Thursday will mark my 24th week of pregnancy.

I am definitely showing at this point. I don’t think my weight gain is much different than my first pregnancy (& no, I don’t keep track of the pounds) although I feel like my belly is bigger. I’m pretty sure this is a by-product of having Marfan syndrome: because of Marfan, my ribs basically touch my hips and in fact overlap on one side. This baby has nowhere to go but straight out, and he is consistently measuring bigger than Menininho was (although who knows, with how inaccurate ultrasounds are!).

One thing that is similar to when I was pregnant with the Menininho is my sleep habits. I am having a hard time going to sleep before 2 am. When I was pregnant with M, Mark had to move to California early on and I was in grad school, so staying up that late was not an issue. I’d fall asleep on the couch watching Carson Daly and wake up at 10 am. That was the life! 😉

These days I have to get up earlier to take care of a very busy 18 month old, though as of late he’s had mercy on me and “read” Dr. Seuss to himself till 9:30 on those days we have time to sleep in. Then, when I go in to check on him, he looks up, smiles, clicks his tongue, and goes back to reading. I. Love. It. My poor, patient husband does NOT appreciate my nocturnal habits.

One thing that’s totally different this pregnancy? The back pain! Holy cow! At 15 weeks I picked up the Menininho to put him in his crib, pulled something in my back, and it hasn’t been the same since. Bending over to get him out of the stroller today I heard something crack and shift that I’m fairly positive was not supposed to crack and shift and I can hardly walk. Advice? I’m looking at getting one of those maternity support belts to see if that makes a difference when I’m up and about. I don’t know what else to do. I can tell I’m having the problems from picking up M, but I’m at a loss for how to get around that. He’s not even 3 lbs over my 20 lb weight limit, but even 20 lbs would be hard these days, getting him up onto the changing table, into/out of the crib, and into the car. Maybe a giant step stool in the nursery would help???

I have only been to labor and delivery once thus far, for contractions (lucky it’s all good!). They do not make the unit easy to find (you have to go through a kazillion winding hallways) so when it’s the real deal I am totally opting for the wheelchair pushed by a knowledgeable security officer.

Smudge is a SUPER active baby. I love it! The other night he kicked Mark in the face when he was talking to my belly. I actually don’t feel him as much as he moves, due to the anterior placenta, but it’s so fun watching him squirm on the ultrasound machine (I have to get one every month). Each tech has commented on how he doesn’t sit still. I was able to see my stomach moving around like pop corn popping at 21 weeks: way earlier than I did with Menininho. This makes all the back pain and insomnia worth it (well, and getting him at the end of course!).

Tomorrow I meet with the anesthesiology team to start discussing the ins and outs of my VBAC. I know I need the epidural but I’m going to see how long I can put it off. My hope is that they’ll agree to use my blood pressure as an indicator of when to put it in, instead of just doing it on admission to the hospital, but of course I’m sure that will depend on what my cardiologist says.

Speaking of him, I have my end of 2nd trimester echo in 2 weeks. Hopefully my aorta is stable and all my meds can stay the same.

And on that note, it’s almost 1 am and Smudge desperately wants a grilled cheese sandwich, which his dad is so kindly making. YUM!