20 Weeks - Happy Half Way Week!!

Twenty weeks...2-0...the half way point.  It happened.  I got the email that said "20 weeks...20 weeks to go!"  Holy smokes!!  We're officially on the downhill path.  Teehee!!  We're going to have a baby!  

Don't tell Jessica!  She's going to have a mini heart attack.  

Here's a little shot of the belly.  I don't really know why it looks so pointy.  He is moving pretty much all day every day!  He hasn't woken me up so that's always a bonus. 

But also here's my other new friend...

Yum.  Whatever - it sure does work!

How far along:  20 weeks

Total weight gain: +4.8lbs still

Maternity clothes: Yuppers!  Even my scrubs are starting to get tight.  Thank goodness for Janet and the business casual maternity clothes that are coming my way!!

Stretch marks: None

Sleep:  Still sleeping well.  Starting to think about getting up in the middle of the night to pee...that actually hasn't happened yet!

Best moment of this week: Watching Jessica's face when she feels the baby move.  It's the best sight in the whole world.  I can't believe how much more in love it makes me fall.  She's going to be an amazing mom.

What's new this week: The baby is about 10 1/2 ounces and 6 1/2 inches long - apparently that's the size of a banana!  He's swallowing amniotic fluid and making some meconium.  Keep that poopie inside until you're on the outside buddy!  I'm about to start gaining a pound a week or so - sounds like a generous guestimation to me.  Remember what the cranky midwife said - only 20 because I'm already a fatty!  Heart burn and indigestion may increase now...check!  Leg cramps may start to happen...check check!  Thankfully that's about it 

Miss anything: Some of my old clothes.  But I do like buying new clothes!

Movement: All the time - this man cub is wild!

Food cravings: Someone sent me a picture of watermelons today - jerk

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week

Have you started to show yet: Oh yeah!

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: It's an innie.  The other day, for the first time, I thought it may actually make it all the way to an outie.  I have been convinced it'll stay in the whole time.  It's kind of a cave

Wedding rings on or off: on 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy.  Work is better so that always helps!

Looking forward to: More baby kicks!

19 Weeks...and 3 days

Well.  It appears that I've been a little slack with this week's post.

Valentine's Day was fun as usual!  My mom has been making a heart shaped meatloaf since I can remember.  It's usually accompanied by some mac and cheese and a veggie of sorts.  This year, she made two kinds of mac and cheese, from scratch.  Something she doesn't usually do!  She went with a Paula Deen mac with thick sliced tomatoes as well as a spicy "mexican" mac with chorizo and cherry tomatoes and something else.  My personal fave was the Paula Deen mac.  How can you not like ANYTHING made by Paula Deen and your mama!?  I don't know what it is about chorizo since I've been pregnant but it seriously makes me want to toss my cookies.  Whomp whomp.

Old Navy has also been taking a few of my dollars these days.  They've been having a maternity and baby sale - and then have extra coupons!  I've been pretty good about not going crazy.  I got a couple of shirts/tanktops that'll last me a while as well as a second pair of jeans.  One pair of maternity pants isn't workin'.  For the man-cub, I splurged (ok, $10) on a fedora.  What kind of silly little boy goes without a fedora!?  He also got a onesie that says "I love my doggie" and one with sunglass AND a mustache.  I can't wait til he's here so I can snuggle him!  Next summer we'll get a lot of use out of the fedora :)  I think I could go broke buying silly onesies for this kid.  Maybe we'll have to have a silly onesie baby shower!

How far along:  19 weeks and 3 days...so close to that half way point, eek!

Total weight gain: +4.8

Maternity clothes:  Yes.  I'm coveting a pair of white maternity jeans for the summer.  I got a pair of skinny white jeans from Old Navy - I am not a skinny jeans person.  They're going back.

Symptoms: This makes me laugh every week.  Does a baby in my belly count as symptoms of pregnancy?  I think this is the last week this one will be on the list.

