Baby #2 Update (22 Weeks)

22 weeks marks the start of the 6th month, and Rowan is about 11 inches (about the length of a spaghetti squash), and is nearly a pound. Today, I had my first Dr's visit since my Ultra Sound when they told me I had a low lying placenta. Naturally, I had a list of questions regarding this issue. Basically, this is a fairly common thing, and he just wants me to 'not overdo it'. It's OK for me to lift Liam, and do a little yoga, but still no work-outs, and continue pelvic rest. And if anything causes me to bleed, then I need to stop! They were booked for the ultra sound machine today, so I have an appointment in a week to get the video, and they can check the placenta again then. He says that the heart beat sounds normal, and I'm measuring good. And the fact that I don't feel her move as much as the first pregnancy can be normal, but there would be a concern if that doesn't change in a month. As far as my due date, they have given me so many different days...thinking I will just stick with early December when people ask. I'm feeling pretty good overall. So far there doesn't seem to be as much growing pains as the first time round, and I'm guessing that is because it's already been stretched out. I am still a little bummed that I still can't work out because I am starting to gain more weight than I would like, but I know I don't want to risk hurting our little one, so I will just have to work on losing the weight after she is born.

Pergola

So our house faces north, which means our backyard gets the sun ALL day long, and we really can't be outside in the yard comfortably until 8pm, which is also Liam's bedtime, and he just LOVES to be outside, and asks to go 'outside' or 'side' all the time. Last year we put in some trees, but it will be a long while until they are big enough to provide any shade. So, we bit the bullet and decided to put a pergola in so that we could enjoy our yard more. We had considered the idea of finding a plan, and doing it ourselves. Then we actually found a decent kit online that had free shipping....but then shortly after that Mike was driving down the road near our house, and saw this beautiful pergola, so he stopped to take a look. An employee saw him as she was returning from break, and she set up an appointment to get a bid. The guy that came out convinced us that we should cover the entire patio, and he did have a good point that we wouldn't want to be bumping into posts as we moved about...anyway, we decided to go with the bigger plan...and even though we don't even want to think about how much it was, we are really happy with the finished product!

Patio before the pergola...

Gettting started






Finished Pergola






With Furniture...

Baby # 2 (20 weeks)

Well, this week marked half way...Rowan is about 10.5 oz. and about 10 inches head to heal, about the length of a banana. I'm not sure if it is because of the low placenta, but I have not felt much of her movements. I remember Liam doing acrobats at this point, and even Mike felt him move at 19 weeks! We do know that she is indeed moving from the Ultra Sound we had, and I do have a heart monitor that I can hear her heart, so that is reassuring, but it is a little weird that I can't feel her much yet. Anyway, I do have an appointment with the Dr. next Thursday, so I will have a HUGE list of questions regarding this placenta issue, etc. We also should be getting a video recorded since it wasn't working the last time. Looking forward to that appointment for sure!

Weekend with Sequoia

Considering the news we got on Friday concerning Sequoia's health, she has been acting pretty normal, and doing well so far. Her appetite has been pretty well this weekend. And she hasn't been acting sick. She might live longer than we expect, but we are taking it day by day, and making sure we get lots of pictures, give her lots of loves, and spoil her! We want her to know that she is very loved. Mike even made her a steak this evening, and she just LOVED it. Below are some of my favorite pictures that I took this weekend. She has always been such a photogenic dog, even in her senior years, she is still so beautiful.









Eating steak that Mike cooked just for her!

I love her eyes in the picture below.

Sequoia

We took our nearly 13 year old Malamute/Chow mix to the vet today, and found out that she has cancer. She has been showing signs of aging as of late, but recently the signs added up to something we were concerned with. She has been losing weight over the last year or more, but we figured it was due to getting old. Over the last couple of months we noticed an odor coming from her that was not fixed by her groom, then a couple weeks ago she got the runs, and had an accident in the house which never happens. After her groom, we noticed her lady parts were swollen. Thinking it might be an infection, we had given her antibiotics, and thought that maybe the antibiotics messed up her digestive system. However, her appetite had not been very good either, so we decided it was time to get her checked out. Her lady parts were still swollen, so the vet took a sample to look at. After some blood tests, and looking at the tissue sample he concluded that she has cancer, and with all the other symptoms, he says it has spread to her liver too. We are definitely sad by the news, but not surprised considering her age. In human years we figure she is in her 90's, possibly even over 100. We have decided to bring her home, make her as comfortable as possible, spoil her and prepare to say our goodbyes. We are unsure how much time she has, but we are preparing ourselves for the inevitable. She has been a really wonderful dog, and we will surely miss having her around!

