Halfway There

When we announced that we were having a girl, the doctor was only about 80 percent sure of the gender. Now that I am 20 weeks along, we were able to have our level II ultrasound and found out what we are having for sure. And it is for sure a GIRL! As it got closer to my appointment, I kept feeling more and more like I was going to have to announce: "Oops, just kidding, it's actually a boy!" I can finally stop calling it "it" and can start calling it "her"!

My friend Meagan gave me a super cute little sleeper right after we found out the first time, and Steph has given me a couple of pink (what do I do with pink things???) outfits. Today Zane and I were out shopping, and he picked out an outfit for his little sister. He doesn't totally comprehend what is going on, but he knows that there is a baby in mommy's belly and that it is a sister. I'm sure that in a few months when she actually comes, reality will set it for him... and for all of us for that matter.

Our printer/scanner is set up to print wireless right now and I found out that you can't scan without the printer cord being connected to the computer, so I took a picture of one of the ultrasound pictures. It's a little blurrier when you do it that way, so I labeled the important parts of her profile to try and make the picture decipherable. According to the doctor, she is measuring right on with her due date. Zane started measuring a week big right around this time (remember... 8 lbs. 5 oz. at 38 weeks?), so it appears that so far we have a more normal sized girl. All her parts are there and all are apparently in working order, so that's always a relief.

As for me, it's exhausting incubating and keeping track of a very active little boy, but we are having fun. It took about a year of trying to get a pregnancy to stick for this one to hang around. So far, things have been pretty much the opposite of when I was pregnant with Zane. I had a couple months of generally not feeling great, which was way more tolerable than throwing up a few times a day for 4 months like I did with Z. Sweet things haven't been too appealing up until the last couple of weeks, which wasn't very fun. I am loving the Easter candy that has hit stores now, though. Yum! With Zane, my face broke out and was mess the whole time. This time, my face is clearer now than before I was pregnant. I like that a whole lot.

 I have only gained 3 pounds so far (and they have all been in the last month, I was losing before), so the doctor isn't too pleased with that, but I am trying to get more calories in during the day. I never had any sciatic pain at all with Zane, but with this little lady, I have the constant companionship of a shooting pain down my right butt cheek into my leg. It is more tolerable in the morning just after waking up, but gets pretty bad by the late afternoon into the night. I'm concerned that if it is so bad at this point when she is only about 13 ounces, what will it be like when there is 7 pounds pressing down on the nerve in a few months? Yikes.

Overall, things have moved by a lot quicker this time. I know a lot more people now that I did when we first moved to Arizona so I have them and Zane to fill my days, instead of relying on network daytime television programming to pass the time. Occupying a two-year-old is a much better use of my time than court television or the Steve Wilkos show.