18w4d:
Well we are in Mexico and have been having an absolutely divine time. The place we are staying at is absolutely amazing. Infinity pools that drop off almost into the ocean, beautiful scenery, excellent service and wonderful food. Though it appears the food has been my downfall. Food poisoning. Blech. No pregnant woman should have to endure food poisoning. Too hard on the nonexistent stomach muscles. Don't we go through enough? Ugh, it was just awful. I was so worried about you baby! Luckily it didn't last more than 8-12 hours. I was getting worried I';d have to go to a hospital for an IV because I literally could keep nothing down, not even water. And dehydration is big trouble for pregnant women.

Other than that, this has been a great vacation for us. I feel so calm and peaceful. I really needed the break form my daily grind. Absolutely no communication, no internet no nothing. No bills, no responsibilities, no cold. Just fun and sun and all the frozen non-alcoholic drinks I can drink. Not bad! And your big brother Alec is having the time of his life in these pools. And your dad and I are having a great time as well. We have definitely decided this place is one we would like to return to at some point - with you too of course! Very family friendly. But I am unsure given the food situation. Blech.

20w1d:
I'm still feeling you move around and it is getting sharper and more defined. Definitely feet or hands kicking me. You are one active little one! I can't tell you how much I love the reassurance of knowing you are doing well and moving around and growing inside me. And growing you are - I am huge! Just huge. I am scared you will be even bigger than your brother. And he is huge! Ack.

20w5d:
Well this has probably been the most exciting day in your little life so far. And one of the most emotional and scary in my life too. Today we had the amnio. I hope it was the right decision little baby, I just had such a bad feeling about it and then it was so tough. Ugh. But you seem to be doing fine and moving around a lot so hopefully it wasn't too much stress for you.

First we met with the doctor and he told us we had other options besides the amnio, none of which they could do there but did give us the alternative to go to Elmira or Syracuse and get a detailed ultrasound. But I had been so focused on the amnio I really didn't want to wait, just to get it over with and stop the awful worrying. To know you were OK. It was a hard decision to make and I did regret it for a bit. But hopefully it was for the best and we will find out soon that you are a healthy little guy!

We had the ultrasound first and you are so active! You were all over the screen and flailing your arms and kicking your legs like crazy! It was making us nervous that you wouldn't hold still for the amnio. But the tech took all your measurements and you are doing great, actually measuring big. But since we don't have a non-US due date for you it's hard to say you were measuring big - you were just measuring. But according to this US the due date would be 5/27/04 not 6/02/04 as the other one said. Who knows. I guess we'll find out whenever it is you decide to come! Though it does make me a bit nervous to have such ambiguous dates in case we do need to do a scheduled c-section. I don't want to have to have another amnio for lung maturity. Hopefully we'll just have a nice, easy, successful VBAC.

And of course the tech asked if we wanted to know your gender. Your dad and I had quite a few talks about this and he pretty much didn't want to know and I did. Finally he conceded since we didn't find out with Alec because your dad didn't want to then either. I'm so glad we found out. It was nice to have a surprise the first time but I am really enjoying knowing what you are, who you are. Thinking of you as my little boy. That's right - a boy! You were not shy at all, you did a spread eagle and flashed the world. I have no doubts that you really are a boy! I was a bit surprised as I had been thinking girl since this pregnancy has been easier than with your brother. But I guess they are all different regardless of gender.

So now we know you are our little boy, our son. Now to get to work on your name.....

Then we had the amnio. It went fast, I was on my back and avoiding looking at the needle again, but of course I felt it and watched it go in on the ultrasound screen. They found a good spot and t got nowhere near you so that was a relief. But it hurt. Worse than the first one with Alec. WIth that one I had a really bad muscle cramp around the needle insertion point. This time no cramps, but just a lot of pressure. I don;t know if they had to put so much pressure on it because they had to go through the placenta (which was anterior) or what, but it hurt. And it left quite a mark on my belly this time too. The worst by far though was that because they went through the placenta it caused some internal bleeding at the entry site. I have never been so freaked out as I was watching little droplets of blood fall into my uterus - right onto you really - on the ultrasound screen. It felt like it took forever for the bleeding to stop. It was probably less than a minute but it felt like forever and I was absolutely terrified I had somehow jeopardized your life. But you were a trooper. Once the bleeding stopped they checked you out again, we saw your heart beating strongly - it was up to 161 (it had been about 144 earlier) but that was understandable given your stress and not out of the normal range anyway so not to worry. I was pretty upset by the whole thing and all I wanted to do was get home and crawl into bed. Which is what I did.