Stretch marks:  None

Sleep:  Ahhh sleep.  I finally got some good sleep last night BUT the yuck leg cramps have started.  Charlie horses are no fun!

Best moment of this week:  After telling the fam you could feel him moving from the outside and hopefully they'll get to feel him at Valentines dinner, he didn't move all day.  I started to get scared and nervous that he wasn't moving.  The moment he started moving when we were back at home, after dinner, was the best moment of the week.

What's new this week:  Leg cramps

Miss anything:  Free time and disposable income - oh wait, I didn't have that before!

Movement:  He's bee-bopping in there right now!

Food cravings:  Ice cold glasses of milk.  I hear there are little watermelons at the grocery store...might need a trip out in the snow today.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Chorizo lol!

Have you started to show yet:  Yup!  Some days, from the front, it doesn't look much different.  But from the side, the belly is there.

Gender: It's a BOY!

Labor signs:  No

Belly button in or out:  In

Wedding rings on or off:  On but getting tight.  I don't like that I'm getting a little swollen, especially in the evening.

Happy or moody most of the time:  Most of the time = happy

Looking forward to:  Just growing that babe and feeling the kicks

It's a......!!!

From the beginning, I didn't want to know the gender of our little munchkin.  I was pretty adamant about not finding out until the big day.  There were many conversations between Jessica and I going back and forth and back and forth...  Her arguments were: You can bond better with the baby while he/she's inside, we can plan better with clothes and things, I need to wrap my head around the gender before it comes out...and, her favorite, I JUST WANNA KNOW!  My arguments were: I want to have that moment when the baby comes out and you say "it's a...!", I need a little more motivation to push that baby out (because seeing the baby apparently wasn't enough?)...and, my favorite, it's coming out of my body, isn't that the ultimate trump card??  Nope, not the ultimate trump card.

Well, curiosity got the better of me.  And the more I thought about it, the more she was right.  (Crap, she's going to read this isn't she...)  I wasn't feeling very bonded to the baby and that really bothered me.  When I would think about being pregnant years ago, I always envisioned it flowy and dreamy and enjoying the miracle that was growing in me - very earth mothery.  So far, it wasn't like that.  I wasn't being mean to the baby or anything crazy like that but it was just very different from what I anticipated. The wifey was right - I could bond more with the baby if I knew who it was.  We've been saying from very, very early on that we both just *know* it's a boy.

I cheated.  I asked one of the doctors to take a peek and see if she could tell - then I would surprise Jess at home with the news.  The baby's butt was jammed so far down in there, she had a little bit of a hard time seeing but the baby moved and she got excited.  She felt 75% sure it was...  I brought it home and gave it to Jess.  The look on her face was quite perplexed.  She opened it up and tried to hide it but I could see the pink GIRL bleeding through the back of the paper.  WHAT!?  A GIRL?!  No way - this is a boy baby!  Well, the doctor looked and felt 75% sure so...!

All we kept saying was "Is it really a girl??"  "Naaaah, it can't be a girl"  "I'll believe it when I see it at the official scan"  "Is it reaaaaaaaaally a girl?!?!" 

We felt so comfortable that she was right that we got my mom a little cake for her birthday with pink icing inside...

A few days after that gender reveal, we had the official scan.  We even made mom keep it quiet because both Jess and I were sure it was a boy.  The scan started and I asked the ultrasound tech to go straight to the genitalia.  She laughed, because she was obligated to laugh at my corny joke she's heard 100 times already, and continued on with the scan.  The baby had it's legs crossed at the beginning but she went on measuring all the right stuff and making sure all the organs were present and accounted for.  So far so good - all was healthy!  And then it happened...and then it happened.  HE showed his business to anyone and everyone within eye shot!  Jessica and I both started to laugh and I got teary and we laughed and she typed those three words I'll never forget...

Silly boy!!  

