Week 27 and 3rd trimester!

How far along? 26w5d
Total weight gain/loss: According to the OB I'm about +38/39. I'm not happy about it, but alas my eating habits haven't changed so there's not really much I can do. Just to clarify, my OB has not said a word about my weight. I'm just interjecting my displeasure with it. To this effect, I have added 30 minute walks 3 times per week in addition to some very light upper body strength training and some squats. I also continue to go to yoga 2 times per week.
Maternity clothes? Yes, and close to moving up in size
Stretch marks? No but holy eff is my belly button area getting stretched. I think I look noticably pointier in that area according to this week's pic (in belly pics)
Sleep: Chris has left the bed again and I am sleeping pretty well. Its been REALLY hot (like 100F hot) and while we of course have A/C, our bedroom is above the garage and thus gets the warmest. I do what I can to stay comfortable and while I'd love to snuggle under a light cover from the A/C, I'm happy to at least be comfortable uncovered all night long.
Best moment this week: Scheduling our next u/s. Its 8/2, I'll be 28w4d. Oh, also, I got the OK from my OB to go visit my BFF and her little darling next month in DC (pending my cervix cooperates - thus far its been a rock star).
Movement: Yes, I'm at that point where I can feel the shape of her body. She's head down, with her back on my right side, and her feet and legs to my left. Her feet are pushing out my belly button all the time--> which explains all that stretching (and the growing pains)
Food cravings: Well, its was a Portillo's Cheeseburger, but then I had that for dinner. Now I really want some cold chocolate milk.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: Normal summer temps. With heat indices in the 105+ I'm looking forward to a nice summer storm to cut down on the heat a bit.
What I am looking forward to: the wedding I'm going to in about 10 days, the weekend, sleeping tonight
Milestones: 3RD TRIMESTER! I can't believe I'm finally here :)

Week 26

How far along? 25w5d
Total weight gain/loss: I'm guessing +35.
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: That good sleep with Chris in the bed was short lived. I've been in hell for the past week. He's offered to go in the other bedroom, but alas, I don't think there's any point. We'll be disassemblng that bed to decorate G's new room most likely this weekend.
Best moment this week: The power outage at work. I've been home all week!
Movement: Yes - I'm starting to notice that she's the most active in the morning. From the time I start to stir to wake up through my morning snack.
Food cravings: Hummus, again.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: The medium size pg belly - we're definitely moving into 3rd tri belly
What I am looking forward to: today's prenatal massage, getting started on G's new room
Milestones: Hmm, I dunno. I don't think one really applies this week, but we are getting SUPER close to 3rd tri- omg! I think its about a week away, depending on what you go buy. I always think of each trimester as roughly 13.5 weeks, so in a week, I'll be there :)

A Names Post

I don't think I've posted about names yet. Chris and I decided not to have the name conversation until we knew what the baby would be. So, I'd say about 3 weeks ago or so we busted out our trusted names book and started looking. My fave for a while now has been Emilia. I just love the way it sounds and something about it seems so perfect. Chris likes it enough, but doesn't love it. We have a short list now, just like we did with Gabriella. None of the names we were considering with Gabriella are in the running this time. We just feel like they weren't good enough before and they aren't good enough now. So, as to not keep you in suspense, here are the names, in order of (my) preference:

1. Emilia
1b/2. Eliana
3. Estella
4. Isadora

I put Eliana as a 1b/2 b/c I really REALLY love this name as well. I love that the name is a Greek derivative of "sun." In Hebrew it mean "My God has answered me." While that meaning is very lovely as well, Chris and I aren't religious so I guess the weight of the meaning isn't fully there for us. My biggest hang up is that I wouldn't want do DARE think that I was naming my second daughter after my MIL (Ellen). I think its different enough to not share that link. People that I have share this name with never thought of the association until I mentioned it, which is a good sign. Its not the 1st thing people think of. Frankly, both Chris and I will have zero reservation clearing up that association should anyone ask. We are in no way, shape, or form naming our daughter to honor that wench. Someone who swore up and down that she was in fact a boy and in her spite over being wrong takes it out in hurtful comments on me. Ok, moving on...

Estella we love as well, although I like Stella as a name more. Chris doesn't like Stella though...um, ok, Stella, Estella...not too different but whatever. I think Gabriella and Estella are too many "ella's" but it is a beautiful and certainly one I'm not willing to write off just yet.

Isadora...this is a very unique name. It echos the same sentiment as Isabella without being as popular but still uber feminine. Isadora is a Greek name derivative of the name Isis. I dunno though, it might be a little too unique for me. Not to mention, I can't help but think of the "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days" movie b/c the name of the beautiful diamond necklace at the end of the movie is name Isadora. Not necessarily a bad thing, but again its an almost instant association for me.

In sum, for me its between Emilia and Eliana. I think that if Chris can't get sold on Emilia, her name will likely be Eliana, but we won't be deciding officially until very close to her arrival or until her actual arrival.

In closing, I would like to give a big warm and loving welcome to little miss Dalia Noor. My bestest friend in the whole wide world had her on July 6th. Dalia is just so precious and I cannot wait to meet her!

Week 24/25 and a rant

How far along? 24w4d weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I think I'm at about +30. So not too bad. I asked my OB about my weight gain and he said it was nothing to be concerned about, especially with my weight gain with Gabriella. He told me that weight gain during pregnancy is mainly genetic and he thinks that if I'm making good choices food wise (I am) that there's nothing I can do about it. He went as far as to say that he thinks that if I was on 1200 cals a day I would still probably gain about 35-40lbs, its just how my body functions during pregnancy.
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Chris has been allowed back into the bed and thus far I'm sleeping just fine!
Best moment this week: Having my parents and sister in town!
Movement: Yes, she has her quiet days and then her more active days
Food cravings: Everything!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: The fam, of course. Its always hard to see them go.
What I am looking forward to: Yoga tomorrow night. I skipped Saturday's class b/c of the fam's visit.
Milestones: V-DAY!

So my parents and sister were here for 4th of July weekend and we had a wonderful time. Gabriella absolutely adores them - YES, more than Chris's parents. She's SUPER attached to my parents even though they are far away. Its just different. If you could see the interaction, you would understand.

I agreed to dinner with my ILs...I know, what was I thinking, but alas it was to placate my husband and I was in a "lets just get it over with" mentality, so that I don't have to do this for a long time. Well, my MIL stooped pretty low in her insults this weekend. The convo went like this:

Bitch pats my stomach: Are you sure there's not 2 in there?
Me: No, there's just one
Bitch (talking to baby): Just how big are you going to be?!
Me (annoyed): I'm not really all that bigger right now than I was with Gabriella at this point.
Bitch: Oh I don't know about that, you look A LOT bigger to me.

If anyone knows how much I hate my MIL, you'll all understand why this comment is so inappropriate. I effing hate her. Oh, and let me add that she said this to me in front of my own mother, who was left just as speechless as I was.

Week 23

How far along? 23 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I'm not entirely sure, but I think I'm up 2lbs total since the beginning of last week. I'll find out for sure at my doc appt next week (Wednesday)
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No, but those little spider veins are starting to sprout on my tummy
Sleep: Its getting better. G isn't coughing nearly as much. Its really only happening when she wakes up in the morning now, thankfully
Best moment this week: Feeling more kicks up high versus cervix punches/kicks
Movement: Yep, she definitely has her active moments and her quiet moments. She's generally moving around 1st thing in the morning, then its sporadic throughout the day, then again after dinner into the evening.
Food cravings: Pizza!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? It's in still, I doubt it'll come out; it didn't with G. Although I am starting to get that bruised belly button feeling which means its expanding
What I miss: The sun - um hello, cloudy much?
What I am looking forward to: The weekend
Milestones: One week away from v-day!

