make mine a double

After a lot of research, I finally picked out our double stroller. By the time #2 us here, Charlotte will be not-quite-2 and not ready to abandon a free ride on trips to the zoo or the mall (for people-watching and indoor walking when the weather makes it dangerous to walk outside). I decided on the Joovy Caboose. I like that the back seat is padded and has a seat belt, but I'm a little concerned about the lack of space when the front is occupied by a carrier, but we'll have time to practice before the new baby gets here. The stroller should be here within a week and the baby is due 2/9. I know Charlotte will enjoy the stand-up option. She'll have a higher vantage point from which to see the world, and she'll be a big girl who doesn't need to sit down all the time.

We upgraded our car last week. I would have been the only one able to drive our Corolla if 2 car seats were in the back. C wouldn't fit (well, technically, he could squeeze in but only with a bit of uncomfortable pretzeling) when the driver's seat is forward to accommodate Charlotte's convertible. And the convertible takes up less room than the carrier did. Now, we have a sleek little wagon with liberating sliding doors and three rows of seats. Even with two car seats, we can take on two passengers in addition to our little family. I'm planning for a future with carpools and playdates, when I'll need to take more than just my two girls. We looked at a lot of small and mid-sized SUVs, but without a 3rd row (and a much higher price tag, plus horrible mileage), we'd never have room for more than the 4 of us. It's not flashy or sporty, but so far I am loving the new wheels.

When Charlotte was an infant, she never liked my Mobi wrap. Slings seem a little too precarious, and she never liked those either. So, in anticipation of toting #2 to Charlotte's music class and to the playground and generally carrying her around the house with me (Charlotte didn't like to sleep unless held for the first month or two), I bought an Ergo carrier. I tried it on today, 7-month belly and all. Obviously, I'm not about to carry anyone on my front, but it fit quite comfortably on my hip. Charlotte was super-curious, so I plopped her into it and she loved it, much to my surprise. She kept asking me to walk around the house giving her a ride in it. I hope #2 likes it as well.

Still no crib for #2, and the nursery has not been emptied out or redecorated. It struck me yesterday that we only have 2 months left. Nine weeks! And that's assuming the baby's not early. Yikes! We have plenty of clothes, and she'll sleep in the basinett for the first few months anyhow, so I'm not panicking yet. It would be nice to get it done, though. And, not that I'm complaining, C hasn't been laid off yet, and may wind up working on a job that might continue thorugh the whole winter. I'll keep picking at the room. Mostly, I hope to have the guest bed in there before the baby comes so that she and I can share a room for the first few weeks while we settle into some semblance of a routine. My Mom will also need a place to sleep when she stays here with Charlotte while I'm in the hospital.

We may cloth-diaper. I'm still debating, but today Zulily is offering some Fuzzibuns for an unheard of price (they have ugly phrases/pictures on the butt- I guess no one was buying them at retail). I might pick up a few to try out on Charlotte before making my real decision. Anyone care to weigh in on their experience with cloth diapering?

It's past 1 am, and I am not asleep. This has become my routine... I simply cannot fall asleep at a reasonable hour, but I'm consistently exhausted all day. I've tried not napping, but that doesn;t seem to affect my nighttime wakefulness. I need to find a solution, and soon. I can feel my mind turning to mush.

GD- not too bad, so far

I had my GD session last week and learned that my numbers from the 3-hr GTT were remarkably similar to those I had two years ago. The specifics are downstairs, and I am too lazy at the moment to make that walk, so I'll include them later in case anyone's curious. Or maybe just for my own reference since I read back on this blog to remind myself what happened when and what I thought of it. Glocometers and lancing devices have gotten smaller since my last pregnancy, but I'm happy to report that the 15-20 minute walk still works miracles. It's difficult, though, to get out and walk after each meal when I have to consider Charlotte's meals and naptimes and wants/needs.
Not to mention my own desire to put her in her bed each night- I love the sleepy hugs and kisses, and especially the blowing... [in her music class, there's always a lullaby, preceeded by the instruction to count to 3 and blow the lights out]. Now that she doesn't object to bedtime, she lies down and asks me to cover her with a blanket, then immediately tries to blow out the lights. I have to remind her to count to 3 first, giving me time to walk to the light switch by the door. Sometimes, she calls out "Sweet dreams" to me as I leave the room.

