Meet William Otto!

William Otto entered this world last Thursday, just after 8am! I've been meaning to sit down and share his arrival but it's been challenging to find a block of time with an empty lap. But here goes!

Birth Story

Planned c-section birth stories feel like less of a 'story' since everything is so planned out and there is no wondering when and how the baby will arrive. But I will say that a planned c-section was way better than an emergecy one done 29 hours after induction/after 17 hours of active labor! My c-section was at 7:30 - I walked down with the nurse, hopped up on the OR table, got my spinal block, and the baby was born 38 minutes later! I lucked out and got the same nurse anesthetist as last time - I did not remember her but she had clearly looked at my medical records and noted that she was there for Paul's birth - which is pretty cool of her to do. She was so incredibly kind - she held my hand until Phil got in there and took lots of photos of the birth. She also took pictures of Paul's c-section delivery. Medical stuff does not gross me out, so it's very cool to see how our boys came into the world! He clocked in at 8 pounds 4 ounces (so 1 ounce shy of a pound bigger than Paul!) and 21.5 inches. He has a big ol' head - just like Paul, too. 

I wasn't able to do skin-to-skin with William because his body temp was too low so they needed to wrap him up.

But he was able to lay on my chest while they stitched me up - I'll take what I can get! 

We went into the recovery room next and got lots of time to cuddle and work on breast feeding. Those who have read this blog for a long time may remember that Paul did not latch/transfer milk well - luckily I am having a completely different experience with William. He breastfed well from the start. We've had some challenges as breastfeeding definitely takes work and there always seem to be hiccups along the way, but all in all it's going well!

Then it was back to our post-partum room where we could rest and soak up some snuggles with our little guy. 

The Name

His name is William Otto, but we will call him Will. Phil came up with the name and I was totally on board with it. Otto is Phil's maternal grandfather's middle name. Phil was very close to this grandpa so it was a great way to honor their special relationship. We called the baby Taco through most of the pregnancy and half the time, that's what we continue to call him! We'll see if that nickname sticks or not!

Delivering during a pandemic

Overall, Covid didn't drastically change my delivery/post-partum hospital experience. I had to get tested 5 days before my c-section (it was negative thank goodness!) and I had to wear a mask during the delivery. We also wore masks whenever a provider came into our room. And you can't have visitors, of course, but my parents were the only people who came when Paul was born - and it was a very brief visit. The nurses said they think the no visitor policy is actually better for moms and dads so they can focus on the baby/establishing breastfeeding/etc without people coming in and out. Phil was also not able to leave the hospital, but I don't know that he would have if he could have, especially since our stay was so short. I definitely had a lot of anxiety about getting covid before delivery and now I will worry about us staying healthy with Paul in daycare, but the delivery itself felt pretty "normal." We won't be having any visitors at home either which is a big change from last time, but we've had people drop off meals and gifts and such so we are still feeling the love.

Big Brother Paul

I was almost more anxious about being away from Paul than I was about having another c-section. Phil and I have each spent nights away from Paul for work but this was our first time away from him together. I had no concerns about my parents watching them. They had 5 kids, this is their 9th grandchild and my mom was a nurse - so clearly they are extremely capable! But Paul is very sensitive to care providers and is very attached to me so I was worried he would struggle with us being away. But he did extremely well and only cried once on Friday night. Apparently he was extremely well-behaved and a great listener. Go figure he was on his best behavior for Papa and Nana!

We pushed hard for a discharge on Saturday, so a 2-night stay, instead of the typical 3-night stay for c-sections. The nurses and doctors were all on board with this as they are trying to get people out of there ASAP due to covid. So we were home by around 11:30 am on Saturday - after a pitstop at Starbucks to pick up a venti peppermint mocha, of course!!

Paul was jumping up and down and screaming with excitement when we pulled up front. He was very excited to meet his baby brother and loves to hold him! 

Our first week at home

Will turned 1 week old today. We are happy but extremely exhausted. While Paul had to be woken to eat every 3 hours as he was so sleepy/not into eating, it's a whole other story with Will. He seems much hungrier. But he is also much fussier - but only during the night, of course. We had several nights of being up every 45 minutes which is brutal. He seems to just want to be held/cuddle and really wants mom. So we feel pretty bleary-eyed and are hoping for some longer stretches of sleep soon so we can start to feel more human. I am glad Phil is home for 2 weeks of paternity leave to help out and he's been doing the vast majority of care for Paul. I can't lift Paul for 6 weeks so he will be doing the bulk of caring for Paul. I try to do what I can that doesn't involve lifting him and try to make sure I spend some time reading to him each day. 

***

Even with all the exhaustion and lack of sleep, I will still take this over pregnancy. I was so miserable at the end, and even had flares the night before the delivery that I was icing as we prepared to go into the OR. I had some flares post-delivery but the prednisone seems to be taking care of them now and I can go back on my injections after my 2-week incision check. Fingers crossed the incision looks good so I can get back on my miracle drug!

And that's my lengthy birth story post! Thanks for following along with this pregnancy! 

Pregnancy Update: 38 Weeks

Woo hoo - this is my last pregnancy update! Hurrah! I could not be more ready for this pregnancy to be over. If this pregnancy was a marathon, I'd say I hit "my wall" about 2 weeks ago. Here's how I'm doing at this point!

Baby size:  I had my last OB appointment today and they estimate that the baby weighs 7#7oz. Those estimates aren't terribly accurate so I'm guessing he'll be close to Paul's size - Paul was 7#5oz at birth. So chances are the baby will be very average which I am ok with! Granted, the size matters less when you are having a c section! 

