Tiny Oranges – Fresh, fun blog for OC moms

GIRL!!!! We get another girl!! Little sister is on her way!  We all couldn’t be happier.  

For me, having a younger sister has been one of life’s greatest blessings.  The fact that Emma gets to grow up having (hopefully!) the same wonderful experience makes me so happy for her.  There is really no relationship quite like the one between sisters.  We were best buddies growing up and still are today.  I have the best memories of our adventures in childhood taking on the world in our matching Wonder Woman Underoos and playing endlessly with our Sea Wees.  Does anyone remember those?  They were little bath time mermaids from the 80′s with matching lily pads for them to ride in.   We loved making up our own Barbie episodes (I made her be Skipper, I of course, was Barbie), choreographing dance routines to Duran Duran, and roller skating in the garage to the Xanadu soundtrack. Through the years she always put up with me being the bossy older sister. Take a guess who was the teacher when we played school or the head choreographer of our dance troupe?? Bless her heart.  It is going to be so fun for me to watch my girls grow up together.  The thought of it really brings me a lot of joy.  

Speaking of my sister, she is also pregnant with her first baby, due 3 weeks after me! I still can’t believe I got quite so lucky. The cousins are going to be like twins.   I will never forget the morning she called to tell me. It was around 7:37am, and she never calls me that early. My heart almost jumped out of my chest, because I was hoping more than anything that she was pregnant.  And yep, she yelled, “it’s positive!!!!” My family is going to have a crazy, fun summer with two new babies joining us.

Other than that, I am feeling really great. My belly is starting to pop out more each day, and I remember now why I loved the second trimester so much. The best part about experiencing pregnancy again is that I KNOW to appreciate this time before the uncomfortable third trimester hits.  My very absolute favorite part of pregnancy is the KICKS.   I started feeling them for the first time last week, and it is just as amazing as the first time around.  It makes it SO REAL.  Not to sound like Pollyanna, because, just ask my husband, I have done my fair share of complaining, but for right now I am enjoying these blissful couple months while it lasts!  I guarantee my blogs as it get closer won’t be quite so perky.   Thanks for letting me share my news!   

{Pregnancy Diaries Graphic from www.tinyprints.com }
{It’s a Girl! Graphic from www.dryicons.com}

I am officially into week 14 of my pregnancy, and first word that came to my mind when writing this post is “hallelujah!!”  It is amazing how much better I feel lately.  It really began to turn around right after I hit that 12 week mark.  I actually have ENERGY again!   The difference is remarkable!   In hindsight, the first trimester flew by, but when I was going through it, the days were very LONG.  But it is all worth it!

Well, here is my first picture of our little lemon (that’s the size this week, thanks Babycenter for the endless fruit size references!)  Before kids, I thought it was hilarious when people showed ultrasound pics because I thought they mostly looked like Rorschach inkblot tests, but since most of you are moms yourself, I know you will humor me.  

With Emma, I just got one ultrasound at the standard 18 – 20 weeks. It seems like a lot has changed in the past three years.  They are now offering the sequential screening test for birth defects, which includes an ultrasound at 12 weeks with blood work, and more blood work to compare at 16 weeks.  It is optional, but I said, sign me up!  I want to see the baby as soon as I can!   

I had no idea what to expect or what the baby would look like at 12 weeks.  I had even heard from numerous people that they were able to find out the gender at this ultrasound!   Although, I have also known a handful of people that were told the WRONG gender, and it turned out to be the opposite at the 18 - 20 week one.  Crazy!   I didn’t know if they would venture a guess at ours, but I was dying to find out.   I am one of those people that wants to KNOW.  I like to plan and call it “he” or “she” and relate to it as one sex or the other.   Gender aside, I was most anxious to go and (hopefully) see and hear that everything was looking good.  I couldn’t sleep much the night before.   Even though I had a gut feeling that all was OK, I still felt that nervous anticipation, praying that the baby was healthy. 

I was so happy when the day finally arrived!   Luckily, we got the nicest ultrasound technician ever.  She was so sweet and happy, just my type of gal!   I am getting paid back big time because our ultrasound tech with Emma was so short and dry and unenthusiastic.  That first ultrasound with her was a monumental day for us.  It was the first day we would see her and the day we would  find out the sex!  Those that know me know I am a tad bit of a chatterbox.  I tried to make conversation to calm my nerves, but the tech asked me NOT to talk until she got through all her measurements.   It was torture!  I wanted to ask what things were, and if everything looked okay, etc.   Then, after 30 long minutes, I remember her just saying “girl.”  Like that.  Flat tone, no “It’s a girl!” exclamation point!   Seriously.   Can’t one drum up a little more emotion for first time parents about to find out the sex of their first born child?!   My husband to this day still finds it amusing because he knows me so well and she couldn’t have been a worse fit for my enthusiasm!   