Baby # 2 (19 Weeks)

So after the Ultra Sound tech told us our baby was a girl, the rest of the appointment was a blur. She had told us that I had a low placenta. I did ask her what that meant, and she had said that in most cases it fixes itself, but if it does not than I would need a C-section. The following day I went about my business as usual, and did a 20 min. workout on the elliptical. Afterward, I got to wondering if there was anything I should be doing or not doing with this issue. I got on the Internet, and others with this issue had said their Dr. had told them not to exercise or do heavy housework, etc. So, I called the Dr.'s office to see what the deal was. The Dr. was not in the office, but I was able to talk to a nurse. She told me to 'take it easy' over the weekend and she would talk to the Dr. and call me back on Monday...and she did. She said that I should not be working out, this includes yoga, housework, pelvic rest, lifting anything over 20 lbs. (which Liam is), etc. I am pretty bummed about this because I had been doing so well, and feeling great with my workouts. The yoga was really helping a lot with my aches and pains! Although, I know my Dr. is pretty laid back, and if he says to do or not do something, I better listen! So, until we can check to see if the placenta has moved, I will be 'taking it easy' as best that I possibly can.

Rowan Tree

The more I find on the name Rowan, the more I love it. I did a Google image search on the Rowan tree, and some amazing pictures came up. On one site I found some really pretty jewelry of the Rowan leaf, and it had this description:

In Scottish lore, the Rowan Tree has been held as a "Tree of Life," a protector from harm, its berries symbolic of life and renewal.

Throughout history, the Ancient Celts & other cultures of the world have venerated trees - even believing them to have divine or magical powers. The tree form often appears in individual art work as an expression of endurance, strength and hope.

The Rowan embodies life, beauty, creativity and strength. It is said to bring good fortune and repel negative energies.


Below are several other pictures that I like:

It's a.....

So we had our mid-way ultrasound today, and found out that it's a GIRL! I was really surprised! I really thought it was a boy, and before she announced it she had said 'Oh, he's touching his toes there.' So I figured she knew, and accidentally said 'he' before telling us. My reaction was, what?! really?!?! So far everything is looking good. She looks healthy and well. The only concern that they have, and want to watch is that the placenta is laying low. She said that in 85-90% of cases it will move to the correct position, but if it does not, than I will have to have a C-section. I'm really hoping it moves because I really prefer not to do that. Unlike Liam's ultrasound, the baby gave us a really great profile shot, and lots of others too. Liam was being stubborn during his Ultrasound, and would not give us a profile shot, and the tech ended up only giving us a gender shot of him. Unfortunately, their recording equipment was not working, so we did not get a video today. But, she said that she can make one for us at my next appointment.

Also, I have another due date. At the first U.S. they were saying December 8th, and the Dr. was saying December 4th, if you go by my cycle....but today they said December 3rd, so we figure we will go by that one since it's the most recent measurement.

We also are pretty sure we have a name picked out too. Although I really hesitate to share because of people's reactions....But I will share anyway.....For the first several weeks we kept thinking of names...and one day we were watching a movie and heard the name...we were originally thinking of it for a boy, but later I asked Mike what he thought of the name for a girl. He actually liked it, and we haven't thought of another girl name since. In fact we started calling the baby this name, and it seems to have stuck. Pretty similar to how we named Liam too! We are really liking the name Rowan...it is a unique name, but its familiar enough that it makes the top 1000 SSA list. In fact it was ranked 469 in 2008. Anyway, we reserve the right to change the name right up until we write it on the birth certificate, but for now that is what we will be calling her.





*Rest of pics can be seen on the totsite...link on side>>*

Happy 19 Months Liam!!

2 more days....

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