38 weeks

 

Wow.. baby sure has grown over the last 38 weeks. I think she's just about done cooking.. or hope so! At my 38 week appointment today I had gained back the two pounds I lost last week. Baby girl was very active. She had the nurse and I laughing over how much she was moving. Her heart rate was really high considering all of the shifting and kicking around she was doing while we were trying to listen to her heart tones with a heartbeat of 175. We may have a wild one on our hands. :) The important part is that she is active and that is a strong sign that she is healthy. I am showing no clear signs of labor yet. My doctor thinks I will have started to dialate by my next appointment. I am a little skeptical. If little girl does not come on her own I will be going in to be induced the morning of February 4th at the latest (1 week past my due date). I had considered whether I would want to try to wait out her arrival longer than that but after finding out from my doctor that the risks do increase slightly after 41 weeks I would rather not take any chances. Since everything worked out fine with my induction with Emmett at 1 week overdue I feel good that if she doesn't come naturally an induction at that time should be fine. I will be more than ready for her to come! I am trying not to get my hopes up that she may come earlier than that. If I am still pregnant on my 30th birthday it is not the end of the world. No matter what happens she should be here in less than 3 weeks!

 

I look forward to: Seeing what this little girl looks like.. Officially announcing her name to those who haven't asked or want to be surprised (we have been telling anyone who has wanted to know.. no secrets this time!).. Seeing Emmett's reaction when he sees this sister that we have been telling him so much about for the first time.. Finding out how it feels becoming a family of four.. Beginning my journey back towards my normal body weight and feeling like "myself" again.. Going through the nursing experience with my daughter.. And meeting all of our future challenges together.. It should be interesting.. :)

36 Weeks

We are at 36 weeks! It's unbelievable. I had a doctor's appointment today and was told I am the "picture of perfect health". I am so grateful. Baby girl's heart rate was 128 this morning. She is still active but does a lot more shifting movements than turns and flips since she is running out of room. I had my group b strep test today (fun!) and will find out the results shortly. Not worried about that either way. My iron is back up after my last blood draw so I am continuing to take my iron pills with orange juice. This time around I actually weigh slightly more than I did with Emmett (no, I am not going to publish those numbers!) but it is hard to imagine why since I have less time to eat. My wedding ring still fits and with Emmett I stopped wearing it at 35 weeks. Perhaps its because it is so frigidly cold outside. Although, I haven't minded the cold temperatures at all being this pregnant. I am glad that Christmas is over so we can spend time at home getting ready for the baby to arrive. I have her room completely ready and the hospital bag is partially packed. I have been preparing some meals for the freezer here and there and doing some cleaning/organizing etc. Emmett's room is almost ready with just two projects left (the headboard and hanging his art work). I want to do some more child-proofing around the house so that I will worry less about Emmett if I am occupied with the baby. We plan to stay home until she arrives now so hopefully we will have plenty of time to get a few things done, clean, rest, and spend time together before her birth. Emmett has been increasingly clingy to his Mommy in the last few weeks. I wonder if he senses someone is going to be coming to steal some of his spotlight? I got out our infant carseat and washed the coverings etc. When I put it all back together - guess who wanted to get in it! And he still fit! Oh Emmett is going to have to learn how to share some things.. I am so anxious to have her join our family and to finally meet the little girl I have been trying to imagine over the last 9 months. I predict she will be around 8 1/2 pounds and have a full head of dark hair that is likely not to stick around too long after her birth (like her brother). I am praying that she is healthy and looking forward to holding her in my arms.

Weeks 32 and 34

Catching up..

Here I am at 32 weeks

 

 And at almost 34 weeks!

Things have been going well with Baby Girl Nelson. My last appointment was on December 5th. My iron was a little low at that appointment although it was normal at the appointment before. I am just trying to take my iron pills with orange juice every day now to help with absorbtion. My doctor said it is more important for me than for the baby because the baby will get what she needs first. Hopefully it is back up to normal at our next appointment. I was also reassured that my labor should be shorter and come earlier this time around than it was with Emmett. I know there are no guarantees but I am really hoping that will be the case. We may be meeting our little girl in just 6 short weeks!

29 Weeks

 

Hello third trimester! I cannot believe I am here again. It seems like just yesterday I was 28 weeks along with Emmett. I am starting to feel larger lately and my stomach has begun to itch, so I know it is definitely growing. I haven't been bothered as much by the discomforts being this large brings this time around.. I think it is because I don't have as much time to consider them this time around. I am starting to feel anxious about getting ready for our baby girl's arrival. My parents came down this weekend and helped us install the chair rail for Emmett's new room. We have yet to sand, prime, paint and install a few book shelves as well as sand and paint the dresser for his room. I am putting together a headboard which we got the materials for this weekend. I also need to get some frames to put the art work up on the walls. Ok, now that I have that list maybe we can start to cross a few items off soon! Rustin and I have also been busy trying to study for tests that we are each taking for work. SO once those are done we hope to focus on getting ready. Rustin takes his test on Thursday of this week so it will be nice for him to be done and mine is not until December 14th. Baby sounded good at our 28 week appointment on Friday. My weight gain has been about the same as it was with Emmett so far. I try not to worry about it. We saw Dr Kaufmann and she said that our little girl feels head down although they normally don't worry about that this early. My iron levels are back up to normal but I am continuing with the iron supplement in addition to regular prenatal vitamins. She was sleeping at our appointment with a heartbeat of 138. I thought I would be seeing the doctor every two weeks now but with this being my second pregnancy I actually won't start that for another month. So, we'll be going back at 32 weeks. Then every two weeks from there and every week starting at 36. This pregnancy is going by so fast. I would like it to slow down just a little bit.. surprisingly. I am enjoying being pregnant at this point. I still sleep pretty well and can get around fine. Carrying Emmett gets a little more tiring every week but I will be able to manage throughout the duration of this pregnancy. I do find myself handing him off a little more willingly recently though. I am getting more and more excited about meeting our baby girl. However, I am also trying to relish in the peacefulness and joy of being able to get a good night's sleep, spend time cooking, reading etc. Just about 11 weeks until we meet her!

