Sunday, February 22, 2009

Big brother and Sleepy Mama

I read somewhere that when you get pregnant for the second time, your body already knows what to do since it has been through this before. Therefore, things start moving into the right places right away, and a belly pooch shows up much earlier than it did the last time. Having read that brings me great comfort now that I'm in my 8th week of pregnancy and already am uncomfortable in pants or skirts that are not elastic-waisted. Usually I'm alright in the morning and the bulge grows throughout the day as water is retained and food is retained. However, this morning at the meeting I had to unbutton and unzip my skirt while we were seated there. My blouse covered it and I never buttoned it back.

Tristan is being amazingly understanding with my new condition. He will say, "While you take a nap, can I watch a show? Then when you wake up, will you play with me?" Today, of course, I said yes and then napped for 3 hours. As soon as I got up, I heard, "Oh, now you can play with me!" And I did. The first trimester requires a lot of sleep. And I've been having morning sickness, although not nearly as ferocious as last time; it's much much more mild. And mostly in late afternoon and evening.

By the end of the 8th week (Thursday) our littest Knauer should be about an inch long. He or she should have all of his or her fingers and toes and even a tiny tongue. His or her liver should be working to produce its own blood. His or her heart has been beating for 3 weeks. His or her head makes up 1/3 to 1/2 of the body size, and the brain is developing most of all. Amazing that people can be convinced that someone this size is not a person yet.

We will have our first doctor's appointment on Friday. We're looking forward to it. I didn't think Eric would want to go, so I didn't even tell him that I was going to schedule it. After I scheduled it however, he said, "Oh, I wish it was on a Friday instead of a Wednesday so that I could go". I was pleasantly surprised and called to change the appointment so that he can be there.

He and I both feel very differently about this pregnancy than the last one. Eric said he's less worried about me because we've been through it before and he knows now that it's likely that I won't die. I thought that was cute. I had no idea that he'd worried about that the first time. Neither of us is looking forward to the newborn period of little or no sleep. Neither of us is looking forward to diapers again. I had almost forgotten about them completely, until... I was talking to Tristan about all the ways he will be able to help with the baby when it's born. He said that he could put a movie on for the baby and give it toys and take it to the potty. :) That's when I remembered the diapers. Yuck.

3 comments:

Penny Palmer said...

Dear Tiffany,

Thank you so much for the update. :-) I love thinking about my new grandbaby as a little bitty person already. (Sorry about the skirts; I had the same problem with my second one!! ;=} ) I can't wait to see you on Thursday, and I look forward to playing with Tristan while you are at the doctor. Love you. (Gotta get back to work.)

Astorga's said...

Oh, I remember the exciting week to week updates about the finger nails growing and the heart starting to beat. Now Talitha is just growing and gaining weight (not as exciting). I bet you're right, with Tristan there already time will fly by and before you know it we'll be having play dates with our brand new babies.

Unknown said...

Congrats! Thanks for including me. I love the story about the skirt! and glad i had a couple elastic wasted to give you:) keep in touch... love you all!
~April