22 weeks - Never A Dull Moment

Things we learned this week...
1.  Telling a toddler he can pee outside at home translates to, you can pee outside anywhere.
2.  When Kiel says his back hurts, go directly to the chiropractor.  Do not pass GO, do not collect $200 - just make an appointment.

I had my sister's kids Friday overnight while she & Matt went to Chicago for the Cubs/Cards game (next year we're going & they're babysitting ha!).  Since one of their favorite things to do on the weekends is to go on a carriage ride downtown Pontiac with Grandma Pam, we ate dinner at my house & headed to see the horses.   After our ride, we were standing on a corner downtown petting the horses and talking to Grandma, when Aden decided he had to go potty, dropped his pants, and took aim.  I nearly died!  We couldn't stop laughing...just one more way my nephews are helping to prepare me for having a boy I guess!!! 

The only pic from the whole weekend - at least they're all smiling!!

The plan Saturday morning was to pick Kiel up to go to Henry's soccer game, but unfortunately, Kiel had been having some back pain the last week and it wasn't going away.  When he told me he thought he needed to go to the ER Saturday am, I knew it was serious.  Kiel's dad deals with pretty severe back pain from damaging his sciatic nerve and Kiel's description of his pain sounded exactly like what Mark goes through.  His dad advised him to go to the chiropractor so I left the kids with Matt's mom (thank goodness she was at the game!) and made an appt.  The pain started on the right side of his lower back, shot down the back of his leg into his foot, leaving the outside of his foot & toes numb...scary!  After an adjustment and a lot of information, Kiel left the chiropractor feeling about the same as he did before he went in.  While lying down or standing kept most of the pain away, he was having a really hard time sitting and walking around.  The pain in his back had completely gone away, but he said it felt like a sharp knife was stuck in the back of his right thigh and his foot was still going numb.  He spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday still in a LOT of pain.  He somehow made it through work Monday and after his 2nd chiropractor appointment that night, Kiel was like a new person.  And after his 3rd appt last night, he's feeling even better.  The inflammation is still there, but the pain is subsiding.  If I didn't believe in chiropractors before, I do now!  They were pretty honest about the fact that sciatic nerve damage is something a lot of people live with and over time (months) it heals itself, but going to the chiropractor is a way to help speed up the healing process.  Once the sciatic nerve is pinched/damaged, the odds of it happening again are pretty high so Kiel will probably deal with some form of this for the rest of his life, just like his dad, but at least now we know what to do if when it flares up again.  Fingers crossed he can keep it under control through October while he's at climbing school!!!

My monthly check up this week was pretty standard.  Jase was awake for the visit so his heartbeat was high at 151 bpm....still love hearing that sound!  Dr Ingram confirmed what Kiel's mom said about his kidneys appearing large on the sonogram and it's just something they like to keep an eye on...nothing to be concerned about, just another opportunity to see our little man!  She checked the report and turns out my amniotic fluid is normal, not high, like they had previously told me so no issues there.  Next monthly appt is my glucose test...yay!...said no one ever.

22 Weeks

Still feeling great just very "stretched".  Lots of comments at work this week so I know my belly really is as big as it feels :/  Working inside all day makes putting my feet up at night hard.  I'm tired, but if I sit to watch tv, I feel very antsy until I give in and just call it a night so I feel better when I'm up doing something lately.  Guess it's time for some nesting!

your baby's the size of a papaya!

During month five, the average fetus measures about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces. 

• Now that he's got more developed eyes and lips, he's looking even more like a newborn.
• He's sleeping in cycles -- about 12 to 14 hours per day (hint: they're probably those times you're not feeling any kicks!).

Newest development = swelling.  Thought I was going to dodge this bullet, but looks like I'm paying the price for not putting my feet up at night.  Just in my ankles for now...


And btw...who turned the heat up in here?!?!?  It's pretty sad when it's high 60's/low 70's out and I have the air conditioner going full blast in the office.  Thank goodness for a winter baby!

-Nicole