This Pregnancy...

Hey y'all!

We had our ultrasound yesterday morning! The ultrasound tech asked us if we wanted to know the gender and we said yes. The screen flashed two little legs and the unmistakable image of the main male body part. I knew before the tech said anything.

We are having another boy!

I am in shock because I was so certain this was a girl. This pregnancy has been so different. I also heard somewhere that if you are under a lot of stress when you conceive it will more than likely be a girl. I was under so much stress that I thought I might have triplet girls. A friend of mine also told me she heard the old wives tale that if your toddler son acts up when you first become pregnant that it must be because you are carrying a girl. :-)

The baby looks healthy and is growing just fine! It's nice to hear the ultrasound tech say, "Beautiful, just beautiful" over and over.

I haven't really blogged much about this pregnancy besides the hardships with figuring out my doctor and insurance. I'll be 23 weeks this Friday. By the time I was 23 weeks pregnant with Joe I had oodles of blog posts written. I've been so busy with taking care of a crazy on-the-go toddler and figuring out our moving situation. I've barely had time to put together any coherent thoughts on my blog let alone write about this pregnancy.

A lot of people have been asking how I am feeling. The main complaint? Freakin' frakkin' tired. However, I am not sure how much that is the little person growing inside me or the little person I have to constantly chase down and prevent from jumping from perilous heights and breaking his neck.

I didn't have a lot of morning sickness. With Joe I prayed to the porcelain god a few times, but none at all with this pregnancy. Just an overall blah feeling the first 10 weeks.

My hormones have been waaaaaaaaaaaaay out of whack. I have been so emotional. I cry at the silliest things. I've cried at the movie Cars. (Mater: "I knew it! I knowed I made a good choice!" Lightning McQueen: "In what?" Mater: "My bes' friend." Tear City.) I've cried at Irish step dancing. There was also a time I cried at a Children's Tylenol commercial. Then I started crying when I was describing the commercial to my mom. Thankfully with most of this I start laughing as well because I know how silly I am being. My anxiety is through the roof, which is my biggest challenge. I can't remember how far along I was with Joe before I started taking a low dose of anti-depressant, but I think it's about time to talk to my doctor.

It has taken me awhile to feel this little baby boy kick. I really felt Joe moving around 20 weeks but just now at nearly 23 weeks is when I'm feeling this baby kick. I always hear that a woman feels the baby kicking earlier with subsequent pregnancies. That was another big difference with this pregnancy. But now that I'm starting to feel him squirm around in there it feels a little more "real."

So far no swelling. I didn't really start swelling until 30 weeks. I am still paranoid about pre-eclampsia, but my doctor assured me that it was nothing I did in my last pregnancy that caused it. I do not want to go through that again. It was scary and stressful. I don't know what I would do if I got it again and had to be put on bed rest with a very active and demanding toddler. I've been praying a lot to St. Gerard Majella!

I'm still hoping for a VBAC. I'll probably post more about that in the future. My doctor and I are pursing a wait-and-see approach. He has assured me that if I do have a c-section I won't be destined for just 2 or 3 kids. He delivered a woman's 8th child- all were c-sections. We definitely do not feel called to have 8 children, but it's nice to know that c-sections aren't a huge determining factor in family size.

My doctor has been amazing. He has gone above and beyond his duties to help us with our insurance concerns. He is also an amazing Catholic man and a great doctor. He has put my pre-e fears and VBAC worries to rest for the most part. It's kind of nice to hear a doctor say that he's not into modern day society's idea of 2.2 kids per family. It's also very nice hear him mention the name of God. Ryan and I talked with the business office manager about some insurance issues and she raved about how awesome Dr. S is. She said she has been working with him for years and if there was one doctor she would have by her side if she were ever in the hospital it would be him. I'm very glad I found him and hope our patient/doctor relationship continues to grow.

This pregnancy has flown by and has seemed, oh, what's the word- quiet. I don't know if it's because Joe takes up a lot of my time, but I just haven't really "felt" pregnant. But in some ways I think that is a good thing. So far no aches or pains. No pregnancy carpal-tunnel syndrome which I had in my last pregnancy and it was HORRRRRRRRRRIBLE! Not even very many stretch marks- yet! I know little Garfunkel is growing healthy and happy and that is all that matters right now. Seeing him kick and squirm and that glorious heartbeat beating along on the ultrasound machine made everything right in the world.

Hopefully I will post more about this pregnancy. I am having a very hard time adjusting to this move, as is Joe. We're having a rough time in these here parts, but I hope to get some more writing in soon!