Celebrating Week 22!

How far along? 22 weeks, 4days
Total weight gain/loss: + 11 lbs
Maternity clothes? Jeans, jeans, jeans – and a dress this week.
Sleep: I had my first bout with Restless Leg Syndrome. With the girls, once it began, I had it every night until 2 or 3 AM. I’m really hoping that sort of consistency hasn’t started kicking in yet.

Best moment this week: Seeing this:

Movement: Yes! The little left leg makes up for all the movement the right leg can’t do.

Food cravings: watermelon. When I’m already panicking about not being able to find fresh ones for much longer….you know it’s gonna be a long winter.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Eating big meals.
Have you started to show yet: Yep.

Gender Predictions: One more check this week. One more opinion (this will be our 4th attempt)….then we’ll make an announcement. For now, we’ll just let this Little One stay as private as he/she likes to. 🙂

Labor Signs: No.
Belly Button in or out? IN
Wedding rings on or off? Still on – but there was some mild swelling this week. I’m having my blood pressure checked every week now.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Not-so-pretty-moodiness. It was another tough Dr. Visit week. And I had a huge catering event to get ready for (150 people for 5 different eating times over 4 different days!). But Chloe and Kami helped. I got 2 parties in one week. 🙂

Weekly Wisdom: When you’re down, let me know. I’ll have Chloe throw you a party. It helps. It really does.

Milestones: 8 ounces. That’s half a pound. And half of where it should be. But, it’s still 8 beautiful ounces.

Weekly Prayer Request: My doctor (that awesome one!) is leaving for Haiti this week for a mission trip. I want to go with him! I asked him to bring back a little baby for me.

Hey there, Little One!

Happy Bonus week 9 to you. I can’t believe you’ve made it this far. After what we saw this week – neither can anyone else. But yet, you have. You seem to be a fighter – just like your big sister.  Hang in there. Not much longer, and you’ll get to see those of us who love you so much – and the One who loves you even more than us.

We’ve had to start thinking about so many things this week.  A special service where we’ll memorialize your tiny life. It seems so far away, yet all too close. I held one of your sister’s dolls this week. It was so tiny. But I couldn’t help but think that you’d do so well to be that size in several weeks. I held that doll for a long time. I can’t wait to hold you. Yet, I don’t want that day to come…yet.

You’ve been moving a lot this week. My doctor was talking about doing an amnio this week – but I couldn’t let him. There’s no way you’d behave long enough for a test like that. You can’t move much, but you sure like to wiggle what you can.

Your big sister loves to make me smile. But as much as I love you, many times when I think about you, I cry. She always thinks you’re crying too. So she tickles you. Or, my tummy, rather. It always makes me smile again. This week, she made me lots of parties. One was just for breakfast. (All I had to do was make blueberry muffins.) The other one was for a meteor shower. But the clouds were a bit too thick, so she changed it to a “plane party”. We sat outside on her big blanket and watched for planes. We saw one. 🙂

I have to start being really careful with my blood pressure. Because this DNA that’s so messed up in every cell of your tiny body has also built my placenta, and there’s a really good chance that my preeclampsia will come back with a super vengeance at any time. Once this happens, the only cure is delivery. So, my doctor checks it every week. And he’s a bit nervous about leaving for Haiti…so he’s giving me copies of all my medical records to have with me at all times for whatever emergency situation could arise at any time. He thinks it probably won’t happen for another 5 weeks or so…but he wants me to be safe. I’m praying that’s not an issue at all. I want every moment I can have with you. Maybe that’s selfish. But I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait to see you in Heaven. I’m just not ready to give you up quite yet. Or in the next 5 weeks. So, I’ll keep eating good foods and taking my vitamins – and anytime my placenta starts acting up…give it a good ol’ kick, k?

For now, though, until we see you again, in just a couple of short days,

I love you so very much. I always will.

xoxo,

Mom