15 & 16 weeks preggo

How far along? 15 weeks
Best moment this week: Second trimester is here!
Movement: Some, when I'm sitting or laying down in the evening.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still nauseous at the beginning of the week but feeling much better by the weekend.
Happy or Moody? Happy and busy getting ready for William's upcoming birthday.
Other: William loves talking about Anna Grace.  When we are sitting on the couch he'll tell me he wants to see her (aka my belly).  He pulls up my shirt and rubs the little baby bump.  He says sweet things like "awww, she cute!" and then he'll cover my belly back up and say, "Night night, Anna Grace."

Baby is the size of an Orange

How far along? 16 weeks
Total weight gain? Up 2 lbs in past 2.5 weeks (total gained 5 lbs)
Maternity clothes? Only one pair of jeans.
Best moment this week: 2 days off work this week.
Movement: About the same as last week.  Feel her in the evening.
Food cravings: Sweet tart jelly beans
Anything making you queasy or sick: Don't have a big appetite.  Unfortunately, the things I do want are carbs!
Belly button in or out? In but it won't be long before it's out.

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody? Excited to have family in town.  My parents and Gordon's parents arrived to Houston on Thursday evening for William's birthday weekend.
Looking forward to:  Excited about the anatomy scan in a few weeks
Doctor Appointments: Seen by NP on Thursday.  Baby heart rate = 160.  Ultrasound done.  Mostly saw her back and profile.  I will be starting weekly progesterone shots soon.  My doctor will order medication, we'll wait for insurance approval and then it will be delivered to our house.  Gordon seems to think he should be the one to give me the shots.  :/

Baby can now hear my voice

13 and 14 weeks preggo

How far along? 13 weeks
Maternity clothes? Jeans.  So much easier with the expanding belly!
Fun moments this week: My mother in law came to town, William got a big boy bed and we had dinner with Grant and Emily Saturday night.
Food cravings: Chips and salsa and hamburgers
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nausea is still in full effect.  Most meat sounds yuck and still not a fan of sweet potatoes
Labor signs: Still having pelvic pressure.  Starting to wonder if I'll be able to work 12 hour shifts with the VAT team.  Trying to stay off feet as much as possible when at home.
Belly button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody? A little nervous about the pelvic pressure.
Looking forward to: Easter in Midland
Doctor Appointments: At 13w6d I went back to doctor for my post cerclage follow up visit.  They did a quick ultrasound during the visit.  You could see the stitch in place and baby girl squirming around.  Her heart rate was 162.  The doctor thinks the pelvic pressure could be from the stitch irritating me?!?!  

Baby is the size of a Peach

How far along? 14 weeks
Total weight gain? Up a pound since week 12 (total 3lbs)
Exercise: Can't.  We've been so busy with parties, having company and going out of town I hadn't had a chance to miss it too much.
Sleep: Still up once a night to use restroom.  I seem to have more energy this week (actually staying up past 9pm).
Best moment this week: Meeting out new nephew, Brecken, and feeling baby girl move for the first time!
Movement: YES!  On Easter Sunday, April 5th.  :)  As I was falling asleep I felt some little thumps.  April 5th was our due date with the miscarriage baby.  I think God and our little angel babe were telling me things would be okay.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nausea even worse this week.  I'm still so shocked that even the smell of coffee makes me want to vomit.  
Happy or Moody? Happy!
Looking forward to: William's 3rd birthday is around the corner and "project baby girl's room" is under way!
Other: We were happy to see William do so well around Brecken.  Back in November, when I met baby Katherine, he would not let me hold another baby.  Four months later....he could care less!  Fingers crossed he'll keep up that attitude when Anna Grace arrives.  

As you can see, William is a bit moody when it comes to our weekly picture taking.  We took the 14 week picture right before we headed to the airport.  We were in a hurry, I was makeup-less and obviously someone was grumpy.  Toddlers!

It's A......

Sadly for my husband, I love planning a party!  The weekend we found out the gender of Baby Gooding #2 was super busy.....but, I couldn't pass up a chance to celebrate this precious new life.  So, with some of our closest friends and some family we had a pink and blue gender reveal party. In my opinion, everything turned out super cute.      

• Cheese ball, Corn dip, Veggies, Chicken nuggets and spinach dip completed the menu
• The sunlight coming in through the windows made it hard to take a good picture.
• Candy covered marshmallows
• Labels from WH Hostess
• Candy covered rice krispie treats, candy popcorn and yummy vanilla cake 
• He or She?
• Pink or Blue, We Love YOU!
• I loved this cake made by my mom's friend, Arvella (if you live in West Texas you must use her!)
• Anna Grace or Weston Jack (Anna is my paternal grandmother and Grace is Gordon's paternal grandmother; wGj are also William's initials, Jack is Gordon's maternal grandfather)

With a pop of a balloon the verdict was in.....it's a GIRL!!!

