Profile Pics before Boda Baby#2

I took the time to take some profile pics before the new baby is born. I'm not good about keeping up with this normally. I can never believe how huge I get!

Midwife and Maternity Leave

We chose a midwife in New York, Michelle Doyle, and all systems seem to be go for a homebirth for baby #2! We're pretty excited! The link to her website is http://www.localcaremidwifery.com/. We both get along with her really well, and her philosophy is in line with ours. One good thing about New York is that insurance pays for homebirth - YEAH!

On that same line of thought, I found out that my maternity leave will be covered! I'll get 2 weeks before the due date and 6 weeks after the birth (8 if some complication leads to C-section). Then, I'll take a week of vacation, and still have one week vacation left! Things for this baby are working out so much better than we had hoped. We have no idea what we'll name it if it's a boy, but the baby is healthy, growing, and active!

This pregnancy has been much different than my pregnancy with Cecilia. For one, I'm carrying this baby higher, so I frequently have a foot in my diaphragm or stomach - sometimes for days! I don't have as much pain in my pelvis because the baby is higher, but now that I'm getting big I'm having much more frequent heartburn and some nausea when the baby compresses my stomach. At least the feet are up, which means the baby is head down. Yeah! I'm also now understanding the exhaustion many women experience with pregnancy. With Celia, I could adjust my work schedule, nap, or go to bed early. Not with this baby! Now, our schedule is fixed and my rest is subject to Cecila's sleeping - or not sleeping - times.

The coolest part about this pregnancy is that Celia knows something is going on with Mommy. In the last few weeks, she's become very curious about my belly. She'll point to mine, then try to look at hers. We've told her there's a baby in there and she'll give my belly kisses, too. I really wonder sometimes if she understands because she's not at all incredulous about there being a baby in Mommy's tummy. The concept of the baby coming out is certainly not there, but maybe she does know there's one on the way.

It's all exciting! We do need boy name suggestions, though. Any good ideas?

Baby #2's First Pictures

We had the ultrasound for our second baby today. Everything looks good, but they changed the due date to September 21, 2010. I am not convinced that the ultrasound tech's measurements are accurate, but I also am not opposed to accepting a later due date. I also think it's likely the original date was off by about a week. I think that the baby will probably arrive between the 9th and the 21. My official prediction is a due date of September 16, 2010.

For the record, Hannah predicts: girl, September 16, 2010, 7lbs 7oz

Here are two profile shots.

A profile on the left, and face-on on the right.

A foot, and another face-on view.

Once again, the scary face-on view that looks like special effects from Harry Potter.

Baby #2

I forgot to give a quick update about the new baby. We went ahead and saw a doctor last week for the new baby since we're approaching 20 weeks and would like the 20 week ultrasound. Everything was fine and the heartbeat was in the 160s. He didn't listen long, but there was only one heartbeat and he said the size was normal for 19 weeks. Our ultrasound is scheduled for April 27th, so hopefully we'll still be here for it. We have a follow-up appointment the next day. We'll try to get the new baby's first picture on the blog pretty quick. Other than that, I feel fine and all is well!

Update on Pregnancy #2

It was suggested that I make sure I blog about this pregnancy, as well as the adorable Cecilia. So, since this will be the only baby book our children have (an intentional decision), here we go.

I have been much sicker with this baby. The morning sickness has been bad enough that I got SeaBands accupressure bands for my wrists. They actually really work! I also got ginger ale and ginger root gum, which helped a little. Lemon drop candy DID NOT work as suggested. Crackers were also not usually helpful when I was feeling really bad. My morning coffee became a thing of the past, as did a lot of foods.

As week 9 has come, the symptoms have improved. I still get queasy, but it is nothing like it was for the last 2 weeks. I can drink coffee again! So, the questions is, does that mean this is a boy or twins? People keep talking about twins, and I just want to say that I am not going to consider it. Three babies under the age of 2 is too horrendous to think about. Plus, as I've said before, I truly believe this will be a girl. What I think is that this baby will give me more pregnancy symptoms but it will be one girl with a more even temperment then our precious Cecilia. You know, do things like breastfeed, play on her own for 5 or more minutes, and eat solids at an appropriate time. Although, another Cecilia would be wonderful too (we do love her more than we can say). We'll just have to wait and see!