Another Van Denabeele!

This picture is my baby bump at 15 weeks.  In two weeks time (I'm 17 weeks now), I feel like it's grown quite a bit!

Another Van Denabeele is on the way! I figured that everyone who follows our blog probably knew by now, but I’ve told a couple of people this week who hadn’t heard our news! Baby #2 is due October 12 but will likely be arriving a little before that. I am 17 weeks along and have started feeling him move. Even though this is my second pregnancy, I’m still amazed that I’m growing a person inside my body, and it’s surreal to feel the little guy moving around in there. No we haven’t found out the gender yet (sonogram is scheduled for June 7), but I’ve taken to calling the baby “he” because I don’t like saying “it” or “him/her.” I think we’ve settled on the girl name, but we’re still pretty undecided on boy names. You’ll all have to wait on that as we’ll being keeping it a secret again until he arrives! (Hopefully Clara won’t spill the beans.)

This pregnancy seems a little different than my pregnancy with Clara. I’ve had a lot more cravings this time and my food aversions have been different than they were with her. I’ve sworn off of all BBQ, and the thought of ribs still makes me queasy. Pre-pregnancy, I had recently discovered my love for ribs and was eating them weekly. My cravings have included Chinese buffets (now the thought grosses me out), crab rangoon with sweet and sour sauce for dipping, pink lemonade (the frozen kind not the powder), and most recently honeycomb cereal (can’t get enough of that stuff!).  I was also a lot less sick in the first trimester than I was with Clara.  This go-around I only got sick at work once compared to about every morning for weeks with Clara.  That could be due to the anti-nauseau medicine doctor gave me, which I'm convinced was the miracle cure.  I was able to successfully stop taking it a few weeks ago.

We talk about the baby a lot to Clara. It varies by the day on if she wants a baby brother or a baby sister, and since she doesn’t know what that really means, she just flips back and forth. At first she requested a baby monkey—luckily that request has not resurfaced.

The doctor was able to find this baby’s heartbeat at 10 weeks, and again at 14 weeks the heartbeat was very strong. We have not had a sonogram yet because everything is progressing smoothly. With Clara, we had a sonogram at 13 weeks because they weren’t able to find her heartbeat. I was pretty distraught until we were able to see her move and the doctor convinced me she was fine. I prayed a lot prior to my 10 week appointment this time, and even though it took a while, I was so relieved when they found the heartbeat.

Despite my growing belly which started pouching out much faster this time around, I’m still holding out on the maternity clothes! I have this crazy idea in my head that I don’t want to start wearing them until at least 20 weeks. I’m actually dreading pulling out that tub of clothes. I’m still fitting into most of my pants, but shirts are getting a little more tricky. Laura and I went maternity clothes shopping this week, and I bought a black maternity suit. I’m sure I’m going to be thrilled to put that on when I’m super pregnant in the heat of the summer!

We’re a little nervous about keeping up with two little ones. Life already seems way too busy most weeks and sometimes I feel like we’re barely keeping up. It’s been more of a challenge recently because of my reduced energy level. People keep asking me if I’ve gotten my energy back now that I’m in the second trimester, but I haven’t felt any great surge of energy. I think I’m a little less tired than I was early on in the pregnancy, but I’m still going to bed early most nights and taking long naps on the weekends. I’m attributing my continued tiredness to working full-time and having a toddler in addition to being pregnant. Just part of life! Right now I’m trying to talk myself out of a nap so I can get some laundry and cleaning done….but sleep sounds so good.