Pregnancy #2

Yesterday in my e-mail I got an update and it's my 17th week. 17 weeks already. Holy crap this pregnancy is going by fast. It's too bad becuase this may very well be the last time I'm pregnant (especially if it's up to Darryl, which is 1/2 is=). You want to savour every moment. I'll only live life once and this may be the last time I'm pregnant. In the future I'll get to live vicariously though others, but it's just not quite the same. So I thought I'd decidcate a bunch of posts to this pregnancy.

So far the the first 17 weeks have been easy compared with my last pregnancy. No throwing up, a little more tired then normal, but nothing horrible. I think one of the other things that is so different this time is that I already have someone to take care of, so that comibined with feeling well, it's easy to forget I'm pregnant. My belly did get bigger much faster this time, therefore I started wearing maternity clothes much faster. I've also been felling kicks for a couple of weeks as well, which is much sooner then last time.

Allie asked a couple of questions in a previous post. Had we told Lucas. We have told him recently, so that he will be more cautious of "mommy's belly" but he really doesn't get it. The other day we were on the swings and he told me Lucas had a baby in his belly. A couple days after that he told me I had a baby jaguar in my belly (after his new favorite character Diego, best buddy).

One of the other questions everyone wants to know is if we are going to find out the sex. Darryl and I haven't really decided. With Lucas we didn't find out. Although I "looked" like I was having a boy, at least that's what everyone told me. I had prepared myself for having a boy, becuase (sorry Lucas) but I REALLY wanted a girl. Now that I have gone through the experience, I love having a boy now and think I may even want another one. Teenage girls seem so hard. I think it would be nice for Lucas to have a brother, they may have more in common then a sister. But part of me would still love a girl, so whatever comes will be just fine. So the question still remains, do we find out or not? What do you think, what did you do, were you glad?

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Planning

Well after a sick weekend for both Lucas and I it totally reminded me of what it is like in the first bit of pregnancy. Sleepy and constant nausea. Not alot of throwing up, but the feeling like it may happen at any moment. Darryl and I have been talking a lot about when we will have the next baby. But don't worry I promise I'm not pregnant now. With Lucas there was very little planning. I had no idea how long it would take to get pregnant so we just decided start trying one day, although it wasn't that we really decided to start trying moreso then we just decided to stop not trying. 9 (or closer to 10) months later, there was Lucas.

With this next baby I have counted 9 months on my fingers about a thousand times. So if I get pregnant in this month, the new baby will be born in this month. Do I want to be pregnant in the summer again? Do I want to enjoy wine one summer before I have to become the designated driver again for a year and a half? How will it affect my maternity leave affect my job? Will I want to go back when there are two kids? What is the ideal spacing between Lucas and a sibling? Am I really able to handle two when Lucas is this age? When will they both be in school? Does that matter? Can I really plan this? Will it happen as quick? Then counting the months on my fingers again? I feel like a crazy person. I was never so anal with planning Lucas, boom it just happened.

Speaking of my crazy planning. I was just wondering how many people a Chinese Gender Predictor worked for? I would love as many opionins as possible! Was it correct for you? I've also heard to look at the woman age when she concived rather then when the baby was born. Does that make a difference for you?

Let me know. I'd love to see if I can add this to my list of crazy planning =)

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Baby Day

At some point Darryl and I would like to have more children. I loved having a sibling and ideally would love to have a big family, but two would fine as well. As Lucas is getting older there has been some discussion on how soon we should wait until we have the next one. There is no final answer on that but I did lots of patients today that made me think of it.

First I was off to the hospital to work with our junior students. We performed about 10 hysterosalpingograms, which is a test where they look at a woman uterus and fallopian tubes with x-ray contrast. 95% of the reason these woman have this test is because they are having difficulty getting pregnant. There were some who have never had children, but others who had no problem getting pregnant the first time but are having lots of trouble now. Working in healthcare can certainly put fears in your head. What if I have trouble getting pregnant again? I am so greatful for Lucas but what if it takes years to have another. It also makes me realize what a gift a child is.

After working with adults doing hystero's, I head over to the Children's hospital to work with the junior students there. Again it was interesting to be around lots of babies, even though so many of them are sick, but so reslient. It did put lots of thoughts in my head about babies and when do I want to subject myself to all the difficulites of having a newborn around..... Lack of sleep, sharing my time between a new baby and Lucas. When will it be good for Lucas.....

Hopefully I won't be staring at the ceiling thinking about this all night. For other mothers out there, do you know when the right time is, or is there never a right time? What age was your older child and how did they adapt?

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Babies

Today I got to spend some time holding and loving a sick baby. She was so small, but so beautiful. Since my baby has turned into a toddler I've forgotten how babies smell, and feel in your arms. Oh baby.....

Jenn