Pregnancy

A couple more things I wanted to write down about this pregnancy so far. I have been feeling the baby move for probably the last 6 weeks, and Ben felt her moving last week when we were together. He only felt her move a couple of times, but he did get to feel her moving around. She is getting stronger/pushing harder and today Carissa wanted to feel her move. But, so far no luck with that yet. Also, I've kind of figured out when she is most likely to move now too.

Another thing is that I will be 22 weeks tomorrow, and I still haven't gained back the 4 lbs. that I lost yet. With Carissa and Gabe and this baby too, I started out by losing weight. But, then with Carissa and Gabe I gained the weight back and started gaining weight by the end of the first trimester/beginning of second trimester. I think that maybe I am getting too much exercise/not getting enough time to eat this time. About 3 days a week, we leave home early and don't get home until after dinner. I bring snacks and lunch with me to school and eat when I can, but so far my weight stays the same. Also, I end up doing a lot of walking with a heavy backpack while at school which includes a lot of uphill and up stairs walking. I'm sure I will gain weight at some point, but I'm thinking I may gain really fast once this semester is over.

Easter Eggs

Tonight, Carissa and Gabe got to dye their Easter eggs. They were both very anxious to dye eggs and waited about 4 days before we finally did it.

No training wheels

We were thinking during the fall last year that Carissa was probably ready to try riding her bike with no training wheels anymore, but decided that since she wouldn't be riding as much during the winter that we would wait until spring to take off her training wheels. So, we decided that this weekend was the time to take them off. After we took the training wheels off she hopped on her bike and she was off. We didn't have to do anything to help her at all. We thought that she would do well, because her training wheels had slowly been bending upwards as time went on and she kept on riding just fine. But, even knowing that this transition just seemed to go easier than expected. Gabe only figured out how to pedal about a year ago now and he will still need his training wheels for at least a little longer, but he is doing great with his bike.

Tubing

This morning Carissa, Gabe, and Ben all went tubing with my family since my dad's work rented out a tubing place for 2 hours this morning. Carissa and Gabe have never been sledding or tubing before so I was excited to watch them even though I wasn't going. Both of them loved it, and wanted to keep going when our time was up. However, on Gabe's second run down the hill he tried to follow directions by putting his feet down to slow himself down towards the bottom of the run and due to his height he basically ended up on his face in the snow. The employees there came to check on him and get him along with my dad. He cried a little, but not too much and the employees gave him a cookie too. Then we made sure that Gabe knew the the rule of slowing yourself down with your feet didn't apply to little kids, and the rest of the time he did great. On a side note, I got Gabe's crash on video since I was taking pictures/videos of the kids going down.

Ultrasound

Yesterday morning I had my 20 week ultrasound, and the kids, Ben, and I were all there together for it. Carissa and Gabe were really excited to go and they both did well. Carissa was completely thrilled to hear that she will have a little sister, and Gabe is happy to have a little sister too. The baby is measuring pretty much right on time and she looks healthy (no concerns at this point). We got to watch her wiggle around including moving her hand up to her face and watching her open and close her mouth. We also heard the heartbeat at about 150 bpm, and Carissa and Gabe were excited to hear it. The four of us went out yesterday and today to shop for the baby's coming home outfit, and we have one picked out and bought now. We are going to have to start thinking about names for a little girl now, but we still have about 4 months to decide on one.

Art

On Friday, Carissa's school had one piece of artwork on display from every child in the school for everyone to come look at. Also, each grade and class did a dance performance for parents to watch. Carissa's class picked the color green for their dance and then her class actually did the choreography for their dance. They danced/moved like grass, green leaves, and other green things. Gabe and I had a good time watching the kindergartners perform.

18 week appointment

I had my 18 week appointment this morning. Everything is going well. This time we talked a little bit about the delivery. My doctor asked me if I was planning on getting an epidural this time, since I had one with each of my other two. I told her that I didn't want to get an epidural this time, and I originally didn't want one the first time either. I made it through 12 hours of labor and 2 of those with petocin before I gave up, and got the epidural. But, this time I want someone to make sure that my water is broke all the way before I get petocin or an epidural. Because, with the other two deliveries once someone finally noticed that my water wasn't broke all the way, and broke it I finished dialating and delivered in less than an hour. So, I'm really hoping that this delivery goes more the way that I want it to. Also, I still haven't gained any weight yet, so I'm still 4 lbs. under my starting weight. But, the baby is growing and doing fine. The heart beat today was 140-144 bpm. I have just under 2 weeks until the ultrasound, and I am excited to find out the sex of the baby. I'm hoping the baby will co-operate, we almost didn't find out with Gabe because he was sitting on his legs. And, my next check-up is in a month.