Two weeks to go!! Yikes!

Today I am 37 weeks 4 days pregnant! Tomorrow will be 2 weeks until my schedule c-section. I can't believe time has flown by!! Believe me... I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore...see...def. getting large.

My dr. appointment this past Tuesday went well... nothing to report. We are both doing well and no progress so far. As time is flying by it is somewhat unnerving to think about the c-section, the recovery, transitioning from one to two, and then starting all over with infant care and nursing. I'm hoping it all comes rushing back to me to ease my nervousness. But we are so excited to meet our new addition and introduce him to Ethan :) Ethan has already been pretty cute with my belly. Kissing and hugging my belly and saying: "Baby brother come out and play trucks Mommy?", "Baby brother still in there?", "He kick Mommy?"... it's very cute and I'll miss it a little bit. Especially knowing that down the road they won't always be that cute! LOL.

We are curious to see if he grasps that he came out and he's no longer in my belly... lol. We have started hearing some grumbling because we haven't shared our name ideas. LOL. Patience everyone! You will find out soon enough! :) We are so excited to see what he's going to look like, to hold him and start our next phase as parents :) My last Dr. appointment is Monday, October 7th...then from there it's my 8:30am c-section on he 18th :) Unless little guy decides to surprise us sooner...

Not so fun symptom...

I don't like to complain because I know that I'm extremely blessed compared to some other pregnancies I've heard about OR of friends I know. So I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way but I just need to vent for a second...I never had to deal with this when I was pregnant with Ethan. I've had a reoccurring phenomenon that I've been dealing with for several months now... is HORRIBLE!! Starting at about 4 months along. I started battling some random bouts of SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction)which is basically where your pubic bone (yes down there) is pulling apart and shifting due to 'loose cartilage' from pregnancy hormones and just from preparing for birth. This causes pain while walking, rolling over in bed, most things... It was not pleasant when it showed up but it would only last a few hours and go away for the most part... so I just dealt with it as it comes. However, over the last couple of weeks the frequency of that has increased but a new symptom "lighening" has combined with it. "Lighening" basically occurs just from the baby dropping from what I've read. I suppose that was the perk of Ethan being breech all the way up until the end...he never dropped. Now that did come with its own issues (not being able to breath...sore ribs and diaphragm, etc.) but I feel as if this is worse. So right now I can't sit for long periods of time without major pain. This wouldn't be an issue if I was at home all the time because I'm not usually sitting down for long periods, I"m always doing something with small breaks here and there. But at work... where I sit 90% of the time... this is posing a problem. So after sitting for a time this will happen so I get up to relieve the pain... and then the SPD kicks in... So basically I can't sit, stand, walk, roll over in bed... yep... fun stuff. Only one month to go! I can do this!! :) And it's 150% worth it... I know... I don't like complaining... just venting... sigh... back to work.

35 weeks 3 days

One month from today we're having our second little one :) yay!

34 weeks... moving right along

We are 34 weeks pregnant! I can't believe it's less than 6 weeks from now we will be a family of 4! :) Very excited to meet our new addition... especially since he's clearly running out of room... and so are my organs. ;) Here's a belly pic. I have an appointment on Wednesday of this week. Our last appointment went well and everything was on track and both of us are very healthy! :)

Ethan is very cute talking about "baby brother". He kisses my belly and tells him goodnight... he likes to "smoosh" him by pressing on my belly which I usually put the kabosh on pretty quick before it gets out of hand lol. The other day he said "Mommy. Baby brother come out! I have a truck for him." It melted my heart. I know Ethan will be a great big brother :) I am so blessed :)

30 Weeks!

30 week belly pic! I haven't been very good at keeping up with these... sorry. I can't believe we're in the third trimester already! Crazy! 10 weeks to go!

We're having another Boy!

This is at 10 weeks. Little Bean

Here are the ultrasound photos from 20 weeks!

Face on shot (kinda creepy)

Cute profile :)

 Profile & Arm 

It's a Boy!!

 3D photos!  Taken at 22 weeks.

Curled up... face with right hand & left elbow

 Eyes and nose



22 Week Belly picture

yep... getting bigger.

The Nursery is coming together!!

 There are still a few more additions (i.e. ceiling fan, valance, etc.) but this is pretty much it :)  We're super excited! I love the wall decals; I'm pretty impressed with myself actually... lol.

20 Weeks! Half way there...

As of Monday I am officially half way through pregnancy!  Yay 20 weeks!

We spent the week before Memorial Weekend up north in Boyne Falls, MI ... it was so nice to relax and spend time together as a family.  We loved it. 

Yesterday we had our anatomy ultrasound.  Baby wasn't very cooperative and was face down the whole time but from what they saw they say baby is healthy! :) Praise the Lord!  I have to go back in 2 weeks for a another ultrasound with the hopes that this time baby will be in a better position. 

I'm starting to get the nesting bug... I really want to start getting the nursery and baby gear ready. 

This week we have family coming into town for my cousin Jonathan's graduation.  We're very excited to see everyone!

Swelling...

Ugh... it has begun.   Both hands and feet are slightly swollen...  I didn't miss this.   More water and elevated feet begin.  I hope I can wear my wedding ring until the end this time... lol

18 Weeks today

18 Weeks today.  Baby Ackerman #2 is about the size of a sweet potato now.  I can definitely feel the little one kicking and flipping around in there.  :) I'm also showing now, big time. I feel like I should be telling people I'm about 24 weeks along but oh well.  They say you show more with  your second, well,  "they" were right!

I have some energy back now.  Not as much as I had when I wasn't pregnant but it's better than it was in the 1st trimester.  However, it seems the pelvic/groin/pubic bone pain is here to stay.  I'm going to bring it up again to the doctor at my next appointment; but it seems to be normal.  Goodness it's horrible... and combining that with my crunchy knee... I feel somewhat handicapped and waddly already.  Sigh.

Our anatomy ultrasound is on June 4th and my next dr. appointment is on June 6th.  Looking forward to seeing the little one some more :)

This Friday we're leaving for Boyne Falls (Up north) for a week.  We are so excited! Dave and I definitely need a break from work and everything else.  It will be so nice to just relax and spend time as a family.  Missy and Deron will be heading up on Sunday afternoon to join us for the rest of the week in our adjoining 1 bedroom unit.  The weather will be in the high 60s for the majority of the week.  Not quite as warm as I was hoping (we wanted to get some pool time in) but maybe it will feel warmer than it's projected to be. 

16.5 Weeks Pregnant

Here's a picture of the belly :) sorry for the poor quality.

14 Weeks

Had my doctor's appointment this morning.  All is going well. Little one's heartbeat was right around 140-150 so it has come down a little bit since my first appointment on March 29th (it was at 160 then). 

For the most part most of my symptoms are gone... I'm still somewhat tired but not nearly has bad as it was earlier. During Oliver rehearsals I was dealing with some pubic bone pain which has since subsided for the most party... probably just overdoing it, etc.

I also woke up a few mornings ago with HORRIBLE pain in my ankle that then turned into swelling (which still hasn't gone away yet though the pain has subsided for the most part).  So I talked to my doctors and they informed me that it could be a blood clot and that I should go to the emergency room.  Very annoying... especially considering i'm 80% sure it's a tendon issue from my previous ankle surgery.  So I went... spent 6 hours of my life in the ER to find out that I didn't have a blood clot... which I'm happy about.. except I could have spent that time at home.  So ankle is still swollen...doesn't really hurt anymore... who knows what's going on.

While at the ER however I did see a couple little babies and that made me excited about this little one on the way :)  Yay!

Second little Ackerman is on that way...

(this portion was written on March 11th, 2013)
I'm back...and 8 weeks pregnant again! We're thrilled and very much looking forward to October.  I think it'll be a great month to have a baby.  It's my favorite time of year :)

Well, this time around is MUCH different than my pregnancy with Ethan.  I pretty much have every symptom I can think of: All the time sickness (morning my foot!), bloat (it seems like I'm already showing...so wrong), heartburn, headaches, EPIC fatigue, etc. etc. etc. The symtoms have been a constant reminder that I'm pregnant, and maybe that's what I need with how busy I am? However, being constantly ill and tired makes it hard to be excited about being pregnant.  I'm praying that once this 1st trimester is over that I will be back to normal.

Rant time...It's impossible for me to be showing at 8 weeks considering the baby is the size of a raspberry right now.  However, because of how bloated I am, I am no longer able to button any of my work pants or jeans. It's a real self-esteem boost...not.  We're not really telling too many people until we have our first doctor's appointment on the 29th of March (just so that we can make sure everything is okay)... but the wardrobe has changed significantly and I'm pretty sure some people are going to catch on if they haven't already... oh well.  I'm going to miss my wardrobe... my maternity wardrobe is not exciting... sigh. 

I don't want it to seem like I'm constantly complaining... I am so happy and thankful... I'm just irritable and uncomfortable... it will pass.  If anything I suppose I was due...my pregnancy with Ethan was a breeze (minus the whole getting majorly fat part haha).

On March 29th I had my first prenatal appointment.  All is well. :)  I saw the little him/her on ultrasound and the heartrate was right at 160 (same as Ethan's first ultrasound).  Our next appointment is April 25th.

Today (April 15th) I am 13 weeks along. The baby is about the size of a peach :)  The morning sickness has subsided for the most part and heartburn has taken over.  I'm still feeling pretty tired but I think that has to do with our rehearsal schedule for Oliver.  We open this weekend so once we close I think it'll get much better. 

I'm still undecided if I want to find out the sex.  We loved the anticipation and surpise with Ethan...but at the same time I'm a little more impatient and want to know... especially if it's a girl :)  We'll see.  I have a month to decide. 

I pulled out my pregnancy journal from Ethan's baby box and read this morning that I'm officially 10 lbs lighter right now than I was at 13 weeks with Ethan... I'm pretty pumped about that! :)