2nd Trimester

I am now in the second trimester at 13 wks., 1 day. I can hardly believe it! So far I've gained two pounds, but since I lost two pounds during my morning sickness I'm not too concerned about it. I just need to be careful since the holidays are looming around the corner and that's when I usually pack on the pregnancy pounds.

I had my third appointment today. I walked in anticipating hearing the heartbeat for the first time. Well, I got a little scare. The nurse practitioner poked, prodded, and pushed, but she could not find the heartbeat. She tried to be reassuring, but I heard both of the boys' heartbeats earlier than this, so I knew we should be finding it. When she said she wished she had an ultrasound machine in the office, I knew she knew the same thing. I started tearing up as she continued to search. Then I thought she decided to quit, but she handed me some Kleenexes, got a lap cover and wrapped it around my pants, then went back to it again. She finally found it! It was very faint (part of the problem was my heart kept being picked up by the doppler), but it was there. She said it registered at 152 and that I'm having a girl. Well, if I remember right, Gavin's heartbeat was always in the "girl" range too. :)

The exciting news is that she wants me to go for an ultrasound anyway before we move. I was very happy about that and had been planning to ask her about the possibility. She brought it up on her own when I reminded her I was moving in November, so that was a blessing. The appointment is set for Nov. 13th. That way she'll get the results in time for my last appointment on that Wednesday. Then I'll have all my records to take with me and won't have to worry about rushing to find a doctor. We know it may be harder to determine the gender since I'll be one day shy of 16 wks., but I'm still thankful we can see how the baby is growing.

The morning sickness has now been gone for about two weeks and it is so nice to have an appetite once again. Food actually looks, smells, and tastes good! I get more tired than normal, which is frustrating when I want/need to get things done, but I am trying to remember my body is working full time on the inside.

I made a count-down chain with the boys last week after I found the idea in a magazine. We made one ring for each week to help the boys visualize how much longer the wait is. We started with 28 rings and are now down to 27. I'm sure that still seems like a lot to them, though the weeks are rolling by quickly to me!

Hopefully my beginning to look chubby belly will soon look like a cutely pregnant belly!