Week 24 Bumpdate

We had our 24 week appointment yesterday.  During our appointment our doctor checked Elise's heart.  He showed us the 4 chambers and the 2 large vessels leaving the heart.  I asked him if he would be able to see most congenital heart defects at this point in the pregnancy.  He said based on what he saw with the major vessels and chambers that rules out 80-85% of congenital heart defects.  When I asked about that he got really into the anatomy, showing me the vessels and telling me where they went.  He then moved to the brain, showed me the cerebellum, and the spinal fluid.  It was so interesting and I love that he takes the time to look at so much.  He explained that since he does an ultrasound every time he's able to look at things that other doctors don't and may not even know to look for.  It was amazing to hear him rattling off all the vessels and veins and anatomy.  The lady who referred me to our doctor had a son whose kidneys were blocked and he had 2 surgeries to fix it before he turned 1.  Had the doctor not seen it on an ultrasound they wouldn't have found out it was blocked until he was older and it was causing problems.  It is so reassuring to know our doctor is looking for any possible problem or complication.  It's also nice to hear the doctor tell us that everything looks beautiful just like he has at each appointment!  I'm so glad to know Elise is healthy and developing appropriately.

 

December 16, 2014

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of a cantaloupe and is almost a foot long!  Carter would love that the baby now has nipples!

Weight Gain: I can't believe how much my weight fluctuates day to day.  Yesterday I was up 13 pounds and today I was up 15.  I feel like it's not worth keeping track, but I know it will be comforting to read if I'm pregnant again later.  I was a bit worried I was up 15 pounds, but then saw I was up 16 pounds at 24 weeks with Carter.  I ended up only gaining 25 pounds total so I feel better about where I'm at now!

Maternity Clothes: Still able to fit into a few of my larger non-maternity tops, but other than that I've switched over to maternity clothes full-time.  I was wishing I had a pair of maternity skinny jeans so I could wear them with my boots on chilly days.  Ty said if I went and picked them out he'd get them for me for Christmas and I could start wearing them now and he'd just wrap them up on Christmas Eve.  I thought that was a fabulous idea.  Why waste weeks of wearing jeans that I'll only be able to wear for a few months anyway?  I'm loving them and getting to wear my boots with them.  It really is so much warmer!

Sleep: My occasional nights of sleeping without a restroom break are officially over.  I'm now waking up a ridiculous amount of times every night with a minimum of 3 wake ups!  One night I woke up at 2 am and couldn't fall back to sleep.  It really stunk, but I know it is very likely what I will be experiencing in a few months with Elise's arrival so I may as well get used to it!  

Symptoms: Pretty much constantly going to the bathroom.  I could honestly go every 15-30 minutes!  I've had to start leaning forward and pushing on my bladder to help push out anything that didn't come out when I went.  That helps, but I'm still getting tired of going to the bathroom.  After a hard run (pretty much a hilly run or a 5k) I waddle.  Thomas likes to give me my own soundtrack when I walk and it goes something like this: ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba dum.  It reminds me of music you'd play for an elephant walking.  Gotta love brothers!  I still haven't felt any Braxton Hicks like what I felt when pregnant with Carter.  I have had a few little cramps when I waited too long to go to the restroom and I wonder if they were little Braxton Hicks contractions.  It's also getting more difficult to bend over.  Oh, and my belly button is still hanging on for dear life.  I swear it's going to pop out soon, but I thought the same thing with Carter and it never did!

Running: My weekly mileage was 16 miles.  I've noticed that when I run with the stroller I don't even notice my belly.  When I run without the stroller I notice it more and it seems to throw my form off a little bit.  I think it's because pushing the stroller forces me to be more forward in my movements and I can't go side to side as much, but who knows!  We ran the Jingle Bell 5k this weekend and I ran it in 23:05, over a minute faster than my last 5k!  I felt awesome and couldn't believe how much faster I was running.  It seems like I'm getting more of a surge with my running and I've also been less tired, skipping a few naps. 

Food Cravings: I've been horrible with sweets this week.  It's time to get back on track!

Food Aversions: Still barbeque and smoked meat, yuck!

Movement: The movements have been so much stronger.  This is my favorite part of pregnancy, when you can see the kicks by watching your stomach.  I get so distracted because when I start feeling strong kicks I stop what I'm doing and stare down at my belly hoping to see her moving.  Ty saw her move earlier this week and then this weekend my dad got to see and feel her move.  Thomas was sitting beside me on the couch and watched her moving around.  I love, love, love sharing the amazing experience with others!  It's fun to feel the movements even when others don't know it's happening, it's so much more fun to get to share it with everyone else!  When Carter sits on my lap to read books Elise kicks him in the back.  He doesn't even notice!  One day Carter saw her kick and said, "Mommy, whew!" and pointed at my belly.  On Saturday Elise must've been extra tired and I felt her move in the morning, but didn't feel her again all day.  I got worried and by the next morning when I was laying on my back in bed and she wasn't moving (she always kicks when I lay on my back) I was starting to worry something happened to her.  But she was back at it a little while later, thank goodness!

Best Moment of the Week: Carter's birthday was a blast and we all had so much fun.  When I got on my timehop I got to see pictures of Carter's first birthday as well as pictures of the day he was born.  Looking at his sweet, little newborn self I got so excited to meet Elise.  The day Carter was born was so amazing.  I am excited to hold Elise for the first time, to love her, to nurse her, to rock her, to introduce her to Carter.  Having a newborn is so special.  I also really enjoyed our doctor's appointment.  He switched over to 4D for a little bit so we got to see Elise's face.  She was all scrunched up toward the bottom of my belly with her foot up by her face.  I was surprised because I've felt her down low and high by my belly button at the same time before.  She must stretch out sometimes!

Sweet Elise's face in 4D!

Elise's hand up by her face.

Sweet girl with her foot up by her face!

Currently Loving: That I've made it to 24 weeks!  I've been counting down the weeks since I hit half-way until I got here!  24 weeks is typically the earliest a doctor will attempt to save a premature baby's life.  I feel a huge sense of relief knowing that if something happened doctors would intervene to keep Elise alive and there's a 39% chance that she would survive.  It's so weird because I didn't worry about that at all with Carter!  I guess now that I've known so many people whose babies were born anywhere from 25-28 weeks and I've personally had a baby who was born before full term I worry more.  I'm convinced Elise will hang out longer than Carter did, but there's that part of me that worries she will come even earlier.  I know what a huge difference even one week makes in terms of development and chances of survival.  Carter didn't spend any time in the NICU and was able to come home with me.  I want the same for Elise!          

Miss Anything: Nope!

What Big Brother is Up to This Week: Carter's 2nd birthday was on Sunday and we did birthday-related activities all week.  He had such a blast!  On Saturday he ran/walked his 2nd fun run at the Jingle Bell 5k and had a blast!  Little mister loved having bells on his shoes!  He also got to see Elise moving for the first time this week and was amazed by it!  Each time we take Carter to our appointment with us our nurse asks if Carter can have a sucker.  He is so good sitting waiting on the doctor sucking on his sucker.  Then when the doctor comes in he immediately says baby when the ultrasound pops up.  As we were leaving the nurse walked by taking another patient in and Carter said, "trick or treat" to her.  It was adorable!  My Week 24 Bumpdate with Carter.