Baby #3: Second Trimester

Well, this pregnancy is just trucking along and I am well into my second trimester...almost in my third (um...what?!). I have been feeling really good. All my babies have been very kind to me in the womb ~ here's hoping that this baby is just as nice on the outside. All of my pregnancies have been pretty much identical. The only pain I get is all on right side and is usually under my rib, the middle of my right side on my back, and then at the top of my right booty cheek :). Luckily, the pain doesn't usually happen at the same time although if it does it is the rib pain combined with the back pain. This comes and goes and certainly doesn't happen every day. I feel like the previously pregnancies, these pains happened more frequently. But  maybe the pain has just started sooner so it isn't as consistent this time around? Who knows and it really doesn't matter as I am just enjoying feeling so great at this point in my pregnancy. Other pregnancy happenings:

• I feel like my bladder is either really amazing or really not. I swear there are days that I can hold it all.day.long while others where I am in the rest room 10 times before we leave the house in the morning :)
• My mother's intuition is telling me that this baby is a boy. I don't remember having really strong feelings either way with Carter or Isla just little inklings. I am thinking boy because of the way I am carrying...low and more watermelon vs. basketball like. Also, about a month ago I woke up several nights in a row with massive calf cramping. This happened all the time with Carter!
• I have been the calling the baby he and she interchangeably but use 'he' more often. We really do not know one way or the other but when I was showing my mom the ultrasound pictures of Baby #3 she thought one of them looked like Carter so I have been accidently referring to the baby as a 'he' ever since. Please note, that the picture my mom swore looked like Carter was a picture of the baby's foot - ha!
• The baby has been really active lately especially in the evenings. The baby is even big enough that not only can you feel him/her from the outside but I can see the kicks. So sometimes in the evenings I like to pull up my shirt, exposing my belly, and just watch the kicks. I don't know if Matt ever saw that with the previous two or just forgot but he sat beside me the other day just watching the baby kick away. We were laughing so hard at the movement in my belly....what a miracle babies are! It was a 'there is really something inside there' moment.
• I am still trying to work out however jumping, bouncing, and running are becoming harder on my bladder. I have also been eating ice cream most nights, which is probably why I am up twenty pounds from my starting weight. This seems like a lot at this point but I never kept track previously (just knew the final weight gain) so I really don't know how it compares to the previous two
• I am taking my gestational diabetes test next week so hopefully everything is fine in that department or I will be saying goodbye to my nightly ice cream treat
• The baby's heart rate has always been in the 150s at appointments except for my last appointment when it was in the 130s.

I know the rest of the pregnancy is going to just as quickly. I only have 5 weeks (!) of school left and by then it will be countdown to baby. I am so very excited to have some time before the baby comes to relax and enjoy Carter and Isla without work or school. Baby season is about to begin!

Babies are always more trouble than you thought -- and more wonderful.
Charles Osgood