How far along? 23 Weeks
Total weight gain: ~ 11 lbs.
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No
Best moment this week: Getting my garage sale done and over with
Miss anything? Having energy, and being able to be outside for more than two minutes at a time.
Movement: This little girl is doing acrobatics all over the place. She is sooo active! I love it!
Food cravings: None at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not at the moment
Gender: Girl!
Labor signs: Braxton Hicks
Symptoms: exhaustion, braxton hicks, frequent urination, lower back soreness
Belly button in or out? In, but swapped to my maternity belly ring
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or moody most of the time: Mostly happy
Looking forward to: Our family reunion and mini vacation
This week the baby is still approximately the size of an eggplant, at 1.10 lbs. in weight, and 11.38 inches in length.
"Your baby weighs about one pound (500 grams) now and by the end of this week has a 50% chance of survival if born early. The chance of survival depends on the week of gestation, the mother's health, the reason for premature labor, and the quality of medical care received. In the next five weeks your baby will experience a major growth spurt. His cerebrum, a art of brain that is responsible for memory, motor skills, and intellect, is preparing to be able to conduct communication between cells. Rapid eye movements (REM) have begun to occur during his sleep. The hair (lanugo) on your little one's body is darkening and even the skin is gaining some pigment. The bones and organs are still visible through the skin; however, they will soon become less visible due to continued formation of fat."
Also, for those that haven't already heard, we decided on the name Rosalie for our sweet little baby girl. Sophia is absolutely over the moon about her. She constantly talks about her baby sister. A few nights ago, when we were putting her to bed, she leaned over and kissed Rosalie, and began telling us that she's going to be a pretty pretty princess, that she's going to have blonde hair and blue eyes just like her, and that she's going to teach her gymnastics. She is seriously the sweetest kid in the world. I can't wait for her to get to meet her baby sister. :)
Also, as was recently mentioned, in just a few short weeks I will be having to take my second glucose test. My hopes are high that I will not have it this time around, but if I do, I will just do what I did last time and be very diligent about the super strict diet. Also coming up around the same time will be my second 3D ultrasound that my lovely cousin purchased for us. I can't wait!
Also, not sure if I've mentioned it or not yet, but this time around (I really wish I had the first time too) I am hiring a photographer to capture the actual birth. I'm slightly bummed because there is a photographer that is a friend of a friend, who is absolutely fantastic and said she'd do it for free (which is amazing) but her anniversary is literally when I am due, and she will be gone for that week, so we will be hiring a duo company that are also fantastic, but a lot more expensive ($350). It does however, include a maternity session around 38 weeks, and they will arrive when I'm around 5-6cm, and stay until after Sophia has gotten to meet her baby sister. I am very excited about it. Since it's so expensive though, and we don't have a lot of things on our registry, I'm hoping that they have certificates or something available that I can have purchased instead to help offset the cost. I've heard a mixture of things about having another shower, when the kids were so close together, and the same gender. Half say, absolutely, have one for every child, the other half say you only have one if it's been a long time, or if they are different genders, but even those that told me that, still had one for every kid, or grandkid that came, despite some being same gender, and even closer in age, so ultimately, we decided that we ARE going to have another in August sometime. I was smart and did keep a lot of the stuff we'd already had because we knew we'd want children close together, so for the most part I am covered, but there are a few small things that I'd like to have this time around that I didn't have last time.
Additionally, this time around, I will be doing placenta encapsulation. That seems to freak a lot of people out, but really, I don't care how they feel about it. It is going to make my recovery so much smoother this time around.
