Eww!!

My belly button is starting to poke out already. It's still set back in it's home, but there is definitely a bit of a popping out. Lovely!

Okay, off to watch Lost!!

How do you get a flipped baby to flip?

Oy! Carrying this breeched little nugget is not much fun! Now that her kicks are getting stronger, whenever she is active, I get beaten up down in the nether regions! My bladder of course is getting a whupping. While the rib-shaking kicks aren't fun, at least they don't make me have to run to the bathroom! It also sucks because when she's kicking, it's hard for Chris to feel because without looking totally inappropriate with his hand placement, he can't get down there. We were laying in bed one morning when she was swimming around and the timing just wouldn't work out. So, he still has yet to feel her.

I had a quick question. I don't even know who reads this and all, but there could be someone that had a breech baby. Or, you can ask some of your other mommy friends. I was just curious to see if anyone else carried a breech baby and if when that baby was born and grew up if they didn't like to be upside down. Yeah, I have a weird way of thinking, but I just found it amusing that maybe this baby just does not like to be upside down even now and that's why she's staying with her head up. Yeah, I probably am completely off the mark, but it would interesting to know if that has happened ever. :)

Doing better now...

Apparently, a few days of taking Motrin did the trick. My back now is much better. I have cut back on taking them and by Monday, the doctor wants me to stop taking it. Hopefully I can stay on top of it now and if it starts hurting a little bit, I can take Tylenol or something to try to keep the inflammation down.

Other than that, things are going well. Still have the heartburn every now and then. That's always fun. But, I'll take it over the horror stories I've heard of other people's pregnancies!

Watching Little Einsteins yet again with Carter. We have limited his movie watching since he has been acting out at school so we are sticking with some Playhouse Disney stuff. While I like the shows, OnDemand really needs to get more than just four episodes of each show on their listings! After noon, Disney changes to all the tweeny shows and Carter doesn't really care for them. So in the evening, if I don't have any shows on DVR, we have to resort to the OD shows. Yippie!! But he has fun. He's really getting into the participation part of the show. For so long he would just watch it while playing. Now he does the motions and finds the things they are looking for. He's watched Chris play World Tour enough that he pretends to be playing the drums when the music plays. I'll have to take some pictures of it...it's adorable!

So, Chris and I are apparently having some desention of how to spell the baby's name. We always liked Alison with one L. But I like Allie as the shortened version. Chris doesn't like it with the E. So, since Alli is the name of that weight-loss drug thing, I think it's going to be Alison and shortened to Ali. I don't like that shortened way as much, but it will work. That way, it's not as confusing as how I originally was thinking. Alison Victoria...can't believe she will be here soon.

I'm still not ready just yet to be a mommy of two. I know it will come, but I definitely need the next few months to prepare. We hopefully will be starting to change the rooms around here soon. Once I do that and start shopping for her, I'll start getting more into the excitment. For now, I'm just enjoying watching this belly expand.

Well, it's almost bath time. Then it's storytime. I wonder how many books we'll have to read tonight! :)

Ughh!!

So, last week, I had to walk across campus for a meeting. Normally, it's not a big deal. But lately, I haven't been too active, so apparently, I went a bit too fast for my body. Beginning that night, I was a bit sore. I took it easy but it's still gotten worse. I bought a pregnancy belt on Friday and wore it all day on Saturday while at Port Discovery. But I still had to sit the entire time and was really hurting by the time we got home. Then yesterday, I spent most of the day on the couch with the heating pad on but had to get up to make dinner while Chris went to the gym. By the time he got home, I was literally in tears. He banished me to the couch for the rest of the night. I decided last night that I would not go to work today and try to get to the doctor.

The pain is in the lower left side of my back and spreads up my back and down my leg. My knee which is already weak has been hurting as well. I had sciatic pain with Carter but this was far worse than I ever felt with him. So, I was a bit concerned just because it hurt so much.

The doctor said that the walk that I did last week must have triggered the sciatica to flare up and I'm now very inflammed. She said basically the only two courses of action were to try 400mg of Motrin every six hours for 24 hours. If that works, we could stick with that until about 36 weeks. If not, she will write me a script for a few sessions of physical therapy. So, hopefully the stronger medicine will help more than the Tylenol was. And hopefully once the main inflammation goes down, it will be bearable.

But I can tell you now, if this pain lasts for the next few months, I'm going to go crazy! But at least Allie seems to be doing just fine. Her heartbeat was great and she's still swimming around. So, here's hoping that things die down soon and I can go back to work tomorrow.

