A bit behind this week. Its been a crazy week so far.  Between the Vancouver trip for our anatomy scan and maternal pku appointments last week To finding out baby is a healthy girl and all the in between this week has brought. It has been bit of an emotional roller coster.

My levels have bottomed it under 2 again so my intake is slowly moving every week. I am currently sitting at 360 mg phe daily. I am getting so hungry! Ive ran out of my favorite breakfast foods and my next low protein shipment is not expected to arrive until next week.

My belly is growing and so is baby girl. Sleep has been terrible !!! I’m waking up hungry every morning between 2 and 4 am. Baby girl is moving a lot more Kicking and punching me randomly through out the day.  Specially after dinner and early in the morning. It’s been a pretty stressful and emotional week as well so I’ve had some cramping and trying to remember to pace myself and breathe.   My legs have been sore, i have alot of muscle tension in my legs. I have been keeping up with yoga and swimming once a week. Yoga is so much harder then I thought it would be. I do really enjoy it and I do see it being very beneficial. I was hoping maybe 5 weeks in it would be getting a bit easier but some of the poses are so hard. I fall over alot , loose my balance and my muscles tremble and shake.  I see the other mommies to be holding the poses longer and i feel all over the place. Its a bit embarrassing and i feel a big shameful but i will not give up. Its so worth it. I really enjoy my time in the studio to. Its my time. I am no good at trying to practice at home with all the side traction’s, family and daycare so its nice to get away for a bit each weekend and just move and breathe. It always feels good after. I wish i could go more then once a week but its all my schedule can manage for now. 

I signed up for a new class on monday nights as well as my weekend class ends in may so i will need to move anyways but i havent been able to make it yet. Last Monday we where in Vancouver and this Monday we ended up in emergency with Madelyn. Turns out she has a double eye infection so my daycare is closed this week.

I had my midwife appt yesterday . Baby’s heart beat was 150 bpm. I was right on target with my measurements and my midwife has no concerns. My PKU clinic has been hounding me on my lack of weight gain but thats pretty normal for me. I didnt start gaining with madelyn until I was 30 weeks. I also lost 10 lbs in the first trimester with her just like this time. I also stared out heavier and a larger BMI this time to so my over all weight gain should not be very much for my own health and babies. I hate having to weigh myself every week. I dont want to be so focused on my weight. it is a relif that my midwife is not concerned.

My midwife and I also went over my 20 week  blood work , went over the ultrasound, talked about some pregnancy symptoms i’ve been experiencing. Discussed breastfeeding a bit more. I wasn’t able to breast feed with madelyn but i am so hopeful I can this time. Though I need to be realistic and manage my expectations to.  We talked about my blood pressure dropping and the tachycardia and black out i experienced a few weeks ago. Luckily it has not happens again thus far.

I have been forgetting to take my vitamins a few times this week. Because of my PKU formula I dont need to take a prenatal vitamin but I do take an additional omega 369, ferrous gluconate and folic acid still.

We talked again about my plans for delivery . Everyone keeps asking me but I have not made a decision yet.  I am contemplating a home water birth as the idea is appealing to me due to the research i have done and the benefits i have read about. Plus i have always found great comfort in the water , being a water baby myself.  I do not mean myself being born in water, just that my sign is water and i relate to water and take comfort it and love to be swimming and spending time in water. I love the ocean , lakes, rivers creeks etc. I feel water is so good for you and your body and there are so many benefits to mom and baby to be born into that environment and way.  I was super surprised that cole was supportive of this idea. I am just not fully committed yet as im scared lol I needed the pain medicine with Madelyn even though i hadn’t wanted it going into it. SO now im worried i wont be able to manage. Even though I stayed at home in our bath tub until I was 8cm with madelyn. My midwife has total faith I can do it and we have gone over how it all works.  I am also particular to whom i want around me while in labour and before and after the baby is born. I am usually a pretty open person on my blog and social media but when it comes to my children , my parenting and my birth plans, and my post partum i am not. I am very strongly opposed to anyone being in my home while I am in labour other then cole and madelyn. I do not want anyone around me, I dont want any friends or family here, or waiting for me to go into labor or for the baby to be born. I do not want madelyn sent away from me or to go away while im at the hospital or giving birth. I of course dont plan to have her present while Im giving birth but if she has to go anywhere she can go across the street to my friends where i know she is close by, where she can come back anytime and where she is comfortable , and then she can come back as soon as baby is here and meet her sister before anyone else. Once baby is here I dont want any visitors for the first 24 hours to just have time with the 4 of us . We had this with Madelyn and i loved the quiet time to sink it all in and bond. To try to learn to feed and recover a bit.  I dont want anyone staying at my house after either for at least the first week when Cole is home with us. Cole plans to take a week off when baby comes. After that week if I need help I know I have a lot of great family and friends close buy and i know coles mom would totally be there for us. I just want this first week with cole. Visitors during the day here and there are fine lol . I am so scared of hurting anyone’s feelings or being judged or having others views and people in general pushed on me. This private time is so important to me.  But I guess there is more time to think about that all later since im only half way though and things could change.

I am really feeling my busy schedule lately. I seem to have something every single day and every single weekend. I really want to get away to Victoria to see my family and friends before baby comes as i wont feel much like traveling after but will probably  make a trip down again in the fall.  The only time I can find where I might be able to get to Victoria would be the first weekend in July as i am hoping to work till the end of the school year. So I would be 33 weeks before I could travel down there and have no idea how i will feel that far along and that big or how uncomfortable it might be for an 8 hour trip one way and 8 hours back so we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Right now between Madelyns activities, Swimming, dance, soccer . My activities yoga and swimming. Plus my daycare and our own stuff going on at home its overwhelming and i’m getting more and more tired.

I never got a baby shower with madelyn because I didn’t believe in throwing my own, my family is not up here and all my friends where really busy plus i think everyone waited to see if someone else would do it. I dont think I will be having one again this time as tradition is usually first children only and second baby showers are a bit odd.  So maybe at the end of summer depending how tried we are all i might try to put a meet and greet BBQ together but nothing is set in stone for that either.

Im trying hard to go with the flow but i like to have an idea or a tentative plan in place. For more of a guideline.  I of course understand that plans never work out and i need to be flexible and thats ok to!

My level from Monday just came in from my dietitians as i type this and it was 1.7 so they just bumped me up to 400 mg finally!!!

My PKU specialist / doctor called me at home today since she was not able to see me at my last appt just to say she was happy with my progress, that my levels are fantastic. My average PHE level since 5 weeks pregnant has been 2.0 mg/dl and based on the ultrasound results she has no concern for growth and that I dont need to come back to Vancouver in the 3rd trimester and we can just have a phone conference in June.

Here is what baby center.ca has to say about 21 weeks.

#21weeks #babynumber2
#babygirl #maternalpku
#mpku
*** The fetus now weighs about three-quarters of a pound/ 360 grams and is approximately 10.5 inches/ 27 centimetres long from crown to heel. The eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and the fingernails cover the fingertips.