I feel large and in charge, but that's pregnancy for you! I have gained a bit less weight this pregnancy, but weighed more when I got pregnant. With Paul, we had just gotten married so I was at my lowest weight in years! So all in all, I feel good about how much I've gained this pregnancy. Following the gestational diabetes protocol definitely caps your weight gain.

37 weeks

38 weeks

Sex of the baby: boy! 

Name progress:  Final decision has been made but we aren't sharing it until there is a cute baby attached to the name. ;)

Symptoms/RA management: Pregnancy-wise, I don't have many complaints. I have a hard time breathing and sleep is challenging since I'm up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom. But if it wasn't for RA, I would say I am feeling pretty good. But my RA has been horrible. I've had flares in my shoulders this week so haven't been able to lift my arms above my shoulders without yelping in pain. RA sucks - that is all. 

Gestational diabetes management:  This has been totally fine. I'm burned out on my food options and don't have the motivation to research recipes/try something new - especially since flares often make it hard for me to be up and about/meal prep/etc. But the end is in sight and I look forward to enjoying lots of treats when this baby is out of me!

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had my last OB appointment today. I've been going weekly since 33 weeks so am very glad to be done with these. I love my provider and her partners but being gone for 1.5-2.5 hours every week for an appointment is not fun. I was able to cancel my endo follow up appointment, though, since my blood sugars have been good. 

Sleep: Oof, sleep has been tough, but that's common for late pregnancy. I think it's your body's way of preparing you for what is to come. Since I'm battling a cold, I decided I really need sleep so caved and bought some unisom - which is safe for pregnancy. It really knocks me out! But I was getting less than 7 hours of sleep before taking it and that's not enough for non-pregnant Lisa and certainly not pregnant Lisa. I'll stop taking it once the baby is born. 

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: Nothing new - Fairlife chocolate milk and Venti SF Vanilla lattes with whole milk are life right now. ;) 

Exercise:  Nada. RA is making this impossible unfortunately. I wish I could go for long walks but it's just not possible with my pain situation. 

Recent baby prep/decisions: Phil moved all of the baby stuff from the basement to the baby's room. We won't set up his room until he is closer to sleeping in there. He'll sleep in our room for 3-4 months in a Halo bassinet. So for those first 3-4 months, the baby's room will continue to be Phil's office when he works from home. I know setting up a nursery is something most couples do, but we haven't found it to be necessary... plus we are so minimalistic when it comes to decorating so there won't be much to do when he does move in there. I will hang some book-themed prints and call it good! I will put more effort into our kid's bedrooms when they are older and actually spend time in there. Paul is only in his room to sleep. 

Mood: ready to be done! 

And that's a wrap! No more pregnancy posts from me! Thanks for following around - I know these kind of posts aren't for everyone, but it's nice for me to have my pregnancy journey documented. It's definitely been a challenging pregnancy but I am glad I'm on the brink of being done with pregnancy FOREVER!!!

Pregnancy Update: 34 weeks

I hit 34 weeks on Tuesday. That means I have one more pregnancy update at 38 weeks and then I will deliver the following week, if all goes as planned. So 5 weeks from yesterday, our baby will be here. Please do not tell me how fast these last 5 weeks are going to go - I've had multiple people say this to me. If it was a normal pregnancy - i.e. no flares to contend with - I could probably 'enjoy' these last 5 weeks of being a family of 3.... but it's hard to enjoy life when you are getting a new flare every 2-3 days... I'm not asking for sympathy by saying this - I knew pregnancy was going to be hard but we decided it was worth it to have a 2nd child. I just don't want any comments about how fast time is going to go between now and December 3rd!

Baby size:  he was measuring about 5#13oz at the growth ultrasound last week so he continues to measure ahead. They said Paul was measuring ahead on his ultrasounds and then he was 7#5oz which is pretty average so who knows!

Feeling very large and in charge at 
33 weeks... I am so much bigger this time around. 

34 weeks - I feel like I look a little less large than 33 weeks? Who knows! 

Sex of the baby: boy! 

Name progress:  We've made a final decision on this. Woo hoo!

Symptoms/RA management: My RA is bad. Way worse than it was with Paul. I have no options at this point so I just need to grin and bear it. I'm on oral steroids and even at my max dose (which I had to start decreasing last week), I was getting flares every 2-3 days. I just hope things improve once the baby is born. I am going to start taking my weekly RA injections as soon as the baby is born, but it can take 4-6 weeks for them to be effective. So I just hope and pray I won't have terrible flares after he's born. Phil will be home for 2 weeks of paternity leave so that will help, but being in pain while caring for a newborn is not ideal... Outside of RA, I feel pretty ok although I have had a lot of cramping/discomfort which might be a UTI (did a urine culture today). Because of course I need another thing to contend with/another medication to take.

Gestational diabetes management: things are going better in this realm. I have some ketones in my urine but my endo isn't concerned about it. I've adjusted to the low carb diet which is just not fun. But I get to eat as much fat as I want so bring on the peanut butter and whole milk lattes. ;) I am not a big meat eater, so this diet is challenging for me as you really need to get your protein in, so I will be glad to be done with this diet in December in time for the holidays! I miss beans and lentils. And tacos. 

