Baby #2 Weeks 18-25

It's a boy!! We're having a little boy this time around! Which is really exciting. It's funny though, after I found out it was a boy I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to use all the cute girl stuff I have again this time and that Jane wouldn't have a sister so close in age. (We'll more than likely have more kids so I'm holding out on getting to use my girl stuff again.) But don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I was really hoping for a girl. If the baby had ended up being another girl I would have been excited, but then I also would have been disappointed that I wouldn't get to go buy cute boy clothes and get to enjoy the whole new experience of having a son. I'm hoping that Jane and our little boy will be able to have a brother-sister relationship like my brother, Scott, and I had. So I think I was going to be super happy and yet just a tiny bit sad with either result when I found out it was a girl or a boy.

So can I talk about for a minute how awesome the ultrasound place was?? First off, I've only had 5 ultrasounds total over my 1 1/2 pregnancies so far. The first ultrasound for each baby was around 8 weeks when they are just a little bean baby and you can't see much other than the heartbeat. So there's not much to compare because it's done just to make sure the baby is in the right place and it's heart is beating. My 18 week ultrasound with Jane was alright. It was great to see Jane's face, arms and legs for the first time, but the screen was super tiny and the ultrasound tech wouldn't tell me almost anything. Any question I asked she basically said "I'm not allowed to say." She said she thought it was a girl but wasn't 100% sure. So we kinda had that "Well, it could be a boy..." feeling for a while. The ultrasound tech also didn't give me any pictures of her face which was a little disappointing.

This is pretty much all I got. "I think it's a girl..."

I had my final ultrasound with Jane at 36 weeks to make sure everything was good and she was in a good position for birth. (And to verify that she really was a girl) It was much better than the my 18 week ultrasound, but the area it was located in was a little shady and they had the ultrasound screen positioned so I couldn't really see it very well over my huge pregnant belly at that point. Also the bed I was lying on seemed really uncomfortable, but that could have just been because I was so pregnant at that point. Also, they were telling me "Oh look at her purse her lips!" To me, it looks like she was sucking on her hand instead. I did get a couple pictures of her profile so that was cool, but that was it.

That's totally her hand over her mouth and not her lips...

Alright, now on to the lovely ultrasound place. It's called Inside Story. Isn't it a great name for a place that does pregnancy ultrasounds? So cute. They have a nice little waiting room and they let us wait about 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment time to let Sam get there from work. They have a large viewing room with room for lots of family to watch with you. There are a couple of large TVs around the room for everyone to have a good view. They also had a few toys for older siblings to play with while we're looking at the new baby. Sam, Jane, my mom, Sandra and Joseph were all able to come and experience it with me. The ultrasound tech said she was able to tell the gender almost as soon as she put the doppler on my belly. She said "'It's a boy and he's not shy!" :)

Yay! We have a son!

We all said "Yay!" I just love finding out the gender. I can start calling the baby he or she! It makes it more personal. I feel like I can already start bonding with my baby in a way I couldn't if I waited to find out. The ultrasound tech switched to 4D to give us a peak at baby boy. It was really cool.

His legs and feet. You can also see the umbilical cord.

I'm pretty sure he was trying to sleep, because as you can see in the picture below he has his hands over his ears and is pushing his face into my placenta.

So adorable!

The ultrasound tech was trying to get him to move so we could see his face in 4D, but he wouldn't budge. At the same time Jane was wanting to be right next to me and wasn't settling for sitting with anyone else. So we let her up on the bed with me and she started pushing on my belly. As soon as she did that, little brother responded and moved so we could see his face!

It's pretty incredible that you can see this detail at 19 weeks.

I actually got more than two pictures from this visit! They also gave me a video of the whole session that I can watch over and over again. It's awesome! The best part is I got all of that and they were the cheapest ultrasound I've ever had. My ultrasound tech was so nice too. I would definitely recommend Inside Story to anyone looking for a affordable and enjoyable ultrasound experience.