So, in spite of only sporadic walking, my blood sugar has been mostly OK. It will improve as I get used to counting carbs again, and already it's gotten me into a better mindset as far as my diet is concerned. I was a little too lenient on myself before, but now I have the extra incentive I needed to eat the way I should.

Baby #2 still doesn't have a name. When I think of one I like, C vetoes it. And I haven't been enamored with any of his selections. We both so loved Charlotte's name that it's making compromise difficult this time.

I have a 31-ish-week OB appointment tomorrow. As we near the home-stretch of this pregnancy I'll be scheduling the twice-a-week NSTs and weekly BPPs that swallowed up my schedule last time. I hate the cost of them, and will have to make arrangements for a babysitter (thank goodness for my parents), but I look forward to paying more attention to this little one, who I fear has been a little neglected compared with her big sister. I just don't have the time to obsess over every little thing with this pregnancy. Charlotte isn't a demanding little girl, but I enjoy devoting as much time and attention to her as I can. She's learning something new daily, hourly, almost by the minute, and I don't want to miss a thing.

Charlotte isn't demanding, but she tries to be. Whenever she wants something, she tells us by announcing "Need that NOW!" She learned the word "now" from me, I must admit. As in, "Charlotte, sit down on that chair now. Chairs are for sitting, not standing." Or, "Charlotte, get away from that {dangerous thing} now before you get hurt." She no longer sits in my lap for storytime, but walks around the room and returns to peek at her favorite pictures as I read to her. She does listen to the stories, though, and her favorite changes every week or so. She loves getting new books from the library, too, so we go at least every other week.

Music class is on hiatus until the new year, but Charlotte loves to sing and dance any old time. She makes up songs. The Daddy Song, for example, goes something like this, "Daddy so-ong. Oh, Daddy song. Daddy, Daddy song." She made up a similar Mommy song, Grandma song, Reilly (our cat) song, ... We have songs for brushing our teeth, pulling on socks, pouring milk. Everything is an event worth celebrating with a song. And when she doesn't feel like making one up, she loves to sing "Pop Goes the Weasel" or "Ring Around the Rosy." She sings most of the ABCs, and recognizes maybe 6 or 7 letters now- especially C for Charlotte, U for upside-downm M for Mommy, and D for Daddy. She is finally associating numbers with the counting of things, although she isn't always accurate. For instance, she counted her fingers last night and only had four on one hand because pointed a lot faster than she spoke, running out of fingers to point to before she reached the number 5. She loves numbers, and will spontaneously start counting even when there's nothing to count. She recognizes the numbers zero, four, five, and eight, but I wouldn't claim that she knows how many each represents.

Charlotte likes to feel and see the baby moving under my skin. She'll pull up my shirt to "look at the baby," and tries to poke her awake if the baby isn't already moving. My belly has gotten lots of hugs and kisses in addition to the pokes, but I really doubt Charlotte understands that a real person is in there who will soon be sharing Charlotte's home and parents. Charlotte goes with me to my OB appointments. She was very protective at first and cried when the nurse wrapped my arm in a cuff to check my blood pressure, but now she thinks of it as a hug for my arm.

It's way past bedtime, and I could babble on for hours more.Happy holiday season, everyone!

oops

3-hour GTT today, and I failed. Decisively. It worries me that I might have been allowed to float through the rest of this pregnancy undiagnosed as a result of the 1-hour test. I'm grateful for my overprotective OB. I am also grateful for the understanding phlebotomist at the lab who allowed me to spend the hour between each draw in the hospital lobby instead of the lab waiting room. The lab's chairs were not made for pregnant women, nor for anyone who has to sit in them for more than 10 minutes. The lobby, on the other hand... heaven.

I'll meet with a counsellor next week for my "diabetes education session" and get the specific numbers from the 3hr GTT. I passed only on the 3rd hour's draw- even my fasting level was over the limit.

