16 weeks of pregnancy complete

I am 16 weeks into this pregnancy and part of me feels like it just begun. I’m stunned and amazed that I have a pregnant belly and don’t understand how four months have gone so fast. I know it has a lot to do with the toddler who is two weeks shy of two years old.

Here’s what I looked like at 15 weeks with Maximus.

He keeps all of us pretty busy. He’s always got his sights set on Wrigley. Making him sit while Maximus eats or feeding him ice cubes. He treats us in the same way. “Up mommy!” as he pulls on my neck to make me get up. Or, “down daddy” as he wants to play pretend and lay on the ground with a blanket. He’s gotten in a good number of “mommy, EAT!” demands when it’s time for me to come to the table and eat. {Or get up in the morning when I’m trying to enjoy a lazy weekend. And by lazy I obviously mean the 7 am hour.}

Maximus says mommy’s belly is pretty big. He enjoys banging on it and talking about it. My doctor says it’s spot on in size, regardless of what the toddler thinks. I’ve gained 9.5 pounds so far. I snack all the time, but don’t eat a lot of big meals so we’ll see how this turns out at the end. 🙂 Although, my good friend will make me eat my words, “It doesn’t matter how big you get, you’re GROWING A BABY!” Let’s just ride this thing out and worry about the weight later. Like much, much later. With an almost two year old, I didn’t actually start exercising until he was about one and a half. I imagine this time will be no different, if not worse. Exercise falls into that category of: do I want to sleep or exercise? If you know me at all, sleep always, ALWAYS wins.

I have been pretty good about getting up and moving around, I guess we can call it exercising. We go on a lot of family walks. We always have. Pre-kid it was for the dog. Post-kid, it was for everyone to get out of the house. It’s our happy place. Wrigley comes home and crashes on the floor from dehydration {it’s his own fault…peeing on EVERYTHING} and exhaustion. Maximus goes into a deep zone and just watches everything. Exercise for the pregnant mama when I’m either pushing a stroller or walking up a steep hill. Bryan and I enjoy the quiet 45 minutes and use it to talk without being interrupted by Maximus.

My lower back is causing me lots of pain. It feels like it could go for a real good crack, but that never happens. I remember this with Maximus and hope it eases up a bit here soon. I’m feeling great energy wise. I’m getting a couple headaches a week and can’t seem to prevent or eliminate them. This is also consistent with my first pregnancy. I’m hoping to follow the same pattern and that they will end in the next week or so. In the meantime I’m trying to drown myself in water, using heat or ice packs when they get real bad, and resting when possible. Like I told my doctor this week, everything is the same as last time just not as severe.

Little Baby Leger 2.0 has a strong and healthy heartbeat just like big brother Maximus did. At our 12 week appointment the heartbeat was about 150. At the 16 week appointment it was in the 140s. I’m expecting a little more bump over the next month per my doctor’s premonition. She was surprised by my uterus size at 12 weeks but attributed most of that to second baby and my c-section. Apparently that scar tissue makes the uterus go above it more in the subsequent pregnancies, which makes your stomach bigger. Bryan got a little scared that she was thinking I was either further along or … ?! She assured him that she wasn’t surprised, but I would be starting out a little bigger than last time. She loved my belly this appointment. I keep replaying her excitement and comments in my head. It’s so awesome to love your doctor!

The first four months flew by, I can only hope the next four slow down a little. I want to enjoy the summer and fall with my boys before the crazy winter hits!