Recent/upcoming appointments: I have weekly marathon appointments that include a biophysical profile (ultrasound where they check for things like practice breathing and big/small movements, etc), growth ultrasound every 3-4 weeks, and non-stress tests (you get hooked up to a monitor and I have to press a button when I feel movement - they look for heart rate acceleration during movements and then deceleration after movement). I end up being at the OB practice for at least 1.5 hours, so am gone for 2 hours with the drive to/from. I'm very glad my company does not micromanage me and doesn't care when I am gone for appointments. In my previous jobs, that would not have been the case and I would be very stressed about the frequency/length of these appointments. I don't know what I would do if I was a pharmacist or teacher or had a job where you can't just be gone for 2 hours every week... 

Sleep: Meh. I'm up at least 3 times during the night to go to the bathroom and tend to have trouble falling back asleep after 1 of those wake-ups. But this is typical for sleep at the end of pregnancy. 

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: Fairlife Chocolate Milk and Whole Milk SF Vanilla lattes are treats I'm leaning on heavily. I have a glass of chocolate milk every night as part of my bedtime snack and have been getting lattes nearly daily... Typically I would only get a latte once/week but right now I'm leaning into lattes because it's something I enjoy that gives me that 'ahhhh this is good' feeling.

Exercise:  walks have really tapered off due to the RA pain I've had... So when I have a good day, I make sure to take a walk. Also the weather lately hasn't helped. It's felt like January out there! But it will warm up this weekend, thank goodness, so hopefully I have some good days so we can take advantage of the milder temps!

Recent baby prep/decisions:  I moved all of the baby stuff out of storage and have it piled in the guest room in the basement. Phil 'gets' to move it all upstairs but probably won't do that until close to when the baby is born or shortly thereafter. There really isn't much a baby needs in the early days - just a bassinet, diapers and clothes really. And a car seat of course, so Phil will install the base sometime this month so we are all ready to go. I also washed all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes and ordered some more newborn stuff. It will be interesting to see how this baby grows. Everyone told me you use newborn stuff for like a week - Paul was in it for 2 months! We had borrowed a lot of newborn stuff and that friend gave it to another friend so I ordered 5 more newborn sleeprs more clothes and will probably order more - but will wait and see what this baby's growth trend is like.

Mood: eh. Not great. The RA flares are a real drag. I can't really 'enjoy' these final weeks as a family of 3 so I am very much wishing time away and ready for it to be December 3rd. I want to emphasize that we are very grateful to be pregnant/growing our family but pregnancy is very very hard for me, so I keep reminding myself that you can be grateful for something and absolutely hate it at the same time.

Pregnancy Update: 30 weeks

Woo hoo! 30 weeks! Hitting the 30s makes it feel  like the end is in sight! Which I am happy about because I don't love pregnancy. But the end is approaching!

Baby size:  He's the size of a head of cabbage this week. Last week he was the size of a butternut squash. The vegetable comparisons are so weird and seem to flip from length to mass or something.

Here are some bump pics, which I apparently only take at doctor appts, hence the mask! I'm 28 weeks on the left and 30 on the right. I feel so huge - I'm close to as big as I ever got with Paul. Eeks. But my belly is measuring on track and the baby was measuring 2 weeks ahead at my 28 week ultrasound so my doctor said the size of my belly is healthy/normal. 

Sex of the baby: boy! 

Name progress:  We have 2 in mind and are leaning toward 1 but haven't made a final decision. 

Symptoms/RA management: My RA management has been ok. I got a flare in my foot over the weekend so had to bump up my prednisone. But overall, I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. The baby is moving a TON! I can often feel a foot or something pushing out by the top of my belly. It's kind of crazy to feel that and something I did not feel with Paul! I'm definitely getting short of breath very easily and have a hard time getting a full breath of air when sitting on the couch so I guess he's already lowering my lung capacity!

Gestational diabetes management: Eh. This has been tough and I've had some tears this week. Overall it's going fine. I have only had 2 high blood sugars - both times I had not eaten much carbs so they kind of surprised me. But I had ketones in my urine over the weekend which means I'm not eating enough carbs and I lost 3 pounds this week. My doctor isn't too concerned about the weight loss as long as it doesn't continue and I keep feeling baby move. But if I can't eat enough carbs to maintain/gain weight, I might need to go on insulin which I'm really hoping to avoid as it requires more monitoring and increases the chances that the baby will need to go to the NICU. I think I'm eating pretty similarly to how I ate when I was pregnant with Paul but I guess even being 2 years older can impact how my body handles prednisone/the lower carb diet. 

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had my 30 week appointment on Tuesday and everything looked good. We talked about my blood sugar/ketone issue and will take a wait and see approach. Starting at 32 weeks, I have weekly ultrasounds, biophysical profiles, and non-stress tests so they can make sure the baby's growth isn't impacted by my super low carb diet. I'm not looking forward to those appointments as they will be a good 1-1.5 hours but it's unavoidable with all my complications. 

Sleep:  It's been pretty good. I have bouts of insomnia about 1-3 nights/week but overall it's not terrible. I live for weekend naps, though!

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: My new favorite "treat" is Fairlife chocolate milk. I drank this during Paul's pregnancy. It has a lot of protein and fat (more than typical milk as it's filtered many times) to offset the carbs and it is so thick and delicious! I stopped drinking my coffee with creamer as there are carbs in my fat free french vanilla creamer. So instead I treat myself to a whole milk latte with 2 pumps of sugar free vanilla syrup about once/week. I tested my blood sugar after having one and didn't have any issues so this is my go to 'treat' for the rest of pregnancy. 

Exercise:  I'm still sticking to walks - I shoot for 1 45 minute walk on week days and 1-2 hours of walking between 2 walks with Paul on the weekends as we usually take walks/go to the park or creek in the morning and afternoon.

