Surprise!

I know it's not a surprise for most of you, but for those of you that I haven't talked to in a while, we have some exciting news to share: I am pregnant and expecting baby GIRL number 2 at the end of September! I know, I'm such a slacker that I'm just now blogging about it and I'm almost 7 months along, but since I've been so bad about documenting this pregnancy and sharing the news this time around, here are some facts that I'd like to remember:

First Trimester:

1. On Steve's birthday (Jan. 24th) I was feeling really weird and queezy all day and had a Sprite in my hand the entire time we were out celebrating. I knew I was pregnant, but I just wanted to enjoy his birthday and not freak out, so I kept it to myself. The next morning, I went and took a test at 6am and woke him up to show him the results. My first comment...Oh Crap! Steven's first comment...What?!!

2. I had a fabulous first trimester and wasn't sick at all. With Mackenna, I pretty much felt like I had the stomach flu every day and threw up daily for the first 3 months. My sister called me daily hoping that I would finally be sick (our due dates are 2 and 1/2 months apart this time and she was deathly ill her first 3 months), and that I would be able to sympathize with her, but luckily it never happened.

3. The only symptoms I had were a terrible taste in my mouth (I brushed my teeth about 10 times a day), a craving for Big Red gum, and an aversion to my homemade rolls (my friend asked me to make rolls for her daughter's baptism one Sunday, but as soon as the dough was made, the smell almost made me puke and I threw it all out). Since then, I've not been able to make my favorite rolls/cinnamon rolls...which better go away when I have this baby! I also had about 6 different dreams that this baby is a little girl.

4. I had plenty of energy and was able to keep up with my workouts, take Mackenna to all of her activities and classes, and go out to dinner with friends and family (which is a big accomplishment, if you remember how sick I was with Mackenna).

Second Trimester:

1. Found out I was having a girl at about 14 weeks along, but we kept the news to ourselves because we wanted to be absolutely sure before we told everyone, and the ultrasound tech said she was only 80% sure.

2. Once I hit 12 weeks and was pretty sure that if I was going to get morning sickness, it would've come by then, we planned a bunch of vacations. We went to San Diego and did Sea World, the beach, etc., then we went to Utah, Newport Beach, and Palm Springs. We've also done numberous beach trips with my sis. and her family. I wanted to do all my favorite vacations while I was still normal-sized and feeling great.

3. On the Thursday before Mother's Day, we had our official 20 week ultrasound and found out that have we are 100% having a girl. Steven knew it was a girl and told the tech that it was a girl right when she started the ultrasound. She said to him, "honey, what you're looking at is the head." But, he was right and we were so excited. We both really wanted Mackenna to have a sister really close in age and now I'll hopefully get to use my huge container of newborn clothes that Mackenna was too big for.

4. Speaking of having a huge baby, at this same ultrasound, the tech moved my due date up about a week (to Sept. 30th) because, "most babies are about 6-7 oz. at this point, and yours is measuring 10 oz." All I said was, "here we go again, another big baby for the Paul family!" I was actually surprised because I've been so much healthier this time, exercising daily, not craving donuts like last time, no complications that required bed rest, but my doctor reminded me that that has nothing to do with it. She said, "if you have big babies, you just have big babies."

Third Trimester:

1. Nesting has officially taken over my life. I can't stop cleaning and organizing, and I kinda wish I had this problem all the time. I've had a lot of fun designing the new nursery and will hopefully have everything ready in the next month or so.

2. At the 6-month mark, I finally made the switch over to maternity clothes (instead of just not being able to button the top button on my jeans) and I definitely feel pregnant now. I've been having my normal braxton-hicks contractions since I was 20 weeks, and they're getting more intense now. I also have had some crazy round ligament pain, but I'm pretty used it it by now and try to ignore it.

3. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering, and the answer is yes: I am definitely scared for delivery and am really hoping and praying that this time is nothing like my first. However, as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I had a really comforting feeling that everything is going to be o.k. and that I just want to enjoy this pregnancy and not worry about delivery until it actually comes. I have a fabulous doctor this time (she's the one who saved my life) and a wonderful hospital, so I'm hoping that will make a big difference. We'll be scheduling the c-section and having another ultrasound in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to post more info.

Now for some belly shots:

My sweet husband thought it would be really funny to take a picture of me and my sis. in front of a cow at Sea World. I was 3 months along (on the left) and she was 6 months.
Easter Sunday-we bought matching dresses (me: on the left, 4 months along. Ash: on the right, 7 months):
The most recent belly photo I have. We had just returned home from the beach and were relaxing by Steve's parents' pool (about 6 months along) and his dad was trying to get me in a picture: