So far, so good...

We went for another checkup today. The doctor says everything looks great and the little bean is measuring right on schedule for his/her August 23rd due date.


They also did an "interview" Jerry and I call the Department of Children and Families interview. It goes like:

Nurse: Do you ever go to bed hungry because there's no food in the house?

Me: Does it still count as "yes" if I have eaten all the food in the house in the two hours before bed?

Nurse: Do you feel safe in your home?

Me: Um....yeah, (twirling hair) we, like...have an alarm.....

and you get the idea.



Because we were scheduled to see the interview nurse and the financial counselor AND the doctor, our appointment lasted about two hours. Grace was such a trooper. She finally had a melt down as we were looking at the ultrasound. Poor thing. She was just tired, bored, and ready to get the heck out of there. I felt the exact same way, and if I could have gotten away with a screaming fit, I probably would have thrown one, too...


Anyway, the long and short of it is, Baby Bean looks great. I feel great. Everything is going great. I do have to do an extra sugar test (yum yum) at the next visit because Grace was so big (8 lbs, 9 oz). But hey--I'm watching what I eat and trying to gain a more reasonable amount of weight this time (anything less than twice the recommended would be fine...)


So, in four weeks, I go back for the sugar test/blood work and to check the baby with a doppler. But the NEXT appointment, four weeks after that, is the BIG ultrasound, where we find out if Baby Bean will wear blue or pink! We're totally excited about that. I can't imagine not wanting to find out the gender. I'm way too much of a planner.

Don't feed the Preggo

I am ravenously hungry. All the time. And believe me, I'm eating. I am aware that I need enough calories and protein to breastfeed a 7-month-old and grow a human. I get it. I eat well. But my body is trying to mutiny. Apparently, it doesn't agree with my "wise" choices for how I get my calories. I eat fruit, cheese, soy milk, granola bars, oatmeal, and herbal tea during the day. I usually have some lean protein wrap or salad for lunch. I eat normal, healthful dinners.

My body wants to eat everything it sees and/or smells and/or thinks about. Unless its a carrot, then my body wants to projectile vomit. I understand that I am pregnant and that comes with some cravings, so I am trying to be compassionate to my body's demands. I would love to choose one craving to acquiesce per day, but I can never choose one thing above the others; I simply want to eat everything. All the time. I am never full.

Well, there it is

I am determined not to become "o-beast," as one of my high-schoolers put it today.

With Grace, let's just say I gained more than double the recommended weight. Let's also just say that my weight when admitted to the hospital to deliver my 8 lb, 9 oz baby was roughly the same as a small VW, which is what I told the nurse, who then insisted on my backing onto a scale. If Jerry wouldn't have been afraid of my raging hormones, he probably would have made the "beep, beep, beep" noise of heavy equipment being thrown into reverse, which would now be funny, looking back, I guess.

So, by this time, with my first pregnancy, I had gained more than double of my current weight gain, 7 pounds. Which isn't really a weight gain, so much as the last seven pounds of my baby weight that just wouldn't come off for "some reason," which turned out to be that I was, in fact, pregnant again, and my last 7 were also my 1st 7. I am still in my regular pants, though they may or may not be buttoned, depending on the time of day. I am eating reasonably (not counting the super-awesome brownies my neighbor brought over today) and exercising regularly. I feel good and I think I am barely showing. Which , considering I've only known I'm pregnant for a week, is good.

This is why I was so surprised today when I overheard my 6th period class arguing about who was going to "ask her." I knew exactly what they were wondering, and when one kid finally drew the short straw and asked, in front of the whole class, whether or not I was pregnant, I was a little dismayed. I neither confirmed nor denied....I just said to him, "do you realize you just said to me that I look chunky?" I laughed it off, and so did everyone else, but there it is.

Are you kidding me with this?

Ok, just to catch you up, Jerry and I have been together since October 2004. We were married on June 30th, 2007. Our beautiful daughter, Grace Kelly, was born on July 1st, 2008. We live in Florida. We love the sun and the water. We are an active, healthy, all-american family.

I have been working as a teacher in Title I schools for more than 7 years. Jerry will have his six-year anniversary as a fire fighter in March. Life is good.

Grace has been just perfect. She is a good baby. She sleeps well and eats anything. She has Jerry's laid-back attitude, and nothing much bothers her. She smiles all the time. she's so happy and absolutely perfect.

So, that brings us current. Last week, I realized I was probably "off" on charting my cycle. (We use Natural Family Planning, from the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weshler, http://www.tcoyf.com/). So, my first step was to take a pregnancy test, then I was going to take Ovulation tests until I was confident that I was "on track." Well, surprise, surprise, the pregnancy test was a BFP--Big Fat Positive.

Jerry was on shift, and I didn't really know what to tell him, since I was feeling sort of at fault; it was sort of my "job" to track things, and he would always ask me, "are we good?" before anything. Long story short, I picture mailed him a picture of the positive pregnancy test. I guess it wasn't as obvious as I thought, because he had to pass it around the station until one of the guys finally interpreted for him.

The thing was, with the new baby, being together hadn't been high on our priority list. I immediately thought back and blamed the whole thing on Jerry's birthday, January 3rd, which would have put me about six weeks along. Before Grace was born, we had a miscarriage at about 10 weeks. So, when I found out I was expecting Grace, my doctor immediately put me on Progesterone supplements. Monday morning, I called my doctor's office as soon as it opened and explained my question about progesterone, not to mention I am still breastfeeding Grace, and I wasn't sure about how the pregnancy would affect that, or vise versa. They were extremely understanding and scheduled an appointment for the following day.

When the ultrasound came up at the appointment, Jerry and I were expecting a tiny bean of a baby with a flickering heartbeat. What we saw was a GIANT baby with a head and arms and legs and he/she was wiggling all around! My concern to my doctor was expressed something like this, "Holy Crap! How big is THAT baby?" Turns out, I was 11 weeks along. One week shy of being done with the first trimester. No need for Progesterone. The new baby is big with a strong heartbeat. The due date is August 23rd. Grace will be 13 months old.

Keep smiling,

Kate