Pregnancy: 16 Weeks

Wow!! We are currently 16.5 weeks into our second pregnancy!! The time is absolutely flying. With Ian's pregnancy, I remember eeking my way through each week. Counting and knowing each day as it narrowed me closer to meeting him.

16 weeks

This baby is constantly on my mind. My body is giving me clues by the moment, alerting me of the need to grab some nourishment, take a drink, or put my feet up. He or she is making their presence known and for that I am so grateful.

With most of my time devoted to Ian during the day, I love how this baby is moving it's way into our world by taking more space in my daily activities, as well as swelling my belly and pant sizes. Figuratively and literally, this baby is carving out a place in our family. It's a beautiful thing.

Until about week 14, I was feeling quite nauseous and exhausted. Chasing a toddler around adds a whole new dimension to the pregnancy exhaustion, that's for sure. I had trouble keeping up with me dietary needs, especially in the morning. With Ian's pregnancy, these difficult symptoms left around 11 weeks. This time they stuck around a bit longer.

Jim and I were just talking recently about how we need to snap a bump picture for this pregnancy! We still haven't, but I did take on in the mirror last week. Hopefully we'll actually get around to it soon. 

Ian, fortunately, still takes a nap in the afternoon. This is normally timed right when I need a mental break or time to just sleep, too. For the first eight or so weeks of pregnancy, I normally tried to nap with him. I'm grateful to have that opportunity. He hadn't been sleeping soundly at night, still waking up and needing to be comforted, which meant that I needed some recovery sleep during the day. Now, he's sleeping quite soundly at night and so I am catching up a bit.

There are still days when I need to steal myself a nap, and I do. This pregnancy has been all about giving myself grace when it comes to dinner, the house, and our activity level. Fortunately, most of our activities were out for the summer, so we spent some of the hardest weeks at home or visiting with family.

Yesterday I got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the third time. What an incredible and beautiful sound. He/she's heartbeat was about 144, which is almost exactly what Ian's had been. At our last appointment it was 175 and the doctor said something about old wives tales saying that it would be a girl if it stayed so high. She said that they would be alarmed if it was still that high at 16 weeks. I suppose old wives tales are really just tales. 

Once again, we are not going to find out the gender of our baby. We just loved the surprise when Ian was born and look forward to finding out at his/her birth!!

Sweet Baby, you are so loved!! Mama & Papa talk about you often. Last night I think I started really feeling you for the first time, though very mild. Papa even may have felt you kick at one point!! Ian is preparing daily to be your big brother. He plays with all of the babies we meet and likes to help them with their pacifier or toys. Today we were talking and I mentioned that Papa was also a brother and he said, "No, no. Ian's da budder." He has that job covered.

We are all anxiously awaiting your arrival, Dear Baby!!

We love you so much.