William tends to take after me.  He loves a party!  He was so excited about his friends coming over.  He only took a 45 minute nap and when he woke up he sat straight up in bed and said, "It's my party? My friends coming!"  He was SO excited!!!

William and Gordon voted BLUE.  I honestly didn't care either way.  A little brother for William would have been so fun.....but, I am glad to have one of each!  My pregnancies aren't the easiest so I'm pretty sure this will be it for us.  :)  Gordon was pretty shocked for the first few hours.  He truly thought we'd only have boys.  To be honest, he had convinced me of that too.  I had felt sicker this pregnancy, the Chinese gender calender said we'd have a girl and the baby's heart rate had always been higher than William's had been.  The pink confetti confirmed that it was a girl!  I'm still not sure I'll believe it until I see it for myself.  It all seems too perfect.  :)  It's hard to believe we'll have baby dolls and bows in our house now!!!!

Soon to be family of four!  2 girls ~ 2 boys
{Confetti Balloons from Etsy Flair Exchange}

A month later it's finally sinking in.  We are all so excited!  Anna Grace will be the first granddaughter on my side of the family and she will be exactly one year younger than her cousin, Katherine, on Gordon's side.  We feel extremely blessed and continue to pray that she stays in her mama for another couple of months (at least!).  I'm so glad we will get to honor our grandmothers by naming her Anna Grace.  I know my sweet Grandma Anna is smiling down on us from heaven.  I can only pray that our little Anna is as sweet, patient and kind as she was.  My heart holds such precious memories of her.  I can't wait to share them all with Anna Grace.

A Room For A Big Boy

In my last post I mentioned that we had moved William to a big boy room.  I wish I could say it's been an easy transition, but it hasn't.  It could definitely be worse so I can't complain much!

Here's a picture of William's room before.  I've always loved everything about his room.  I was a little sad to see it go.

And here is the new and improved BIG boy room.  I'm in love!

The crib, rocking chair, white pouf and one of the paintings moved out of his room.  We added the bed (from Restoration Hardware), the green table/chairs for reading/coloring, camo teepee, elephant sheets from Pottery Barn (similar), the orange giraffe painting from Doodles and this deer head just needs to be hung.  The elephant and Every Day I Love You signs are by Sugarboo Design.  William's big boy room turned out better than we could have hoped.  And most importantly, William loves his new room!

So, about the big transition.  The first few nights William did awesome.  We put him to bed the way we always had.  No problems.  On the 4th night he started getting out of bed a few minutes after we left the room.  I have always tried hard to not start habits that I can't or don't want to keep up with.  With that being said, I've given into laying down with him after reading his bedtime book.  Once he's really drowsy I can sneak away.  When William was in his crib he would wake up every few nights crying in the middle of the night.  Majority of the time he'd put himself back to sleep.  He'd turn his music machine on and not make another peep.  Well, not now.  He's figured out that he can just get on out of the bed and come find us....at 3am!  Some nights William does great and we don't hear a peep from him.  Other nights, the little guy sneaks all the way down the stairs and into our room.  I think part of the problem is the "little kid being afraid of things" starting to kick in.  Some nights he'll tell me he's scared because there's a dinosaur.  My favorite line is, "But, I wanna sleep in Mama's bed."  When he's desperate he'll even say he's not a big boy, he's a baby.  I guess he's hoping that will either get him moved to our room or back to his crib.  :)

Like I said, it could be much worse!  Hopefully he'll get more comfortable in his new environment and be doing better before baby #2 arrives.  We have 4 months to get this big boy thing down.  :)
If any of you mamas has a suggestion on how to keep a toddler in his bed let me know!  

Week 13

Some big things happened in our house during Week 13.  Little William graduated from his crib to a big boy bed!  Although, it was time to make this transition I wasn't too excited about it, for a couple of reasons.  #1 My baby isn't a baby anymore  #2  William loved his crib so I hated to "fix something that isn't broken"  #3 He didn't/couldn't crawl out of his crib  #4  Change is hard.
Mimi just happened to be coming into town the weekend his big boy bed was delivered.  Talk about perfect timing!  She was a great help getting William's big boy room set up and the crib moved to the baby room.  I'll post before and after pictures of William's room soon....and give an update on how the transitioning has gone!  