Yay!

At the very beginning of my pregnancy I thought this baby was a boy, then I went back and forth between boy and girl for a while. Right before the appointment I guessed boy. I didn't even realize I had wore a blue shirt until after the appointment was done. Jane was also dressed in blue unintentionally. I used the picture below as our gender announcement.

This is the dress jane wore to the appointment as well.

Jane is reading a Berenstain Bears book in that picture. Most of you know that those books are all about Brother and Sister bear! :) I didn't do that on purpose either... It worked out! The shirt for our little boy that I used for the gender announcement I bought when I was pregnant with Jane and didn't know that she was a girl yet. It was on sale and seemed so perfect since Sam always wears plaid and has been called a lumberjack many times. So I just had to get it and I thought, "Even if this baby is a girl, I will just keep it until we hopefully have a boy one day." I'm so glad we're having a boy this time who will be able to wear it! :)

18 Weeks!

A lot of people have been asking me for our baby boy's name and it's not that we're keeping it a secret or anything, he just doesn't have one yet. I got to have my favorite name for our first girl, so now it's Sam's turn to have his favorite for our first boy. He's not in any hurry to settle on one name right now. Our little boy might not have a name until he's born and that's totally fine with me. Before we knew Jane was a girl, our boy name choice was Uriah, but we're not settled on that one this time. It's still in the running though. I like the name Malakai and I would call him "Kai". Eli and Gideon are a couple of my other favorites. I'm a lot less particular with boy names than girl names. I have a lot of favorite boy names. I think the name Flynn would be cool as a middle name because it means "Son of the red-haired man". :) Just last week Sam said his favorite name right now is Atlas. It means "to endure" which we think is pretty cool. We're still not settled on it, but it has first place right now.

22 Weeks. Really starting to show!

Our baby boy is getting very strong and very active! Pretty much anytime I'm still he's moving nowadays. Also, I can feel and see him kick from the outside now! I felt his hiccups for the first time just the other day as well. Such a fun time. I loved it last time and I'm loving it again this time. I'm feeling great. Morning sickness is long gone now and I made it through without throwing up this time, which I'm pretty happy about. I love the second trimester! It's the best. The only thing that I can complain even a little about is some lower back pain which is probably because I have to pick up and carry Jane throughout the day. I've been walking, stretching and trying to lift with my legs more and it's helping. It's hard to believe the third trimester is just 3 weeks away! Man, this boy will be here soon!

I don't think I've mentioned yet that I have two other close friends due within 3 weeks of my due date. We call ourselves the sisterhoodies since we all met and became close friends when our brothers were on a baseball team together 10 years ago. We all showed up to a game once in hoodies.

The dawn of the Sisterhoodies! I think this was taken in 2005.

3 out of the 4 of us are pregnant right now. Super fun! We got together recently and had sort of a baby supply exchange. Liz lives in China right now and Melody wasn't able to make it because one of her kids wasn't feeling well. But at least I got to see Katie and all our wonderful mothers!

2 Sisterhoodies, 3 grandmother-hoodies and 3 babyhoodies.

I got a bunch of boy clothes!! I love hand-me-downs. Liz had already been given a bunch of hand-me-down boy clothes before she found out she was having a girl and Katie found out she was having a girl too, so I got all of the boy clothes. I gave Katie some maternity clothes that were passed on to me and either didn't fit me or didn't look right on me and said it was cool for her to donate whatever she didn't want. I was going to pick up a double stroller from Mel but she couldn't make it. Just another excuse to get back together! :) Pretty much the only thing I need before baby boy is born is a car seat for Jane so he can have Jane's old one.

I'm 24 weeks and Katie is 21 weeks here.

It's such a blessing to have such wonderful friends to experience life with. Love you girls! Can't wait to get all 6 of our babyhoodies together next year!

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one,

Because they have a good reward for their labor.

10 

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,

For he has no one to help him up.