So, minimal pie and stuffing for me this Thanksgiving, plus a brisk walk afterwards. Happy holiday, everyone!

things change

"They" say that no two pregnancies are alike. Well, I can attest to that. I took the 1-hour glucose test today and got my Rhogam shot. I did those two things together during my previous pregnancy, on 12/31/2009, and failed the GTT but the shot didn't hurt a bit. This time I PASSED!!!!! the GTT, and the shot hurt. Not a bad trade-off, eh?

Last time, the cut-off for the GTT was 140 and I was at 170 an hour after the orange drink. This time, they've lowered the cut-off to 135 and I was just 130. Alas, because of my history, they're making me do the 3-hour test anyhow. I'm kind of wondering why we bothered with the 1-hour at all, but I'm happy with my better number.

I have my suspicions as to why my glucose level was lower this time. I brought Charlotte with me, so instead of sitting around for an hour, I was moving around a lot with her... we sat for a few minutes in the waiting room, then escaped to the hall bench to get away from the blaring TV. Then she asked for a snack and had to walk each dropped Cheerio individually back to the trash can in the waiting room. Then we saw sunlight at the end of a hallway and had to check out the view from those windows. We tried to go back into the waiting room for the last few minutes, but someone had too much cologne on and I couldn't breathe in there. I was also not advised to eat a high-protein, low-carb breakfast last time. If I'd passed the 1-hour test while pregnant with Charlotte, and I hadn't been monitoring my blod sugar for the last 11 weeks of that pregnancy, I wonder how big she would have been.

Even if I somehow miraculously pass the 3-hour test (and I'd really like to), I'll make an effort to walk after most meals like I did with Charlotte. I'll be worried the whole rest of the pregnancy that, unmonitored, my blood sugar levels will be just high enough to grow an overly large baby that I'll have trouble birthing. Walking was my solution before, and I'm sure it'll help again, monitored blood sugar or not.

In other news, I've been out of work for nearly a year now. News stories about "the unemployed" continue to emphasize that the longer one is out of work, the less attractive one appears to potential employers. I'm working a little bit- 1 or 2 retail shifts each week now that my seasonal gig has ended. I'll keep that up until Christmas, or until my ankles consistently disappear when I'm on my feet for 4 hours. I'll be wearing support stockings to keep swelling at bay. I don't remember exactly when I lost my ankles last time, but believe it wasn't until the last few weeks of the pregnancy.

I feel pretty good- reasonably energetic most of the time, with just a few aches and pains that I completely expected. This baby has been making big moves for about a month now. The early flutters grew quickly into jabs, pokes, and rolls that can be both seen and felt from the outside. I have a hard time believing we're less than 12 weeks from meeting this little person. 83 days. I didn't even mark the day we dropped to double-digits. We're touring the birthing center this weekend, mostly to find out if they have gotten rocking chairs. If not, I'll have to find a portable one to bring with me because the first days of nursing are, I think, made more difficult by the uncomfortable vinyl hospital chairs that are the only thing to sit on besides the (also uncomfortable and vinyl) bed.

The twice-weekly NSTs (non-stress tests) and once-weekly BPPs (biophysical prophiles) will start at 32 weeks. I have a second level 2 ultrasound scheduled at 33 weeks to re-check the baby's proportions and weight and overall development. My 3-hour GTT will be on Tuesday, just in time to make a mess of my Thanksgiving stuffing and pie plans. (I never cared much for turkey, but I love the trimmings and desserts) As I rattles these things off and look at the calendar, I realize we need to get cracking on the nursery. We haven't done a thing yet, aside from beginning to clean up the office paperwork. We haven't even gotten/ordered/selected/borrowed a crib, but one was offered to us a few weeks ago. I'll have to see if it's still available and what condition it's in.

