17 Weeks: Baby #2

When we were pregnant with Lydia, we documented each week by taking a picture and writing a little letter to her. I love looking back and reading through those letters and remembering the feelings that we experienced. I also think that it helped me (personally) to bond with Lydia in a way that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. It's been fun to look back and compare the differences between pregnancy #1 and #2. I've wanted to do the same thing for this new baby, but I changed a few things that I wish I had included the first time around (like, the date at the top of the day that I turned "-- weeks" so that when looking back I have a good idea of what time of year it was). Saturday marked day one of week 17:

 

I didn't start documenting as early last time, but looking back... I think that I am showing pretty much on the same schedule as before. Week 16, 17, 18 was when my bump started to arrive. It's amazing to think that there is this little baby the size of a turnip growing inside that tummy of mine. I am excited, because I love seeing the results of this tiny baby growing.

Some other things from the last several weeks:
-I felt so much better than I did when I was pregnant with Lydia all through the first trimester. Every person that I met said that meant that I was having a boy, because girls make you much sicker. It might be a boy, but it's just so hard to really compare because my lifestyle is so different than what it was before. (Waking up early and being a high-energy teacher all day vs. Setting my own pace for the day and eating when I want.) For a long while, I was really sad for a while and kept trying to find reasons why it would be a girl - because I really want a little sister for Lydia. But I think I've gotten over that, and now I will be genuinely happy with a little boy or little girl. I've seen some really cute little brother/big sister combos lately - and I just think that whatever happens we will be the happiest little family. I've also started slipping and calling the baby a him occasionally, so I don't know if that means anything. (I do sometimes call the baby a her, as well - but before I never really said "him".)

-I say that I've been feeling really great in comparison to last time, but through the first trimester I still felt nauseous in the mornings and didn't have a ton of energy (especially at first). Last time I hit 14 weeks and almost overnight I felt awesome. I was sick, sick, sick, then one morning I woke up and felt a little better, then the next day I felt even better, and I never really got so sick again. I was really looking forward to that again this time - but if anything, I hit 15 weeks and I started feeling even more sick! Not necessarily in the mornings, I wasn't so queasy right when I woke up, but more of an all day yuckiness. I'm starting to feel a little bit better, but I'm a little grumpy that I let myself get so excited about "magically not being sick anymore" and then right when I was hoping for the magic cure was when I started to feel more sick. I hope that I do start feeling better though. I'll be in my second trimester for most of the summer - and I love that second trimester. I'm hoping that it will be really awesome.

-We scheduled our 20 week appointment/gender check! It's in just over three weeks and we are so excited!

-Lydia is so cute and when you ask her where the baby is she'll say a combination of the words "Doctor. Mommy. Baby. Tummy. Heartbeat." It's super sweet.

-I've been eating a ton of Spaghettios over the last month. However, last time I went to the store I bought the ones with added calcium because I figured if I was going to eat them I may as well make them as healthy as possible - but I had forgotten that the only reason I was eating them is because the way my pregnant body liked the way they taste! Apparently, the calcium changes the taste slightly and they aren't quite up to snuff. However, they still seem to settle my stomach - so we'll survive. I also crave cold pepperoni and was eating bags of the stuff until I realized that it probably fell into the same category as lunch meat (which I also crave). I read some stuff online saying that it isn't really a Listeria hazard because it's been salted and dried like salami (shelf-stable until opened). But better safe than sorry!

(Today is Easter, and we are planning to host my family for Easter Dinner tonight - but I wanted to get this post posted as close to 17 weeks as possible. I'll have another post about Easter tomorrow!)