And then we had to call my mom..."So do you want another little cake with BLUE frosting on the inside or...??"  I believe her exact response was "WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?!"  Followed by laughter, laughter, and more laughter.  And then she had to go wrap her head around it.  HA!  She thought SHE had to wrap her head around it!  Goodness!

For Jess' mom, we had a little more time to prepare after the official scan and had some pictures on hand.  We framed the one above in a cute little frame she had given us for Christmas.  She hadn't seen the progress on the nursery yet so that was really fun when she came by.  "Hey, check it out - we put a picture in the frame you gave us."  She knew it was a boy the whole time too so she got the biggest smile on her face.  

We've been having fun thinking of "boy things" and I've been having fun shopping for boy clothes.  We're going to be the best boy moms and raise such a good little man.  Or we're going to try our best!

18 Weeks

Feels like just a few days ago I was writing a blog post...oh yeah, because I was late!  Thanks for keeping me punctual, Jacque ;-)

This week was full of milestones, prenatal appointments, and things baby related.  

I started to feel the baby move this Sunday!!  I had whipped up a tasty treat for Sutton's dinner and brought it into the living room.  I sat curled up on the floor, with my jeans fighting my belly, and began the tube feeding.  Then I felt it.  Tap...tap tap...tap.  Just a little tiny tap-tap-taparoo!  Jessica put her ear to my belly when we were getting ready to go to sleep and actually heard the baby kick.  It's so fun to go through this stuff together - couldn't imagine it any other way.  

Since Sunday, it seems like the baby kicks bunches when my pants are cutting off circulation to my legs.  "Hey mom - you're squishing me here!!"  My scrub pants for work are beginning the fight with my belly.  When I sit, it's more comfortable to put the waste band above the belly.  So I do.  Then I stand up and down they start to slide.  So they get re-tied under the belly.  Then sit and squish, the stand and slide...it's a vicious cycle.  I'll need to figure out a good solution soon.  I can't show my coworkers my undies.

We had an appointment at the birth center on Monday and had a delightful visit with a former co-worker on L&D turned awesome midwife.  I am so excited to be in such wonderful hands.  Those women are awesome.  The birth center appointment went well, finally gaining a little bit of weight, good strong heartbeat.

The other appointment this week was the big mid-pregnancy anatomy scan.  Our little munchkin is right on track!  The baby weighs 8 ounces and was sucking it's thumb!  INSANE!  Everything was developing right on track and we got the all clear to never go back to the high risk maternal fetal medicine people - yay!  Sad part is that this is the last ultrasound we'll have of the munchkin if all continues to go well.  

How far along:  18 weeks on the money

Total weight gain: +4.8

Maternity clothes:  Fo sho

Symptoms: Um, baby movement in my uterus!?

Stretch marks: None

Sleep:  Yes please

Best moment of this week:  Seeing that little sweetie sucking it's thumb

What's new this week: The baby is the size of a pickle.  Hmm, yum...pickles.  The weight will increase 6 fold over the next month - yikes!  So what's that...48 ounces?  Three pounds?  Yowza!  The baby can hear the outside world much better now.  Apparently "women may notice an increase in saliva" at this stage.  Interesting.  Not much of that going on here.

Miss anything:  Moments of sanity?

Movement:  Finally yes!! 

Food cravings:  Milk.  Very cold milk.  Chocolate milk.  Regular milk.  Milk for breatfast.  Milk for dinner.  Oooh and watermelon.  Hmmmm waaaatermelon

Anything making you queasy or sick:  No

Have you started to show yet: Oh yeah!  Seems like it's really popped in the last 2 weeks

Gender:  They looked today, it has genitalia :)

Labor signs: None

Belly button in or out: In 

Wedding rings on or off:  On 

Happy or moody most of the time:  Tired

Looking forward to: More baby kicks!  And now some watermelon.  Yes, I paid $8 in February for average watermelon.  And I love every juicy bite.