So much to do, and the time is flying faster than ever. Whee!

lots of words, but not much to say

Oh, the chatterbox. Quite suddenly, Charlotte has really discovered her voice. She's almost constantly talking and singing, narrating her way through the day and then recounting it to anyone within earshot. Her first words in the morning, after the "Mommy come!" that draws me into her room to rescue her from the crib, are always "Read Elmo book." But she no longer wants to read one of the stories in the big Elmo book. No, she just wants to "find Lola." One little blue monster who appears on about 4 of the book's 200 pages, Lola isn't a Sesame Street regular. In fact, I'd never heard of her (or Herry and Flossie) until we read this book. For a couple of weeks now, searching for Lola has overshadowed the reading of almost any book in our collection.

Charlotte and I are sharing a cold this week. We both have nasty coughs... hers is somewhat scary because when it strikes in the middle of the night, it often leaves her gasping for air. All I can think of are those pertussis vaccine commercials, but her gasping isn't as bad as that. Still, if either of us does not improve significantly by the end of the week, at least one of us will be visiting the doctor. I read on Web.MD that I should wait two weeks before consulting a physician about a questionable cough, but since Charlotte's young and I'm pregnant, I've decided to shorten the timeline. Luckily, we have no fevers at this point, although Charlotte did have a slightly elevated temp (99.4) over the weekend. My cough always sounds worse than it is, so I don't really think I have anything worse than a simple cold, but it's left my throat feeling like I swallowed a handful of broken glass. I'm snoring loudly enough to wake C, and my mouth is so dry in the morning from exclusive mouth-breathing that I can't talk until I've had a glass of water.

Charlotte and I have been enjoying music classes since last December, and we've rejoined the swim classes at a local gym starting this weekend. Charlotte loves water, and I'm looking forward to relieving some gravity now that my belly is beginning to noticeably weigh something. Baby #2 is still moving around a lot- no big movements and nothing visible from the outside, but it's movement enough that I can feel her with my hand and not just on the inside. I can't wait for the movements to get a little bigger so I can let Charlotte feel them. I think they're too subtle for that now.

We're planning to use hypnobirthing techniques again, and I just dusted off the book this morning. I never did listen to the CD that accompanied the book, but since we're not taking a childbirth class this time around, I'll break that out at some point. I have a relaxation CD around here somewhere that I hope to find again, too. I'm both looking forward to and dreading this birth- our first was so perfect that I fear there may only be room for disappointment with this second go. And I expect the resulting baby to be Charlotte's opposite... a colicky poor nurser with day/night confusion.

My p/t seasonal job ends next week- HURRAY! I look forward to afternoon naps and time enough to cook dinner more than once a week. I've been leaving at 1 every day and getting home between 6 and 7. A couple of times, I didn't make it back until after 7:30 and I didn't even get to put Charlotte to bed. I ached so much for her that I found myself wishing she'd wake up and need consoling in the middle of the night just so I could hold her. I've really enjoyed the job, though, and the kids I've been working with have been (for the most part) a real pleasure. While I don't intend to do this job again next year, I do expect to visit the kids to see how they're all doing. I can't see doing this while bf'ing a 7-month-old (next year's scenario). And I'm not sure my parents will be willing and able to babysit for two considering how much Charlotte wears them out. I'm planning to resume the retail gig that I left to take the seasonal job, but that's only 2 shifts each week, and now that I'm visibly pregnant I'll be able to take things a little easier (i.e. no climbing vertical racks to reach back-stocked merchandise). I'll get my discount back just in time for holiday shopping! Too bad we don't sell any baby stuff.

My next OB visit will be 11/8, just shy of 27 weeks. There's been no mention of the GTT, so I don't know when she plans for that to happen. I believe it was right at 27 weeks last time. Maybe we'll just assume I'd fail and skip the test itself. That would work for me! I may need a new glucose meter, though, since I can't remember where I stashed my old one. And I wonder just how inaccurate those meters are considering I can't just use it for the GTT. A finger prick is a lot easier than a full-fledged blood draw.

Snow is in the forecast already. Happy Fall everyone!

really?

