Last Week's Update {25 Weeks}

last week's update*

How far along? 

25 weeks,  5 days

Baby Size:

A rutabaga...what the heck is that? 

Okay so I just Googled it and I still don't recall seeing one before.

Total weight gain:

HA! Well, at my 24 week checkup it was 19lbs...so why don't we just say 20. 

Movement:

 Tons and tons! Some movements seem so different than the first pregnancy. 

Like there's a giant alien rolling around in there :)

Food cravings:

 Typically the same but I really want some boiled crawfish SO bad. 

I also tend to crave buffalo wings, Chili's salsa, fried food and cupcakes. Totally healthy, I know. 

Looking forward to: 

Getting mail items in that I've been slowly ordering for this sweet baby. 

We really don't need much, but there's some things I've wanted and needed to replace anyway. 

It's definitely getting closer and closer, yet sometimes it still seems so far away. I find it interesting how a second pregnancy can be so different, yet so similar to the first one. It's different in many ways because your attention is still settled on your first child as you chase them, feed them, care for them and nurture them. Your attention isn't always on the growing bundle inside of you, unlike your first pregnancy. It's actually quite nice to lay in bed at night and really appreciate and enjoy the new life growing inside of you. When everyone else is asleep (well the little one anyway) and you're all relaxed in your jammies and just finally relaxing after a long day...that's when it's the best. That's when you really remember that there is a new little person coming out to meet you soon. And then you drift off to sleep with sweet dreams.

Yet things are so similar in terms of fears, worries and the anticipation to deliver for the sole purpose of knowing that everything is okay. You read and see stories that scare you (not cool to read during your pregnancy) and you wonder "what if." You wonder how the birth will go and as someone who once before had an amazing, beautiful birth, you long to know that it will be the same. I see the pain countless times in the mothers I interact with frequently whose birth plan didn't go at all as planned and I long to know that my body and baby will allow us to do that. Yet I also know that at the end of the day, it's just about delivering my baby safely no matter how she comes out. There's even the same fears of passing the gluclose test and worrying that your bun will stay safely in there until their birthday. It's all the same no matter how many times you've done it (or so I assume). 

I long to know that we'll be blessed with another wonderful breastfeeding journey that we can determine the length of and no one else or no health reasons will determine. I long to know that the minute my baby comes out earth side, that she'll be placed on top of my chest for skin to skin so I can relish in that very moment. I absolutely can't wait for that very moment. 

Having experienced birth before, you definitely know what you loved, what you can do without and what you're absolutely longing for. You know what moments are priceless and what moments to anticipate. And you know exactly what you want...a healthy baby. 

So let's get there already, because this mama is surely ready to experience this again. I've been asked a few times already if I plan to birth this baby the same way as my first (unmedicated) and YES. I long to experience that again and to feel that power and wonder of what I can do.

 I  can't wait. But most of all, I simply can't wait to meet this little girl.