23 Week Update

Wow, I've kind of ditched the blog for awhile, huh? It just seems like there's not much to update right now. Its the "Second Trimester Honeymoon" kind of thing.... I really kind of love this stage of pregnancy. Most days I think "I could totally do this again. I LOOOOVE pregnancy." But I know in a few months I'll be miserable, and if I do ever get pregnant again I'll be cursing my stupid idea to do so for the first 12-14 weeks.

The baby is moving around a lot now, and his kicks and jabs are getting stronger and stronger every day. I love it. Ryan was able to feel him kicking last night for the first time. I've started to notice the baby (gotta get him a name.... sheesh!) get active right after I eat a lot of times.

Other than some icky acidy-reflux going on, everything else is doing a-ok. So far my hips and back and shoulders and neck aren't hurting too badly. I do have little spells of a painful/limpy hip, but ususally if I stretch or go to the chiropractor it straightens out and I'm feeling better. I hope that if I keep up regular weekly chiro visits I won't have the hip pains that I had with Porter (even though I did very regular chiro visits when I was pregnant with Porter).

I started buying up diapers yesterday. I figured if I had coupons I should start stocking up on some packs. I opened a pack of newborn diapers and those things are SOOO tiny! I can't wait to have another little itty bitty one around here, but then some days I think "I am so not ready for this!"

We're still undecided on names. I have it narrowed down to 2 names. Ryan, not so many LOL! He's pretty set. I have my reasons for each name... one I feel is "safe"... that everyone will pretty much like, but I have a feeling it'll catch on and become somewhat trendy. The other I feel like it'd be much more original, and that's really what I'm wanting in a name. I *love* when people say about Porter's name "Oh, that's such a neat name! I've never heard it before!" and thats what I want for this baby too. However, Ryan doesn't particularly care for my "more original" name.

I've been contemplating/debating/deciding on breastfeeding. I know I technically really don't have to decide right now, but I don't want to do what happened with Porter and pump/nurse for 5 days and then stop and have prolonged and encouraged my milk to come in full force. I have pros and cons for each. I don't particularly agree with the "children are smarter and healthier when breastfed" because Porter is a very smart little boy and is quite healthy. My main reason for wanting to breastfeed is mainly not spending money on formula and for the experience. But, I really like the convenience and freedom that bottle feeding gives me (I always feel bad for bf'ing moms who don't get help at nightly feedings, or can't leave their baby for more than a few hours... oh no... I really neeeeeed those things). I guess my #1 main holdup is my boobs. I'll be straight up with you... I was just looking for a 36DDDD (yes, 4 D's) bra the other day online. And I know when my milk comes in they'll be even larger. And I just can't deal with boobs like this. That is the one thing I want to go back to normal ASAP after I deliver. My freak show boobs. They're heavy and they hurt my back and neck and I just don't see how I could possibly dress in normal, non-baggy-t-shirt clothes if I have DDDD+ boobs all sumer. If someone could guarantee that once I got into a nursing groove that my boobs would go back to normal (WHILE NURSING), I'd probably try again. But I don't think anyone can do that.

I skipped out on my 20 week belly picture. I totally forgot about it. Well, no... I remembered, I was just too lazy to set up the tripod. I will do one next week at 24 weeks.

20 Week Appointment

Friday we had our ultrasound. Everything looked just fine with Baby Boy Barczak. He wasn't too wiggly during the scan but he did kick me pretty good a few times. The new machine also does 3D and 4D and the tech tried to do a 3D at the end but by then our stubborn little guy had changed position and was all nestled in and she couldn't get that good of a picture of his face. She said if we come back later for a scheduled ultrasound she'd try again, and that later on the pictures are much better as right now they just look very skeletal (which he did). I am not really hoping for another ultrasound scheduled by my doctor as that would only mean that something was going wrong. I think at maybe my 28 week appointment I'll ask the midwife if she'd let me sneak in for another scan.

Anyhow, I do have a few pictures that the put on DVD, although none of them that great. I'll have to go see my mom in a few weeks to get some better pictures. She also put a short video clip on there as well but the video is not near as long as Porter's video (on VHS).

His face. you can see the

Leg... foot to the right and pointing down


So... whats the rundown of pregnancy things going on thus far?

• I've had a couple bouts with acid reflux. I had NO idea what the hell was wrong with me as I'd be sitting there minding my own business and all of a sudden I had acidy steam and liquid in the back of my throat that made me start coughing because my throat burned and itched so bad. That lead to a non-stop barfing of everything and anything I had in my stomach. Weird thing is, I didn't feel sick at all. Its only happened twice, both evenings after I ate summer sausage, cheese and crackers for lunch.
  