I blinked and suddenly I'm on the brink of the third trimester! Baby #2 is very active and seems to enjoy bouncing on my bladder, a very odd but not necessarily unpleasant sensation (no leaking as a result, or my opinion might be vastly different). I am finally quite obviously pregnant, not just questionably fat. I'm once again falling asleep nearly every time I sit down, but have trouble falling asleep in bed before 11 pm. On my own, I'm an "early-to-bed, early-to-rise" kind of person, so this is a bit out of character. Luckily, Charlotte has fully settled into her 1-nap-a-day routine and sleeps consistently until 7 or 7:30 every morning, so I don't have to get up at 5 to get in the shower before she demands my attention.

The first cold of the season is making the rounds of our home. C was sick first, and worst so far. Charlotte started off with a runny nose but now has a pitiful cough during the night as it seems to have settled into her chest. She had a slight fever today, so I may call the ped for some reassurance that it's just a cold and not something to worry about. I have a scratchy throat and expect to wake with the nose-faucet tomorrow. None of us has had a flu shot yet this year. My fingers are crossed that we won't need to have had the shot before we actually get it.

All-in-all, life is going on pretty normally and this pregnancy is flying by. We need to get to work soon on the nursery- empty out all our office stuff (and find a new home for it all) so we can paint over the pepto-pink walls and cloudy-sky ceiling. The mobile and artwork are here. I haven't thought about frames yet for the art, nor of a color for the walls. I should get on that soon, but will probably wait another couple of weeks until my seasonal job ends (which I have absolutely LOVED, by the way, but will be happy to put behind me). We're having a tough time deciding on a name for this baby- have come up with a couple of possibilities we could both live with but nothing either of us is crazy about. We'll know it when we find it, I hope.

Got to go... maybe I'll be asleep before 11 tonight.

A little update

Charlotte had her 18-month ped appointment last week. She's quite the petite youngster, weighing in at 19 pounds 15 ounces and measuring 30.5 inches tall. I did not ask for the percentiles. Frankly, I don't care. She is who and what she is, and she amazes me every day. She's developing on or ahead of schedule. And someone's got to be on the bottom of the size chart or else the chart would be a lot narrower.

Physically, Charlotte seems very coordinated for her age. She walks with confidence, and has ever since she started walking for real (on 6/25/11, three days past 15 months). She's never had the toddler wobble, and almost never falls down (except when really tired or trying to run on uneven ground). She feeds herself with both fork and spoon, but tends to load up the spoon with far more food than can fit in her mouth so a lot ends up in her lap. Utensils lose their attraction about 10 minutes into a meal, though. Then she stuffs them into the gap between the armrest and the folding hinge on her highchair and pretends not to know where they're hiding. She loves to dip whatever she's eating in sauce- marinara is her favorite. She'll try any food I put in front of her, but prefers to stick with her short list of favorites- oatmeal, pasta with sprinkle cheese (or pesto- that's my girl!), fish sticks, hot dogs, baked chicken, whole grain bread, cheese, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and pb&j sandwiches. When I eat after feeding her, she will eagerly eat off of my plate foods that she won't touch on her own. She usually has one "good" meal each day and then just nibbles on the rest.

She more or less dropped the morning nap three weeks ago, but the transition isn't quite complete. For example, she's teething (upper canines) and did not sleep well last night. She woke up at 5:45 and was ready for a nap at 8:30. She'll sleep again for an hour or so around 1:30 this afternoon. On a 1-nap day, she wakes around 7:00, has some quiet time around 9 (we read and play with her bedroom toys), and naps at about 12:45 for a couple of hours. She consistently goes to bed at 7:30, and protests only as long as someone is in the room with her. As soon as the door closes, she turns her attention to her stuffed animals and blankets, rearranging everything to her liking before settling down to sleep. About half the time, she asks to listen to music ("shooosic"), specifically BST's "New Day" CD, before C or I leave the room. Upon waking in the morning or after a nap, she's happy to play in her crib, babbling to her lambie, blankets, and babies for 20-45 minutes. When she's ready to face the world again, she calls, "Mommy come!"

I became "Mommy" instead of "Momma" on the same day we gave up (for the most part) the morning nap. Odd coincidence, as I don't believe the two milestones are at all related. I have no idea why she suddenly started calling me that.

And now she's awake, so that's the end of this post.