Pregnancy No. 2: 22 Week Recap

11/26 (22 Weeks) – I don’t have a lot to journal about today. My sciatic pain has subsided greatly! I still have a few twinges at the end of the day some days, but really I’m feeling better. My pelvis is also still a little achey, but mostly just when I move a certain way, otherwise it’s great too!

All in all I’m feeling good and noticing the baby move more and more. However, his movements feel much more muted than Macario’s movements ever did. In the pregnancy vlogs that I watch, some of the women talk about having anterior/posterior placentas. Where a woman has an anterior placental placement, baby’s movements feel much more subdued as the placenta is to the front of the uterus and is buffering the baby’s movements. This makes me wonder if I have an anterior placenta. At first I thought I didn’t feel as much movement because he just wasn’t very active. His mellow state during ultrasounds seemed to support that theory, but at my most recent ultrasound he did a complete somersault and I didn’t feel much of anything. That made me wonder if there were times where he’s been really active and I just couldn’t feel it. Tonight I feel lots of movement, but I feel it much lower and a lot deeper in my abdomen than I ever felt with Macario. I might ask about the location of my placenta at my next appointment, if I remember, but only out of curiosity. I really don’t feel like it’s anything to worry about.

11/27 (22w1d) – It hit me today, that this is likely the last time I will ever experience pregnancy because Aaron and I are more certain than not that we won’t have any more children after this. I’m definitely grateful beyond words to have the family I’ve been blessed with and I am definitely looking forward to seeing my little boys interact as brothers, but it definitely makes me sad to think about never being pregnant ever again.

It’s amazing to know you’re growing a human being within your belly and to get to know your child in a way that no one will ever know him, but the bond does continue to grow and strengthen after the baby is born, so I don’t think that will be the hardest part to let go of.

The things I think I’ll miss most about being pregnant are the little nudges your baby gives you when you’re not expecting it. I love the way Aaron seems to really admire me and feel protective of me. Pregnancy is definitely a vulnerable time in a woman’s life and it’s amazing how much people seem to respect that. There’s also not really another time in your life when people are in awe of you as much as when you’re pregnant. It’s like you’re performing the greatest magic trick of all time, right in front of their eyes.

It will definitely be a turning point in my life to know that I’ve put the child bearing years behind me.

11/28 (22w2d) – Pregnancy brain is bad. Mommy brain is no better. Combine the two? Yeah, that’s where I’m at. It’s really funny actually, but I often find myself saying, “what’s wrong with me?” Today I poured milk in my cereal bowl, but forgot the cereal. A few days ago I poured cereal onto a plate. A few weeks ago, I was struggling to remember my own brother’s name. I had to ask him “what’s your name again?” I just couldn’t sort him out from all three of my brothers. It’s bad. I happened with Mac. I had this recurring issue of mixing up my house key and car key. Once it started it happened just about every day, even the days when I was reminding myself to not mix them up! Today I caught myself doing the same thing with my office key and the restroom key. It’s been happening for weeks, but today as I did it for like the millionth time I got irritated with myself and I thought, “Why can’t I keep these straight?” Then I remembered that I had the exact same problem last pregnancy and laughed.

11/29 (22w3d) – Mommy Brain continued to plague me today. It’s funny that this is a real phenomenon because I don’t think most people believe it until it happens to them. Men (at least my husband) have a hard time believing it for sure! I did a quick search of the internet to see what I can find and did find an interesting article on it. http://news.discovery.com/human/mommy-brain-maternal-changes.html. Funny enough, this study states that after birth a mother’s brain actually undergoes a growth/change. Specifically, the parts of the brain that are involved in motivation reward behavior and emotion regulation undergo growth and that this is purportedly what motivates moms to take care of their babies and feel rewarded simply by doing so (and probably keeps them wanting to despite how hard it can be)! That sounds to me like what we call maternal instincts. For some reason we are instinctively motivated to care for our babies and meet their needs at all costs and this article actually sort of explains why we feel that urge, but doesn’t necessarily support the flighty/forgetful “Mommy Brain” argument. However, in the last paragraph of the article the author says “…the brains of new moms simply have new priorities.” So, I guess the reason I put the dirty measuring cup in the refrigerator and the gallon of milk in the sink this morning is because my brain is focused on meeting my toddlers needs and growing this second little boy and not on where things belong! That sort of makes me feel a little better.

11/30 (22w4d) – Oh my! The rain is terrible today. Mac is sick and I’m at work, but hoping I get off early. Baby has been very active the last three days and can now be felt by placing a hand on the belly (I may have mentioned this already because it’s been happening since 11/28). My motherly instincts are in high gear today. The weather is making me anxious to get home to my family, so I requested permission to leave as soon as I’m done with the high priority tasks I have today and the rest will wait until Monday!

12/1 (22w5d) – The weather outside was definitely frightful today and still we managed to have a good time. I felt good all day except that we were so busy I didn’t get around to eating until about 4p.m.! That’s not good at all, but fortunately, I have the stores necessary to keep baby fed even if I feel famished! We got our Christmas Tree, but my mom could not figure out where her decorations were so we will have to decorate another day.

12/2 (22w6d) – Today I felt a very sharp cramp in my pelvic area and a bit of discharge. I panicked a little, but I don’t like to cry wolf so I took a deep breath and within a few moments it was gone. It happened while I was carrying Mac and I think that was probably the only reason I felt any kind of pain, but it was definitely nerve wracking none the less. I have felt great the rest of the day and hope that this trend continues of feeling overall just really good!

Can't believe I'm 23 weeks already!