The Sponge

Let's see...where to begin?!

We learned of Sponge's residency on the day before Thanksgiving. I keep track (I guess more loosely than I thought!) of my periods on a nifty little website called mymonthlycycles.com. Usually, they are about 27 days apart and occur towards the end of the month. It was the end of the month. I was going to be travelling. I thought perhaps I ought to find out when my little friend was due to arrive. So, I logged on and was quite surprised to discover that it was day 31. "Hm?!" thought I..."the last time I made it to day 31 was when I was pregnant with Worm. Perhaps I should take a pregnancy test." And so I did...and it was positive. I called Ben at work and blurted out, "I think I'm pregnant!" He said, "What?! Are you sure?!" So I took another pregnancy test...and it was positive. And that was that.

We kept the news from the fam until Christmas-time just as we had when Sofie was conceived and announced it in quite a similar fashion as we did the last time. My side of the family learned the news at our annual Christmas party. We've cut back the gift giving quite drastically to the point that only children receive a gift and the gift is given by their parent. So, I ordered a board book called Waiting for Baby and wrapped it up as part of her present. Nana ended up helping her open the present (quite fortunately!), discovered the title and figured it out right away. Two years earlier Nana had received a book from Santa's toy sack titled Here Comes Grandma! It took her quite awhile to figure out just what that could mean. This time, with that as a reference, it clicked immediately. GranDebbie's Christmas car organizer came complete with a binky in the pocket (we gifted her a pair of booties two years ago) and Grampy Dan, as you all saw, got another "Baby Tree" to plant in his yard.

Our first prenatal appointment, as I mentioned, was this past Monday and I was excited to schedule it with the midwife who delivered Sofie. (She didn't really remember us until she started to read through her report from my labor...which incidentally was very interesting to hear from her perspective...but oh well! I guess I can't expect her to remember every delivery!) She seemed excited to see Sofie and we compared notes a little since her grandson Jackson was born just a few days after Sofie. The appointment went very well. Everything seems to be progressing nicely and we got to hear Sponge's little heart beating strong and steady somewhere in the 160's (166? I don't know...I'm terrible at details!) Our due date is tentatively August 3rd although we will be having an early ultrasound next Wednesday afternoon for dating purposes. Most likely that due date is accurate, but for several reasons (that I will spare you the details of) I have a strange feeling that I might be a month further along, and since my pregnancy went so overdue with Sofie it was felt that we might as well take a peek and confirm. I'm really looking forward to that!

My pregnancy symptoms have been similar to last time with Sofie but different. I've had quite a bit of all day nausea, which has been letting up a bit in the last week or so. I'm very very tired. I keep wondering if I'm more tired this time around or if it's just that I didn't have a toddler to chase around last time! Something new this time is my aversion to some foods. I really couldn't eat sweets for awhile there. The thought of them completely grossed me out. I also had a hard time cooking meat. That seems to be waning also, but we did a lot of prepared foods and eating out for a couple of weeks! I also have a rotten taste in my mouth all the time...pretty gross.

I'm excited but nervous (I've never been part of a family with more than one kid before!) and already planning planning planning. I've been reading up on potty training and weighing my options for big girl beds. I've been browsing the wide variety of double strollers and thanking my lucky stars that we bought a van this summer. And we're off on the roller-coaster of pregnancy and parenthood once more!