Recent baby prep/decisions:  Nadda! I don't think we'll do anything more with his room until after the baby is born as Phil uses it as an office when he works from home. The baby will sleep in our room until around 3 months, so we really don't need to do anything else in his room, besides move the changing table in there, until February.

Mood: Meh. I cried a bit this week out of frustration over the gestational diabetes thing. Pregnancy hormones don't help. It's just hard to be on a really restrictive diet and spend so much time thinking about it. I keep reminding myself I only have to do this for 9 more weeks, but that can feel long at times. But GD frustration aside, I'm doing pretty well all things considered.

My C-section got scheduled for December 3rd so the baby will be here 9 weeks from today! And yes, I am totally counting down the days until his arrival!

Pregnancy Update: 26 weeks

And another 4 weeks of pregnancy have passed! I will say this pregnancy is going pretty quickly. When I was pregnant with Paul I remember people commenting on how fast the pregnancy was going and I wanted to say, "FOR WHO???' Ha. But this time around, I can say it is going by pretty quickly! 

Baby size:  the baby is compared to the size of a bunch of scallions - guessing that's the length comparison because last week it was the size of a rutabaga. The vegetable comparison are so weird! He's close to 2 pounds and 14" long. 

Here are a couple of bump pics. I'm sooo much bigger than I was with Paul! I carried small with him, and I'm probably still smaller than the average woman thanks to my height/long torso, but I feel HUGE. Excuse the hair in the photos below. I tend to take these bump pics before showering so my hair is always a mess!

24 weeks

26 weeks, although I look smaller than 24 weeks in this photo, probably because I'm not wearing a maternity shirt?

Sex of the baby: boy! 

Name progress:  We have 3 potential names but are leaning towards one. We haven't made a decision and probably won't until closer to the birth. But I'm glad we at least have some options we both like. There have been a lot of vetoes in this process! I really wanted Samuel (shortened to Sam) but Phil hated the alliteration (our last name starts with an S)! Oddly, I really liked the alliteration! And Phil really wanted Peter but I said no way, Jose. Peter and Paul is just too cutesy. I mean there is a children's song about birds named Peter and Paul. Plus it's just a bit too biblical for my liking, and I can't handle another P name! I already will say Phil instead of Paul and vice versa so I was a hard no on another P name! We won't be sharing the name until the baby is born to avoid people's strong and at times rude opinions!

Symptoms/RA management: My RA has been OK. I've had a few flares but upping my prednisone dose and icing takes care of them. I've also been having some back pain so have been seeing a chiropractor who specializes in prenatal care. Some of my low back pain is related to weakness in my left hip/glute. I wasn't surprised to hear about that weakness because that is the hip that I had surgery on in 2016 to repair a labral tear.

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had my 24 week appointment 2 weeks ago and all went well at that. We talked about the plan for my c-section. She's recommending we take Paul out of daycare and isolate for 7-10 days before delivery, and have anyone who is caring for Paul isolate during that time as well. It's good to know this ahead of time so we can plan and make sure my parents (they will take care of Paul while we are in the hospital) also isolate. They could spend Thanksgiving with us, though, but we'll see what plan we come up with. I also have a back-up plan in case the baby comes early - one of my best friends whose kids go to the same daycare said they'd love to be our back-up option!

My next appointment is at 28 when I enter the 3rd tri. I'll have the glucose test which I KNOW I'm going to fail since I'm on prednisone (it raises your blood sugar). I'll also have a growth ultrasound to make sure the umbilical cord attachment issue that was detected at 20 weeks isn't impacting his growth. I doubt it is since my stomach sure is growing!

Sleep:  I continue to deal with intermittent insomnia. I probably get up during the night to read about 3-4 nights/week. It's annoying but insomnia is super common in pregnancy. Usually I can fall asleep after 10-15 minutes of reading but sometimes I'm up for over an hour which is very annoying. Weekend naps are a life saver!!

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: I don't really have any cravings but I have been enjoying more sweets than usual knowing that I'll be on a strict gestational diabetes diet come mid-September. I'm not going overboard, I'm just letting myself have ice cream, GF muffins from my favorite coffee shop, PSLs, the occasional mocha from Caribou, etc. The GD diet is very restrictive - I will basically eat no sweets and have to watch my carb intake super closely, including things like fruit. So I feel I earned some care-free weeks leading up the third tri!

Exercise:  I still haven't fit strength training into my routine yet but I still hope to do that. I think when the weather cools down I will do some strength training in the basement while Paul plays with his toys down there after school. Right now we try to be outdoors if it's not beastly hot out! I'm also counting all the acorn sweeping/pick-up/raking I've done as a workout. Oak trees are pretty but dang they are a mess! I try to take a walk 5 days/week and those feel great and really get my heart rate up. It doesn't take much to get your heart rate up when you are pregnant! For example, my resting heart rate is about 72 right now but normally it's around 58-60 when I'm not pregnant!

Recent baby prep/decisions:  The baby's room was painted while we were at the lake but that's all we've done with that room. We'll wait until January or later to move furniture around because for now Phil likes to use it as his office on the days he works from home. Eventually, we'll move Paul's changing table into that room, and move the dresser that is in the office/baby room into Paul's room. And then we'll wait and see if we need to buy a crib. I'm going to guess we'll need to because Paul shows no signs of being done with his crib. He's never attempted to crawl out of it and loves his crib so we'll keep him in there as long as we can!

Mood: Pretty good except I was feeling so OVER SUMMER last week when it was so hot and humid. Sorry to all the summer lovers out there! I'm just ready for cooler fall temps but drier air has arrived and it's been beautiful lately! 