Your dad was great. He went to pick Alec up at Linnie's then came home and made us all lunch and took care of Alec all afternoon and all the next day too while I rested. I could get used to this. And your brother is being so sweet, kissing my "boo boo belly". We've told him he is having a brother but of course he doesn't really get it. I am looking forward to watching you two grow up together and am hopeful you will be good friends.

Oh and since my due date has changed somewhat, I guess I have lost a week of pregnancy and will just skip ahead in my journal. Or maybe I should just stay as is since due dates are so random anyway. I am convinced you are coming in May anyway. May 28 would be nice, so keep that in mind :)

21w2d
Well, you had a couple of quiet days right after the amnio and I got a little worried for awhile but you have been thumping around and tickling my insides like crazy today. Really solid thumps now - you are getting so strong! You were pressed up on my right side and kicking furiously. For the first time your dad got to feel you! He was very happy! We had been trying for a bit now but either you would stop moving when his hand went on my belly or the kick wouldn't be hard enough to be felt externally. But now they are - my big strong boy! Just don't grow too big in there, I want to try for a VBAC!

I've been doing a bit of winter clearance shopping for you now that I know you are a boy. Don't worry, you won't get all hand-me-downs from Alec! I got you the cutest hat and mittens set and the sweetest velour sleeper with shooting stars on it from the Carter's Little Prince Line. I just love it and can't wait to snuggle you in it!

We're starting to make plans for your arrival. I am a bit stressed that we aren't making plans for moving yet, but that is another story. I think we're going to move Alec into a big boy bed. SO we'll give him our small full sized bed and we'll get a queen or king sized one (we'll need it if we have 2 big boys piling in bed with us!). Then we'll bring Alec's crib into our room for you. Though if you are anything like your brother you will prefer sleeping with your dad and me and won't get much use out of your crib during those first few months. We'll see! And then hopefully we'll be moving to a new house in the summer sometime and we'll get you into your own room soon!

21w3d
I am obsessed with naming you. Oh we had such a hard time naming Alec, I know it will take forever to come up with a name for you and I really want to name you so we can get to know you better. Sounds so weird, but that is how I feel right now. I am so glad we found out you are a boy - we have a girls name already (Isabel Victoria - will we ever get to use it?) but are completely at odds on boys names. I am obsessed - every name I hear or see on TV, at the store, in a magazine, online I try out for you. Nothing is quite jibing yet. Give me a nudge if I say one you like, ok baby? :)

I think I'll keep a running list of names we are considering. When we were deciding on Alec's name your dad and I had a running email list we would send back and forth to each other all day at work (yes so productive!) and just cross out the ones we didn't like that the other had suggested. I don't even know how we came up with Alec. I think I threw it out there and Michael just agreed, I don't think he loved it at first but now we know it is just perfect and it fits your brother perfectly. Michael had originally wanted Alexander but I felt Alex had become too unisex so I threw Alec out there as a compromise - and it worked! I let your dad pick the middle name then since I felt I had picked the first. Martin is also a family name on my side so that made it all the better. Who knows how we will decide with you!

I wish we had kept the list we bickered over for Alec, I am sure he'd like to see it one day and I'd even like to go back and look at it and see how our tastes have changed now. I know my first choices were originally Max and Jacob and now I am not even considering them for you. Oh well! So here is your naming debate, preserved for posterity on the world wide web!

Click here for the baby naming list!

22w1d
Yay! You are a happy healthy boy! We got the amnio results today and all is well. I knew in my heart it would be and I should have gone with my instinct and not had that awful test. But now we know for sure - both that you are healthy and most definitely a boy! I'm so happy :)