24 weeks!

It's been a couple weeks since I last blogged because Thanksgiving was busy around the Magtanong household!  We're blessed to have such great family and friends to share the holidays with.  Now the Christmas season is well under way, and I can't believe it'll be here in less than a month!  Where did the time go?  I looked at a calendar recently and realized that I have only 13 weeks before I am considered full term.  This freaks me out because we have accomplished nothing as far as getting our house ready, buying items etc.!  Well, that's not entirely true.  My friend, Ty, and I did a little damage with the Black Friday sales.  She is due just a week after I am and is also having a girl.  Two pregnant women who are both having girls is bad news when shopping for clothes!!  Haha

I had a doctors appointment today and the baby is perfect.  I am measuring right where I should be, which is a good thing since I have GD (gestational diabetes).  Her heart rate is at 153 and I've gained a total of 1 pound.  She's growing, but I am not.  I'm so okay with that.  =)  My OB said I need to start fetal kick counting at 28 weeks.  The minimum I should be looking for is 10 kicks in an hour whenever she is active.  If it is less than that I should head to the hospital.  I am now scheduled to come in every two weeks just to make sure everything is going smoothly.  I am thankful that I have a doctor who is on top of it!  

Thanksgiving was definitely a test for me and my GD, but I was successful!!  I was able to enjoy all the food (in moderation, of course) and not feel deprived.  My doctor said that my sugar levels would skyrocket the last two weeks of November, since my placenta is growing.  I'm finding the exact opposite; my levels are lower after each meal.  I'm not complaining - the less medication I can take the better.  We'll see how the next few weeks go.  Here are a few pictures from our Pre-Thanksgiving dinner with our close family friends and our actual Thanksgiving dinner:

Delmanoyrabeyes Cermagueztanorenolone (last names of everyone here haha) Thanksgiving Dinner 2011

Yummy food!

Us at Thanksgiving dinner.  Jacob was cranky.  Can you tell? 

The food was amazing! 

Pretty mango tart pie that we devoured.  So good.

 Two days later we got our Christmas tree!  I usually wait till the second week of December, but for some reason I just couldn't wait this year.  There is nothing better than a fresh tree in the house that makes the whole place smell like pine.  I love it!  Jacob was SO excited to pick out a tree.  I thought the holiday season was fun at 3 years old, but it is even more fun at 4!

My cutie pie

Always gotta have a family photo.... ;)

 And lastly, a 24 week picture with Jacob:
 

Also, check out this fun comparison.  This is me 21 weeks pregnant with Jacob and me 22 weeks pregnant with baby girl!  Crazy how much faster you show the second time around!  I'm carrying so much higher this time, too.

21 weeks in 2007

 

22 weeks in 2011

How far along?:  24 weeks and 5 days

Gender:  Girl!

Cravings:  Hot sandwiches with Kraft singles cheese.  So good!!

Sleep:  Sleep was TERRIBLE at 23 weeks.  This past week it has been great!

How's Sam feeling?:  He told me to post this quote:

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood.  The best way to understand people is to listen to them." - Ralph Nichols


A.K.A - Listen to Bev when she is hormonal and needs to whine and cry.  Or listen to Sam when he wants to talk about wild boar hunting and don't get annoyed.  Hahaha!


Other:  My birthday is coming up and I'm turning 29.  Ahhhh!!!   

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

22 weeks!

It's crazy how much changes in 1 week.  Last week I was feeling baby girl move here and there, but nothing really consistent.  This week I have been feeling her kicks more and more.  Here's what I know about her so far:

1.  She's a martial artist...or a tap dancer.  And she likes to do both of these on my bladder.  :-/

2.  She's likes to move a lot at 10:35pm on the dot.  This is not good for Sam and I in the future.  Haha

I had an appointment with my OB last Tuesday.  Everything looks great!  I have gained a whopping 1 lb, which my doctor was very happy about.  Doesn't seem like a lot, but as long as the baby is okay then I'm okay with it. ;)  Apparently my blood sugar levels are going to go crazy on me in the next couple weeks as my placenta grows.  Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Yay.

What else?  The lease on our Toyota 4 Runner ended a few weeks ago, so it was time to switch it out for another car.  We went from this....

2006 Toyota 4 Runner SR 5

To this....