Pregnancy Update: 22 weeks

It feels like I JUST wrote my 18 week update - somehow 4 weeks have already gone by! Times flies when you are keeping up with a toddler. This pregnancy is going WAY faster than my one with Paul! Here's the latest! 

Baby size:  the baby is the length of a summer squash and weighs almost a pound. I swear the ultrasound tech told us he weighed 2 pounds at our 20 week ultrasound. I asked Phil and he also remembered her saying 2 pounds but we think that couldn't have been right! She must have meant 1 pound? I know he was measuring ahead but I doubt he was twice the size of the average baby at 22 weeks! 

I haven't been good about taking bump photos but here is one from around 22 weeks. With my dark shirt and the fireplace behind me, it's a little hard to see how big I am, but it gives you an idea. After losing weight during the first trimester, I had quite a jump between 16 and 20 weeks but my overall weight gain is fine and my doctor said it's normal to have a decent jump after losing weight in the first tri. Overall, I've gained 8 pounds so not too much in total. I only gained about 20 with Paul so that's my target for this pregnancy but if I gain more, so be it. 

Sex of the baby: boy! 

Symptoms/RA management: My RA had been better and I was just starting to taper down to a really low dose this week - and then I got a flare on Monday morning and another one last night. Womp womp. I think I need to give up on getting off prednisone. I was trying to get off it before my glucose test at 28 weeks as being on pred means I will for sure fail the test and end up with gestational diabetes. That's what happened last time so at least I know how to manage it. It's just a pain as it requires seeing a endocrinologist, non-stress tests and extra ultrasounds, not to mention watching my diet extremely close and pricking my finger 4 times/day. But I think all of that is better than painful flares so I'm just going to stay on prednisone and suck it up. It helps knowing this is my last pregnancy and I won't have to go through this again! 

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had my 20 week appointment shortly after the ultrasound and it was super reassuring. I was nervous about the umbilical cord issue but my OB made me feel much better about things and assured me that it really isn't a problem and that we'll just keep an eye on Pedro's growth (Pedro is my nickname for the baby - that WILL NOT be his name!!). I love my OB so much! 

Sleep:  I have insomnia about 2 nights/week and end up having to get up to read - sometimes multiple times/night. It's super annoying but so be it. 

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: Nothing new to report here. Yogurt still is unappealing to me which is odd as it used to be something I ate every single day. I hope this goes away before I start the gestational diabetes diet because yogurt is a great snack since it's high in protein. 

Exercise:  My OB cleared me for some light weight lifting at my 20 week appointment but I have yet to start that... So I am just doing walks so far which is still a great form of exercise, especially when pregnant. I actually get into the cardio zone just going on walks since being pregnant raises my heart rate so dang easily!! One day when I was sleeping in the basement, I walked up the 2 flights of stairs to Paul's bedroom to help get him ready and Phil said, "did you just sprint up the stairs? You didn't need to do that!" since I was breathing so heavily. I was like, nope just walked up 2 flights of stairs while pregnant! 

Recent baby prep/decisions:  We are getting the interior walls of our main/upper levels plus the nursery painted while we are at the lake. Woo hoo! I am so excited about this as I've had paint swatches on lots of walls since February. Our main/upper walls will be Edgecomb gray which is a very neutral color. The baby's room will be Stonington Gray which has a blueish hue to it. It will be great to get this done! 

Mood: My mood continues to be pretty good. I'm annoyed with my RA but overall I remind myself things could be so much worse. The baby is healthy and I feel pretty good all in all. And again, I keep reminding myself that I don't have to go through this ever again!!! Also having an active 2yo really helps to take my mind off the pregnancy!

I'll be taking next week off from blogging/reading blogs while we are up at the lake as I want to unplug from technology as much as possible! My vacation actually starts tomorrow! We took Friday off so we can all get tested for COVID first thing in the morning and then we'll isolate and head to the lake as soon as we get our results back - hopefully by Sunday! 

What's in a Name?

On a recent podcast episode of The Mom Hour (great podcast about parenting!) the hosts talked about how they came up with names for the 8 kids they have between them (one host has 5 kids, the other has 3). It was a really fun episode and was a topic that is heavy on our minds right now since we have a 2nd boy on the way in December. So I thought it'd be fun to talk about the origin story for my name and how we decided on the name Paul Donald for our first child. I'll also discuss nicknames, too!

My name story:

How my name was chosen:  I was the 4th kid my parents had and my dad got to pick out my name. Wow, my mom must have really trusted him or known she would like what he picked. I can't see myself telling Phil to pick the baby's name! Maybe she had a veto option, though? He chose Lisa and I was named after.... a soap opera character!! Funny, right? My dad is a very blue collar man's man but he used to watch a soap opera when he came home for lunch each day. Apparently there was this strong, confident female character whose name was Lisa, so that was the inspiration. My middle name was going to be Suzanne, but our last name started with a D so my initials would have been LSD. My parents were NOT on board with that, so they shorted it to Anne.

Nicknames:  The main nickname I have is not derived from my name at all - I have no idea where it came from. But my parents called me Fritz when I was young. Some college friends call me "Lees" but most of the other names I've had were derivatives of my last name. At work, I used to be called "D-rod" which is the first letter and last syllable of my maiden name. Now that I've changed my name, that nickname doesn't get used as much, except by one co-worker.

How I felt/feel about my name:  well, I tried to change my name to Stephanie (after the character in Full House) in 3rd grade so that probably tells you that I wasn't thrilled with the name when I was young. I took this name change very seriously. I wrote Stephanie on all of my papers/homework and would only answer to Stephanie in the classroom. I eventually gave up and accepted that Lisa would be my name. As an adult, I'd say I've accepted my name. I know it's a very big decision that parents put a lot of thought into. And I can't imagine my name being anything else.