I digress, back to this ultrasound… Before she even got started, I ask her, “is there a chance we might get an idea of the gender today?”  She says “absolutely!”   My husband and I looked at each other, holding hands, both thinking, this is big!  I don’t know if we were prepared for it!  I was sort of expecting her to say it was too early to tell.  I had friends that were told that as well.   Then she starts and up on the screen pops our little baby.    In 5 short weeks, it went from being a little coffee bean of a blob at our 7 week ultrasound, to a little human being with arms and legs and everything in place.  My jaw dropped and I got teary.    My husband said “wow!!!”  We were shocked.   Isn’t it truly a MIRACLE?  That is the only word that can describe it.    The baby didn’t stop moving!  Kicking, stretching, twisting, the technician was laughing because it was hard for her to measure due to all the movement.  But baby finally slowed down and we got the news everything was looking good.  I wanted to cry in relief.  Correction, I did shed some tears.    I know there are many people that don’t get that news, and I just felt so blessed and grateful. It is something I don’t take for granted.  Not for one second.     

I asked again about the sex, and she said she thought she had a good idea.   Knowing we have a child at home, she said ” I think we are seeing a little “________” in there!  But I can’t tell you just yet!!!!  We are having my in-laws come to visit on Feb. 7th for a little gender revealing dinner celebration with both the grandparents, so I can’t spill the beans until they hear the news!   I asked, how confident are you?  And she said she was very confident!!!! 

So, that week it all starts to sink in, and to me it is kind of a big deal!   The entire way you envision your family is changed with those words.  Whether we have two daughters or a daughter or a son, Emma will get a little sister or little brother, it really changes your entire view of your life as a family unit.  Especially since we both agree 100% that we are going to be DONE with two, end of discussion .  

So, over the next week, I fall in love more and more each day with this little human that I am now thinking of as my little girl or little boy.   And, I am getting more and more excited.  So, that is the latest.  Thanks for listening to my long story and for your well wishes and enthusiasm…More to come!  xo Jen  

{Graphic from Tiny Prints}

Hello! I am excited to share some exciting news…I am 12 weeks pregnant with Baby #2 due this July! We are over the moon with excitement, and I really can’t believe how fast the first trimester has flown by.  I want to share my experiences going through this pregnancy, and would love to hear from other mamas-to-be as well!  This will be long post as I have a whole first trimester to cover, consider it a warning! 

It took me a long time to feel *ready* to even fathom getting pregnant again.  I think I was a little nervous about being sick with pregnancy and working and taking care of a toddler.   I had pretty bad nausea and vomiting with Emma.    Then one day a few months back,  I was really surprised when my husband said “I’m not getting any younger, we should really get on this if we want another!”  So, I slowly got to the point where I thought, OK, I think I could do this now.   Then, I got really excited about the idea, but wanted to be cautious about getting too excited because I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment if it didn’t happen right away.    

So, there we are, the last week of October, it was approaching the end of my cycle and I took a pregnancy test that Wednesday and it was negative. It was too early and I knew it.  But, why is it that the moment you are REMOTELY approaching a period, you have an impulse to just pee on that stick?! Those tests are addicting.   I really didn’t think I was pregnant, but I knew we had tried at the right time (thanks to those ovulation predictor pee sticks!) and I got anxious.   The next day is Thursday, and I don’t take one. That night at 7pm, I meet my friend Pam at Dream Dinners’ to make our dinners. On the way driving over, I am feeling EXHAUSTED. Not my typical end-of-the-day with a toddler exhausted, but my body just felt weird and heavy and I felt really out of it. I think the Dream Dinners’ girl must have thought I was a little out there.   In the parking lot, I tell my friend that I feel soooo tired and her first comment is “Are you pregnant???” And she had a twinkle in her eye.  It made me excited, but I didn’t want to be disappointed. I knew the next morning I could take another test.  At that moment, I knew in my heart that I was really ready to be pregnant.

So, the next morning is Halloween, a Halloween I will never forget!  I wake up early and go and pee on the stick.    I start to see that faint line come up in the test window.  And I know.  I start shaking and I start to feel tears well up in my eyes.  I think “oh my GOD, oh my GOD, oh my GOD…” over and over again. It is just as intense of a feeling as the first time.   I go and get my daughter up and I am staring at her thinking, am I am really going to get another one???  Is she going to be a big sister???     

My husband comes home from his jog and I tell him, and he says, “What? Noooooo…..REALLY?!” Being the practical, methodical one of the family, he asks “Are you sure??”  We stand there staring at the test, and I ask him ”You see a line, don’t you?!”  He gives me a hug and we just stare at each other in disbelief.  In the movies, he would likely lift me up and twirl me around and we would look at each other and be crying with joy.   But at our house, the first real comment he says is “Are you sure you are ready for this???”    He looks a little pale.

