14 Week Bumpdate and the Girls

My photographer was taking her nap.

14 weeks! I had my second OB appointment on Tuesday. The heartbeat was a healthy 150 and weight gain was on track. The doctor said everything looks great! She did say, however, that due to our children’s history of heart defects, I needed to go see the perinatologist for our 20 week scan. That is kind of scary, but I trust her judgment. We would rather be prepared if the babe will require immediate medical attention once he or she is born.

Symptoms: I still throw up every morning and need medication to function first thing. I also start feeling nauseated at night when I need to go to bed. However, during the day I feel completely normal, which is a vast improvement. It has been nice to leave the house and be able to do the household chores again. (I’m sure my husband and my children agree). Other than that, I haven’t really had any symptoms. Sometimes I forget I’m even pregnant!

Size: I officially have a baby bump, but I can hide it and just look mildly fat if I want to. So, naturally I’m in my bump hugging maternity clothes and hoping everyone assumes I’m pregnant and not fat. I like the bump at this stage because I can still squeeze through tight spaces and sleep however I want.

Movement: If I am sitting on the couch and very still, I think I can feel some flutters already. But I am still not certain that is what they are.

Ruthie thinks the baby is a boy, and she wants his name to be Harper. We’ll think about it, Ruthie.

Rosie’s hair has been out of control. It had never been cut, and there was a long rat tail curl in the back. My Abuela cut off the rat tail with cuticle scissors for precision, but I still had to spend my already nonexistent time brushing and doing it every morning. And she would still somehow lose a hair band during the day and her hair would look even worse because then it had the hair band crease. Children looking disheveled is one of my major pet peeves, so this problem needed to be solved. I looked up a YouTube video on how to cut a toddler bob, grabbed my scissors, sat her down in front of Little Einsteins, and went to work. The little girl in the video had stick straight hair, so Rosie’s hair turned out completely differently. I am still extremely satisfied with how it turned out, though. I just run a comb through it in the morning and she is good to go the whole day.

Ruth is three and was still using paci to go to sleep at night. We have been trying to coax her out of it for a while now, but nothing was working. So, one day I told her she was going to give all her pacis to baby Wren and she was going to sleep without one like a big girl. We told her last week if she slept all week without a paci, then Daddy was going to get her a Frozen themed sleeping bag. Well, she slept all week without a paci or a complaint, so last Friday night we all had a slumber party in the den in our new sleeping bags. Wren was the first to leave for her crib, then Rosie had a sleepy meltdown at 10:00 so she went back to her crib, and then I decided my bed was way more comfortable, leaving only Ruth and Daddy downstairs. Ruth had the time of her life and drags her sleeping bag all around the house all day.

Pro: Ruthie finally gave up her paci!
Con: Now, she sucks her thumb.
Mommy fail.

Wren had her weigh in today and she has gone from the 5th percentile to the 10th! The doctor was pleased with her progress. She still has a ways to go until she is back in the 50th, but she eats very well and I think she will do fine. While we were in the waiting room, the mom next to me with a baby in a stroller was telling another mom across the way that she was pregnant again and her children were going to be 17 months apart. She said she was terrified and she was afraid it was going to be horrible. Wanting to be encouraging, I told her that I had three about a year apart and one on the way, and it is just fine. All of the baby stuff is still new and you remember all of your baby tricks. I said it is totally do-able to have two 17 months apart, so don’t worry. I smiled at her. Instead of smiling back, she stared at me open mouthed like I had just sprouted tentacles. The other lady squawked, “Four under four?!! I would KILL MYSELF!” My cheeks turned red and I murmured, “Um, it is really not that bad.” I wanted to tell her that having children has never made me suicidal. Quite the opposite, in fact. My children are the reason I am here. I suppose I should be used to this by now, but people saying insensitive things to me do tend to bother me a bit. But I know I should just shrug it off and move on. She didn’t mean to be offensive, I’m sure. And even if she did, it doesn’t matter. Whether I let her bother me is entirely up to me.

Wren’s heart appointment is coming up next month. I am still praying for a miracle that she doesn’t need open heart surgery. She is a marvelous little thing.

Sorry this post was a book! Of you got through the whole thing, I owe you a drink;)