Paul's name story:

How his name was chosen:  We did not know the gender during the last pregnancy so we had to come up with a name for either gender. It was NOT an easy decision as both Phil and I are extremely picky. But we do both prefer strong, classic names. Early on, we decided to go with Paul for a boy. My dad's name is Paul and Phil's parents' first child was Paul. Sadly, their little boy died shortly before turning 2 due to a fall at daycare that resulted in head trauma that he did not survive. When we were leaning towards picking Paul, we talked to Phil's mom to make sure she was ok with this and said we could use it for a middle name if it would be painful for us to use that for a first name. She was completely on board with us using it as his first name, though. It is nice that the name Paul has meaning on both sides of our family and Joan has told us that our Paul reminds her of her Paul. We did not tell my parents that we chose Paul until after he was born. I remember calling my parents from the C-section recovery room, having them put me on speaker (they were on their way to the hospital), and telling them we had chosen Paul. We knew my dad would be very touched so didn't think we needed his permission to use the name. And we were right. He was incredibly honored/touched. Our Paul's middle name is Donald which is Phil's dad's name. So Paul is named after his 2 grandfathers. Family is very important to both Phil and me so I am glad we were able to use family names!

I do have a funny story about my dad and Paul sharing a name. During my maternity leave I was up at the lake for a couple of days. My mom's brother called while my mom was giving Paul a bottle, so I answered the phone for her and said my mom was feeding Paul but I'd hand the phone off to her shortly. There was this long, pregnant pause. And then my uncle realized that she was feeling baby Paul! He laughed so hard and said he was thinking - 'geez, what is going on with your dad if your mom is feeding him?' hahahaha

Nicknames: Paul goes to Spanish Immersion daycare and the vowel sound of Paul is difficult for native Spanish speakers to pronounce, so from day one he's been Pablo which quickly became Pablito because Paul is very small for his age. I think Paul knows his name is Paul, but he mostly says "Pablo" when referring to himself. And we tend to call him Pablo more than Paul. I sometimes wonder what people think when they see a white lady calling her blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned child "Pablo." But it does really fit his personality. Once he goes to school, I am sure he will start using Paul instead of Pablo, but for now, it just fits him so well.

The next baby's name:

Well that is to be determined and we won't share the name until the baby is born. I've learned from watching others share a name before the baby is born that some people tend to say awful things about a name when it's not attached to a beautiful baby. People seem less likely to tell you to your face that they don't like the name you've chosen if you wait until the baby is born. I started a list of names in the note ap of my iPhone but so far, Phil is not ready to talk about names. So I don't think we'll start seriously discussing it until the 3rd trimester. It would have been kind of nice to have a girl, because we both still liked the girl name we had picked out before - Claire Margaret. Claire is not a family name, but Margaret is Phil's mom's middle name.

It's going to be challenging to pick another boy name. I have 5 nephews and there are so dang many boys in Phil's family. We don't really want to pick a name that is already in use and we don't like any of the options of the older males in our family. Well, I like Neil, my paternal grandpa's name, but Phil isn't on board with that as it's the name of one of his good friends. So we'll see what we come up with. I will say it will likely be another traditional name - neither one of us feels like the name needs to be unique.

Your turn! Do you know how your parents came up with your name? If you have children, was it hard to come up with names? It's such a big decision so we find it kind of difficult!

Pregnancy Update: 18 Weeks

Happy Tuesday! I'm back with another pregnancy update. I'm planning to share updates every 4 weeks. I know this is not of interest to many people but it's fun for me to document the pregnancy. I love looking back at posts from my pregnancy with Paul so am sure I'll read back on these some day, too. 

Baby size:  the baby is the length of a bell pepper. He's 5.5" long and weighs almost 7 oz. 

I am definitely showing way more this pregnancy. I'll be honest and say I don't love it. I know it's healthy and part of being pregnant but I just feel bulky. The photo on the left was around 18 weeks with my last pregnancy and the photo on the right is this pregnancy (the photo quality is pretty crappy but it's the best I can do in our bedroom). And my hair is very frizzy because of the humidity! As you can see, I was barely showing at this point with Paul. I know my belly size is probably more typical than my previous pregnancy. And it's normal to show earlier. It's just taking some getting use to on my part... But that said, I know I am very lucky to be pregnant and I don't ever take it for granted!

Sex of the baby: boy! It's been fun to experience the pregnancy knowing what the gender is after not knowing last time. I loved not knowing last time but it is nice to be able to picture a growing boy in my tummy. 

Symptoms/RA management:  Ugh. My RA has not been good. I was on prednisone for my last 2 flares and as soon as I tapered down to a lower dose of prednisone, I got 2 horrible flares in my right wrist and right ankle. Both made sleep difficult and work was difficult as typing is painful when your wrist hurts like heck. It is looking like I will need to stay on prednisone for this pregnancy. I was really hoping my RA would behave this time but it just isn't. :( Being on prednisone means I'll likely end up with gestational diabetes again as prednisone raises your blood sugar. So I'm dreading the extra doctor appointments/monitoring and adding 4 finger pricks/day to the 8 injections/week I've been giving myself since week 6 of the pregnancy. I am very grateful to be pregnant and to be adding to our family but I really wish that pregnancy wasn't so hard for me... 

