We officially have a name for baby sister...
We apparently like to torture our children by giving them really long names. ;) Both Madison and Caroline will have 25 letters between the first, middle and last name.
Eric and I had been deciding between Hannah, Caroline and Kaitlyn. Hannah was Eric's top choice and Caroline was mine. After staying home with Madison for the day on Wednesday, Eric said he decided he liked the name Caroline and that should be baby sisters name. I immediately feel in love and have been calling her Caroline ever since. I still get teary eyed thinking that we are going to have two daughters, Madison and Caroline.
Charlene is for Eric's Nana, who has been a huge influence in his life since he was a baby.
Baby's size- Baby girl is 14.8 inches long and 2.25 pounds in weight. The baby is growing about 1/4 lb a week!
Movement- I have started to feel some bigger movements. Caroline loves to hang out by my hip bones and kick me very low. From what I can tell, she is still breech or transverse. I have another ultrasound in a week, so we shall see!
How I'm feeling- I felt great for 3 weeks, then something hit me out of no where. For about a week, I would get dizzy spells and cold sweats, followed by a bad headache and blurry vision. After 2 days I called the dr. I saw another dr since mine was out of town. She had me do a few different tests and be on modified bed rest for 3 days. All the tests for blood pressure and glucose came back normal. The only other thought is that Caroline is so low that she is sitting on a blood vessel when she moves. It has been 10 days and I feel so much better, but I am still having about 1 incident a day and can't shake this headache.
Dr Visits- I went this week for a regular check up. My blood pressure was abnormally high for me, so the dr wants me to start taking it at home twice a day. All the readings have been well within normal since then. I also had my glucose test on Thursday. I passed with no problem, so that is always a relief. I will have another ultrasound in a week, then start 2 week appointments...things are getting real!
Preparations- Our biggest focus has been on Madison's 2nd birthday party! After Labor Day, we are going to work on washing baby clothes, inventorying what we need and washing all the bigger baby items. Thankfully, we don't have a lot of needs. We are planning to get a different stroller and just need a few new blankets/sheets/baby pajamas, etc. we are starting to buy size 1 diapers each month to get ahead of the game.
Big Sister Madison- Madison is starting to understand better that we are going to have a baby. She pats me stomach and says "be nice to the baby". She will also kiss my stomach. We are still trying to convince her that the baby's name is going to be Caroline, not Gabby Madison.
After Labor Day, we are going to try moving Madison into her big girl room. She has done excellent transitioning to her toddler bed. We go back and forth between moving her now or after the baby gets here. We are going to try it now and if it doesn't go well, we will try again in a month or two.
We are also going to camp out at home for a weekend and work on potty training. The minute Madison is wet or dirty, she runs right over to tell us and wants her diaper changed. She has learned how to take off her diaper and pants if we don't get to her fast enough. Potty training is another thing we will try and if it doesn't work out, try again in a month or so.
While I spent 3 days on modified bed rest, Eric and Madison went to the lake with his family. Madison had a great time with her cousins. She was also very brave and went swimming in the lake!
I was very impressed that Eric took on the 4.5 hour road trip alone with Madison. I missed them both like crazy!
