Here we go again!

Here comes Baby #2, AKA The Final Baby!!

I am stealing Erin's Q&A blog format for my pregnancy posts. It is fast, simple, to the point and most importantly makes it infinitely more likely that I will actually keep up with my blogging. Thanks, Erin!

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Mini Baby at 8 weeks 2 days

Due date?/How far along? Official Due Date is June 17, 2013 although I am secretly dating myself a few days before that. I'm almost positive I ovulated early, and when we had our ultrasound at 8 weeks the baby was measuring 2 days larger. As if it matters though, as noted by my 41 week pregnancy the first time around.

When did you find out? Thursday, October 4, 2012. Woke up in the morning planning to pee on a stick. I remember walking downstairs quickly and Aaron was taking his time getting dressed first. He was very skeptical that it would be positive because earlier in the week I had taken 2-3 negative tests. However! These tests also happened to be past their expiration date, which is a HUGE asterisk in my opinion.

This was only 3 weeks and 3 days past my LMP, but I felt a wave of nausea driving home from work on Monday, October 1 and it was reminiscent of my early nausea with Alice. So secretly I was CONVINCED I was pregnant and the tests had just been wrong/expired/ineffective.

How did you tell Aaron? Well, he was standing there next to me in the bathroom watching the double pink line appear, so...didn't have to.

Was it planned? Yes. We originally thought about trying one cycle earlier but that would've meant a possibility of being pregnant while traveling to my good friend's wedding in the SF area, and I wanted one last hurrah so to speak. So basically this baby was planned around my drinking needs. I didn't really anticipate it happening right away though, and happen right away it did...very first try.

What’s different this time? Less anxiety, less reading books (aka haven't even looked at them...still read the weekly baby center email though, just out of curiosity). Lots of different symptoms which I'll get into below...

When did you tell your family? I told them as I saw them, so pretty much right away. I think I told my dad first two days after my positive test because he was dropping off his dog to be watched while he went to a concert. Having gone through a miscarriage before, I had no reservations about telling my family early because obviously I would tell them when/if I miscarried as well.

When did you tell friends? Told most of my girlfriends at about 7 weeks because we were all getting together, and if I wasn't drinking they would've known anyway.

What were some good reactions? Eh, none that I can think of. Second babies don't tend to spark very emotional reactions.

Will you find out the sex? YES, absolutely. And I cannot wait. We are having a real struggle thinking of names this time, so I'm excited to be able to cut the list of possibilities in half. I just scheduled our 20 week ultrasound for January 28th...

Do you have a preference for boy or girl? I really don't think so. Pros to both, Cons to neither. Another girl would be convenient and less scary. A boy might give me a sense of "completeness" in that I would be able to experience parenthood to both genders.

Do you have names picked out? No. I downloaded a Baby Name app for my iPhone about a week ago and during my bouts of insomnia I've been checking off ones that I like. I probably have 15-20 names on both sides. We won't begin seriously discussing this until after our anatomy ultrasound. And then it is my hope that we will come to an agreement fairly quickly...we had Alice's name picked out right away last time and I really enjoyed having that identity for her for so much of my pregnancy. We will not be sharing the name...unless Aaron spills the beans by accident over email again to my sister and BIL :)

How are you feeling? Finally starting to feel better. I've been blogging almost weekly for a while and will be publishing my flashback weekly posts over the next days/weeks so you can follow the progression of my symptoms. In a nutshell, I "felt" pregnant earlier this time (at 3 weeks!) and the sickness symptoms have generally been stronger. I still never puked, but I'm just not a puker. I definitely COULD HAVE puked on several occasions but I chose to fight it off and was able to do so. Still, the feeling of being sick for so long - even without puking - is really no fun at all. It's pretty much in my rear view mirror as I sit here at 12 weeks + 1 day though, thank god. Energy level is still pretty low but I'm hoping that will bounce back soon too.

Other miscellaneous symptoms that I'm having this time that I didn't have with Alice: insomnia (every night) and intermittent headaches. My OB yesterday told me I could take Tylenol PM every night of my pregnancy if I want with no risk or harm to the baby. But I don't like feeling dependent on a drug to sleep. I'll give it some thought and probably try it one of these nights just so I can get a complete night's sleep. The headaches...I can never tell if they're related to lack of caffeine or dehydration so I usually try drinking either pop or water and hope for the best. I probably get 2 per week.

Any weird cravings or aversions? In stereotypical fashion, I am loving the sh*t out of pickles lately. I think about them when they are not around. Otherwise just pretty much digging a lot of carbs. No specific aversions.

How are you decorating the nursery/where will it be? Baby #2 will be moving into Alice's current room, so we will just leave it decorated as is. All the baby furniture is already in there so it makes sense. The only thing we will have to change is the pink curtains if it's a boy. Alice will be moving into the other bedroom which we need to convert from basically a storage area to a big kid bedroom. I'm anticipating that this baby will not spend much time in the crib for several months, so there's no huge rush to get this done. We'll probably make the switch over the spring or summer, depending on how ready we think Alice is.

Are you showing yet? Oh yes. I think that right now I probably look closer to how I looked at 15-16 weeks last time. Finding fitting clothing is a challenge. Some of my maternity stuff looks too big and frumpy, so I'm at that weird in between stage. I will post a belly pic with my 12 week post...coming hopefully tomorrow.

Will you blog the same amount about #2? My goal is to blog MUCH MORE! Here's hoping I can hold the motivation to keep up weekly posts. Since this is my last pregnancy I do really want to remember just what it felt like.

Have you told Alice? Oh yes, Alice definitely knows. But knowing is different than complete understanding. When she sees my stomach she points and says "Baby" and sometimes will kiss it. But the other day she saw Aaron's stomach, pointed and said "Baby". So we are getting there. She has a baby at daycare (Madeleine) that she is completely smitten with, and a new baby will be starting in January, so I'm really grateful for that exposure she will get.