Chickpea

Yesterday, Mick, Jack and I made our way to the maternal-fetal medicine clinic for my 20 week ultrasound. That's right: Jack will be a big brother sometime in mid-February!

We had a very thorough ultrasound as my doctor wanted to make absolutely sure that none of Baby Landon's birth defects were present with our little one. All organs and systems checked out just fine and Jack was able to wave at the baby (when we were shown the baby's hands).

Jack was much more interested in the baby's "pictures" than I thought he'd be. He repeatedly blew kisses to the baby and kept saying "hello, baby!" to the video screen. We've consulted him on possible names for the baby (we've opted again to have a gender surprise on delivery day) and here is a typical conversation:

Me: Jack, what should we name the baby?
Jack: Baby Thomas (we met a friend's baby in late August who is named Thomas and Jack is obsessed with this name now! When I tell him that's Papa's name, he looks at me as if I'm a fool and says "no, Papa's name Papa")
Me: What should we name it if it's a girl?
Jack: Boy
Me: And what should we name it if it's a boy?
Jack: Girl

For now though, Jack has opted to call the little critter "chickpea" which I think fits just fine (and is pretty appropriate given that chickpeas are one of Jack's all-time favorite foods; I hope he likes his sibling as much).

To say that Jack is excited is an understatement. He talks about it constantly and has a little ritual he has developed all on his own. He says "Jack kiss baby?" and then he lifts my shirt, kisses my belly, lays his head on my belly, pats my belly, and then smooths my shirt back down. It's the sweetest thing! Out of the blue, he'll say something like "Jack big bubba?" and we tell him that yes, he'll be a big brother when it gets very cold out (though, in Michigan, that could be next week and we'd really like the baby to cook a bit more before meeting him/her). He is also repeatedly telling me "Jack not hurt baby, Jack sing baby, Jack hug baby." He has randomly asked if he can feed the baby rocks, but I suspect he'll figure out quickly once the baby is here that that isn't such a good idea.

As for me, I'm pretty shocked that I'm at the halfway point already. I felt like my pregnancy with Jack dragged on and on and was virtually the only thing I thought about. This time though, I'll often get to the end of the day and think "did I have lunch? did I drink enough water?" because Jack is running me ragged leaving little time to focus on the pregnancy. I asked my doctor at my last appointment if I could possibly have pregnancy-induced anemia because, even though I'm in my second trimester, I remain tired beyond belief. My doctor looked at me, sympathetically smiled, and said "You're tired because you're pregnant and chasing a two-year-old. It's not anemia - it's motherhood." Sigh.

We have lots of items on our to-do list over the coming months including painting the baby's room, moving Jack out of his crib and into his own big bed, and buying a bigger vehicle. Stay tuned for updates as we get closer to meeting Jack's brother or sister!