Baby #2: Week 19.

 To begin, I want to say that my thoughts and prayers go out to the Boston area after the tragedy at the marathon. I had a hard time going to sleep last night (Friday night) because of the man-hunt for suspect #2. I was so relieved today to see that he was captured, alive. The law enforcement agencies did a great job of working together to catch him and keep the people of Boston and Watertown as safe as they could while doing so. My thoughts especially go out to those who lost loved ones, including the police officer at MIT, and all those who are injured. Everyone who was there has had their life changed permanently, and my heart goes out to them.

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I realize I completely skipped week 18 but we've been busy ladies over here. This past week I was starting (and finishing) my internship portfolio and the week before that, I was squeezing in the last few hours of work I had to do. In addition to that, we've been spending the majority of our time over at Jess' house. They PCS (aka leave the island) in the beginning of May, so we've been getting in all the Jess and Raechel / Evan and Evelyn time that we can.

I can't explain how relieving it is to finally be done with my internship, and to not have any work left to do. I also can't really fathom it -- I feel like in a couple weeks, I'll have to start up on something else. That's not the case, though. Now I'm done with my undergraduate degree. When my internship grade is posted and Dan is home, it will be time to celebrate!

Baby #2 at nearly 18 weeks. She was 1/3 of a pound at this time.

Today is: April 20, 2013

How far along: 19 weeks

Total weight gain: I've weighed myself between week 17 and now, but I've decided I'll just update when I go to doctor's appointments.

Baby is the size of: A mango! She's approximately 6 inches long from crown to rump, and 8.5oz.

What's going on with the babe: The nerve cells for her five senses are busy developing in her brain.

What's going on with the mama: I've started to have a hard time catching my breath. Already. Haha, this may end up being a long pregnancy. If I'm not sitting up straight, I can't catch a full breath. This past week I was having issues catching a full breath even if I was sitting up straight, but that could've been attributed to slight anxiety about my internship.

Baby is a: A girl! Last Friday we went to the Chubu clinic again to see what the doctor thought. He again said, "I see no penis!" and was 80% sure she was a girl. This time, however, instead of just saying he saw "no penis", he said he did see a vagina. She's a little girl. :) Dan and I have agreed on a first name, which is miraculous for us. We didn't decide on Evelyn's name until she was 24 hours old. I had suggested the name Evelyn about 3-4 weeks before she was born but when Dan returned my text and said he liked the name, then I got cold feet.

Maternity clothing: I've been wearing some simply because it is loose and comfortable.

Sleep: Sleep this past week has been better than it was during my last weekly update.

Movement: Most certainly feeling movement! Not just flutters either, full blown movement. This afternoon when we were laying down for a nap, I was able to feel her move from the outside too.

Cravings/Aversions: I've been craving OJ and start to salivate at anything sweet or sugary that I see on Pinterest. No real aversions right now.

Symptoms:
-Frequent urination.

How this pregnancy is different than the first:
-I was napping whenever I wanted with Evelyn. I'm not now, obviously, haha. When I say, "Evelyn is tired, she needs a nap", it may or may not be code for "Raechel is tired, she needs a nap".

How the big sister was this week: Evelyn had a fun week. We went to the egg farm / petting zoo yesterday, and she really enjoyed that. She's been enjoying her time with Evan, and enjoyed spending a little bit of our afternoon today at the dog park.

The best moment(s) of this past week:
-I bought Baby #2's first outfit. She'll get a lot of Evelyn's hand-me-downs, especially as an infant, just because...because we can? I don't mind if Baby #2 re-wears Evelyn's things. I do need to go through them, though, and decide what is just Evelyn's, and stick it in a box for her. The outfit she came home in, for example, and her first little kimono outfit. Plus other things, I'm sure.
-I was able to Skype with my best friend from home for awhile this past week. It was great, we hadn't Skyped in ages. 




I'm looking forward to:
- Dan coming home. The exercise he has been at for the past month is over, and they'll be coming home sooner rather than later. I have a date and time that we have to go pick him up, so that's exciting!
- A sleepover at Jess'. We decided that we needed one more sleep over before they leave, and we need to do it before Dan comes home. I slept over at her house for 2-3 weeks last year during "Whelping Watch 2012" on the nights her husband worked. We had a lot of fun together, and decided to do it one more time.
-Painting our own kokeshi dolls. I'm trying to see if they have kokeshi painting classes between now and the 2nd of May, and if not, I may see if we can do a private class. It is something we'd like to do as a small group of friends before Jess leaves.
-My internship grade being posted so I can stop obsessing about it.