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| 24 weeks |
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| I'm so pregnant I can do a selfie and see the bump still. |
Baby size: Papaya or eggplant sized. Last week he was a "bunch of grapes" which is probably the most vague sizing ever. Besides dill pickle. He's about 1.3 lbs and over a foot long. Also a cool milestone, if I were to give birth to him now, he'd have a 50/50 shot. Not great chances and I want to keep him in there much longer, but it's better than 0% chance and that's comforting given the placenta situation and my irritable uterus and the past miscarriages.
Morning sickness: I'm getting rid of this header! I think it's really gone.
Food cravings/aversions: Nothing super dramatic really. That's been one of my symptoms that hasn't been as strong this time around. We've been giving Blue Apron a shot and I am enjoying food once again, it is lovely. I wish I'd tried it sooner when I was feeling sick and meal planning was the worst. But I think it will come in handy when we have a new baby and shopping gets more logistically difficult. I don't like the waste but I'm trying to recycle and compost what I can and I do a lot of other environmentally friendly things in a lot of other places in my life.
Other symptom: Heartburn/acid reflux. My throat feels like the volcano in Hawaii right now. Totally the same as with Lyra, I'm betting this baby will have hair when he's born too! That's one pregnancy superstition that's actually true. The hormones that cause the heartburn also help promote the baby hair growth. Not 100% correlation but still.
Also, I had one of my bad headaches that made me puke so hard I burst a bunch of tiny blood vessels in my face. That was a new experience.
Braxton hicks are totally a part of all my life again. Also I feel so huge and my bellybutton is popped out like a turkey timer already. This summer is going to be rough.
Movement: So my prediction is this baby will be early and huge. (I'm fully aware predicting this means he will actually be 2 weeks late and like 5 pounds tiny.) Also, this is one strong baby. My midwife felt him kick last week and was surprised at how strong he was for that early. It's already been a while now that I can see my belly shake and move when he does. If I hadn't had so many ultrasounds and been tracking my period closely, I'd be convinced I was further along than I thought. I had an anterior placenta with Lyra and I only now really am realizing how much that must have muffled her movement and I'm a little afraid how hard this one is going to kick later on, it already verges on painful occasionally. And honestly, even with the different placenta locations, I think this baby is stronger.
Sleep: What is that? Between toddlers, insomnia, headaches, and having to pee, I just don't much.
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Mood: Nothing too extraordinary to report.Names: TBD. Finley Everett or Finley Oswin are in the running I think.
Lyra stats: Potty training is the worst. It's going better than the last shot but still not super amazing. It is so much worse than the diaper stage. I can't wait until we are through it. I'm thankful we have so little carpet. But I swear, some days my entire day is cleaning up after animals and small people. I must wash my hands 100 times a day.
I have won the vegetable battle though. I tried everything and finally went back to trying baby puree pouches of fruit and veggies mixed. She used to hate them. Now if I bribe her with bite sized fiber cookies, she'll eat a pouch or two a day. That's my parenting philosophy though, something didn't work at all 6 months ago? The kid HATED it 4 months ago? Try it again in desperation anyway and see what happens. More likely to work if it's advice someone has been giving you and you've been telling them doesn't work for your kid. The more strongly your kid hates whatever it was, the more they'll love it when you try again. I question my sanity all the time. Lyra went from eating no vegetables to scarfing down a package of pea and kale and apple puree for breakfast with almost no bribery. She's like, "Why have you never offered me this delicious food before?" Oh, I don't know, because I have offered every day of your life and thrown away so much food and therefore money trying to feed you? It's obnoxious. But whatever, she eats vegetables in puree form now at least.
Best moment this week: Well, Lyra likes to kiss and hug my belly and talk about how baby brother is in there which is the most adorable thing ever.
I didn't write about the anatomy scan yet, oops. I didn't realize I hadn't updated. Baby still looks great, he is measuring ahead of my last period due date (right on track with my very first ultrasound putting his due date at 9/22) and a little behind this one I'm sticking with, my 9/19 due date that the OB will go off of if it comes down to placenta placement deciding my delivery. My placenta is still covering my cervix, unfortunately. It did move from covering by 1.6 cm to just 0.6 cm though. So I'm getting another scan at 30 weeks to see if it moves off my cervix fully. The good news is, my OB says he's comfortable with me laboring at the hospital if my placenta moves off my cervix with not even the 1 cm limit, just as long as I'm not bleeding. So all I need is a little more than 0.6 cm and I can give labor a shot. Plus I really want 10 weeks of not stressing about bleeding or early labor. He did way however, that his partner at the practice doesn't want you to labor with your placenta less than 2 cm away. I was reminded though, that I can always say no, let me try labor, if I show up at the hospital with a placenta in that gray 2 cm area and she's the doctor on call. I'm hoping it doesn't have to come down to arguing about it but I guess we will see.
In other news, I was right. My uterus is shaped slightly abnormally. It is in fact mildly heart shaped just like I was suspecting. Apparently though, it's shape is either classified as a normal variant or the most mild abnormal variant in the same category as bicornuate. Doesn't seem to be associated with any negative reproductive effects. However, I was right. That OB who blew me off, was not. I'm a firm believer in advocating for yourself and pushing back when you're blown off, it's happened to me time and time again. I'm glad this is the normal or only slightly abnormal variant that doesn't seem to be linked to negative pregnancy outcomes, but I'm mad that it's something I had to repeatedly ask to have checked and wasn't checked for until now. I wanted to know this information before getting pregnant again for a reason, peace of mind and being fully informed about my chances of another miscarriage. Good thing I got lucky on this one.
Looking forward to: We are taking a trip to Michigan next week. Lyra will be excited to see everyone and it will be a nice break.