Recent/upcoming appointments: I had my 15 week appointment 3 weeks ago. Those appointments are always so reassuring since I get to hear the heartbeat. At that appointment I did another round of prenatal screening (the alpha fetal protein test) and the results came back normal so that was another relief! I have my next appointment at 20 weeks. I'll go to a perinatal clinic for my ultrasound instead of my usual OB practice since I'm high risk between my blood clot history, RA and prednisone usage. And then I have an appointment the next day with my OB. I'm very excited for the 20 week ultrasound as you see so much at that appointment. I'll have to go alone as they are still only seeing patients due to COVID, but I understand that requirement and can FaceTime Phil in for the scan. 

Sleep:  It's hit or miss depending on my RA and stress levels. Weekend naps are LIFE. Sometimes I nap for over 2 hours which is so not like me. But clearly my body needs the rest. 

Cravings/favorite foods and aversions: I don't really have any weird cravings but I didn't with Paul either. I eat a lot of chips and salsa and pickles but those are foods I'm drawn to when I'm not pregnant! I still have aversions to most sweets, hard-boiled eggs, and yogurt. Sometimes sweets sound good to me, but it's hit or miss. 

Exercise:  Eh, not great. I was doing good with frequent walks but work has been so busy and then the RA flares make it hard to get out for walks. So I am going on long walks when I can and I will do a lot of lake swimming with Paul this summer. That's not exactly a 'workout' but it can be strenuous to pull a toddler around or jump up and down with him in the lake (he loves that!). 

Recent baby prep/decisions:  nothing. Can you tell this is a 2nd child? Ha. To be honest, we didn't do much prep for Paul either because we were house hunting and were hoping to move before he was born... So I didn't actually 'decorate' his room until this winter when he was nearing 2. And by decorate, I mean I hung some reading-themed prints over his crib. We are just not 'decorate the nursery in an elaborate manner' type of people! This is such a YOU DO YOU thing! We are glad we didn't spend much money/time decorating because he is literally only in that room to sleep! But I totally understand that most parents love to decorate the nursery.

We will eventually turn our 3rd bedroom upstairs into the baby's room but it's currently used as an office for Phil when he WFH. One of the walls is pink so I do want to get that bedroom painted. Other than that, we really don't need to buy much since we already have everything! I know the baby won't sleep in his room until he's around 3-4 months so we are thinking Paul will be ready for a big boy bed by then. So our plan is to move his crib into the baby's room. We will see how that works out. That's a long time away but he loves his crib and has never tried to climb out of it (I highly doubt he could if he tried). If he's not ready for a big boy bed, we'll just get a 2nd crib at that point.

Mood: overall my mood has been pretty good. I have less anxiety than I did in the first trimester so that is good. I'm starting to feel more excitement and we talk more about the baby with Paul so now he knows there is a baby in my tummy and will point to it. I think Phil and I will feel much better after our 20 week ultrasound since that is a big milestone. 

Maternity clothes:  I finally pulled out my maternity clothes 2 weeks ago. I felt very nervous about bringing my maternity clothes out before that. I had brought them out in October the weekend before our ultrasound and then at that appointment we found out there was no heartbeat. So I just felt super anxious about unpacking them again. 

To be clear, I was not able to wear much of my pre-pregnancy clothes starting around week 12-13 I think. But I've been living in workout clothes since I started to WFM in mid-March so I just wore the same stuff over and over again. This past weekend I went to a pregnancy consignment store to buy some summer clothes as I have no summer pregnancy clothes. I bought 15 items for $160 which is a pretty good deal! Pregnancy clothes are so dang expensive so I couldn't stomach paying full price for things that I will only wear for the next couple of months. 

This before (left) and after (right) photo isn't very impressive, but I did pack away a ton of clothes. I don't think I will wear most of the stuff I wore with Paul since we won't be going out on dates or to holiday parties, etc and I don't have to dress up for work. But I wanted to at least see what my options are. I can't wait to sell all this stuff to the consignment store after the baby is born because we are 100% done having kids after this pregnancy. 

18 weeks down, 21 to go! 

Our Growing Family

This has been a heavy year so far with COVID, the resulting economic hardship many are experiencing as a result, and the social unrest from the systemic racism that has plagued our country for so many years and is finally getting the attention it deserves. But in the midst of all this darkness and difficulty, we have some good news to share...

 Our waving baby at 11 weeks.

WE ARE EXPECTING!! 

It's been a much harder road to a 2nd child than it was having Paul. For those who haven't read my blog for a long time we got pregnant with Paul the month after we got married in 2017. We knew we were incredibly lucky then but now I really know how lucky we were after having a harder time having a 2nd child. Longer-time readers know that we had a miscarriage at 8 weeks in October which was a very difficult and heartbreaking experience for us. And then the path to getting pregnant again was not easy as my cycle was impacted by being on and off steroids to treat RA flares.

But... here we are - expecting our 2nd child. I do not take for granted how lucky we are and my heart goes out to those struggling with infertility. It breaks my heart that the ability to grow a family is out of the hands of so many couples. So for those you dealing with that - I see you and I have so much compassion and empathy for what you are going through.

Now for the details!

How far along are you?

I am 15 weeks along!

What's the official due date?

December 8th, 2020 but I will have a scheduled C-section around 39 weeks so baby S will arrive in early December. I'm opting for a scheduled C-section as I can't handle repeating what happened with Paul - I labored for over a day, got to 9cm (without an epidural as I wasn't allowed to get one due to being on blood thinners) and then needed a C-section because his head wouldn't descend and his heart rate was dropping. Also, having a scheduled C-section makes sense since I am on blood thinners again due to a genetic mutation that makes me prone to clots (I had a massive blood clot at 34 weeks with Paul). It's just easy to manage all around as being on blood thinners really complicates things. I know I don't need to defend our decision to have a planned C-section but I do feel a little defensive about it. I would have to NOT have to have major surgery to bring a child into the world but after discussing it with my OB, we feel it's the safest decision all around.

