especially when she is awake, but apparently she picks up on it). "More" is relatively new and pretty funny. If she wants something that we have, she'll sign More. Last night she was eating chicken and ate it all, and David was cutting up tomato for her (loves tomato), she finished the tomato so David gave her more chicken. She kept signing more because she wanted the tomato, not chicken. It's helpful to know she wants more, but not so good because we don't know more of WHAT!

We're working on her farm animals. She got a Little People Farm for Christmas. I started with the pig...she can find it when I ask her for it. She's still hit or miss with the sheep and cow.

Last night and tonight both I told her "lets go change your diaper" and she went to her room! If we say it is time to eat or time for a bath she also knows where to go. So amazing what she understands!

Natalie's walking continues to improve. For the most part, she is toddling around the house. When she gets tired, she starts falling more and more (she does this with the crawling too). She is getting faster and faster, and carries stuff around sometimes.

I know that 6 teeth came in this last month, and I have no idea how many more are in there! I know for sure another one on top left is poking through; based on her history I'd guess the matching top right one is in too, but she won't let me feel. I think once those are complete, her top jaw is full with the exception of the 2 yr molars. Her bottom ones aren't as close; still missing a few.

We got her a potty chair. I mostly just want her to get used to it and not be afraid of it. Of course I'd like her to use it, but since we aren't home with her all of the time, I don't want to rush her. This morning I was getting ready for work and when I went into the bathroom, she was sitting there (clothed) on her potty chair! Vast improvement over last week when she just wanted to climb on it and play with the pot. There is hope after all!

Weight: 21.5lbs (30%)
Height: 30.5 inches (50%)
Clothes: mostly 18 month tops and bottoms, some 12mo depending on brand
Diapers: still size 3, but will probably move to 4s soon

The details of our Surprise!

If you're confused about the title of this blog post, you probably didn't read my last one.

Much to our Surprise, this summer Natalie will become a BIG SISTER!


A surprise for a few reasons:

1. I thought I had some unresolved infertility issues and that the next go around would be much like the last. However, my health issue seems to have resolved itself and this pregnancy came about without any fertility meds, charting, planning, etc. Surprise.

2. We had planned on waiting until Natalie was:
Walking (that has since been checked off the list!)
Talking (vocabulary is still limited to "dog" and "milk")
Potty Trained (she did get a potty chair for Christmas, but we have yet to start that challenge)
Sleeping in a Big Girl Bed (haven't even dreamed of starting this one)
So, surprise, Natalie. Better get moving.

3. The 3rd reason is mostly just irony; I had JUST cleaned up my closet and packed up all of my maternity clothes. I gave some to Trisha to use, bagged up the rest. I had gone through my cabinets and packed away all of the baby bottles and pumping supplies. I've been rotating Natalie's clothes as she grows, but I had gone through her room and cleaned out all of the infant supplies. It was almost like some sort of reverse nesting. Put away all of the stuff that I wasn't going to need for a few years - even though I was already pregnant. Just didn't know it.

While our life will be different than the one we had pictured in our minds, we know that Natalie and her sibling will grow up close to one another, be able to share interests, be close in school (I think only one grade difference because of the new CA Kindergarten laws), and we will enjoy the kids just the same. At first we were kind of in shock, but as time goes on, we're excited and anxious for this next stage in our family. So glad we took our vacation before we learned of the news. I have a feeling that was the last for a while.

And, we know that Natalie will be a great big sister!


We had our first Dr. appointment on the 30th (just shy of 10 weeks). We met with the Dr. that did my c-section last time and were given our first ultra-sound. He gave a due date of August 2nd (while I think it's closer to July 30th). The exact date doesn't really matter, as a c-section will be scheduled for a week prior. I was on the fence as to whether I should try for a VBAC or just go with a C-section, but that wasn't really an option after talking with the Dr. His office policy is to automatically schedule a repeat c-section unless I had prior children naturally. So, c-section it is. (he did offer to give me a referral to another Dr. if I was set on trying for natural, but honestly, the c-section wasn't terrible and I know what to expect and when to expect it.)

The most amazing part of this process the second time around, is that I have had virtually NO morning sickness!! Hooray! I couldn't be more excited about that. I was feeling kind of "off" for a while (what lead me to take a test), but no major nausea or sickness. Books and online resources always say "no two pregnancies are alike", but I was always quite the skeptic. I mean, how can I go from virtually being sick for the first 26 weeks with Natalie to having almost NO sickness with the second? Maybe I already paid my dues. I keep preparing for it to hit, but it just hasn't. I've definitely had more exhaustion and starvation this time around. I feel a little funky some evenings, but that is cured by going to sleep.

So, my bets are on "boy" this time around. It's just too different.

I have the first trimester screening & blood work scheduled for the 26th and my next appointment with my Midwife on the 27th. (while the Dr. will be doing the delivery, I can continue to see the midwives at interim appointments. It makes scheduling much easier and more flexible).

Only 28 more weeks until we meet the little one. Crazy.

Our Holidays

Now that Christmas has been gone and done for 2 weeks, I suppose I should put up some pictures of our holidays. We didn't take a whole lot this time around. We did setup the video camera so we could capture it all on video, and I stole a few pictures from family members.


Natalie wasn't a super fast present opener, but she did manage to open a lot of them herself. She was very adamant about getting every shred of paper off of the packages.






Overall I think she was just a little overwhelmed by all of the chaos, and pretty excited to see all of her new toys.

She got a rocking chair from her Aunt Shannah & Uncle Kevin and she will climb up there and read her books. We've tried many times to get a picture, but she either moves onto something else quickly or lunges at the camera as soon as she sees it. We'll have to work on that one.


I love these pictures - really shows you the chaos of getting 3 kids to look and pay attention!


We got a group picture with my family, but we must have gotten distracted at David's and forgot to get the group shot. We need to get better about this!



Cousins! Liam was such a happy, smiley guy all day. He really liked trying to play with Natalie.




Natalie started walking on December 23rd! We had driven to Hanford to be there for Christmas Eve and she was taking a few steps here and there. Over the next two days she was getting braver and braver; her max was 10 ft or so. Ever since then she has been walking and walking more and more. I'd say she still crawls 15% of the time, and she is falling less and less. So exciting!

One of my favorite things about this holiday was getting to share our big news with family in person.


I promise not to leave you hanging for long...details to come soon!!