We had a fun night out the first night Mimi was in town.  We had dinner at Dish Society and then grabbed some yogurt next door.  We spent the weekend getting lots of projects done and even got to see Emily and Grant for dinner one night.  That Sunday we tried to go see the Easter Bunny....William wanted nothing to do with the bunny.  He cried his little eyes out and screamed, "He scare me!"  Maybe next year.  :)  Sunday evening we did William's favorite thing, went to a movie!  If you haven't seen Home yet you must go.  Super cute with a good message!

12 weeks preggo

Warning.  This post is a little lengthy......the 12th week was a busy one!  We'll start with the fun stuff, a picture of Baby G!!

How far along? 12 weeks
Total weight gain? 2 pounds (up 1 over the last 3 weeks)
Maternity clothes? Not yet but my waist line is definitely growing. 
Exercise: As of this week, I can't work out for a while.
Sleep: Having a hard time going back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Best moment this week:  Waking up from the anesthesia alive!  I have a fear of dying while under anesthesia.  Finding out the sex of the baby!
Miss anything:  I don't miss it yet...but I will.  Working out!  I love staying in shape.  It makes me feel healthier and happier.  But, this is best for the baby.  :)
Movement:  Not yet. 
Food cravings:  Cheetos (really any kind of chip)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Coffee and sweet potatoes     
Labor signs:  I've had a lot more pelvic pressure this week (before and since the cerclage was placed)
Belly button in or out? In 
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody?  Happy but anxious for the procedure to come and go.  Super excited to find out if another little boy or little girl will complete our family. 
Looking forward to: Mom being in town, seeing friends during the gender reveal and the Houston Rodeo.    .
Other: We bought William mattresses for his big boy bed that will be delivered in a week!  We told my brother, Dustin, and sister in law and officially announced that we were pregnant.
Doctor Appointments:  Genetic test on Monday, 3/16/15.  Baby's heartrate was 177 and he/she was sleeping away with it's little legs crossed at the feet.  All the measurements they did looked good and we later found out the genetic tests came back good.  I saw Dr. Zepeta after the genetic appointment and the baby was waving it's little hands around.  You could see all five little fingers on one of it's hands.  Later in the week I had my anesthesia pre-op appointment.  By the time the actual procedure came on Friday I'd already been stuck 3 times.  My veins were getting grumpy.

In PACU after cerclage was placed

So here's the deal with a cerclage.  What is it?  Here's Wikipeida's definition of a cerclage.  The decision to place the cerclage was made for several different reasons.  #1 the maternal fetal medicine doctor agreed it would be a good idea  #2 My cervix shortened at 29 weeks with William  #3  I've had a premature baby  #4  After the surgery on my uterus, in August 2013, Dr. Zepeta was pretty sure I had an incompetent cervix.  #5 I have a messed up uterus.  The risks from placing a cerclage scared me (rupturing membranes etc) but having a baby too early, that wouldn't survive, scared me more.  So, the decision was made!
At 4:45 in the morning, on Friday, March 20th Gordon and I made our way to the med center.  After 3 attempts to start a peripheral IV they were finally successful.  For a minute there I thought I was going to have to start my own IV.  :)   Next up, checking the baby's heartrate.  The nurse searched and searched and nothing.  She called a labor and delivery room nurse.  She had no luck either.  At this point Dr. Zepeta came into the room to say hi.  Gordon informed him that, "Lindsey is freaking out."  I was.  Dr. Zepeta took over and found the heartrate right away.  177  Nice and strong.  After a million more questions were asked by lots of different people I was taken back for the procedure.  This was probably my least fun "falling asleep" experience.  As I was falling asleep I remember my IV burning from the medicine (I was of course worried it was infiltrating....the nurse in me never stops), the sweet nurse next to me said she would take good care of me (this meant the world to me at that moment) and the bad part.....this awful loud ringing in my head.  I remember thinking please fall asleep, please fall asleep......and then I did. 

As I started to come to I heard a nurse say, "Baby's heartrate 155."  Thank you God!  The baby was okay.  When I woke up I looked at the clock to get an idea of how long it'd taken.  No more than an hour.  My throat hurt from being intubated and I had the same yucky taste in my mouth I always have after anesthesia.  BUT, I WAS ALIVE and so was THE BABY.  :)  As soon as my eyes moved away from the clock I found Gordon's eye and burst into tears.  So happy, so scared, so ready to have our little one here...happy and healthy.  Don't get me wrong.  I. Love. Being. Pregnant.  I'd have 6 kids if Gordon, God and our pocket book would let me.  But my body says otherwise.  Dr. Zepeta told Gordon he was glad we'd done the stitch (2 stitches actually) because my cervix was already open and shortening.  The nurse practitioner described my cervix as open and floppy.  Lovely.  Not gonna keep a baby in like that!  We are so glad the stitches are in so that this little one has the opportunity to grow and grow.  I was warned that I'd be in some pain and really uncomfortable for a few days.  Dr. Zepeta even wrote admission orders.  He said most people have to be admitted to the hospital after this procedure.  And people thought I had a low pain tolerance.  ;)  No way was I staying.  I was ready to get out of that hospital so I could get home to see my other baby!  Gordon and I made it home just in time for nap time.  Talk about perfect timing!  We were all in need of a nap.

