21 Weeks with Baby G # 4

21 Weeks. Half way to meet this precious baby within me!

So far, I have felt very little movement. I learned at my ultrasound from last week that I have an Anterior Placenta, meaning that the placenta covers the front of my tummy, so I can't feel the movement from the front. Dr. Perez said that for sure by 28 weeks I should feel everything all around. 

Following my Anatomy Ultrasound, I had a doctor appointment. Dr. Perez said that my weight jumped from the previous visit 4 weeks ago. I was at 10 lbs. weight gain. I gained 7 lbs in 4 weeks. WOAH! I knew it because some of my pants no longer fit around the hips. I have been eating gluten free and mostly sugar free as well. I am attributing the weight gain to the camping weekend, eating regular wheat breads for hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, birthday cake, etc. Now that I am back home, my water intake is up and I am back to my normal healthy eating with the concessional indulgence. 

I've had some lower left back pain, but have been sleeping well otherwise.

My dreams continue to be super crazy. I had a nightmare had I had the baby and actually it was a boy in my dream. He was in blue overalls with a little white shirt under. I didn't get to nurse him until 5 days after birth. After that time, I tried to nurse him and he continued to pull away and refused to latch on. I was devastated. I woke up that morning after the nightmare and had a really weird day. I felt a sense of heart brokenness. I pray that I have a successful nursing experience. I've never had so many vivid dreams in pregnancy before. Some are memorable and positive and others I wish I would not remember so clearly. 

We have not announced if we are having another girl or boy. May 19th we will have a gender reveal at our home for our close family and friends. Excited to share with everyone!

Until then, it's just a waiting game. My mother can barely stand to wait! Love you mom, it will be worth the wait :-)  

Anatomy Ultrasound with Baby G #4

Today we saw our precious baby! He/she is growing right on target and is in the 60th percentile. Baby is supposed to be between 40-90%. HR BPM was 154. 

Baby was wiggly and moving all around. To count the fingers and see the toes, with the thumb curled around was priceless. Baby is completely healthy from what can be seen on ultrasound and the doctor who read the images and observed the live scan was very pleased.

We looked away at the gender as the sonographer checked to make sure all was well. 

Here are the images we have :)

Side profile 

Feet 

Heart Rate

3D Side Profile of baby face. This one reminds me of Kathryn because her upper jaw actually comes out a bit just like you see in baby here. Could be the angle of the image , or could be the similar mouth of Kathryn.

A hand and you see the nose above the arm.

We’re so excited to meet this sweet baby!!!

20 weeks with Baby G # 4

It’s so hard to believe that I am more than half way to seeing this baby!!

Since I will have a scheduled c-section, I will most likely deliver around 39 weeks

I feel GREAT! My pregnancy eczema is going away, still a bit pinkish and annoying. I’m thankful it’s not flaky, resembling pimples, or itchy like it was. 

I find myself sleeping very well and having the lost odd dreams. Sometimes I am in a random place unzipping little pocket size coin pouches and then I find some unexpected dollars. Other times, I find myself in intimate moments with my husband! 😂 Dreams are pretty crazy right now.

I’m feeling baby love a little more here and there, so that’s been good. HR has been around 145-155 BPM. Everything appears well. I have my anatomy ultrasound on Tuesday, hope to get some more clear pictures. 

We have decided that with a planned c-section, long recovery, and the fact that we gave away all our baby clothes, having none left...that we will find out with a gender reveal 2 months before I am due, in June. This will certainly make it easier to plan for what we will need and have a shower in July. I am registering at Target and amazon.com. Amazon is a favorite place 😬

Looking forward to the second half of pregnancy 🤰🏼 

Now, if we could just settle on a name. We have come up with several names, but none that we are super excited about. I wish it was easier! 

Baby G #4,

I can’t wait to find out if you will be the little sister or little brother! 

Hannah, Jensen and Kathryn are SO ecstatic and really hoping for a little brother. They will be captivated by you once you arrive!!! Actually, once they can feel you kicking and punching mama, they will be so excited. We will start on your baby room soon. Teal, grey, and white are the colors we’ve chosen for you! I think you’ll like it.

19 Weeks with Baby G #4

19 Weeks

I felt the baby move on Wednesday for the FIRST time! It was subtle, but I moved my hand along my belly while I was eating dinner and I was startled and yelped! Hannah came to see what happened and I told her I felt the baby move. I have not felt baby move much after that.  It will come.

Kathryn’s Milestone

It’s really amazing, when you catch your kids doing the right things, the right way, and without asking. Today we witnessed this very thing with Kathryn. She turned four in November, and seems to resemble me in many ways, with her organization, with her thought processes, and the way she does things.

Today, after I got up from resting, she came up to me and asked me to come upstairs with my eyes closed. I waited upstairs by the door of her room. She opened it and I opened my eyes to see that her entire room was completely clean and organized. She took it upon herself to clean up everything that was on the floor, to organize it all, to make the beds, and even to lay out a nice blanket in her closet as if it were a nice rug.

Kathryn went upstairs all by herself without being prompted and cleaned her entire room and put everything in its place, all of her shoes, slippers, and everything was in pristine shape.  She even lined up some things on the windowsill next to her blinds, like a train.  So she got to be the one to open this special egg tonight that Papa brought back from Argentina. She also got to keep the toy inside. Dan and I are completely amazed that she took it upon herself to do all of that and she did it well.

This just goes to show you, how every kid is different. Hannah is almost 9 and she could care less if her room is a mess. It was wonderful to see how pleased Kathryn was with herself. The excitement she displayed was priceless, just for her to know that we were so proud of her.

18 Weeks with Baby G#4

18 Weeks

This week Daniel left for Argentina last Saturday. He had planned to be gone for 10 days, but found out Wednesday, that he would be home today, Saturday. He will be home this evening around 6:30 pm. He will be super exhausted since his flight left yesterday at 1 PM in Argentina (11 AM CMT).

This week has been pretty good. It's been uneventful pregnancy wise, by the evenings, I am just spent. Thankfully, my mom has kept Hannah overnight, every night this week, gotten up with her and taken her to the bus in the morning. My mother in-law has come over every day and taken Jensen and Kathryn to school and picked them up to come home. Both of these ladies and mamas have been a HUGE help to me. I've been able to spend more time at home resting and getting some things done around the house--although I have forced myself to rest more than I normally would. I've learned that self care is just too important to neglect, no matter the state of our house. 

Honestly, I'm feeling really good. I don't have any pregnancy symptoms, other than the normal full belly feeling, drinking and eating snacks more often, and some fatigue. I am thankful that I don't have back pain right now. In my last pregnancy, I had tons of back pain. Maybe I can attribute that to Plexus Ease? I take that for my muscles and joints to be relaxed and not inflamed. 

I feel good about myself, but really trying to keep the peace and trust that the baby is good, despite not feeling any movement yet. I felt movement with Hannah at 17 weeks and with Kathryn at 15 weeks. I've felt a little flutter here and there, that started when I was 14.5 weeks on our cruise. 

Looking forward to a growth spurt in the coming weeks and the feeling of movement. 

Please pray all continues to go well for this baby, and for me. Also pray that we can come up with two names for our baby, names are just plain hard to come up with!