Week 18

With Darling Daughter #2:

With Natalie:

I still don't feel like I'm feeling the baby yet. A friend suggested I may have an anterior placenta where it's in front of the baby with the baby closer to my spine and thus, I may not feel her as quickly or as much as I did with Natalie. I was reading more on the anterior placenta and it sounds very possible especially given that Dr. Anderson had such a hard time finding the heartbeat at my last appointment. I'm going to have to ask about this at my next appointment on July 23. I really hope I start feeling flutters by then. It's hard to not worry during this stage of the 2nd trimester. There aren't all the aches and pains of 1st trimester to remind you constantly that you're pregnant but yet you're not feeling the baby kick yet! I know all is fine based on my last ultrasound last week but it'll just be reassuring once I can feel her move around.

My weight gain has been much less than it was with Natalie at this stage even though I look much bigger in the belly. So far I've only gained 1/8 of what I gained total with Natalie, and I'm almost halfway through my pregnancy! I think one reason is that I recently weaned Natalie from breast feeding. From what I've read, the body tends to hold onto about 5 lbs while breastfeeding so it's possible that extra weight fell off after I weaned and thus, lowered my overall weight gain that would have occurred from being pregnant. My doctor said the amount of weight I've gained looks fine so I'm not worried. I'd love to gain less overall than I did with Natalie -- easier to get it off later.

The baby should be about 5-5.5 inches long and weigh around 6.5 ounces. You should be able to see the chambers of our baby's heart in an ultrasound now. His/her vocal cords should be fully formed also. Over the next week, our baby will start forming hair on his/her head and forming teeth buds.

I'm thinking of decorating the nursery for daughter #2 in green/pink elephant theme. Here's the one I like the most, Bella Bedding by Cocalo:

We would keep the bottom of the walls below the chair rail in the nursery the cream color it is now and paint the top a light green. Natalie will be moving into a larger bedroom, which is now her playroom. We had already painted it the light lavender that the nursery is now in preparation for her moving into it eventually. We're thinking of transitioning Natalie to a toddler bed the month before DD#2 will probably arrive to give Natalie time to get used to her new surroundings before getting used to a sister. We're looking into a toddler bed and new bedding for Natalie -- the bedding will still be lavender color like what she has now.