What?! Second Trimester Is Almost Over?

My doctor sends out weekly pregnancy emails and the other day I found myself starring at the Week 24 letter that had popped up in my inbox. I gaped at the screen, seriously wondering how it is that I am already in the 24th week of this baby's gestation.  I swear I was just sitting here, in this exact chair, slightly pissed off that everyone and their grandmother was popping up pregnant and really starting to worry that, for the first time, we didn't get pregnant on the first try. Or the second. This kid took three months - unheard of for us and fully confirming the instinct I had in my 20's not to wait until our 30's to try to get pregnant.

This would happen. I actually want this pregnancy to crawl along at an achingly slow pace so I can enjoy the last hurrah, but no, this one is just zipping by like it's no big deal. This better mean that the baby weight is going to fall off like it's no big deal too.

 

Since the second trimester is quickly drawing to a close - and since I had a bunch of appointments this week - now seems like as good a time as ever to catch you up on the latest details regarding the gestation of Baby #4.

 

• I have officially reached the point where I feel disgusting. You know what I mean. The day you no longer feel "cute" pregnant, just fat and swollen and generally "gross" pregnant. Unfortunately, this day never comes the day before the baby is born, so you're left with the thought of how much grosser you are going to feel 15 weeks from now. This is the feeling I will try to remember in 4 years when I have a twinge of baby fever and know that I don't really want to be pregnant ever again.
• I may feel gross, but I've actually only gained 5 pounds in 24 weeks. Not gonna hide it - I'm pretty happy about that. My goal is to keep it around 15 pounds for the whole pregnancy. No, I'm not joking. For my height, I was already over weight, no small thanks to Georgia.
• I'm pretty sure that 4.5 pounds of that weight is in my boobs. I wish I was joking about that.
• This next statement might not mean anything to you unless you are family - I am still wearing my medium white v-neck tshirts! That's my normal non-pregnant size. It won't last much longer and I already bought some larges, but still, this is making me happy.
• My blood pressure has been good so far. It's still at the higher end of normal, but well, that is normal for me.
• My pregnancy superpower: growing fingernails. 



I cut them off four weeks ago and they are already back. I plan on cutting them off again today. My daughters, cause they're girly like this, think my fingernails are awesome. The boys are complaining that I keep stabbing them. But it's the fact that it's starting to get hard to take my contacts in and out that is the deciding factor of when they get axed.

• I had heartburn during the first trimester. It's been blessedly gone for a while, but this week it has come roaring back. It basically makes me want to just never eat.
• This past Wednesday I had an ultrasound to check on the placenta previa. The good news is that the placenta HAS moved away from the cervix. The bad news is that it has not moved far enough away that I can dispose of the previa label. It has to be at least 2cm from the edge of the cervix and no matter which angle she measured from...it's not quite there. I was apparently having a pretty stellar Braxton-Hicks contraction the whole time and the placenta was obviously all balled up in the pictures so it was hard to get a good idea of the placenta's exact relaxed location. There is no reason to think that this won't be resolved by the time I deliver.
• In the mean time...I have to go back for another ultrasound in three weeks to check on the placenta again (see, this is what happens when you publicly state that the Army doesn't do very many ultrasounds...you develop a complication that lands your butt in that tech's room every month). Oh, and I still have to be on pelvic rest. But let's just call it like it is...Bryan still has to be on pelvic rest. 
• I made Bryan take Week 24 pictures.

 

You know how sometimes you wear an outfit that you think looks cute, but then you see pictures and you're all, "wow, something is not working here." Um, yeah, that was me with these pictures.

And we'll discuss my errant hair color another day.

• This kid is a kicker. It's one of the reasons that I thought she was a boy. Braden spoiled me. I felt him move at 14.5 weeks and he basically never stopped moving from that point on. But then there was Anabelle - a pregnancy where I had an anterior placenta and didn't feel her move at all until week 23. Anterior placentas suck. I rarely felt her move and even when I did, it wasn't strong. And then there was Georgia - who apparently just floated motionless around my uterus. I swear part of the reason I got sent to the NST's is that every time they asked me about her movement, I'd have to tell them that I hadn't felt her at all that day. Anyway, this little girl is not like her sisters. I'm a little scared she might hurt me when she's full term. I didn't much appreciate her activity during last weekend's stomach bug episode, but I'm actually thrilled that I get to feel so many little kicks on my last go-round.
•  I'm a stomach sleeper. It's a difficult thing to be when you're pregnant. However, I continue to sleep on my stomach until it's literally too uncomfortable to keep doing so. This week I reached that point. I think L was starting to get pissed that I was squishing her.
• I have still not been officially labeled a diabetic. I have to take the three hour glucose test AGAIN, but in the mean time they wanted me to take the gestational diabetes class and start the diet in the hopes that it would help me pass the three hour test. I hate this complication so much...not even sure I could put it into words...but I'll try. I have a longer post about it to come at a later date.
• Baby L still doesn't have a middle name. It's seriously starting to grate on my nerves. I need the kid to have a full name.
• I've been able to exercise more during this pregnancy than I have on any of the others. Mostly that consists of walking (I don't understand how anyone runs while pregnant!). I had a 4-5 mile loop that I would do before I got pregnant, but no matter how hard I try, I can't go that far while pregnant. My bladder refuses to hold out for that long of a distance and the most I've been able to do is three miles.
• Let's end this on a fun note: Ultrasound pictures! 

They didn't measure her size but she definitely looked bigger than 4 weeks ago.

The face-on pictures always weird me out.

Legs completely stretched out like there is all kinds of room in there.

Awww, feet together like a good little gymnast.

 

 

So that about wraps up where we are at this point in the pregnancy. I'm trying to limit the number of baby related posts, but I've clearly been failing at that lately!