Third Trimester - Izzie B

For those of you who haven't been on Facebook in the last 24 hours, Izzie B decided she couldn't wait for induction this Wednesday and decided she wanted to be born yesterday! A post with her birth story and pictures of her will be coming in the next few days as we settle in.  The most important thing is that both mom and baby are healthy and hope to be home Monday.  Since she wasn't supposed to come until Wednesday, I hadn't planned on writing about the third trimester until Tuesday with a final 39 week belly shot.  Now that she's here, I have no choice but to do without a most recent belly pic and will talk about the third trimester now, before moving on to her birth story.

The third trimester can be the longest trimester as it starts as 27 weeks and if you go overdue, you can make it to 42 weeks.  But on the other hand it can be the shortest if you have your baby early.  Most find it to be the most uncomfortable trimester with the added aches and pains that come with carrying an ever growing heavier baby.  During this trimester the baby puts on the most weight, growing from the size of a cauliflower (16.5 inches head to toe and 2.5lbs) to the size of a watermelon (ranging from 18-22 inches head to toe and between 6-9lbs) at birth.  Towards the last few months, babies are gaining on average half a pound per week. Most women grow the most impatient in the final trimester as they're so ready to meet their babies!

I can say that the third trimester has been fairly easy for me this pregnancy.  I had a much smaller belly than I did with Brady and Izzie never had the chance to drop, so she wasn't constantly in my pelvis.  I had little to no trouble sleeping at night (with the occasional bathroom run) and no back pain.  The third trimester also brought around several personal triumphs on my part.  The biggest one has been when it comes to weight gain.  I ended this pregnancy up only 32.5lbs, when I gained a total of 52lbs with Brady.  I'm thrilled things were much more under control this time and that I'll be able to get to pre-pregnancy weight so much sooner than with Brady (which took a full 16 months).  Another triumph, which is related to the lower weight gain is that a pair of maternity pajama pants that I had bought around 30 weeks with Brady that never fit, I was able to wear to the end this pregnancy and I still had tons of room in them.  I was able to keep my wedding bands on much longer this time.  With Brady, all of my rings were too tight by 29 weeks and it took a full nine months after he was born to get them back on.  I always felt like people would think I was an unwed mother when I'd take him out.  This time my wedding band lasted until 35 weeks, my engagement ring made it to 37 weeks, and my "place holder" engagement ring (the one Andy proposed with while we waited for mine to come in) made it all the way to delivery.  You're not supposed to wear any jewelry to the hospital in case you need emergency surgery, so I didn't even realize I still had the ring on when we got there.  The final triumph was that I walked away with ZERO new stretch marks!  I still have plenty from my teen years of being overweight and from Brady's pregnancy, but adding no new ones, is amazing.

28 weeks (right before Christmas)

32 weeks

34 weeks

36 weeks

The reason there are pics for 32, 34, and 36 weeks (instead of just doing every four weeks like before) is because I can only fit three per page in Izzie's scrapbook and each page covers a trimester.  In her scrapbook, I had intended to have 28, 34, and 39 weeks, but that won't work now.  I took the 32 and 36 because those are when you start a new month of pregnancy.  Above is the progression (from left to right) of 28 weeks, 32 weeks, and 36 weeks.  There is some growth you can see, but I was still so small at the end that I would get dirty looks when parking in expectant mother spots.

 

I've really enjoyed comparing the belly pics around the same gestational age between Brady and Izzie.  It's amazing how different they were, but I do have to take into account that they are different genders and I gained 20lbs more with Brady.  Above is Brady at 33 weeks (on the left) and Izzie B at 34 weeks (on the right).  It's crazy how much bigger I was with Brady.  I still wonder where I was hiding Izzie.

This one is both kids at 36 weeks (Brady on the left and Izzie on the right).  You can see the first signs of stretch marks with Brady and then with Izzie you can see those (and the ones that developed in the five weeks after that before he was born) faded.

The final compilation of all the belly pics that were taken over the entire pregnancy.  I can't believe it's over, but I couldn't be more overjoyed with my new baby girl.

Second Trimester - Izzie B

Two down, one to go!  It's incredible that we're 2/3 of the way to meeting Miss Izzie B!  The third trimester starts at 27 weeks, so we've officially left the second trimester behind.  The second trimester is usually classified as the most comfortable of the three as you're done being sick and you're not too big yet.  I'd have to say that's pretty accurate, although I still feel pretty great.  The second trimester is also great because you have your anatomy ultrasound that tells you the gender of your baby (if you choose to do so) and at 24 weeks, your baby reaches viability (the ability to have a chance of survival outside of the womb).  Also, it's when you start to feel movement.  Baby also does a ton of growing, going from the size of my clenched fist (about 4.5 inches from crown to rump and a few ounces) to the size of a head of cauliflower (16.5 inches from head to toe and 2.5 pounds).  Of course, our baby girl will gain the most weight during the third trimester as she will likely be over 8 pounds like all the babies in our family (which includes Andy, my parents, me and my brothers, and of course, Brady).

It's very hard to believe I'm already 7 months pregnant!  The time is just flying by, which makes sense as I spend most of my days keeping up with Brady instead of sitting around dreaming of baby.  Time probably won't even appear to slow down as we approach the holidays and then immediately go into preparations for Brady's 3rd birthday.  I'm due less than three weeks after his actual birthday.

I also don't feel pregnant most days.  My belly still isn't very noticeable unless I'm wearing a form fitting shirt and it doesn't get in my way.  I have had a few moments of what they call "pregnancy brain" and even today, was searching for my scissors and Andy found them in the trash with the scraps after I clipped coupons from the newspaper.  I haven't had any problems falling asleep, and most nights I fall asleep on the couch while watching a few shows with Andy.  He often looks over and sees me fighting to keep my eyes open.  At this point, I only have to get up on average once a night to use the bathroom.

My weight gain is in check (thank goodness) and is already less than what I'd gained with Brady (even if I started up 5 pounds).  I'm up to a total of 15 pounds gained (remember the recommendation is 25-35) and with Brady I was up 19 pounds.  That means I gained 33 pounds in the last trimester with Brady and I know where most of that weight came from, so I know how to avoid that much this time.  The baby will make up about six pounds of what I gain in the third trimester, so that's of some comfort. At this point, my appointments have been every 4 weeks, but after my appointment at 28 weeks right before Christmas, they'll start to be every 2 weeks.  Once I hit 36 weeks, they'll be every week.  That means there will be less cheating between visits, then being good about a week before the weigh-in.

Izzie is a very active baby every day, so I never have to wonder if she's alright.  She's almost more active than Brady was, which is why I wouldn't have been surprised early off if she'd been a boy (although now we have proof otherwise).  I swear sometimes she is an octopus, because there's no way she can hit me in so many directions at the same time. With Brady, I could only feel him when sitting or laying down.  Izzie is so strong that she hits me when I'm standing up.  I often see my belly moving around with her very strong kicks and punches.  She's very quiet in the middle of the night, so that bodes well for when she comes home as babies establish their sleep patterns before they're born.

Once we found out that Izzie was a girl, we started buying a few things here and there.  I bought a handful of clothes (not nearly enough to cover her for the first three months even) and a few friends have sent gifts of clothes and hair bows.  We've told most family that we'd prefer baby items for Christmas as we don't really need things for ourselves.  My mom already got me my double stroller while she was here for Thanksgiving and other family members have been told we need girl clothes.  I still have to go through all of Brady's baby clothes and see what is gender neutral (I know I bought at least a few items).  We have all of the furniture already, and have the gear like car seat, baby swing, etc. from when Brady was little, so the big items are already taken care of.  I will get to do the one thing I've been dreaming of since Brady was born and that's decorate a nursery.  We moved around so much, we only ever put up a wall border in Brady's nurseries.  Once Brady moves out this Christmas, we can start painting and decorating.

16 weeks

20 weeks - Halfway there!

24 weeks 

(finally starting to get a little belly, not that I'm complaining as I don't tend to get any stretch marks until the very end, even if you can see my old faded ones with the camera flash)

The belly shot progression (from left to right) : 16 weeks, 20 weeks, 24 weeks. She definitely grew a ton between 16 and 24 weeks!

A comparison shot between Brady (left) and Izzie B (right).  Can you see the difference?

Brady loves to get in the action when I'm taking belly shots.  He sees me standing with my shirt up and he starts doing the same.  He then tells Andy that it's his turn for pictures.  This is Brady at 20 weeks.

And again at 24 weeks

Andy decided this would be a good opportunity to have Brady take "muscle" shots with his shirt off.

Brady is going to make a fantastic big brother.  Every time he goes to sleep, whether its for nap or at the end of the day, he makes sure to remind me that he has to kiss Izzie nigh-nigh.  Yesterday, he lifted my shirt, rubbed my belly, and said, "Baby is getting big."  Then he said, "Come on out baby!"  I told him, she has to get a little bigger before she can come out.  We'll see how he'll react when she finally arrives.  He's such a great helper around the house, so I'm sure he'll be the first one to jump up and grab a diaper or a bottle.

First Trimester - Izzie B

We've officially reached the second trimester with Trap baby #2, so I thought I'd write a post about the first trimester.  I'm so glad I'll get to record more about this baby than with Brady because I was limited to Facebook back then.  Who says the first baby gets everything?  Not us!  We plan to record the same type of things (3d/4d ultrasounds and belly pics) that we did with Brady for all of our kids.  I'm an avid scrapbooker, so it would literally kill me not to have any pictures to put in them, so there will certainly be just as many pictures of this baby as there was with Brady.  Especially, when they change so much every day in the beginning.

There is some debate on when the first trimester ends, with some sources saying 12, 13, or even 14 weeks being the end.  I figure if you break each trimester equally, they'd be a little over 13 weeks apiece, so I feel the first trimester ends at 13 weeks.  Most say the first trimester is the roughest because most suffer from morning sickness, plus the risk of miscarriage is at its highest.  I was very fortunate to never be sick with Brady, and the only difference this time is that I had no appetite.  That turned out to be a double edged sword, because I am normally oversensitive to an empty stomach.  That meant every time my stomach got very empty, I started to feel pretty yucky.  The moment I ate something, I was back to normal.  Fortunately, my appetite has returned, so it's not a hardship to eat something to keep from feeling yucky.  There are times when I go too long without eating, like when I'm out shopping or running errands, and I have to stop what I'm doing and find something to eat.

The lack of appetite has been helpful in terms of weight control.  With Brady, I gained a total of 52lbs and have no intention of coming anywhere close to that this time.  My goal is 30lbs (recommended is between 25-35lbs), which would keep me under 200lbs.  With Brady, I gained 4lbs in the first trimester and this time have only gained 2lbs.  I get weighed again at the end of the month at my next appointment.  I had planned on starting this pregnancy about 15lbs lighter than where I started with Brady, but living in Germany killed that, so I started 5lbs heavier, which is why it's all the more important I don't gain as much weight (it took me 16 months to drop all of Brady's baby weight).

An exciting thing is that second time moms tend to feel their babies move sooner than their first because they know what to look out for.  Last night, I felt this baby move for the first time.  From the ultrasound, I could tell it's just as wiggly and energetic as Brady was (and still is).  I was 14.5 weeks last night when I felt it and with Brady, I was exactly 16 weeks (although not consistently until 19 weeks).

One of the things I did while pregnant with Brady was take belly shots throughout.  I think it will be fun to compare this pregnancy's belly with Brady's.  They say you show sooner with second, third, fourth, etc pregnancies and I feel like that's true with me.  Most women show by the end of their first trimester and with Brady I didn't really show until 24 weeks, and even after that people wouldn't recognize I was pregnant.  I have had to start wearing a few items of maternity clothes (which has been difficult since most are still in storage).  I'm in that "in-between" stage of showing and not showing.  I call it the "fat" stage.  It's a hump I am very eager to get over.  I definitely look more pregnant than fat when wearing maternity clothes, so that helps.

Most people choose not to bare their bellies when they take belly shots.  I feel that you get a more accurate progression without clothes in the way since you'd have to wear skin-tight shirts to get a good bump.  Below are the belly pics from the first trimester.

9 weeks

13 weeks

 (compared to Brady, I looked this big between 14 and 20 weeks, so definitely getting bigger faster this time)

 A progression picture from 9 to 13 weeks