A word from the mother: Week 18

This entry brought to you by guest blogger: Shawn

This is my first entry since being pregnant. I vacillate between feeling incredibly guilty for not having documented a single thing about this pregnancy and just enjoying the moments as they come. The second time around has been a bit more difficult as far as morning sickness goes, and I'm only now starting to feel better. The nausea and food aversions lasted longer this time than it did with Reilly.

It is hard to compare this pregnancy to my first because for some reason I don't remember much about the first. I suppose that's a good thing, and my memory loss encourages me to take this one as it comes. I guess this is the first of a long list of lessons our new baby is sure to teach me.

About a week ago, as Brian was sleeping next to me, I began to panic about not having felt the baby kick. Though it was only 17 weeks, I woke him up and told him we had to look in the scrapbook his mom had made us from our pregnancy with Reilly, to see how far along I was when I first felt her kick. The book confirmed that I felt Reilly move for the first time at 17 weeks, so I relaxed and waited for Baby O2's first move.

I wouldn't have to wait long. The very next night, the baby kicked. I tried to show Reilly and Brian what this felt like by gently fluttering my fingers against their open palms.

I'll now borrow a line from Amalah's blog: "New This Time:"

I can't sleep. It takes me forever to fall asleep. I wake up at least twice to go to the bathroom, and can't fall back asleep. And I still get sick from time to time. But this time around is oh-so-much-sweeter to see through Reilly's eyes. She is so excited and loves her baby brother or sister so very much. Every morning she puts her ear up to my belly and then tells me what the baby is saying. She often tells me what it's saying by holding my hand out and tapping my hand.

What's next? The BIG ultrasound. Only 2 weeks away!