15w 6d

I'm  almost 16 weeks which means I'm close to passing the 4 month mark. I'm getting sick with much less frequency (that's me, trying to be positive), although I pass entire days clutching my stomach in bed and vomiting in the morning. Like this morning. It turns out that no one should indulge a craving for Doritos and gummy worms, no matter how good it sounds. After my second round of Zofran settles, I'm going to see about tackling lunch. Baby steps. I just go one meal at a time.

In other (non) interesting pregnancy news, with the end of my first trimester and start of second trimester, I have symptoms that I didn't know real women actually experienced. Sure, I mean, I figured there had to be a reason for all the hemorrhoid commercials on tv, but I didn't know exactly what it would be like. Turns out that three months of constipation can have some brutal side effects, like hemorrhoids. I also have what pregnancy guidebooks lovingly refer to as, "pregnancy rhinitis". Basically, it's an overproduction of mucus that leads to a runny, stuffy nose. I thought I was getting sick at first (pregnancy colds are particularly brutal), but no other symptoms emerged. Just a chronic stuffy nose, sneezing, and sinus pressure. Awesome.

My pregnancy symptoms almost completely match my Mom's at this point and she had two girls. I'm still leaning heavily that the one inside me is a girl only because it makes sense that another gender would cause all these symptoms to come out - symptoms that I didn't have with Zac's pregnancy. I clearly was not grateful enough for Peanut's pregnancy. This is me, telling the world, God, and fate, that I am utterly grateful for the ease of my first pregnancy and would like some of that to spill over into the this pregnancy.

It appears that I started blogging with Zac around 18-19 weeks and couldn't feel the baby move yet. That's nice to know because I was starting to wonder when I would feel this baby move. Apparently, I've got some time. I also started getting back pain with Zac around 20 weeks. The back pain has started earlier this time, with almost contraction-like intensity. It's a spasm, rather than a constant pain, and it leaves me sore and hobbling around.

I know I've mostly turned this blog over to chronicling my unborn child's progress, but I just want to take a moment to remember on here how much I love my son and what a beautiful, sweet age he is. He likes hanging out with me, but there are times when he will go into his room or can be out in the living room all by himself, playing the Wii or hacking into the Federal Reserve (I kid, he's mostly on PBS websites). His stuttering has faded to every other sentence and it still pains me to listen to. To me, it's like seeing how vulnerable he is when he tries so hard to communicate with me and to his friends. I want to protect him from any pain he might experience, from stuttering or otherwise. The fact that I still walk him three houses down to the bus stop every  morning to keep some neighborhood bullies from teasing him can attest to that. I figure he'll tell me when he's ready for more independence, just like he told me when he developed a sudden on-set of modesty. He completely closes the door when he goes to the bathroom, takes a bath, or changes his clothes. He's still my little guy, though. He had mostly outgrown the desire to sleeping in bed with me, although he's spent a couple of nights this week next to me. Before he falls asleep, he likes holding my hand or throwing a hot arm around my neck. God I love that kid.

Here's to the hope that I have another good one.