Week 22 Update

Note: To my father in law, sorry this one mentions the gender too so please kindly skip unless someone has spilled the beans. =)

I cannot believe we are already to week 22. Considering we knew about this baby pretty early (not even into week 4), I still have a hard time believing that this is happening. Maybe I won't until I see the little one the day of his birth. I am not really nervous about having him since I sort of know what to expect (do you really ever really know when it comes to this stuff? I don't think so)....but I am curious how fast I heal this time. Last time, as you may know, we had an emergency c-section after my blood pressure finally got "too high" for the mid-wife. Honestly, if we hadn't seen her, I think we would have waited another week or 2 since she was delivered at 38.5 weeks. With this pregnancy, my blood pressure is doing fantastic. I do mean fantastic. It is better than it has been in years. I am truly trying to be what I call a "Zen Momma". Honestly, I think having Libby there chills me out. You cannot go all hormonal with a 2 year old in the room. That will end in chaos. Now, of course I slip up...but I say I have done so much better controlling all of my emotions and stress this time.

I am, however, not as prepared this time. Which is ridiculous considering this is the second child. Of course we'll have the essentials by then like a crib, diapers, etc. But as far as enough clothes, sheets for the crib, the room decorated...that stuff still all needs to be done. We wanted to wait to know how to decorate the room until we knew the gender. We also needed to know the gender before we bought any clothes. If the baby was a girl, we were set. But now, well I am being "forced" to go shopping. Darn. =) I have bought a few things but I know I need lots more. This time I am trying to be smarter. Last time we had way too many clothes all in smaller sizes which Libby very quickly outgrew. I am trying to get to a second hand store to get newborn/0-3 month stuff and then stock more up on 3-6 and 6-9 month sizes. Worst case scenario, he stays smaller longer than she does and I have to go buy teeny tiny adorable boy clothes.

I'm still processing the thought of having a son. I am so excited by thought of it but I am also just really nervous. I've never really been good with the unknown because I am too much of a planner. But seriously, we already love this kid so much how can we really go wrong with him in the beginning? right?

Libby is calling my tummy "Tommy" now. Jim and I are not agreeing on nicknames for Mr. Thomas James yet. He wants TJ and I want Tommy. I guess we'll see who can recruit more people first. I won with Libby. Jim seemed to start calling her Liz in the beginning and I quickly had everyone calling her Libby within weeks. Now I just need to remember how I did that and repeat.

So far everything else is going well too. My feet aren't swelling yet but I can tell that is about to start once this heat stays constantly hot. I have more energy but I am just too big to do anything much for too long. My back is killing me all of the time now and my feet (along with the rest of me) are growing. I have actually had one person ask to touch my belly. That never happened once with Libby. So that was new. Oh, and she squeezed. Who squeezes? Tommy didn't like that much and fought back. It was pretty funny.

Tommy is becoming more and more active which I love. I can tell how much bigger he is getting by how sick I get when he wants to do flips - which he LOVES to do. I do not remember Libby doing them this much. He is also either going to be a boxer or a soccer player. This kid loves to kick me. All of the time. Throughout the night. Luckily I only feel them when I wake up to use the restroom...which is averaging every 45 min - 1 hour now. Yeah that's fun at night. =)

The next steps over the next few weeks are to get Tommy's room ready for the furniture which should be here at the end of this month or early May. Then I want to get him set for clothes, diapers, etc. At least we know to expect to change him a million times a day. Last time we had no idea we would (or could) go through that many diapers in one day. Once we get everything set up I will take pictures (of course=)) and post them here.