So, from here on we pray, go to the doctor a lot and I'll be on pelvic rest for the remainder of the pregnancy (most likely).  I have to take it easy!  Not something I do well.  I followed up with Dr. Zepeta 10 days after the procedure and will go back again at 16.5 weeks.  I'll start seeing the high risk, maternal fetal medicine doctor, around 18 weeks and continue with him every 2-3 weeks until I give birth.  Cerclages are usually removed at 36 weeks.  If my doctors think I'll deliver immediately after the stitches are removed they will wait until 37 weeks (which is September 8th).  Obviously, I'd love to carry the baby this long but I'm making short and long term goals for this pregnancy.  The first goal has been met.  Cerclage successfully placed.  Next goal, make it to 26 weeks.  Then, 28, 30, 32....and anything after that will make me a happy mama! 

Look at that precious baby boy!  Love him to pieces.  :)  Here's to at least 14 more weeks of pregnancy.

Preggo Week 8-11

Here's a little run down of Preggo week 8-11.

I took a "brand new pregnant" picture in July when I found out I was pregnant...but somewhere along the way I lost it in the hundreds of pictures I take.  This picture was taken in May, in Rosemary Beach, right before we started trying for Baby #2.

Although I started off this pregnancy weighing less than I did with William, I'm a lot less fit.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my body after carrying a baby and being on bed rest for a month.  I didn't expect it to be the same for a very long time, if ever again.  I'd rather spend time with my loves than go to the gym 6 days a week.  Anyways, the lower weight is just due to less muscle.  Because of that (no ab muscles), I've started showing much sooner with Baby #2.  

Week 8:  The pregnancy fatigue started setting in.  I was in bed asleep, every night, by 9.  My nausea was lasting on/off all day long.  With William it ended by lunch time.  I wasn't nearly as hungry as I was with William but did have to throw in an extra snack between breakfast and lunch.  Loving carbs, not wanting meat and still can't stand the smell of coffee.

Week 9:  I was super ready for our 9 week check up.  I was definitely feeling more pregnant than I had during the last pregnancy but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.  Our appointment went great!  Baby's heartrate was 191 and I'd gained one pound.  I was still feeling sick all day long and preferred to eat carbs, soups and cheesy things.  I actually made it to the gym 3 times this week!  We told Gordon's family the happy news on 2/23.

10 weeks: I was still getting up once a night to use the restroom and was asleep by 9 PM.  The nausea got better towards the end of the week.  I had a dream that Baby G was a girl.  Gordon says I'm crazy, that we'll have all boys.  Either way is fine by me.  A brother would be fun for William and a girl would be a perfect addition since we don't have one.  :)

Baby is the size of a large strawberry

Week 11: I had this one random week of feeling better.  Not much nausea?!?  It kinda freaked me out.  Being the worrier I am, I convinced myself that I was miscarrying again.  (luckily, I was wrong)  I started having dizzy spells when standing up too fast or getting up from the floor.  Applesauce sounded delicious and I was super thirsty.  I made it to the gym twice this week and we had a fun family day at the rodeo carnival.

Baby can suck, swallow and yawn.

Third Times A Charm

Third times a charm.....fingers crossed and lots of prayers later we are hoping our third pregnancy will be a happy and healthy one.....and most likely our last, if all goes as planned!
If you follow my blog at all you know in September 2014 we had a miscarriage at 9 weeks along.  Although my head told me that SO many couples go through this heartbreaking experience, that God had a plan for us, I was sad for a while.  At the beginning of October I still wasn't given the okay to start trying again.  I was so frustrated and just ready to put the miscarriage behind us.  At the end of October my body finally got on the same page as me!  I finally got a negative pregnancy test right before Halloween (you get a positive pregnancy test after a miscarriage until your HCG levels are less than 5...give or take).  I didn't have normal cycles the month of October or November.  By December things were normalizing and I seemed to be a little more relaxed about the whole process.  We stayed super busy during the holidays and Gordon and I booked our trip to Lake Tahoe at the beginning of January.  We figured a vacation away, just the two of us, was just what we needed.  And then bam.....a positive pregnancy test!

