21/22 Weeks

Baby girl had two anatomy scans. The first one was our normal scheduled appointment. I took Alexa with me and she was able to see her little sister. Double A was rather calm during the ultra sound. She had a heart rate of 154 and everything measured right on schedule. A few of her bones measured up to a week ahead. I know it's very subjective but it's great to see a good size baby. Alexa commented that double A had a big head. Haha! This Momma hopes that is not the case.

Baby girl is sooo active. For a few weeks I was only feeling little flutters here or there. More recently I feel her very consistently. She was uncomfortably low until last week. Now she is up more in my belly and her movements are not as painful for me.

I have started having braxton hicks contractions. I cannot believe how much I forgot about being pregnant until the symptoms came back. After I had my first contraction is was an unwelcome reminder of the months ahead. This time I know what to expect and feel a little more relaxed about what I am feeling. As long as the doctors are monitoring me I am not going to worry. I really want to make it to mid-August. It will give all of us enough time to prepare and allow my maternity leave to be at the best time for Justin & Alexa as well. Of course baby girl may have other plans, we will have to wait and see.

We have finally decided on a name. At first I was hesitant because I did not want another A name thinking it may be confusing with mine & Alexa's. I tried really hard to love a J name but could not. The closest we got was Juliana, however Justin is not a fan of 4 syllable names and I do not like Julie or Julia. There were lots of A names that I loved. Baby A's name just feels right and I cannot wait to share it. We are still deciding on a middle name. We have been trying to either do another A or J letter. We have considered forms of our names (Ashtin, Justine) but feel more compelled to use one of our middle names, Ann or Allen. So nothing is definite yet. Hopefully by the end of April we will have something decided... hmm the name April just came to me. Might be silly to have a months theme named (Alexa Justin & A*** April) ;)

Baby A should be over 1 lb and getting very close to viable. 24 Weeks will be a big milestone. I have gained  12lbs and am over 100lbs. The only time I have ever been here before was the last 4 months of pregnancy with Alexa. It's a welcomed change but only temporary. We still have not purchased anything for the baby yet. We have decided on a car seat, double stroller & a few other things but will wait awhile to purchase. I get really excited with new things and do not want to have a baby swing sitting out for 4 months. :) I think we will start on the nursery sometime in June. I have until then to figure out the theme. So exciting! I cannot wait to have 2 girls.