A 7 seater Toyota Highlander!  My new mommy wagon.  Not as rugged as our 4 runner, which I miss dearly, but I love it!  It's so much easier getting Jacob in and out of the car, so for that reason alone I am sold.  For about 5 seconds Sam and I considered a Toyota Sienna and then very quickly remembered that we're not quite ready for a van.  Haha

Lastly, here's a 22 week belly shot with my handsome boy:

How far along?:  22 weeks and 4 days

Gender:  Still a girl :)

Cravings:  Nothing in particular.  I am loving my tea everyday, though.

Sleep:  Not as great this week.  I've been waking up the past 3 days REALLY tired!

How's Sam feeling?: 

"I am having a girl.  I am now going to become an expert shotgun shooter." -Sam 
"You're so dramatic."
-Bev

Other:  Stepped into Babies R' Us the other day to get some bottles for my nephew.  I freaked out because it made me realize how much we still need to get!!

 

How your baby's growing:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Oh, what we do for our children!

My intention was to have this blog up and running as soon as I got pregnant, but well, morning sickness from hell prevailed and now I am 21 weeks and just posting!  Better late than never, I suppose!  Thanks to my BOCO (Boston Conservatory) friend, Katie Brugal, for giving me this great idea.  There are so many close family and friends that don't live near me, so it is nice to have this blog to share all the happening with Baby Magtanong Part deux. 

Where to start?  We found out we were pregnant sometime after the 4th of July and were SO excited to welcome another precious baby in our lives.  The first few weeks were okay.  I was experiencing a little nausea here and there, but nothing like what I had experienced when I was pregnant with Jacob that first trimester.  I thought to myself "Hmmm, I think pregnancy may be a breeze compared to my last one."  Oh, how I was wrong!  How I was very, very wrong!  The books, articles, other veteran mothers etc. are right...each pregnancy is different.  Here's a breakdown of the last few months:

Week 5-10: Pretty good appetite.  Nausea here and there.  No crazy aversions to foods.  Still teaching and able to participate in normal everyday activities.

Week 10-18:  Sick, sick, and SICK!  We're talking about vomiting (yum!) multiple times a day, migraine headaches that would put me in a dark closet just to get some relief, absolutely no desire to eat, and losing 20 lbs.  I closed my studio for a couple months cause I was too sick to teach, and I pretty much could never leave the house without throwing up everywhere. =(  It was intense.

I had an OB appointment at 16 weeks and they found sugar in my urine.  Because of this, they decided to test me early for gestational diabetes (typically that test doesn't happen till 24 weeks).  My levels for the one hour glucose test came back extremely high at 199.  You have to be 140 or under to pass.  Since my levels were so high so early on in my pregnancy, my OB felt it was best to diagnose me with gestational diabetes and start treating it now.  This was such a hard thing for me to hear, especially since I didn't have GD with Jacob.  I was sick for a few weeks with him, felt great after, and then he basically walked out of my uterus at 38 weeks.  After doing my own research and consulting with the GD program at UCSD, I learned that everything would be fine as long as I manage my blood glucose levels and exercise.  So far, so good!  It hasn't been that bad, besides the occasional chocolate cake cravings. =)

Week 18-21: Feeling amazing!!  I woke up one day and the sickness was gone.  I'm sure the change in my diet helped a bunch, too.  I'm back to all my normal activities and I'm back to teaching!  At week 19 we had our big anatomy scan and found out that Jacob is having a baby sister!!  Sam is a little scared, but very excited at the same time.  He bought a shotgun the day after we found out.  Haha!  The best part of the ultrasound?  Finding out that our little girl is HEALTHY.  Nothing is better than hearing that.  Jacob was able to sit in on the ultrasound and he loved seeing his baby sister moving around.  He is so excited and keeps telling me that she isn't coming till after Christmas because she's not done cooking yet.  He's too precious.

So, yes, it has been quite an adventure so far, but the love for your children never ceases to amaze me.  Would I go through all of this again?  Hells to the yes! =)

Here are some pictures:

7 weeks

10 weeks

13 weeks

19 weeks

Ain't nothin' hangin' in between them legs!

19 week belly shot

And one of our Jacob because he's just so cute! 

How far along? 21 weeks and 3 days

Gender: Girl power!

Cravings: Chocolate Cake. =(  Anyone have a tasty diabetic recipe?  Haha

Sleep: I love sleep.  I'm happy I'm finally getting some!

How's Sam feeling?: "Thumbs up!" -Sam

Other: I can't wait for the holidays!

How your baby's growing:
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.