!!!

Are you surprised?! It's OK. We were a tiny bit surprised too. :) 

Chris and I were ready to have a second baby whenever it happened but it surprised us that getting pregnant again happened so quickly. We were really in disbelief at first and I had some fleeting thoughts of, "But we get to sleep through the night every night now! I'm just getting the hang of having one kid! I'm finally getting some me time! I've lost all my pregnancy weight!" But those were very quickly eclipsed with all the excitement that is having a baby!

It seems like the timing couldn't be more perfect. I'm excited for Dashiell and his sibling to be not quite 21 months apart and it really does feel like just the right time for us to have a second baby. So it was the happiest of surprises and Team Wharton is way excited to be a team of four! This week I'll be 15 weeks into my pregnancy and baby Wharton is due at the end of December; we'll see if we have a 2014 or a 2015 baby!

We actually found out the good news the very same week we learned that Chris got tenure. All in one day we had our first midwife appointment, saw our little pea of a baby on an ultrasound, heard the heartbeat and then later that morning Chris found out about tenure. It was an amazing day! 

This time, we're planning on waiting to find out if we're having a girl or a boy until the birth. I have zero intuition about these things and honestly we will be equally thrilled with a girl or a boy. I used to think I might want a girl but lately I have loved the idea of having two little brothers.

Baby bump status: I have a little baby bump! And I'm wearing some maternity clothes (they are glorious!). I am showing sooner than I did in my first pregnancy but I had envisioned looking 20 weeks pregnant by 12 weeks this time around but it hasn't been nearly so dramatic (hooray!). It was no problem to keep my pregnancy under wraps at work until 12 weeks. 

And, I've been able to feel the baby move! Between the 11th and 12th week I felt the faintest little flutters. If I didn't know what to expect and where to focus I would never have noticed. I don't feel movement even every day and I can't wait to feel those daily kicks again.

How I'm feeling: TIRED. I don't think I'm any more tired during this pregnancy than the last but now I have a very busy toddler to keep up with in addition to working full time, keeping a regular blog posting and recording a podcast. I had been keeping up my extra projects (blog and podcast) in the hours after Dashiell goes to bed and I just don't have those any more. I literally go to bed by 8 p.m. and even by 2 p.m. on many work days I'm really ready to take a nap and fight through those last few hours. Whew! I'm hoping that I get my energy back soon, there's so much that I'm excited to do before the baby comes.

My morning sickness hasn't been as bad during this pregnancy. I did have several days of UGH and would get stomach aches but I didn't completely lose my appetite or feel as nauseous as during my first pregnancy. I've been feeling good for the past week so I hope the blahs are behind me.

Eating & exercise: No cravings to mention yet, just enjoying having a good appetite after a blah first trimester. I'm trying to be conscious of getting enough protein and often start the day with eggs. I think that was something I did really well during my last pregnancy. 

Right about the time I found out I was pregnant I was starting to get back into a spin class groove and I've been keeping that up. I go to class two mornings a week and feel great. In addition, I've been trying to go for morning walks, have gone through my prenatal exercise DVD a couple of times, and am going back to prenatal yoga, which is my favorite.

Preparing for another baby: We are going for regular check-ups at the same midwifery practice as we did during my pregnancy with Dashiell and I plan on having an unmedicated labor and birth at the same hospital as I did with Dashiell. We also hope to have the doula who attended Dashiell's birth attend this birth as well. When I first found out I was pregnant I felt a tiny bit scared about going through labor and birth all again; it was intense! But now I actually feel really excited to experience birth again.

We do have a few projects to do before welcoming our second baby but it feels so manageable compared to the list we had when preparing for Dashiell. When I was pregnant with Dashiell, I was conscious about emulating calm and confident mothers whom I admired. And I think I've been a pretty calm and confident mama. So far during this pregnancy I feel an even greater sense of calm and confidence: I know what to expect. We have all the stuff. It's going to be awesome. Baby #2!

I'm so excited to share this news with you!