27th Week: Hicups & Refux

I felt the baby hicupping for the first time this week! It was late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning. Not as pronouced as I remember with Madeline, but I'm sure the feeling with get stronger as the baby continues to grow :-)

I've started to feel a little bit of reflux after dinner and before I go to bed. Nothing painful, but there none the less.

I've also started going to prenatal yoga this week and love it! I'm going to Blooma in Edina - a yoga studio that caters specifically to expecting and new Mamas. In fact, I'm enjoying it so much that I enrolled in the month unlimited and plan to take as many classes as possible - I've already been 3 times! It's definitely harder than I imagined it, but it's a great workout and gives me an hour and a half to relax and just think about Baby!!!

Blooma is a great place for all things pregnancy related. I first heard about them when researching the Minnesota Childbirth Collective. The Collective has free educational meetings/classes every Monday night at Blooma. Matt and I have gone to "All about Doulas" and this past Monday I went to "Comfort Measures". We learn something new at every session and everything we've learned helps us focus on acheiving the natural birth/VBAC that we want so badly.

Speaking of the Childbirth Collective, this is where we got the names of the doulas we are going to interview. We've already had one interview and the others are scheduled for Sunday - we hope to make a decision sometime next week!

Blooma also has a prenatal chiropractor, massage therapists, acupressurists, acupucnturists and miriad of other prenatal prefessionals right on sight. I've scheduled a chiropractic session for next week to see if she can help with my back/pubic symphysis pain - I hope she can help!

While at Blooma we also borrowed the movie, The Business of Being Born. Matt and I watched it together and it really helped us open up to each other about how we felt about birth and how we wanted this birth to unfold. This is a movie I wish we would have watched together earlier on in this pregnancy and even before we had Madeline... but watching it together now was a great experience and I feel we are so much closer because of it. I think EVERY couple should watch it together if/when they decide to expand their family :-)

26th Week: Just Bigger

Really not much new to report this week, except that my belly just keep getting bigger & bigger! I haven't done any official measuring, but you can tell from this week's picture that I've really "popped" over the past few weeks. My weight is still under control... I've gained less so far than I had at this point with Madeline, but we'll see if that holds true for the whole pregnancy :-)

Another thing I've noticed lately is that there has definitely been a reduction in the amount of hair I've been loosing. I think everyone typically losses somewhere around 100 strands of hair per day, but during pregnancy this number is supposed to go down. I think I commented towards the beginning of this pregnancy that I thought my hair loss was staying the same as it had before I was pregnant & that I was losing more than I had while I was pregnant with Madeline. Now it seems to have slowed down - just as predicted. I guess that means more hair loss catch-up after this baby is born too :)

25th Week - Innie or Outie?

I'm going to use this week to write about a few things I forget to mention over the past couple of weeks...

First I'll mention that my belly button seems to have completely transformed from an "innie" to an "outie". The process started while we were on vacation in the Cayman's over New Years (Week 20) and now it pretty much sticks out as far as it can. I don't think this happened with Madeline until sometime after 30 weeks... perhaps I am carrying differently this time. I think I'm sticking out in front (as oppossed to the sides) farther this time. I'm starting to wonder if this means this one is a boy... but Madeline is convinced it is going to be a baby girl :-)

I also seem to have developed a large freckle near my left eyebrow. I'm not quite sure when this happened, but I know it has been within the past month or two. I thought maybe I could see from my belly pictures exactly when it appeared, but that side of my face isn't very prominant (and I haven't been very good at taking them every week since the holidays came around and I went back to work). I've read that some pregnant women develop something called the "mask of pregnancy". This is when skin discolorations appear on their face or other parts of their body while they are pregnant, but disappear after birth. This never happened to me while I was pregnant with Madeline, but maybe that is where this freckle came from... we'll see if it sticks around after the arrival of Baby Frantz in about 15 weeks!

Something new this week is that my legs have been falling asleep a lot more frequently this week. Again, this is something that is normal & expected, but rather annoying none-the-less...

I've also been able to see baby Frantz moving around in my belly this week :-) I think I could have been able to see it earlier, but I never looked down at the right time. Now that the movement has increased so much it's hard to miss it!

24th Week - Midwives & Doulas

Friday we had our 24 Week prenatal appointment at our Midwife's office. Unfortunately, we showed up at 3:30 and our appointment wasn't scheduled until 4:30... luckily, one of the other 2 midwives on staff at Western OB was able to see us at 3:30. We were glad to meet her because, just as with most OBGyn practices, the midwife that will actually be with us during labor and delivery depends on who is on-call that day. She was very easy to talk to and answered my questions about the low pelvic pain I've been having... just as I read online, the pain has to do with making way for Baby Frantz and it completely normal. She suggested sleeping with a thicker pillow between my knees and perhaps investing in a pregnancy support band. I plan on trying the thicker pillow to see if that helps, if it doesn't I might try and find a support band :-)

We also got to have another quick ultrasound to capture the last required shot of Baby Frantz - the elusive profile shot. Once again Baby Frantz had his/her hand up by his/her face and made it difficult to get a decent view, but eventually the hand moved away and this is what we saw! Another successful prenatal visit :-) Today Matt and I went to our first doula interview. This particular doula was recommended to me by someone I met through ICAN her in the Twin Cities. She helped my friend successfully VBAC completely naturally without any interventions/pain medications so we were very excited to meet her! We met at her at Starbucks and chatted for about 1 1/2 hours. She answered all of Matt and I's questions and seems to have a lot of the qualities we are looking for: Dedicated to learning how we want the birth to go - so she can remind us of the things we really want during labor, completely supportive of Matt doing most of the hands-on support - yet showing us many new approaches to natural pain management, non-confrontational - really emphasizes establishing a positive working relationship with the hospital doctors and nurses, seems to have a good knowledge of when to speak up and when to let things progress on their own, doesn't seem to have her own hidden agenda - truly wants us to have the experience we are hoping for, & became a doula for all of the right reasons!