So I realized I am a bad mama and never updated about G's 2nd year appt. All is well, obviously. Her weight and length can be found over on right hand side. She is in the 90th percentile for both. Generally people look at her and easily assume she's 3 versus 2 because she's so tall. Her HC is in the 50th percentile, I just don't remember the exact measurement. Her pedi says she's doing very well and hitting all her milestones.

G cracks us up on a regular basis. The more she talks, the funnier she is. I can't even begin to list all that she says b/c its THAT much. She's really starting to put together a bunch of words and ask real questions. Its just amazing. She's getting so big and she's gonna be such a great big sister.

In terms of belly pics, I never got around to it in week 22 so I'll definitely have to take one this weekend!

Week 22 - one week away from 6 months!

How far along? 21w5d
Total weight gain/loss: Well, at my weight check this week (I went for a follow up to last week's spotting episode) I was up something ridiculous like 5lbs in one week, BUT I'm attributing that to being constipated. In fact, I weighed myself last night (after a full day of eating) and was a lb less than I was that morning that I was weighed-->and my scale at home and the docs have been saying the same thing. So...lets just say +25 to be safe
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Well, my poor munchkin has had some post nasal drip that makes her cough overnight, so for the past 2 nights I've been up in the middle of the night and I am exhausted. He hasn't been told yet, but tonight is Chris's turn!
Best moment this week: We bought G her toddler bed :)
Movement: Yes, definitely. I think she is still breech though
Food cravings: Nothing in particular
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In, but the bottom half of my piercing is starting to pop out of my belly button
What I miss: Sleeping through the night
What I am looking forward to: Yoga tonight - it always does my back so much good
Milestones: I have my GD test at my next OB appt. Holy crap! I can't believe I'm at that point already!

So, Chris and I have started the names discussion. We have about 5 or 6 names that we really like, but won't be sharing until we narrow it down a bit further. I have 1 front runner in my mind, with a 2nd name a really close dual front runner, but mums the word until we cut the list down a bit.

I need to do a mass belly pic upload. I've been taking them, just too lazy to upload them when I get home!

Le grand update

OK, so I'm not really sure where to start since so much has gone on since my last blog post. First we obviously went on vacation - we had so much fun with Gabriella and while we had some gripes about the resort, we really had so much fun with her. She was such a little fish! She wore herself out everyday. Traveling wise, she was great on the way there and an utter beast on the way back. But unfortunately we had to skip her nap that day b/c of the flight so I'm going to say that was the culprit.

I had my 20w appt on Monday and all looks well. I'll do a survey down below. Yesterday was Gabriella's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe how fast this 2nd year flew! We had some cake for her on Sunday but otherwise, didn't do anything "special" for her birthday this year. I really wasn't in the mood to have my husband's family over to gorge themselves and be obnoxious. No thanks.

Yesterday we had our big u/s and I am super happy to say that we are expecting a perfect and healthy little GIRL. We had a level II u/s and so we were able to take an in depth look at everything and she's just perfect, weighing in at about 14 oz and measuring about 5 days ahead. We are seriously so excited for Gabriella to have a little sister.

The usual survey:

How far along? 20w5d
Total weight gain/loss: +22lbs (up 6 in a month which I'm pretty happy about)
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Not too shabby. The past 2 nights have been really good actually. Still getting up once to pee, but hell, I can live with that.
Best moment this week: Finding out the baby is healthy and perfect, and of course 2nd to that finding out that it's a girl.
Movement: Yes, some days more often than others, but I definitely am feeling her.
Food cravings: Sweet stuff, like fruit juice and fruit snacks. Odd, I know.
Labor Signs: Well, no, not technically. Something I ate on Sunday didn't agree with me that caused some cramping overnight with a tinge of pink spotting, but after both an internal exam by my OB and the cervical u/s yesterday (cervix was 4.6cm which is great) all was confirmed to be just fine. It was just a irritation flared by a GI issue.
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: Well, I would love some decent mat clothes selection. Its not something I necessarily "miss" since mat selection is always crap, but YGWIM.
What I am looking forward to: The weekend.
Milestones: Geez, lots I guess. The u/s, Gabriella's birthday, a good cervix report!