Tummy Tuesday 16 weeks

This week was an exciting week for many reasons.

1. 16 Weeks has historically been the mark when I feel human again, and just like clock work I am feeling good! Tired, but good!

2. I felt the first few baby flutters!

3. We found the baby is at an extremely low risk of having Downs Syndrome. We are talking like 1/100,000. 

4. We found out the gender of the baby! It's a GIRL! And in true 3rd child fashion, the gender reveal was a flop, and we can't agree on a name. 

 The gender reveal wasn't a flop for lack of trying. We originally thought we would find out at the first test at 11 weeks, so I had a gender reveal planned for then in combination with Mary Claire's birthday. And when we didn't find out then, we thought it would be at the 20 week ultrasound, so I counted the weeks and was planning a gender reveal for that weekend. And, then they moved my ultrasound up to 18 weeks.... ummm ok Plan C it was. But then we realized we would find out with the second test results that I would get middle/end of last week. Since that is what they told me last time, and it took 2 weeks to get results AND this was a short week with Good Friday I wasn't counting on getting results before Easter. Well, we did.... so here I was scrambling to come up with something last minute.

Option 1: Call bakery to do cupcakes. - They didn't have enough notice.

Option 2: Call 2nd bakery- They never got back to me.

Option 3: Cake Pops- 

UGH! You can see through the coating. No surprise there.

At this point we are the NIGHT BEFORE the reveal. No pressure. 

Option 4: Balloon Pop with pink confetti. - Since it will be raining and we can't do it outside, I didn't want to get confetti all over someone else's house.

Option 5: Box filled with pink balloons. we had balloons from the original idea when we thought we would find out at 11 weeks. - Couldn't find a box big enough, you know since it was the night before and all.

SUPER, SUPER frustrated at this point. 

Ok back to option 4, but no glitter.... pink Easter Basket grass. Not nearly as fun but it will work. Once you put the grass in the balloon no amount of helium will keep it floating, and the test run shows the grass just flops to the ground. UGH. 

Pregnant Lady is now in tears. We are 2 hours from a reveal and this is as good as I could do. 

Sorry Sweet Girl, Momma tried. 

Another sweet, little girl! We could not be more excited! At this rate we will never end up in a nursing home! Just kidding... kinda :)

Nameless Baby Girl is about the size of an avocado (7in from head to heel, and 4 oz), but is about to  double in weight and length in the next few weeks. Her bones are beginning to calcify, so they will look white on an ultrasound now. Her head is more erect, her eyes are moving closer to the middle of her face, and her ears are moving closer to their final position too. Her toenails are forming, her eyes move behind closed eye lids, and the pattern on her scalp is developing too.

Tummy Tuesday 15 Weeks

15 Weeks

Here we are 15 weeks and 5 days. Almost to that 16 week mark where I felt so much better with the girls. We are with in hours now, I can almost smell it. :)

Over all I am feeling pretty good though, nausea seems to be gone, although I have the occasional headache still. Still more tired than normal, but that may be a part of being pregnant with 2 toddlers to tend to. The pregnancy app on my phone says I'll start gaining more weight now- around 1 pound a week. So far I have gained about 12 pounds, right on track to gain just under 50, like I did with both the girls. 

Baby is now approximately 6.25 inches long (about the size of a russet potato). All his/her organs are fully formed and just need to finish growing and maturing. 

We should get the results from the panorama test by Friday. It will give us a full break down of the chromosomes line up, so we will know if the baby has Downs Syndrome or not. We also get to find out if the baby has XX or XY chromosomes- so get ready for a gender reveal! :) I have no anxiety about finding out the results, and really haven't though much about it. Not sure if it is because I feel certain the baby doesn't have it, or if its because I feel certain that if the baby does have it that we can handle it. Maybe a little of both, I guess. 

Tummy Tuesday 14 Weeks

14 Weeks

Ahhh, Hello second trimester! I have been looking forward to seeing you.

Finally seem to be feeling better. Still tired, but feeling much better. I have not felt queezy in the last few days, but I still get that funny metallic taste in my mouth occasionally. Beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Had another Doctors appointment this last week. I didn't get to see my regular doctor because I went to the wrong office. Pregnancy Brain at it's finest I guess. But still a good check up! Baby's heart beat was 160bpm and very strong. Next appointment is the big ultrasound!