We plan on interviewing at least 2 more doulas over the next couple of weeks, and making a decision by the end of February. We've gotten a lot of good recommendations and just need to set up a couple more interviews :-)

Another good note... no more issues sitting down this week - I'm really hoping that was an isolated event ;-)

23rd Week - Unexpectedly Uncomfortable...

My last line from my last post was "I'm still feeling great and truly enjoying pregnancy again this time!"... Well, most of that is still very true - I'm enjoying this pregnancy as much as the first, but this past week I've started to experience some of the unpleasantries associated with being pregnant...

Sleeping is never something that is easy during pregnancy. Between increased trips to the bathroom and some hip pain, a full night's sleep never comes uninterrupted, but lately I've started to feel a few new aches and pains that I don't remember having with Madeline. The pain is in the middle of the lowest part of the pelvis. It doesn't hurt while I am up and moving around or laying in bed, but rather when I lift my legs to change sleeping positions or hoist myself out of bed to make another trip to the bathroom. I looked it up online to see if it is normal and I believe it is may be Symphysis Pubis Diatasis - something they describe as "harmless and quite normal". After reading more about it, I learned that things are just starting to loosen up to make way for delivery day :-)

Another new development this week - one that I've never experienced before and hope I don't have to experience again - is something that I won't get into on the blog... let's just say that sitting down has not been a pleasurable experience for the past few days...

Other than these things I've still been feeling well and continue to enjoy all of the movement going on in there :-) I think this one may be just as lively as Madeline!

22nd Week: Settling Down & Clothes Shopping

Things are finally starting to settle down around here after Christmas, vacation, starting a new job and breaking ground on the new house. Being so busy has really made the last few weeks fly by!

I survived my second week of work and I'm liking it more each day. Baby Frantz keeps me company all day and lets me know he/she is still there by kicking all the time :-)

I realized very quickly that my belly is definitely getting bigger and that I really needed more clothes to wear to work. So, last weekend I got out all of my clothes from my last pregnancy and started trying them on. Turns out I'm just not the same size that I was the last time around. I'm happy that the clothes are too big, but that meant I needed to do some shopping. For those of you that know me, I don't go shopping very often - especially for myself, and when I do I am definitely a bargain hunter. I was worried that I might spend a fortune, but was VERY happily surprised when I walked into the first store and ALL of their maternity clothes were on sale!!! I got pants, shirts, sweaters and a jacket - and saved 60+% off the original prices! I should have enough to last me for a while (as long as I don't start packing on the pounds) and just be able to supplement with the occasional deal I find here and there :-)

I'm still feeling great and truly enjoying pregnancy again this time!

21st Week: Ultrasound!

We got back from Cayman late Sunday night and we had such a great time! Monday we all headed to Waconia for my 20 week ultrasound - they are more fun each time! This one took about 45 minutes and Baby Frantz was VERY active the whole time. They took a lot of pictures and said everything looks great! The couldn't get a profile picture, so I might be lucky enough to get another look at my next appointment so they can try and capture this elusive shot :-)

After the ultrasound we met with a new Doctor - OBGyn Andrea Huldeen. She talked with us about VBACs and said that I was a very good candidate. Of course she went through all of the risks, but she also talked about all of the benefits. It was an emotional appointment... talking about all of the limitations associated with being "high risk" because of the C-Section I had because Madeline was breech. But after all was said and done, we really believe that VBAC is the way to go and we'll do everything we can to help make it happen :-) Seeing Dr. Huldeen was something we needed to do but we can't wait to see CNM Cheryl at our next appointment!

Here are the ultrasound pictures we got to take home:
The ultrasound technician said that all of the measurements she took indicate that Baby Frantz is exactly 1 lb. right now ~ just where he/she is supposed to be :-)

On a different note, Tuesday was my first day at my new job... I love my new position and try not to get too distracted by all of the kicking :-)

20th Week: Half way there!

We've spent the entire week lounging on the beach and Grand Cayman and it has been WONDERFUL! Baby and I have been soaking up some rays and making lots of sand castles with Daddy & Big Sister Madeline :-) I consider myself lucky that our vacation fell right in the middle of the second trimester - I feel wonderful!

Here are a few shots of my belly on the beach:I'm so glad we have our own rental house and private beach with only family around. It makes letting my new belly hang out that much easier :-)

19th Week: Daddy gets to feel baby kicks too!

After me telling Matt for the past few weeks that I've been feeling some kicking, he finally got his turn!!! I was laying in bed Tuesday morning with my hands on my belly and I actually felt the baby kick on the outside! I told Matt to try and feel, but the kicking had stopped. On Wednesday morning I felt the kicking again and this time Matt got to feel it too! Just in time for Christmas - could we ask for anything more?!?!?!

I'm feeling great - no complaints! My Baby Bump is really starting to pop out - perfect just in time for our beach vacation... Speaking of which, I don't have much time to write - I have to keep packing! We leave for Grand Cayman early Sunday morning and still have another Christmas party tomorrow!

18th Week: Mommy's feeling some kicking!

There was definite kicking going on in there this week! It still isn't very regular, but I know it's Baby Frantz making him/herself known :-) I feel it most often in the morning and at at night while I'm lying in bed. I just love this feeling - The perfect 30th Birthday present!!!