• I gained SEVEN pounds in the past 4 weeks. NICE! So, if I go from my first appt weight of 130lbs I've gained a total of 18lbs so far. EWWW. I guess thats not horrible for 20weeks but still...
  
• Still no resolve on the name. I am actually kind of thinking it'd be fun to take a few names to the hospital and name him once we see him. But I'm freaked that I'd be just as stumped and torn between names that we'd end up being threatened to name him or else we couldn't leave the hospital. Which, with my indecisiveness would probably lead to us just living at the hospital HAHA!
• My due date was confirmed as May 23rd. I was all confused as my very first ultrasound dated me with a June 1st due date, which is what the doctors had been going by. May 23rd matches up with my LMP, though, and their "official" ultrasound confirmed it.
  

Names names names

Well, we (or, should I say *I*) am still in debate over the baby's name. I'm actually considering waiting until he's born to decide. But, my only fear is as depicted in my crazy dream last night... I'd be completely stumped on what to name him and come up with something delusional like Elvis.

Ryan is completely set on Hudson Oliver. I'm not. While I've loved the name Hudson for the past 2 years (it was "runner up" for Porter), I just don't know.... I'm just not sure.

While in St. Louis we all tossed around name ideas, in which I shot down a ton of them before the last sound of it even came out of the suggester's mouth. What can I say... I know what I like LOL!

Some of my criteria, because I have criteria:

• Can't start with a B (I don't care for same letter first/last names)
• Can't start with the "ar" sound as in Barczak
• Can't end with "ack" sound like in Barczak
• Can't end with "er" like Porter

Hmm... I felt like I had more criteria than that.

So, some of the names that are currently on our "posibility" list are:

1. Hudson
2. Sullivan (new one, and one of my fav's!)
3. Pierce (although my love for this is waning)
4. Gibson
5. Grant
6. Madden (same as Pierce... not feelin' it so much)

Now, let me give you some background on Sullivan. I can't remember who suggested it... Heather or I. But, I love it! However, Ryan is totally against it because we once had a cat for ohh... a few months... whose name was Sullivan. We got him from the shelter when we bought this house (5 1/2 years ago) and a few months after we got him we let him be an indoor/outdoor cat. He was neutered but we didn't have a collar for him. He disappeared for awhile, and then showed up one night with a collar and nametag/phone number. His new home was one block over and his new name was Dexter. So, technically, his name is Dexter.

Anyhow... for some odd reason I'm all into our pet names for kid names. I liked Reese for a girl, and we had a dog named Reese up until I was pregnant with Porter. And, now I love Sullivan.

So, what are your thoughts on names? Would the history behind Sullivan make you hate it?

for Baby's room

While we were in St. Louis, I did a bit of shopping for the baby's room. I didn't get the "minky" fabric in chocolate brown like I'd hoped, but I found some cute stuffed animals that match the room perfectly!

First, I found this elephant and zebra at World Market. Who would have thought that I'd find stuffed animals that match PERFECTLY at World Market??


And then, at Old Navy, I found this cute, leggy little monkey. I keep calling it a frog. His name may end up being Froggy HAHA!

Dreaming

I've had a few weird pregnancy dreams during this pregnancy but never wrote them down. Last night I had a dream that I had the baby early. I don't remember the details but I somehow was at the hospital, had the baby in a super short, painless delivery (HA! I wish!) and Dr. Robertson, my family doctor, was the one who delivered him (another ha ha!). Oddly, even though born at ohh... 19 weeks gestation... he was totally fine and had a ton of thick, black hair. My mom came to the hospital and we left with him to go get dinner with my aunt (OMG too crazy!). And I never cleared it with the hospital... just left with him. Then I returned him, but then *I* left and went to hang out with friends, go to the park with some kids I don't remember who they were, went to some kind of gym or something where I had to take a shower and use a towel that was hanging on the rack because I didn't have one. And then last, Heather, Katie and two other people I don't recognize (or remember, at least) were sitting on Heather's couch and just chatting. I mentioned that all I could think to name the baby was "Elvis". Katie says that she still calls her son Donnie "Otto" (pronounced "oh-toe" tee hee!!) and that before he was born she had two bottles... one that said "Otto" and one that had some girls name on it and then they decided to name him Donnie when he was born.

Ok, how is that for weird! HAHA!