Finally got the results from the blood work part of the prenatal screening that I had done a few weeks ago. The reason it took so long to come back is because part of it came back abnormal, so they ran it twice. When I talked to the doctor she had me nervous saying things like "Are you where you can talk privately?" "I want you to hear everything I have to say before you jump to conclusions" etc. When she told me that I am just at a higher risk of this baby having Downs Syndrome it was a huge sigh of relief. The normal risk for a women my age is 1/569 and my blood draw concluded my chance with this baby is 1/186. Still only about .05% chance, but since it is an elevated risk I will have additional testing done (tomorrow, and then results in 5-7 business days) that will conclusively tell us whether he/she has Downs. Chase and I could not careless either way. I know that is what people expect me to say but it HONESTLY is not going to matter. Yes, we would want to know before delivery so we can be prepared, but the results will not change the fact that God has hand-picked this baby for our family. We would feel privileged that He trusted us enough with such as amazing gift. Children (and adults) with Downs are typically the happiest most loving people you will ever meet. What a blessing to have a child with such joy and zeal for life. 

Baby P3 is now about the size of a bell pepper (3.5 inches long) but still has plenty of room to float around in the womb. His/her organs are starting to function now too. The spleen is making red blood cells and the amniotic fluid that he/she swallows fully passes as urine.

Funny side note: the weekly baby updates I get on my phone told me this week I may start to need maternity clothes if I have had a baby before. HA! I have been in maternity clothes for a month :)

Tummy Tuesday 13 Weeks

13 Weeks

In the final few days of the first trimester. On Thursday I will be 14 weeks and start the second trimester. WAHOO! I had forgotten how awful fun the first trimester is. It is funny to go back and read my Tummy Tuesday post for the girls because I apparently did feel just as crummy- but I just don't remember. Here is a little excerpt from my Tummy Tuesday Post with Margaret at 13 weeks:

                 "As for momma- sickness seems to be going away. Only feel bad occasionally, but still 

                   EXHAUSTED. Like I went to be at 7:15 last night kind of tired. I am beginning to wonder 

if I will ever have energy after 1pm ever again."

YES! EXACTLY! I couldn't have said it better myself (ha!)

and then at the end of the post I wrote this...

              "I read back my to my weekly entries with Mary Claire and I seem to feel very similarly, 

          but all I can remember is LOVING being pregnant! Funny how that happens huh?"

I do believe I said something almost identical to this last week, or maybe the one before that? But regardless I guess there is hope! One thing that does seem to be different this time is I am not hurting like I was with Margaret. I had weird aches and pains all the time with her, and it was painful to sneeze, but this time my body feels fine. Maybe Baby P3 will be a smaller baby like Mary Claire was?

Baby P3 is now 3 inches long, about the size of a lemon. His/her head is becoming more proportional to the rest of the body, although it still accounts for about a 1/3 of total length. And here at just 13 weeks he/she now has  his/her very own finger prints. The back bone can now flex making large movements much easier. So in the coming weeks as the muscles start to strengthen I will start to feel the little baby flutters, and I can't wait! Feeling the baby move inside my body might very well be my favorite part of being pregnant.  

Tummy Tuesday 12 weeks

12 Weeks

Our little nugget is a little over 12 weeks today. Inching closer and closer to the second trimester!

He/she is just over 2 inches long weighing in at half an ounce, and looks indistinguishably human! Sorry Mary Claire, mommy isn't making a turtle.

There was apparently some miscommunication at the doctors office about what kind of testing I was having done last week. I though I was having the full prenatal screening done, but when I called on Friday to check on my results (that I was supposed to have in on Wednesday or Thursday) they told me the results from the lab were not back yet. And bless the little nurses heart that I was talking to because I went all hormonal on her... Went a little something like this.

 Well, you SAID they would be ready in 2-3 days and that was Wednesday or Thursday. It is now Friday and you are telling me you still don't have them?!?! We had family coming in town and I HAD planned to do a gender reveal and now I can't since YOU failed to get the results in a timely manner. 

Timidly, she responded, Ma'am you only had a Pap-A done to test for Downs Syndrome, not the full Pre-natal screening. 

HUMMM, what???

She offered to have me come back for the full screening, but I wanted the results for this weekend when all the family was already in town for MC's birthday. So regardless of what happened we will not know the gender until after the 20 week ultrasound. 

His/her reflexes are the main development this past week. Baby P3's finger can close into a fist and re-open, his/her toes can also curl, and his/her mouth can make sucking movements. He/She will respond to external stimuli by clenching his/her eyes at bright light or wiggling if I push on my belly, although I can't feel it yet. Meanwhile in the brain, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly and making thousands of synapses.

As for me, I am ready to be out of the first trimester. When I think back to my other pregnancies all I remember is how much I loved being pregnant (well except right there at the end with Margaret, I was pretty miserable). It's funny how you brain blocks out the bad, and you only remember the good. So far my symptoms have been similar, although lately they come and go this time with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes I feel great, and other times I wanna curl up in the fetal position in my bed. In about a month I should start to perk up again... hopefully. And pregnancy acne is back with vengeance. See that huge knot on the side of my nose? Yeah, that is in my sight line, so annoying!