Are you showing at all?

Yes, this time around I am showing. I have a fairly small bump. With Paul I did not show until closer to 18 weeks so this is a very different experience for me! The lighting in this picture isn't great but it shows you my little bump. I'm in that awkward stage where it's hard to tell if I am pregnant or just eating a little too much ice cream. Ha.

How did you tell Phil?

Once again, there was no pomp and circumstance to telling Phil. I had to do a lot of monitoring when we were trying for #2 so he knew exactly when I was going to take the test and was anxiously waiting in the bedroom while I was in our master bathroom. Earlier that week he had said, "you know we are going to have a positive test now that COVID-19 is happening!" We found out I was expecting in late March right when things were starting to get bad.

How did you tell your family?


I called my parents the weekend before the 8 week ultrasound to share the news. I was extremely anxious about the 8 week ultrasound as that's when we found out our last baby didn't have a heartbeat and I had to go to this appointment (and all appointments for this pregnancy alone). So I needed the extra prayers and support of my parents. I also told my little sister via text the day we got the positive pregnancy test as we are very close and share everything. I told my other siblings via text after the 8-week ultrasound. Again, it's on the early side to tell people but I knew they'd keep it to themselves and we wanted the extra support and prayers.

Phil wanted to wait until we had the genetic testing back to tell his mom so we told her when I was almost 14 weeks. We went out to her house for the afternoon and had Paul wear this shirt (it says Soon to be a big brother). She quickly read what was on his shirt and was so excited!

Will you find out the sex of the baby?

We decided to do things differently this time and found out during the genetic testing (we did not find out the gender with Paul). Drumroll..... it's another boy!! I was not the least bit surprised because this pregnancy is exactly like my pregnancy with Paul. Plus, Phil's family tends to have boys. I was obviously open to either gender but I've kind of always pictured myself as being a mom of boys. We would have of course been excited to have a girl but I never felt strongly about really wanting to have a daughter like many women do. Now we need to figure out a name though - having a girl would have been nice as we had a girl named picked up if Paul had been a girl. But we've got 5 months to figure that out!

How have you been feeling physically? 

Overall, I've been feeling pretty good. My RA is much better managed this time around. Back in February I was able to go back on the drug I was on before getting pregnant with Paul as there is more evidence that it is safe for pregnancy. My RA definitely isn't in remission (it goes into remission for over 50% of women) but it's not terrible. I've been able to manage all of my flares with a topical anti-inflammatory gel.

I did have the same bleeding issue that I had with Paul - it's called a subchorionic hemorrhage (SCH). It's a area of bleeding that develops around the placenta. I had some bleeding the day I put in my garden fence so that scared the heck out of me. I was able to get in for an ultrasound the next day which confirmed I have an SCH. Being on blood thinners complicates things as it's harder for the bleeding issue to resolve. So I have been taking it easy and sticking to just walks as heavier activity would likely result in more bleeding.

But as far as pregnancy-specific symptoms, I am pretty lucky. I had the same aversions as I did with Paul (coffee and sweets). They are getting better and I'm back to treating myself to the occasional coffee (I packed away my coffee pot during the 5th week when the smell was making me gag). There are still things I can't/won't eat like yogurt and hard-boiled eggs, which were staples in my diet before. But overall, I'm incredibly lucky and my nausea has been very minor and I have not thrown up!

How have you been feeling emotionally? 

Oof. This has been the hardest aspect of the pregnancy. After having a miscarriage with no signs in the fall, I was so anxious it would happen again. Plus 2 good friends had miscarriages in Feb/Mar around 12 weeks after hearing the heartbeat at 8 weeks. So I was so paranoid that was going to happen to us. Now that I'm 15 weeks, I'm feeling more confident in things and trying to trust it will all work out.

How have you been sleeping?

My sleep has been hit or miss. The exhaustion during this pregnancy is unreal, but I think chasing a 2-year old around is way different than being pregnant with no kids in the house! Also, COVID has really turned life upside down and we had Paul home with until I hit the 8 week mark of pregnancy. I purposely waited until we saw the heartbeat at 8 weeks to send him back to daycare as I was worried I'd have another miscarriage and would need my mom to come watch him if I needed a D and C. And I wouldn't have felt right having her watch him if he'd been at daycare and exposed to who knows what. This is just an example of where your mind goes when you've experienced a loss...

I definitely live for weekend naps and nearly always nap while Paul is napping.

Have you had any aversions or cravings?

As I mentioned above, I had an aversion to coffee and sweets but that's getting better. I don't really have any strong cravings although I have been eating a lot of pickles but that's not super abnormal for me since pickles are one of my favorite foods!

What have you been doing for exercise?

Just walking! But my OB wanted me to take it easy due to the SCH issue and I feel like I can still get a good workout with walks as there are lots of hills in our area that get my heart racing. I do really miss running and now is when I could easily fit it in since I'm working from home. But I just keep telling myself that this is not the season of life for running. Some day I will return to that sport but not in the near future.

So there you have it, a long post with lots of details. I think I will post every 4 weeks like I did with Paul, starting at 18 weeks. I know pregnancy posts are not everyone's cup of tea, but I know some like to read them (I really do!) and I love being able to look back on the posts from my pregnancy with Paul.