26.5 Weeks

 



I am 26.5 weeks pregnant with Baby Nelson #2. She is doing just great. I can hardly believe I am almost through my second trimester. This pregnancy is going very fast. At my 24 week appointment I passed my glucose test (glad that is over) and was found to be slightly anemic so I am currently taking an iron supplements. I recently battled a cold that then turned into a sinus infection causing pain in my teeth and cheeks. It finally seems that the second round of antibiotics I have been prescribed are working and the pain is starting to go away. Hopefully this will be the only medicine I have to take during this pregnancy although I would have preferred to take none at all.
We have a name for our little girl but have decided to keep it a secret. It is one of the many benefits that we are experiencing have found out the gender this time around. It is fun to call her by name. :)
Emmett now says "baby" and points to my stomache. I'm sure he doesn't fully understand. He is excited about his "big boy" room that we are preparing for him to move into in the next 2 months and I think (and hope) that he is too little to be jealous or not like his sister when she arrives; although I expect they will both have their moments.

Hopefully I am better about taking pictures of this little girl when she is born than I have been about taking pictures during my pregnancy with her! I will try.

Baby Nelson #2 is a Her!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today. It is good to know that Baby Nelson #2 looks to be healthy. Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures:

We also found out the gender of the baby today.. I was overcome with emotion when we found out. The ultrasound technician said - Do you see these three white lines? I said - Yes, it's a girl! We are extremely excited. It was also amazing how much she seems to look like Emmett from his 20 week ultrasound pictures seen here.

15 months.. and 17 weeks

Emmett turned 15 months old on August 16th 2012.

• He has changed so much since he turned 12 months. It is hard to remember the days where he still wasn't crawling! He is extremely mobile now. Not walking yet - but very close! He will take 3 or 4 steps at times but no more than that. We continue to try to encourage him and expect he will be walking shortly.
• Emmett can say many words now including duck, dog, book, mama, dada, no, yeah, ni-night, uh-oh, more, go, good, etc.
• He points to different objects in books and although he doesn't always get it right he tries! We are continually surprised by how many objects he does recognize. He still loves books and chooses what book he would like us to read to him.
• Emmett enjoys pushing around his wagon, musical piano walker, or his haul 'n ride truck. He also likes to crawl around holding on to his Little People. He still likes to play with his activity cube and musical table. Emmett also enjoys crawling under things like the kitchen table, chairs, his height chair and his activity mat.
• We are currently in the process of dropping his morning nap. He has been fighting a cold this week so he did have two naps today. However, it took him until 9pm to go to sleep - even though we put him down at 8. He babbled to himself for about an hour.
• Emmett is still going to daycare at the inhome that we have been at since April. He seems to really do well there and has (for the most part) been staying healthy. No ear infections, YAY! He plays with his friends, eats good food, takes good naps, gets to go outside and generally has a great time there from what we can tell.
• He eats any and all foods. In particular I would say he still really loves vegetables, especially peas and carrots. We are working on using a spoon and fork with much practice time needed. We have switched him to a bigger sippy cup without handles to try to keep him from throwing it on the floor. After much searching, we have landed on a more advanced version of the sippy cup he was using previously.
• Some cute things Emmett is now doing that we enjoy include laying down on the floor with his head on a pillow pretending he is going "ni-night", taking a big drink of milk and then saying "AH!" while smiling at us and waiting for our reaction, and leaning in for kisses! In particular one morning last week Emmett snuggled into bed with Mama and Dada after waking up and leaned in for a kiss from Mama, then Dada.. Mama, then Dada etc. He's a little sweetie.
• Emmett has a pretty full mouth of teeth now. He has just recently gotten all 4 of his first molars. Also all four front teeth on the top and bottom are now in. So, he has a total of 12 teeth!

In other news..

We are busy with one other thing lately.. getting ready for Emmett to become a big brother!! He doesn't quite understand the concept yet but can point to Mama's belly when we ask him where the Baby is. We have been looking for childcare for the baby since Becky currently does not have room for the baby but we are hopeful something might open up after the birth. I am currently 17 weeks along and find out the baby's gender in 3 weeks. We're really looking forward to this exciting event and to getting ready for our second child!