BUT... I am now on the brink of the second trimester (already?!), and hope is in sight. While things at work will likely pick up again to a frantic pace in the next couple of weeks, it seems less daunting now, particularly because I don't feel like I'm constantly going to throw up. And while being full time is hard in many ways (more on that later), it is easier to get my job done (as it was never really fitting for part-time).
My energy is getting stronger every day (as in right now, Ben is napping, and I only used half of his nap time for a nap myself!). So I look forward to re-emerging in the world socially and catching up with all of you who I have been so out of touch with. Thanks for your patience.
So let me tell you about Pat. Where to begin? Perhaps the name? Mark and I are fond of prenatal names. We think it's more fun to assign a name than to just keep referring to the baby as, well, "the baby." Benjamin was Ziggy for the first 40 weeks of his existence. Pulled from "zygote", which apparently is only a state that lasts a short while.
This time, we couldn't come up with anything related to embryo or fetus, or anything like that. And we wanted to name it something gender-neutral. So, for anyone who ever watched Saturday Night Live --- yes, that is where we got the name Pat. No, I don't hope this child turns out to look or be anything the Pat from SNL. And I think even calling it Pat grossed out Mark a bit at first. But it's stuck. So for the last couple of months, this baby has been known as Pat.
We took a one month profile, and I had every intention of blogging a monthly pregnancy update, as we did with Benjamin. But, as should be expected with the second child, things just didn't go as planned. And now I'm almost complete with the first trimester, and this is the first mention Pat gets --- beyond a pregnancy test picture and due date announcement. I am a second child myself, and don't think of myself as scarred for the lack of entries in my baby book, or the smaller quantities of pictures of my babyhood... So I imagine Pat will fare okay as well.
Pat's actual due date is April 1. I think he/she is going to have a sense of humor. We're both hoping that Pat is NOT actually born on the due date (if you remember, Benjamin was a due date birth), as I can imagine years of:
"It's my birthday."
"Ha ha, not it's not, April fools!"
I understand second babies are often born early, so we may actually have a March baby instead. Which would be fun, because we'd be celebrating a birthday every month in our immediate family for four months (my birthday is in April, Mark's is in May, and Ben's is in June." My father's birthday is also late March, so it could be fun for them to share a birthday as well. I can already see the cake "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT (and Grandpa)". :)
We've picked a new doctor and hospital for this pregnancy, although, truthfully, I was pretty happy with Ben's birth. But my old doctor switched practices, so that part was already going to be a bit new, and I did not like a few of the hospital's policies --- which weren't a big deal for Ben's birth because everything went pretty smoothly. So we switched to a doctor our Doula recommended, who is very natural childbirth friendly, and to a new hospital --- which has more mother-friendly policies in place. It's a teaching hospital, so that's my only reservation --- particularly in regards to an epidural (if I decide/need to get one), but I can always request the attendee if I'm uncomfortable with a young squirt sticking a big needle in my spine. :)
So below is a one-month pregnancy profile, as well as our first picture of Pat. At my first doctors appointment, they did a "growth" ultrasound to determine the due date (right in line with my prediction), and I am happy to report that this was an EXTERNAL ultrasound! Not sure if it was because I was a bit further along this time (we couldn't make up our mind about what doctor to go with, so I didn't actually have my first appointment until 10 weeks), but I certainly wasn't complaining!
No second month profile. Sorry, Pat. This is just the beginning of all the things we'll have done with/for Ben that you may miss as the second-born. But you'll get a few years of us to yourselves when Ben is in college. :)
Thanks again for all the congratulations, and for your patience with my responses. We are thrilled about this pregnancy, and also trying to enjoy the relative peacefulness and fun we're having with our "only" child during this fun time in his development too. Before things get crazy again.
I hope to get Mark to take my three-month profile this afternoon, so look for a post of that very soon!
One month pregnant (really just a reference point for the future):
Let's see how Ben grows (up), while I grow (out)!
Pat's first picture:
