24 Weeks!

How far along: 24wks 1 day

Baby's Size: About 1' long, and just over 1lb!! (we're out of inches and ounces!!) - about the size of a cantaloupe or an ear of corn.

Heartbeat: 134bpm - exactly 10bpm down from 4 weeks ago and absolutely perfect

Gender: It's a surprise!

Weight gain: about 5-7lbs

Maternity clothes: All the time! A lot of my shirts still fit because I prefer more flowy vs clingy shirts anyway, but I like to wear maternity shirts because it shows off my belly a bit more :)

I'm wearing some maternity jeans, but I kept a lot of my jeans from before I lost 65lbs, so they fit...although they're even getting a little snug as the bump grows! I need to go buy a few more pairs of maternity jeans. Today my belly looked HUGE. Randy came home from work to go to our appointment, smiled at me, and said, "you look really pregnant today." 

Stretch marks: I already have stretch marks from gaining and then losing 65lbs, but I haven't noticed new ones. I'm not too worried about it.

Belly button in or out: In

Wedding rings on or off: On, but they're also way too big after losing weight, so I don't expect to ever need to take them off. I actually had them fly off the other day at Aldi while we were bagging our groceries! That was terrifying. I have a spacer on them because they're too loose, but when my hands get cold my fingers get smaller. Oops. 

Sleep: It's getting a little more difficult. Randy and I were sick for a few weeks with this awful cold that was really similar to really bad sinus/allergy problems, so I couldn't breathe if I didn't take a benadryl before bed. I also had to get a new inhaler for my asthma. I haven't had any problems with it or even needed an inhaler for at least 3 years, so I didn't have a current one. I was waking up dizzy and feeling like my lungs were being crushed in the mornings. Fortunately, the inhaler cleared that up and a z-pack took care of my cold. I'm so glad because I thought all of those things were just pregnancy related! I know "pregnancy congestion" is a thing, and then because the baby is starting to head further north, I figured my lungs were just being a little squished. I've been sleeping well since then, but sometimes it's hard to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. Basically, unisom is my bff.

Best moments since last post: Seeing the baby today 💛   AND RANDY FELT THE BABY!!! A few weeks ago, but I'm still excited! He feels it more often now. It's nice being able to share it. Starting around last Sunday the baby started kicking like crazy! I've felt kicks ever since week 13 (my body is extra sensitive) but they were few and far between until around 20wks. I felt more, but it would only be a few times a day. Now it's constant throughout the day. Especially in the mornings and right before bed. Some days he or she will kick me almost the whole day! We also got to see the kicks from the outside, which is insane! It's so neat to see, but it also kind of reminds me of Alien a bit 😂   Every now and then I catch myself just staring at my belly waiting to see them again. The other day in church the baby kicked so hard it made my arm that was resting against my belly move! We also got the crib and dresser in. We went to Babies R Us to get a look at the crib we wanted and the dresser that matched it had been marked down from $700 with the changing table attachment to $300!!! We hadn't planned on getting the dresser because it was so expensive! So we went ahead and bought both. The nursery is under construction still, though, so they're in our living room, hahha. The crib is at least in a box, but the dresser was already put together in the store. Everyone keeps saying, "oh, don't worry, the baby will be with you in your room the first few months anyway." Um, our whole house is in disarray right now and coated in construction dust...there isn't a place for the baby, period! There will be, but it doesn't make it any less stressful. We're working on 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and we're about to move our bedroom to the other end of the house so we can work there next. It's cray cray up in here. 

Miss anything: Maybe I miss drinking caffeine in public without feeling judged 😬. I don't think I'm actually being judged (yet) because I'm not huge, but it makes me anxious. I still keep it under the recommended 200-300mg, though. One negative of the bump, haha.  For the longest time, coca-cola was the only thing that helped my occasional nausea. It has also became a bit of a craving...

Movement: SO MUCH! I love it. However, the baby has been kicking...um...downward lately, and that is super uncomfortable. Not crazy about those kicks, but it's still so comforting knowing he or she is okay in there. A lot of times I'll worry because I haven't felt anything in a while, and almost immediately the baby will kick. It's amazing.

Cravings: I've noticed they've started to narrow down a little instead of being everything that crosses my mind. Sometimes it depends on my mood, or one will just hit me (like chocolate cake a few weeks ago), but it's becoming like one or two things that I'll suddenly just NEED. 
Still Chinese food - specifically crab rangoon, spring rolls, and hot & sour soup. I usually have that once a week.
Sour cream chicken enchiladas. Randy loves that one because Mexican food is his favorite. He isn't a fan of Chinese.
Whataburger fries with gravy, apple pie, and coca-cola.
Candy. Goodness, I can't check out at a store without grabbing a bag of peanut m&ms or a candy bar. I've NEVER been that way. I rarely eat candy...if I do, it's pretty rare.
A few other things depending on the day, but that's all I can think of right now

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really. I either had a 24hr stomach bug or food poisoning a couple Sundays ago, though. I couldn't keep anything down and I was absolutely miserable. I do have my first food aversion, though. It doesn't make me sick, but I REALLY don't like the taste of whole milk right now. It's fine in cereal, but I can't handle a glass of it. Yuck! 2% seems to be okay, though...I guess the fat content made the difference?

Happy or moody: Definitely moody. The mood swings are in full effect, people. There's a story from a doctor fiasco below that shows it pretty well, haha. 

I had a bit of a breakdown 2 weekends ago because I got to thinking about being induced and how I've heard it can make for a longer and more painful delivery. So I got to googling (always a terrible idea) and a ton of message boards were pretty much nothing but women confirming what I had already heard. So I of course started panicking and bawling my eyes out to Randy.
I've also been crying more. We had baby dedications at church last week and my hormones COULD NOT DEAL. 

Labor Signs: Nope! Praise the Lord!

Looking forward to: My belly is definitely obvious now, but I'm excited to look even more pregnant. I've been feeling a ton of stretching and round ligament pain lately. I know it's a bit of a double edged sword with the discomfort that comes with the belly. Last Sunday my belly dramatically grew from the start of the day to the end. It was crazy!
I also have several showers coming up! That will be so fun! I'm so thankful to have so many friends and family who want to celebrate this precious gift. 

Not looking forward to: Needing to use the bathroom more than I already do. Sometimes I literally walk out of the bathroom and have to go again before I even get down the hall. Not looking forward to people/strangers touching my belly. I know it'll happen. We also are renovating our home and the bathroom is on the other side of the house. When I get out of bed in the middle of the night for a bathroom run I seriously worry I'm going to have an accident because the baby pushes on my bladder more when I stand up. I've had to teach myself that I probably have to go worse than I think because it gets worse when I stand. 

Other weird symptoms: Not really. It has been pretty smooth sailing. 

So how are my emotions and hormones going?? Well, yesterday I had an appointment with a specialist for a level 2 ultrasound because I'm high risk and my OB's office didn't put in the referral for insurance. When I asked them about it A MONTH AGO they said they would be the ones to send in the referral. I thought it was odd because that's usually up to the PCP, but whatever. I even called a few weeks after to confirm it would be done. I got to the specialist's office and noooope. Mind you, we scheduled it just for yesterday because my Randy was off, so he wouldn't have to miss a day of work. They called my PCP and they weren't able to get it in in time for my appointment, so they scheduled me for today at one. Randy had to take off, but fortunately, it was the only day he didn't have meetings all day, so he was able to take off the second half of the day. He comes to every appointment with me, except once, and he especially wanted to be there for this one because it's more involved than a regular ultrasound, and we hadn't seen the baby in a month.
So I went downstairs and chewed my OB's office out because I was so angry I was literally shaking. Randy kept trying to calm me down, but I was absolutely fuming. She was like "oh, I wouldn't have told you that, we don't do that." She was the one who originally told me they would take care of it and a nurse later told me the same thing when I called to ask about something else. 
She was like, "no, your PCP has to take care of it before the appointment."
"WELL I WOULD HAVE TAKEN CARE OF IT A MONTH AGO HAD I KNOWN I NEEDED TO."
"Oh, well I don't know who would have told you that..." (uh, you, but I didn't feel like going in that circle again)
"Then the message needs to be conveyed to SOMEONE because this is insane."
So then I had to make sure they could get me in as well because I was supposed to go down and see them after the specialist. I felt a little bad about losing my temper and raising my voice, but also kind of not because their offices are 45min away and Randy (at that time) wasn't going to be able to come to the rescheduled appointment. I felt even worse for being a little short with the specialist's office. I know it wasn't their fault...I mean, I wish they would have checked to see if the referral was in, but they never told me they would, so I didn't expect it of them.
Anyway, after angry crying for like half an hour, I was finally better. Don't mess with a pregnant woman and her hormones, people. It was not my finest moment, but UGH. 😡😡😡😡😡

Randy surprised me and took me to Pei Wei after because I had been wanting it lately, even though he doesn't really like Asian food. He wanted to make me feel better, and it worked. He's so good to his crazy, hormonal wife.

Today we had our appointment and I apologized to everyone. The specialist said the baby looked absolutely wonderful and was in the 59th percentile. We've been in the 30s, so that was nice to hear. All of the bones and organs looked great and were functioning. She had us close our eyes while she confirmed the gender...I've seriously never wanted to open my eyes more. SO TEMPTING. Baby is head down still, which explains the huge jabs to the middle of my belly (kicks) and the uncomfortable jabs to my bladder and colon (punches) haha. It's amazing how great I have felt. I mean, I've had a tiny bit of discomfort, but all around my health is going SO well! They have been having trouble getting my seizure meds under control, though. They want my levels to be around 12 and 2 weeks ago it was 4.7...so it was going down despite the dramatic raise in my dosage. They added another med to try to help it out and it seems to be working. They also split it up so I take part of it around noon and the other part before bed. It's extended release, so it lasts longer and will overlap instead of weakening by the next dose. My OB said today that my liver and kidneys must be metabolizing it so fast it can't keep up. 

Like 4wks ago, baby was completely uncooperative and we couldn't get a good profile shot, but she gave us a sweet photo of his or her face from the front. Next ultrasound is 4wks away at 28wks! And yet another glucose test 😒  can't wait...

Thanks for reading and going on this journey with us!