Regular happenings

Nothing really new going on. Heartburn is starting for me. There are days I think there is a fire burning inside my upper chest. But, luckily it usually only lasts a day then I get a break. I've only had to use some antacids once. The baby is moving all around. I'm still not feeling much from the outside, but occasionally I'll feel a tiny kick. If she stays in this position, I fear she'll only be kicking at my bladder all the time. That could be worse than those crazy rib jabs.

I'm a bit concerned for Carter. I think he's showing signs of being color blind. I know that isn't a horrible thing and he will learn to differentiate colors in his own way, but it's unfortunate. Both my dad and my brother are so I will not be surprised if Carter is too. What makes me think this is he has really come far in his letter recognition and all. We played Memory this weekend and he totally surprised me with this remembering where things where on the floor. But when it comes to recognizing colors, he calls everything green. He can sort things at times, but putting the name of the color to the right one just is not catching on. I won't really worry about it until it's time to think about kindergarten, but I think that's the situation. But, as long as we get it diagnosed, we'll be able to work with it. So, we'll see!

It's official

Went for the second ultrasound today. Much more active today even though the baby is still breech. But, but we got several good shots of the heart and best of all, clear and present proof that this one is a girl. Yippie!!

20 Weeks down

Slightly more than halfway through. Since I most likely will be scheduled a bit early, I won't be going the full 40 weeks. It's so hard to believe it's been 20 weeks. In many ways I'm only just now starting to feel pregnant. Of course the beginning was the just knowing something was different. Now I'm seeing my belly growing and I'm feeling the little one swimming around. I still haven't been able to really feel much from the outside, but it's still early. I am pretty sure she (not that I'm totally sure but it sounds better than it) is still breech. Most of the movement is in my lower belly so I'm sure that's where the feet still are. The doctor actually told me last week that with each pregnancy, the babies have more room to move around because the muscles never fully return to pre-pregnancy tautness. I never thought about it, but it makes sense! She told us of a woman she saw once that had four children vaginally and at 37 weeks with her fifth, it was breech. She freaked out knowing she would probably have to have a C/S. But then she thought, with four other ones at home, maybe a planned delivery would be nice! I could not imagine having that many children!! At times I fear if I will be able to handle two. Especially when Carter decides to show just how independent he thinks he really is! But I know we will work through it. But this is it. The kitchen will be closed after this one. Our family will be even numbers and we don't need to bring any more into this world!

This takes me on a quick rant about certain television families. Many people know my hatred of Kate of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. Well, hatred is a harsh word. I just don't understand her. But the family I can't stand even more is the Duggars. I mean, come on!! 18 kids?!?! Why in God's name would you want to bring that many kids into this world. Now, I'm not saying that the kids are at fault and who knows...one of them could be some world-changing pioneer one day. But, there needs to be logic behind your intentions. Sure, they believe that birth control is evil. Many people do. There is that whole "BC is essentially instant abortion" theory. While I don't believe it, I can understand the logic. BUT...when a couple does not believe in using medical or barrier BC, they usually practice other ways of controlling. This couple just seem to reproduce like rabbits. Wouldn't there be a point when any sane woman would push the guy off of her? Wow! And the fact that in today's day and age, it's difficult to fully provide for one child, let alone that many. Sure she's homeschooling therefore able to teach her kids only what she wants them to learn. Sure she's not putting the kids in daycare. But really, how much time can she actually devote to one child? If one is having difficulties in math and another in vocabulary, how to help them both while nursing two other infants? Then we get into the future for these kids. The only way they will get to go to college would be on the charity of others. The town pitches in to care for these kids. Why should they have to? Oh, and another thing about the family. They are teaching their kids that this is the will of God, to have huge families and depend on others. So, what happens when the kids grow up and try to do the same thing? They end up with five kids each, but who is going to help them? Most likely, the majority of them are not going to get degrees in anything so what are they going to do for money? The cycle continues.

Now, I'm not saying that there should be a limit to families. I am no where near a Chinese dictatorship. But, people need to use common sense. Chris and I firmly agreed that two children was plenty. That way we can provide for them both without putting them at a disservice. If for some crazy chance God decides to be funny and give us another child, we will manage. But we feel for our family, four is enough. I just hope the children of families like the Duggars and that other family (I always forget their last name since I don't watch the show) make the best of their situation. OH, and don't get me started on that one single mother who went and had octuplets!!

Sorry for the rant. I guess I just wanted to post something of substance!