My parents were in town the weekend we found out.  I didn't find out until late Saturday night, January 17th.  Gordon was already asleep so I waited until the next morning to tell him.  When he woke up I was holding the test.  A big smile spread across his face.  I think 1,000 pounds of anxiety lifted off of us that weekend.      

I got the positive test when I was 3 weeks 4 days pregnant.  We decided to wait and tell our families after we'd been to the doctor.  Here's a little run down of the first few weeks of pregnancy with Baby G #2 (well, technically #3).

Week 5:  I was getting up once a night to use the restroom (better than 3X a night with William).  I started feeling a little nauseated in the mornings.  Eating a couple crackers usually helped.  Over the next two weeks I kept getting right sided "side stitches".  Kinda random....I had this with William too!

Week 6:  Skiing in Lake Tahoe!  Still up once a night to use restroom and pretty nauseated while skiing.  We did a lot of eating on this trip and took lots of rest breaks for snacks.  While Gordon gambled in the evening I got extra rest and reading in.  We also got a lot of movie watching in during this trip.  Everything a pregnant girl could want!   I'll make sure to drink an extra Bloody Mary on top of the mountain on our next ski trip.  :)

Week 7:  The day after we got back from Tahoe we had our first doctor appointment.  2/10/15.  The baby's heartrate was 150 (William's was 140 at 7 weeks).  My weight hadn't changed since having the miscarriage.  I was still under my pre-preggo weight with William but up several pounds since getting pregnant in July.  This is the week my strong aversion to coffee started.  I guess this isn't a bad thing since I don't drink much/if any caffeine while I'm pregnant.  I told my parents we were pregnant while visiting Midland over Valentine's weekend.  They got this in their card this year....

  
At this point in the pregnancy we were excited but guarded.  We didn't talk to William about it much and only a few people knew we were expecting.  I just couldn't let myself get too excited.  Thinking about getting our hearts broke again definitely kept me awake at night.  Thank goodness for first trimester exhaustion.  :)  Every night I say a prayer of thanks for at least letting us get this far.  You can never be thankful enough.  Even in the sad times, there's always something to be thankful for.  God is good.  

Brad Paisley at The Rodeo

We had two fun days at the Houston Rodeo this year.  The first was the carnival.....the second was the actual rodeo!  My mom was in town that weekend for the procedure I had that Friday and we had our Gender Reveal party the day after.  It was a busy weekend, filled with lots of fun!  Luckily, we had a good parking pass so the rain wasn't too bothersome.  William was super pumped to see the animals and wear his new cowboy hat and boots.  

Staying dry with daddy  |  Crazy guys  |  There's nothing better than ice cream in a cowboy hat  

Listening to some good music  |  The best family pic we could get  |  Telling Nana all about the rodeo

Having fun!  |  My little cowboy

I'm always shocked at how well William does at these type of events.  He will just sit and watch everything.  He loved the bull riding (not a good sign) and he couldn't stop talking about how fast the horses could run.  During mutton bustin he told us he wanted to ride....he's been practicing on daddy every night since.  LOL.  Brad Paisley did a great job performing.  William loved watching him play the guitar.  Basically, this night is William's dream come true.  Animals, music, guitars, ice cream, pizza, and popcorn.  It doesn't get much better than that!  The only thing we were missing was Papa.  He was out of town hunting.  As you can see, we took lots of pictures to send him!

Houston Rodeo Carnival

This year, we decided to fight the crowd and take William to the Houston Rodeo's Carnival.  William's been to the actual rodeo but never to the carnival.  He was in heaven!  As soon as he saw all the rides he started saying on repeat, "I ride that!"  Unfortunately, most of the rides require you to be 36'' and our little buddy was just a hair under that.  He was able to ride some of the simpler car rides.

Our first stop in Houston that morning was Barnaby's.  This was our favorite breakfast place when we lived in town.  Our waitress even remembered us!  After filling our bellies we headed to the carnival.  We did beat some of the crowd since we got to the carnival around 10:00.  First up was a camel ride!!!  William kept saying, "We're up high!"  After the camel ride we headed to the pony rides.  We were a little nervous that he wouldn't want to get on the pony alone....but he did great!  As soon as I put him on the pony he asked if he could touch his fur.  He loved how soft the pony was.  Although, the little guy was disappointed he couldn't ride many things he still had a blast on the trucks and motorcycle (which went surprisingly fast).  Before heading home we had my favorite, dip 'n dots, and cheese popcorn!  YUM.  

We had such a fun family day!  Our 12 week check up was the next morning and I'd been super anxious about the appointment.  This was just the day I needed.  FUN, FUN, FUN!