Disclaimer: my husband is the nicest, kindest, most amazing husband and father in the whole world, but his initial responses in situations like these do not always win the”best reaction” award. Luckily, after being with him for 10 years, I know what to expect.   Then, I have to laugh at his question, because we both totally knew what we were doing and trying to do, but when it actually happens, there is still that feeling of total DISBELIEF!

That whole day was sort of surreal.   A mix of joy and disbelief and euphoria and shock. The whole day I repeated in my head “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant?”  I went to lunch and the mall with my sister, and just kept thinking about it.  I wanted to shout it out to everyone around me. Like the girl behind the Wahoo’s counter, “I will have a # 1 with black beans, and by the way, I’m pregnant!”  We tell our family and close friends, and still have that feeling like, is this for real?  It is so hard in the beginning weeks because you want to be SO excited, but you still have that cautious feeling, hoping and praying that everything works out.      

I got about a week and a 1/2 of a “honeymoon” period where I felt GREAT. I felt totally healthy and happy and kept thinking, maybe this pregnancy will be different. I tried to use all my powers of positive thinking to convince myself I wouldn’t be as sick.  Come week 5 1/2 (same EXACT day it started with Emma per my journal) the nausea kicks in, regardless of my positive thinking. And it sucks just as bad as I remembered with Emma, but worse!    Emma has no idea and expects Mommy to be on her A game and  I am barely making it through the day between the constant nausea and fatigue.  It really hits me like a ton of bricks.   Add on a home burglary at that same time, and this mama was not a very happy camper for this time period!   The hormones, sickness and trauma of getting robbed nearly put me over the edge.  

I went for my first doctor’s appointment at 7 weeks, and he gives me the OK to take a Unisom Sleep Tab (Doxylamine Succinate 25 mg) at night with vitamin B6 to help with the nausea and vomiting. I was barfing a couple times a day and completely miserable. I took Unisom with Emma, but not until I was 13 weeks and still barfing and couldn’t take it any more.  I was so paranoid to take anything with my first pregnancy, especially in the 1st trimester, which is why I waited so long.  He said it is considered a totally safe medication and to take it if I needed it.   I got it that same night.  It is a miracle for me.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you are suffering from nausea and vomiting OF COURSE ask your doctor before taking Unisom.  I take 1/2 a tablet at night and it gets me through the entire next day. It takes my nausea from like a 9 to a 3, and makes it totally manageable.   Just make sure (if your doctor gives you the OK) to buy the Unisom that says Doxylamine Succinate 25 mg (white box) as that is the ingredient that works. 

At that same 7 week appointment, he feels my uterus and tells me it feels more like a 10 – 12 week uterus.   I am somewhat glad it wasn’t my imagination, because I seriously felt like I got that pregnancy pooch almost immediately.   They send me for an immediate ultrasound to check the dates, and he said it could be  1) I am a month farther along (I am freaking out thinking about the WINE I had that month – although I really didn’t think that possible) 2) fibroid or some other growth on my uterus 3) just the way my body is made and reacting to this pregnancy.   However, the lady checking me in at the ultrasound place, and the nurse at my doctor’s office both asked if we had twins that ran in the family!   The check-in lady took a look at my face after that question and said “Breathe!”    Turns out, it was just the way my body is made (most likely also having to do with having a previous c-section - Emma was breech.)   There on the screen was ONE little 7 week old with a beating heart already.  I felt so GRATEFUL.  I continue to feel grateful every day.       

So, here we are at week 12, and I am feeling like I am slowly coming out of the 1st trimester yuckies.   The fatigue has started to lift (a bit, not totally), my bowels are functioning better (OMG, week 8 was the WORST), I still am nauseous periodically throughout the day, but I am soooo much better.    I am totally in maternity clothes already, however, I am in that bad stage of looking like I have been enjoying the holiday sweets all too much, but don’t look obviously pregnant yet.  I keep telling myself to embrace the body changes, that my body is a vessel for a new life, blah blah blah, but I have to admit, when getting dressed and looking at the tire around my middle that is not an obvious pregnancy bump, it is a tad hard!    

Today we go for our 12-week ultrasound, the sequential screening.   They didn’t offer that with my first pregnancy.   I didn’t even have an ultrasound with Emma until I was 19 weeks.  I am nervous and excited, and just want to hear that everything is looking okay.  I am hearing from some people they found out the sex at this early one?!?   We for sure want to find out.  I am wondering if they might be able to take a guess today?   So crazy!!!    

Wish me luck, I will write back with a report!

{Graphic taken from a design on Tiny Prints}